The Internationale (Międzynarodówka po angielsku)

The Internationale

(Angielska wersja „Międzynarodówki”)

słowa: Charles Hope Kerr, ok. 1900 / Billy Bragg, 1989
muzyka: Pierre De Geyter, 1888

A[C]rise, ye workers from your [F]slumbers,
A[G7]rise, ye prisoners of [C]want. [G7]
For [C]reason in revolt now [F]thunders,
and at [G7]last ends the age of [C]cant!
A[G]way with [D7]all your supers[G]titions,
Servile [D7]masses, arise, a[G]rise!
We’ll [G7]change henceforth the old tra[C]dition,
And spurn the [G]dust to [D7]win the [G]prize! [G7]

So [C]comrades, come [F]rally,
And the [G7]last fight let us [C]face. [G7]
The [C]Inter[G7]nationa[Am]le
U[F]nites the [D]human [G]race.
So [C]comrades, come [F]rally,
And the [G7]last fight let us [C]face.
The [A]Inter[Dm]na[A]tion[Dm]aa[A]aaa[Dm]le
U[C]nites the [G7]human [C]race. [G7]

No more deluded by reaction,
On tyrants only we’ll make war!
The soldiers too will take strike action,
They’ll break ranks and fight no more!
And if those cannibals keep trying,
To sacrifice us to their pride,
They soon shall hear the bullets flying,
We’ll shoot the generals on our own side.

So comrades…

No saviour from on high delivers,
No faith have we in prince or peer.
Our own right hand the chains must shiver,
Chains of hatred, greed and fear.
E’er the thieves will out with their booty,
And to all give a happier lot.
Each at his forge must do their duty,
And we’ll strike the iron while it’s hot.

So comrades…


Uwspółcześniona angielska wersja Międzynarodówki, której tekst napisał w 1989 roku Billy Bragg na prośbę Pete’a Seegera:

Stand up, all victims of oppression
For the tyrants fear your might
Don’t cling so hard to your possessions
For you have nothing, if you have no rights
Let racist ignorance be ended
For respect makes the empires fall
Freedom is merely privilege extended
Unless enjoyed by one and all.

So come brothers and sisters
For the struggle carries on
The Internationale
Unites the world in song
So comrades come rally
For this is the time and place
The international ideal
Unites the human race

Let no one build walls to divide us
Walls of hatred nor walls of stone
Come greet the dawn and stand beside us
We’ll live together or we’ll die alone
In our world poisoned by exploitation
Those who have taken, now they must give
And end the vanity of nations
We’ve one but one Earth on which to live

So come brothers and sisters
For the struggle carries on
The Internationale
Unites the world in song
So comrades come rally
For this is the time and place
The international ideal
Unites the human race

And so begins the final drama
In the streets and in the fields
We stand unbowed before their armour
We defy their guns and shields
When we fight, provoked by their aggression
Let us be inspired by life and love
For though they offer us concessions
Change will not come from above.

So come brothers and sisters
For the struggle carries on
The Internationale
Unites the world in song
So comrades come rally
For this is the time and place
The international ideal
Unites the human race


W jakim języku chcesz śpiewać Międzynarodówkę? W śpiewniku mamy oryginalną wersję francuską (z akordami), wersję polską (z akordami), a także wersję hiszpańską, rosyjską i włoską. (Kliknij tag „Międzynarodówka”).

Women of the Working Class

Women of the Working Class

słowa i muzyka: Mal Finch, 1985

We are [C]women, we are [Am]strong, we are [Dm]fighting for our [G]lives
side by [C]side with the [Am]men, who [Dm]work the nations [G]mines,
U[C]nited by the [Am]struggle, u[Dm]nited by the [G]past
and it’s [G]here we [C]go, here we [Am]go, for the [Dm]women of the [G]working [C]class

We don’t need government’s app[Dm]roval for [C]anything we [G]do
We [C]don’t need their per[Am]mission to [C]have the point of [G]view
We don’t need [C]anyone to [Dm]tell us [C]what to think or [G]say
We’ve [C]strength enough and [Dm]wisdom of our own to [G]go our own [C]way.

We are women…

They talk about statistics, about the price of coal
the prize is our communities, dying on the dole
In fighting for our future, we find ways to organise;
Where women’s liberation failed to move, this strike has mobilised.

We are women…

Ours is a unity that threats could never breach,
Ours an education that the schoolbooks never teach.
We face the taunts and the violence of Thatcher’s thugs in blue;
When you’re fighting for survival, you’ve got nothing, nothing left to lose.

We are women…


W oryginale napisana przez brytyjską działaczkę feministyczną Mal Finch, piosenka została zaadoptowana na swój hymn przez kampanię Kobiety Przeciw Zamykaniu Kopalń (Women Against Pit Closures) prowadzonej podczas górniczego strajku w latach 1984–1985.

Which Side Are You On?

Which Side Are You On?

słowa: Florence Reece, 1931 / Billy Bragg, 2011
muzyka: Florence Reece, 1931

[Am]Which side are you [Em]on boys?
Which side are you [Am]on?
Tell me which side are you [Em]on girls?
Which side are you [Am]on?

Come [Am]all you good workers
Good [Em]news to you I’ll [Am]tell
Of [Em]how the good old [Am]union
Has [Em]come in here to [Am]dwell

Which side are you on boys…

My daddy was a miner
He’s now in the air and sun
He’ll be with you fellow workers
Until the battle’s won

Which side are you on…

They say in Harlan County
There are no neutrals there
You’ll either be a union man
Or a thug for J. H. Blair

Which side are you on…

Oh workers can you stand it?
Oh tell me how you can
Will you be a lousy scab
Or will you be a man?

Which side are you on…

Don’t scab for the bosses
Don’t listen to their lies
Poor folks ain’t got a chance
Unless they organize

Which side are you on…


W 2011 r., podczas akcji „Occupy Sheffield”, Billy Bragg wykonywał tę piosenkę z innym tekstem, napisanym specjalnie na tę okazję:

[Am]Clem Atlee held the bankers to their responsibilities
You made them pay their taxes – but [Em]Thatcher set them [Am]free
The [Am]Big Bang blew the walls down, the bankers got away
They filled their snouts till we bailed them out, now [Em]everyone must [Am]pay

Which side are you [Em]on?
Which side are you [Am]on?
Which side are you [Em]on?
Which side are you [Am]on?

The Left is dead, the media said, that’s a goddamn lie
That which they could never kill went on to „Occupy”
In the camps the watchword is 'accountability’
In Wall Street and in London we demand transparency

Which side are you on?
Which side are you on?
Which side are you on?
Which side are you on?

We have the best democracy that Big Money can buy
The markets call the tune and soon our leaders all comply
Come, all you greedy bankers, you pessimists as well,
We’re here today to chase you away and build a better world

Which side are you on?
Which side are you on?
Which side are you on?
Which side are you on?

Through this world you travel, you meet some funny men
Some rob you with a six-gun and some with a fountain pen
Through this slog you ramble, through this slog you roam,
You’ll never see an outlaw take a family from their home

Which side are you on?
Which side are you on?
Which side are you on?
Which side are you on?


Utwór napisała Florence Reece, żona Sama Reece’a, organizatora Związku Górników Amerykańskich w hrabstwie Harlan w Kentucky. W roku 1931 trwała tzw. Wojna w Harlan County pomiędzy górnikami a właścicielami kopalń, podczas której do domu rodziny Reece wtargnął sierżant J. H. Blair wraz z ludźmi wynajętymi przez kopalnie, by zgarnąć Sama, który zdołał wcześniej uciec. Florence i dzieci zostały sterroryzowane, a kobieta następnego dnia napisała piosenkę, którą po latach wykonywały dziesiątki artystek i artystów (jak Billy Bragg, Pete Seeger, Natalie Merchant czy Tom Morello) w zmienionych tekstowo i muzycznie wersjach.

There is Power in the Union

There is Power in the Union

słowa: Billy Bragg, 1990
muzyka: George Frederick Root, przed 1895

There is [G]power in a factory, [C]power in the land
[G]Power in the hands of a [D]worker
But it [G]all amounts to nothing if to[C]gether we don’t stand
[G]there is power in the [D]uuuuuu[G]nion

Now the lessons of the past were all learned with workers’ blood
The mistakes of the bosses we must pay for
From the cities and the farmlands to trenches full of mud
War has always been the bosses’ way, sir

The [G]union forever defending our rights
Down with the blackleg, all workers u[D]nite
With our [G]brothers and our sisters from [C]many far off lands
[G]there is power in the [D]uuuuuu[G]nion

Now I long for the morning that they realise
Brutality and unjust laws cannot defeat us
But who’ll defend the workers who cannot organise
When the bosses send their lackies out to cheat us?

Money speaks for money, the devil for his own
Who comes to speak for the skin and the bone
What a comfort to the widow, a light to the child
There is power in the union

The union forever defending our rights
Down with the blackleg, all workers unite
With our brothers and our sisters together we will stand
There is power in the union.


There is Power in a Union to pieśń napisana przez Billy’ego Bragga, angielskiego muzyka i działacza lewicowego. Pierwotnie pod tym samym tytułem napisał ją Joe Hill w 1913 roku dla związku Przemysłowych Robotników Świata (Industrial Workers of the World, IWW).

Solidarity forever

Solidarity forever

słowa: Ralph Chaplin, 1915
muzyka: trad. / William Steffe

[G]Solidarity forever,
[C]Solidarity for[G]ever,
Solidarity for[Em]ever,
For the [Am]union [D7]makes us [G]strong!

When the [G]union’s inspiration through
the workers’ blood shall run,
There can [C]be no power greater
any[G]where beneath the sun;
Yet what force on earth is weaker
than the [Em]feeble strength of one,
But the [Am]union [D7]makes us [G]strong.

Solidarity forever…

Is there aught we hold in common with the greedy parasite,
Who would lash us into serfdom and would crush us with his might?
Is there anything left to us but to organize and fight?
For the union makes us strong.

Solidarity forever…

It is we who plowed the prairies; built the cities where they trade;
Dug the mines and built the workshops, endless miles of railroad laid;
Now we stand outcast and starving midst the wonders we have made;
But the union makes us strong.

Solidarity forever…

All the world that’s owned by idle drones is ours and ours alone.
We have laid the wide foundations; built it skyward stone by stone.
It is ours, not to slave in, but to master and to own.
While the union makes us strong.

Solidarity forever…

They have taken untold millions that they never toiled to earn,
But without our brain and muscle not a single wheel can turn.
We can break their haughty power, gain our freedom when we learn
That the union makes us strong.

Solidarity forever…

In our hands is placed a power greater than their hoarded gold,
Greater than the might of armies, multiplied a thousand-fold.
We can bring to birth a new world from the ashes of the old
For the union makes us strong.

Solidarity forever…


Solidarity Forever to prawdopodobnie najsłynniejszy hymn związkowy. Śpiewany na melodię John Brown’s Body oraz The Battle Hymn of the Republic (znanej też jako „Glory! Glory! Hallelujah”), napisany został przez aktywistę i artystę, Ralpha Chaplina (autora czarnego kota, symbolu anarchosyndykalistów) w 1915 r. w Chicago.

Chaplin rozpoczął pisanie rok wcześniej podczas strajku górniczego w Huntington. Choć utwór został napisany jako piosenka amerykańskiego rewolucyjnego związku zawodowego Robotnicy Przemysłowi Świata (Industrial Workers of the World, IWW), inne ruchy związkowe zaadoptowały tę piosenkę jako swoją.

Zobacz też wersję polską tej piosenki: „Solidarność naszą bronią”.