The Internationale/Timeline

The following events are divided by countries and areas speaking different languages.

Year French-related event Russian-related event English-related event Chinese-related event Other notable event
1816 Eugène Pottier (dies in 1887) is born.
1848 Pierre De Geyter (dies in 1932) is born.
1860 Charles Hope Kerr (dies in 1944) is born.
1871 Eugène Pottier writes in June the original French words of The Internationale, to be sung to the tune of La Marseillaise.
1872 Arkady Yakovlevich Kots (dies in 1943) is born.
1887 Eugène Pottier (born in 1816) dies.
1888 Pierre De Geyter sets the music of The Internationale, which is first publicly performed in July.
1896 Xiao San (dies in 1983) is born.
1899 Qu Qiubai (dies in 1935) is born.
1900 Charles Hope Kerr makes the USA lyrics.
1902 Arkady Yakovlevich Kots makes the initial Russian translation.
1904 Pierre De Geyter's brother Adolphe is induced by the Lille mayor Gustave Delory to claim copyright.
1908 Shen Baoji (dies in 2002) is born.
1914 Pierre De Geyter loses the first copyright lawsuit.
1916 Adolphe De Geyter hangs himself and confesses the false copyright claim in a letter to Pierre.
1918 The Russian SFSR adopts The Internationale as the national anthem.
1922 Pierre De Geyter wins the copyright lawsuit with the letter from Adolphe as new evidence. The Soviet Union adopts The Internationale as the de facto national anthem.
1923 Qu Qiubai translates on June 15 The Internationale from Russian to Chinese. Xiao San also translates The Internationale from Russian to Chinese.
1926 The National Revolutionary Army of China prints on March 18 a music sheet with three lyrics of The Internationale in Chinese.
1927 Pierre De Geyter is invited to Moscow, Soviet Russia for the celebration of the tenth anniversary of the October Revolution, as the Soviet leaders discover his real authorship.
1931 The Chinese Soviet Republic decides its national anthem to be The Internationale.
1932 Pierre De Geyter (born in 1848) dies.
1935 Qu Qiubai (born in 1899) is executed by Kuomintang.
1943 Arkady Yakovlevich Kots (born in 1872) dies.
1944 The Soviet Union changes its national anthem from The Internationale to Hymn of the Soviet Union. Charles Hope Kerr (born in 1860) dies.
1949 The People's Republic of China is founded on October 1. The Government of the Republic of China, losing the Chinese Civil War, moves its national capital to Taipei, Taiwan. Around this time, the Internationale becomes politically banned in Taiwan.
1957 Billy Bragg (living) is born. Shen Baoji makes a complete Chinese translation of The Internationale from French.
1983 Xiao San (born in 1896) dies.
1989 In the People's Republic of China, protesters sing The Internationale in the Tiananmen Square protests.
1990 Billy Bragg composes the modern English lyrics of The Internationale.
2000 President Lee Teng-hui's Administration of Taiwan, Republic of China leaves office as the term expires on May 20. Around this time, the Internationale is no longer politically banned in Taiwan.
2002 Shen Baoji (born in 1908) dies.
2005 Le Chant du Monde administering the copyright asks Pierre Merejkowsky, the film director and an actor of Insurrection / résurrection, to pay 1000 euro for whistling The Internationale for seven seconds.
2007 The French Supreme Court confirms in February that the musical copyright extensions for both world wars is in addition to life plus 70 years until year end, based on a 1985 law.
2008 Billy Bragg's modern English version has a copyright permission logged at Wikimedia OTRS, but not compatible with GFDL as commercial use is limited.
2017 The Internationale melody enters the public domain in France in October through copyright expiration.