To follow the flag—blindly—tho’ “leading citizens” do not follow the flag into bloody danger
To follow the flag—blindly—cheered by silk-hatted cowards
To follow the flag—blindly—no matter where it goes, no matter how unjust the war may be
To follow the flag—blindly—tho’ the working class fighters are to be given no voice in declaring the war
To follow the flag—“patriotically”—like slaves defending masters who buy and sell them as chattels—“patriotically”—like ancient serfs defending the very landlords who robbed the serfs, insulted their wives and raped their daughters
To follow the flag—brainlessly—like dumb cattle following a “trick” bull to the bloody shambles of the slaughter house
To follow the flag, brainlessly, as a frog will swallow a bait of red calico loaded with a deadly fish-hook
To follow the flag, automatically, to the horrors and hell of the firing line—automatically, to the flaming cannon’s mouth and there butcher other workingmen and be butchered by other workingmen who are also—automatically—following another flag—like fools used as fists for cowards.
And the leading citizens have indeed succeeded in doing what they decided to do. They have had us taught disastrously.
Patriotically we have worn the yoke throughout the centuries—centuries sad with tears and red with blood and fire.