[To the tune of O'Donnell Abú]
Workers of Ireland
Jim Connell, author of The Red Flag, published this song in Jim Larkin's paper, the Irish Worker, in 1911. It goes to the tune of O'Donnell Abú
Workers of Ireland, why crawl ye like cravens?
Why clutch an existence of insult and want?
Why stand to be plucked by an army of ravens,
Or hoodwinked forever by twaddle and cant?
Think on the wrongs ye bear,
Think on the rags ye wear,
Think on the insults endured from your birth;
Toiling in snow and rain
Rearing up heaps of gain,
All for the tyrants who ground you to earth.
Your brains are as keen as the brains of your masters
In swiftness and strength ye surpass them by far
Ye've brave hearts that teach ye to laugh at disasters,
Ye vastly outnumber your tyrants in war:
Why then like cowards stand.
Using not brain or hand
Thankful, like dogs, when they throw you a bone!
What right have they to take
Things that ye toil to make?
Know ye not, comrades, that all is your own?
Rise in your might, brothers, bear it no longer,
Assemble in masses throughout the whole land;
Show these incapables who are the stronger,
When workers and idlers confronted shall stand.
Through Castle, Court and Hall
Over their acres all
Onward we'll press like the waves of the sea!
Claiming the wealth we've made,
Ending the spoilers' trade;
Labour shall triumph and Ireland be free!
Jim Connell
Irish Worker,
1911
