The Old Bolshevik’s Song

(tune of When I Was a Lad, from H.M.S. Pinafore)

When I was a lad in 1906, I joined a band of Bolsheviks.
I read the Manifesto and Das Kapital, and I even learned to sing the Internationale.
(And I even learned to sing the Internationale.)
And I sang that song with a ring so true, that now I’m in the prisons of the Gay-Pay-Oo.*
And I sang that song with a ring so true, that now I’m in the prisons of the Gay-Pay-Oo.

When Lenin and our comrades insurrection made, I found myself on the barricade,
On Kerensky’s troops I turned my gun, and I didn’t stop shooting till the Reds had won.
(No, I didn’t stop shooting till the Reds had won.)
And I shot that gun with an aim so true, that now I’m in the prisons of the Gay-Pay-Oo.
And I shot that gun with an aim so true, that now I’m in the prisons of the Gay-Pay-Oo.

From then to now, I’ve had no peace, my steps have been dogged by the secret police.
I denounced the opposition time and again; I denounced the opposition with tongue and pen.
(I denounced the opposition with tongue and pen.)
And my denunciation had a ring so true, that now I’m in the prisons of the Gay-Pay-Oo.
And my denunciation had a ring so true, that now I’m in the prisons of the Gay-Pay-Oo.

When NEP was started and Lenin died, I found myself on Trotsky’s side;
All went well till ‘28, and then I was forced to capitulate.
(And then I was forced to capitulate.)
And my capitulation had a ring so true that now I’m in the prisons of the Gay-Pay-Oo.
And my capitulation had a ring so true that now I’m in the prisons of the Gay-Pay-Oo.

Now, diversionists all, wherever you may be, if you want to do as well as me:
Confess to revolution and espionage, to wrecking railroads and sabotage.
(to wrecking railroads and sabotage.)
Adhere to the line of Lenin too, and you’ll end up in the prisons of the Gay-Pay-Oo.
Adhere to the line of Lenin too, and you’ll end up in the prisons of the Gay-Pay-Oo.

*The “Gay-Pay-Oo” refers to the Stalinist GPU secret police, predecessor to the KGB.

This parody song is a part of the Trotskyist tradition.