<!doctype html public "-//W3C//DTD W3 HTML//EN"> <html><head><style type="text/css"></style><title>RE: Robeson & the USSR</title></head><body> <blockquote type="cite" cite>The Soviet National Anthem is back...it is the National Anthem of Russia,</blockquote> <blockquote type="cite" cite>with new words.</blockquote> <div><br></div> <div>And, blissfully, the new words are written by the same poet who wrote the original verse in 1943, Sergei Mikhalkov (b.1913).</div> <div><br></div> <div>I think it's his _fourth_ set of words for the same tune: after writing the original words, there was a new verse to get a mention of Stalin added a little later, then they were replaced with new words which didn't mention Stalin but which had good things to say about Lenin; and the new words don't celebrate communism at all but nod in the direction of God, the flag, the size of the country, etc.</div> <div><br></div> <div>But it's a fine tune, and it's good to have it back.</div> <div><br></div> <div>Old words:</div> <div><br></div> <div>Unbreakable Union of freeborn Republics,</div> <div>Great Russia has welded forever to stand.</div> <div>Created in struggle by will of the people,</div> <div>United and mighty, our Soviet land!<br> </div> <div>etc.</div> <div><br></div> <div>New words</div> <div><b><br></b></div> <div>Russia, our holy country!</div> <div>Russia, our beloved country!</div> <div>A mighty will, a great glory,</div> <div>Are your inheritance for all time!</div> <div><br></div> <div>Be glorious, our free Fatherland!</div> <div>Eternal union of fraternal peoples,</div> <div>Common wisdom given by our forebears,</div> <div>Be glorious, our country! We are proud of you!</div> <div><br> etc.</div> <div><br></div> <div><br></div> <div>Chris</div> <div>-- <br> <br> Phone: +44 (0) 1865-286793<br> Email: <chris.brooke@magd.ox.ac.uk><br> Web: http://users.ox.ac.uk/~magd1368<br> </div> </body> </html>