The Standard of Revolt

Last updated
"Le drapeau rouge"
Song
LanguageFrench
English titleThe Standard of Revolt
Written1877
Published1877
Genre revolutionary song
Songwriter(s) Paul Brousse (original French)
Bolesław Czerwieński (Polish)
Michael L. Korr (English)
Composer(s) Jacques Vogt

The Standard of Revolt (original French title: Le drapeau rouge, The Red Flag) is a French socialist and anarchist revolutionary song written in 1877 by Paul Brousse to the melody of the Swiss patriotic song Les bords de la libre Sarine by Jacques Vogt. [1]

Contents

The English translation by M.L. Korr, published in 1932, is not based directly on the original French, but on the substantially modified Polish 1882 version by Bolesław Czerwieński, titled Czerwony sztandar, which became the anthem of the Polish Socialist Party. Czerwieński's lyrics were also the basis for Czech, German, Hungarian, Latvian, Romanian, Russian, Ukrainian, Yiddish and other translations. [2]

Lyrics and variants

French versions

Original French lyrics (Paul Brousse, 1877) [1]

Dans la fumée et le désordre,
Parmi les cadavres épars
II était du « parti de l'ordre »
Au massacre du Champ-de-Mars.

Le voilà, le voilà, regardez !
II flotte et, fier, il bouge
Ses longs plis au combat prépares.
Osez le défier
Notre superbe drapeau rouge,
Rouge du sang de l'ouvrier,
Rouge du sang de l'ouvrier.

Mais planté sur les barricades,
Par le peuple de Février,
Lui, le signal des fusillades,
Devient drapeau de l'ouvrier.

Le voilà, le voilà, regardez...

Puis, quand l'ingrate république
Laissa ses fils mourir de faim,
II rentra dans la lutte épique
Le drapeau rouge de Juin.

Le voilà, le voilà, regardez...

Sous la Commune il flotte encore
A la tête des bataillons,
Il chaque barricade arbore
Ses longs Plis taillés en haillons !

Le voilà, le voilà, regardez...

On crut qu'à Berne, en république,
I pouvait passer fièrement ?
Mais, par le sabre despotique,
II fut attaqué lâchement.

Le voilà, le voilà, regardez...

Ce drapeau que le vent balance
Devant un cortège ouvrier,
C'est lui ! glorieux, il s'avance
En triomphe dans St. Imier

Le voilà, le voilà, regardez...

Modified French lyrics (Achille Le Roy, 1885) [1]

Les révoltés du Moyen Âge
L’ont arboré sur maints beffrois.
Emblème éclatant du courage,
Toujours il fit pâlir les rois.

Le voilà, le voilà, regardez !
Il flotte et fièrement il bouge,
Ses longs plis au combat préparés,
Osez, osez le défier,
Notre superbe drapeau rouge,
Rouge du sang de l’ouvrier
Rouge du sang de l’ouvrier.

Dans la fumée et le désordre,
Parmi les cadavres épars
II était du « parti de l'ordre »
Au massacre du Champ-de-Mars.

Le voilà, le voilà, regardez...

Mais planté sur les barricades
Par les héros de Février,
Il devint pour les camarades,
Le drapeau du peuple ouvrier.

Le voilà, le voilà, regardez...

Puis, quand l'ingrate république
Laissa ses fils mourir de faim,
II rentra dans la lutte épique
Le drapeau rouge de Juin.

Le voilà, le voilà, regardez...

Sous la Commune il flotte encore
A la tête des bataillons.
Et chaque barricade arbore
Ses longs plis taillés en haillons.

Le voilà, le voilà, regardez...

Noble étendard du prolétaire,
Des opprimés soit l'éclaireur :
A tous les peuples de la terre
Porte la paix et le bonheur.

Le voilà, le voilà, regardez...

Translations

Czerwony sztandar (Polish version) [2]

Krew naszą długo leją katy,
Wciąż płyną ludu gorzkie łzy,
Nadejdzie jednak dzień zapłaty,
Sędziami wówczas będziem my!
Sędziami wówczas będziem my!

Dalej więc, dalej więc, wznieśmy śpiew,
Nasz sztandar płynie ponad trony,
Niesie on zemsty grom, ludu gniew,
Przyszłości rzucając siew,
A kolor jego jest czerwony,
Bo na nim robotnicza krew!
Bo na nim robotnicza krew!

Choć stare łotry, nocy dzieci,
Nawiązać chcą starganą nić,
Co złe, to w gruzy się rozleci,
Co dobre, wiecznie będzie żyć!
Co dobre, wiecznie będzie żyć!

Dalej więc, dalej więc, wznieśmy śpiew...

Porządek stary już się wali,
Żywotem dla nas jego zgon,
Będziemy wspólnie pracowali,
I wspólnym będzie pracy plon!
I wspólnym będzie pracy plon!

Dalej więc, dalej więc, wznieśmy śpiew...

Hej, bracia, siostry, do szeregu!
Z jednaką myślą, z dłonią w dłoń!
Któż zdoła strumień wstrzymać w biegu?
Czyż jest na świecie taka broń?
Czyż jest na świecie taka broń?

Dalej więc, dalej więc, wznieśmy śpiew...

Precz z tyranami, ze zdziercami!...
Niech zginie stary, podły świat!
My nowe życie stworzym sami
I nowy zaprowadzim ład!
I nowy zaprowadzim ład!

Dalej więc, dalej więc, wznieśmy śpiew...

Die Rote Fahne (German version) [3]

Des Volkes Blut verströmt in Bächen
Und bittre Tränen rinnen drein
Doch kommt der Tag da wir uns rächen
Dann werden wir die Richter sein,
Dann werden wir die Richter sein.

Stimmet an den Gesang! Nun wohlan!
Die Fahne trägt des Volkes Grollen
Über Zwingburgen stolz himmelan
Morgen der Freiheit, brich an!
Rot ist das Tuch, das wir entrollen,
Klebt doch des Volkes Blut daran,
Klebt doch des Volkes Blut daran.

Wohl knüpft ihr knechtisch finstern
Schergen vergeblich das zerrissne Seil.
Das Schlechte fault in dumpfen Särgen,
Das Gute siegt der Welt zum Heil,
Das Gute siegt der Welt zum Heil.

Stimmet an den Gesang! Nun wohlan...

Schon liegt das Ungetüm im Sterben
Und Leben ist für uns sein Tod
Sein Tod bringt gleiches Recht uns Allen
Und allen Freiheit, allen Brod,
Und allen Freiheit, allen Brod!

Stimmet an den Gesang! Nun wohlan...

Auf Brüder, scharet euch zum Heere
Die Brust von gleichem Geist durchweht
Wo ist die Macht, die einem Meere
Die unsrer Sturmflut widersteht,
Die unsrer Sturmflut widersteht.

Stimmet an den Gesang! Nun wohlan...

Tod euch, den Henkern, den Despoten
Die alte Niedertracht zerfällt
Wir pflügen um den alten Boden
Und bauen eine neue Welt,
Und bauen eine neue Welt.

Stimmet an den Gesang! Nun wohlan...

The Standard of Revolt (English version) [3]

The cruel tyrants of the nation
Have always shed the workers' blood
The people's wrath and indignation
Arises in a mighty flood,
Arises in a mighty flood.

Far and wide spreads the tide of our wrath
We hoist the flag of revolution
It proclaims workers' aims, rebels' path
Tyrants' defeat, retribution
We raise our standard, freedom's banner
Its color is the deepest red
For it the workers' blood was shed

The en'my's brutal rage and fury
Our day of reckoning won't stay
The people will be judge and jury
To try the tyrants of today,
To try the tyrants of today.

Far and wide spreads the tide...

March onward, comrades, into battle
The dawn of liberty is near
No more shall we, like voiceless cattle
Be driven by the goad of fear,
Be driven by the goad of fear.

Far and wide spreads the tide...

Let now the tyrants fret and shudder
The hour approaches of their fall;
The working class will turn the rudder,
Give life and freedom to us all,
Give life and freedom to us all.

Far and wide spreads the tide...
 

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Flag of France</span> National flag

The national flag of France is a tricolour featuring three vertical bands coloured blue, white, and red. It is known to English speakers as the Tricolour, although the flag of Ireland and others are also so known. The design was adopted after the French Revolution, where the revolutionaries were influenced by the horizontally striped red-white-blue flag of the Netherlands. While not the first tricolour, it became one of the most influential flags in history. The tricolour scheme was later adopted by many other nations in Europe and elsewhere, and, according to the Encyclopædia Britannica has historically stood "in symbolic opposition to the autocratic and clericalist royal standards of the past".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Flag of Chad</span> National flag

The national flag of Chad is a vertical tricolour consisting of a blue, a gold and a red field. Since the 1990s, its similarity to the flag of Romania has caused international discussion. In 2004, Chad asked the United Nations to examine the issue; however, Ion Iliescu, the President of Romania, announced no change would occur to the flag, as the existence of Romania's tricolour predates the existence of Chad as a whole.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Flag of Haiti</span> National flag

The flag of Haiti is the national flag of the Republic of Haiti. It is a bicolour flag featuring two horizontal bands coloured blue and red, emblazoned by a white rectangular panel bearing the coat of arms of Haiti. The coat of arms depicts a trophy of weapons atop a green hill and a royal palm symbolizing independence. The palm is topped by the Cap of Liberty. The motto L'Union fait la Force appears on a white ribbon below the arrangement.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Eugène Edine Pottier</span> French socialist politician (1816–1887)

Eugène Edme Pottier was a French revolutionary, poet, freemason and transport worker.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jean Raspail</span> French author, traveler, and explorer (1925–2020)

Jean Raspail was a French explorer, novelist, and travel writer. Many of his books are about historical figures, exploration and indigenous peoples. He was a recipient of the prestigious French literary awards Grand Prix du Roman and Grand Prix de littérature by the Académie française. The French government honoured him in 2003 by appointing him to the Legion of Honor, with the grade of Officer. Internationally, he is best known for his controversial 1973 novel The Camp of the Saints, which is about mass third-world immigration to Europe.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bolesław Leśmian</span> Polish poet and artist

Bolesław Leśmian was a Polish poet, artist, and member of the Polish Academy of Literature, one of the first poets to introduce Symbolism and Expressionism to Polish verse.

Red flag may refer to:

Christopher Kasparek is a Scottish-born writer of Polish descent who has translated works by numerous Polish authors, including Ignacy Krasicki, Bolesław Prus, Florian Znaniecki, Władysław Tatarkiewicz, Marian Rejewski, and Władysław Kozaczuk, as well as the Polish–Lithuanian Constitution of 3 May 1791.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bolesław Wieniawa-Długoszowski</span> Polish general and President of Poland for one day

Bolesław Ignacy Florian Wieniawa-Długoszowski was a Polish general, adjutant to Chief of State Józef Piłsudski, politician, freemason, diplomat, poet, artist and formally for one day the President of the Republic of Poland.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Communist Party of Belgium (1989)</span> Political party in Belgium

The Communist Party of Belgium is a communist party in Belgium. It was founded in Wallonia in 1989 as the Communist Party of Wallonia after the Communist Party of Belgium was bifurcated along linguistic lines, and refounded as the PCB following the extinction of its counterpart in Flanders. Pierre Beauvois was the General Secretary of the party to 2006.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Natalya Gorbanevskaya</span> Russian poet, translator and civil rights activist

Natalya Yevgenyevna Gorbanevskaya was a Russian poet, a translator of Polish literature and a civil-rights activist. She was one of the founders and the first editor of A Chronicle of Current Events (1968–1982). On 25 August 1968, with seven others, she took part in the 1968 Red Square demonstration against the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia. In 1970 a Soviet court sentenced Gorbanevskaya to incarceration in a psychiatric hospital. She was released from the Kazan Special Psychiatric Hospital in 1972, and emigrated from the USSR in 1975, settling in France. In 2005, she became a citizen of Poland.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rose symbolism</span> Symbol

Various folk cultures and traditions assign symbolic meaning to the rose, though these are seldom understood in-depth. Examples of deeper meanings lie within the language of flowers, and how a rose may have a different meaning in arrangements. Examples of common meanings of different coloured roses are: true love (red), mystery (blue), innocence or purity (white), death (black), friendship (yellow), and passion (orange).

<i>The Doll</i> (Prus novel) 1890 novel by Bolesław Prus

The Doll is the second of four acclaimed novels by the Polish writer Bolesław Prus. It was composed for periodical serialization in 1887–1889 and appeared in book form in 1890.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Flag of Martinique</span> Flag

The flag of Martinique consists of a red triangle at the hoist, with two horizontal bands, the upper green and the lower black. It was adopted on 2 February 2023. The flag of France, its parent country, is also flown with official standing due to Martinique's status as a French overseas department/region. The assembly of Martinique flies a flag with the collectivity's logo on it to represent the government.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Paul Brousse</span> French socialist (1844–1912)

Paul Louis Marie Brousse was a French socialist, leader of the possibilistes group. He was active in the Jura Federation, a section of the International Working Men's Association (IWMA), from the northwestern part of Switzerland and the Alsace. He helped edit the Bulletin de la Fédération Jurassienne, along with anarchist Peter Kropotkin. He was in contact with Gustave Brocher between 1877 and 1880, who became anarchist under Brousse's influence. Brousse edited two newspapers, one in French and another in German. He helped James Guillaume publish its bulletin.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Flags of New Caledonia</span>

Two flags are in use in New Caledonia, an overseas territory of France. Up to 2010, the only flag used to represent New Caledonia was the flag of France, a tricolour featuring three vertical bands coloured blue, white, and red known to English speakers as the French Tricolour or simply the Tricolour. However, in July 2010, the Congress of New Caledonia voted in favour of a wish to fly the Kanak flag of the independence movement FLNKS alongside the French Tricolour. The wish, legally non-binding, proved controversial. A majority of New Caledonian communes, but not all, now fly both flags, the rest flying only the French Tricolour.

Philippe Victor Diolé was a French author and undersea explorer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Étienne Drapeau</span> Ice hockey player

Étienne Drapeau is a Canadian former ice hockey player. He played as a centre in QMJHL, ECHL, AHL, UHL and WCHL leagues and was selected 99th overall by the Montreal Canadiens in the 4th round of the 1996 NHL Entry Draft.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Joseph Jacquemotte</span> Belgian Communist politician

Joseph Jacquemotte was a Belgian anarcho-syndicalist and later communist activist who was a founding member and leader of the Communist Party of Belgium (KBP-PCB). He was the creator and editor of the newspapers L'Exploité, Le Drapeau rouge (1921–1936) and La Voix du Peuple (1936).

References

  1. 1 2 3 Robert Brécy (1975). "Le Drapeau rouge". Revue d'Histoire Moderne & Contemporaine (in French). 22 (2): 262–268. doi:10.3406/rhmc.1975.2420.
  2. 1 2 Józef Kozłowski (1966). Pieśń Bolesława Czerwieńskiego[Bolesław Czerwieński's Song] (in Polish). Książka i Wiedza.
  3. 1 2 Le drapeau rouge – Antiwar Songs