The Commonwealth of Toil

In the gloom of mighty cities

Mid the roar of whirling wheels

We are toiling on like chattel slaves of old,

And our masters hope to keep us

Ever thus beneath their heels,

And to coin our very life blood into gold.

CHORUS:

But we have a glowing dream

Of how fair the world will seem

When each man can live his life secure and free;

When the earth is owned by labor

And there's joy and peace for all

In the Commonwealth of Toil that is to be.

They would keep us cowed and beaten,

Cringing meekly at their feet.

They would stand between each worker and his bread.

Shall we yield our lives up to them

For the bitter crust we eat?

Shall we only hope for heaven when we're dead?

They have laid our lives out for us

To the utter end of time.

Shall we stagger on beneath their heavy load?

Shall we let them live forever

In their gilded halls of crime,

With our children doomed to toil beneath their goad?

When our cause is all triumphant

And we claim our Mother Earth,

And the nightmare of the present fades away,

We shall live with love and laughter,

We who now are little worth,

And we'll not regret the price we have to pay.

• Artist:Joe Glazer
• Album:Songs of the Wobblies