They have taken untold Millions that
They Never toiled to Earn—but without
Our Brain & Muscle not a single wheel can Turn:²
Workers have but to fold their arms and the world
Will Stop—we are more powerful with our Hands
On our Pockets, than all the Property of Capitalists.³
Let’s Unwork at our jobs until fired—
Then get a new job to Unwork at …⁴
Workers—be like the Flowers: Bloom
In the strength of your unknown Power!⁵
Capital never could have existed without Labor—
Hence Labor is greatly superior to capital.⁶
They fear their slaves will exercise the
Same brutality to gain their Freedom as
Owners use to maintain their Profits.⁷
Direct Action: when Workers tell the boss
When and where they shall work, how long,
For what wages and under what conditions.⁸
We shall never cease to demand more until
We have received the Results of our Labor.⁹
The real fruit of our battles lie not in immediate results—
But in an expanding Union of Workers!¹⁰
¹ Elizabeth Gilbert, Eat, Pray, Love
² Pete Seeger, Solidarity Forever
³ Joseph Ettor, To Lawrence Strikers January 13, 1912
⁴ Valerie Solanas, SCUM Manifesto
⁵ Langston Hughes, Chant for May Day
⁶ Abraham Lincoln, State of the Union 1861
⁷ Paul LeBlanc, A Brief History of the U.S. Working Class
⁸ I.W.W. Pamphlet, quoted in A People’s History of the United States
⁹ Samuel Gompers, Eight Hours and Nothing Less
¹⁰ Karl Marx & Friedrich Engels, The Communist Manifesto