White Army, Black Baron
| English: The Red Army is the Strongest | |
|---|---|
| Krasnaja Armija vsekh silnej | |
| Lyrics | Pavel Gorinshtejn |
| Music | Samuel Pokrass |
The Red Army is the Strongest (Красная Армия всех сильней, Krasnaja Armija vsekh silnej), popularly known as "White Army, Black Baron," is a marching song written by Pavel Grigorevich Gorinshtejn (1895–1961, a.k.a. Pavel Gorin, Pavel Grigorev) and composed by Samuil Pokrass (1897–1939). Written in 1920, during the Russian Civil War, the song was meant as a combat anthem for the Red Army.
The immediate context of the song is the final Crimean offensive in the Russian Civil War by Pyotr Wrangel's troops in July 1920. The second verse refers to the call to a final effort in the Crimea published by the Revolutionary Military Council in Pravda on 10 July. While the song has a separate refrain, the verses repeat the claim that "The Red Army is stronger than all", which came to be the song's conventional title. The first verse of the song reads as follows:
Белая армия, чёрный барон
Снова готовят нам царский трон,
Но от тайги до британских морей
Красная Армия всех сильней.
The White Army and the Black Baron
Are preparing to restore to us the Tsar's throne,
But from the taiga to the British seas
The Red Army is the strongest of all!
"Black Baron" was a nickname of Wrangel's, from the alleged penchant of his for wearing (and dressing some of his elite units in) black uniforms. Wrangel's offensive was indeed halted by the Red Army, and Wrangel and his troops were forced to retreat to Crimea in November 1920, pursued by both Red and Black cavalry and infantry. Wrangel and the remains of his army were evacuated from Crimea to Constantinople on 14 November 1920.
The song became popular in the early Soviet Union. It was sung in 1923 at the rally in Leningrad against the Curzon Line, the "British seas" acquiring new significance in view of Lord Curzon's ultimatum. In a letter to a school for blind students in the Vologda region, Nadezhda Krupskaya named it as her favourite songs alongside The Internationale. The phrase "from the taiga to the British Seas" became something of an idiomatic expression used by other authors, e.g. by V. A. Lugovsky in his poem Песни о ветре ("Song of the Wind", 1926).
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