“Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow”
Lyrics: Frank Little.
Tune: Unknown.
YESTERDAY
Hail to the Proletarian Clan!
Hail to them, Woman, Child, and Man!
They are the slaves, the malcontents
Bowed under interest, profits, rents.
They are the many workers who
Toil for the idle useless few.
They make and mold all needful wealth
Which the rulers take by force and stealth.
They have leaky roofs and scanty boards,
Tattered rags and slender hoards;
The days and years may come and go
But theirs is a life of want and woe.
They live in an age beyond their ken—
An age that sneers at useful men—
An age whose god and great “I am”
Is tinsel, and tissue, shoddy, and sham.
They struggle on twixt hopes and fears
O’er pathways drenched with blood and tears
Till at last they see in blazing light
That age long truth: they must unite.
TODAY
They palpitate with quickening thought
Prepare to fight as n’er they fought.
Red banner to the breeze unfurled,
They claim their own, the whole wide world.
On every continent and isle
In myriad ranks and countless file
They rise, and trembling kings affright
With their dread cry: “workers unite!”
“Unite!” resounds from mill and mine
From mountain peaks to swelling brine,
In city streets, on desert sands
O’er surging seas to distant lands.
Unite to break for aye the chains
That fetter fast your brawn and brains;
Enact the role that history
In blood and iron writ for thee.
Capital cannot avert its doom
And silent goes into its tomb.
TOMORROW
Erect the giant Labor stands;
Aloft he lifts his mighty hands.
All conquering the blow descends
The race’s last class struggle ends.
The wings of morning sweep the east
Assembling throngs prepare to feast—
The old, the young, the brave, the fair
Earth’s best, the calm-eyed proletaire.