eat the rich

English

Etymology

Attributed to the Genevan philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau. The original quotation was: “Quand le peuple n’aura plus rien à manger, il mangera le riche.” (“When the people shall have no more to eat, they will eat the rich.”)

Became popular in the 21st-century United States as an anti-capitalist motto in left-wing online communities.

Phrase

eat the rich

1. (slang, politics, idiomatic) An expression of contempt towards capitalism and the rich, demanding an equitable redistribution of wealth.
   • 1993, Steven Tyler, Joe Perry, Jim Vallance (lyrics and music), “Eat the Rich” (track 2), in Get a Grip, performed by Aerosmith, Los Angeles: Geffen Records:

     Eat the Rich:

     there's only one thing that they're good for

     Eat the Rich:

     take one bite now - come back for more

     Eat the Rich:

     I gotta get this off my chest

     Eat the Rich:

     take one bite now, spit out the rest

   • 2011 January, Diane Wiley, “Eat the Rich: Juror Questionnaires for White Collar Cases”, in The Jury Expert, volume 23, number 1, Timonium, Maryland: American Society of Trial Consultants, →ISSN, page 43:

     There have been many cries to “eat the rich” over recent years in relation to white collar crime.

   • 2018 June 7, Chris Hayes, “Democracia, ORDER”, in Circa Art Magazine‎^[1], →JSTOR, retrieved December 6, 2022:

     There is something thrilling about an artwork that does not just investigate, explore or expose questions about today, but makes explicit the injustices of the present system, proudly brandishing a call to eat the rich and fight a class war.

   • 2019 November 28, Mark Olsen, “‘Knives Out’ Ending Explained: How Rian Johnson’s Socially Relevant Mystery Pays Tribute to the Past”, in Los Angeles Times‎^[2]:

     There's this whole cycle of eat-the-rich movies right now with “Joker” and “Parasite.” How do you feel knowing the movie you’ve made and then seeing those other movies coming out?

   • 2022 July 10, Jordan Hoffman, “‘What, Are We Eating a Rolex?’ ‘The Menu’ Full Trailer Is Revealed”, in GoldDerby‎^[3]:

     The eat-the-rich movie is directed by Mark Mylod, whose recent work includes episodes of “Succession,” “Shameless,” and “Game of Thrones” […]

   • 2022 November 4, Lilah Raptopoulos, quoting Ruben Östlund, “‘Triangle of Sadness’ with Director Ruben Östlund”, in Financial Times‎^[4], London:

     First of all, I want to say I’m not a fan of the, how do I say, advertisement of the movie as an “eat the rich” movie because what I actually tried to do was to portray everybody as nice.

Translations

expression of contempt towards the rich, capitalism and widespread poverty

• Arabic: كلوا الأغنياء
• Belarusian: сажры багацеяў (sažry bahacjejaŭ), з’еш багацеяў (zʺješ bahacjejaŭ)
• Catalan: menja't els rics m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 吃掉富人 (chīdiào fùrén)

• Finnish: syö rikkaita
• French: mangeons les riches (fr)
• Italian: mangia i ricchi
• Japanese: 金持ちを食いちぎれ (かねもちをくいちぎれ, kanemochi wo kui chigire)
• Korean: 부자들을 먹어라 (bujadeureul meogeora)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: spis de rike

  Nynorsk: et dei rike

• Portuguese: comam os ricos m
• Russian: ешь богатых (ješʹ bogatyx)
• Spanish: cómete a los ricos m