# 'All You Have to Lose Are Your Chains' Quote. **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 6, 2019, 10:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-you-have-to-lose-are-your-chains-quote/835112 "2019-06-06T10:29:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Jim\_B](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jim_b/32/4338_2.png) [@Jim\_B](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jim_B)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2019, 10:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-you-have-to-lose-are-your-chains-quote/835112/1 "2019-06-06T10:29:07Z")
True story, about 29 or 30 years ago, I was perusing the books in a bookstore. And I came upon this political satire book by the British puppet show _Spitting Image_. For those of you too young to recall, _Spitting Image_ did these political satires using comical puppets. It was based in the UK. So naturally the subject was largely British and European. (I personally used to watch it on the local Canadian channel, Channel 9 in Windsor, Canada. I don’t know how other Americans were able to watch it [hence, the book].) Yeah, there was this funny satire where a small puppet of Pres. Ronald Reagan was being controlled by his wife Nancy. It was a joke at the time, and I assume it was also a veiled reference to the fact Reagan was just a corporate shill. I’m serious. Anyways, there was this section on Queen Elizabeth II. I don’t know what they were referencing. But she said she was a left-wing revolutionary now. And I remember she said her husband Prince Phillip was a ‘crypto-fascist’. Again, I still just don’t get the joke. Anyways, at the end of the joke, she said ‘all you have to lose are your chains’. ‘All you have to lose are your chains’. Clearly it was a left-wing reference that British people would understand. And it was possibly a revolutionary reference too. I get what she meant. But where did this quote originate? Who was the first to use it? And how is it used now? Again, it is a reference that most Americans just wouldn’t get. That’s why I am curious about its origins. :):)🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Aspidistra](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aspidistra/32/3894_2.png) [@Aspidistra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aspidistra)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2019, 10:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-you-have-to-lose-are-your-chains-quote/835112/2 "2019-06-06T10:34:31Z")
[Workers of the world, unite! You have nothing to lose but your chains.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Workers_of_the_world,_unite!) Kids these days! Sheesh. ---
**Author:** ![Sparky812](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/eb9ed0/32.png) [@Sparky812](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sparky812)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2019, 11:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-you-have-to-lose-are-your-chains-quote/835112/3 "2019-06-06T11:43:49Z")
> [@Jim\_B](#): > > …Again, it is a reference that most Americans just wouldn’t get. That’s why I am curious about its origins… Sad but true… ---
**Author:** ![PatrickLondon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/patricklondon/32/4422_2.png) [@PatrickLondon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PatrickLondon)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2019, 11:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-you-have-to-lose-are-your-chains-quote/835112/4 "2019-06-06T11:52:34Z")
> [@Jim\_B](#): > > Yeah, there was this funny satire where a small puppet of Pres. Ronald Reagan was being controlled by his wife Nancy. It was a joke at the time, and I assume it was also a veiled reference to the fact Reagan was just a corporate shill. I’m serious. The premise (pre-GWB, pre-Trump, of course) was that he was unusually dim and needed someone to act as puppeteer (I seem to remember they did those skits as a cartoon-style series called “The President’s Brain Is Missing!”). > [@Jim\_B](#): > > Anyways, there was this section on Queen Elizabeth II. I don’t know what they were referencing. But she said she was a left-wing revolutionary now. And I remember she said her husband Prince Phillip was a ‘crypto-fascist’. Again, I still just don’t get the joke. Because it is her job, as well as her personal instinct, not to be anything of the kind, but just to keep up the established traditions. ---
**Author:** ![bob\_2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bob_2/32/3341_2.png) [@bob\_2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bob_2)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2019, 12:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-you-have-to-lose-are-your-chains-quote/835112/5 "2019-06-06T12:43:45Z")
It’s on Marx’s tombstone in Highgate Cemetary, London. (That’s Karl, not Harpo) [https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/5d/Highgate\_cemetery%2C\_Karl\_Marx\_tombstone\_-\_panoramio.jpg](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/5d/Highgate_cemetery%2C_Karl_Marx_tombstone_-_panoramio.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2019, 12:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-you-have-to-lose-are-your-chains-quote/835112/6 "2019-06-06T12:55:13Z")
> [@Sparky812](#): > > Sad but true… Yeah, though I’m pretty sure we learned it in high school history. It’s among the most famous Marx quotes. ---
**Author:** ![Ravenman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ravenman/32/2929_2.png) [@Ravenman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ravenman)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2019, 1:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-you-have-to-lose-are-your-chains-quote/835112/7 "2019-06-06T13:44:52Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > It’s among the most famous Marx quotes. Though “Opiates are the Instragram of the masses” is rapidly gaining popularity. ---
**Author:** ![MrFloppy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/43a26b/32.png) [@MrFloppy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrFloppy)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2019, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-you-have-to-lose-are-your-chains-quote/835112/8 "2019-06-06T14:48:53Z")
“Revolutionary biscuits of Italy, rise up out of your box, you have nothing to lose but your wafers, yum yum yum yum yum.” You’ll be about my age if you know where that came from, you bastards! ---
**Author:** ![Sparky812](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/eb9ed0/32.png) [@Sparky812](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sparky812)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2019, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-you-have-to-lose-are-your-chains-quote/835112/9 "2019-06-06T16:10:22Z")
> [@MrFloppy](#): > > “Revolutionary biscuits of Italy, rise up out of your box, you have nothing to lose but your wafers, yum yum yum yum yum.” > > You’ll be about my age if you know where that came from, you bastards! Ha Ha! Hey You! Come here! Come here! Go Away! …Didn’t you kill my brother? ---
**Author:** ![DSYoungEsq](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c6cbf5/32.png) [@DSYoungEsq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSYoungEsq)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2019, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-you-have-to-lose-are-your-chains-quote/835112/10 "2019-06-06T17:52:49Z")
> [@Jim\_B](#): > > ‘All you have to lose are your chains’. Clearly it was a left-wing reference that British people would understand. And it was possibly a revolutionary reference too. I get what she meant. But where did this quote originate? Who was the first to use it? And how is it used now? > > Again, it is a reference that most Americans just wouldn’t get. That’s why I am curious about its origins. > > :):)🙂 No one who is from the 50s and 60s would fail to recognize that reference. Modern day Americans probably have no more understanding of it than most modern-day Europeans, since the fall of the various Marxist regimes in Eastern Europe has made the rhetoric of the Communist Party very passé. But I recall my mother telling the story of her time in college in the early 50s, when someone from the HUAC was visiting the campus, and the main statue/rock/item of inspiration was swathed in chains that day. So it was pretty ubiquitously understood at the time. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Stafford\_Cripps](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_stafford_cripps/32/7167_2.png) [@The\_Stafford\_Cripps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Stafford_Cripps)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2019, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-you-have-to-lose-are-your-chains-quote/835112/11 "2019-06-06T18:07:26Z")
> [@Jim\_B](#): > > Anyways, there was this section on Queen Elizabeth II. I don’t know what they were referencing. But she said she was a left-wing revolutionary now. And I remember she said her husband Prince Phillip was a ‘crypto-fascist’. Again, I still just don’t get the joke. Anyways, at the end of the joke, she said ‘all you have to lose are your chains’. It was far from certain that a joke on Spitting Image would actually be funny. ---
**Author:** ![Mighty\_Mouse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mighty_mouse/32/7776_2.png) [@Mighty\_Mouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mighty_Mouse)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2019, 11:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-you-have-to-lose-are-your-chains-quote/835112/12 "2019-06-06T23:34:26Z")
> [@Sparky812](#): > > Sad but true… On May 1, I went into the office, my phone blaring out the internationale and yelled “Workers of the world unite, you have nothing to lose but your chains”. Nine people with fifteen college degrees between them had absolutely no clue. Not just Americans. Two are Vietnamese, one Dutch, one French and one Portuguese. All under 35. ---
**Author:** ![Melbourne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5e925/32.png) [@Melbourne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Melbourne)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2019, 12:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-you-have-to-lose-are-your-chains-quote/835112/13 "2019-06-07T00:06:50Z")
> [@The\_Stafford\_Cripps](#): > > It was far from certain that a joke on Spitting Image would actually be funny. But this I can laugh at 🙂