![\"\"](\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/572\/2021\/03\/Weavers.jpg\")
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It\u2019s good once in a while to look back in history, in order to ascertain the pedigree and \u201cbackground information\u201d on various strains of thought and movements of our present time. It struck me in watching \u2014 for about the fifth time \u2014 a documentary about the legendary folk music group, The Weavers<\/a> (called\u00a0The Weavers: Wasn\u2019t That a Time!<\/a><\/i>), how different some things were among those even considered \u201cfar left\u201d in the 50s and 60s.<\/p>\n The Weavers (Pete Seeger<\/a>, Lee Hays<\/a>, Ronnie Gilbert<\/a>, and Fred Hellerman<\/a>) \u2014 whose music and style I absolutely love \u2014 were perhaps the most successful musical act in America from 1950-1952, with hit singles (or eventually famous songs) like\u00a0Goodnight, Irene<\/a><\/em>,\u00a0On Top of Old Smoky<\/a><\/em>, If I Had a Hammer<\/em><\/a>, Kisses Sweeter than Wine<\/a><\/em>, Darling Corey<\/a><\/em>, and the wonderful\u00a0Wimoweh<\/a><\/em>\u00a0(later sung in 1961 by The Tokens in a version called The Lion Sleeps Tonight<\/em><\/a>).<\/p>\n They almost singlehandedly kicked off the folk revival of the early 60s (Bob Dylan, Peter, Paul, and Mary, Joan Baez, The Kingston Trio et al). Particularly influential was their Christmas Eve concert in Carnegie Hall in 1955<\/a>.<\/p>\n They were \u201cblacklisted\u201d by the House Committee on Un-American Activities<\/a> (Joe McCarthy<\/a> and the notorious McCarthyism<\/a>), resulting in dire consequences for their career. The Wikipedia entry describes the effect:<\/p>\n During\u00a0McCarthyism<\/a>, Pete Seeger and Lee Hays were identified as\u00a0Communist Party USA<\/a>\u00a0members by\u00a0FBI<\/a>\u00a0informant\u00a0Harvey Matusow<\/a>\u00a0(who later recanted) and were called to testify to the\u00a0House Committee on Un-American Activities<\/a>\u00a0in 1955. Hays took the\u00a0Fifth Amendment<\/a>,[6]<\/a><\/sup>\u00a0which allows people not to give evidence against themselves, so they could not be prosecuted without other witnesses.[7]<\/a><\/sup>\u00a0Seeger refused to answer, however, claiming\u00a0First Amendment<\/a>\u00a0grounds, the first to do so after the conviction of the\u00a0Hollywood Ten<\/a>\u00a0in 1950. Seeger was found guilty of contempt and placed under restrictions by the court pending appeal, but in 1961 his conviction was overturned on technical grounds.[8]<\/a><\/sup>\u00a0Because Seeger was among those listed in the entertainment industry\u00a0blacklist<\/a>\u00a0publication,\u00a0Red Channels<\/a>, all of the Weavers were placed under FBI surveillance and not allowed to perform on television or radio during the\u00a0McCarthy<\/a>\u00a0era. Decca Records terminated their recording contract and deleted their records from its catalog in 1953.[9]<\/a><\/sup>\u00a0Their recordings were denied airplay, which curtailed their income from royalties. Right-wing and anti-Communist groups protested at their performances and harassed promoters. As a result, the group\u2019s economic viability diminished rapidly and in 1952 it disbanded.[5]<\/a><\/sup>\u00a0After this, Pete Seeger continued his solo career, although as with all of them, he continued to suffer from the effects of blacklisting.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n I detest and decry all this. It was an abomination. But one must note that today, these sorts of blacklisting and censorship tactics are widely occurring on the left. McCarthyism is now called \u201cwoke awareness\u201d<\/a> or \u201ccancel culture\u201d<\/a> and about ten years ago or so it was known as \u201cpolitical correctness.\u201d<\/a> These are all expressions of leftist desire to censor and obliterate political conservatism, moral traditionalism, traditional Christianity, pro-life expression, and other non-leftist notions. Wikipedia describes \u201ccancel culture\u201d as follows:<\/p>\n Cancel culture<\/b>\u00a0(or\u00a0call-out culture<\/b>) is a modern form of\u00a0ostracism<\/a>\u00a0in which someone is thrust out of social or professional circles \u2013 whether it be online, on\u00a0social media<\/a>, or in person. Those who are subject to this ostracism are said to have been \u201ccancelled\u201d.[1]<\/a><\/sup>[a]<\/a><\/sup>\u00a0The expression \u201ccancel culture\u201d has mostly negative connotations and is commonly used in debates on\u00a0free speech and censorship<\/a>.[4]<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n The notion of cancel culture is a variant on the term\u00a0call-out culture<\/a><\/i>\u00a0and constitutes a form of\u00a0boycotting<\/a>\u00a0involving an individual (usually a celebrity) who is deemed to have acted or spoken in a questionable or controversial manner.[2]<\/a><\/sup>[5]<\/a><\/sup>[6]<\/a><\/sup>[7]<\/a><\/sup>[8]<\/a><\/sup>\u00a0For those on the receiving end of cancel culture, the consequences can lead to loss of reputation and income, from which it can be hard to recover.[9]<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n According to the social psychologist\u00a0Jonathan Haidt<\/a>, call-out culture arises from what he calls \u201csafetyism\u201d on college campuses.[10]<\/a><\/sup>\u00a0As illustrated by\u00a0Keith Hampton<\/a>, professor of media studies at\u00a0Michigan State University<\/a>, the practice contributes to the\u00a0polarization of American society<\/a>, but it does not lead to changes in opinion.[11]<\/a><\/sup>\u00a0Some students are afraid to express unpopular ideas for fear of being called out on social media[12]<\/a><\/sup>\u00a0and may avoid asking questions as a result.[13]<\/a><\/sup>\u00a0Call-out culture\u2019s prevalence can make marginalized groups feel \u201ceven more hesitant to speak out for what they feel is right.\u201d[14]<\/a><\/sup>\u00a0Cancel culture has also been described by a different media studies scholar, Eve Ng, as \u201ca collective of typically marginalized voices \u2018calling out\u2019 and emphatically expressing their censure of a powerful figure.\u201d[15]<\/a><\/sup>\u00a0Cultural studies scholar Frances Lee states that call-out culture leads to self-policing of \u201cwrong, oppressive, or inappropriate\u201d opinions.[16]<\/a><\/sup>[17]<\/a><\/sup>\u00a0According to\u00a0Lisa Nakamura<\/a>,\u00a0University of Michigan<\/a>\u00a0professor of\u00a0media studies<\/a>, cancelling someone is a form of \u201ccultural boycott\u201d and that cancel culture is the \u201cultimate expression of agency\u201d which is \u201cborn of a desire for control [as] people have limited power over what is presented to them on social media\u201d and a need for \u201caccountability which is not centralized\u201d.[8]<\/a><\/sup>[18]<\/a><\/sup>[19]<\/a><\/sup><\/p><\/blockquote>\n Recently, this has been utterly obvious in the attempts of Big Tech<\/a> (Amazon<\/a>,\u00a0Apple<\/a>,\u00a0Facebook<\/a>,\u00a0Google<\/a>, and\u00a0Microsoft<\/a>)\u00a0 to censor conservatives; for example, cancelling President Trump\u2019s Twitter account, and going after many other noted conservatives. Examples are now so numerous as to not even require documentation. This is the new McCarthyism and fascism today.<\/p>\n But back to the Weavers and the historical background (filled with ironies in light of what is going on today in the left, uncannily mirroring and echoing 50s McCarthyism) . . . There was a genuine leftist bent in the group and in folk music generally speaking. Again, this is undeniable and so well-known that I need not document it. But let\u2019s look at some specifics in the case of The Weavers. According to Wikipedia<\/a> (itself now decidedly \u201cleft\u201d in orientation):<\/p>\n In 1936, at the age of 17, Pete Seeger joined the\u00a0Young Communist League<\/a>\u00a0(YCL), then at the height of its influence. In 1942, he became a member of the\u00a0Communist Party USA<\/a>\u00a0(CPUSA) itself, but he left in 1949.[26]<\/a> <\/sup>. . .<\/p>\n [W]ith the ever-growing revelations of\u00a0Joseph Stalin<\/a>\u2018s atrocities and the\u00a0Hungarian Revolution of 1956<\/a>, he became increasingly disillusioned with Soviet Communism. He left the CPUSA in 1949, but remained friends with some who did not leave it, although he argued with them about it.[40]<\/a><\/sup>[41]<\/a><\/sup> . . .<\/p>\n In his autobiography\u00a0Where Have All the Flowers Gone<\/i>\u00a0(1993, 1997, reissued in 2009), Seeger wrote . . .:<\/p>\n . . . At any rate, today I\u2019ll apologize for a number of things, such as thinking that Stalin was merely a \u201chard driver\u201d and not a \u201csupremely cruel misleader.\u201d . . .<\/p><\/blockquote>\n In a 1995 interview, however, he insisted that \u201cI still call myself a communist, because communism is no more what Russia made of it than Christianity is what the churches make of it.\u201d[75]<\/a><\/sup><\/p><\/blockquote>\n Thus, Pete Seeger (religiously a pantheist and a Unitarian) was formally a Communist from 1936 to 1949 and was still calling himself one as late as 1995. I hasten to add that he was in favor of a lot of things that I and many Christians (particularly, us Catholics) would fully agree with, such as the civil rights movement of the early 60s, (non-corrupt) unionism, cleaning up the Hudson River in New York, Farm Aid, and many other causes that are not, or should<\/em> not be, considered exclusively \u201cleftist.\u201d<\/p>\n I\u2019m not trying to demonize him at all<\/em> (in fact, I admire<\/em> and respect<\/em> him in many ways). I\u2019m only noting that he was clearly a man of the far left<\/em>. This is indisputable. But he should not<\/em><\/strong> have been blacklisted or censored in any way. Nor should conservatives be blacklisted and \u201ccancelled\u201d and massively slandered and lied about today. A consistent free speech \/ free exchange of ideas position fights censorship on both the right and the left.<\/p>\n As for Lee Hays<\/a>:<\/p>\n In 1932, . . . Hearing about the activities of the radical white\u00a0Presbyterian<\/a>\u00a0minister\u00a0Claude C. Williams<\/a>, a Christian Marxist who had become converted to the cause of racial equality and was trying to organize a coal miners\u2019 union in\u00a0Paris, Arkansas<\/a>, Hays decided to return to Arkansas and join Williams in his work. . . .\u00a0From 1934 to 1940, writes Doris Willens, \u201cWilliams was the dominant figure in Hays\u2019 life\u2014a surrogate father\u2014. . .\u201d.[5]<\/a><\/sup><\/p><\/blockquote>\n Hays wrote about his views in the 1930s:<\/p>\n Somewhere along in there I became some kind of Socialist, just what kind, I have never figured out.[3]<\/a><\/sup><\/p><\/blockquote>\n So again, Hays was undeniably of the far political left: probably less leftist than Seeger, but still very leftist. Ronnie Gilbert was broadly a leftist as well, as her Wikipedia entry<\/a> demonstrates. An obituary in The Guardian<\/em><\/a> for Fred Hellerman noted:\u00a0\u201cLike his fellow band members, Hellerman was a committed leftwing sympathiser . . .\u201d<\/p>\n Now, I\u2019d like to take note of the thing that made me want to write this article: the lyrics of Lee Hays\u2019 1949 song, Wasn\u2019t That a Time<\/em>. These show that even those on the far left 70 years ago, who lived up until the last decade (as did all The Weavers except Hays), were greatly different<\/em> from today\u2019s far left \u201cwoke\u201d mentality. Here are the lyrics<\/a>:<\/p>\n It\u2019s good once in a while to look back in history, in order to ascertain the pedigree and \u201cbackground information\u201d on various strains of thought and movements of our present time. It struck me in watching \u2014 for about the fifth time \u2014 a documentary about the legendary folk music group, The Weavers (called\u00a0The Weavers: […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2331,"featured_media":55787,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[44,289],"tags":[13364,13373,13337,13391,13078,13069,1830,5804,13376,13370,13361,13388,13355,13349,9678,13382,13379,13394,353,13346,13367,13081,5807,13358,5525,13343,13340,13352,13385],"class_list":["post-55786","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-personal-page","category-political-ethical-moral-issues","tag-american-communists","tag-american-folk-music","tag-american-leftists","tag-blacklisting","tag-cancel-culture","tag-censorship","tag-democrat-party","tag-demonization","tag-evolution-of-the-left","tag-folk-music","tag-fred-hellerman","tag-house-committee-on-un-american-activities","tag-lee-hays","tag-left-wing-patriotism","tag-leftism","tag-leftist-censorship","tag-leftist-fascism","tag-leftist-mccarthyism","tag-liberalism","tag-mccarthyism","tag-pete-seeger","tag-political-correctness","tag-propaganda","tag-ronnie-gilbert","tag-straw-men","tag-the-fascist-left","tag-the-new-left","tag-the-weavers","tag-woke"],"yoast_head":"\n\n\n
Our fathers bled at Valley Forge
\nThe snow was red with blood
\nTheir faith was worn at Valley Forge
\nTheir faith was brotherhood<\/div>\n*<\/div>\nWasn\u2019t that a time, wasn\u2019t that a time?
\nA time to try the soul of men
\nWasn\u2019t that a terrible time?<\/div>\n*<\/div>\nBrave men who fought at Gettysburg now lie in soldier\u2019s graves
\nBut there they stemmed the rebel tide
\nAnd there their faith was saved<\/div>\n*<\/div>\nWasn\u2019t that a time, wasn\u2019t that a time?
\nA time to try the soul of men
\nWasn\u2019t that a terrible time?<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n\n\n
*<\/div>\nThe wars are long, the peace is frail, the madmen come again
\nThere is no freedom in a land where fear and hate prevail<\/div>\n*<\/div>\nIsn\u2019t this a time, isn\u2019t this a time?
\nA time to try the soul of men
\nIsn\u2019t this a terrible time?<\/div>\n*<\/div>\nOur fathers bled at Valley Forge
\nThe snow was red with blood
\nTheir faith was worn at Valley Forge
\nTheir faith was brotherhood<\/div>\n*<\/div>\nWasn\u2019t that a time, wasn\u2019t that a time?
\nA time to try the soul of men
\nWasn\u2019t that a terrible time?<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\nYou can also hear The Weavers sing the song on YouTube<\/a> (Hays is the bass lead singer). At least three major things about this song would be anathema today:<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n
1) He references the founding fathers<\/strong> of America in the first stanza (\u201cfathers\u201d) and the terrible winter of 1777-1778 at Valley Forge, Pennsylvania<\/a>. This is now frowned upon, as Washington, Jefferson and other founding fathers are scorned as white elitist racists, who owned slaves, and went on to found this terrible country, America, which is supposedly the cause of most of the world\u2019s ills. Because of that, it\u2019s imagined that none of them had any good in them, and the leftist woke fascists today want to tear down their statues and monuments.<\/div>\n*<\/div>\nHays [and by extension, the other three Weavers who sang this song] was in fact a patriot<\/em><\/strong> in a sense not unlike many political conservatives today, who honor the founding fathers, while not turning a blind eye to the great blind spot and America\u2019s \u201coriginal sin\u201d of slavery. Socialism and far leftism in 1949 was not yet anti-American or anti-founding fathers. Imagine that! Of course, most leftists today think abortion is fine and dandy, yet look down their noses at slaveholders, as if they are any morally better (or even up to<\/em> the moral level of a slaveholder).<\/div>\n*
\n2) The second stanza states, \u201cBrave men who fought at Gettysburg now lie in soldier\u2019s graves.\u201d Though not as controversial as the words above would be (since it was referencing the northern soldiers who were \u2014 very broadly speaking \u2014 opposing slavery, at least in part \u2014 ironically written by a southerner from Arkansas), this is still a sort of patriotism and reverence for the dead in the Civil War<\/strong> that is virtually extinct among the far left fascists and McCarthyites today. Moreover, it is a reverence for soldiers and the military: equally despised by the far left now (as it has been since Vietnam).<\/div>\n*<\/div>\n3) The song throughout also refers to \u201cmen\u201d in the generic sense of \u201cmankind\u201d<\/strong>: a thing which is now utterly opposed as sexist. The left doesn\u2019t get it that there is a sense of \u201cman\u201d as in \u201cmankind\u201d or \u201chumankind\u201d: as we often hear today. It\u2019s simply a manner of speaking, and (I would contend) not inherently sexist or anti-woman at all. The leftists 70 years ago didn\u2019t yet \u201cget\u201d this.<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\nThey were still singing the song thirty-one years later in 1980, at the reunion concert chronicled by the documentary that took its name from this song:\u00a0The Weavers: Wasn\u2019t That a Time!<\/a>\u00a0<\/i>Ronnie Gilbert said of the song in the film something to the effect of \u201cit always sent a chill up my spine.\u201d Peter, Paul & Mary also covered it in a 1965 album<\/a>.<\/div>\n*<\/div>\nAs always, we can learn much about our own times from history, including (in this instance) leftist and American folk music history. As philosopher George Santayana<\/a> famously said:\u00a0\u201cThose who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it\u201d (The Life of Reason: Reason in Common Sense.\u00a0<\/em>Scribner\u2019s, 1905: 284).<\/div>\n*<\/div>\nWe\u2019re massively doing that today as the left (almost to the extent of comedic self-parody or satire) enthusiastically seeks to act exactly as the far-right McCarthyites acted in the 1950s: blacklisting, banning, censoring, massively slandering, boycotting, and legally seeking to\u00a0 shut down the free speech rights \u2014 and indeed, careers \u2014 of anyone (it seems) to the left of the political center. Now anyone to the right of the center is fair game for the Democrats and Big Tech.
\n*
\nI believe that in the future, our pathetic period of time, where leftist anti-free speech fanaticism and extremism is flourishing and becoming brazen, will be utterly despised as immoral and the height of hypocrisy: just as McCarthyism has been for over fifty years now.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n***<\/div>\n*<\/div>\nPhoto credit:<\/strong> The Weavers in 1949: Seeger with the banjo, Hellerman with guitar<\/span> [Flickr<\/a> \/ CC BY-NC 2.0<\/a> license]<\/div>\n*<\/div>\n***<\/div>\n<\/div>\nSummary<\/em>: I revisit the history of American folk music (overwhelmingly leftist) and show how the preeminent folk group, The Weavers were far left, yet greatly differed from today\u2019s \u201ccancel culture\u201d and woke leftist McCarthyism.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n***<\/div>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"