Do Socialists Care About Culture?
At the 2001 Communist Party convention,
the workshop on culture was standing room only. Everybody got to talk once;
everybody had strong ideas. Ambition was boundless. People wanted to set up
cultural centers in ever major city. Another interesting idea was to have a
traveling cultural presentation that would tour America. Surprisingly, we didn’t
spend a lot of time complaining about the popular capitalist culture, but spent
a lot of time talking about our own rich working class culture and how to
extend it.
All the plenary sessions had
culture deliberately planned for. There were songs, media shows, graphics arts
everywhere. So the answer is, “yeah.”
**
We Even Write Songs
George Meyers song “The Winning Side” The web host won’t let me load the
whole thing, so I just put a verse.
When I heard that George Meyers
was gravely ill, I wrote this little song to let him know how much he meant to
me. I had known him about 15 years and always wondered why he was so cheerful.
He had a lot of medical problems those last few years, he had already been
through a prison term (“for thinking”) and the awful period of American history
known as the witch hunt. When it dawned on me why he kept on smiling, it was
one of the great lessons I had learned from the man. I taped the song and sent
it to his hospital. A few days later, it came back unopened. George was gone.
But he certainly wasn’t
forgotten. Every meeting I go to, they request the song. I even sang it at the
convention.
Here are all the lyrics:
“The
Winning Side”
We knew
him when we saw him, by the smile upon his face
And we
always knew he loved us, cause he loved the human race
Chorus:
And they never stopped his smiling, no matter how they tried
Cause
in his heart, he always knew, he was on the winning side
Oh the
bosses thought they had him, when they threw him in a cell
But
they didn’t know George Meyers, he just smiled and wished them well
And
they never stopped his smiling, no matter how they tried
Cause
in his heart, he always knew, he was on the winning side
When
our thoughts come round to quitting, and our life is just a trial
We know
we’ll go on trying, cause we’ll see George Meyers’ smile
And
they’ll never stop our fighting, our love won’t be denied
George
Meyers, is in our hearts, and we’re on the winning side!
And
they’ll never stop our fighting, our love won’t be denied
George
Meyers, you’re in our hearts, and we’re on the winning side!
--Jim
Lane
**
Yes, They Do!
I
posted a note on the Pre-convention discussion board on Yahoo asking folks to
contribute their opinions on “culture.” There were lots of fantastic responses.
One outstanding artist wrote:
“Yes, our
Party needs to have more and more info available on those artists whom are
fighting the good fight. Jello Biafra is a great example, as is Ani DiFranco
(another writer spoke of her new release recently). And we can not forget that
old timers like Pete Seeger continue to be of monumental importance.”
Here’s
a fine one: “I'm glad this subject has been brought up. What do we mean by
"culture" and why is it important? Most of us think of music or expensive
art but culture includes everything from architecture to language to the fine
arts. Culture defines who we see ourselves as and it is culture that we act out
of. Culture has an important class aspect as well. Culture comes from the
people and in its formation is always relevant and rich with meaning defined by
the experience of the people. The bourgois usually are quick to jump on new
cultural examples and undermine it sucking out any relevance and commodifying
it. You want to rebel? They'll sell you black clothes, body jewelry and music
devoid of meaning. Bourgois culture breeds cynicism and contempt as well as
anti-working class attitudes. It is also rife with racism, sexism, and
nationalism.
‘Proletarian
culture is just the opposite and is something we need to promote and support.
Historically the Party has done much of this. In the 20's, 30's and 40's the
Party was at the center of our national culture be it in film, theater, or
literature. We put out Masses, New Masses and later, Masses & Mainstream
magazines. We preserved and promoted folk music with great effect. Most of this
was crushed by McCarthyism. Rock grew out of the folk movement and was at first
revolutionary but it was soon co-opted by the bourgoisie and is now mostly
reactionary.”
Another
said: “There are many parts to the culture of a nation, a people, a religion, a
way of life, a neighborhood or a belief system. Some of those parts are
intended for limited use in one area, like cheaply produced candy should never
be viewed as a complete meal.
‘Hopefully
its never viewed as anything more than an occasional treat. But in our society,
pretty packaging, lots of advertising and bought advocacy have produced a
population that is sluggish, overweight, lazy and without the realization that
there is more to a meal than a quick sugary buzz. This is at least part of the
explanation for so much of pop music being so very light-weight these days.”
Another:
“During the first decades of the CPUSA, culture was largely of the ‘high-art’
type. I suppose this went along with the intellectual leadership, which held
the proletariat in highest esteem, yet often had many more years of schooling
than the average worker. Most cultural workers then were poets or other
writers. Most cultural events were in held in theatres, art galleries or—in the
case of the various ‘shock brigades’—on the picket lines. But as far as music
went, composers tended to ignore the people’s sounds of folk songs, instead
choosing to aim for the type of music
Hanns Eisler wrote for Bertolt Brecht, ie-proletarian music, which was European
in nature. Most left-wing musicians in the 20s and ‘30s looked down upon the
use of gospel or pop tunes, like the IWW had always done. They wanted to use
Modern music in the way other Modernist artists/political activists were doing…
‘Woody
Guthrie came to the attention of the California District office of the
Communist Party in 1939, when his song, “Mr. Tom Mooney Is Free”, was heard by
members. Their struggle for Mooney’s freedom was a long one and upon his
release from a 22 year unjust prison term, Guthrie wrote this song and began to
receive
requests
by the Party for performances of it at meetings…”
And
another: “We all know that movies, music, television is all controlled by huge
corporations (except the indy-media scene). Today’s so called “pop” culture
really
DOES promote drug addiction and apathy (the two are tied together).
I see
kids come into my school stoned all the time,…
‘An
expansion of the PWW’s culture section should include more in-depth
articles
on events, albums, and movies and support the groups that run them.
This is
the best way for the CPUSA to promote radical culture.” At present Chris
Butters is doing a great job promoting culture in Political Affairs but we need
to do more.”
So,
yes, socialists care a great deal about culture. They have excellent ideas
about it. Like a lot of things about modern society, we hope to make
improvements!
**