First of what I suspect will be many from those masters of the political polemic, Chumbawamba. I have chosen this song first because despite being written in 1987 I think its lyrics are even more relevant today. Truly an excellent song both lyrically and musically that gets me just as emotional today as it did as a wee teenage punk all those years ago.
Full employment, slave labor and scheme
An unemployed workforce, the capitalist’s dreams
But let’s keep Britain working
Either way we must keep Britain working
Conventional weapons to kill people nicely
Nuclear weapons to keep the peace
But weapons definitely
Either way we must defend ourselves
Nationalization, with one big boss
No, privatization, with lots of little bosses
But someone in control, of course
Either way there must be someone giving orders
A toast to democracy
The prison guard of this society
Sides in the voting game
Disappear into the same machine The same machine
A toast
To US bases and nuclear weapons
To stopping pickets pulling down fences
To the British troops in Northern Ireland
To the wonderful victory in the Falklands
To the plastic bullet and the riot police
To the UDM, to the TUC
To isolating gays and to law and to order
To richer bosses, to poorer workers
A toast to democracy
The prison guard of this society
Sides in the voting game
Disappear into the same machine The same machine
A toast
To longer hours and to less pay
To the courts for those who get in our way
To the beating of people who step out of line
To the use of troops to break a strike
To the expulsion of extremists And political witch hunts
To repatriation, to benefit cuts
To peaceful settlements and to no strike agreements
To authority, to power, to governments
One, two, three
To the annual rise in the MP’s wage
To vested interests, to privilege
To the party who wins the next election
By definition a victory to capitalism
Oprichnik Rising 