How Long? (1905)

From the December 1905 issue of the Socialist Standard

How long will the parsons lie.

Who, smiling and smirking, tell

Of a “beautiful land on high”

For the vile who oppress and cry,

“O, Lord ! I believe !”—and yell

To the unbelievers who dwell

In goodness fierce threats of hell ?

How long will the parsons lie ?

How long will the rulers lie.

Who. double-faced, aye delight

To trade on a cheap-drawn sigh

For the poor, but are ever nigh

To work out the rich man’s spite

And crush, with tyrannic might,

All freedom and truth and right ?

How long will the rulers lie ?

How long will the rich men lie.

And claim as their own the land –

The land that the poor live by –

And all things beneath the sky ;

The toil of the worker’s hand,

The lives of the hunger-banned ?

How long shall their false claim stand ?

How long will the rich men lie?

                * * *

How long will the People lie

In abject and crouching woe

At the feet of the men on high,

Who are only men, and can die ?

How long will they vainly cry ?

How long ere their rights they know ?

How long till they sweep the sky

With Freedom’s flag, and defy

The forces of Tyranny ?

How long ere they boldly go

To Slavery’s overthrow ?

How long will the reckoning grow?

How long will the people lie ?

Bulletin