PROLETARIAT RISE

Hello everyone!  Since we can’t get actual recordings of our music out to you all quite yet, we thought we would share the lyrics to a song that one of our founding members wrote recently… 

Just a bit of context: Half Pint is currently taking a Russian History class through the Inside Out College Program at Carnegie Mellon University.  One of the assigned readings was “Principles of Communism” by Friedrich Engels.  Even though his personal beliefs are not remotely socialist, Half Pint was inspired by the plight of the 19th century factory workers described in the book. As an exercise in empathy he decided to write a folk song channeling  the longing for freedom and justice experienced by all oppressed people.  

Even if your experience or beliefs may differ, we hope the intention of empathy speaks to you!

 

***PROLETARIAT RISE***

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VERSE 1

In the dirt and the grime of the factory line / We all do as assigned

Each one a small part in the grinding pursuit / Of piling up wealth for the fine.

Our ancestors plowed and worked the black earth / We just work on the line

Trading our lives for this thing they call worth / All we have to sell is our time.

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CHORUS

There’s a song rising up from the factory line

Throw off the chains of your mind

Workers unite and take back your worth

Proletariat RISE!

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VERSE 2

in the old days we worked in the field and the shop / Producing what we could live on

Now the sweat of our brow and the blood of our hands is traded for paper and coin.

And the money we get is taken straight back / By rent and the company store

All we’re left with is dust, and hunger and thirst / And the bosses get more after more.

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[CHORUS] 

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VERSE 3

Like the land the belongs to the tiller who tills / All wealth in the world is our right

By our blood, sweat and tears we created it all / It’s time we stood up to fight!

All the “masters” believe that they hold the might / But they forget this one fact – 

For every dozen of them, there’s ten thousand of us / Ready to take it all back

(Are you ready to take it all back?  – Yes, we’re ready to take it all back!)

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[CHORUS]

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