What Has Happened?

The poem

The industrialist is having his aeroplane serviced. The priest is wondering what he said in his sermon eight weeks ago about tithes. The generals are putting on civvies and looking like bank clerks. Public officials are getting friendly. The policeman points out the way to the man in the cloth cap. The landlord comes to see whether the water supply is working. The journalists write the word People with capital letters. The singers sing at the opera for nothing. Ships' captains check the food in the crew's galley, Car owners get in beside their chauffeurs. Doctors sue the insurance companies. Scholars show their discoveries and hide their decorations. Farmers deliver potatoes to the barracks. The revolution has won its first battle: That's what has happened.