“L’Internationale” and its Spanish Versions

This contribution proposes to examine the intercultural transfer of “L’Internationale”, the hymn of the socialist and communist movements, into the Spanish-speaking world. The original lyrics were written in French by Eugène Pottier in 1871 to commemorate the Paris Commune, a workers’ rebellion which took place in that same year, and were set to music in 1888 by Pierre De Geyter, a Belgian socialist composer. They were promptly translated into an impressive number of other languages. The first Spanish translation was made in 1899. It still serves as the anthem of the Partido Comunista de España and differs from two later versions, which can be considered adaptations. One version is a rewriting from a sociopolitical perspective that adjusts itself to the principles of the FAI, an anarchist movement of the 1920s–1930s in Spain and Portugal. Another was influenced by the historical and geographical setting of the Cuban revolution and is used by many Latin American leftist movements as well as by the PSOE, the Spanish socialist party. This article contextualizes and compares these three versions, drawing on the concepts of rewriting and adaptation to frame the analysis.