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RED

One hundred years ago in Pollockshaws
A man was laid to rest,
From humble beginnings to a martyr
They buried Scotland’s best.

A man who stood for the people
A man unshaken and proud,
Till the imperialist and capitalist murderers
 Connived to put him in a shroud.

A teacher a socialist a politician
And a pacifist he stood tall,
A man for the workers of Scotland
John MacLean answered the call. 

Why should workers murder workers
He cried, as part of a rich man’s game,
As capitalists divvy the blood soaked ground
As they stake their new found claim.





Forty million casualties
From Flanders to the Somme,
Soldiers and civilians
Torn apart by bombs.

He held the empire to account
And was never afraid to say,
Threats and intimidation were constant
To keep MacLean at bay.

Laws were changed to jail him
To quell his discerning voice,
The imperial war mongers
Now had reason to rejoice.

Six years for sedition
And the powers that be collude,
To silence Scotland’s loudest voice
And keep the truth subdued.

Freedom came with armistice
And pressure from the masses,
To country riddled with unemployment
Trying to pull up from the ashes.



Carried high on shoulders
By thousands through the street,
The pressure from the workers
Was called a mighty feat.


The battle was now on home soil
While people mourned their dead,
The fight was now to stay warm
And keep the children fed.

The rich just got richer
Which is always the tradition,
While families fought to stay alive
From poverty and malnutrition.

Through socialism and communism
The red clydesiders rose,
Power to the workers
A frightening idea grows.

Celtic communism, unite the clans
Nationalism begins to swell,
Another five years for sedition
This time sentenced to hell.


Hunger strikes and torture
And force fed twice a day,
Slowly murdered in the jail
His body in decay,

They tried to break his mind
In the end it took its toll,
But they couldn’t break his spirit
They couldn’t break his soul.

Released after public pressure
But torture was denied,
The government cried fairness 
But once again they lied. 

A shadow of a man emerged
The damage had been done,
The crown had done its worst
To silence Scotland’s son.

He died on his feet on a soapbox
A socialist right to his core,
Pneumonia took its toll on his body
From the pain and torture he bore.



A funeral held in his home town
The biggest in Glasgow there’s been,
For a man loved by his people
The likes has never been seen.

A simple cairn marks his life
His work and dedication,
But you won’t hear of John Maclean
In a school curriculum or education.

Uncelebrated and overlooked
They try to silence his voice,
Mainstream politics avoid his socialism
Instead of celebration and rejoice.

One hundred years down the road 
And things are much the same,
Capitalism has crashed about half a dozen times
And socialism bails them out again.

Why is socialism only for bankers
Who’s recklessness destroys millions of lives,
It’s the people who pay for the damage they do
While the politicians and bankers contrive.



Poverty is still much the same as in 1923
Children hungry and begging for food,
Homelessness and suicides rising each day
And they tell us austerity cuts are for the good.

There are more food banks now than McDonalds
While businesses close every day,
With longer hours for workers
While the people receive lower pay.

The rich have certainly got richer
While the public pay the price,
Corruption is rife right through Westminster
While we barely get enough to suffice.

Price rises and record inflation
With more strikes than in fifty years,
Governments back corporations
To compound the workers fears.

It’s a last stand for the strength of the unions
With the Tories prepared to sit tight,
Regardless of the billions it costs
They’re hoping that you’ll lose the will to fight.



You will get no help from labour
Their socialist roots long since gone,
They will fire you for standing on a picket line
With support for the unions all gone.

Why the unions still pay them money
It actually beggars belief,
It’s time for the red Tories to rebrand themselves
And get rid of the labour motif.

We are a leftist and socialist country
But we are ruled by the Eton elite,
They try to deny us democracy
And make nationalism obsolete.

But we won’t tire in our fight for our country
To stand on our own strong and free,
To stop Westminster stealing our resources
From our invention to our land and our sea.

A John Maclean is just who we need
To keep our Scotland afloat,
Because the only socialism we have right now
Is we are all together in the same sinking boat.
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