It's Not The Poor Folk (Original Song)...A Response To "Rich Men North of Richmond"
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I wrote this song, "It's Not The Poor Folk", also known as "Proletariat Rising", in response to a song that has gone viral called "Rich Men North of Richmond" by Oliver Anthony which has been hailed as the next great working class anthem. It starts out great commenting on the plight of working folk and the indifference of greedy politicians, but then he turns to admonish other poor folk for eating "fudge rounds" while on welfare. For someone who doesn't want the government to have any control, I find it odd that he wants to control what poor people can and can't eat. And while he identifies the problem, long hours for not enough pay, he doesn't call out private corporate ownership. Those greedy capitalists who will suck you dry to maximize their profits. His solution is to lower taxes and gut social welfare programs. Not sure how those "folks in the street, [who] ain't got nothin' to eat" will get anything to eat without help. Gutting welfare programs without addressing the underlying problems won't do any good for the poor people that literally don't eat without those programs because privately owned institutions get away with paying them less than subsistence wages. There is far more abuse of public money at the top than the bottom. Other poor folk are not your enemy. I agree that modern governments aren't great and in fact, I think the modern institutions of power that utilize charismatic politics, esoteric knowledge, and a monopoly on violence as forms of domination ought to be dismantled and replaced by grass-routes mutual aid and voluntary, uncoerced work that benefits everyone so that we may once again enjoy the three fundamental freedoms outlined by David Graeber and David Wengrow in their book, "The Dawn of Everything" (2021), those being 1) the freedom to move or travel away from despotism under the auspices of universal hospitality for refugee and vagabond alike, 2) the freedom to disobey arbitrary power, and 3) the freedom to shift and negotiate social relations. But private corporate ownership of the means of production needs to be dismantled as well. Under feudalism, peasants served lords to gain access to their ill-gotten land. Under capitalism, workers serve employers in a similar fashion, renting themselves out to "earn" access to the bare necessities of life, all of which have been commodified. Even if the government is gone, you would still have to "sell your soul" to Walmart in order to eat. We cannot let the bourgeoisie divide the working class. Rise Proletariat, and make them cower.
Lyrics:
When the music starts to play
And the words sound about right
Sayin’ man how the rich ought
To be made to fight
For what they stole
For what they embezzled
Not just the politicians
But those bourgeois devils
Well, then the voice it turns
To echo those rich men
To admonish the poor
blame them for the rich man’s sins
So you want to take away
What little they’ve been given
While rich men watch and laugh
As you speak on their behalf
For it's not the poor folk who’s allowed some extra bread
Who is making you toil till you drop dead
No it is not the food stamps or new and different people
The obese and elderly or those who are disabled
I say all are your brothers and none are your enemies
So long as the rich men they suffer no penalties
Freedom is not your traditional values
Crafted from bigotry and classist realities
Freedom is freedom to move and disobey
To rely on one another to keep would be kings at bay
Say none of us can stand alone against their power
We must stand together, and make them cower
For the laws of this land have us used and abused
Owned and subordinate to our patriarchal roots
I say it's high time we reinvent this whole operation
To make mutual benefit our sole occupation
Because Freedom is freedom to move and disobey
To rely on one another to keep would be kings at bay
Say none of us can stand alone against their power
We must stand together, and make them cower
(here we go)
Yes, Freedom is freedom to move and disobey
To rely on one another to keep would be kings at bay
Say none of us can stand alone against their power
Rise proletariat, and make them cower