They shall not pass

On Ne Passe Pas!
Propaganda poster by Maurice Neumont

On Ne Passe Pas! on a French medal commemorating the battle of Verdun

"They shall not pass" (French: "Ils ne passeront pas/On ne passe pas"; Spanish: "¡No pasarán!") is a slogan used to express determination to defend a position against an enemy.

It was most famously used during the Battle of Verdun in World War I by French General Robert Nivelle. It appears on propaganda posters, such as that by Maurice Neumont after the Second Battle of the Marne, which was later adopted on uniform badges by units manning the Maginot Line. Later during the war, it also was used by Romanian soldiers during the Battle of Mărăşeşti.

It was also used during the Spanish Civil War, this time at the Siege of Madrid by Dolores Ibárruri Gómez, a member of the Communist Party of Spain, in her famous "No Pasarán" speech on 18 July 1936. The leader of the nationalist forces, Generalissimo Francisco Franco, upon gaining Madrid, responded to this slogan with "Hemos pasado" ("We have passed").

"¡No pasarán!" (pronounced /nəw pazawr̩ aɳ/) was used by British anti-fascists during the October 1936 Battle of Cable Street, and is still used in this context in some political circles. It was often accompanied by the words pasaremos (we will pass) to indicate that communists rather than fascists will be the ones to seize state power.^[1]

The phrase was used again in December 2002 by Colonel Emmanuel Maurin, commanding a French Foreign Legion unit in the Ivory Coast; this did not have communist or radical left connotations. In last quarter of 2009, it has been used in the political propaganda of Estonia by the Estonian Centre Party.

In March 2010 the phrase "No pasarán!" was again adopted by anti-fascist leftist forces who created Unite Against Fascism against the English Defence League; one of the first instances of the slogan being used in this era was the Bolton EDL rally.^[2]

In February 2011 "No pasarán!" was used by leftist demonstrators blockading a street in Dresden to stop a neo-Nazi march.

For years the term was used by Serbs in Kosovo, as "Alban no passaran", meaning "Albanians will not pass!" as a slogan for defending the Ibar bridge and protecting the enclaves against the Kosovo Albanians.

Literary use

Vittorio Giardino's Max Friedman series has a two-part book series titled No Pasaran! The story is set in Spain during the Spanish Civil War.

Jan Drda in his Silent Barricade (1949), the last short story called as the same as the book, uses the term "NO PASSARAN" while three men are defending the last barricade in Prague, Czech republic, against the Nazi German Army in World War II. One of them, a Czech veteran of the Spanish Civil War, writes the first three letters of "No passaran" on the side of a tram, used as the barricade. The sign is then completed by his comrade, a Dutch veteran.

Gandalf in J.R.R. Tolkien's The Fellowship of the Ring, the first volume of The Lord of the Rings, declares repeatedly, "You cannot pass!" when he blocks the pursuing Balrog. (J.R.R. Tolkien was a World War I veteran.^[3]) In the 2001 film, Gandalf first says, "You cannot pass", and, a moment later, cries out, "You shall not pass!" while striking his staff upon the ground.

Emil Renard in Max Brooks's World War Z uttered the last words over his radio "On ne passe pas!" while fighting zombies, as told by his brother Andre Renard to the narrator.

In Ian McEwan's novel Saturday, Jay Strauss calls Henry Perowne to their last round of squash, saying "Fight to the Death" and "No parasan!"

In Monty Python and The Holy Grail, The Black Knight instigates a sword fight with King Arthur by declaring "None shall pass."

In Metro 2033 the communist brigade that saves Artyom in Tverskaya station quote this slogan when parting with him in Paveleskaya station.

In George R. R. Martin's fantasy series A Song of Ice and Fire, the character Edmure Tully concludes a letter to his sister Catelyn with the phrase "They shall not cross" in reference to the Battle of the Fords.

In the Star Wars New Jedi Order book Traitor, Jedi Knight Ganner Rhysode uttered one variant of this phrase–"None shall pass"–as he defended a passage way against hordes of enemies, earning such regard for himself he is said to have become deified in the Yuuzhan Vong pantheon.

In Simon R. Green's Nightside series, the narrator John Taylor expresses some surprise that the legendarily resolute and immovable Doorman of the world's oldest members-only club did not have a sash proclaiming "They Shall Not Pass".

The phrase was also famously used by te Sandinistas in Nicaragua, and immortalised in the Carlos Godoy song "No Pasaran!'

See also

• Order No. 227 (Stalin's "Not one step back" order)
• Molon labe
• Awake iron!

References

1. ^ http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2006/sep/30/thefarright.past
2. ^ Discussion of 20 March 2010 rally in Bolton, England, with image showing use of the phrase.
3. ^ http://greenbooks.theonering.net/guest/files/040102_02.html