A mix between a couple of old translations and Billy Braggs new text.
Arise ye pris'ners of starvation
Arise ye wretched of the earth
For justice thunders condemnation
A better world's in birth!
No more tradition's chains shall bind us
Arise, ye slaves, no more in thrall;
The earth shall rise on new foundations
We have been naught we shall be all.
It's the final conflict
Let all stand in place
The international ideal
Unites the human race
So comrades, come rally
And the last fight let us face
The international ideal
Unites the human race
Stand up, all victims of oppression
For the tyrants fear your might
Don't cling so hard to your possessions
For you have nothing, if you have no rights
Let racist ignorance be ended
For respect makes the empires fall
Freedom is merely privilege extended
Unless enjoyed by one and all.
[...]
We want no condescending saviors
to rule us from their judgement hall
The people ask not for their favors
Let us consult for all.
To make the theifs disgorge their booty
To free the spirit from its cell
We must ourselves decide our duty
We must decide and do it well.
[...]
The law oppresses us and tricks us,
the wage slave system drains our blood;
The rich are free from obligation,
The laws the poor delude.
Too long we've languished in subjection,
Equality has other laws;
"No rights," says we "without their duties,
No claims on equals without cause."
[...]
No more deluded by reaction
On tyrants only we'll make war
The soldiers too will take strike action
They'll break ranks and fight no more
And if those cannibals keep trying
To sacrifice us to their pride
They soon shall hear the bullets flying
We'll shoot the generals on our own side.
[...]
[...]