The National Anthem of the Soviet Union or the State Anthem of the USSR (or Hymn, Russian: Государственный гимн СССР, Gosudarstvenny Gimn SSSR) was introduced during World War II on March 15, 1944, replacing The Internationale as the official national anthem of the Soviet Union as well as the national anthem of the Russian SFSR. The lyrics were written by Sergey Mikhalkov (1913--2009) in collaboration with Gabriel El-Registan (1899--1945) and the music was composed by Alexander Alexandrov (1883--1946). It was believed that Soviet soldiers would respond more to an anthem that was dedicated only to the Soviet Union rather than to a worldwide movement. The song was originally written as the Anthem of the Bolshevik Party with lyrics in the Alexandrine meter by Vasily Lebedev-Kumach in 1939.
