The Internationale (Pottier, French)

The Internationale  (1871)  by Eugène Pottier, translated by Wikisource

Based on the French-English translation from Wikipedia article The Internationale.

L'Internationale

Arise, wretched of the earth
Arise, convicts of hunger
Reason thunders in its volcano
This is the eruption of the end
Of the past let us wipe the slate clean
Masses, slaves, arise, arise
The world is about to change its foundation
We are nothing, let us be all
 |: This is the final struggle
  Let us gather together, and tomorrow
  The Internationale
  Will be the human race :|

There are no supreme saviours
Neither God, nor Caesar, nor tribune.
Producers, let us save ourselves
Decree the common welfare
That the thief return his plunder,
That the spirit be pulled from its prison
Let us fan the forge ourselves
Strike the iron while it is hot
 |: This is the final struggle
  Let us stand together, and tomorrow
  The Internationale
  Will be the human race :|

The state represses and the law cheats
The tax bleeds the unfortunate
No duty is imposed on the rich
'Rights of the poor' is a hollow phrase
Enough languishing in custody
Equality wants other laws:
No rights without obligations, it says,
And as well, no obligations without rights
 |: This is the final struggle
  Let us stand together, and tomorrow
  The Internationale
  Will be the human race :|

Hideous in their self-glorification
Kings of the mine and rail
Have they ever done anything other
Than steal work?
Into the coffers of that lot,
What work creates has melted
In demanding that they give it back
The people wants only its due.
 |: This is the final struggle
  Let us stand together, and tomorrow
  The Internationale
  Will be the human race :|

The kings make us drunk with their fumes,
Peace among ourselves, war to the tyrants!
Let the armies go on strike,
Guns in the air, and break ranks
If these cannibals insist
On making heroes of us,
Soon they will know our bullets
Are for our own generals
 |: This is the final struggle
  Let us stand together, and tomorrow
  The Internationale
  Will be the human race :|

Labourers, peasants, we are
The great party of workers
The earth belongs only to men
The idle will go reside elsewhere
How much of our flesh they feed on,
But if the ravens and vultures
Disappear one of these days
The sun will still shine
 |: This is the final struggle
  Let us stand together, and tomorrow
  The Internationale
  Will be the human race :|

This is a translation and has a separate copyright status from the original text. The license for the translation applies to this edition only.
Original:	This work published before January 1, 1923 is in the public domain worldwide because the author died at least 100 years ago.
Translation:	This work is licensed under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License.