Maggie's Farm

Pete was also pretty good at writing songs that supported the party line, and also abandoning those songs when they no longer fit the party line.The Almanac Singers released in May 1941, Songs for John Doe, a collection of mostly anti-draft and anti-war songs. As Hitler and Stalin were at the time of the May 1941 album release, partners in dividing Europe via their NonAgression Pact of August 1939, the party didn't want any "outside interference" from the US in the war in Europe.

Partial lyrics from Washington Breakdown:

From Ballad of October 16th (draft law?)


The Almanac Singers changed their line when Hitler invaded the Soviet Union on June 22,1941.

Pete Seeger was a Commie scoundrel who tailored his songs to fit the party line.

My point of view is that people should be aware of what Pete Seeger was and what he did. I was a big folk music fan in my early years, and at the time swallowed the popular narrative of Pete Seeger as victim. In later years, I discovered that if Pete Seeger was a victim, it was because he was a "victim" of his previous actions.

Won't get fooled again: that's my view of Pete Seeger.

I grew up in an anti-anti-Communist crowd. Alger Hiss innocent, "commies under the bed" is right-wing paranoia, etc. Weinstein's Perjury later told me about Alger Hiss. Which was only the beginning of the destruction of the innocent Alger myth. Decades later I found out that a classmate and someone I knew in passing in the next town over were Red Diaper Babies. Their relatives were not mere party members, but important enough to rate a Wikipedia page or easily found court cases. Which means that "commies under the bed" wasn't right wing paranoia, but fact.

I don't blame my Red Diaper Baby peers for being quiet about their relatives' backgrounds. But it still leaves me with a feeling of being deceived. Which helps explain why Pete Seeger reminds me of "Won't Get Fooled Again."