Galaxia
Lyrics for The Revolution Starts Now!
Written by Steve Wallis, version 2, 6/9/2005
[Tune: The Stranglers: No More Heroes]
Whatever happened to the heroes?
[Tune: John Lennon: A Working Class Hero]
A working class hero is something to be!
A working class hero is something to be!
[Tune]
But class traitors were Lenin and Leon Trotsky
(Vladimir Lenin)
They abolished the Constituent Assembly.
The Bolsheviks had demanded democracy
That the capitalist government would not concede.
The revolution could have spread to Germany
But their Communist Party suffered from naivety.
The German ruling class killed heroes Karl and Rosa
(Karl Liebnicht and Rosa Luxembourg)
And then funded the rise of Adolf Hitler.
The Holocaust targeted not just Jews but socialists,
Romanies, gays, disabled people and trade unionists.
[Tune: Christy Moore: Biko Drum]
Hero Biko died in a white man’s jail
(Steve Biko)
While the blacks and the coloureds played the Biko Drum.
[Tune]
Hero Nelson was allowed to live
(Nelson Mandela)
Revolution beckoned, something had to give
White bosses finally let him go
To stop revolution from below!
Heroes Martin, Malcolm and JFK
(Martin Luther King, Malcolm X and John F Kennedy)
Threatened to transform the USA
That’s why they were blown away
By the FBI or the CIA!
[Tune: The Stranglers: No More Heroes]
Whatever happened to the heroes?
CHORUS:
[Voice]
BAND AID 1984:
[Tune: Band Aid: Do They Know it’s Christmas?]
Do they know it's Christmas time at all?
In a world of plenty, so many shattered dreams.
[Tune]
Capitalism is a curse –
Third world problems get worse and worse!
[Tune: Latin Quarter: Something Isn’t Happening (Swimming Against the Stream)]
Something isn't happening there;
Something isn't happening,
'Cos they send in the clowns and then they send in the tanks.
[Tune]
Infiltration, assassinations and mind control
And not just the odd MI5 or CIA mole
Have so far stopped the revolution
But it is the only solution!
[Voice]
BAND AID 2004:
[Tune: Band Aid 20: Do They Know it’s Christmas?]
Do they know it's Christmas time at all?
In a world of plenty, so many shattered dreams.
[Tune: The Stranglers: No More Heroes]
Whatever happened to the heroes?
[Tune: John Lennon: A Working Class Hero]
A working class hero is something to be!
A working class hero is something to be!
[Tune]
Militant Tendency heroes led the struggle against the poll tax
And that campaign’s victory at last got Maggie Thatcher off our backs.
But after the riot a big business infiltrator called Steve Nally
Said that the campaign would name names when he was interviewed live on TV
Hero Peter did the working class a favour
(Peter Taaffe)
When he took Militant out of New Labour
And hero Tommy who led the Scottish Federation
(Tommy Sheridan)
When elected to Glasgow council from jail, caused a sensation
He was imprisoned for six months for poll tax defiance
Scottish Militant Labour established the Scottish Socialist Alliance.
The Alliance carried out direct action
To try to stop a motorway extension.
In that campaign Rosie Kane became a new hero
And in the struggle for a republic she later struck a blow.
She was one of six Scottish Socialist Party members elected
To the Scottish parliament, but to the Queen’s rule she objected
So when she had to swear an oath of allegiance to the Queen
She wrote “My oath is to the people” on her hand and wore jeans.
[Tune: The Stranglers: No More Heroes]
Whatever happened to the heroes?
CHORUS
[Tune: The Stranglers: No More Heroes]
Whatever happened to the heroes?
[Tune: John Lennon: A Working Class Hero]
A working class hero is something to be!
A working class hero is something to be!
[Tune]
There was a hero called Salvador Allende.
He was elected socialist President of Chile
But he left the generals in positions of power
And Pinochet’s coup turned the revolution sour.
(Augusto Pinochet)
The coup was funded by the CIA;
Then Coke and Pepsi backed Pinochet
In Venezuela, hero Hugo
(Hugo Chavez)
Won't let the US and G8 veto
Big reforms which help the poor
Who demonstrate for more and more!
The masses defeated a bosses' strike
In a country Ché went to on his bike!
(Ché Guevara)
[Voice]
It is dubbed the Bolivarian revolution.
As hero Victor Jara sang:
[Tune: Victor Jara: Simón Bolivar]
Simón Bolivar! Simón!
[Tune]
In Bolivia, where the gas was privatised,
Ordinary people recently mobilised
With general strikes, occupations, demonstrations
And blockades across the capital of the nation.
Two thirds of the population live in poverty;
They demand that gas is not private property.
They forced the President’s resignation
And the promise soon of new elections.
There’s a Bolivian protest leader called Evo.
(Evo Morales)
Maybe he will be the new Latin American hero!
[Tune: The Stranglers: No More Heroes]
Whatever happened to the heroes?
CHORUS
[Tune: The Stranglers: No More Heroes]
Whatever happened to the heroes?
There are many heroes nowadays!
Many heroes nowadays!
[Tune]
From the World Social Forum in Porto Allegre
To the “battle of Seattle” in the USA,
From Birmingham to Barcelona,
Evian, London and Genoa,
Working class heroes have started protesting
In a big way at the system we are detesting.
Some call us anti-globalisation activists
But that is not all – we are anti-capitalists.
We are told that the G8, IMF and World Bank
Are organisations that “third world” countries should thank,
But they have tried to enforce privatisation
As a condition for helping such nations.
However, the Bolivian masses have shown the way;
Perhaps the privatisation strategy has had its day.
Maybe they will use genetically modified food
To control minds, including everyone’s thoughts and moods.
Genetic modification possibilities are infinite –
Big business is just limited by what computers can calculate.
GM food and drink could stop working class people fighting back;
This could be organisations like the CIA’s new tack.
Boycott Sainsbury’s dairy products – their cows eat partly GM feed.
Lord Sainsbury is a minister; GM labels aren’t there to read.
There is another G8 summit is in Scotland in July.
We should now seize our chance to set big business’s plans awry.
Demonstrate of course – let socialist and anarchist banners be unfurled.
Even better, urge workers and students to go on strike around the world.
The working class could even launch a bid for power somewhere!
It of course needs enough working class heroes who will dare!
[Voice]
THE REVOLUTION STARTS NOW!
You can download an earlier version of the track (with the lyrics available by clicking here) as recorded at the Cutting Rooms, Abraham Moss Centre, City College, Manchester on the 30th of June 2005 in MP3 format. Click for a high quality (8586KB) or low quality (1789KB) version.
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