Why Communist Sentiment Has No Place in America’s Independence Celebrations
Have the lyrics from Woody Guthrie’s beloved song, “This Land is Your Land,” ever given you pause for concern? It should. Born on July 14, 1912, Woodrow Wilson Guthrie would grow up to become one of America’s most significant American folk music artists. Heralded by the likes of American icons Bob Dylan, Johnny Cash, John Mellencamp, Bruce Springsteen, and others, Guthrie would go on to have a multitude of songs persevered in the Library of Congress. This famous tune we Americans know so well is among them.
The renowned and celebrated song we sing around the anniversary of American Independence every year seems to be another quintessential wave-your-flag, tap-your-foot patriotic song we sing with conviction and gusto. Herein lies the problem. Woody Guthrie was not a believer in the American Constitutional Republic, much less an American patriot. In fact, Guthrie penned “This Land is Your Land” in a harsh and emotional outburst of disdain in response to Irving Berlin’s “God Bless America.” Guthrie believed it to be played in annoying redundancy and did not agree with the lyrics. He did not espouse the sentiments of our nation’s founding, and even darker in nature, his sympathies and devotion held fast and firm for the communist party and the tenets of socialism.
Documented in multiple outlets, Guthrie applied to the communist party but was denied. There is solid evidence he was once a member of the communist party in the 1940s. Oregon’s Northwest Magazine published an article in 1969 where they had apparently spoken with his second wife, Marjorie Guthrie, where she explained he had applied again to the Communist Party USA (CPUSA) but was denied. Will Kaufman, known as the world’s leading authority on Woody Guthrie, explained that Guthrie’s sentiments for Joseph Stalin were favorable and that he was happy and supportive of the communist victory in the Korean War. Guthrie had widely been criticized for praising the Soviets in general, their invasion of Poland in 1939, and the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact which split Poland wide open into two powers. Approximately 320,000 Polish Citizens became prisoners of war in terroristic conditions under this pact.
There have been a few versions since the original written on February 23, 1940, each showing Guthrie’s contempt for Irving Berlin’s “God Bless America” and private property rights. We must consider the lyrics to this iconic and beloved song now in a new light.
As I was walking that ribbon of highway
I saw above me that endless skyway
I saw below me that golden valley
This land was made for you and me
This land is your land, this land is my land
From California to the New York Island
From the redwood forest to the gulf stream waters
This land was made for you and me
I’ve roamed and rambled, and I’ve followed my footsteps
To the sparkling sands of her diamond deserts
And all around me a voice was sounding
This land was made for you and me
This land is your land, this land is my land
From California to the New York Island
From the redwood forest to the gulf stream waters
This land was made for you and me
The sun comes shining as I was strolling
The wheat fields waving and the dust clouds rolling
The fog was lifting a voice come chanting
This land was made for you and me
This land is your land, this land is my land
From California to the New York Island
From the redwood forest to the gulf stream waters
This land was made for you and me
As I was walkin’, I saw a sign there
And that sign said, “No Tresspassin'”
But on the other side it didn’t say nothin’
Now that side was made for you and me!
This land is your land, this land is my land
From California to the New York Island
From the redwood forest to the gulf stream waters
This land was made for you and me
In the squares of the city, in the shadow of the steeple
Near the relief office I see my people
And some are grumblin’, and some are wonderin’
If this land’s still made for you and me
This land is your land, this land is my land
From California to the New York Island
From the redwood forest to the gulf stream waters
This land was made for you and me
Nobody living can ever stop me
As I go walking that freedom highway
Nobody living can make me turn back
This land was made for you and me
This land is your land, this land is my land
From California to the New York Island
From the redwood forest to the gulf stream waters
This land was made for you and me
My sentiments of resolve to preserve our Bill of Rights heighten after reading these lyrics again with fresh perspective, and my response to this is a very firm no. My land is not your land. If you want land, go work for it. In fact, go work for whatever else you want, and get your thieving hands off what isn’t yours. Guthrie twice mentions in his lyrics that a voice both saying and chanting to him give him reason to believe he and others are entitled to something they did not earn. I can assure my fellow Americans this is not a voice of Biblical precept or founding intent. Be careful of the voices you listen to.
This Fourth of July, skip Guthrie’s ballad of Communism. Better yet, delete it from your playlist. Crank up Irving Berlin’s “God Bless America” and raise a toast to “this land so fair…stand beside her and guide her through the night with the light from above.” With the current political landscape closing in again with yet another wave of communism rebranded under the banner of social equity and social governance propaganda sewage, be sternly keen to the dark agenda rising again and hold fast to preserving what our Founders envisioned for our country. Either that or find yourself plundered and enslaved with no chance for return, and we are dangerously close to this land of no return.
God has blessed America more than we deserve. It is our sacred duty to show our gratitude and fight to preserve and defend our home, sweet home.
