Dunno about Peter, Paul and Mary, but "If I Had a Hammer"'s two writers
were respectively a Communist and what the McCarthyites used to call a
"fellow traveler."
Pete Seeger joined the Young Communist League (YCL) in 1937, and the
Communist Party of the USA (CPUSA) in 1942.
Lee Hays was a regular contributor to the Marxist periodical New Masses in
the 1930's. In a letter published in the January 11, 1938 issue, he
describes himself as "a rank-and-file worker of a Soviet America."
So why didn't they entitle the song "If I had a Hammer and Sickle"?
I miss the Cold War and the big bad Soviet Union. The Olympics and Canada
vs. Russia hockey games just aren't the same good vs. evil showdowns any
more!
73
Mike Brooker
Toronto, ON
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