Internationale, The

DESCRIPTION: Communist anthem, translated into most major languages. English: "Arise, you pris'ners of starvation, Arise you wretched of the earth...." The workers are urged to rise up, throw off their chains and their overlords, and work toward a united human race
AUTHOR: Words: Eugene Pottier/Music: Pierre Degeyter
EARLIEST DATE: 1887 (Chants Revolutionnaires)
KEYWORDS: political nonballad foreignlanguage
FOUND IN:
REFERENCES (3 citations):
Silber/Silber-FolksingersWordbook, p. 297, "The Internationale" (1 (English) text)
Fuld-BookOfWorldFamousMusic, p. 303, "L'Internationale"
DT, INTERNAT*
RECORDINGS:
Pete Seeger, "L'Internationale, " [sung in French] (on PeteSeeger47)
NOTES [96 words]: Obviously not a "folk song" in the ordinary sense, and not as popular as it once was. But enough people have sung it at one time or another (in many languages, though the original is French) that it probably belongs here.
It was apparently widely sung during the 1912 Lawrence Strike (the "Bread and Roses Strike"), for which see "Bread and Roses."
Ironically, this song was not written for Communism as such but for the Paris Commune of 1871 -- a movement which failed miserably, had no influence on future French policy, and wasn't "Communist" in the Leninist sense anyway. - RBW
Last updated in version 6.6
File: FSWB297B

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