Well better late than never for me to discover this poem about non-violent opposition to the oppressors, a message that will be taken up in increasing numbers as governments become more and more unpopular over the next year or so.
This poem of 91 stanzas was written in response to the Peterloo massacre of 1819 in Manchester.
Shelley was a fierce advocate of non-violence and vegetarianism. He drowned in 1822 at the age of 29 in Italy.
I make no apologies for repeating these lines:
Rise like lions after slumber
In unvanquishable number!
Shake your chains to earth like dew
Which in sleep had fall’n on you:
Ye are many – they are few.
Remember them when you’re feeling there’s nothing you can do.
Julian Worker Fiction Writing 