Who Are The Anarchists ? (1891)
I looked adown the vista enshrouded by the mists
Of Social Tyranny, to see who were the Anarchists ;
I found them sitting in the halls where sumptuous feasts are spread,
Doling their crumbs of charity to those that cry for bread,
That cry aloud tor bread
They take and give the crumbs
To those that cry for bread.
I found them in the council halls in legislative guise,
With smooth-tongued, oily gammon, with knavery and lies,
Making laws to suit themselves, bringing Law to shame,
Crushing down the People's rights in the People's name,
In the Peoples name,
They take by fraud our heritage,
In the People's name.
I found them in their cushioned pews, scorning the widow's might,
The golden calf of Mammon raised and worshipped in God's sight,
Shutting their eyes to misery--to see with them's a sin--
They did not feel the Hell without for they had the Hell within,
The Hell that is within.
Who scorns his poor, weak fellow man
Must have the Hell within.
I found them sitting on the thrones which Despotism rears;
Upheld with sword and bayonet that glistened with our tears,
Trampling upon humanity, while counting not the cost
They take from us our liberty, nor reckon on their Host,
Nor reckon on their Host.
These vampires take what is not theirs,
Nor reckon on their Host.
I found them in the blackleg band which crawls across the trail,
Those weak-kneed individuals, content to pay blackmail.
For he who loses manhood, in every clime and creed,
Who sinks below the level must be a slave indeed,
Must be a slave indeed.
Who undermines his fellow man
Must be a slave indeed.
I found them in the ermine, the purple and the crown.
From prince and peer and parson to the blackleg they run down.
They are the human parasites that from life's mill take grist.
We know them when we see them ; these are the Anarchists !
These are the Anarchists !
They know no law save that of self.
Confound these Anarchists !
A. J. SIMPSON, Eidsvold.
Notes
From the Brisbane newspaper the Worker Saturday 28 November 1891, p. 2.
This poem is another of some 30 such lyrics were published in the Worker between December 1890 and December 1891.