The Internationale

The Internationale, originally a French song, is now a well known song of socialism and communism. It was the official anthem of the Soviet Union in the years 1918 through late 1943 (sung in Russian, of course). It is also the anthem of Communist parties and many socialist movements worldwide.

Its original French refrain is C'est la lutte finale / Groupons-nous et demain / L'Internationale / Sera le genre humain. (Freely translated: "This is the final struggle / Let us group together and tomorrow / The Internationale / Will be the human race.")



The original French words were written in June 1871 by Eugène Pottier (1816–1887.) The song of the First and Second International, it was written by Pottier, a transport worker, after the Paris Commune was crushed by the French government and was originally intended to be sung to the tune of La Marseillaise. Pierre De Geyter (1848–1932) set the poem to music in 1888. The Paris Commune and the events of that fateful 1871 Summer of revolution elsewhere in Europe were the only mass socialist revolution during Marx and Engels lifetime and didn’t work out too well, particularly for the Communards.

Less well known is the contribution of London and Ireland to world revolution. Karl Marx and Frederick Engels both lived and died in London and it was here they collaborated successfully. Here they produced the Communist Manifesto, itself launched in 1848 to a largely Irish audience at a Workingman’s club at the corner of Endell Street and Long Acre in Covent Garden, London. The analysis of social conditions and the effects of Capitalism on which the Manifesto is based was “The Condition of the Working Class in England”. This was the study over two years of social conditions in working class Manchester which Frederick Engels compiled with the help of Mary Burns, an Irish factory worker, who was his lover and collaborator and lived with him until her death in 1863. Engels then lived with Mary’s sister Lydia! Mary Burns was the key who unlocked access for Frederick Engels to the working class poor of Manchester. They also travelled to Ireland together on a number of occasions and Engels also wrote on the conditions in Ireland under English rule. When Frederick moved from Manchester to London they lived in Primrose Hill not far from Karl Marx in Belsize Park.


Charlie and Fred

So it is fitting that the other great socialist anthem “The Red Flag” was written by Jim Connell. An Irishman and Labour activist living in London.

http://daithaic.blogspot.com/2010/09/red-flag.html



Debout, les damnés de la terre
Debout, les forçats de la faim
La raison tonne en son cratère
C'est l'éruption de la fin
Du passé faisons table rase
Foule esclave, debout, debout
Le monde va changer de base
Nous ne sommes rien, soyons tout
|: C'est la lutte finale
Groupons-nous, et demain
L'Internationale
Sera le genre humain :|

Il n'est pas de sauveurs suprêmes
Ni Dieu, ni César, ni tribun
Producteurs, sauvons-nous nous-mêmes
Décrétons le salut commun
Pour que le voleur rende gorge
Pour tirer l'esprit du cachot
Soufflons nous-mêmes notre forge
Battons le fer quand il est chaud
|: C'est la lutte finale
Groupons-nous, et demain
L'Internationale
Sera le genre humain :|



L'État comprime et la loi triche
L'impôt saigne le malheureux
Nul devoir ne s'impose au riche
Le droit du pauvre est un mot creux
C'est assez, languir en tutelle
L'égalité veut d'autres lois
Pas de droits sans devoirs dit-elle
Égaux, pas de devoirs sans droits
|: C'est la lutte finale
Groupons-nous, et demain
L'Internationale
Sera le genre humain :|

Hideux dans leur apothéose
Les rois de la mine et du rail
Ont-ils jamais fait autre chose
Que dévaliser le travail ?
Dans les coffres-forts de la bande
Ce qu'il a créé s'est fondu
En décrétant qu'on le lui rende
Le peuple ne veut que son dû.
|: C'est la lutte finale
Groupons-nous, et demain
L'Internationale
Sera le genre humain :|


Liberty Hall, Dublin 1914 - "We serve neither King nor Kaiser but Ireland."

Les rois nous saoulaient de fumées
Paix entre nous, guerre aux tyrans
Appliquons la grève aux armées
Crosse en l'air, et rompons les rangs
S'ils s'obstinent, ces cannibales
À faire de nous des héros
Ils sauront bientôt que nos balles
Sont pour nos propres généraux
|: C'est la lutte finale
Groupons-nous, et demain
L'Internationale
Sera le genre humain :|

Ouvriers, paysans, nous sommes
Le grand parti des travailleurs
La terre n'appartient qu'aux hommes
L'oisif ira loger ailleurs
Combien de nos chairs se repaissent
Mais si les corbeaux, les vautours
Un de ces matins disparaissent
Le soleil brillera toujours.
|: C'est la lutte finale
Groupons-nous, et demain
L'Internationale Sera le genre humain !




Arise, ye workers from your slumber,
Arise, ye prisoners of want.
For reason in revolt now thunders,
and at last ends the age of cant!
Away with all your superstitions,
Servile masses, arise, arise!
We'll change henceforth the old tradition,
And spurn the dust to win the prize!
So comrades, come rally,
And the last fight let us face.
The Internationale,
Unites the human race.
So comrades, come rally,
And the last fight let us face.
The Internationale,
Unites the human race.

No more deluded by reaction,
On tyrants only we'll make war!
The soldiers too will take strike action,
They'll break ranks and fight no more!
And if those cannibals keep trying,
To sacrifice us to their pride,
They soon shall hear the bullets flying,
We'll shoot the generals on our own side.
So comrades, come rally,
And the last fight let us face.
The Internationale,
Unites the human race.
So comrades, come rally,
And the last fight let us face.
The Internationale,
Unites the human race.


Communards after the Commune



No saviour from on high delivers,
No faith have we in prince or peer.
Our own right hand the chains must shiver,
Chains of hatred, greed and fear.
E'er the thieves will out with their booty,
And to all give a happier lot.
Each at his forge must do their duty,
And we'll strike the iron while it's hot.
So comrades, come rally,
And the last fight let us face.
The Internationale,
Unites the human race.
So comrades, come rally,
And the last fight let us face.
The Internationale,
Unites the human race.

The French Revolution may have happened 222 years ago but it continues to influence and inform the body politic. I can only echo the words of somebody who was a student in France, Chinese Communist leader Chou En Lai who replied when he was asked what was the impact of the French Revolution; “It is too early to tell!"

For the effect of the French Revolution on Ireland see;

http://daithaic.blogspot.com/2008/03/years-of-french.html