PAST

Transform, Transform class opposites,
hear me when I say,
You hold the future in your hands,
There is no other way.
If they maintain their institutions,
The vast majority face poverty and destitution.
Its a question of survival” He cried above the din.
“The world is yours, it’s yours to win.
Just dump religion in the bin,
And Join us in a conscious fight.
Workers of all lands unite!”

Well… the forces of reaction
Could not bear to hear him speak.
For history was behind him
And they were very weak.
They hounded him and cursed him
But he brushed it all aside.
Gave hammer-blows with pen and deed
Until the day he died.

His lifelong friend and comrade,
Frederick Engels, said:
“The working class has lost a friend
And is shorter by a head.

Many millions will mourn his death
Now he’s six feet under
But his ideas will never die,
They’ll tear the world asunder.”

And so they did,
As we shall see in later chapters.
For what finally won the war
Were subjective, conscious, factors.