PRWC --REVOLUTIONARY SONG: Internasyunal

Kultura Home Songs Ulos STR, Visual Artworks Poetry Prose

Internasyunal

Ang Internasyonal nay nilikha ng makatang proletaryo na si Eugene Pottier sa Komuna ng Paris noong Hunyo, 1871. Ang Komuna ng aris ay ang unang rehimeng proletaryo sa kasaysayan ng sangkatauhan. Si Eugene Pottier ay isa sa mga nahalal na myembro nito.

Nabigo ang Komuna ng Paris sa kabila ng magiting na pagtatanggol ng mga manggagawa at mamamayang Pranses dahil sa mabangis na pananalakay ng berdugong si Thiers sa pakikipagsabwatan kay Bismarck. Bagamat pinaghahanap ng kaaway, nanatili si Pottier sa kanugnog na pook ng Paris. Nilagom niya ang kabiguan at ibinunga nito ang tulang Internasyonal. Ang tulang ito ay tigib ng matibay na paniniwalang ang mga inaalipin, na siyang lumilikha ng kasaysayan, ay tiyak na magwawagi laban sa pang-aapi at pagsasamantala. Ito'y isang panawagan sa mga naiwang kasapi ng Komuna ng Paris at sa lahat ng uring pinagsasamantalahan sa buong daigdig na ipagpatuloy ang pakikipaglaban hanggang sa tagumpay.

Noong Hulyo, 1888, pitong buwan pagkamatay ni Pottier nabasa ni Pierre Degeyter ang mga titik ng Internasyonal. Ang manggagawa- kompositor na Pranses ay hindi nag-aksaya ng panahon, nang gabi ring iyon, sinilulan niya ang paglikha ng tugtugin ng Internasyonal.

Noong Hulyo nang taon din iyon, pinamunuan ng kompositor ang pagkanta ng isang koro sa awit na ito sa isang pagtitipon ng mga nagtitinda ng pahayagan sa Lille. Mula noon, lumaganap ang Internasyonal hanggang itanghal ito ng International Workingmen's Association bilang opisyal na awitin sa pakikibaka ng proletaryado sa buong daigdig.

Bangon sa pagkakabusabos

Bangon alipin ng gutom

Katarunga’y bulkang sasabog

Sa huling paghuhukom

Gapos ng kahapo’y lagutin

Tayong api ay babalikwas

Tayo ngayo’y inaalipin

Subalit atin ang bukas

Ito'y huling paglalaban

Magkaisa nang masaklaw

Ng Internasyunal

Ang sangkatauhan

Wala tayong maaasahang

Bathala o manunubos

Kaya’t ang ating kaligtasa’y

Nasa ating pagkilos.

Manggagawa bawiin ang yaman

Kaisipa’y palayain

Ang maso ay ating hawakan

Kinabukasa'y pandayin.

The Internationale
Words by Eugene Pottier (Paris 1871)
Music by Pierre Degeyter

Arise ye workers from your slumbers

Arise ye prisoners of want

For reason in revolt now thunders

And at last ends the age of cant.

Away with all your superstitions

Servile masses arise, arise

We'll change henceforth the old tradition

And spurn the dust to win the prize.

So comrades, come rally

And the last fight let us face

The Internationale unites the human race.

So comrades, come rally

And the last fight let us face

The Internationale unites the human race.

No more deluded by reaction

On tyrants only we'll make war

The soldiers too will take strike action

They'll break ranks and fight no more

And if those cannibals keep trying

To sacrifice us to their pride

They soon shall hear the bullets flying

We'll shoot the generals on our own side.

No saviour from on high delivers

No faith have we in prince or peer

Our own right hand the chains must shiver

Chains of hatred, greed and fear

E'er the thieves will out with their booty

And give to all a happier lot.

Each at the forge must do their duty

And we'll strike while the iron is hot.

The Internationale was written to celebrate the Paris Commune
of March-May 1871: the first time workers took state power into
their own hands. They established in the Commune a form of
government more democratic than ever seen before. Representatives
were mandated on policy questions by their electors, they were
recallable at any time and were paid wages that reflected those
of their constituents. The Commune was a working body, not a talk shop.
The distinction between legislative and executive arms of government
was abolished. Marx's Civil War in France is a suberb account of
the history and significance of the Commune. The Commune was
drowned in blood by the conservative French government in
Versailles, cheered on by the ruling classes of the world.
Workers have adopted a similar pattern of organisation whenever
they have challenged the capitalist class for state power: in the
form of the Soviets in Russia in 1917; collectives in Spain
in 1937; the Workers Council of Greater Budapest in Hungary in 1956; the
cordones in Chile in 1973; and, in many respects, Solidarity
in Poland in 1980.