"We don't want communism. We don't want it anymore," its lyrics says

'Nie chcemy komuny': an inspiring Polish anti-communist song from the 1980s

In the 20th century, the Polish people fought against the two great totalitarianisms, communism and nazism, and that fight was embodied in many songs.

'Bij bolszewika!': An anti-communist song sung by the Polish resistance after WWII
Poland 1970: when a communist dictatorship sent tanks to massacre a workers’ protest

Today I want to tell you about a song that emerged in the years of Martial Law (1981-1983), a period in which the Polish communist dictatorship increased its repression and mobilized the army in response to the growing protests promoted by the Catholic union Solidarność (Solidarity), supported by Pope Saint John Paul II. During the year and a half that Martial Law lasted, 56 people were killed by the communists (some sources speak of up to 91 dead) and thousands of opponents were imprisoned.

It was precisely in one of the prisons to which some opponents were taken, the Łupków detention center, next to the border with Slovakia, where the song “Nie chcemy komuny” (We don't want communism) appeared, although in some places it was from Poland they title it as "Czerwona Hołota" (Red Scum). Some sources indicate that it was written in the aforementioned prison. Leszek Dobrzyński further notes that the most widely circulated recording of this song was, in fact, recorded in Łupków. I have not been able to locate a known author or an exact date of its composition, but various sources indicate that it was written during the period of Martial Law. You can listen it here (the video has subtitles in English):

On PrawicowyInternet.pl they point out that "Nie chcemy komuny" came from a song by the "Cursed Soldiers", the Polish anti-communist resistance that emerged after the World War II. The music is based on a famous military song that emerged in the Polish Legions in 1918, "Szara piechota" (Grey infantry), written by Bolesław Lubicz-Zahorski and Leon Łuskino and that you can listen here:

The first stanza of "Nie chcemy komuny" refers to four Polish communist dictators: Bolesław Bierut, Władysław Gomułka, Edward Gierek and Wojciech Jaruzelski. Later it mentions the massacres of prisoners perpetrated by the Soviets in Katyn, Grodno and Lviv and also mentions Vilna, where the Red Army betrayed the Polish resistance and sent many of its members to the Gulag after receiving their help to conquer that city, today capital of Lithuania. When it quotes "the days of WRON" he refers to the time of Martial Law, during which a military junta called Wojskowa Rada Ocalenia Narodowego (WRON, Military Council for National Salvation) was in force.

You can read the original lyrics in Polish here:

Był już krwawy Bierut
I krwawy Gomułka,
Potem krwawy Gierek,
Teraz wojtka spółka.

Obojętnie kto z nich
Będzie rządzić krajem,

Zawsze będzie rządził
Pałką i nahajem.

Nie chcemy komuny, nie chcemy już.
Nie chcemy ni sierpa, ni młota.

Za Katyń, za Grodno, za Wilno i Lwów
Zapłaci czerwona hołota.

Za Katyń, za Grodno, za Wilno i Lwów
Zapłaci czerwona hołota.

Za mordy, za gwałty, cierpienia i łzy,
Za lata w niewoli spędzone,

Za fałsze, oszczerstwa i cyniczne gry,
Nadzieje bestialsko zniszczone.

Za fałsze, oszczerstwa i cyniczne gry,
Nadzieje bestialsko zniszczone.

Od Jałty ten koszmar sowiecki już trwa
I z każdym wciąż rokiem narasta.

Nie lękaj się walki, w szeregu dziś stań.
Przed Tobą czerwona hałastra.

Nie lękaj się walki, w szeregu dziś stań.
Przed Tobą czerwona hałastra.

Nie chcemy komuny, podnieśmy więc głos.
Nasz protest do kremla już dotarł.

Więc weźmy w swe ręce parszywy nasz los.
Niech zadrży czerwona hołota.

Więc weźmy w swe ręce parszywy nasz los.
Niech zadrży czerwona hołota.

Choć w celach ponurych nadzieja w nas tkwi,
Wolności uchylą się wrota.

Nadejdą dla WRONy ostatnie już dni,
Zamilknie czerwona hołota.

Nadejdą dla WRONy ostatnie już dni,
Zamilknie czerwona hołota.

Czas błędów, wypaczeń już znudził się nam,
Wymierzmy sztywnemu więc kopa,

Czas Polsko wystawić rachunek swych ran,
Niech płaci czerwona hołota.

Czas Polsko wystawić rachunek swych ran,
Niech płaci czerwona hołota.

And here is the English translation:

There once was a bloody Bierut.
And a bloody Gomulka.
After, a bloody Gierek
And now, Wojciech with his comrades.

It is indifferent who will govern our country.
They will always rule by a stick and a whip.

We don't want communism. We don't want it anymore.
We don't want a sickle or a hammer.

For Katyn, for Grodno, For Vilnius and Lvov.
The red scum will pay us!

For Katyn, for Grodno, For Vilnius and Lvov.
The red scum will pay us!

For murders, for rapes, for suffering and tears.
For the years lived in slavery.

For falsehoods, for slanders and cynical games.
For our hopes that were brutally destroyed.

For falsehoods, for slanders and cynical games.
For our hopes that were brutally destroyed.

From Yalta that soviet nightmare continues.
And grow up each year that passes.

Don't be afraid to fighting, stand in the line.
In front of you is the red scum.

Don't be afraid to fighting, stand in the line.
In front of you is the red scum.

We don't want communism.
So we raise our voice.
Our protests have already arrived to the Kremlin.

So let's put our fate into our hands.
Let the red scum tremble with fear.

So let's put our fate into our hands.
Let the red scum tremble with fear.

Although somber, hope is still in us,
The gates of freedom will open!

The end of days of WRON are coming,
And so we will shut up the red scum!

The end of days of WRON are coming,
And so we will shut up the red scum!

The time of errors and distortions has already bothered us.
Let's finish them once and for all!

It's time for Poland to list all your bruises,
And make red scum pays for all of them!

It's time for Poland to list all your bruises,
And make red scum pays for all of them!

---

Photo: Demonstration in Gdansk, Poland, on August 7, 1980.

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