Video of Canadian ‘students’ singing communist anthem goes viral
Posts lack context about when the footage was shot, what type of event it shows or the group’s limited reach and support
CLAIM
A video has been shared widely on social media described as showing Canadian students singing the “communist anthem”. The Internationale is an anthem widely adopted by socialist, communist and anarchist groups.
BACKGROUND
Footage that began being widely shared on February 8 by right-wing X accounts shows an auditorium filled with young people singing The Internationale — an anthem widely adopted by socialist, communist and anarchist groups.
The footage has gained attention as U.S. President Donald Trump has repeatedly floated the idea of Canada becoming part of the U.S. as a 51st state. The president reiterated that he is serious about wanting to annex Canada in an interview that was aired during the Super Bowl preshow on Sunday, February 9.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has also been reported warning business leaders during a meeting on Friday, February 7, to take Trump’s comments seriously.
The video was shared on February 8 by X account @bruce_barrett, which describes the user as living in Toronto and working as a comedian. It also has the #CanadaFirst hashtag in its bio and frequently shares news on the Trump administration’s actions. An internet search for the user did not throw up any other related social media accounts.
The post was shared more than 1,000 times before the video was also shared by multiple other accounts with hundreds of thousands of followers and receiving thousands of reshares.
METHOD
At the start of the footage, text appears overlayed saying, “The 2025 Marxist Winter School is 1 Week Away”, while at the end, it calls for people to sign up, and a URL is provided, saying Marxist.ca/school.
The URL goes to a website for the Revolutionary Communist Party – Canada & Québec´, which is not connected to The Communist Party of Canada — a federal political party in Canada. On its website, it says it is linked to Revolutionary Communist International, a Marxist fringe group with branches worldwide.
Its Instagram account has a following of just under 14,000 users, while on Facebook it has over 11,000 followers and on X it has just over 7,500 followers.
The video was shared by the group on its social media channels on February 7. It received relatively little attention on both X and Facebook, reposted only a few dozen times but thousands of comments were left on its Instagram version of the footage, many of them critical. It also received over 16,800 likes on Instagram.
On Instagram and Facebook, the group explains: “Every year, we end the Marxist Winter School with the Internationale.” It called for people to register for its “winter school” — a weekend conference that will be held in Montreal, according to its website. This shows the video is at least one year old.
“Register today to join 100s of your comrades from across North America, for a weekend of intensive Marxist education,” the post said.
In response to one of the tweets sharing the video by @visegrad24, the group wrote: “The Montreal Marxist Winter School is not just for students, anyone can be a student of Marxism!”
The footage appears to have been shot at a similar event organised by the group in 2024 and also held in Montreal. According to a post about the event on its website, the group has around 700 members.
RATING
The footage is real and does show an event of largely young people singing The Internationale. However, it lacks context about when the footage was shot, what type of event it shows or the group’s limited reach and support.
SOURCES
Communist Revolution. (2024) Montreal marxist Winter School 2024: The Revolutionary Communist Party has arrived!: Communist revolution Communist Revolution. Available at: https://www.marxist.ca/article/montreal-marxist-winter-school-2024-therevolutionary-communist-party-has-arrived (Accessed: 12 February 2025).
Durkee, A. (2025). Trump Confirms He’s Serious About Wanting Canada As 51st State. Forbes. [online] 9 Feb. Available at: https://www.forbes.com/sites/alisondurkee/2025/02/09/trump-confirms-hes-serious-about-wanting-canada-as-51st-state/.
X (formerly Twitter). (2025). Available at: Canadian students sing the communist anthem and call for a Marxist takeover. [Accessed 12 Feb. 2025].
X (formerly Twitter). (2025). Available at: Communist Canada: Hundreds of young Canadians sing the communist anthem as they call for… [Accessed 12 Feb. 2025].
X (formerly Twitter). (2025). Available at: Canadian students sing the communist anthem while holding portraits of Lenin and dem… [Accessed 12 Feb. 2025].
X (formerly Twitter). (2025). Available at: This is why we don’t want Canada as a state [Accessed 12 Feb. 2025].