A las Barricadas

"A las Barricadas" ("To the Barricades") was one of the most popular songs of the Spanish anarchists during the Spanish Civil War. "A las Barricadas" is sung to the tune of Warszawianka 1905. The lyrics were written by Valeriano Orobón Fernández in 1936.

"The Confederation" referred to in the final stanza is the anarcho-syndicalist CNT (Confederación Nacional del Trabajo — "National Confederation of Labor"), which at the time was the largest labour union and main anarchist organisation in Spain, and a major force opposing Francisco Franco's military coup against the Spanish Republic from 1936–1939.

Lyrics

Spanish

English Translation

Negras tormentas agitan los aires nubes oscuras nos impiden ver Aunque nos espere el dolor y la muerte contra el enemigo nos llama el deber. El bien más preciado es la libertad hay que defenderla con fe y valor. Alza la bandera revolucionaria que del triunfo sin cesar no lleva en pos Alza la bandera revolucionaria que del triunfo sin cesar no lleva en pos En pie el pueblo obrero a la batalla hay que derrocar a la reacción ¡A las Barricadas! ¡A las Barricadas! 'por el triunfo de la Confederación. ¡A las Barricadas! ¡A las Barricadas! por el triunfo de la Confederación.

Black storms shake the sky Dark clouds blind us Although pain and death await us Duty calls us against the enemy The most precious good is freedom And we have to defend it With faith and courage Raise the revolutionary flag Which carries the people to emancipation Raise the revolutionary flag Which carries the people to emancipation Working people march onwards to the battle We have to smash the reaction To the Barricades! To the Barricades! For the triumph of the Confederation To the Barricades! To the Barricades! For the triumph of the Confederation

The third stanza is sometimes sung instead with the line "Alza la bandera revolucionaria, que del triunfo sin cesar nos lleva en pos", a sentence that is hard to translate into English due to fractured or poetic syntax. An approximation is "Raise the revolutionary flag, which leads us unceasingly to triumph".

Artists to cover the song include

• A.D.E.S.
• Asto Pituak
• Bandista (with the name "Haydi Barikata")
• Casa del Vento (Italian folk rock)
• Dandelion Junk Queens
• El Comunero
• Jake and the Infernal Machine
• Jean-Marc Leclercq
• Juventude Maldita (hardcore band from Brazil)
• Les Amis d'ta Femme
• Los Dolares
• Los Muertos De Cristo
• Pascal Comelade
• Serge Utgé-Royo
• Vennaskond
• Victor Manuel and Ana Belén (as a duet piece).

See also

• Songs of the Spanish Civil War

External links

• Score
• Himno de la CNT – Hosting mp3s of "A Las Barricadas"
• http://anarchismus.at/ – Hosting mp3s of "A Las Barricadas"