The Internationale

Music piece by:
Eugène Pottier (lyrics) and Pierre Degeyter (music). Popularised by Quilapayún in Chile in the 1970s.
Testimony by:
Ana María Jiménez
Experience in:
Villa Grimaldi, April 1975

In April 1975, the triumph of Vietnam was celebrated. We heard about it through a comrade who went to the bathroom and found a piece of the week’s newspaper. It was so beautiful for us to be there, having shouted so often for Vietnam at demonstrations.

So a group of prisoners from the TowerFormer water tank in Villa Grimaldi, where brutal torture was applied. Many detained-disappeared were last seen alive there. decided to sing a bit from 'The Internationale'. And we sang all together.

We coordinated through secret mail: for example, messages would be exchanged when someone went to the bathroom.

The guards arrived and started shouting 'what is happening here?', kicking about. We managed to sing two or three verses. This was another example of music in conditions of extreme oppression.


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Published on: 20 October 2016

Let the poor of the world rise
on your feet, slaves without bread
and let us all cry in one voice
Long live the Internationale!

Let us remove all hindrances
impeding our well-being
let us change the world from its foundation
let us sink the bourgeois empire.

[Chorus]
Let us all come together
in the final struggle
and let the nations rise
to the Internationale.

The day we achieve our triumph
there will be no slaves and no hunger
Earth will be a paradise
for all humanity.

May the earth bear all its fruit
and may bliss be our home
work is the support that will
enable all to enjoy abundance.

Related testimonies:

  • Ode to Joy (Himno a la alegría)  Amelia Negrón, Campamento de Prisioneros, Tres Álamos, 31 December 1975

    Preparations for that Wednesday night became more intense. It would be a different night. We women prisoners had secretly organised ourselves, but more importantly, we had also coordinated with the male prisoners.

  • Ode to Joy (Himno a la alegría)  Renato Alvarado Vidal, Campamento de Prisioneros Cuatro Álamos, 1975

    Once upon a time, there was a good little wolf. … No. That’s another story.

  • The Crux of the Matter (La madre del cordero)  Servando Becerra Poblete, Campamento de Prisioneros Chacabuco, 9 November 1973 - 10 November 1974

    I recited this poem in the National Stadium. I continued to do so in the Chacabuco prison camp, earning the nickname of “Venancio” from my fellow prisoners.

  • The Crux of the Matter (La madre del cordero)  Servando Becerra Poblete, Campamento de Prisioneros, Estadio Nacional, 9 November 1973 - 10 November 1974

    I recited this poem in the National Stadium. I continued to do so in the Chacabuco prison camp, earning the nickname of “Venancio” from my fellow prisoners.

  • Casida of the Dark Pigeons (Casida de las palomas oscuras)  Luis Alfredo Muñoz González, Campamento de Prisioneros Cuatro Álamos, February - March 1975

    According to scientists, memory and music processing are situated in a deep, ancestral part of the brain, where it is zealously guarded.

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