Brüder, zur Sonne, zur Freiheit

Brüder, zur Sonne, zur Freiheit is presented as a workers’ movement song whose history connects Russian revolutionary singing with its prominence in Germany. The novel’s explanatory note identifies its author, historical use, tune, and standing in the German workers’ movement, making the song a point of contact between revolutionary traditions across national borders.

Historical identification

The note names Leonid Petrowitsch Radin as the song’s writer and says it was sung during the Russian Revolution of 1905 and the Russian Revolution of 1917. It also traces the melody to a Russian student song from around 1900. These details distinguish the song’s credited authorship from the earlier musical tradition on which its tune drew.

Place in the workers’ movement

The note describes Brüder, zur Sonne, zur Freiheit as the best-known song of the German workers’ movement. Alongside its association with revolutionary singing in Russia, that description records its reach beyond the setting in which it originated: a student-song tune became attached to a song recognized as central to German workers’ culture. The evidence establishes this historical and political significance without specifying how, or in which scene, the song is performed in the novel.