Eugène Edine Pottier (; 4 October 1816 – 6 November 1887) was a French revolutionary,

poet A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others. A poet may simply be the creator ( thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems ( oral or wri ...

, freemason and

transport Transport (in British English), or transportation (in American English), is the intentional movement of humans, animals, and goods from one location to another. Modes of transport include air, land ( rail and road), water, cable, pipelin ...

worker. Pottier was elected a member of the Paris municipal council - the

Paris Commune The Paris Commune (french: Commune de Paris, ) was a revolutionary government that seized power in Paris, the capital of France, from 18 March to 28 May 1871. During the Franco-Prussian War of 1870–71, the French National Guard had defended ...

, in March 1871. Following the Commune's defeat, in June 1871 he wrote the poem '' L'Internationale'', which became the

International Workingmen's Association The International Workingmen's Association (IWA), often called the First International (1864–1876), was an international organisation which aimed at uniting a variety of different left-wing socialist, communist and anarchist groups and trad ...

anthem during its last years (1871–1876), and has been used by most socialist and left-wing

political international A political international is a transnational organization of political parties having similar ideology or political orientation (e.g. communism, socialism, and Islamism). The international works together on points of agreement to co-ordinate acti ...

s since. Music was later written for the song by Pierre De Geyter. ''Encyclopedia of Mass Persuasion'' deems the anthem "one of the best-known propaganda songs since ''

La Marseillaise "La Marseillaise" is the national anthem of France. The song was written in 1792 by Claude Joseph Rouget de Lisle in Strasbourg after the declaration of war by France against Austria, and was originally titled "Chant de guerre pour l'Armée du R ...

''". After writing the poem, Pottier went into exile but later returned to France, dying penniless. Fifteen years after the

Communards The Communards () were members and supporters of the short-lived 1871 Paris Commune formed in the wake of the French defeat in the Franco-Prussian War. After the suppression of the Commune by the French Army in May 1871, 43,000 Communards w ...

were crushed in blood by the Versaillais (1871), Eugène Pottier dedicated the following hymn to their revolution:

:On l'a tuée à coups de chassepot, :A coups de mitrailleuse, :Et roulée avec son drapeau :Dans la terre argileuse. :Et la tourbe des bourreaux gras :Se croyait la plus forte. :Tout ça n'empêche pas, Nicolas :Qu'la Commune n'est pas morte.

An approximate translation of which is:

:They killed her with their chassepot, :With their machine guns, :And rolled her with its flag :In the clay. :And the mud of the fat hangmen :thought they had prevailed. :And with all that, Nicolas, :The Commune is not dead.

Vladimir Lenin Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov. ( 1870 – 21 January 1924), better known as Vladimir Lenin,. was a Russian revolutionary, politician, and political theorist. He served as the first and founding head of government of Soviet Russia from 1917 to 1 ...

acknowledged the 25th anniversary of Pottier's death in a 1913 article in ''

Pravda ''Pravda'' ( rus, Правда, p=ˈpravdə, a=Ru-правда.ogg, "Truth") is a Russian broadsheet newspaper, and was the official newspaper of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, when it was one of the most influential papers in the ...

''. During his exile in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

(1873–1880), Eugène Pottier was received at ''Les Égalitaires'' lodge in New York. In his cover letter, he said that

Freemasonry Freemasonry or Masonry refers to fraternal organisations that trace their origins to the local guilds of stonemasons that, from the end of the 13th century, regulated the qualifications of stonemasons and their interaction with authorities ...

"is composed of a group of freethinkers who, having made a clean sweep on tradition and recognizing nothing superior to human reason, consciously dedicate themselves in search of Truth and Justice".Demande d’admission d’Eugène Pottier New-York
2 December 1875

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* * * * * * 1816 births 1887 deaths Writers from Paris French socialists Members of the International Workingmen's Association Burials at Père Lachaise Cemetery French Freemasons French male writers Communards {{France-activist-stub