The

political slogan Slogan, Slogans and Catchphrase, catchphrases are used by politicians, political parties, militaries, activists, and protestors to express or encourage particular beliefs or actions. List International usage * Better dead than RedAnti-communi ...

"Workers of the world, unite!" is one of the rallying cries from ''

The Communist Manifesto ''The Communist Manifesto'' (), originally the ''Manifesto of the Communist Party'' (), is a political pamphlet written by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, commissioned by the Communist League and originally published in London in 1848. The ...

'' (1848) by

Karl Marx Karl Marx (; 5 May 1818 – 14 March 1883) was a German philosopher, political theorist, economist, journalist, and revolutionary socialist. He is best-known for the 1848 pamphlet '' The Communist Manifesto'' (written with Friedrich Engels) ...

and

Friedrich Engels Friedrich Engels ( ;"Engels"
''Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary''. but soon popularised in

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Culture, language and peoples * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England * ''English'', an Amish ter ...

as "Workers of the world, unite! You have nothing to lose but your chains!"). A variation of this phrase ("Workers of all lands, unite") is also inscribed on Marx's tombstone. The essence of the slogan is that members of the

working class The working class is a subset of employees who are compensated with wage or salary-based contracts, whose exact membership varies from definition to definition. Members of the working class rely primarily upon earnings from wage labour. Most c ...

es throughout the world should cooperate to defeat

capitalism Capitalism is an economic system based on the private ownership of the means of production and their use for the purpose of obtaining profit. This socioeconomic system has developed historically through several stages and is defined by ...

and achieve victory in the

class conflict In political science, the term class conflict, class struggle, or class war refers to the economic antagonism and political tension that exist among social classes because of clashing interests, competition for limited resources, and inequali ...

Overview

Chelovek s ruzhyom-Tenin Shtraukh Gelovani

Five years before ''The Communist Manifesto'', this phrase appeared in the 1843 book ''The Workers' Union'' by

Flora Tristan Flore Célestine Thérèse Henriette Tristán y Moscoso (7 April 1803 – 14 November 1844), better known as Flora Tristan, was a French-Peruvian writer and socialist activist. She made important contributions to early feminist theory, and argue ...

. The

International Workingmen's Association The International Workingmen's Association (IWA; 1864–1876), often called the First International, was a political international which aimed at uniting a variety of different left-wing socialist, social democratic, communist, and anarchist g ...

, described by Engels as "the first international movement of the working class" was persuaded by Engels to change its motto from the

League of the Just The League of the Just () or League of Justice was a masonic international revolutionary organization. It was founded in 1836 by branching off from its ancestor, the , which had formed in Paris in 1834. The League of the Just was largely compos ...

's "all men are brothers" to "working men of all countries, unite!". It reflected Marx's and Engels' view of

proletarian internationalism Proletarian internationalism, sometimes referred to as international socialism, is the perception of all proletarian revolutions as being part of a single global class struggle rather than separate localized events. It is based on the theory th ...

. The phrase has overlapping meanings: first, that workers should unite in unions to better push for their demands such as workplace pay and conditions; secondly, that workers should see beyond their various craft unions and unite against the capitalist system; and thirdly, workers of different countries have more in common with each other than workers and employers of the same country. The phrase was used by the

Industrial Workers of the World The Industrial Workers of the World (IWW), whose members are nicknamed "Wobblies", is an international labor union founded in Chicago, United States in 1905. The nickname's origin is uncertain. Its ideology combines general unionism with indu ...

(IWW) in their publications and songs

Melvyn Dubofsky Melvyn Dubofsky (born October 25, 1934) is professor emeritus of history and sociology, and a well-known labor historian. He is Bartle Distinguished Professor of History and Sociology at the Binghamton University. Dubofsky helped advance the fi ...

, ''

We Shall Be All ''We Shall Be All: A History of the Industrial Workers of the World'' is a 1969 history book about the Industrial Workers of the World by Melvyn Dubofsky. Bibliography * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * External ...

'', Quadrangle Books, 1969. and was a mainstay on banners in

May Day May Day is a European festival of ancient origins marking the beginning of summer, usually celebrated on 1 May, around halfway between the Northern Hemisphere's March equinox, spring equinox and midsummer June solstice, solstice. Festivities ma ...

demonstrations. The IWW used it when opposing

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

in both the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

and

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

. The slogan was the

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

's state

motto A motto (derived from the Latin language, Latin , 'mutter', by way of Italian language, Italian , 'word' or 'sentence') is a Sentence (linguistics), sentence or phrase expressing a belief or purpose, or the general motivation or intention of a ...

(Пролетарии всех стран, соединяйтесь!; ''Proletarii vsekh stran, soyedinyaytes'!'') and it appeared in the

State Emblem of the Soviet Union The State Emblem of the Soviet Union was the official symbol of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics adopted in 1923 and used until the Dissolution of the Soviet Union, dissolution of the state in 1991. Although it technically is an emblem ...

. It also appeared on 1919

Russian SFSR The Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic (Russian SFSR or RSFSR), previously known as the Russian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic and the Russian Soviet Republic, and unofficially as Soviet Russia,Declaration of Rights of the labo ...

banknotes (in Arabic, Chinese, English, French, German, Italian and Russian), on

Soviet ruble The ruble or rouble (; rus, рубль, r=rubl', p=rublʲ) was the currency of the Soviet Union. It was introduced in 1922 and replaced the Russian ruble#Imperial ruble (1704-1922), Imperial Russian ruble. One ruble was divided into 100 kopecks ...

coins from 1921 to 1934 and was the slogan of Soviet newspaper ''

Pravda ''Pravda'' ( rus, Правда, p=ˈpravdə, a=Ru-правда.ogg, 'Truth') is a Russian broadsheet newspaper, and was the official newspaper of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, when it was one of the most in ...

''. Some socialist and communist parties continue using it.

Variations

In the first

Swedish Swedish or ' may refer to: Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically: * Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland ** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...

translation of ''The Communist Manifesto'', published in 1848, the translator

Pehr Götrek Pehr is a predominantly Swedish language masculine give name and may refer to: *Pehr Adlerfelt (1680–1743), Swedish Army colonel *Pehr von Afzelius (1760–1843), Swedish medical doctor and professor * Pehr Victor Edman (1916—1977), Swedish bi ...

substituted the slogan with ''Folkets röst, Guds röst!'' (i.e. ''

Vox populi, vox Dei ''Vox Populi, Vox Dei'' is a Whig tract of 1709, titled after a Latin phrase meaning "the voice of the people is the voice of God" (Singular, as "Vox populi, vox deorum" would be Gods, plural.) It was expanded in 1710 and later reprintings as '' ...

'', or "The Voice of the People, the Voice of God"). However, later translations have included the original slogan.
libris 7639421
reprint o
libris 2683080
The guiding motto of the 2nd

Comintern The Communist International, abbreviated as Comintern and also known as the Third International, was a political international which existed from 1919 to 1943 and advocated world communism. Emerging from the collapse of the Second Internatio ...

congress in 1920, under

Lenin Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov ( 187021 January 1924), better known as Vladimir Lenin, was a Russian revolutionary, politician and political theorist. He was the first head of government of Soviet Russia from 1917 until Death and state funeral of ...

's directive, was "Workers and oppressed peoples of all countries, unite!". This denoted the anti-

colonialist Colonialism is the control of another territory, natural resources and people by a foreign group. Colonizers control the political and tribal power of the colonised territory. While frequently an Imperialism, imperialist project, colonialism c ...

agenda of the Comintern, and was seen as an attempt to unite racially-subjugated

black people Black is a racial classification of people, usually a political and skin color-based category for specific populations with a mid- to dark brown complexion. Not all people considered "black" have dark skin and often additional phenotypical ...

and the global

proletariat The proletariat (; ) is the social class of wage-earners, those members of a society whose possession of significant economic value is their labour power (their capacity to work). A member of such a class is a proletarian or a . Marxist ph ...

anti-imperialist Anti-imperialism in political science and international relations is opposition to imperialism or neocolonialism. Anti-imperialist sentiment typically manifests as a political principle in independence struggles against intervention or influenc ...

struggle.

In other languages

This slogan was used by several socialist states and communist parties as their official motto.

Motto of the Soviet Union

In each

Soviet republic A soviet republic (from ), also called council republic, is a republic in which the government is formed of soviets (workers' councils) and politics are based on soviet democracy. During the Revolutions of 1917–1923, various revolutionary ...

, the same motto was used in the local language.

Motto of other countries

Motto of communist parties

The English phrase and its variants (the variant "All power to the workers" is used by some parties such as the

Communist Party of Australia The Communist Party of Australia (CPA), known as the Australian Communist Party (ACP) from 1944 to 1951, was an Australian communist party founded in 1920. The party existed until roughly 1991, with its membership and influence having been ...

) are used by communist parties in the

English-speaking world The English-speaking world comprises the 88 countries and territories in which English language, English is an official, administrative, or cultural language. In the early 2000s, between one and two billion people spoke English, making it the ...

. The list below does not include the mottos of communist parties of the above countries or in languages listed above.

Notes

References

External links

''Manifesto of the Communist Party''
by

and

Friedrich Engels Friedrich Engels ( ;"Engels"
''Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary''.Chapter 4
of ''The Communist Manifesto''.
Collection of Quotes by Karl Marx
{{Communism 1840s neologisms 1840s quotations Communism Marxism National mottos Political catchphrases Political quotes Quotations from literature Philosophical phrases Working-class culture de:Liste geflügelter Worte/P#Proletarier aller Länder, vereinigt euch!