There are two most famous anthems in the world: Marseille and International.
No one disputes that La Marseillaise was a work Roger de Lisle It was originally called “The War Song of the Armies of the Rhine.” Although Tchaikovsky used a passage in his 1812 overture, it is sometimes used in films such as CasablancaEven Robert Schumann used it in some of his songs, so no one should pay royalties for it.
This was not the case with Internationalwhose authorship was the subject of a decades-long trial and until 2014 the copyright had to be paid.
The story says so Eugene Pottier He was one of the founders of the Judicial Chamber of Painters’ Workshops and an activist in the First International. His socialist zeal was expressed in a series of poems entitled ““Revolutionary songs”.
By the Belgian composer Digiter He was commissioned to set these verses to music, thus marching Internationalwhich was first performed in 1888. It was so popular that by 1910 it had become the national anthem of all the workers of the world represented at the Copenhagen Conference.
After nine years, Lenin adopted it as the anthem of the Soviet Union.
So far so good, but it turns out Pierre Degeiter He quarreled with members of the Socialist Party and broke away.
In the middle of the fight, Digiter’s brother, Alphonse, has since claimed the copyright International It was named Pottier and Digiter, without mentioning which of the two brothers it was.
And since political tensions occur even in the best families, Alphonse decided to give Pierre a hard time and claimed responsibility.
Pierre was not far behind and began the trial to assert his rights, but as the party members colluded, they declared Alphonse the author, and eight years later, He lost the trial.
What more could Pierre do to be recognized as an author? Well, nothing…until Alphonse was drafted into the First War, where he had a terrible time: he fell ill, was hospitalized, fell into depression, and finally committed suicide in 1916, but not before leaving a letter admitting that he had lied and He admitted authorship to Pierre.
So the Parisian court had to annul the ruling, 34 years after it was drafted, in December 1922, Pierre has been declared the most listened to march composer of the moment.
It turns out that someone, it is not known who did it or whether he did it out of evil or ignorance, had written on Alphonse’s tombstone that he was the composer of these pieces of music. International.
It took Pierre another 10 years of legal action to obtain it They will erase that lie from their brother’s tombstone.
As you can see, justice takes its time now and before that as well.
In 1932, the Bolsheviks invited Pierre to Moscow to watch the military parade Red Army tunes International. Stalin granted him a pension, because he refused to pay the royalties demanded by the capitalist world. At least “throw a few rubles” at its author.
I came back from that emotional trip, Pierre Degeiter fell ill, died, and was buried in the Saint-Denis cemetery. One more suitable for a socialist than the aristocratic cemetery of Père Lachaise.
music International They remained the same, but not the words that in the French version said: “Arise, you outcasts of the land; Arise, you hungry legion.” Meanwhile, the Spanish version talks about “the outcasts of the earth, standing in the family version.” While Cuban women stand as “slaves without bread.”
Regarding copyright, many thought that because it was a Marxist march, no one paid copyright – a typical invention of dirty capitalism – but that was not the case. Rights are rights and must be paid.
Obviously you can’t always fine everyone who sings or whistles in the parade, but they became responsible A fine of one thousand euros was imposed on director Pierre Merikowski Because in a scene from one of his films, which lasts only a few seconds, the protagonist whistles International.
Capitalism thing.
But no evil lasts a hundred years.
Since 2014 you can sing it at the top of your lungs without paying.