Paul Robeson 1898-1976 Today is the Anniversary of His Birth
By any measure this man was great. But we should remember that his greatness as a singer was far from the whole truth about his whole life.
He was an indefatigable worker for racial civil rights, and for the welfare of ordinary workers who, oppressed by unscrupulous "big business", needed the protections of Trade's Unions.
Robeson was always on the side of the oppressed. For that he was despised, vilified and rejected by the American ruling classes.
It goes to say that he was not without his flaws. But flaws are not the measure of the man, or else we should all be in deep doo-doo.
My parents, moderate working class socialists, always spoke highly of Mr. Robeson. I always got the sense that their admiration was rooted in more than his utterly gorgeous voice. They had the sense that he was on their side.
Those instincts were honed today as I watched a video of Mr. Robeson as he sang to and for Scottish mine workers.
Paul Robeson honoured workers in this song about Joe Hill, an American Union organizer, who was executed in Salt Lake City on framed up charges.
Joe Hill did not die?
He lives wherever working women and men assert their rights to organise in Unions.
n
Comments
Post a Comment