There are many cases of gifted artists, musicians and writers politically supporting despots and endorsing authoritarian political movements. Ezra Pound made propaganda broadcasts for fascist Italy. Edith Stein translated speeches of Henri Philippe Petain, the Nazi puppet ruler of France in World War Two.
The gris eminence of today’s legion of leftist entertainers is Pete Seeger, who was a member of the Communist Party of the USA from the 1930′s to the 1950′s, and who extolled Stalin as the “Hard Driver” instead of condemning him as an architect of genocide on a grand scale. Even after leaving the Communist Party, Seeger professed his loyalty to communist ideology, even shifting from opposition to the US entering World War Two to supporting the war effort.
Why mention Seeger’s communist beliefs right on the heels of his passing? What ill can be spoken of a man who sang “Little Boxes”, Die Gedanken Sind Frei” and “Hard Rain’s a Gonna Fall”? Wouldn’t it be far better to maintain a tasteful silence about Seeger’s political beliefs?
Pete Seeger was not ashamed of his politics. If he were writing his own eulogy, he would probably put in a pitch for his own political world view. Seeger, like many communists, was not apologetic about his beliefs.
In America, there were many causes that were first championed by the political left, and then adopted by mainstream political parties. In many cases, political extremists correctly identify social problems, and then come up with toxic remedies. There are a great many people whoo oppose war, racism, hunger and poverty who are not communists.
There is a long list of entertainers whose music is wonderful yet whose politics are repulsive. Mikis Theodorakis, Bruce Springsteen,Barbra Streisand, The Dixie Chicks and Inti Illimani are all way to the left of me politically. Despite this, I enjoy their music. And if I were to shun every Hollywood film star whose politics are at variance with my own, there would be very little left to watch in movie theaters or on television.
The German word “Narrenfreiheit” translates into English as “the freedom of fools”. This generally denotes the freedom top speak the unexpurgated truth under the guise of jest. Singers and entertainers, far from seeing themselves as jesters, usually speak with earnest certitude about their political convictions. Usually, the respect for a person’s artistic talent tends to bring an aura f respectability to their politics, no matter how poorly thought out their politics might be. This makes about as much sense as asking my endocrinologist to fix my computer, or my computer technician to treat my high blood pressure.
Pete Seeger the performer deserves a great deal of respect. As a political commentator, he is a deeply flawed human being. Viewing him through the lens of “Narrenfreiheit” makes it far easier to stomach his politics.
Pete Seeger made great contributions to world entertainment. With songs like Tschotalosa and Guantanamera, he looked beyond America’s shores as few entertainers do. And when he sang “Oh Freedom!” the very fact that he was an avowed communist was an implicit challenge to the political mainstream to fight injustice.
We should not discount Pete Seeger’s contributions to the world of music. To the contrary, we should view his entire life, as well as his extreme political views as a lesson most worthy of study.
LA Times article
Guantanamera
Hard Rain’s a Gonna Fall
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