The Politician is not my shepherd
He turneth me over to the wolves
Taking it on the chin
Keeping my mouth shut
Waiting for prosperity to come “around the corner”
Too much bull is weariness of the flesh
Yea, I am fed up on it
On the “New Freedom” and on “Normalcy”
On the “Glorious Period” of the “Good Calvin”
On “Rugged Individualism” and on “Misery Relief”
“Saving the Socialist Fatherland” put no
Fried chicken under my belt
The “New Deals” or “Fair Deals” from the old deck gets us no good
Turning pigs into fertilizer puts no pork-chops on our tables
Plowing under cotton, no glad rags on our backs
Paying landlords to keep workers from producing wheat and corn, sugar and coffee, fruit and everything
And
Taking all this undestroyed
And
Flooding the world with imaginary money
May “Save the price structure”
But
It is Hell on thee and thine, on me and mine
And, me and mine, us and ours
That’s what’s troubling me, oh Fellow Workers!
And that’s more than enough
Yes, verily, I am burned out and turned sour with weary waiting for the Millennium
2000 years this Christmas!
It is too long between drinks!
Besides
Hooching oneself into freedom, peace and plenty ain’t so hot
The night before is alright, but …
The morning after!
Well! Fellow Workers, you ought to know how that was, is and ever will be
There is nothing to it
As the Bible says
“All politicians are liars”
Therefore, if ye would be “saved”
Save yourselves
And lastly hear this:
The only hope of “The Damned” is
“The Damned I.W.W.”
It is the One Big Union or
One wholesale starvation for us and ours
O, Fellow Workers!
(From the Industrial Worker, December 26, 1933)
The Song the Capitalist Never Sings
I want to be a workingman and with the workers roam
The crossroads for my palace car and a bullpen for my home
I want to be a member of that free, untrammeled band
A ballchain on my ankle and a pickaxe in my hand
I want to be a workingman and hear the preachers sing
The song of “God and Country” while the dumdum bullets ring
To cheer the starry banner ’till my empty insides bust
And be a patriot-sucker till my ragged form is dust
(From Rebellion, June 1916)
See also:
Life and Laughter of Covington Hall
The IWW and Political Parties – Vincent St. John (1910)
“I never met a man I admired more”: Vincent St. John (1876-1929)
Fitz St. John: A Longshoreman’s Longshoreman, by the ILWU (2020)
Mexican Workers in the IWW and the Partido Liberal Mexicano (PLM), by Devra Anne Weber