The Internationale
The Internationale L'Internationale (French) Интернационал (Russian) 國際歌 (Chinese) | |
|---|---|
 "Workers of the world, unite!" — Chinese poster (1971). The music behind is the Internationale. | |
| Written by |
Eugène Pottier Pierre De Geyter |
| Written in | June, 1871 |
| Audio version |
Instrumental In French In Russian In Chinese |
The Internationale is an international left-wing anthem of numerous socialist movements and tendencies. It was originally written in french by Eugène Pottier and the melody composed by Pierre De Geyter after the defeated Paris Commune. It mostly serves as the party anthem of numerous communist parties.
Translations
It has been translated into almost every language of the world as revolutionary movements around the world, mostly inspired by Marxism or a related tendency, arose. Eugène Pottier was the first to write a translation in English as he fled to exile in the United States of America.
Usage amongst left-wing tendencies
The Internationale has been used by Marxists, Marxist-Leninists, Maoists, "democratic" socialists, Social democrats, and Anarchists. It served as the offical national anthem of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics until 1944.
Unfortunately, the Internationale has been used by countries who claim to be socialists, but are actually developing their own native capitalisms (i.e. the modern People's Republic of China, Republic of Cuba, Democratic People's Republic of Korea, etc.)