Eugene Pottier 1881
Source: Eugène Pottier, Chants Révolutionnaires (second edition), Paris, Bureau de Comité Pottier, [n.d.];
Translated: by Mitchell Abidor;
CopyLeft: Creative Commons (Attribute & ShareAlike) marxists.org 2013.
Against a class without guts,
Fighting for a people without bread;
Alive he had four walls,
Dead four planks of fir.
To Eudes, member of the Commune
The dead man’s room was on the third floor,
And the crowd, with heavy tread, climbed the stairs;
Women, children, many a blank, drawn face.
A great sorrow prevailed over the day-to-day
Hunt for bread. For three days the same
Flock of friends climbed for the final farewell.
Me, I waited my turn, standing dreaming on the landing.
This heart that beats no more beat for an idea:
Equality! O, You deaf ones! Earth, wrinkled slave
Who turns in a cage like a hamster,
Now that he is dead you will perhaps hear him!
This fighter, passing from prison to coffin,
From the depths of his silence he says: Neither God Nor Master!
January 4, 1881