*“WE ONLY WANT THE EARTH”

Song by James Connolly, Scots/Irish Socialist.
Executed by the British Army in 1916.

We only want the Earth.

Some men, faint hearted, ever seek
Our programme to retouch
And will insist, whene’er they speak
That we demand too much
‘Tis passing strange, yet I declare
Such statements give me mirth,
For our demands most moderate are
We only want THE EARTH

“Be moderate,” the trimmers cry,
Who dread the tyrants’ thunder.
“You ask too much, and people fly
From you aghast in wonder.”
‘Tis passing strange, for I declare
Such statements give me mirth,
For our demands most moderate are:
We only want THE EARTH.

Our masters all – a godly crew,
Whose hearts throb for the poor –
Their sympathies assure us too,
If our demands were fewer.
Most generous souls! But please observe,
What they enjoy from birth
Is all we ever had the nerve
To ask: that is, THE EARTH.

The “labour fakir,” full of guile,
Base doctrine ever preaches,
And while he bleeds the rank and file
Tame moderation teaches.
Yet, in this despite, we’ll see the day
When, with sword in its girth,
Labour shall march in war array
To seize it’s own, THE EARTH.

For labour long, with sighs and tears,
To it’s oppressors knelt,
But never yet, to aught save fears,
Did heart of tyrant melt.
We need not kneel, our cause no dearth
Of loyal soldiers needs,
And our victorious rallying cry
Shall be WE WANT THE EARTH.

“No revolutionary movement is complete without its poetical expression”
James Connolly.