"The Internationale" (french: "L'Internationale", italic=no, ) is an international

anthem An anthem is a musical composition of celebration, usually used as a symbol for a distinct group, particularly the national anthems of countries. Originally, and in music theory and religious contexts, it also refers more particularly to short ...

used by various communist and socialist groups; currently, it serves as the official anthem of the Communist Party of China. It has been a standard of the socialist movement since the late nineteenth century, when the Second International adopted it as its official anthem. The title arises from the " First International", an alliance of workers which held a congress in 1864. The author of the anthem's lyrics,

Eugène Pottier Eugene is a common male given name that comes from the Greek εὐγενής (''eugenēs''), "noble", literally "well-born", from εὖ (''eu''), "well" and γένος (''genos''), "race, stock, kin".Pierre De Geyter Pierre Chrétien De Geyter (; 8 October 1848 – 26 September 1932) was a Belgian socialist and a composer, known for writing the music of ''The Internationale''. Early life De Geyter was born in Ghent, Belgium, where his parents, originall ...

, a Marxist. It is one of the most universally

translated Translation is the communication of the meaning of a source-language text by means of an equivalent target-language text. The English language draws a terminological distinction (which does not exist in every language) between ''transla ...

anthems in history. It has been adopted as the anthem of the

anarchist Anarchism is a political philosophy and movement that is skeptical of all justifications for authority and seeks to abolish the institutions it claims maintain unnecessary coercion and hierarchy, typically including, though not neces ...

communist Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, a s ...

, socialist, democratic socialist, and

social democratic Social democracy is a political, social, and economic philosophy within socialism that supports political and economic democracy. As a policy regime, it is described by academics as advocating economic and social interventions to promote soci ...

movements.

French version

The original French lyrics were written in June 1871 by

Eugène Pottier Eugene is a common male given name that comes from the Greek εὐγενής (''eugenēs''), "noble", literally "well-born", from εὖ (''eu''), "well" and γένος (''genos''), "race, stock, kin".Paris Commune) and were originally intended to be sung to the tune of " La Marseillaise". However, the melody to which it is usually sung was composed in 1888 by

Pierre De Geyter Pierre Chrétien De Geyter (; 8 October 1848 – 26 September 1932) was a Belgian socialist and a composer, known for writing the music of ''The Internationale''. Early life De Geyter was born in Ghent, Belgium, where his parents, originall ...

for the choir "La Lyre des travailleurs" of the French Worker's Party in his hometown of Lille, and the first performed there in July of that year. DeGeyter had been commissioned to do this for the choir by , the mayor of Lille. There is an early edition of the song, predating the final 1887 version; it was published in 1990 by

Robert Brécy The name Robert is an ancient Germanic given name, from Proto-Germanic "fame" and "bright" (''Hrōþiberhtaz''). Compare Old Dutch ''Robrecht'' and Old High German ''Hrodebert'' (a compound of '' Hruod'' ( non, Hróðr) "fame, glory, honou ...

. Contemporary editions published by Boldoduc (Lille) in 1888, by Delory in 1894, and by Lagrange in 1898 are no longer locatable. Pottiers's lyrics contain one-liners that became very popular and found widespread use as slogans; other lines ("Ni Dieu, ni César, ni tribun") were already well-known in the workers' movement. The success of the song is connected to the stability and widespread popularity of the Second International. Like the lyrics, the music by Degeyter was relatively simple and down to earth, suitable for a workers' audience.

French lyrics, 1887 version

Authorship and copyright

In a successful attempt to save Pierre De Geyter's job as a woodcarver, the 6,000 leaflets printed by Lille printer Boldoduc only mentioned the French version of his family name (Degeyter). The second edition published by Delory named Pierre's brother Adolphe as the composer. With neither money nor representation, Pierre De Geyter lost his first lawsuit over this in 1914 and did not gain legal recognition of authorship until 1922 when he was 74. His brother had in the meantime died by

suicide Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Mental disorders (including depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, personality disorders, anxiety disorders), physical disorders (such as chronic fatigue syndrome), and s ...

in 1916, leaving a note to Pierre explaining the fraud and stating that Delory had manipulated him into claiming authorship; and Delory had inscribed on Adolphe's tombstone "Ici repose Adolphe Degeyter, l'auteur de ''L'Internationale''". Despite this dying declaration, historians in the 1960s such as Daniel Ligou were still contending that Adolphe was the author. In 1972 "Montana Edition", owned by , bought the rights to the song for 5,000 Deutschmark, first for the territory of West Germany, then in East Germany, then worldwide. East Germany paid Montana Edition 20,000 DM every year for its rights to play the music. Pierre De Geyter died in 1932, causing the copyrights to expire in 2002. Luckhardt's German text is the public domain since 1984. As the "Internationale" music was published before 1 July 1909 outside the United States, it is in the public domain in the United States. As of 2013, Pierre De Geyter's music is also in the public domain in countries and areas whose copyright durations are authors' lifetime plus 80 years or less. Due to France's wartime copyright extensions (''prorogations de Guerre''), SACEM claimed that the music was still copyrighted in France until October 2014. Because of this, the "Internationale" is also in the public domain within France. As Eugène Pottier died in 1887, his original French lyrics are in the public domain. Gustave Delory once acquired the copyright of his lyrics through the songwriter G. B. Clement having bought it from Pottier's widow.

Anthem of the Soviet Union

The Russian version was initially translated by

Arkady Kots Arkady Yakovlevich Kots (russian: Аркадий Яковлевич Коц; alias - A.Danin, A.Bronin, A.Shatov) (1872, Odessa – 1943) was a Russian socialist poet of Jewish descent. Arkady (Aaron) Kots graduated from a mining school in Horlivk ...

in 1902 and printed in London in ''

Zhizn ''Zhizn'' ( rus, Жизнь, p=ˈʐɨzʲnʲ, a=Ru-жизнь.ogg, ''"Life"'') was a Russian magazine published first in Saint Petersburg (1897-1901), then in London and Geneva (1902). ''Zhizn'' began its existence as a general purpose magazine in ...

'', a Russian émigré magazine. The first Russian version consisted of three

stanza In poetry, a stanza (; from Italian language, Italian ''stanza'' , "room") is a group of lines within a poem, usually set off from others by a blank line or Indentation (typesetting), indentation. Stanzas can have regular rhyme scheme, rhyme and ...

s (as opposed to six stanzas in the original French lyrics and based on stanzas 1, 2, and 6) and the refrain. After the Bolshevik Revolution in Russia, the text was slightly re-worded to get rid of "now useless" future tenses – particularly the refrain was reworded (the future tense was replaced by the present, and the first person plural possessive pronoun was introduced). In 1918, the chief editor of '' Izvestia'',

Yuri Steklov Yuri Mikhailovich Steklov (russian: Юрий Михайлович Стеклов; born Ovshey Moiseyevich Nakhamkis; russian: Овший Моисе́евич Наха́мкис; , in Odessa - 15 September 1941, in Saratov) was a Russian revolut ...

, appealed to Russian writers to translate the other three stanzas and in the end, the song was expanded into six stanzas. The full song is as follows:

Toscanini and ''Hymn of the Nations''

The change of the Soviet Union's national anthem from "The Internationale" to the "State Anthem of the USSR" was a factor in the production of the 1944 movie ''

Hymn of the Nations ''Hymn of the Nations'', originally titled ''Arturo Toscanini: Hymn of the Nations'', is a 1944 film directed by Alexander Hammid, which features the '' Inno delle nazioni'', a patriotic work for tenor soloist, chorus, and orchestra, composed by ...

'', which made use of an orchestration of "The Internationale" that

Arturo Toscanini Arturo Toscanini (; ; March 25, 1867January 16, 1957) was an Italian conductor. He was one of the most acclaimed and influential musicians of the late 19th and early 20th century, renowned for his intensity, his perfectionism, his ear for orch ...

had already done the year before for a 1943-11-07 NBC radio broadcast commemorating the twenty-sixth anniversary of the October Revolution. It was incorporated into Verdi's ''

Inno delle nazioni ' (''Hymn of the nations''), a cantata in a single movement, is one of only two secular choral works composed by Giuseppe Verdi. This Hymn incorporates "God Save the King", "La Marseillaise", and "Il Canto degli Italiani". It was the first collab ...

'' alongside the national anthems of the United Kingdom (already in the original) and the United States (incorporated by Toscanini for a prior radio broadcast of the ''Inno'' in January of that year) to signify the side of the Allies during World War Two. Toscanini's son Walter remarked that an Italian audience for the movie would see the significance of Arturo being willing to play these anthems and unwilling to play '' Giovinezza'' and the '' Marcia Reale'' because of his anti-Fascist political views. Alexandr Hackenschmied, the film's director, expressed his view that the song was "ormai archeologico" (nearly archaeological), but this was a countered in a letter by Walter Toscanini to

Giuseppe Antonio Borgese Giuseppe Antonio Borgese (12 November 1882 – 4 December 1952) was an Italian writer, journalist, literary critic, Germanist, poet, playwright and academic naturalized American. Biography During the academic year 1899-1900, under pressure from hi ...

, rejecting the objections of Borgese, Hackenschmied, and indeed the Office of War Information. At the time, Walter stated that he believed that "The Internationale" had widespread relevance across Europe, and in 1966 he recounted in correspondence that the OWI had "panicked" when it had learned of the Soviet Union's plans, but Arturo had issued an ultimatum that if "The Internationale", "l'inno di tutte le glebe ed i lavoratori di tutto il mondo" (the anthem of the working classes of the whole world) was not included, that if the already done orchestration and performance were not used as-is, then they should forget about distributing the film entirely. The inclusion of "The Internationale" in the Toscanini's minds was not simply for the sake of a Soviet Union audience, but because of its relevance to all countries of the world. Although Walter did not consider "The Internationale" to be "good music", he considered it to be (as he stated to the OWI) "more than the hymn of a nation or a party" and "an idea of brotherhood". It would have been expensive to re-record a new performance of the ''Inno'' without "The Internationale", and it remained in the movie as originally released. Some time during the McCarthy Era, however, it was edited out of re-released copies, and remained so until a 1988 Library of Congress release on video, which restored "The Internationale" to the movie.

Winston Churchill and ''National Anthems of the Allies''

A similar situation had occurred earlier in the War with the BBC's popular weekly Sunday evening radio broadcast, preceding the Nine O'Clock News, titled ''National Anthems of the Allies'', whose playlist was all of the national anthems of the countries allied with the United Kingdom, the list growing with each country that Germany invaded. After the Germans began their invasion of the Soviet Union on 22 June 1941 ( Operation Barbarossa), it was fully expected that "The Internationale", as the anthem of the Soviet Union, would be included in the playlist that day; but to people's surprise it was not, neither that week nor the week after.

Winston Churchill Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (30 November 187424 January 1965) was a British statesman, soldier, and writer who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom twice, from 1940 to 1945 Winston Churchill in the Second World War, dur ...

, a staunch opponent of communism, had immediately sent word to the BBC via

Anthony Eden Robert Anthony Eden, 1st Earl of Avon, (12 June 1897 – 14 January 1977) was a British Conservative Party politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1955 until his resignation in 1957. Achieving rapid promo ...

that "The PM has issued an instruction to the Ministry of Information that the Internationale is ''on no account'' to be played by the B.B.C." (emphasis in the original). Newspapers such as the ''Daily Express'' and ''Daily Mail'' were sharply critical of the

Foreign Office Foreign may refer to: Government * Foreign policy, how a country interacts with other countries * Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in many countries ** Foreign Office, a department of the UK government ** Foreign office and foreign minister * Unit ...

, and questions were asked in the House of Commons. Ambassador Ivan Maisky recorded in his diary a conversation with Duff Cooper on 1941-07-11 where Cooper asked him if the music played after Vyacheslav Molotov's speech on 1941-06-22 would be acceptable to the Soviet Union, and he replied that it would not be. (The music was Tchaikovsky's ''

1812 Overture ''The Year 1812, Solemn Overture'', Op. 49, popularly known as the ''1812 Overture'', is a concert overture in E major written in 1880 by Russian composer Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky to commemorate the successful Russian defense against Napoleon ...

''.) On the evening of 1941-07-13, the BBC instead played, in Maisky's words, "a very beautiful but little-known Soviet song", which he described as demonstrating "the British Government's cowardice and foolishness". Rather than risk offending the Soviet Union by continuing to pointedly refuse to play its national anthem in a radio programme entitled ''National Anthems'', the BBC discontinued the programme. Six months later on 1942-01-22 Churchill relented and lifted the prohibition. This relaxation enabled "The Internationale" to be used in wartime broadcasts and films, and at public occasions, thereafter. The BBC's 1943 ''Salute to the Red Army'' had a mass performance of "The Internationale" at the

Royal Albert Hall The Royal Albert Hall is a concert hall on the northern edge of South Kensington, London. One of the UK's most treasured and distinctive buildings, it is held in trust for the nation and managed by a registered charity which receives no govern ...

by the choir of the

Royal Choral Society The Royal Choral Society (RCS) is an amateur choir, based in London. History Formed soon after the opening of the Royal Albert Hall in 1871, the choir gave its first performance as the Royal Albert Hall Choral Society on 8 May 1872 – the choir' ...

, the BBC Symphony Orchestra, the

London Philharmonic Orchestra The London Philharmonic Orchestra (LPO) is one of five permanent symphony orchestras based in London. It was founded by the conductors Sir Thomas Beecham and Malcolm Sargent in 1932 as a rival to the existing London Symphony and BBC Symphony ...

, and military bands, in front of the flag of the Soviet Union and following a speech by Anthony Eden. The day before, which was

Red Army Day Defender of the Fatherland Day (russian: День защитника Отечества ''Den' zashchitnika Otechestva''; kk, Отан қорғаушы күні; tg, Рӯзи Дорандаи Ватан; ky, Мекенди коргоочула ...

, troops and the audience had sung "The Internationale" to the

Lord Mayor of Bristol The position of Lord Mayor of Bristol was conferred on the city in June 1899 (effective 15 November 1899) as part of the Queen's Birthday Honours and was confirmed by letters patent dated 1 April 1974. Prior to November 1899 the position of M ...

. The 1944 movie ''

Tawny Pipit The tawny pipit (''Anthus campestris'') is a medium-large passerine bird which breeds in much of the central Palearctic from northwest Africa and Portugal to Central Siberia and on to Inner Mongolia. It is a migrant moving in winter to tropic ...

'' depicted schoolchildren in the fictional village of Lipton Lea welcoming the character Olga Boclova (based upon

Ludmilla Pavlichenko Lyudmila Mikhailovna Pavlichenko, (russian: Людми́ла Миха́йловна Павличе́нко; uk, Людмила Михайлівна Павличенко (romanized: Lyudmyla Mykhailivna Pavlychenko), ; 10 October 1974) was a So ...

) to their town by singing "The Internationale".

Soviet cinema and theatre

Dmitry Shostakovich Dmitri Dmitriyevich Shostakovich, , group=n (9 August 1975) was a Soviet-era Russian composer and pianist who became internationally known after the premiere of his First Symphony in 1926 and was regarded throughout his life as a major compo ...

used "The Internationale" twice for the movie soundtrack to the 1936 Soviet movie '' Girl Friends'', once performed by a military-style band when a group of women are preparing for war, and a second time as a solo performance on a theremin.

Nikolai Evreinov Nikolai Nikolayevich Evreinov (russian: Николай Николаевич Евреинов; February 13, 1879 – September 7, 1953) was a Russian director, dramatist and theatre practitioner associated with Russian Symbolism. Life The son of ...

's 1920 '' The Storming of the Winter Palace'' used both "The Internationale" and "La Marseillaise" symbolically in opposition to each other, with the former sung by the "Red platform" proletariat side and the latter sung by the "White platform" government side, the former starting weakly and in disarray but gradually becoming organised and drowning out the latter.

China

Qu Qiubai revised the translation of the lyrics into Chinese after having attended the Fourth Conference of

Comintern The Communist International (Comintern), also known as the Third International, was a Soviet Union, Soviet-controlled international organization founded in 1919 that advocated world communism. The Comintern resolved at its Second Congress to ...

in November 1921 and having not been able to join in the spontaneous singing by attendees there of "The Internationale" in their various home languages with their own Chinese rendition because the Chinese attendees did not have a good one. He proceeded, according to the political memoirs of his contemporaries, in 1923 to re-translate the lyrics from the original French at the organ in his cousin's home in Beijing, publishing them in '' New Youth'', a journal that he was the editor-in-chief of. This has become part of the cultural narrative of Qu's life, including in a 2001 television dramatisation of events, ''The Sun Rises from the East'', where Qu is depicted as explaining to

Cai Hesen Cai Hesen (March 30, 1895 – August 4, 1931) was an early leader of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), and a friend and comrade of Mao Zedong. Cai was born in Shanghai but grew up in Shuangfeng County in Hunan Province of China. He helped ...

that he (Qu) did not translate the song's title because he wished to make the Chinese version, which used a phonetic rendering of the French name using Chinese words "yingtenaixiongnaier", accessible to a multi-lingual non-Chinese-speaking audience. The television dramatisation included excerpts from the movie ''

Lenin in October ''Lenin in October'' (russian: Ленин в Октябре, Lenin v oktyabre) is a 1937 Soviet biographical drama film directed by Mikhail Romm and Dmitri Vasilyev and starring Boris Shchukin, Nikolay Okhlopkov and Vasili Vanin.Rollberg p.49 ...

'', a popular movie in China during the time of Mao with scenes that were set to "The Internationale". ''Lenin in October'' was one of several movies from Soviet cinema translated into Chinese in the 1950s that led to the widespread popularity of "The Internationale" in the early years of the PRC. Others include '' Lenin in 1918'', a 1939 movie which came to China in 1951, with "The Internationale" abruptly terminated at the point in the movie that Lenin is shot by an assassin; and the 1952 ''The Unforgettable 1919'' which came to China that same year and used "The Internationale" for a mass rally scene involving Joseph Stalin. Chinese movies about martyrs to the CCP cause would begin to incorporate the song into pivotal scenes later in the 1950s, this use peaking in the 1960s with inclusion into such movies as the 1965 ''Living Forever in Burning Flames'' depicting the execution of Jiang Jie. In the 1956 movie ''Mother'', the character Lao Deng, a local revolutionary leader, is depicted singing "The Internationale" on the way to his execution, and in the 1960 ''A Revolutionary Family'' the son of the protagonist (in chorus with his fellow prisoners) also sings "The Internationale" on the way to his execution. It would become a

leitmotif A leitmotif or leitmotiv () is a "short, recurring musical phrase" associated with a particular person, place, or idea. It is closely related to the musical concepts of ''idée fixe'' or ''motto-theme''. The spelling ''leitmotif'' is an anglici ...

of Chinese Revolutionary (model) cinema. Political memoirs of Li Dazhao's daughter Li Xinghua recount his explaining the lyrics of the song to her, he having encountered it on his travels with Qu in 1923 and during his visit to Moscow the following year. He also encouraged people to sing it during socialist activism training sessions in 1925 and 1926. As with Qu, the song forms part of the cultural narrative of his life, it being the widely accepted account of his execution in 1927 that he sang the song in the last moments of his life. As with Qu and Li, the song is found in many places in political histories of CCP leaders and martyrs to its cause, symbolising their socialist ideals, including Zhu De, Zhou Enlai, and Deng Xiaoping. It has also seen continued, and sometimes contradictory, uses over the decades as politics in China have changed, such as (for one example) Chen Yun's use in the 1960s to justify a new agricultural land allocation policy. It has maintained its status as a de facto CCP anthem, and its continued relevance over the decades can be seen in its inclusion in all three of the 1964 '' The East Is Red'', the 1984 ''The Song of the Chinese Revolution'', and the 2009 ''The Road to Prosperity''. While the song has a wide influence as an adjunct of official ideology, it has also been used in counter-cultural movements, such as the demonstrators in the

1989 Tiananmen Square protests The Tiananmen Square protests, known in Chinese as the June Fourth Incident (), were student-led demonstrations held in Tiananmen Square, Beijing during 1989. In what is known as the Tiananmen Square Massacre, or in Chinese the June Fourth ...

singing it during their final retreat.

Barbara Mittler Barbara Mittler (born 15 February 1968 in Hagen, West Germany) is a German sinologist. She is Co-director of the Cluster of Excellence "Asia and Europe in a Global Context". Early life and education Barbara Mittler was born 15 February 1968, in ...

maintains that this dual use of "The Internationale" by the government and by people demonstrating against it disproves any hypothesis that "a certain type of music 'depicts' a certain social environment". Timothy Garton Ash related a more pronounced role reversal in the August 1980 negotiations surrounding the creation of

Solidarity ''Solidarity'' is an awareness of shared interests, objectives, standards, and sympathies creating a psychological sense of unity of groups or classes. It is based on class collaboration.''Merriam Webster'', http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictio ...

, describing in his 1983 book ''The Polish Revolution'' striking workers watching the plenary of the ruling Polish United Workers' Party on television. In response to the government officials singing "The Internationale" on screen, a Party ritual, workers spontaneously broke into a recital of the

national anthem of Poland ( " Dąbrowski's Mazurka"), in English officially known by its incipit Poland Is Not Yet Lost, is the national anthem of the Republic of Poland. The original lyrics were written by Józef Wybicki in Reggio Emilia, in Northern Italy, between ...

, which Ash characterised as "'Arise ye prisoners of want' pipes the box; 'Poland is not yet lost' thunders the hall." "The Internationale" continues to be popular with 21st century Chinese audiences, as exemplified by its reception by audience when sung at the second curtain call of the "Shocking" concert of Liu Han, Liao Changyong, and

Mo Hualun Mo or MO may refer to: Arts and entertainment Fictional characters * Mo, a girl in the ''Horrible Histories'' TV series * Mo, also known as Mortimer, in the novel ''Inkheart'' by Cornelia Funke * Mo, in the webcomic ''Jesus and Mo'' * Mo, the ...

. Qu was hired as a translator for students at the Communist University of the Toilers of the East in Moscow, where he met

Xiao San Xiao San (; 10 October 1896 – 4 February 1983) was a Chinese poet and translator. He was fluent in Russian, French, German, and English. Xiao San was the first writer to write a biography of Mao Zedong. Names His birthname was Xiao Kesen (). ...

in 1922, who had newly arrived from France. There, Xiao was drawn into the

performing arts The performing arts are arts such as music, dance, and drama which are performed for an audience. They are different from the visual arts, which are the use of paint, canvas or various materials to create physical or static art objects. Perform ...

as a vehicle for revolutionary messages and, in conjunction with other students, translated "The Internationale" and several Soviet songs from the original French and Russian into Chinese, separately from Qu's work in Beijing in 1923. Xiao re-worked his translation in 1939, adding to it an explanatory history. Ironically, the translation in the television dramatisation ''The Sun Rises from the East'' that is recited by the character of Qu, is not in reality Qu's translation at all, but is the 1949 official approved translation based upon Xiao's, that is additionally credited to Zheng Zhenduo. The 2004 movie ''My Years in France'', a

biopic A biographical film or biopic () is a film that dramatizes the life of a non-fictional or historically-based person or people. Such films show the life of a historical person and the central character's real name is used. They differ from docudra ...

of Deng Xiaoping, re-framed this history into a dramatic scene, set in 1920s Paris before Xiao leaves for Moscow, in which Zhou Enlai,

Liu Qingyang / ( or ) is an East Asian surname. pinyin: in Mandarin Chinese, in Cantonese. It is the family name of the Han dynasty emperors. The character originally meant 'kill', but is now used only as a surname. It is listed 252nd in the classic tex ...

Zhang Shenfu Zhang Shenfu (; 1893–1986), born Zhang Songnian (张崧年), courtesy name Shenfu (申甫), was a founder of the Chinese Communist Party, a philosopher, and a political activist. Zhang was born on June 15, 1893, in Xiaoduo village, Zhili (mod ...

, and others climb to the top of Notre Dame to sing "The Internationale" to the accompaniment of its bell Emmanuel, and the character of Xiao resolves at that point, instead, to translate the song into Chinese.

Other translations

One of the earliest translations of the song dates from around 1900, when Dutch communist poet Henriette Roland Holst translated it into Dutch, with "Ontwaakt, verworpenen der aarde" ("Wake up, all who are cast away"). The American English version by Charless Kerr, and anonymous British English and Rumanian versions, were made around the same time. By the time of the 1910 International Socialist Congress in Copenhagen, versions had appeared in 18 different languages, including a Danish one by A. C. Meyer, which was sung at the end of a cantata by 500 singers. The traditional UK version of "The Internationale" is usually sung in three verses, while the American version, written by

Charles Hope Kerr Charles Hope Kerr (April 23, 1860 – June 1, 1944), a son of abolitionists, was a vegetarian and Unitarian in 1886 when he established Charles H. Kerr & Co. in Chicago. His publishing career is noted for his views' leftward progression towar ...

with five verses, is usually sung in two. The American version is sometimes sung with the phrase "the internationale", "the international soviet", or "the international union" in place of "the international working class". In English renditions, "Internationale" is sometimes sung as rather than the French pronunciation of . In modern usage, the American version also often uses "their" instead of "his" in "Let each stand in his place", and "free" instead of "be" in "Shall be the Human race." Pete Seeger asked

Billy Bragg Stephen William Bragg (born 20 December 1957) is an English singer-songwriter and left-wing activist. His music blends elements of folk music, punk rock and protest songs, with lyrics that mostly span political or romantic themes. His music is ...

to sing "The Internationale" with him at the Vancouver Folk Festival in 1989. Bragg thought the traditional English lyrics were archaic and unsingable (Scottish musician

Dick Gaughan Richard Peter Gaughan (born 17 May 1948) is a Scottish musician, singer and songwriter, particularly of folk and social protest songs. He is regarded as one of Scotland's leading singer-songwriters. Early years Gaughan was born in Glasgow's Roy ...

and former

Labour Labour or labor may refer to: * Childbirth, the delivery of a baby * Labour (human activity), or work ** Manual labour, physical work ** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer ** Organized labour and the labour ...

MP Tony Benn disagreed), and composed a new set of lyrics. The recording was released on his album '' The Internationale'' along with reworkings of other socialist songs. The first line of the song has been translated differently into various languages. The original French " debout" means "stand up", and this is retained in the Russian translation and several English ones, but the German translation is " aufwachen" meaning "wake up"/"arise" and this connotation of sleeping can also be found in English versions that read "Arise ye workers from your slumber". The existence of multiple translations led the song to gain pride of place in the official songbook of the

International Brigades The International Brigades ( es, Brigadas Internacionales) were military units set up by the Communist International to assist the Popular Front government of the Second Spanish Republic during the Spanish Civil War. The organization existed f ...

in the Spanish Civil War, as it was a song that volunteers from many countries could all sing together, each in their own languages but all to the same tune.

Allusions in other works

The "anthem" in the early pages of

George Orwell Eric Arthur Blair (25 June 1903 – 21 January 1950), better known by his pen name George Orwell, was an English novelist, essayist, journalist, and critic. His work is characterised by lucid prose, social criticism, opposition to totalitar ...

's ''

Animal Farm ''Animal Farm'' is a beast fable, in the form of satirical allegorical novella, by George Orwell, first published in England on 17 August 1945. It tells the story of a group of farm animals who rebel against their human farmer, hoping to crea ...

'' has been described as a "parody" or a "reconfiguration" of "The Internationale"; Orwell's text states (as a "humorous introduction") that it was sung as "between Clementine and La Cucaracha", in reference to " Oh My Darling, Clementine" and " La Cucaracha". William Carlos Williams' poem ''Choral: The Pink Church'' alludes to the lyrics of "The Internationale" in order to symbolise Communism, the poem otherwise barely mentioning Communism directly, Williams himself claiming to be "a pink ..''not'' a red" in a letter discussing the poem. One of Aleksandr Lebedev-Frontov's most famous works, which hung in the headquarters of the

National Bolshevik Party The National Bolshevik Party (NBP; russian: Национал-большевистская партия), also known as the Nazbols (russian: нацболы), operated from 1993 to 2007 as a Russian political party with a political program of Nat ...

, is a poster of the French Fantomas aiming a pistol at the viewer, subtitled with the first line of the Russian version of "The Internationale".

Translations into other languages

English translations

Pete Seeger asked

to sing "The Internationale" with him at the Vancouver Folk Festival in 1989. Bragg thought the traditional English lyrics were archaic and unsingable (Scottish musician

and former

MP Tony Benn disagreed), and composed a new set of lyrics. The recording was released on his album '' The Internationale'' along with reworkings of other socialist songs.

Bengali translation

"The Internationale" was translated to Bengali by

Hemanga Biswas Hemanga Biswas (14 December 1912 – 22 November 1987) was an Indian singer, composer, author and political activist, known for his literature in Bengali and Assamese, advocacy of peoples music, drawing from genres of folk music, including Bhat ...

and

Mohit Banerji Mohit Banerji (Mohit Bandopadhay) (1912–1961) was a pioneer of the Communist Party of India in West Bengal, India and translated several Communist movement songs of Europe into Bengali. These include "Soviet Land" and "The Internationale" (b ...

. It was subsequently adopted by West Bengal's Left Front.

Chinese translations

In addition to the Mandarin version, "The Internationale" also has Cantonese and Taiwanese Hokkien versions, occasionally used in Hong Kong and Taiwan. The word "Internationale" is not translated in either version. Uyghur version, Tibetan version and Mongolian version is also translated for the use of ethnic minorities of China.

Filipino translation

There were three Filipino versions of the song. The first was composed by

Juan Feleo Juan Feleo (May 1, 1896 - August 24, 1946) was a Filipino peasant leader and politician. He was one of the founders of one of the Philippines' leading peasant groups, the ''Kalipunang Pambansa ng Magbubukid sa Pilipinas'' (National Confederation of ...

of the

Partido Komunista ng Pilipinas-1930 The Partido Komunista ng Pilipinas-1930 (PKP-1930), also known as the Philippine Communist Party, is a communist party in the Philippines that was established on November 7, 1930. It uses the aforementioned appellation in order to distinguish i ...

under the title "Pandaigdigang Awit ng Manggagawa" (The International Worker's Anthem) which was translated from the English version. The second version was a retranslation of the first two stanzas on the basis of the French original by the

Communist Party of the Philippines The Communist Party of the Philippines ( fil, Partido Komunista ng Pilipinas) is a far-left, Marxist-Leninist-Maoist revolutionary organization and communist party in the Philippines, formed by Jose Maria Sison on 26 December 1968. It is desi ...

. The third version, which introduced the third stanza, was derived from both Chinese and French versions and translated by

Jose Maria Sison Jose Maria Canlas Sison (February 8, 1939 – December 16, 2022), also known by his nickname Joma, was a Filipino writer and activist who founded the Communist Party of the Philippines and added elements of Maoism to its philosophy – which w ...

, the CPP's founding chairman.

German translations

The original French text has six stanzas. The best-known and still widespread German-language adaptation was created by Emil Luckhardt (1880-1914) in 1910. His version is merely based on the original French text and is limited to a translation of the first two stanzas and the last stanza of the French song that is somewhat weakened and romanticised in its radicalism. Apart from Luckhardt's version, there are at least seven other lesser-known German text variants - each relating to specific historical situations or ideologically divergent socialist, communist and anarchist alignments. In addition to the Luckhardt version mentioned above, there is a version penned by Franz Diederich (1908) and by Sigmar Mehring. In 1919 a version was written by Erich Mühsam and in 1937 during the Spanish Civil War another one for the German

Thälmann Brigade Thälmann is a surname. Notable people with the surname include: People * Ernst Thälmann (1886–1944), leader of the Communist Party of Germany (KPD) during much of the Weimar Republic ** Ernst Thälmann (film), East German film about the Germa ...

(cf. also

) by Erich Weinert.

Korean translation

The Internationale is used in both Koreas, though it is more commonly used in the North. The DPRK uses "The Internationale" in propaganda and music, Party Congresses, and even

sports events Sport pertains to any form of competitive physical activity or game that aims to use, maintain, or improve physical ability and skills while providing enjoyment to participants and, in some cases, entertainment to spectators. Sports can, t ...

. In the South, the Internationale has been used by labour unions and protestors but remains less celebrated. As the northern lyrics are often considered too archaic and Communistic by southerners, there are 2 presently used versions of the Korean Internationale – the traditional lyrics, and the newer lyrics. While the northern lyrics borrow heavily from the Russian Internationale, the southern lyrics are completely original. In addition, the Southern refrain is longer and does not repeat.

Persian translation

For the first time, Abolqasem Lahouti, an Iranian poet and songwriter, translated and standardized this hymn into Persian. It was used as the official anthem of the short lived Persian Socialist Soviet Republic and one of the main anthems of the communist Tudeh Party of Iran .

Portuguese translation

Originally translated to Iberian Portuguese by

Neno Vasco Neno Vasco () was a poet, lawyer, journalist, anarchist, writer, and ardent revolutionary syndicalist activist born in Penafiel, Portugal. He emigrated to Brazil where he established a series of projects with the anarchists of that country. He ...

in 1909 from the French version, a very similar version in Brazilian Portuguese was wildly disseminated during the general strike of 1917 by anarchists and anarcho-syndicalists. The main difference between the two versions is that in the third verse the Brazilian version goes "Lords, bosses, supreme chiefs" (''Senhores, Patrões, chefs supremos'') while the European version is "Messiah, God, supreme chiefs" (''Messias, Deus, chefes supremos).''

Vietnamese translation

"The Internationale" was first translated into Vietnamese by the founder of the Communist Party of Vietnam and the first President of modern Vietnam, Ho Chi Minh, under the pseudonym "Nguyễn Ái Quốc". But the current lyrics in Vietnamese were translated by the 1st and 2nd General Secretaries of the Communist Party of Vietnam,

Trần Phú Trần Phú (1 May 1904 in Tuy An District – 6 September 1931) was a Vietnamese revolutionary and the first general secretary of the Indochinese Communist Party, later renamed the Communist Party of Vietnam. Biography Trần Phú was born ...

and

Lê Hồng Phong Lê Hồng Phong (6 September 1902 – 6 September 1942) was the second leader of the Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV); he led the party through the office of General Secretary of the Overseas Executive Committee of the Communist Party of Vietna ...

. It was subsequently adopted by the

Communist Party of Vietnam The Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV), also known as the Vietnamese Communist Party (VCP), is the founding and sole legal party of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam. Founded in 1930 by Hồ Chí Minh, the CPV became the ruling party of North ...

Audio files

References

Notes

Bibliography

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External links

* (on-line support material for ) * — a

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newsreel including footage of the playing of "The Internationale", excerpts from Eden's speech, and other celebrations around the UK
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