Anybody know the origins of the term 'Eat the Rich'?

[chaska]

Was the song by Motorhead the first appearance of this in the public arena?

[mcscajun]

1. Don't know about Motorhead, but Aerosmith had a song by that name

and the anarchists seem to have picked it up around that time as well. Who had it first? :shrug:

[Warpy]

2. Dunno, but there was a film noir out of the UK

at about the same time that was absolutely hilarious, a sendup of the conspicuous consumption menus at chichi restaurants and what to do when the chef is plumb out of ideas. The parallel soliloquys at the end alone were worth the price of the rental.

The movie just screams "no budget" but is a dark favorite of mine.

[Laotra]

28. Loved it! :D n/t

[dave123williams]

3. I know:

Eat the Rich is Peter Richardson's 1987 British comedy, from the team behind the popular television series, The Comic Strip Presents. That's definately pre-Motorhead. Same year as the song from Motorhead, but I'm thinking they got the idea from the Literati, and not the other way around.

[geardaddy]

11. Lemmy Kilmister

of Motorhead was in the movie "Eat the Rich" and played the character Spider. I just recently saw this movie. I thought it was interesting and funny!

[karlrschneider]

4. Not sure if it was 'first use' but P.J. O'Rourke wrote a piece with

that title years ago. Actually it might have been a book...anyway I recall reading about it in Rolling Stone way back when.

[truebrit71]

5. No, Krokus has a song of the same name. I believe it pre-dates...

Lemmy's, but I could be wrong....

[whistle]

6. Actually the rich eat everyone's children

[Dora]

7. 1987 movie "Eat the Rich"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eat_The_Rich

[warrens]

8. I think it's an old anarchist slogan from the 60s

I remember it from SDS literature and other pamphlets.

[dave123williams]

9. Plus, the rich really are delicious. Nice soft meat, well-fed, ymmmmmm.

[Buns_of_Fire]

20. Maybe, but have you ever had to CLEAN one of them suckers? (n/t)

[alfredo]

25. It was a recipe book or rather a pamphlet. One recipe I remember

was a Hurst Patty. I remember seeing it in the early 70's in Detroit. There were more than a few SDS members in Detroit.

[geardaddy]

10. Rousseau

according this link : http://answers.google.com/answers/threadview?id=533550

[dave123williams]

13. Nice work!

[geardaddy]

22. Thanks!

[glitch]

16. "When the people shall have nothing more to eat, they will eat the rich.."

From your link. Well done!

[me b zola]

12. "...Eat the rich, feed the poor, till they are rich no more..."

The song is stuck in my head but I can't remember who did it or what the name of it is. :shrug:

[Wonk]

15. The song you're thinking of is "I'd love to change the world"

by Ten Years After.



Everywhere is freaks and hairies
Dykes and fairies, tell me where is sanity
Tax the rich, feed the poor
Till there are no rich no more

I'd love to change the world
But I don't know what to do
So I'll leave it up to you

Population keeps on breeding
Nation bleeding, still more feeding economy
Life is funny, skies are sunny
Bees make honey, who needs money, Monopoly

I'd love to change the world
But I don't know what to do
So I'll leave it up to you

World pollution, there's no solution
Institution, electrocution
Just black and white, rich or poor
Them and us, stop the war

I'd love to change the world
But I don't know what to do
So I'll leave it up to you

[me b zola]

19. That's the song...looks like I was a wee-bit off

:D

Thanks for the lyrics, it really is a beautiful song. :hi:

[readmoreoften]

29. Really? I think of it as a conservative song.

"Tax the rich, feed the poor, til' there are no rich no more" I always took that as an attempt at irony. In other words the idea of taxing the rich to feed the poor, along with the "freaks, hairies, dykes, and fairies" are all insane.

[valerief]

14. Rousseau

When the people shall have nothing more to eat, they will eat the rich.
Attributed to Rousseau as being from a "Speech at the commune on the 14th of October" in The history of the French revolution. By M. A. Thiers. Translated, with notes and illustrations from the most authentic sources, by Frederick Shoberl., Thiers, Adolphe, 1797-1877., page 359 <1>

http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Jean-Jacques_Rousseau

[sweetheart]

30. but robbespierre DID it!!! nt

[Greeby]

17. (VIDEO) Motorhead - Eat The Rich

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=odeNhMeh7wM&search=Motorhead%20-%20Eat%20The%20Rich

features scenes from the film mentioned above :headbang:

[bowens43]

18. Yippie's had that on their t-shirts

back in the late 60s.

I had one (in the mid 70s), it had a skull and cross bones with the bones being a knife and a fork.
It said eat the rick above the skull and Yippie!! below it.

[alfredo]

26. Here it is

http://swiki.hfbk-hamburg.de:8888/projects/uploads/86/eat_the_rich.gif

[eppur_se_muova]

27. Wasn't Abby Hoffmann largely responsible for popularizing this?

(author of "Steal This Book")

When Abby Hoffmann committed suicide in 1993, he left a note: "It's too late. We can't win. They've gotten too powerful."

[scarletwoman]

21. I'm glad you asked this, otherwise I wouldn't have known the Rousseau link

As an old hippie, I remember the slogan "eat the rich" being ubiquitous in lots of 60s protests, and especially as spray-painted graffiti.

It never occured to me to wonder where the phrase originated, it just seemed sort of a logical sentiment back in the day.

sw
:hippie:

[Bigmack]

23. When I'm accused of being a liberal...

I like to shock the accuser by saying that I'm not a liberal... I'm a radical. Liberals want to tax the rich. I want to kill them and eat them!

It get a reaction every time.

[sgxnk]

24. angela davis

was wearing an eat the rich t-shirt when she spoke at my university (oh so many years ago)