Communist I

Oh, yes, I'm a Communist. It's a rotten deal

They give us - how can any man with brains

Be anything else! The thieves all get on top

And leave us scratching for a dime; and we

Are mostly fools and do nothing about it

But talk - talk - talk, when a little dynamite

Would do more good. However, we've found some ways

To beat their game - neat tricks some of them are.

For instance, four or five of us rent a flat,

Or maybe a house, that's been empty quite a while,

So the agent's glad to lease it for a year,

And not too strict about references. We get

The first month free, for the second we don't pay,

And after a third they usually put us out,

And we sign up in another neighborhood.

This time we found a nice old-fashioned mansion,

And maybe we'll fix it up, paint it a little,

And rent out rooms- turn into capitalists

Ourselves, until we get tired of it, or find

It's too much work to take care of the premises,

Run down as they are.

We don't see very much chance

Of revolution in this rotten country

Of bums and skyscrapers, where the millionaires

Are rottener than the bums. We can't do much

But beat them in small ways - make them support us

And blindly fight with us against their will.

They don't see where they're going, but some day

They'll fall off the precipice, and we'll be there

On top, laughing to see them go. Then it will be

Our turn - don't you forget it!

COMMUNIST IL

Yes, I'm a Communist - how can any man

With a heart inside of him be anything else!

The system's rotten we live under - there's no hope

For the under-dog rooting and slaving forever;

Nor indeed for the man on top, who lives aloof

In his tower of pride, and can't see what goes on

With the crowd on the ground. The system's worn-out,

rotten -

It gives us starving children, millions of them,