He was one of those dogged old men
Who lived in the past telling stories you don't want to know
About how it was then: the hunger, the hardship
The hopes and the struggles of so long ago
And we must have looked bored
For like sparks from the cinders
How eyes glowed with anger, his words seemed to burn
He said "I will be heard for my life is not yet over,
I've something to say yet, you've something to learn"
He said, "You who have nothing at all to believe in
To you whose motto is 'money comes first'
Who are you to tell us that our lives have been wasted
That all we've fought for has turned into dust?"
"I was only a lad when we read that in Russia
The workers, the Soviets, had taken all power
And the man they called Lenin who led them
Was our inspiration, his triumph was our finest hour"
"And I'll always remember how fear shook the wealthy
Like thieves who have just been caught out in their crime
But we who had known only war and the workhouse
Rejoiced that a new world was born in that time"
"You can't know what it meant or the pride that we felt
To know working people, people like us
Could shake off the shackles could topple the palaces
Remake the world without ruler or boss"
"It was this kept us going this dream of a new world
Through all those dark years of defeat and despair
When we who were proud to proclaim ourselves Communists
Fought for that world free from hunger and fear"
"It was 'down with the means test, no cuts in our wages'
'We want three pounds a week and a seven hour day'
And there wasn't a thing that we got but we fought for it
Don't you know bosses give nothing away?"
"And the strikes and the marches the battles to beat off
The bailiffs and coppers when hope was still young
Hot heads and hot hearts as we tested our power
'The Workers Triumphant,' that was our song"
For a time he was silent and lost in his memories
Then but more softly his words came again
"Perhaps we fought for too much perhaps the cost was too much
There are things I know now that I couldn't know then"
"We believed revolution was just 'round the corner
And we were the vanguard to bring it about
And the other Left parties we classed as class traitors
Bourgeois social fascists of that we'd no doubt"
"And then the times changed we campaigned for the Popular Front
The old line might never have been
But we led the workers in combatting fascism
Mosley in London and Franco in Spain"
"We believed we were history's chosen
And Soviet Russia our future our heart and our soul
And the Five Year Plan was a vision of plenty
To us who'd spent half our lives on the dole"
"We knew of the trials and purges of course
And were shocked when we heard those old comrades confess
But yes we defend the first Workers State
In the face of the slander and lies of the press"
And you who have nothing at all to believe in
To you whose motto is money comes first
Who are you to tell us that our lives have been wasted
That all that we've fought for has turned into dust
You may think we were duped well we paid for our dreams
Broken lives, broken marriages, jobs lost and jail
Some lost heart in the Left, some betrayed us for medals
There are always some turncoats whose souls are for sale
But the best of us never surrendered our vision
And we kept the faith through the bleakest defeat
Do you think that was easy surrounded by hatred
The sneer of indifference the hurt of deceit
And our lives were made rich by the cause that we fought for
The friendship the fellowship sharing one pain
To transform society end exploitation
And that day will come yet but not in my time
Again he was silent and what could we tell him
That the world now was different that he'd had his day
That an old man's dreams were not our concern
But still, there was something he wanted to say
Now when I look back I see what we fought against
Homelessness hunger injustice and war
But what did fight for? What dream did we strive for?
I used to know once now I'm no longer sure
But you who have nothing at all to believe in
To you whose motto is 'money comes first'
Who are you to tell us that our lives have been wasted
That all that we've fought for has turned into dust
He was one of those lonely old men
Who live in the past telling stories you don't want to know
About how it was then the hunger, the hardship
The hopes and the struggles of so long ago