So runs the first stanza of the _Chant des Trimardeurs_; and this _chanson_, though execrable poetry, is, nevertheless, amply suggestive of the spirit of the _trimardeur_, and at the same time fairly illustrative of the popular revolutionary _chanson_ (_chanson populaire révolutionnaire_).
“Of all the peoples of Europe,” said Jean-Jacques Rousseau, “the French people is the one whose temperament is the most inclined to the _chanson_.
“The _chanson_ is the Frenchman’s ægis against ennui.... He uses it sometimes as a kind of consolation for the losses and reverses he sustains. He sings his defeats, his poverty, and his ills as readily as his prosperity and his victories. Beating or beaten, in abundance or in need, happy or unhappy, gay or sad, he sings always. One would say that the _chanson_ is the natural expression of all his sentiments.”
France’s _chanson populaire_ has always been one of the most important breeders and disseminators of social and political discontent. It has always kept pace with and frequently forerun revolutions. It is not surprising, therefore, that it is looked on by the anarchists as one of the most efficacious means of propaganda. The circulation among the masses of songs of revolt (_chansons de propagande_) is vigorously carried on by a number of revolutionary publishing concerns, which retail them at two sous each[8] and wholesale them at fr. 4.50 a hundred, and which also distribute them gratuitously as often as a _camarade_ or sympathiser will provide a fund for the purpose.
In these _chansons_, logic is deliberately ignored, and metaphysics and ethics are very little meddled with. All the subtleties and refinements of the doctrine, all the gentleness and sweet reasonableness of the accredited expounders of the doctrine, are crowded out by the necessity for the simple, downright, direct appeal to the passion which is the _chanson’s_ peculiar province.
The very titles of these _chansons de propagande_ show that their purpose is inflammation rather than persuasion. Notice a few of them:—
“_Ouvrier, prends la Machine!_” “_Crevez-moi la Sacoche_” (money-bag)! “_Fusille les Voleurs_,” _Les Briseurs d’Images_, _Le Drapeau Rouge_, _Le Réveil_, “_Vivement, Brav’ Ouvrier!_” _La Chanson du Linceul_.