The Lonesome Train

Long ago in Levittown, New York, my Uncle Pete Reilly was the voice of civility and reason. He called on "Progressives" for restraint, but they wouldn't have anything to do with it and ended up with a big fight over the public schools and the ballad of the Lonesome Train.

The Lonesome Train was composed by members of Pete Seeger's group the Almanac Singers, which was closely affiliated with Camp Unity, which in turn was connected to the American Communist Party. The ballad was a harmless enough ditty about Lincoln, unity and the war on slavery, but included rather unfortunate references to New York, New Yorkers and New York politicians. My uncle pleaded with the school administrators and school board to be reasonable and avoid starting a fight by featuring the ballad in the schools. My father objected, too. In addition to the unfortunate references to New Yorkers, the Almanac Singers had an unfortunate and, back then, well known history. Being affiliated with the Camp Unity crowd, Seeger and his singers opposed America's entry into World War II and denounced Franklin Roosevelt for trying to help England when England stood alone in the world against fascism. This was while the Soviet Union was still an ally of Adolf Hitler. The Almanac Singers and Pete Seeger were "conscientious objectors." In that vein, Seeger wrote the anti-war ballad Plow Under (every fourth American boy) in 1941 prior to Hitler turning on his ally the Soviet Union. After Hitler attacked the Soviet Union, Seeger and the Almanac Singers changed their tune and volunteered to perform for the U.S. Office of War Information.  That relationship and the Almanac Singers didn't last long after someone pointed out that they'd authored Plow Under. The Almanac Singers became the Weavers.  To what should be no one's surprise, when the Vietnam War came along, Seeger and the Camp Unity kids were once again "conscientious objectors," aligned with the Soviet Union and writing anti-war ballads: "And the big fool says to push on."   The Soviet aligned version of America First was the American Peace Mobilization, which among other pro-Hitler actions called Franklin Roosevelt a "warmonger" and agitated for ending Lend-Lease aid to Britain during the Blitz.

That my friends, on this Veterans Day (11/11/2014), is why I have a great deal of skepticism when I hear someone say they're a conscientious objector. Few of them can say they've been consistent, except to their political allegiances.

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"At any rate, today I'll apologize for a number of things, such as thinking that Stalin was merely a 'hard driver' and not a 'supremely cruel misleader.' I guess anyone who calls himself a Christian should be prepared to apologize for the  Inquisition, the burning of heretics by Protestants, the slaughter of Jews and Muslims by Crusaders. White people in the U.S.A. ought to apologize for stealing land from Native Americans and enslaving blacks."
-- Pete Seeger

What differentiates Seeger from the Christians and Americans is straightforward.   No Christians or Americans alive today endorsed or participated in the alleged sins of the Inquisition, Crusaders and slaveholders.  It's dubious claiming that most of Seeger's accused even had an ancestor who was an Inquisitor, Crusader or slaveholder.   On the other hand,  Seeger was not simple an admirer of the living Stalin but a propagandist on Stalin's behalf who did his part to stop America from intervening when America's support might have kept Hitler and Stalin from plundering Catholic Poland, clearing the way for the Holocaust to come.  Stalin killed millions on his own.  Stalin's alliance with Hitler to divide Poland cleared the way for the Holocaust.   Seeger might not have realized that the Hitler-Stalin alliance would result in the Holocaust, but at the time it was pretty clear that Hitler had evil plans for the Jews.

Seeger was joined in his opposition to support for England and American intervention in World War II by other left wing organizations including the Morgen Freiheit, the Daily Worker and the Abraham Lincoln Brigade Veterans.

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Plow Under
(an America first, anti-draft song) 
-- Pete Seeger, May 1941

Now the politicians rant
A boy's no better than a cotton plant
But we are here to say you can't
Plow the fourth one under.

[Final Chorus:]
Plow under,
Don't you...plow under
Don't you...plow under
Every fourth American boy.
Now, don't you...plow under,
Don't you...plow under
Don't you...plow under
Every fourth American boy