France. The Revolution of 1848
Source: Undated [1850], unsigned broadsheet in the collection of the BNF;
Translated: for marxists.org by Mitchell Abidor, 2020;
CopyLeft: Creative Commons (Attribute & ShareAlike) marxists.org.
Pierre-Jean de Béranger (1780-1857) was the great poet and chansonnnier of the Revolution and the Republic, his verses known and loved by the common folk of France. So beloved was he that he was elected to the Constituent Assembly after the Revolution of 1848 with an overwhelming number of votes. In 1851 Eugène Sue, the novelist of the French working class, a writer much admired by Karl Marx, ran for the Chamber of Deputies as a socialist and a republican, and was admired as the heir of the still-living Béranger. He won the office handily. This song by an anonymous author (we only know he also wrote the song “Du pain! Le cri du people” – “Bread! The cry of the people”) was sold on the streets of Paris for 10 centimes.
Child of the heavens, tutelary liberty,
Whoever tries to hinder your growth is mad.
One day, your hand struck a whole army,
And now, in the sea, army and king sleep forever.
Nobel warriors with deep, proud voices
Beautiful steeds... all vanished at a stroke
The ocean of the people is a Red Sea
That will drown all kings to the last.
The people pass, and the angry wave
Suddenly starts anew its halted course.
Spreading its waters like a shroud
The sea drowned the frantic Pharaoh,
And, anticipating the century of enlightenment
The people seized their rights.
The ocean of the people is a Red Sea
That will drown all kings to the last.
Did not the prophetic muse announce to Béranger [1]
That great day when we'll witness dethroned kings
Before the republic flee!
And the people, now kings of every hemisphere
Will set its foot on the final bulwark.
The ocean of the people is a Red Sea
That will drown all kings to the last.
Republicans, elect Eugène Sue
Strengthening your tree, O! Liberty!
Royalty, vanquished by the people
Already bows its disinherited head.
France crossed this border, and
The whole world, docilely heeding its voice, will follow.
The ocean of the people is a Red Sea
That will drown all kings to the last.
Liberty, building its great ship
Cuts through the sea of the immense future.
God grants it universal rule,
Which it will conquer soon.
And carrying along the peoples of the earth
It tells them: It is I, the pilot.
"The ocean of the people is a Red Sea,
That will drown all kings to the last."
1. “Those poor kings! They'll all be drowned” – Béranger [note in the original – tr.]