Pete Seeger dies at 94

I have read a number of the posts on here, but not all. Enough to know that the overarching sentiment here is one of hate and venom. I have been a longtime poster on here and I think my past posts speak for themselves. I would like to address the hate and venom coming from people here.

Yes, Pete Seeger was a member of the Communist party at one time. He quit it sometime in the early 50’s, long before he was put before HUAC. Mainly because by that time, the atrocities of the Stalin Regime were becoming widely known and well documented in the late 40’s. After that he always said he was a communist with a small c. I took that to mean that he still believed in the doctrine but not how it was put into practice. Yes, a very naive sentiment to be sure.

When I was young, I was much more liberal minded. Even though my first vote cast for President was for Reagan, I still wanted peace, people to not go hungry, a cure for the homeless etc... Overtime, I matured and learned of the real world. As a young man, I loved folk music such as Dylan, Arlo and Woody Guthrie and yes Pete Seeger. I still enjoy listening to his music and am able to separate the artist from his radical beliefs. While he was clearly misguided in many of his beliefs and questionable in causes he supported, he didn’t kill anyone and tried to do good as he saw it best.

Many things he did were good. He was an early supporter and helper of the civil rights movement. I don’t think anyone here would say that the civil rights movement of the 50’s and 60’s were bad, right? Yes, what it has morphed into with Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton is just a tool for the left, but not the civil rights movement led by Martin Luther King. He helped unions to organize in the 30’s and 40’s. Back then, the unions were needed I believe. I come from a family of workers and union organizers from 100 years ago and those unions were fighting for things we would all consider today to be good things. My grandfather and great grandfather were not communists. They were hard workers who just wanted to organize the work force to get a decent day’s wages. Not like the unions of today who want more, more, more and are a tool for the democratic party.

Lastly, I want to address some incorrect things said in previous posts. The whole newport folk festival story is blown way out of proportion. He didn’t want to shut down Dylan’s electrical guitar because he hated electrified instruments. He and the audience wanted him to quit playing electrified because the sound system was so loud and crappy it was hurting everyone’s ears. The audiences really got violent later on when Dylan went on tour with the Band.

A number of people have mentioned him stealing songs from people and not paying royalties, I can’t speak to everyone of these accusations, but I can tell you that he and the Weavers fought for Leadbetter’s wife to get royalty checks for their music. I know they dontaed their royalties to a leadbetter fund after she died. Here’s an article to support that: http://www.npr.org/2000/08/19/147729367/-goodnight-irene

He also donated his royalties for “We Shall Overcome” to a charitable organization:

http://wamc.org/post/remembering-pete-seeger-his-music

So while he was a flawed man, he had a lot of good qualities. I love his music and am not ashamed to say that even though he’s a communist (with a small ‘c’). I can look past that and just enjoy his music.

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