"The International" -- working class anthem The following article was published in "The Guardian", newspaper of the Communist Party of Australia in its issue of Wednesday, June 3rd, 1998. Contact address: 65 Campbell Street, Surry Hills. Sydney. 2010 Australia. Fax: (612) 9281 5795. Email: Webpage: http://www.peg.apc.org/~guardian Subscription rates on request. ****************************** By Tom Gill "The International" was born of the Paris Commune of 1871, its words written as a poem under the title L'Internationale by Eugene Pottier, a member of the Council of the Commune (he was one of the elected representatives of the 2nd Arrondissement). The poem was dedicated to Gustave Le Francais, a fellow member of the Council of the Commune. Pottier (1816-1887) was not only a fighter for the Commune: he had fought in the uprising of 1848 and was a member of the (First) International, in which Marx and Engels played a leading part and which gave its name to his poem. The poem was written in June 1871 just after the defeat of the Commune. In the week May 21-28, 1871 (known as the Bloody Week), the soldiers of the government of Tiers at Versailles had pushed across Paris from West to East, showing no mercy to the defeated Communards. Pottier was tried in his absence by a vengeful "Council of War" and sentenced to death, but he escaped, first to Britain and then to the USA. In 1887 he was able to return to France, but he died in poverty in the same year -- after a life devoted to the cause of the working people. Pottier's funeral procession was attacked by police who attempted to seize the red flag carried by those who followed his coffin. Lenin wrote an article in "Pravda" in January 1913 commemorating the 25th anniversary of Pottier's death. He concluded with the words: "Pottier died in poverty. But he left a memorial which is truly more enduring than the handiwork of man. "He was one of the greatest propagandists by song. When he was composing his first song the number of worker socialists ran to tens at most. Eugene Pottier's historic song is now known to tens of millions of proletarians." (Lenin Collected Works Vol 36 p.23). "The International" did not become a song until 1888. In that year the Lille section of the French Workers' Party founded a choir called "La Lyre des Travailleurs". This choir asked one of its leading members, Pierre Degeyter, to set Pottier's poem to music. This he did without delay. Degeyter was a worker who had started work at the age of seven. Devoted both to music and to the cause of the working class, he studied at the Lille Conservatorium of Music. He played several instruments as well as composing. The song, consisting of Pottier's words and Degeyter's music, was publicly performed for the first time in July 1888. "La Lyre des Travailleurs" published the song in an edition of 6,000 copies. The song appealed to class-conscious workers everywhere and spread rapidly throughout France. Possibly it first came to the attention of socialists from outside France in 1896 at a Congress of the French Workers' Party held in Lille. The presence of German delegates at this Congress led to a hostile demonstration by French "patriots" which was repelled by local workers singing "The International". Following an international Socialist congress in Copenhagen in 1910, it was adopted by the Socialist parties present, as their anthem. The earliest editions of the words and music state on the cover: "Words by E. Pottier: Music by Degeyter". The omission of a first name or initial for Degeyter was not accidental. He was justifiably afraid of being victimised by his employer. The second edition of the music was printed by Gustave Delory, one of the founders of the "Lyre des Travailleurs", and later Mayor of Lille and member of the French parliament. He had acquired the rights to the words through the songwriter G B Clement, who had bought them from Pottier's widow. In order to secure for himself the rights to both words and music, Delory claimed that the music had been composed by Pierre Degeyter's brother Adolphe. This deception was facilitated by Adolphe signing a statement prepared by Delory, claiming that he (Adolphe) was the composer -- and also by the fact that Pierre was absent from Lille at the time. The rights to the words and music were to be shared between Delory and the Socialist Party. When Pierre returned, and found out what was happening, he asked for a "Court of Honour" to resolve the question of the true composer of the music. This was refused, so he took the matter to court, the case beginning in 1904. The legal action was unduly prolonged, not concluding 'till 1914! A request that a practical test should be conducted to determine which of the two brothers was capable of composing music was refused. The evidence given in the proceedings was contradictory, even members of the Degeyter family taking opposite sides -- and Pierre lost his case. However he appealed, and this time he had some new evidence: a letter written by his brother Adolphe which read as follows: -- Dear Brother, In the terrible ordeal we are passing through [First World War], not knowing how it will end, I am sending your brother-in- law Dubart this declaration which I would have made myself if I had come to Paris at the time of your case. I have never composed any music, still less "The International". If I signed a paper, it was what had been prepared by Delory who came to find me in the workshop. As you know, I was working for the town, and Delory was mayor; I did not dare to refuse him for fear of the sack. I did not realise how much harm I did by signing this paper and I still cannot say why I did it. If I am writing this to you it is because no one knows what may happen. I would be very happy if I could put things right for you. Ad Degeyter 27th April 1915 Pierre's appeal succeeded in 1922 and since then there has been no real doubt as to who produced the music of "The International". However, it is a regrettable fact that from time to time in the following years the music of "The International" was still attributed to Adolphe Degeyter in the Socialist Party's press. This was quite unjustified, but arose from the hostility existing between the Socialists and the Communists. (Pierre and Adolphe were to some extent regarded as symbols of Revolutionary and Reformist socialism respectively.) In December, 1920, the French Socialist Party held its XVIII Congress at Tours, at which the majority voted for affiliation with the Communist International and in effect founded the Communist Party of France. Pierre Degeyter joined the Communist Party and at its IV Congress he conducted the orchestra which played his music. In 1927 he was one of the French delegates to the VI Congress of the Communist International. When Pierre Degeyter died in 1932, 50,000 people marched in his funeral procession. In the autobiography of the Spanish Communist leader Dolores Ibarruri*, she describes a scene in Madrid in 1936 at a time when Franco's forces seemed on the verge of taking the city, and had even captured some part of it. "Wait. In the silence heavy with threats, dangers and bloody surprises, we begin to hear a monotonous rhythmic sound, the bounding of firm steps which grows louder, comes nearer... "Now we can hear the thud of iron clad boots on the pavement. "There is a moment of uncertainty, of indecision. Who is coming? "Who are these men who in November 1936 march through the streets of our Madrid, silent, erect, severe, with rifles on their shoulders and their bayonets fixed, making the earth tremble under their feet? "Behind the windows, eyes anxiously follow the steps of the marchers, who grasp cocked guns and bombs ready to be thrown. In despair, the women turn to the men: `They've come! What are we waiting for?' "We hear a command given in a strange tongue cutting the air like a whiplash. Then we hear the first stanza of a beloved hymn, accompanied by the rhythmic movement of the unknown marchers. "The air fills with vibrant sounds and words, sending a thrill down the spines of the people of Madrid. `Good Lord! Is this a dream?' ask the women, sobbing. "The men marching through the streets of besieged Madrid sing "The International" in French and Italian, in German and Polish, in Hungarian and Rumanian. "They are the volunteers of the International Brigade who answered the call of the Comintern and have come to our country ready to fight, perhaps to die, along with us." Note: This article is largely based on an article by Jacques Tint in the journal "La Commune", published by L'Association des Amis de la Commune de Paris, No 4 Sept 1976. This association is dedicated to keeping alive the memory and traditions of the Paris Commune of 1871, and their publications contain a great deal of material of considerable interest and value to historians, communists and others concerned with the working class movement. ****************** * "They Shall Not Pass", Dolores Ibarruri, International Publishers 1976, page 253.