Posted on 12/07/2003 5:43:24 PM PST by luv2ndamend
Also being released early in 2004 will be the 27th stamp in the Black Heritage series, which will honor actor, singer, civil rights activist and athlete Paul Robeson", so wrote the Washington Post. The paper went on to claim that Robeson "was labeled a subversive for his mid-century activism against racism and anti-Semitism." This is a leftwing lie. Robeson was a Marxist-Leninist who unwaveringly toed the Stalinist line and sought his own country's destruction.
Ever ready to do Stalin's bidding, Robeson attacked the formation of NATO, asserting that Negro's would never fight Stalin's Russia. An outraged Sugar Ray Robinson publicly declared that if he ever met Robeson he would punch him in the mouth. (This incident reminds me of the great Joe Louis who when asked why he was touring the South to urge Negroes to enlist replied: "Whatever's wrong with America, Hitler sure ain't going to fix it." Compare Louis's patriotism and political insight with Robeson’s cringing adoration of the murderous Stalin.)
As a member of the US Communist Party Robeson enthusiastically supported the 1940 Smith Act which made it an offence under which members of organisations that advocated the violent overthrow of the government could be prosecuted. The Party saw the Act as a means of using WW II as an excuse to legally persecute Trotskyists.
While addressing a convention of the Civil Rights Conference (a Communist Party front) Robeson rejected an appeal by a Trotskyist who feared he would lose his government pension, saying that Trotskyists were no better than fascists and Klansmen and not deserving of any rights. Of course, when the Smith Act was applied against the Party Robeson screamed that their rights were being violated. As is always the case with the left, it's not what is done that matters but who does it and to whom.
Any of Stalin's subjects who confided in Robeson a dislike of the regime would have signed their own death warrants. This awful fact was brought home by his betrayal of the Jewish poet Itzhak Pfeffer, a committed Marxist-Leninist, while claiming to be his friend.
It was 1948 and Robeson was on one of his periodic visits to Stalin's socialist paradise. He asked to meet with Pfeffer who had already been imprisoned for three years. On Stalin's orders Pfeffer was cleaned up by the KGB and brought to Robeson's hotel, where he pleaded for his life, begging him to tell the American people what was happening. The Humanitarian Robeson refused and Pfeffer was murdered by Stalin, just as he had murdered millions of others.
When Robeson returned home he condemned as anti-Soviet propaganda reports that Pfeffer and other Jews had been killed. Not once did Robeson denounce Pfeffer's murder. Not once did he condemn Stalin's barbarism, even though he knew what was happening. However, when death was near Robeson confessed to what he did to Pfeffer, expressing remorse for his action while still remaining an unrepentant Stalinist. Some remorse.
Clearly Robeson was no political innocent, a frustrated black democrat duped by devious Marxists-Leninists. He was a moral pygmy, a totalitarian who shared Stalin's contempt for the rights of others. We can therefore see that Robeson's brutal betrayal of Pfeffer was not an unfortunate aberration or a misunderstanding of Pfeffer's position but a telling expression of Robeson's fanatical devotion to Lenin and Stalin.
One should have thought that Robeson’s painful and humiliating experiences as an American black would have taught him the value of freedom and genuine tolerance. Instead, he dedicated his life and considerable talent to promoting a regime that murdered millions of its own citizens and whose stated intention was the extermination of the democracies. It was in appreciation of this unwavering support that in 1952 that the mass murderer awarded him the modestly named Stalin Peace Prize, which Robeson accepted with considerable pride.
Robeson Jr, unfortunately, is no better than his father. This leftist creature moronically claimed in 1990 that the collapse of communism was really "the death of Stalinism and the birth of Marxism." Now some historical illiterates (to put it charitably) want to flush Robeson's treason down the left's memory hole and turn him into an American icon by putting his treacherous face on a postage stamp.
American patriots should vigorously resist this insult to their country and the memory of those who died, and are dying even as I write, to protect it.
Gerard Jackson is also Brookes' economics editor
Paul Robeson on Stalin
"Suddenly everyone stood - began to applaud - to cheer - and to smile. The children waved. In a box to the right - smiling and applauding the audience - as well as the artists on the stage - stood the great Stalin. I remember the tears began to quietly flow. and I too smiled and waved. Here was clearly a man who seemed to embrace all. So kindly - I can never forget that warm feeling of kindliness and also a feeling of sureness. Here was one who was wise and good - the world and especially the socialist world was fortunate indeed to have his daily guidance ... In all spheres of modern life the influence of Stalin reaches wide and deep. From his last simply written but vastly discerning and comprehensive document, back through the years, his contributions to the science of our world society remain invaluable.
One reverently speaks of Marx, Engels, Lenin and Stalin - the shapers of humanity's richest present and future. Yes, through his deep humanity, by his wise understanding, he leaves us a rich and monumental heritage. Most importantly - he has charted the direction of our present and future struggles. He has pointed the way to peace - to friendly co-existence - to the exchange of mutual scientific and cultural contributions - to the end of war and destruction. How consistently, how patiently, he labored for peace and ever increasing abundance, with what deep kindliness and wisdom. He leaves tens of millions all over the earth bowed in heart-aching grief. But, as he well knew, the struggle continues. So, inspired by his noble example, let us lift our heads slowly but proudly high and march forward in the fight for peace - for a rich and rewarding life for all." - Paul Robeson, eulogizing one of the worst mass murderers in human history as late as 1953.
The late Mr. Robeson will shortly be honored by appearing an a postal stamp. As a campaigner against racism, Mr. Robeson's legacy is an important - even noble - one. But his support for tyranny endures as well.
The Washington Post wrote that? How silly. Why would it have been "subversive" to be against racism and anti-Semitism? The real reason Robeson was labeled subversive is because he was a Russian sympathizer, as well as an actual/virtual Communist.
Robeson felt that it was only within Russia that he was accepted as a black man, as opposed to the U.S. which was racist at that time. That doesn't excuse his blindness at what was going on within Russia, but it does make it understandable. His hatred of racism superseded everything else.
Does anyone out there know Dennis Hastert? Certainly it's long overdue for the Speaker to get interested in postage stamps!
Try Princeton, NJ (his birthplace). Just north of town as you click down.
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