But then, when isn’t it? But tonight it really is, since it’s a paean to far-left, Stalin-loving, Comintern lacky Pete Seeger. The local WUNC announcer bemoans the fact that for 17 years he wasn’t allowed on TV and says his politics were “tragically confused by the government.” Man, read a book, or at least a newspaper article! This is the vilest kind of revisionist history. The link above is essentially a review of the irresponsible program WUNC is showing on their beg-a-thon tonight. Here’s an excerpt:
The film’s most egregious moment comes when it tells us that Mr. Seeger joined the Communist Party in 1939, and drifted out of it a decade later. It relates how in 1941 he joined the first folk music group, the Almanac Singers, which sang for the labor movement and the CIO. Next the film mentions that Mr. Seeger entered the Army during World War II, another sign of his patriotism.
Nowhere does this documentary describe the Almanac Singers’ very first album, “Songs for John Doe.” As readers of this newspaper know, in August 1939 Hitler and Stalin signed a pact and became allies. Overnight the communists took a 180-degree turn and became advocates of peace, arguing that Nazi Germany, which the USSR had opposed before 1939, was a benign power, and that the only threat to the world came from imperial Britain and FDR’s America, which was on the verge of fascism. Those who wanted to intervene against Hitler were servants of Republic Steel and the oil cartels.
The WUNC says Seeger is an environmentalist who “wanted to change the world.” Well, that’s a nice way to put it. It sort of proves Rush Limaugh’s prediction in the early ’90s that the communist movement would revive in the environmental movement.
Oh, now they’re showing fellow communist Paul Robeson. This has everything.
Now they’re talking about The Weavers’ big hit “Goodnight Irene,” which The Weavers got from Huddy Ledbetter, the blues singer called Ledbelly. So, we have Pete Seeger rippin’ off a black man.
Now that bonehead Bruce Springsteen is talking about censorship and “administrations that like to punish their enemies.” Bruce, get a good liberal arts education before you spout off.
They’re now talking about his banjo instruction namual, “How to play the 5-string banjo.” I have to admit that I bought that manual and a $35 Sears Silvertone 5-string in 1963 and learned to play the banjo with it. But back then I was just a folk music fan and didn’t care about the politics, or even know about them.