The Weavers came out of Greenwich Village in the Forties and paved the way for the Great Folk Revival of the Fifties. They were Ronnie Gilbert, Lee Hays, Fred Hellerman and Pete Seeger. Their politics ran from socialist through communist all the way to Maoist. This got them into trouble with McCarthy and got them blacklisted. As a result, when ABC introduced “Hootenanny” to TV in the Sixties, they were never invited on the show.
Sen. Joe McCarthy (R-Wis.) had nothing to do with blacklisting. Nevertheless, the Weavers were hard-core Stalinists, and perhaps that's why the producers of "Hootnanny" didn't want them on their show.
Here's a Party-line performance by the Weavers that the Vozhd would have heartily applauded.
The Peekskill Story--The Weavers, et al (1950)
Although the Weavers’ version of “Goodnight, Irene” is of higher quality, the original version by Huddie Leadbetter, aka “Leadbelly,” who wrote the song, makes more sense. Whereas the Weavers sing, “I’ll see you in my dreams,” Leadbelly sings, “I’ll get you in my dreams.