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. . . no revolutionary movement is complete without its poetical expres­sion. If such a move­ment has caught hold of the imagination of the masses, they will seek a vent in song for the aspir­ations, the fears and hopes, the loves and hatreds engendered by the struggle. Until the move­ment is marked by the joyous, defiant singing of revo­lutionary songs, it lacks one of the most distinc­tive marks of a popular revo­lutionary move­ment; it is the dogma of a few, and not the faith of the multitude.—James Connolly


“Bandiera Rossa,” song of the Italian working class, performed by the Band and Choir of Salsomaggiore Terme   “El pueblo unido jamás será vencido!”—“The people united will never be defeated!”
 

“Joe Hill,” sung by Paul Robeson in Carnegie Hall, New York, 1958   “The Red Flag”
sung by Tyneside People’s Choir
 


“Irish Communists”


“Irish Communists” is a short piece written for a brass band and dedicated to the CPI by the young Russian composer Yulian Baryshnikov (a member of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation).

“The International”

“L’Internationale” was written in Paris in June 1871 by Eugène Pottier (1816–1887), a member of the International (the International Working Men’s Association) and of the Central Committee of the Paris Commune. It was first published in Chants Révolutionnaires (1887) and put to music in 1888 in Lille by Pierre Degeyter (1848–1932).

[First verse]
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!
[Chorus]
C’est la lutte finale:
Groupons-nous, et demain,
L’Internationale
Sera le genre humain.
C’est la lutte finale:
Groupons-nous, et demain,
L’Internationale
Sera le genre humain.

English
(Translated by William Glasse)

Arise, ye starvelings, from your slumbers!
Arise, ye criminals of want!
For reason in revolt now thunders,
And at last ends the age of cant.
Now away with all superstitions!
Servile masses, arise, arise!
We’ll change forthwith the old conditions,
And spurn the dust to win the prize.


Then, comrades, come rally,
And the last fight let us face.
The International
Unites the human race.
Then, comrades, come rally,
And the last fight let us face.
The International
Unites the human race.

Irish
(Translated by Máirtín Ó Cadhain)

Músclaíg, a bhratainn na cruinne,
A dhíogha an ocrais, aire daoibh!
Tá an tuiscint ina buabhall buile,
Ag saighdeadh an duine chun malairt saoil.
De sheanré na ngeasróg déanam easair,
Ar na laincisí, músclaíg;
Sinne nach faic muid gheobhaimid gradam;
An seanreacht leagfar bunoscionn.


Is í an troid scoir í, a bhráithre,
Éirímis chun gnímh;
An tInternational
Snaidhm comhair an chine dhaonna.
Is í an troid scoir í, a bhráithre,
Éirímis chun gnímh;
An tInternational
A bheas mar chine daonna.

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