During
the Nazi-Soviet Pact (1939-41), Seeger sang antiwar songs that, in
effect, called for the support of Hitler. When the Nazis invaded the
Soviet Union, he withdrew the songs he had just recorded and suddenly
supported the “antifascist alliance” between the United States and the
Soviets. During the Cold War, he supported unilateral American
disarmament and backed one Soviet propaganda campaign after the other.
“Put My Name Down, Brother, Where Do I Sign?” he sang, calling for
signatures on the Stockholm Peace Petition developed by KGB fronts in
Europe. During the Vietnam war, Seeger not only helped lead the antiwar movement, he also sang in praise of the brutal Ho Chi Minh. Lyndon B. Johnson was called “a big fool” in one of his most famous songs, while he sang of Ho Chi Minh: He educated all the people, / He demonstrated to the world, / If a man will stand for his own land, / He’s got the strength of ten.
In 1999, Seeger traveled to Cuba to receive an award from the Castro regime. The fading Cuban tyrants honored him with their highest cultural award, given for “humanistic and artistic work in defense of the environment and against racism,” which was in and of itself a travesty. Accepting an award from Fidel Castro should make it clear that Seeger’s would-be humanism and protest was aimed at one side only: his own country, which he clearly thought was led by the world’s sole oppressors.
One cannot hope to be thought of as a defender of human rights and also accept an award from the Cuban police state. That, too, must be taken into consideration when evaluating what Pete Seeger really learned from his own Stalinist past.
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