Becoming quickly the rallying song of international socialism, syndicalism and other leftist ideologies, she was chosen as one of the rallying songs of the short-lived Soviet Russia; now, it's the national anthem of several syndicalist countries throughout the world: Commune of France, Union of Britain, Georgia and Republic of the Sicilies. It's also the rallying song of the Combined Syndicates of America, the National Confederation of Workers (Spain) and the Russian Neo-Bolchevik party. Some of the leftist elements of German SPD are also singing it to protest against the "soft" policies of their leaders.
Most of the rightist authoritarian states are forbidding any performance of this revolutionnary song.
| French lyrics | Literal English translation
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| First stanza
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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 :|
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Arise, the damned of the earth,
Arise, prisoners of hunger,
Reason thunders in its crater,
It is the eruption of the end!
Let's make a blank slate of the past,
Crowds, slaves, arise, arise!
The world is going to change from its base,
We are nothing, let's be everything!
|: This is the final struggle
Let us gather, and tomorrow
The Internationale
Will be mankind! :|
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| Second stanza
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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's save ourselves!
Let's decree a common defense
So that the thief returns his plunder,
To pull the mind from the prison cell
Let us blow upon our furnace ourselves,
Strike the iron while it is hot!
|: It is the final struggle
Let us gather, and tomorrow
The Internationale
Will be mankind! :|
|
| Third stanza
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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 taxes bleed the unfortunate
No responsibility is imposed on the rich
The rights of the poor is a hollow phrase
Enough of languishing in custody,
Equality needs other laws!
No rights without duty, it says,
Equally, no duties without rights.
|: It is the final struggle
Let us gather, and tomorrow
The Internationale
Will be mankind! :|
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| Fourth stanza
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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 glory,
The kings of the mines and rail.
Never have they done anything else,
But steal from others' work.
In the safes of this group
What we created is melted together!
In decreeing that they give it back
The people want nothing but their due.
|: It is the final struggle
Let us gather, and tomorrow
The Internationale
Will be mankind! :|
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| Fifth stanza
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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 intoxicate us with their fumes,
Peace among ourselves, war to the tyrants!
Let us declare strikes in the armies,
Guns in the air, break their ranks!
If they insist, those cannibals,
On making heroes of us,
They will soon know that our bullets,
Are for our own generals.
|: It is the final struggle
Let us gather, and tomorrow
The Internationale
Will be mankind! :|
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| Sixth stanza
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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 humans
The idle are going to live elsewhere
How much they feast on our flesh
But if the ravens and vultures
Disappear one of these days
The sun will shine forever
|: It is the final struggle
Let us gather, and tomorrow
The Internationale
Will be mankind! :|
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