The Internationale

The Internationale

L'Internationale in original French version.
International anthem of International Communist Movement, International Socialist Movement, International Anarchist Movement, International Democratic Socialist Movement, International Social Democratic Movement
Also known as	L'Internationale (French)
Lyrics	Eugène Pottier, 1871
Music	Pierre De Geyter, 1888
Adopted	1890s
Audio sample
"The Internationale" (instrumental) file help

"The Internationale" (French: L'Internationale, French pronunciation: ​[lɛ̃.'tɛʀ.nas.jɔ.'nal(ə)]; German: Die Internationale, Russian: Интернационал, Internatsional, Chinese: 國際歌, Guójìgē) is a very well known communist, socialist, and social democratic/socialist song. While it was originally written in French, it was translated into many other languages, including English. The most famous versions, however, are those in Russian and Chinese.

The French words, written by Eugene Pottier, were originally supposed to be sung to the tune of "La Marseillaise", but a separate tune was created for it by a Belgian named Pierre Degeyter.

The Russian version, written by Arkady Yakolevich Kots (Аркадий Яковлевич Коц) in 1902, was adopted as the national anthem of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic (Russian SFSR) in 1918 and as that of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (the Soviet Union) in 1922. It stayed like this until 1944, when it was replaced by the State Anthem of the Soviet Union written by Alexander Alexandrov.

The Chinese lyrics were written by Qu Qiubai (瞿秋白).

The song is known by its tune, and its chorus, which in French begins with "C'est la lutte finale" (meaning "It's the final battle").