The "Worker's Marseillaise"[a] is a Russianrevolutionary song named after "La Marseillaise", the current national anthem of France. It is based on a poem of Pyotr Lavrov, first published on 1 July 1875 in London as "A New Song".[b] The poem reflects a radical socialist program and calls for the violent destruction of the Russian monarchy. At the end of 1875 or in 1876, this poem began to be sung in Russia to the melody of the last verse of Robert Schumann's song "Die beiden grenadiere". Schumann's melody is inspired by the original Marseillaise, but is noticeably different from it. Thus, the melody of the Worker's Marseillaise is only indirectly related to the original Marseillaise, and the lyrics not at all. The song is close to the cruel romance genre, and this influenced its popularity. The name the "Worker's Marseillaise" has been fixed since the 1890s.[1]
It existed alongside several other popular versions, among others a Soldier's Marseillaise and a Peasant's Marseillaise.[2]
Let us renounce the old world,
Shake its ashes from our feet!
We are hostile to golden idols,
We hate the Tsar's palace.
We'll go to our suffering brothers,
We'll go to the hungry people,
We'll send curses to the villains with them.
We'll lead them to the fight.
Refrain:
Rise up, rise up, working people!
Rise up against the enemy, hungry people!
Ring out, people's cry of vengeance!
Forward, forward, forward, forward, forward, forward!
The rich kulaks with their greedy hordes
Steal your hard labor.
Your sweat makes the gluttons fat,
They tear up your last morsel.
Starve them to feast,
Starve them of their conscience and honor
They sell their conscience and honor,
So they can mock you.
Refrain
Your rest is but a grave.
All your life you'll be underpaid.
The vampire tsar is sucking the life out of you,
The vampire tsar drinks the people's blood.
He needs soldiers for his army.
Give him sons.
He needs feasts and chambers.
Give him your blood.
Refrain
Isn't eternal sorrow enough?
Let's rise up, brothers, everywhere at once.
From the Dnieper to the White Sea,
And the Volga and the Far Caucasus.
On the enemies, on the dogs, on the rich,
And the evil vampire tsar.
Kill them, kill them, the damned villains,
Light up, better life dawns.
Refrain
And beyond the bloody dawn
The sun of truth and brotherly love,
Though we've bought happiness with our blood.
With our blood, the happiness of the earth.
And the year of freedom will come:
The lies will be gone, the evil will be gone forever,
And all nations will be united
In the free kingdom of holy labor.
