My Song is My Weapon: People's Songs and the Politics of Culture, 1946-1949 (Folksingers, Communism).

Abstract

In a time that was decisive for determining the future direction of American politics, People's Songs posed a radical alternative vision to the developing cold war consensus. The group of Communist-oriented musicians and activists tried to sow the seed of a "people's culture" based on folk and folk-style songs, group singing, and a vision of a peaceful and just world. These elements were significant in sustaining the left during People's Songs' lifespan, while accounting for the group's long-term impact on American culture. The songs, singing and issues that characterized People's Songs' work provided critical links between the Popular Front radicalism of the 1930s and the Civil Rights movement and the New Left of the 1950s and 1960s. People's Songs' work and outlook shaped, and was shaped by, the culture of the Communist movement. The movement culture served as a powerful unifying force, simultaneously sustaining the movement and contributing to its isolation. Without the wholeness and quality of the movement's internal life, sectarianism and lack of democracy notwithst and ing, the depth of commitment that led to significant creative work would have been lacking. While their commitment to the movement limited the impact of People's Songsters--because of domestic anti-communism, and the American movement's subordination to Soviet Communism--the same passionate commitment explains their positive contributions to American life. "My Song Is My Weapon" traces the political and cultural development of the Communist movement, from Third Period Communism and proletarian music to the Popular Front and folk music in the 1930s, from the movement's shifting positions and the career of the Almanac Singers during World War II to the contradictions of the postwar period. It then focuses on People's Songs' cultural theory, the content and meaning of the songs, and the two major forums in which the songs were sung: the hootenanny and Henry Wallace's 1948 presidential campaign. The conclusion evaluates People's Songs legacy and frames some ongoing theoretical questions about the relationship between a political movement and its culture.