In the most trying hours, through dismal nights and endless interrogations and maltreatment, during days of killing solitude in cells and close confinement, we were always sustained by the hope that all these agonies were not in vain, that there was a strong and mighty country, however far away, in which all the dreams for which we were fighting had been fulfilled. For us it was the homeland of the workers, in which labour was honoured, in which love, comradeship, and sincerity prevailed. With what joy I had felt the strength of that country as, emerging from prison in 1934, I listened in the dead of each night to Radio Moscow and heard the clock of the Kremlin tower striking the hours, and the stirring strains of the 'International'.

Our hopes are high. Our faith in the people is great. Our courage is strong. And our dreams for this beautiful country will never die.

Certainly we were disappointed. But the thing that really kept us in our spirits was that the entire country was behind us.

Wonder was the grace of the country.

We will not march back to what was,
But move to what shall be:
A country that is bruised but whole,
Benevolent but bold,
Fierce and free.

It was natural that they should look with confidence on the victorious flag which was hoisted over them, which reminded them that they belonged to a country unaccustomed to defeat, to submission, or to shame—it reminded them that they belonged to a country which had made the farthest ends of the earth ring with the fame of her exploits in redressing the wrongs of her children; that made the Dey of Algiers humble himself to her insulted consul; that revenged the horrors of the black hole on the fields of Plessey; that had not degenerated since her great Protector vowed that he would make the name of Englishman as respected as ever had been the name of Roman citizen. They felt that although far from their native country, and then in danger in a part of the world remote from that to which they must look for protection, yet that they belonged to a state which would not suffer a hair of one of its members to be harmed with impunity.

We will not march back to what was,
But move to what shall be:
A country that is bruised but whole,
Benevolent but bold.
Fierce and free.

They were going to work their own country for all it was worth, to bring human labour into touch with God's natural endowments, so that the land would blossom like the rose and have houses and firesides where there would be happiness and glorious aspirations.

How many glorious structures we had raised
Upon Hope's sandy basis!

Hope is like a road in the country; there was never a road, but when many people walk on it, the road comes into existence.

Hope is like a road in the country; there was never a road, but when many people walk on it, the road comes into existence.

And we run because we like it
Through the broad bright land.

Hail to the land whereon we tread,
Our fondest boast! The sepulchres of mighty dead,
The truest hearts that ever bled,
Who sleep on glory’s brightest bed, A fearless host:
No slave is here:—our unchained feet,
Walk freely as the waves that beat
Our coast.

My country, ’t is of thee,
Sweet land of liberty
Of thee I sing:
Land where my fathers died,
Land of the pilgrims’ pride,
From every mountain-side
Let freedom ring.