COUNTY NAMES YOUTH AWARD AFTER FRIEND OF STALIN

GBA News ^ | 05/07/04 | Michael Roberts

[Patriot62]

SEATTLE - A few weeks ago I opened my mail to find a letter from King County. It turns out that since two of my boys participate in Little League they are eligible to apply for a King County Sports/Academics Award. My interest turned to dismay when I saw for whom the Award was named, Paul Robeson. Paul Robeson was without a question a talented athlete, an incredible singer and a civil rights visionary, well ahead of his time. He was a brilliant law student who overcame formidable obstacles. But amongst students of history, Paul Robeson is as well known for these notable acheivments as he is for his sedition. During the height of the Cold War, Paul Robeson was an unapologetic Communist. He advocated for and admired Joseph Stalin and made frequent trips to the USSR in the midst of the Stalinist purges.

Not only was Robeson aware of the mass murder and forced starvation but he took an active role in misleading the world about the extent of Stalin's atrocities.

One of the most famous and well documented of such incidents was Robeson's 1949 Moscow meeting with Jewish poet & writer Itzik Feffer. At the time Feffer had been imprisoned for three years and after he was cleaned up he was brought to Robeson at his hotel. No matter how well the Communists tried to present Feffer, they could not hide the fact that all of Feffer's fingernails were missing, having been previously ripped out.

Feffer indicated to Robeson that the hotel room was bugged. Frantically writing on note paper Feffer literally begged for his life. He implored Robeson to tell the American people the truth about the Soviet Union, about the murders, the purges, the forced starvation and the gulag. Feffer communicated to Robeson that all of Robeson's Jewish acquaintances had been murdered on Stalin's orders. He made hand motions of his finger across his neck indicating that he (Robeson) would be killed if Feffer didn't publicly demand his safety.

After returning to the United States, Robeson calmly told reporters that "I heard no word about" anti-Semitism. Feffer was soon after murdered on orders from Joseph Stalin.

Robeson traveled the world denouncing the United States and praising Stalin's Russia. His unconditional support of Communism bordered with betrayal of humanity, as the story of Itzik Feffer shows.

It was in appreciation of this unwavering support that in 1952 Joseph Stalin awarded him the Stalin Peace Prize, which Robeson proudly accepted.

Robeson also wrote a tribute to Joseph Stalin in April, 1953 shortly after Stalin's death entitled "To You Beloved Comrade".

[Eric in the Ozarks]

Shameful.

[FierceDraka]

Seattle. Go figure.

Almost time to take out the trash, I think.

[Regulator]

Check out the Post Office's latest Philatelic offering catalog. They have a new "American Heritage" section featuring -- drum roll, please -- such great Americans as Paul Robeson, Cesar Chavez, and Frida Kahlo, the Mexican Communist and concubine of Leon Trotsky.

Oh, and, a George Washington stamp is offered on the back pages without any commentary. I guess that's a blessing in disguise; the commentary about Washington would probably have been something like "noted Slave Driver and Political Malcontent".