Leon Rosselson 1991
In 1991, the Soviet Union's state system collapsed, sending the global Communist movement into dramatic decline. The very idea of Communism was seen to have failed, and the notion that lasting progress could be won for the working classes around the world was rocked to its foundation. Rosselson writes that his father died just before the collapse; "This is for those whose lives were lit by much burning faith, guided by such absolute conviction that they must now be desolated by the way history seems to have reversed itself. Gone was the comradeship shared by those who never lost their belief that, despite the deceptions, the disappointments and the defeats, their dream of a more just and humane society would ultimately triumph."
Nancy Kerr: https://nancykerr.bandcamp.com/track/song-of-the-old-communist
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
His eyes glowed with anger, his words seemed to burn
He said, “I will be heard, for my life is not over-
I’ve something to say yet, and you’ve something to learn”
Chorus 1:
He said, “You, who have nothing at all to believe in
you, whose motto is ‘money comes first,’
Who are you to tell us that our lives have been wasted
And all that we 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, as a new world was born at that time
Chorus 2:
You can’t know what it meant, and 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 the 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?
Chorus 3:
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 hoped 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 no doubt!
Chorus 4:
And then the times changed, we campaigned for the popular front
The old line might never have been
But we led the workers in combating 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
For us who’d lived half of 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 defended the first worker’s state
In the face of the slander and lies of the press
Chorus 1:
He said, “You, who have nothing at all to believe in
you, whose motto is ‘money comes first,’
Who are you to tell us that our lives have been wasted
And all that we 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?
Chorus 5:
And our lives were made rich by the cause that we fought for
The friendship the fellowship, sharing one aim
To transform society, end exploitation
And that day will come yet, but not in my time
And 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 we fight for? What dream did we strive for?
I used to know once, now I’m no longer sure
Chorus 1:
He said, “You, who have nothing at all to believe in
you, whose motto is ‘money comes first,’
Who are you to tell us that our lives have been wasted
And all that we fought for has turned into dust?”