Eugène Edine Pottier

Eugène Pottier

Eugène Edme Pottier (1816, Paris - 1887) was a French revolutionary socialist, poet, and transport worker.

Pottier was elected a member of the Paris municipal council - the Paris Commune, in March 1871. During the Commune he wrote the poem L'Internationale which became the International Workingmen's Association anthem during its last years (1871–1876), and has been used by most socialist and leftist political internationals since.

Fifteen years after the Communards were crushed in blood by the Versaillais (1871), Eugene 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.

External links

Eugène Pottier's tomb in Le Père Lachaise Cemetery

• Eugène Edine Pottier at Find a Grave