The Internationale

"The Internationale" is an international anthem that has been adopted as the anthem of various anarchist, communist, socialist, georgist and social democratic movements. It has been a standard of the socialist movement since the late nineteenth century, when the Second International adopted it as its official anthem. The title arises from the "First International", an alliance of workers, which held a congress in 1864. The author of the anthem's lyrics, Eugène Pottier, a member of the French branch of the organisation, attended this congress. Pottier's text was later set to an original melody composed by Pierre De Geyter, a member of the Parti ouvrier français (French Workers Party) in Lille in industrial northern France.