Workers of the world, unite!
political slogan that is the rallying cry of communism
The political slogan "Workers of the world, unite!" is one of the rallying cries from The Communist Manifesto (1848) by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. The original phrase (German: Proletarier aller Länder, vereinigt Euch!) literally meant 'Proletarians of all countries, unite!', but was soon popularised in English as "Workers of the world, unite!" along with the rest of the phrase: "You have nothing to lose but your chains!".
A variation of this phrase ("Workers of all lands, unite") is also inscribed on Marx's tombstone. The essence of the slogan is that members of the working classes throughout the world should cooperate to defeat capitalism and achieve victory in the class conflict.
Overview
Five years before The Communist Manifesto, this phrase appeared in the 1843 book The Workers' Union by Flora Tristan.
The Communist League, described by Engels as "the first international movement of the working class", was persuaded by Engels to change its motto from the League of the Just's "All men are brothers" to "Working men of all countries, unite!", reflecting Marx and Engels' view of proletarian internationalism.
The phrase has overlapping meanings: first, that workers should unite in unions to better push for their demands such as workplace pay and conditions; secondly, that workers should see beyond their various craft unions and unite against the capitalist system; and thirdly, that workers of different countries have more in common with each other than workers and employers of the same country.
The phrase was used by the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) in their publications and songs and was a mainstay on banners in May Day demonstrations. The IWW used it when opposing World War I in both the United States and Australia.
The slogan was the Soviet Union's state motto (Пролетарии всех стран, соединяйтесь!; Proletarii vsekh stran, soyedinyaytes'!) and it appeared in the State Emblem of the Soviet Union.
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Vocabulary and entity names are the principal evidence signals here, because they determine the precision of every later search. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 28, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q877781. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1848 and 1843.
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