It always makes me sad how he essentially died of the stress imposed by oppression. And I just learned today that the reason he was kept as a virtual prisoner in America, unable to leave the country, was that the state department had come to the conclusion that in America he would have less freedom of expression than anywhere else in the west. Murdered by the hypocrisy of our leaders.
i read the info... the DDR no longer exists, it was the name for the communist east Germany it should be noted it did not describe all of Germany... and although the Red army did do a great deal to liberate Germany, they did not do it alone, it should be noted, that without the help of the other allies, who did just as much to liberate Germany, the Red army would have had a harder time even breaking into Germany, let alone defeating the NAZI's mind you I do not mean to insult the former-USSR.
@UNC3345 Based on what I know, the western allies invaded Germany for 2 reasons:
To shorten the war, and cause less casualties.
And to prevent Russia from taken all of middle Europe.
Once the Russian army had momentum, there was a great fear that it could continue on into even Italy and France. Militarily, this was a strong possibility. Even before the cold war, tensions between the USSR and the western powers were great, with a post-revolution Russia being invaded shortly by the other allies.
The Red Army under Stalin did everything cruel known to wo/mankind under the sun - every war is filthy and hell on earth - forget about democracy!
Democracy is the right to speak out loud, without being shoved into a concentration camp or a gulag in Siberia.
"Democracy" is brittle and has its downsides, as have all human societies - I was born and brought up in post-WWII Germany, thank you very much, or should I say disculpame por favor.
@cocochanelleke Yes, Stalin committed many crimes, he revised the principles of Marxism and Leninism, he compromised the defense of the USSR against Nazism.
But the Red Army's defense of the USSR was heroic. It was truly a people fighting for its own self preservation, in spite of corrupt leadership. It is wrong to insult the Red Army fighters who defeated fascism.
The democracy of burgueoise class is a farse created to lure workers. It means, actually, the freedom for capitalists and exploiters of people. Let me give you a quick example, if I show you here a list of proletarians who wrote newspapers and books in USSR, as well as statistics showing a high number of independent press in USSR you will not trust me, why? Because the great Capital, the press at capitalist hands made you think differently.
There is no such country where you can speak anything and leave alone... Even in the so called democratic countries, you can be sued for certain viewpoints for difamation, caluny or injury. In many countries you can be even imprisoned for racism. The Soviet Union was, proudly, the first country to make racism a hedious crime.
Freedom without limits is not freedom at all, but arbitrarity, savagery!
Can anybody tell me why the comment space here is misused for an intellectual debate that has nothing to do with this great song and this amazing singer?
Yes Sir,I think the song sung in isolation without knowing the background of its creation leaves one diminished. Discussion on this background in my opinion stimulates ones thoughts and ideas.I think Robeson would have enjoyed comment on all his songs and their historical importance.
Calling Vlasov a civil war hero is a bit of a stretch. It shows how far the definition of "civil war hero" sunk in Stalinist Russia, after all the real heroes of that war were executed in the purges of 1936-41, and the history of 1918-21 had to be rewritten.
Trotsky was more like the Robespierre. Stalin was the Napoleon of the Russian Revolution. Like Napoleon, he began on the left. Like Napoleon, he purged the revolutionary leaders after coming to power. Like Napoleon he set up phony "democratic" regimes in Eastern Europe. Like Napoleon, he perverted a good, progressive ideology into a philistine cult of emperor-worship. Like Napoleon, he re-banned homosexuality (1789 and 1917 revolutions legalized it, Napoleon and Stalin re-illegalized).
Trotsky was never in fact a revolutionary marxist. He opposed frequently to Lenin on crucial matters during the revolution and before: the matter of socialist edification in one country, the prolonging of the war - tell me something: was it or NOT the napoleonic strategy to liquidize revolution through external warfare that Trotski suggested in 1918?
and what's that "homosexuality" rubbish, people were starving back then you think the revolutionaries would pay attention to such minor things?
Workers of all countries, unite for a better world
to the diskusion: im a germann commuist but I HATE STALIN! he has the picture of communism ruined because him think the most people of the world communisms is the same how fascism!!! for that I HATE HIM!!!!
If you were a real communist, you would help to defend Stalin, the most caluniated communist of XX Century, together with Lenin. The callunies on Stalin served only one purporse, destroying the communist movement, demoralize the communists and shatter the USSR.
If you were a real communism you would research his Era, instead of just make choir to the ideas of Burgueoise class. You are thinking what Washington and Brussels want to!
why I shoud make choir to the ideas of Burgueoise class???? I HATE THE CAPITALISM and the Burgueoise class down withe the Burgueoise class! DOWN WITH THE CAPITALISM!!! long live the COMMUNISM!!!
Stalin's purges even killed one African-American refugee, Lovett Fort-Whiteman, who had escaped white racism in the USA, for the supposed crime of supporting "black nationalism" after the Comintern changed its views on the African-American question in 1935.
It killed one and promoted the rights of thousand others. It´s a fact, for instance, that USSR Constitution was the first document of humanity history to make racism a criminal(something that you probably would never know if I did not tell you) and much years before US first black president, USSR had its first black major.
My point was never to claim the USSR was racist (although Stalin's clique did some despicable racist things) my point was that the killings in the 1930's got completely out of hand and the failure of you Stalinists to fess up to your mistakes does not bode well for your political sagacity or future prospects
It has nothing to do with "rivals", if you ever readed the testimony of people who actually lived and were in USSR you will realize that people judged in 30´s were actually guilty. Joseph Davies was the embassador of USA in USSR, he was a renowed lawyer with more than 20 years of juridical experience, he witnessed that the judgments were espontaneous and authentic, he even wrote a book about it, "Mission to Moscow".
There is no way that Lenin's entire Politburo was guilty (all surviving members of Lenin's Politburo were killed in the late 1930's). There is no way that Zinoviev, Kamenev, Bela Kun, Tukhachevsky, were guilty. Trotsky's family members were not guilty of anything either.. killing his family was a barbaric act reminiscent more of medieval czarism than modern socialism.
Joseph Davies was a dirty bourgeois hack. He was ordered to keep quiet by Roosevelt, much like ambassadors to Nazi Germany.
why "there is no way that Zinoviev and Kamenev" were not guilty? May I ask you about your juridical exprience? A. Vlassov was a hero of Civil War, but in WWII he betrayed his country and even joined nazi forming the treacherous ROA, which killed its own people aside nazi.
Joseph Davies was a bourgeois, as Engels himself was... If he was "ordered to keep quiet", then why he did not write anything about it after his death? That does not make sense.
Many Left Oppositionists were tried for killing Kirov. This is what I find ridiculous. You Stalinists love to talk about how "beloved" Kirov was.. and this is somewhat true. Kirov was very popular in Leningrad because he protected the rights of oppositionists (supporters of Trotsky, Bukharin, Riutin etc.) to free speech. Now what would the oppositionists gain from murdering somebody who was defending them?
Engels was a bourgeois, yes, but he was not a US State Department employee.
Vlasov defected because he had been captured and Stalin's policy was to persecute/kill any Soviet soldier who had become the Nazis' POW. Zinoviev and Kamenev were never captured by the British and forced to choose between treason or death. They were centrists, cowards even (Zinoviev especially).. but traitors? Lenin ate and slept next to these men. You insult my intelligence and that of every history-reading worker.
Juridical experience? At one point the prosecutor Vyshinsky howled about a quote by Kamenev calling Niccolo Macchiaveli "a dialectician." He said that this defined the "moral and, if you will, ideological level, of the defendant Kamenev.
Vyshinsky was not aware that Marx called Macchiaveli's history of Florence a "masterpiece" and said that "The Prince" was to politics what Copernicus' studies had been to astronomy.
If the 1937 trials were fair, then Marx should have been dug up and shot...
@vivascargill I didn't start it, someone said Paul Robeson was "a fool with Stalin," which simply isn't true, as explained in the excellent biography by Paul jr. You're right, though, it is better to just ignore the stalinubators.
@soakchips thanks--well said--Read Martin Duberman;s biography of Paul if you can find it--JVS insisted that the CPUSA fight racism (the document is online) which they did in the 1930's (autobiography of Hosea Hudon or Robin Kelly's work attest to this) But I just think Paul was Paul and had his own mind--I don't much care what kind of "ist" he was--he was a great man there are plenty of Stalin sites to fight out long dead battles--thanks again
What he means by "Stalinism" in relation to the DDR is the corruption and accumulation of wealth by state and Party bureaucrats, the near-total absence of proletarian democracy for keeping the bureaucracy in check (where the workers' only option was to petition the government for redress like in feudal times), and the violent suppression of any working-class strikes and protests that did arise. It is those things which made the DDR not socialist, not democratic, and led to its demise.
Then it´s not stalinism, but KHRUSCHOVism, since that, as the works of Stalin and studies of the professor Grover Furr show, Stalin, together with Lenin, fought activelly against corruption and bureaucratism inside the party. Even E. J. Hobsbawn, an anti-Stalin writter recognizes that in "Age of Extremes".
As E. M. Burns shows in his history book, Stalin stoof firmly against privileges for party members. Such wages increased in Khruschov Era, reason for that he difamated him in 56.
the bureaucracy was definitely less powerful under stalin than it was under khrushchev. after stalin died, the bureaucracy slowly became more and more powerful, until it restored capitalism. why did the bureaucracy become so powerful after stalin died? i'll tell you why: stalin MASSACRED the democratic working-class opposition that could have put a CHECK on that bureaucracy! stalin was the original revisionist. he opened the floodgates by sanctioning the murder of good comrades.
Negative! Stalin(and the rest of CPSU) eliminated the first divisionist group leadered by Trotsky, the man who, in 30´s wrote that the "anti-bureaucratic revolution" should have been done by Ukrainian nazi like Bandera and Melnyk. The second group, responsible for terrorist acts, was processed and judged according to international juridical standards, they were found guilty and punished.
Due to the WWII(not Stalin) many communists died, about 10 millions.
International juridical standards? They were *tortured* into making ridiculous confessions. Killed included Bela Kun, many German, Spanish and Hungarian Communist refugees, Red Army heroes from the Civil War. Stalin even admitted the purges had gone too far when his clique murdered Yezhov. Trotsky NEVER supported Ukrainian fascists, that is simply not true.
Most of what people repeat about history is as fake as the current "democracy". That issue is not only concerning Stalin, you probably ever heard that "Vikings used horned helmets", that "European swords were mere bladed iron", about "Stalinism", "Machiavelism", terms created only to ilude people without knowledge of history, versions of history merely fake and spreaded with political purporses.
Even a man like Machiavellus finds several pros if you study him without prejudices.
You think I'm ignorant. I will just say this: before it marched to its death following the suicidal Comintern line, the KPD was the measure of revolutionary integrity, an inspiration for workers everywhere. When in charge, unfortunately, the German Stalinists did everything to earn a new and terrible reputation, one of self-enrichment, cowardly and gangsterist methods used against the very working people they once protected.
I don´t think that you are ignorant, I just think that you, unfortunelly, as most of common people, study history by newspapers, not by books or professionals who actually have trusteable information or even if not trusteable, eventually bring up facts and statistics
The only repression against workers in Germany happened when the leadership was being replaced in many countries, you need concrete facts and studies to state that, not mere rumors. The fact is that DDR became developed socialy.
I was thinking in particular about the repressions in the early 1950's DDR when deadly force was used against strikers. This news caused a lot of demoralization in the Western European Communist Parties. But apparently that's the fault of whoever reported the news, not the bureaucrat/officer who gave the order to fire on workers.
The Comintern line was NEVER Stalinist, actually, since the 1928 Stalin works stopped to be published at Komintern. If you ever readed Stalin works in your life, you will notice that his line is pretty different of the one of Komintern.
Yes, his views, namely the idea of "socialism in one country" which subordinated the interests of Communist Parties to Soviet foreign policy aims, were very different from the internationalist principles on which the Comintern was founded. Hence the Stalinist ruling clique sacrificed Lenin's international to the Allied imperialists in 1943.
With that comment you just reportat that you lack of knowledge on Lenin works or simply learns history by newspapers...
The idea of "Socialism in one country" IS NOT from Stalin, it´s a Lenin´s idea, defended by this one at his book. It´s a reaction to the idea according to that socialism could not survive in Russia alone, that they should "save the workers of another countries firstly", despite that they were already defeated. The history showed that Lenin and Stalin were right.
Lenin said don't abandon the possibility of building socialism. Lenin NEVER SAID TO abandon the world revolution, ally with Hitler or Anglo-American Imperialism and scrap the Comintern!
History has shown Stalin's "socialism in one country" to be a COMPLETE FAILURE. By butchering the opposition factions and thus cementing the power of the military bureaucracy, Stalin sealed the fate not only of the international revolution, but of the proletarian nation, the USSR.
I think that you need to re-read the works of Lenin, because the "socialism in one country" theory is a Stalin´s theory, but a Lenin´s theory, it was the product of a historic reality, since that all the other revolutions were defeated and Russia was nearly destroyed to support new revolutionary waves.
Due to the wide of Russia, the country had raw materials to build socialism, what it actually did in 1936, as men like J. Davies, L. Feutchwanger and even the skeptic H. G. Wells witnessed!
Fuck Feutchwanger and Wells too. Lenin called Wells "a terrible little bourgeois" and I'm with Lenin on that one. I don't find it surprising at all that Wells and Stalin loved each other.
Being a terrible little bourgeois does not make your view points necessarily wrong, this kind of phalacia is called "Ad hominem". Communism stands against capitalism, Engels was a capitalist, that doesn´t make his view points wrong.
The military bureaucracy arose to power in 60s and specially 70s, not in Stalin Era. However, the centralized nature of tzarist government was adopted by bolsheviks to defeat the foreign intervention and protect the country from incoming enemies.
When you study Soviet history, you must do it in a context, not as in a fairy tale.
Okay, I like this song. I really do. Its connections to these socialists killed in Spain by the brutish regime of Franco is a particularly powerful. However, in your description, you describe the Democratic Republic of Germany, also known as East Germany as "democratic". East Germany has a terrible, terrible human rights record, was responsible for wide democide and keeping Stalinism alive for many years after Stalin's timely death. The adjective "democratic" hardly applies.
I don´t know any country wich attends Human Right in its plenitude. In the United States several people were imprisoned without any kind of judgement and tortured. Blacks in USA could not even marry white women until 60´s and if they had babies with white women, they would not get social protection from the state, in DDR was EXACTLY THE OPPOSITE, because it was a true democracy.
What do you call "stalinism"? There is not such concept.
Uhh in Stalin's russia one could also be imprisoned on trumped-up charges. Same goes for the DDR, where you could be locked up without charges for days at a time until you would "confess" to your "crimes" after massive sleep deprivation and torture. And Stalin practised human rights? The same guy who ordered the death of 20 million people over his entire reign, and initiated massive ethnic cleansing against Chechens, Jews, and, after the war was done, ethnic Germans in Soviet territory.
It's quite a stretch to call the GDR "democratic"... What kind of democracy locks its citizens in behind walls and barbed wire, and shoots anyone who tries to escape? There have been no real elections and in the end the whole regime fell apart, when the people united in protest against their supposedly democratic government. Whoever denies that is stuck so deeply in his own propaganda; I almost feel sorry for him/her. Not to mention that it is a great sign of disrespect towards those that died.
In USA there are walls at Mexican border, as well as many people in capitalist countries live in houses hedged with walls with spikes and electrified barbed wire.
There were democratic elections in GDR, however it was a different system. It´s good to remember that in USA, where politicians are ellected by non-direct system, many leaders, like Bush II and the son of J. Adams, were not ellected, but nominated, but USA is still considered democratic.
You just used a bit of fallacious reasoning: "State A encloses its citizens in barbed wire and rigs elections, so why can't State B?"
How can you call elections in GDR democratic when anyone with non-SED socialist views was put in prison and therefore couldn't participate?
Why did GDR tolerate bourgeois parties, but not other socialists? That was absolutely ridiculous in my opinion. Seems like your priority #1 is killing Trotskyists and other rivals, revolution is priority #2 at best.
is that so? are trotskyites NOT a bourgeois political view? just name ONE revolution they ever participated in..(not asking you to name any victories or something..)
In Greece trotskyites fought together with the english occupation forces during the December '44 popular uprising.
That is simply not true, Trotsky died believing that the Soviet Union, even under Stalin, should be defended against an imperialist attack! The Greek Trotskyist militias sent their officers to ask for orders from the Greek Communist Party, and instead they were disarmed and executed by their "comrades."
The same thing happened in Vietnam where the Vietminh betrayed a Trotskyist militia in the countryside and actually assisted French colonial police in rounding up the Saigon workers' militia.
I might add that the Vietminh was still purging suspected Trotskyists, even several Generals, among its ranks up to the 1950's. Still no Trotskyist has ever actually betrayed a Stalinist state or party..
My firend you simply have ABSOLUTELY NO IDEA of what happened in Greece! Trotsky leaders sent messages to the royal army of Greece hailing the defeat of the "stalinists" ! Never did they make any anti nazi "militia" or asked for instructions by EAM or anything... What are you, American? Do yoy even know where Greece is on a map?
The Stalin that you talk about was one of men who mostly praticized the Human Rights, having signed the first document which made the racism a crime, the USSR Constitution of 1936, several concepts of this charter were assimilated by modern laws and jurisprudence, as well as the US declaration of Human Rights, where the right of non-discrimination, right to work, healthcare and education were considered supreme values.
Btw, Stalin aided Spanishes in their anti-fascist civil war.
This is a typical Robeson, one that had a message and was in keeping with his own pollitics and personal philosophy. typically also he has altered the words as he did with Old man river and many other songs. Many singers did this.
Robeson was a man dedicated to the equality of all men. One of the most out spoken voices of freedom and civil rights world wide. This rendition of Peat Bog Soldiers carries the force of his convictions. It is also in his signature song "Old Man River".
Paul Robeson 's version is probably the best I've heard . We tend to forget the many Germans both communist and non communist who were also victims of Hitler's regime . When I heard this song forst it was by the Dubliners and had no idea where the song originated .
You only see black and white. Nobody is better than another one. Every Nation, every Country did something wrong. USA is not better than another country. Look back in your history. The Pilgrams kill the Native American for example. The list is very long with things all Countries did wrong, but always they search for someone you can hate.
I dont like right wing extremist, but they are human beings like you and me. Nobody have the right to end a life.
i have to say.. that we are not allowed to even except right-extremists.. of course you always need a balance.. but history shows.. it can only go towards the "left side" ... i dont mean the things what where going on witch udssr..cccp i think in english..
antifashism kommunism and finally anarchy should bless our world.. but it needs its time..
Sure that he met. Khruschev´s policy was clearly propagandistic. For instance, he lended BMP armored vehicles the intervention in Africa done by UN. He also ceased the international communist movement and ceased the aid to Albania, at the same time that aided the anti-communist regime of Nehru in India. He also refused to recognize the independence of Argelia(France did it first0 and disencouraged the various struggles in America and Africa.
It's all very interesting and it's all in any amount of literature. But this isn't about the mans politics SHUT UP AND LISTEN TO HIS VOICE!! All these years later and we still haven't seen his like again. Shhhhh, enjoy!
Today you can stand in front of the White House in Washington D.C. shouting "I hate the USA and I want to get outta here". People will have a good lough and noting more will happen. If you would have done that in the GDR, you would have landed in prison just after finishing the last word. Can you see the difference?
Really? 5 Cubans were imprisioned for that reason in the US.
Let´s also remember that American ppl is daily brainwashed by Mass Media and the schools have a completely totalitarian model, as M. Moore well shows, kids taught by giant companies about "how wonderful is capitalism and how dreadful are alternative models and another countries".
Several foreigners were imprisioned for blame the US for 09/11 acts, one of them was my former mate at work, arrested during his flight for a joke on it.
Red Greetings from India Comrade . I have just read your comments on Krushchev also. Your analysis on Krushchev's aid to Nehru's India is absolutely true. Thanks for uploading these good video's.
I'm very thankfull, that you have posted this video. I knew the original version. I was fascinated, when this man suddenly sang in my home language (I'm a German).
If I may give an advice, change your song description. You are very right saying this song was written againts the Nazis. But please cosider, that it even aims one every inhumanity, and therefor even one the wrong ran DDR ...
Today half Germans want socialism, another 40% doesn´t know what is it and 10% know what is it and for this reason poisons the minds of plp with myths because they wanna keep their power among population.
Remember that DDR, differently from DFR, never invaded a single country nor segregated plp into social classes.
Bla bla bla - I cant hear it not any longer! Yes, the GDR was a democratic state. But think about the GFR since the time of Adenauer: Everywhere in administration and economy old "democratic" nazis and profiteers of WW II. What an exemplary democracy! And today Germany defends german freedom at the Hindukusch - ha ha ha!!!
Anglophone readers, please excuse me for my bad English. But I hope you know, what I mean.
GDR democratic - think again! Hindukusch - ok! it's wrong - at least as long as there is more fighting than helping. but GDR democratic? come on!!! I understand your adenauer critique with nazis staying in positions but "WIR sind das Volk" tells another Story!
He was pro-Stalin (against the USA and Khruschev propaganda) all his life, even that he openly couldn't claim to be a communist, his political actions were communistic all the way! (He was heavily bullied by US Government cause of that!)
Yeah! USA hate blacks! Take a look at the American posts at Youtube, most of times with racist dye. They always love so say "your f* nigga", "get out your nigga", cuz they hate Afro-Americans.
Today, Obama is presidential candidate, but it does not mean that racism is over in US. They will never erase what they did and keep doing with blacks.
The South was in the peak of economic brilliance because of the black slaves, and the North needed to crush it economy by forcing the 'liberation' of slaves... And when they obtained victory through arms, not trough forcing the 'liberation', they, 'forgot' about that initiative about whole 'negro' idea... Even forcing it today... forcing the tradition of the 'lower' race... Divide and conquer, a strategy that always worked if applied with skills...
The United States of America is today governed by "South", the same group that held reactionary, slavist, mystic, imperialistic and tyranic views on society.
The same happened in USSR, when the reactionary group took power after Stalin´s death and revived capitalism.
I suggest you to read "To you, belove comrades". Even when fake communists started to turn their backs to USSR, Robeson defended it and support its policies, being criticized by mass media.
He also denounced the anti-communist policies of USA as a smoke-screen against social movements.
Robeson was pro-Khruschev and he hated Stalin. He stood with the USSR because of 1) the lack of racism towards blacks, 2) its support for the anti-colonial movements in Africa, & 3) because he saw the USSR as a bulwark against US global hegemony. All of his friends in Russia were reformists, & he was well aware of the extent of Stalin's crimes. He helped friends and relatives condemned to death in the USSR to escape during his 1st & 2nd visits to the USSR. Read Robeson, Jr's biography.
Robenson praised Stalin´s policies several times and even developed close ties with the Soviet leader.
Khruschev, following the same steps of Tito, didn´t cared about anti-colonial fight, because he followed the same steps of Tito, denying assistance to anti-colonial fights because of "nuclear threats". I don´t think that Robeson supported his politics.
I don´t have the biografy of his son, but he possibly miscalculated facts.
Robeson publicly praised the Soviet Union no matter WHO its leader was. He also refused to publicly condemn even its most egregious crimes. It had nothing to do with Stalin in particular. Robeson had a personal relationship with K. & since his early visits to the USSR was close to anti-Stalinists (Eisenstein & many generals who were soon murdered by S.) K's foreign policy in Africa was more competitive in relation to US & China viewing it as chance for expansion of Soviet influence.
he may have been poisoned mkultra check
TheVivascargill 1 week ago
It always makes me sad how he essentially died of the stress imposed by oppression. And I just learned today that the reason he was kept as a virtual prisoner in America, unable to leave the country, was that the state department had come to the conclusion that in America he would have less freedom of expression than anywhere else in the west. Murdered by the hypocrisy of our leaders.
agnosticnixie 5 months ago 3
What a great man...
lovelyshadeofred 8 months ago
@VChapaev He is also greatly loved by the working class of America, too.
pedonbio 11 months ago
Buena cancion
Neyitin 1 year ago
i read the info... the DDR no longer exists, it was the name for the communist east Germany it should be noted it did not describe all of Germany... and although the Red army did do a great deal to liberate Germany, they did not do it alone, it should be noted, that without the help of the other allies, who did just as much to liberate Germany, the Red army would have had a harder time even breaking into Germany, let alone defeating the NAZI's mind you I do not mean to insult the former-USSR.
UNC3345 2 years ago
@UNC3345 Based on what I know, the western allies invaded Germany for 2 reasons:
To shorten the war, and cause less casualties.
And to prevent Russia from taken all of middle Europe.
Once the Russian army had momentum, there was a great fear that it could continue on into even Italy and France. Militarily, this was a strong possibility. Even before the cold war, tensions between the USSR and the western powers were great, with a post-revolution Russia being invaded shortly by the other allies.
failedassassin 1 year ago
Thanks for posting, wonderful singer!
The Red Army under Stalin did everything cruel known to wo/mankind under the sun - every war is filthy and hell on earth - forget about democracy!
Democracy is the right to speak out loud, without being shoved into a concentration camp or a gulag in Siberia.
"Democracy" is brittle and has its downsides, as have all human societies - I was born and brought up in post-WWII Germany, thank you very much, or should I say disculpame por favor.
cocochanelleke 2 years ago
@cocochanelleke Yes, Stalin committed many crimes, he revised the principles of Marxism and Leninism, he compromised the defense of the USSR against Nazism.
But the Red Army's defense of the USSR was heroic. It was truly a people fighting for its own self preservation, in spite of corrupt leadership. It is wrong to insult the Red Army fighters who defeated fascism.
soakchips 2 years ago 2
There is nothing new among wo/mankind on
earth as we know it - that is my point.
And that is my whole point.
Could we please leave it at that, soakchips?
cocochanelleke 2 years ago
@cocochanelleke
The democracy of burgueoise class is a farse created to lure workers. It means, actually, the freedom for capitalists and exploiters of people. Let me give you a quick example, if I show you here a list of proletarians who wrote newspapers and books in USSR, as well as statistics showing a high number of independent press in USSR you will not trust me, why? Because the great Capital, the press at capitalist hands made you think differently.
Corvusdotensis 1 year ago 2
Thanks for your reply Corvusdotensis - right you are. At last I get a proper reply from someone.
Coco
xxx
cocochanelleke 1 year ago
@cocochanelleke
There is no such country where you can speak anything and leave alone... Even in the so called democratic countries, you can be sued for certain viewpoints for difamation, caluny or injury. In many countries you can be even imprisoned for racism. The Soviet Union was, proudly, the first country to make racism a hedious crime.
Freedom without limits is not freedom at all, but arbitrarity, savagery!
Corvusdotensis 1 year ago
@Corvusdotensis I find this comment savage and want you put in jail for it.
failedassassin 1 year ago
Extrordinary voice!
HelveticRaven 2 years ago 4
Can anybody tell me why the comment space here is misused for an intellectual debate that has nothing to do with this great song and this amazing singer?
volkermanteca 2 years ago 5
no it happens all the time I don't undertand it--BTW listen to him sing Blake's "Jerusalem"
vivascargill 2 years ago 2
This has been flagged as spam show
I love this song!
wvprogressive1933 2 years ago
Comment removed
cocochanelleke 2 years ago
Yes Sir,I think the song sung in isolation without knowing the background of its creation leaves one diminished. Discussion on this background in my opinion stimulates ones thoughts and ideas.I think Robeson would have enjoyed comment on all his songs and their historical importance.
bilstew 2 years ago
Calling Vlasov a civil war hero is a bit of a stretch. It shows how far the definition of "civil war hero" sunk in Stalinist Russia, after all the real heroes of that war were executed in the purges of 1936-41, and the history of 1918-21 had to be rewritten.
soakchips 2 years ago
what a cheap trick!
Totsky fantasized himself as the Napoleon of the soviet revolution . Unfortunately for him the communists knew better..
touaregk 2 years ago
Trotsky was more like the Robespierre. Stalin was the Napoleon of the Russian Revolution. Like Napoleon, he began on the left. Like Napoleon, he purged the revolutionary leaders after coming to power. Like Napoleon he set up phony "democratic" regimes in Eastern Europe. Like Napoleon, he perverted a good, progressive ideology into a philistine cult of emperor-worship. Like Napoleon, he re-banned homosexuality (1789 and 1917 revolutions legalized it, Napoleon and Stalin re-illegalized).
soakchips 2 years ago
Trotsky was never in fact a revolutionary marxist. He opposed frequently to Lenin on crucial matters during the revolution and before: the matter of socialist edification in one country, the prolonging of the war - tell me something: was it or NOT the napoleonic strategy to liquidize revolution through external warfare that Trotski suggested in 1918?
and what's that "homosexuality" rubbish, people were starving back then you think the revolutionaries would pay attention to such minor things?
touaregk 2 years ago
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cocochanelleke 2 years ago
great song by a great hero of the working class and a great intellect . His very existence exposed fascisms aryan superman bullshit for what it was
He also recorded the Irish rebel song kevin barry , im desperate to track that recording down .
kbcmighty 2 years ago 2
moorsoldaten
eric9596 2 years ago
Someone like Paul Robeson should still be as famous as Springsteen or Dylan.
The voice of people.
The working class doesn't forget brave men like this.
FAEMINOSMITH 2 years ago 3
DOWN WITH THE CAPITALISM!!!!!
LONG LIVE THE WORKING CLASS!!!
Quote: of the great german masterminds
Karl Marx!
the worker has nothing to lose but his chains!
He has won his world!
antifaschist09 2 years ago
hallo form Germany I am a nazi studier HATE HITELR but this is not the orignial song it is in Hebrew
ukissme213 2 years ago
to all my international comrads!
Solidarity greetings from germany
Workers of all countries, unite for a better world
to the diskusion: im a germann commuist but I HATE STALIN! he has the picture of communism ruined because him think the most people of the world communisms is the same how fascism!!! for that I HATE HIM!!!!
Solidarity greetings from germany
the Antifaschist has spoken
antifaschist09 2 years ago
If you were a real communist, you would help to defend Stalin, the most caluniated communist of XX Century, together with Lenin. The callunies on Stalin served only one purporse, destroying the communist movement, demoralize the communists and shatter the USSR.
If you were a real communism you would research his Era, instead of just make choir to the ideas of Burgueoise class. You are thinking what Washington and Brussels want to!
Swordman85 2 years ago
i have a question?
YOU ARE STUPID????
why I shoud make choir to the ideas of Burgueoise class???? I HATE THE CAPITALISM and the Burgueoise class down withe the Burgueoise class! DOWN WITH THE CAPITALISM!!! long live the COMMUNISM!!!
antifaschism greetings from germany
the Antifaschist has spoken !!!
antifaschist09 2 years ago
This is a beautiful song - it's a shame to spoil it with so much political acrimony.
khaals 2 years ago
Stalin's purges even killed one African-American refugee, Lovett Fort-Whiteman, who had escaped white racism in the USA, for the supposed crime of supporting "black nationalism" after the Comintern changed its views on the African-American question in 1935.
soakchips 2 years ago
It killed one and promoted the rights of thousand others. It´s a fact, for instance, that USSR Constitution was the first document of humanity history to make racism a criminal(something that you probably would never know if I did not tell you) and much years before US first black president, USSR had its first black major.
Swordman85 2 years ago
My point was never to claim the USSR was racist (although Stalin's clique did some despicable racist things) my point was that the killings in the 1930's got completely out of hand and the failure of you Stalinists to fess up to your mistakes does not bode well for your political sagacity or future prospects
soakchips 2 years ago
It has nothing to do with "rivals", if you ever readed the testimony of people who actually lived and were in USSR you will realize that people judged in 30´s were actually guilty. Joseph Davies was the embassador of USA in USSR, he was a renowed lawyer with more than 20 years of juridical experience, he witnessed that the judgments were espontaneous and authentic, he even wrote a book about it, "Mission to Moscow".
It´s important to read more than 1 or 2 sources.
Swordman85 2 years ago
There is no way that Lenin's entire Politburo was guilty (all surviving members of Lenin's Politburo were killed in the late 1930's). There is no way that Zinoviev, Kamenev, Bela Kun, Tukhachevsky, were guilty. Trotsky's family members were not guilty of anything either.. killing his family was a barbaric act reminiscent more of medieval czarism than modern socialism.
Joseph Davies was a dirty bourgeois hack. He was ordered to keep quiet by Roosevelt, much like ambassadors to Nazi Germany.
soakchips 2 years ago
why "there is no way that Zinoviev and Kamenev" were not guilty? May I ask you about your juridical exprience? A. Vlassov was a hero of Civil War, but in WWII he betrayed his country and even joined nazi forming the treacherous ROA, which killed its own people aside nazi.
Joseph Davies was a bourgeois, as Engels himself was... If he was "ordered to keep quiet", then why he did not write anything about it after his death? That does not make sense.
Swordman85 2 years ago
Many Left Oppositionists were tried for killing Kirov. This is what I find ridiculous. You Stalinists love to talk about how "beloved" Kirov was.. and this is somewhat true. Kirov was very popular in Leningrad because he protected the rights of oppositionists (supporters of Trotsky, Bukharin, Riutin etc.) to free speech. Now what would the oppositionists gain from murdering somebody who was defending them?
soakchips 2 years ago
Engels was a bourgeois, yes, but he was not a US State Department employee.
Vlasov defected because he had been captured and Stalin's policy was to persecute/kill any Soviet soldier who had become the Nazis' POW. Zinoviev and Kamenev were never captured by the British and forced to choose between treason or death. They were centrists, cowards even (Zinoviev especially).. but traitors? Lenin ate and slept next to these men. You insult my intelligence and that of every history-reading worker.
soakchips 2 years ago
Juridical experience? At one point the prosecutor Vyshinsky howled about a quote by Kamenev calling Niccolo Macchiaveli "a dialectician." He said that this defined the "moral and, if you will, ideological level, of the defendant Kamenev.
Vyshinsky was not aware that Marx called Macchiaveli's history of Florence a "masterpiece" and said that "The Prince" was to politics what Copernicus' studies had been to astronomy.
If the 1937 trials were fair, then Marx should have been dug up and shot...
soakchips 2 years ago
@soakchips hey this is about paul take the argument somewhere else!
vivascargill 1 year ago
@vivascargill I didn't start it, someone said Paul Robeson was "a fool with Stalin," which simply isn't true, as explained in the excellent biography by Paul jr. You're right, though, it is better to just ignore the stalinubators.
soakchips 1 year ago
@soakchips thanks--well said--Read Martin Duberman;s biography of Paul if you can find it--JVS insisted that the CPUSA fight racism (the document is online) which they did in the 1930's (autobiography of Hosea Hudon or Robin Kelly's work attest to this) But I just think Paul was Paul and had his own mind--I don't much care what kind of "ist" he was--he was a great man there are plenty of Stalin sites to fight out long dead battles--thanks again
vivascargill 1 year ago
R.I.P.
nieder mit rassismus, kämpft, brüder aus aller welt, damit solche verbrechen nie wieder passieren
MarlinD91 2 years ago
What he means by "Stalinism" in relation to the DDR is the corruption and accumulation of wealth by state and Party bureaucrats, the near-total absence of proletarian democracy for keeping the bureaucracy in check (where the workers' only option was to petition the government for redress like in feudal times), and the violent suppression of any working-class strikes and protests that did arise. It is those things which made the DDR not socialist, not democratic, and led to its demise.
soakchips 2 years ago
Then it´s not stalinism, but KHRUSCHOVism, since that, as the works of Stalin and studies of the professor Grover Furr show, Stalin, together with Lenin, fought activelly against corruption and bureaucratism inside the party. Even E. J. Hobsbawn, an anti-Stalin writter recognizes that in "Age of Extremes".
As E. M. Burns shows in his history book, Stalin stoof firmly against privileges for party members. Such wages increased in Khruschov Era, reason for that he difamated him in 56.
Swordman85 2 years ago
the bureaucracy was definitely less powerful under stalin than it was under khrushchev. after stalin died, the bureaucracy slowly became more and more powerful, until it restored capitalism. why did the bureaucracy become so powerful after stalin died? i'll tell you why: stalin MASSACRED the democratic working-class opposition that could have put a CHECK on that bureaucracy! stalin was the original revisionist. he opened the floodgates by sanctioning the murder of good comrades.
soakchips 2 years ago
Negative! Stalin(and the rest of CPSU) eliminated the first divisionist group leadered by Trotsky, the man who, in 30´s wrote that the "anti-bureaucratic revolution" should have been done by Ukrainian nazi like Bandera and Melnyk. The second group, responsible for terrorist acts, was processed and judged according to international juridical standards, they were found guilty and punished.
Due to the WWII(not Stalin) many communists died, about 10 millions.
Swordman85 2 years ago
International juridical standards? They were *tortured* into making ridiculous confessions. Killed included Bela Kun, many German, Spanish and Hungarian Communist refugees, Red Army heroes from the Civil War. Stalin even admitted the purges had gone too far when his clique murdered Yezhov. Trotsky NEVER supported Ukrainian fascists, that is simply not true.
soakchips 2 years ago
Most of what people repeat about history is as fake as the current "democracy". That issue is not only concerning Stalin, you probably ever heard that "Vikings used horned helmets", that "European swords were mere bladed iron", about "Stalinism", "Machiavelism", terms created only to ilude people without knowledge of history, versions of history merely fake and spreaded with political purporses.
Even a man like Machiavellus finds several pros if you study him without prejudices.
Swordman85 2 years ago
You think I'm ignorant. I will just say this: before it marched to its death following the suicidal Comintern line, the KPD was the measure of revolutionary integrity, an inspiration for workers everywhere. When in charge, unfortunately, the German Stalinists did everything to earn a new and terrible reputation, one of self-enrichment, cowardly and gangsterist methods used against the very working people they once protected.
soakchips 2 years ago
I don´t think that you are ignorant, I just think that you, unfortunelly, as most of common people, study history by newspapers, not by books or professionals who actually have trusteable information or even if not trusteable, eventually bring up facts and statistics
The only repression against workers in Germany happened when the leadership was being replaced in many countries, you need concrete facts and studies to state that, not mere rumors. The fact is that DDR became developed socialy.
Swordman85 2 years ago
I was thinking in particular about the repressions in the early 1950's DDR when deadly force was used against strikers. This news caused a lot of demoralization in the Western European Communist Parties. But apparently that's the fault of whoever reported the news, not the bureaucrat/officer who gave the order to fire on workers.
soakchips 2 years ago
The Comintern line was NEVER Stalinist, actually, since the 1928 Stalin works stopped to be published at Komintern. If you ever readed Stalin works in your life, you will notice that his line is pretty different of the one of Komintern.
Swordman85 2 years ago
Yes, his views, namely the idea of "socialism in one country" which subordinated the interests of Communist Parties to Soviet foreign policy aims, were very different from the internationalist principles on which the Comintern was founded. Hence the Stalinist ruling clique sacrificed Lenin's international to the Allied imperialists in 1943.
soakchips 2 years ago
With that comment you just reportat that you lack of knowledge on Lenin works or simply learns history by newspapers...
The idea of "Socialism in one country" IS NOT from Stalin, it´s a Lenin´s idea, defended by this one at his book. It´s a reaction to the idea according to that socialism could not survive in Russia alone, that they should "save the workers of another countries firstly", despite that they were already defeated. The history showed that Lenin and Stalin were right.
Swordman85 2 years ago
Lenin said don't abandon the possibility of building socialism. Lenin NEVER SAID TO abandon the world revolution, ally with Hitler or Anglo-American Imperialism and scrap the Comintern!
History has shown Stalin's "socialism in one country" to be a COMPLETE FAILURE. By butchering the opposition factions and thus cementing the power of the military bureaucracy, Stalin sealed the fate not only of the international revolution, but of the proletarian nation, the USSR.
soakchips 2 years ago
I think that you need to re-read the works of Lenin, because the "socialism in one country" theory is a Stalin´s theory, but a Lenin´s theory, it was the product of a historic reality, since that all the other revolutions were defeated and Russia was nearly destroyed to support new revolutionary waves.
Due to the wide of Russia, the country had raw materials to build socialism, what it actually did in 1936, as men like J. Davies, L. Feutchwanger and even the skeptic H. G. Wells witnessed!
Swordman85 2 years ago
Fuck Feutchwanger and Wells too. Lenin called Wells "a terrible little bourgeois" and I'm with Lenin on that one. I don't find it surprising at all that Wells and Stalin loved each other.
soakchips 2 years ago
Being a terrible little bourgeois does not make your view points necessarily wrong, this kind of phalacia is called "Ad hominem". Communism stands against capitalism, Engels was a capitalist, that doesn´t make his view points wrong.
Swordman85 2 years ago
The military bureaucracy arose to power in 60s and specially 70s, not in Stalin Era. However, the centralized nature of tzarist government was adopted by bolsheviks to defeat the foreign intervention and protect the country from incoming enemies.
When you study Soviet history, you must do it in a context, not as in a fairy tale.
Swordman85 2 years ago
Comment removed
soakchips 2 years ago
Okay, I like this song. I really do. Its connections to these socialists killed in Spain by the brutish regime of Franco is a particularly powerful. However, in your description, you describe the Democratic Republic of Germany, also known as East Germany as "democratic". East Germany has a terrible, terrible human rights record, was responsible for wide democide and keeping Stalinism alive for many years after Stalin's timely death. The adjective "democratic" hardly applies.
slaytheinfidels 2 years ago
I don´t know any country wich attends Human Right in its plenitude. In the United States several people were imprisoned without any kind of judgement and tortured. Blacks in USA could not even marry white women until 60´s and if they had babies with white women, they would not get social protection from the state, in DDR was EXACTLY THE OPPOSITE, because it was a true democracy.
What do you call "stalinism"? There is not such concept.
Swordman85 2 years ago
Uhh in Stalin's russia one could also be imprisoned on trumped-up charges. Same goes for the DDR, where you could be locked up without charges for days at a time until you would "confess" to your "crimes" after massive sleep deprivation and torture. And Stalin practised human rights? The same guy who ordered the death of 20 million people over his entire reign, and initiated massive ethnic cleansing against Chechens, Jews, and, after the war was done, ethnic Germans in Soviet territory.
slaytheinfidels 2 years ago
It's quite a stretch to call the GDR "democratic"... What kind of democracy locks its citizens in behind walls and barbed wire, and shoots anyone who tries to escape? There have been no real elections and in the end the whole regime fell apart, when the people united in protest against their supposedly democratic government. Whoever denies that is stuck so deeply in his own propaganda; I almost feel sorry for him/her. Not to mention that it is a great sign of disrespect towards those that died.
nicofs 2 years ago
In USA there are walls at Mexican border, as well as many people in capitalist countries live in houses hedged with walls with spikes and electrified barbed wire.
There were democratic elections in GDR, however it was a different system. It´s good to remember that in USA, where politicians are ellected by non-direct system, many leaders, like Bush II and the son of J. Adams, were not ellected, but nominated, but USA is still considered democratic.
Swordman85 2 years ago
You just used a bit of fallacious reasoning: "State A encloses its citizens in barbed wire and rigs elections, so why can't State B?"
How can you call elections in GDR democratic when anyone with non-SED socialist views was put in prison and therefore couldn't participate?
Why did GDR tolerate bourgeois parties, but not other socialists? That was absolutely ridiculous in my opinion. Seems like your priority #1 is killing Trotskyists and other rivals, revolution is priority #2 at best.
soakchips 2 years ago
is that so? are trotskyites NOT a bourgeois political view? just name ONE revolution they ever participated in..(not asking you to name any victories or something..)
In Greece trotskyites fought together with the english occupation forces during the December '44 popular uprising.
touaregk 2 years ago
That is simply not true, Trotsky died believing that the Soviet Union, even under Stalin, should be defended against an imperialist attack! The Greek Trotskyist militias sent their officers to ask for orders from the Greek Communist Party, and instead they were disarmed and executed by their "comrades."
The same thing happened in Vietnam where the Vietminh betrayed a Trotskyist militia in the countryside and actually assisted French colonial police in rounding up the Saigon workers' militia.
soakchips 2 years ago
I might add that the Vietminh was still purging suspected Trotskyists, even several Generals, among its ranks up to the 1950's. Still no Trotskyist has ever actually betrayed a Stalinist state or party..
soakchips 2 years ago
Depends what you call "betrayal". The Barcelona '37 counter revolutionary uprising I guess is not by your book considered a betrayal right?
touaregk 2 years ago
My firend you simply have ABSOLUTELY NO IDEA of what happened in Greece! Trotsky leaders sent messages to the royal army of Greece hailing the defeat of the "stalinists" ! Never did they make any anti nazi "militia" or asked for instructions by EAM or anything... What are you, American? Do yoy even know where Greece is on a map?
touaregk 2 years ago
The Stalin that you talk about was one of men who mostly praticized the Human Rights, having signed the first document which made the racism a crime, the USSR Constitution of 1936, several concepts of this charter were assimilated by modern laws and jurisprudence, as well as the US declaration of Human Rights, where the right of non-discrimination, right to work, healthcare and education were considered supreme values.
Btw, Stalin aided Spanishes in their anti-fascist civil war.
Swordman85 2 years ago
warte mal schulze...
ich les grad die info zu dem song--- du wichser willst du etwa schmutzige ost-juden propaganda mit dem song betreiben?
drecks ostler, erstick an deiner eigenen scheisse! Blasphemie
jockelinho 2 years ago
rotfront kannst du dir in deine poperze drücken, du wichser
jockelinho 2 years ago
This is a typical Robeson, one that had a message and was in keeping with his own pollitics and personal philosophy. typically also he has altered the words as he did with Old man river and many other songs. Many singers did this.
jonjamg 2 years ago
hmm... i like the dubliners cover more
jockelinho 2 years ago
...Doch für uns gibt es kein Klagen, ewig kanns nicht Winter sein.
Einmal werden froh wir sagen: Heimat, du bist wieder mein.
Dann ziehn die Moorsoldaten nicht mehr mit dem Spaten ins Moor!
Thanks for uploading this great English version!
Best regards from Germany
Ilkamy 2 years ago
He sing this song very great!
Salute from Germany, Rotfront Genossen!
SozialistWilde 2 years ago 3
Robeson was a man dedicated to the equality of all men. One of the most out spoken voices of freedom and civil rights world wide. This rendition of Peat Bog Soldiers carries the force of his convictions. It is also in his signature song "Old Man River".
abutterflydreaming 2 years ago 2
Un peu rapide mais, Merci! pour tous les rejettés de la terrre!
ANTOONMAKA 2 years ago
Love his singing.
He was a fool with Stalin...
Nealhugh 2 years ago
Paul Robeson 's version is probably the best I've heard . We tend to forget the many Germans both communist and non communist who were also victims of Hitler's regime . When I heard this song forst it was by the Dubliners and had no idea where the song originated .
IrishDubliner99 2 years ago 16
Comment removed
cocochanelleke 1 year ago
@IrishDubliner99
"tend to forget"
that's the way the cookie crumbles.
Humans do not learn from history - they are too busy pointing fingers elsewhere.
cocochanelleke 1 year ago
I first heard it sung in the late 1940's And I think (but I can't be sure)my parents told me he sang it at Peekskill.
482c 3 years ago 3
der hat ne krasse stimme würd ich mal sagen gefällt mir sehr gut:
jackyhera 3 years ago
You only see black and white. Nobody is better than another one. Every Nation, every Country did something wrong. USA is not better than another country. Look back in your history. The Pilgrams kill the Native American for example. The list is very long with things all Countries did wrong, but always they search for someone you can hate.
I dont like right wing extremist, but they are human beings like you and me. Nobody have the right to end a life.
BL00DYD33D 3 years ago
i have to say.. that we are not allowed to even except right-extremists.. of course you always need a balance.. but history shows.. it can only go towards the "left side" ... i dont mean the things what where going on witch udssr..cccp i think in english..
antifashism kommunism and finally anarchy should bless our world.. but it needs its time..
nemosonn 3 years ago
The world isn't one-dimensional, there is not only left and right, there is also up and down as well as ahead and behind.
4K4K1K0 2 years ago
You can go back a few days. The US is killing people daily in other countries-completely innocent people.
hiptowaist 3 years ago
i'm a german too. is the irak better than the hindukush?
Rockopa75 3 years ago
The only good nazi is a dead one.
Gaudd 3 years ago
I didn't know, that Paul Robeson speaks German:)
Death for all nazis!!
redfreak92 3 years ago 5
Robeson speaked over 20 languages^^
Wolfmoon23 3 years ago 8
@Wolfmoon23 Hahaha ironic.
fuckthaapolice 5 months ago
The song was created by Anarchists and song by Anarchists and Communists in unity.
KenCat1337 3 years ago
The song is created by 3 communists. the names of them are Johann Esser and Wolfgang Langhoff and Rudi Goguel.
engelundjoe1991 3 years ago 6
Paul Robeson never repudiated Comrade Stalin!
482c 3 years ago
He did he just did not repudiate Communism
BrickLaneBetty 3 years ago
This was an anthem of the early left-wing prisoners of Hitler's regime.
May they be remembered. May fascism never prevail again. No Pasaran!
KennBurch 3 years ago 17
Sure that he met. Khruschev´s policy was clearly propagandistic. For instance, he lended BMP armored vehicles the intervention in Africa done by UN. He also ceased the international communist movement and ceased the aid to Albania, at the same time that aided the anti-communist regime of Nehru in India. He also refused to recognize the independence of Argelia(France did it first0 and disencouraged the various struggles in America and Africa.
Swordman85 3 years ago
It's all very interesting and it's all in any amount of literature. But this isn't about the mans politics SHUT UP AND LISTEN TO HIS VOICE!! All these years later and we still haven't seen his like again. Shhhhh, enjoy!
spockleyfound 3 years ago 5
Today you can stand in front of the White House in Washington D.C. shouting "I hate the USA and I want to get outta here". People will have a good lough and noting more will happen. If you would have done that in the GDR, you would have landed in prison just after finishing the last word. Can you see the difference?
hamburgerjungs 3 years ago
Really? 5 Cubans were imprisioned for that reason in the US.
Let´s also remember that American ppl is daily brainwashed by Mass Media and the schools have a completely totalitarian model, as M. Moore well shows, kids taught by giant companies about "how wonderful is capitalism and how dreadful are alternative models and another countries".
Several foreigners were imprisioned for blame the US for 09/11 acts, one of them was my former mate at work, arrested during his flight for a joke on it.
Swordman85 3 years ago
Red Greetings from India Comrade . I have just read your comments on Krushchev also. Your analysis on Krushchev's aid to Nehru's India is absolutely true. Thanks for uploading these good video's.
anirbanganguly 3 years ago 2
I'm very thankfull, that you have posted this video. I knew the original version. I was fascinated, when this man suddenly sang in my home language (I'm a German).
If I may give an advice, change your song description. You are very right saying this song was written againts the Nazis. But please cosider, that it even aims one every inhumanity, and therefor even one the wrong ran DDR ...
Orpheus200 3 years ago 3
Today half Germans want socialism, another 40% doesn´t know what is it and 10% know what is it and for this reason poisons the minds of plp with myths because they wanna keep their power among population.
Remember that DDR, differently from DFR, never invaded a single country nor segregated plp into social classes.
Swordman85 3 years ago
lovely song, but the description is ridiculous. how can one say the GDR was democratic at all?
hamburgerjungs 3 years ago
Perhaps by the same way the Mass Media presents US and NATO as democratic...
Swordman85 3 years ago
Bla bla bla - I cant hear it not any longer! Yes, the GDR was a democratic state. But think about the GFR since the time of Adenauer: Everywhere in administration and economy old "democratic" nazis and profiteers of WW II. What an exemplary democracy! And today Germany defends german freedom at the Hindukusch - ha ha ha!!!
Anglophone readers, please excuse me for my bad English. But I hope you know, what I mean.
JOnegin 3 years ago
greate.
youre absolutely right.
greez from germany
mochecka 3 years ago
GDR democratic - think again! Hindukusch - ok! it's wrong - at least as long as there is more fighting than helping. but GDR democratic? come on!!! I understand your adenauer critique with nazis staying in positions but "WIR sind das Volk" tells another Story!
PelleVampor 3 years ago 4
Nice song.
ww2fan39 4 years ago
He was pro-Stalin (against the USA and Khruschev propaganda) all his life, even that he openly couldn't claim to be a communist, his political actions were communistic all the way! (He was heavily bullied by US Government cause of that!)
TrueCommunist 4 years ago
Yeah! USA hate blacks! Take a look at the American posts at Youtube, most of times with racist dye. They always love so say "your f* nigga", "get out your nigga", cuz they hate Afro-Americans.
Today, Obama is presidential candidate, but it does not mean that racism is over in US. They will never erase what they did and keep doing with blacks.
Swordman85 4 years ago
The South was in the peak of economic brilliance because of the black slaves, and the North needed to crush it economy by forcing the 'liberation' of slaves... And when they obtained victory through arms, not trough forcing the 'liberation', they, 'forgot' about that initiative about whole 'negro' idea... Even forcing it today... forcing the tradition of the 'lower' race... Divide and conquer, a strategy that always worked if applied with skills...
TrueCommunist 4 years ago
The United States of America is today governed by "South", the same group that held reactionary, slavist, mystic, imperialistic and tyranic views on society.
The same happened in USSR, when the reactionary group took power after Stalin´s death and revived capitalism.
Swordman85 3 years ago
I suggest you to read "To you, belove comrades". Even when fake communists started to turn their backs to USSR, Robeson defended it and support its policies, being criticized by mass media.
He also denounced the anti-communist policies of USA as a smoke-screen against social movements.
Swordman85 3 years ago
Robeson was pro-Khruschev and he hated Stalin. He stood with the USSR because of 1) the lack of racism towards blacks, 2) its support for the anti-colonial movements in Africa, & 3) because he saw the USSR as a bulwark against US global hegemony. All of his friends in Russia were reformists, & he was well aware of the extent of Stalin's crimes. He helped friends and relatives condemned to death in the USSR to escape during his 1st & 2nd visits to the USSR. Read Robeson, Jr's biography.
Xenu 3 years ago
Robenson praised Stalin´s policies several times and even developed close ties with the Soviet leader.
Khruschev, following the same steps of Tito, didn´t cared about anti-colonial fight, because he followed the same steps of Tito, denying assistance to anti-colonial fights because of "nuclear threats". I don´t think that Robeson supported his politics.
I don´t have the biografy of his son, but he possibly miscalculated facts.
Swordman85 3 years ago
Robeson publicly praised the Soviet Union no matter WHO its leader was. He also refused to publicly condemn even its most egregious crimes. It had nothing to do with Stalin in particular. Robeson had a personal relationship with K. & since his early visits to the USSR was close to anti-Stalinists (Eisenstein & many generals who were soon murdered by S.) K's foreign policy in Africa was more competitive in relation to US & China viewing it as chance for expansion of Soviet influence.
Xenu 3 years ago
Nice song!
Corvusdotensis 4 years ago 5