Hellraisers Journal – Tuesday April 22, 1919
Poetry and Philosophy from the New York Rebel Worker
From The Rebel Worker of April 15, 1919:
I FEEL SO GOOD.
I have to sing
I feel so good.
Because some grand
Duke’s sawing wood.
And pretty soon
A big bunch more,
Will have to work
Until they’re sore.
And then we stiffs.
Will run this earth.
And all their pains
Will cause us mirth.
And if some guy
Tells us that’s wrong,
We’ve got a story
Good and long.
Of things they’ve done
While we were slaves;
Grand Dukes and such
Are common Knaves.
-A. SIGISMUND.
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[From Jean-Jacques Rousseau]
Jean-Jacques Rousseau, 1712-1778
The first man who, having inclosed a piece of ground, bethought himself of saying “This is mine,” and found people simple enough to believe he was the real founder of civil society. From how many crimes, wars, and murders, from how many horrors and misfortunes might not anyone have saved mankind by pulling up the stakes or filling up the ditch and crying to his fellows:
Beware of listening to this imposter; you are undone if you once forget that the fruits of the earth belong to all of us, and the earth itself to nobody.
Now the story of our New York activities would not be complete without mentioning the recruiting union. Not that we want to brag about a big recruiting union; we haven’t got it. We don’t keep members in the recruiting union that belong in existing industrial unions. What I wanted to say was the recruiting union pays the rent of the hall. The secretarial work is done by Lanky Slim Sigismund, the I. W. W. poet. You know, he sweeps the hall, sells the literature, says yes and no to the police and not yet I don’t think so to stool pigeons, tells the reporters there’s nothing to report and, then sweeps the hall again. Yes, he’s the Sigismund that poets poetry in The Rebel Worker occasionally. Look for it; Slim is a good poeter, and if you could see our hall you would say that he was also a good porter. [Emphasis added.]
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