Replies

According to Pete Seeger, Guthrie never joined the Communist Party because they insisted he give up his belief in God, and he wouldn’t do that. That’s Seeger’s story. However Guthrie had no problem writing for the Daily Worker and praising Stalin. After reading enough literature about folk singers from that time, it appears many or most of them were communists. Doesn’t differ much from today.

"However Guthrie had no problem writing for the Daily Worker and praising Stalin"

I like Woody Guthrie's music (as well as son Arlo) and there's no doubt that if he wasn't a commie, he was darn close to one. However, in defense of him, he wrote those words praising Stalin in the 1930's before the world really knew what a despicable human being he was. Most of his atrocities were kept under wraps at that time. You could find a lot of people from the 30's writing nice things about Hitler also. Things they took back later on in light of what came out.