The Masses Against The Classes

I never thought this song really means what the title would suggest at face value. I tend to agree with my nothing's analysis except I would say it is aimed more at the so-called "fans" who constantly bitch about how the MSP have got more commercial (Success is an ugly word Especially in your tiny world )/crap after Richey left and so on.

I think the line "I'm tired of giving a reason " is them saying they're fed up of having to justify everything they do to the aforementioned so-called fans. They believe in the future, nothing stays the same etc. if you don't like the music they are putting out now then piss off and spend all day listening to the Holy Bible and feeling nostalgic.

I think the greetings are from the masses to the elite.

The ugly little success is that of the concentrations of wealth and power, who often use their own myths of self-made empires to convince the lower classes that their cooperation with the ruling classes will be rewarded by that same kind of success (this is hinted at in the ending quote). Everybody wants to get rich, few succeed, so for most people the capitalist dream isn't a reality but an ultimately unfulfilled promise which prevents people thinking about different kinds of social order.

I think the winter they speak of is the intensification of whatever forms of oppression are used by the ruling classes, which tend to galvanize (bring together) popular opposition, where before there was much more complacency. The privatization of (all) water in Bolivia springs to mind.

They half-sarcastically say their love (for the rich) is unconditional (and it is: if you look at it, people tend to see success as self-legitimating, and don't question its origins), and their hate can be utilized: the ruling classes foster racism, war, and things that divide people on superficial cultural lines rather than risk them uniting as the working class.

one of the best msp songs.straight and aggressive. when i feel lonely and depressed, "we love the winter, it brings us closer togehter"always reminds me i'm not all by myself.weird? of course it's great working-class against oppressing class statement too.great quotes ( chomsky, gladstone,mao tse-tung)also.

Who is that at the start? Nixon, Reagan, Bush? Someone else even? It was William Gladstone who first said "All the world over, I will back the masses against the classes." And aswell as the obvious meaning of the song's title, it also is partially about the critics who wrote the Manics off after Richey's dissapearance and esscentially said they'd never do a great rock and roll song like say, Faster ever again. WHO'S LAUGHING NOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Communist anthem.

like nostalgic pussheads...

Does anyone know who that is at the start? Which line is a quote from Mao Tse-Tung?

The quote at the start of the song is Chomsky. The only Mao Tse-Tung quote, as far as I can tell, is from the record sleeve, not the lyrics: "We should support whatever the enemy opposes and oppose whatever the enemy supports."

That's Chomsky? Figures! Begins deriding herself again

the last line "A slave begins by demanding justice and ends by wanting to wear a crown" is from french resistance fighter and nobel prize writer Albert camus.