International Influence

Hold The Fort

“Hold the Fort” was originally a hymn from the United States before it was brought to England in the late 19th century. The British Transport and General Workers Union took the American hymn and rewrote its lyrics as a labour song, where it then travelled back to the United States and was printed in The Little Red Songbook. In 1916, sixteen IWW comrades were murdered by a goon squad hired by local businesses in Everett, Washington during the Everett Massacre. Witnesses of the massacre describe that the Wobblies died singing “Hold the Fort.”

"The Internationale" audio, sung at the Socialism 2013 Conference in Chicago

“The Internationale” was written in 1871 in France by Eugene Pottier, and years later was found by Pierre De Geyter who composed a melody for the poem. The song spread quickly, becoming translated into dozens of languages and known around the world. It was sung at meetings, demonstrations, and rallies. During the 1912 textile strike in Lawrence, Massachusetts, the anthem was sung in several different languages all at once. What had been considered a general radical song, “The Internationale” became the official anthem of the Soviet Union in 1917.