Today in History June 16 1888 - Birth of the International Anthem

On June 16, 1888, the tune of the most powerful and far-reaching song in the history of human song, the Internationale, was born from the pen of a worker-composer. Since then, this war song has resounded all over the world. Written the day after the defeat of the Commune by the Paris Commune fighter and poet Baudier, the Internationale is a magnificent call to the oppressed and exploited slaves of the world to rise up and fight for the truth. But it took exactly 16 years for the poem to appear in Baudier's Revolutionary Poetry, which was published by a collection of friends. After another year, someone gave this collection of poems to the worker-composer Dighet and urged him to find some lyrics to compose in it. Dighet took this book of poems, and when he returned home and opened it, he was immediately captivated, especially by the song "Internationale", which he liked even more. He felt that the lyrics of that song were perfect for a choral song. The lyrics inspired him, and he stayed awake all night with full of passion to compose that magnificent tune. The next night he tried it out in a tavern, and on June 23 he gave a formal performance at a celebration of newspaper sellers, which was a great success. It was then published under the pseudonym of Dee Geert, and 6,000 copies were printed.