For John, BLUF: A great talent has moved on. Nothing to see here; just move along.
Over at the Dick Howe Blog Paul Marion has an appreciation of the late Pete Seeger. There is a slightly longer appreciate over at the Althouse Blog. Both link to a New York Times story on Mr Seeger.
I think Ms Althouse does a better job of addressing the fact that Mr Seeger was a small "c" and a big "C" Communist. From the NYT article:
He would later criticize himself for having not left the party sooner, though he continued to describe himself as a “communist with a small ‘c.’ ”These distinctions are important. It turns out that Walter Duranty notwithstanding, Party Boss Joseph Stalin was a horrible man and the Rosenbergs were guilty.♠ Mr Seeger had a consistency in those areas that went to the People and not to some party. As Althouse Commenter "West Virginia Rebel" wrote:
He did apologize, and performed for Solidarity supporters. I think he, like many in his generation, was disillusioned by Stalin and the Soviet Union.Mr Seeger was a wonderful talent who explored paths of demonstrating his humanity. That he made some unfortunate detours does not detract from him as a human being or a talent. On the other hand, no one benefits from whitewashing what is history. There has been too much of that.
Regards — Cliff
♠ And the Venona Papers were real.
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