"Qu'un sang impure abreuve nos sillons" translated by "let’s water the fields with impure blood." is often a very misunderstood line.
A lot of people claim this song is racist because they think the "impure blood" mentioned belongs to the enemy. This is both wrong and an anachronism since there was no racial theories at the time when this song was written.
"Impure blood" is in opposition to the pure blood of the nobility, that is the blood of simple peasants and poor people fighting to defend the Revolution. This is the blood of the French revolutionaries that is "impure". This is in the same spirit by which they called themselves "sans-culotte" in opposition to the nobility.
This is a revisionist thesis that first appeared in 2005 and has enjoyed quite a good fortune since. It's false.
La Marseillaise is a war song written in 1792 after France declared war to Austria.
Louis XVI, who was still King (albeit no more an absolute King but a more humble constitutional one like the King of England) and who still had his head on his shoulders, was in favor of the war because he thought (hoped) Austria would win and would help restore a "proper" (absolute) monarchy.
The Rhine Army (meaning, a French army stationed in Alsace) wanted a song to accompany it while going to war. Rouget de Lisle, with others, wrote and composed that war song and titled it Chant de Guerre pour l’armée du Rhin (War Song for the Rhine Army).
The words of the song rest heavily on propaganda placards plastered throughout Strasbourg, that included injunctions such as "Immolez sans remords les traîtres" (immolate traitors without remorse) or "dissipez les armées des despotes" (dispel despots' armies).
The specific image of blood as fertilizer seems to come from a poem by Nicolas Boileau from 1656 (about a possible war with England): "Et leurs corps pourris dans nos plaines / N’ont fait qu’engraisser nos sillons" (And their rotten bodies in our plains / Only fed our furrows).
It has been obvious for everyone for at least two centuries that the "impure blood" was the blood of the ennemies. It's true that it's not "racist" because there was no real concept of race in the sense given to that term in the 19th century, but it is demeaning. The pure ones are the French and the impure ones are the others. (Rouget de Lisle was himself a nobleman and a monarchist).
A possible, non-polemic translation of "impur" would be "alien": let the blood of the aliens rain on our land.
No, please stop spreading revisionist interpretation of the Marseillaise.
Here's a book extract back from 1848 that clearly shows that everyone, even back then, understood "sang impur" as the blood of the enemy. That was just 50 years or so after the Marseillaise was created.
> Cinq mois sont à peine écoulés et dans la fièvre de civilisation des esprits chagrins disent de dissolution qui nous travaille nous avons tout usé république sociale démocratique bourgeoise gouvernements d avocats de savants dïgnoranls de poëles de utilitaires et au milieu de ce tohu bohu de recherches de tortues gouvernementales l art musical s est tu comme OII le pense bien car il n y avait rien de bien harmonieux dans la rlIarsei laise provoquant à verser le sang impur des soldats étrangers qui ne sont guère plus féroces que nous et ne songent nullement ù venir mugir dans nos canzpagnes Même avant que la guerre civile vint rugir dans la cité chants avaient cesse Il faut espérer qu ils vont reprendre c un des meilleurs moyens de persuader à l Europe pour la France Paris surtout est un objet Œanæieuse curiosité notre capitale peut redevenir le centre des arts et de la civilisation
It's also painfully obvious that your "sang impur" interpretation is wrong when you read all the other verses of the Marseillaise (not just the chorus), since so many other parts of the song refer to killing the (foreign) invaders.
> Quoi ! Des cohortes étrangères
Feraient la loi dans nos foyers !
> Tremblez, tyrans et vous, perfides,
L'opprobre de tous les partis !
Tremblez ! Vos projets parricides
Vont enfin recevoir leur prix.
> Que tes ennemis expirants
Voient ton triomphe et notre gloire !
And to your point, the Marseillaise is not a racist song anyway, but it's a nationalistic one. It fits extremely well in its era of emerging nations in Europe (spreading the idea that you belong to something bigger than your direct community/village/town/city). France was on the brink of being annihilated at the time of the Revolution by foreign kingdoms trying to take power and restore the monarchy, and it was a song to gather popular support.
Your quote is very poorly transcribed (I assume machine-transcribed) and has all the punctuation stripped, making it unreadable. Here my hand transcription:
> Cinq mois à peine écoulés, et, dans la fièvre de civilisation, --- des esprits chagrins disent de dissolution --- qui nous travaille, nous avons tout usé, république sociale, démocratique, bourgeoise, gouvernements d'avocats, de savants, d'ignorants, de poêtes, de militaires; et au milieu de ce tohu-bohu de recherche de formes gouvernementales, l'art musical s'est tu, comme on le pense bien; car il n'y avait rien de bien harmonique dans la Marseillaise provoquant à verser le sang impur des soldats étangers qui ne sont guères plus féroces que nous, et ne songent nullement à venir mugir dans nos campagnes. Même avant que la guerre civile vint rugir dans la cité les chants avaient cessé. Il faut espérer qu'ils vont reprendre: c'est un des meilleurs moyens de persuader à l'Europe pour laquelle la France, Paris surtout, est, est un objet d'anxieuse curiosité, que notre capitale peut redevenir le centre des arts et de la civilisation.
What's the title and who is the author of this book? I would like to check its credibility.
I don't see how the other samples of the anthem that you mention make any reference to an impure blood. Yes it's violent, of course. The entirety of Europe declared war on the country to prevent the ideas of the revolution to spread everywhere, what else was to be expected?
A lot of people claim this song is racist because they think the "impure blood" mentioned belongs to the enemy. This is both wrong and an anachronism since there was no racial theories at the time when this song was written.
"Impure blood" is in opposition to the pure blood of the nobility, that is the blood of simple peasants and poor people fighting to defend the Revolution. This is the blood of the French revolutionaries that is "impure". This is in the same spirit by which they called themselves "sans-culotte" in opposition to the nobility.