Song Details
- Album Release Date: 2012
- Genre: grindcore
Song Meaning of “Extermination Through Labor” by Capitalist Casualties
This intense and powerful track from the Americoan grindcore and hardcore punk band Capitalist Casualties speaks to a dark and difficult history of exploitation, abuse, and violence inflicted on a large population of people. The song title suggests a large-scale, systematic plan of eliminating a people through various forms of labor. The lyrics draw on this theme, making connections to militarization and mass violence in the context of colonialism and imperialism.
The song paints a vivid image of oppression and subjugation, describing “black walls” and masked “enforcers” enforcing terrible work demands and “prison chains” boiling in the sun. Against this backdrop of cruelty, the song expresses a defiant attitude in the face of adversity, with lines like “we will not bow down.” This is a song about resistance and resilience in the face of ongoing battle to gain freedom and justice from a cruel and oppressive regime.