L'Internationale, w/ eng. transl.

L'Internationale
lyrics: Eugène Pottier (1816–1887)
with english translation:

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
Foules, esclaves, 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 :|
   

(Stand up, wretched of the earth
Stand up, galley slaves of hunger
Reason thunders in its volcano
This is the eruption of the end
Of the past let us wipe the slate clean
Masses, slaves, arise, arise
The world is about to change its foundation
We are nothing, let us be all
 |: This is the final struggle
  Let us gather together, and tomorrow
  The Internationale
  Will be the human race :|)


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 :|
   

(There are no supreme saviours
Neither God, nor Caesar, nor tribune.
Producers, let us save ourselves
Decree the common welfare
That the thief return his plunder,
That the spirit be pulled from its prison
Let us fan the forge ourselves
Strike the iron while it is hot
 |: This is the final struggle
  Let us stand together, and tomorrow
  The Internationale
  Will be the human race :|
)

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
Egaux, pas de devoirs sans droits
 |: C'est la lutte finale
  Groupons-nous, et demain
  L'Internationale
  Sera le genre humain :|
   

(The state represses and the law cheats
The tax bleeds the unfortunate
No duty is imposed on the rich
'Rights of the poor' is a hollow phrase
Enough languishing in custody
Equality wants other laws:
No rights without obligations, it says,
And as well, no obligations without rights
 |: This is the final struggle
  Let us stand together, and tomorrow
  The Internationale
  Will be the human race :|
)

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 :|
   

(Hideous in their self-glorification
Kings of the mine and rail
Have they ever done anything other
Than steal work?
Into the coffers of that lot,
What work creates has melted
In demanding that they give it back
The people wants only its due.
 |: This is the final struggle
  Let us stand together, and tomorrow
  The Internationale
  Will be the human race :|
)

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
A 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 :|
   

(The kings make us drunk with their fumes,
Peace among ourselves, war to the tyrants!
Let the armies go on strike,
Guns in the air, and break ranks
If these cannibals insist
On making heroes of us,
Soon they will know our bullets
Are for our own generals
 |: This is the final struggle
  Let us stand together, and tomorrow
  The Internationale
  Will be the human race :|
)

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 :|
(Labourers, peasants, we are
The great party of workers
The earth belongs only to men
The idle will go reside elsewhere
How much of our flesh they feed on,
But if the ravens and vultures
Disappear one of these days
The sun will still shine
 |: This is the final struggle
  Let us stand together, and tomorrow
  The Internationale
  Will be the human race :|)

I believe in world peace (not just a cliche), non-violence, and reforms, and everything that is good.  Subversion of any kind is not for me...  Paix!

I too believe in world peace - and that the means are the ends in the making.

i sang along to this with some survivors of the tianenmen square massacre a couple of weeks after the event. very moving.

Telemachus wrote:

I too believe in world peace - and that the means are the ends in the making.

I too, very much! L'Internationale is an anarchist song, not a leninist one. That's why I quoted the full original.

normajeanyates wrote:

I too, very much! L'Internationale is an anarchist song, not a leninist one. That's why I quoted the full original.

sorry but i disagree. the words were written by eugene pottier, a revolutionary socialist and member of the paris commune, the music was written by pierre de geyter, also a revolutionary socialist.

discokermit wrote:

normajeanyates wrote:

I too, very much! L'Internationale is an anarchist song, not a leninist one. That's why I quoted the full original.

sorry but i disagree. the words were written by eugene pottier, a revolutionary socialist and member of the paris commune, the music was written by pierre de geyter, also a revolutionary socialist.

that's not to say that anarchists can't sing it though. ;-)

the paris commune was anarchist. Marx's famous/infamous essay 'the civil war in france' is an astounding mixture of brilliant insight and blatant intellectual dishonesty, sorry.

anarchists were communists. The first international was founded by Marx and Bakunin. Bolsheviks co-opted the term 'communist'.

To make it clear where that is coming from, I am communist, not marxist but small-a-anarchist; but NOT antimarxist either.

anarchist = libertarian socialist, revolutionary or not.

regardless of dictionary definitions and the character of the paris commune, there is a distinct difference between revolutionary socialists and anarchists. and the song was written by socialists.

anyway, i don't want to nitpick. for me the internationale is the anthem of the working class and anyone who is oppressed or fights oppression.

discokermit wrote:

for me the internationale is the anthem of the working class and anyone who is oppressed or fights oppression.

Agreed. We don't have any *real* differences on this, it is clear.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but anarchy and communism are contradictory.  There is an authoritarian government in communism and anarchy literally means "without ruler or authority".  And I can't imagine archists organizing themselves.  With due respects, I guess communism is discredited already... 

look up anarchocommunism.

anarchocommunism and anarchosyndicalism were classically the two main branches. In the spanish civil war, the anarchist league of iberia was anarchocommunist. Read George Orwell's participant's account Homage To Catalonia. Also his essay Spilling The Spanish Beans.

I only partly read Anarchist communism in Wikipedia because it was a very long article (it's the first time I encounter this term).  It seems good but I don't see it being adopted at least in this particular time in our history.  It's too idealistic, and I think it exhibits the basic Christian social teaching where all are equal, and no one becomes hungry (capitalism without regard to people, greed, and other social evils should be extinguished).  People tended to support each other.  I have risked saying that (reference to religion) because I think anarchists and communists are anti-religion; am I right?  Regardless of the ideology, I just hope that full rights of people are guaranteed.

Charlie91: you can look at it this way: anarchism is taking the following to the logical conclusion: 'my freedom ends where your nose begins. But not before that.' It is libertarian socialism!

addressing the orthodox Marxists here:

1. please go to zcommunications.org and check the link to anarchism_faq - the material on that link if printed out will come to about 6000 pages i think. I disagree with much of it, but it is most useful.

2. Please read Rosa Luxemburg's Accumulation of Capital; and her letters to Lenin after the Bolshevik revolution. Read Alexandra Collantai. Also read Humboldt, Malestesta, Bakunin [not Bukharin. Bakunin.]; read Proudhon rather than Marx's caricature of Proudhon; read Emma Goldman, Murray Bookchin, Peter Kropotkin, ... read Noam Chomsky's notes on anarchism, scattered over several books but also scattered over the internet - for the last spacially, zcommunications.org is the place.

I am afraid too many of you orthodox Marxists have read too much of one side of a bitter telephone-conversation along with that side misrepresenting what the other side said. You are contibuting to the stability of Marxism as one of the four great religions of the world - the other three being Judaism, Islam and Christianity. Is that what you want.

Anarchists and Marxists worked very well together in Paris and London 1968. I am afraid I have inadvertantly started another one of what Arundhati Roy called 'the exquisite theological internecine squabbles of the left' - no she put it even better though i can't recall the exact words right now...

I'll not be posting on this topic any more. Here is my response to any further posts on this thread:

'No doubt you are right and I am wrong. I am an Infantile-Disordered-Left-Wing-Communist [hey see, Lenin called anarchists communists too, albeit infantile-disordered :)] - so of course I am expected to be wrong!'

So noted.  I hope you're smiling while typing that post, and I'm amused (in a nice way) with your way of combining all those terms into one.  Well, you're not alone.  We are all disordered beings, and hopefully use our time wisely while on this planet.   [NB. After posting this reply, my member points turned to 666.]

  "I hope you're smiling while typing that post" - of course!

I didn't combine them: that's an allusion to lenin's book called

' "Left-Wing Communism" - An Infantile Disorder ' :)

666 eh? May Ol' Nick be your guardian angel and protect you from all harm! ;)

Thanks!  (it's now 668)  Thanks for your enlightening me about that.  I actually think that communism is the same as Marxism (or other isms); it's like a cat, so many ways to skin it...  No need to belabor the point; it's my last post in the subject...