On occasion of the 33rd anniversary of the Day of Heroism a translations of a poem by comrade Jovaldo, who died in the Shining Trenches of Combat in El Fronton, was published here. Comrades from Struggle Session in the US have taken up the poem and further improved the translation that we will henceforth present in its final form:
FOR A MASS OF POTTAGE[1]
By Jovaldo
I might be in the minority
find me behind bars;
but I don’t sell my principles
for a mass of pottage
I speak in plain language
I don’t reconcile with traitors;
I rather cut off my tongue
with a single slash.
Let them call me the “old-fashioned”
ultraleftist or childish;
this does not bother me
I feel young.
My ideas are young
and my desire is young;
young today and forever
with the pen and the gun.
They are small-time peddlers
prostitutes without honor;
they undress their conscience
for a shabby favor.
I cannot do the same
my reason stops me from it;
I rather die from hunger
than silence my heart.
I might be in the minority
find me behind bars;
but I don‘ t sell my principles
for a mass of pottage.
[1] Biblical reference, cf. Marx, Karl: „Capital“, Volume I, Chapter Ten: “The Working-Day”, Section 5;
Lenin, Vladimir I.: “The state and revolution”, Chapter Two: “The Experience of 1848-51”, Section “The Revolution summed up”
