"Workers of all countries, unite!" Who said and what do these words mean?

2024 Author: Henry Conors | [email protected]. Last modified: 2024-02-12 02:43

To study the history of the phrase "Workers of all countries, unite" it is necessary to understand the meaning of the words "proletarian" or "proletariat".

Proletarian. Origin of the word

According to history, the word "proletarian" has Latin roots: proletarius. It means "procreate". The poor citizens of Rome, characterizing their property, wrote the word "children" - "proles". That is, they, except for children, had no other we alth. So the meaning was assigned to the word: poor, poor, beggar. In the dictionary of V. Dahl, the term is described even more harshly: "homeless or landless, homeless backbone." Sounds embarrassing to say the least.

The French during the "Great Revolution" have already begun to use the term "proletariat", denoting them all the idle people who live life freely, they are not worried about tomorrow.

F. Engels, one of the founders of Marxist theory, in 1847 "ennobled"term, gave it a new political direction, brought out a new semantic content. In the interpretation of Engels, the proletarian became an honest worker, a worker who is ready to sell his strength, but does not have the material basis for his own business. Since then, the meaning of the word "proletariat" has remained unchanged; during the Great October Socialist Revolution in Russia, it sounded proud. And during the existence of the USSR, it was well known and in full view of all Soviet citizens.

Unite or unite?

Who said "Workers of all countries unite" for the first time? Let's look into this matter.

Working together on the writing of the "Manifesto of the Communist Party", K. Marx and F. Engels entered there the slogan, which later became popular: "Proletarians of all countries, unite!" And this is how the words sound in an arbitrary translation into Russian.

How to speak correctly? "Proletarians of all countries, unite?" or "connect?". In German, the word vereinigt means "to unite", "to unite". That is, you can say both versions of the translation.

So there are two possible endings for the Marxist call: "unite" and "unite".

Proletarians and unity

The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics was a multinational state uniting 15 friendly territories.

As far back as 1920, there was a call directed to the East, with the aim of bringing together, uniting the peoples who had previously been subjected to oppression. V. I. Lenin, the leader of the Land of Soviets, agreed with his wording and considered the call for unity to be true, since it corresponded to the political vectors of the state. Thus, the slogan in its usual form began to come true.

The multinational state - the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics - was, in its essence, the result of unification. The friendliness of the fraternal peoples, united by a single goal - the construction of socialism and communism, was a special pride of the Land of Soviets. This political action became an example and confirmation of the vitality of the theory of Marxism.

Slogan and symbols of the state

It so happened that after the October Revolution, in Soviet times, the slogan "Proletarians of all countries and oppressed peoples, unite!" decreased, "oppressed peoples" fell out of it, a shortened version remained. It fit well into the concept of state policy, thus deserved its popularization. The government of the Land of Soviets has decided on state symbols. They became: the sun, the sickle and the hammer, in addition to them - the proletarian slogan.

The coat of arms of the USSR consisted of symbols, and the text was written in the languages of the territorial units that were part of the state. Moreover, the number grew, starting from six (1923 - 1936). After them there were already eleven (1937-1940), and even later - already fifteen (1956).

The republics, in turn, also had a coat of arms with the slogan from the famous manifesto as in the language of the autonomous territory(Republic), and in Russian.

This slogan was everywhere

In the Soviet Union, the famous slogan was even on postage stamps. A stamp is known, on which a call to unite the proletariat was depicted using Morse code, the text was placed along an oval frame.

Citizens of the USSR are accustomed to seeing the motto we are interested in everywhere - on many stands and posters. Often people had to carry banners with text in their hands at demonstrations. Such processions were held regularly on May 1 (International Workers' Day), November 7 (October Revolution Day). After the collapse of the USSR, these parades were abolished.

The "unifying" text was printed on party cards (covers), it was regularly placed in the header of any printed media publication related to politics and state historical topics. And the newspaper "Izvestia" distinguished itself from others - it allowed itself to depict the above-mentioned text in all languages \u200b\u200bof the republics that were part of the USSR.

Orders, medals, badges of honor

Everyone's favorite phrase shone on the Order of the Red Star. The Order of the Red Banner of Labor was also awarded a similar honor.

The medal "Proletarians of all countries, unite" was issued.

On the commemorative insignia of the Red Army depicted the leader - V. I. Lenin and a banner with the text about the union of the proletariat.

This phenomenon also affected finances. The same inscription was cast on fifty dollars (1924g.) and placed on banknotes (one gold piece).

The famous phrase "absorbed into the blood" and remained in the memory of several generations of people, they built socialism, dreamed of communism and firmly believed in the strength of the united proletariat.