SkipCaptcha, Automoderated users, edit
7,178
edits
Changes
Jump to navigation
Jump to search
Line 31:
Line 31: − + Line 45:
Line 45: − + − + − + − Cold War]],” [http://www.cnn.com/ CNN), [http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/ National Security Archive], [http://www.gwu.edu/ The George Washington University].</ref> − + − Cold War]],” [http://www.cnn.com/ CNN), [http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/ National Security Archive], [http://www.gwu.edu/ The George Washington University].</ref> Pfeffer begged Robeson to tell the world the truth, pleading, "''They're going to kill us. When you return to America, you must speak out and save us''."<ref>Tim Tzouliadis, ''[http://books.google.com/books?id=FeR9R-cpFRsC The Forsaken: An American Tragedy in Stalin's Russia]'' (Penguin Group, 2008) ISBN 1594201684, p. 268</ref> (Italics in original.) − + − Cold War]],” [http://www.cnn.com/ CNN), [http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/ National Security Archive], [http://www.gwu.edu/ The George Washington University].</ref> − + − Cold War]],” [http://www.cnn.com/ CNN), [http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/ National Security Archive], [http://www.gwu.edu/ The George Washington University].</ref> Line 68:
Line 64: − +
fixed red links
Robeson's political statements and activism, including sympathies expressed towards the Soviet Union, [[Lenin]], [[Mao Zedong]], [[Josip Broz Tito]] and [[Joseph Stalin]] were the subject of great controversy in the mass media, in particular rumors of membership in the [[Communist Party USA|American Communist Party]].
Robeson's political statements and activism, including sympathies expressed towards the Soviet Union, [[Lenin]], [[Mao Zedong]], [[Josip Broz Tito]] and [[Joseph Stalin]] were the subject of great controversy in the mass media, in particular rumors of membership in the [[Communist Party USA|American Communist Party]].
Robeson's son, Paul Robeson, Jr. (who admits being a member of the Communist Party from about 1948 to 1962), claimed that his father "never joined the Communist Party."<ref>{{cite journal |last=Lubasch |first=Arnold H. |last2= |first2= |year=October 21, 1993 |title=IN HARLEM WITH: Paul Robeson Jr.; Finding His Own Voice And Learning to Use It |journal=The New York Times |url=http://www.nytimes.com/1993/10/21/garden/in-harlem-with-paul-robeson-jr-finding-his-own-voice-and-learning-to-use-it.html?pagewanted=all}}</ref> Biographer Martin Duberman also claims that Robison "was never a member of CPUSA, never a functionary, never a participant in its daily bureaucratic operations."<ref name=dubermanpages/>
Robeson's son, Paul Robeson, Jr. (who admits being a member of the Communist Party from about 1948 to 1962), claimed that his father "never joined the Communist Party."<ref>Arnold H. Lubasch, "[http://www.nytimes.com/1993/10/21/garden/in-harlem-with-paul-robeson-jr-finding-his-own-voice-and-learning-to-use-it.html?pagewanted=all IN HARLEM WITH: Paul Robeson Jr.; Finding His Own Voice And Learning to Use It]," ''The New York Times'', October 21, 1993</ref> Biographer Martin Duberman also claims that Robison "was never a member of CPUSA, never a functionary, never a participant in its daily bureaucratic operations."<ref name=dubermanpages/>
According to records released under the [[Freedom of Information Act]], the [[FBI]] believed that Robeson might have joined the Party under the name "John Thomas" but "his Communist Party membership book number is not known."
According to records released under the [[Freedom of Information Act]], the [[FBI]] believed that Robeson might have joined the Party under the name "John Thomas" but "his Communist Party membership book number is not known."
==Stalinism==
==Stalinism==
Robeson had became a fanatic [[Stalinist]], for which he would lie and betray his friends. During a 1948 visit to the [[Soviet Union]], Robeson asked to see his friend, Solomon Mikhoels, director of the Moscow Jewish Theater. Mikhoels had recently been brutally murdered on Stalin's personal orders<ref>{{cite book |title=Natasha's Dance: A Cultural History of Russia |last=Figes |first=Orlando |year=2002 |publisher=Macmillan |location=New York |isbn=0805057838 |page=507 |url=http://books.google.com/books?id=lY9PpGQ3Ec4C |accessdate=25 August 2010}}</ref> in one of the dictator's periodic anti-Semitic pogroms, this one against "rootless cosmopolitanism" and Zionism.<ref>{{cite book |title=Stalin: The Man and His Era |last=Ulam |first=Adam Bruno |authorlink=Adam Ulam |year=2007 |publisher=Tauris Parke Paperbacks |location=London |isbn=1845114221 |page=684 |url=http://books.google.com/books?id=gOImZ1q6v2MC |accessdate=25 August 2010}}</ref> Told that Mikhoels was traveling, Robeson asked to see another friend, [[Yiddish]] poet Itzik Pfeffer, who had disappeared three years previously and not been seen since. A meeting was arranged.
Robeson had became a fanatic [[Stalinist]], for which he would lie and betray his friends. During a 1948 visit to the [[Soviet Union]], Robeson asked to see his friend, Solomon Mikhoels, director of the Moscow Jewish Theater. Mikhoels had recently been brutally murdered on Stalin's personal orders<ref>{{cite book |title=Natasha's Dance: A Cultural History of Russia |last=Figes |first=Orlando |year=2002 |publisher=Macmillan |location=New York |isbn=0805057838 |page=507 |url=http://books.google.com/books?id=lY9PpGQ3Ec4C |accessdate=25 August 2010}}</ref> in one of the dictator's periodic anti-Semitic pogroms, this one against "rootless cosmopolitanism" and Zionism.<ref>{{cite book |title=Stalin: The Man and His Era |last=Ulam |first=Adam Bruno |year=2007 |publisher=Tauris Parke Paperbacks |location=London |isbn=1845114221 |page=684 |url=http://books.google.com/books?id=gOImZ1q6v2MC |accessdate=25 August 2010}}</ref> Told that Mikhoels was traveling, Robeson asked to see another friend, [[Yiddish]] poet Itzik Pfeffer, who had disappeared three years previously and not been seen since. A meeting was arranged.
His friend<ref>{{cite book |title=The undiscovered Paul Robeson: an artist's journey, 1898-1939 |last=Robeson |first=Paul |authorlink=Paul Robeson, Jr. |year=2001 |publisher=John Wiley and Sons |location=Hoboken, N.J. |isbn=0471242659 |page=329 |url=http://books.google.com/books?id=H0k2fhNWzwAC |accessdate=24 August 2010}}</ref> Herbert Marshall would write after Robeson's death in 1976 that Pera Attasheva, widow of Soviet propaganda-film director Sergei Eisenstein, told him that for his meeting with Robeson, Pfeffer “had actually been brought from the Lubyanka prison. Pfeffer had been specially groomed and dressed and warned to behave properly, to pretend that everything was normal. He had, and then he was taken back to the KGB prison. Some time later he was executed, as one of a host of Yiddish intellectuals who were liquidated at the same time.”<ref>{{cite journal |last= Marshall |first= Herbert |title=Obituary: Paul Robeson (1898-1976 |journal=Bulletin of the Center for Soviet and East European Studies |publisher=[[Southern Illinois University Carbondale]] |volume=17 |issue=Spring 1976 |page=4 |url=http://opensiuc.lib.siu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?filename=15&article=1004&context=ua_news&type=additional}}</ref>
His friend<ref>{{cite book |title=The undiscovered Paul Robeson: an artist's journey, 1898-1939 |last=Robeson |first=Paul |year=2001 |publisher=John Wiley and Sons |location=Hoboken, N.J. |isbn=0471242659 |page=329 |url=http://books.google.com/books?id=H0k2fhNWzwAC |accessdate=24 August 2010}}</ref> Herbert Marshall would write after Robeson's death in 1976 that Pera Attasheva, widow of Soviet propaganda-film director Sergei Eisenstein, told him that for his meeting with Robeson, Pfeffer “had actually been brought from the Lubyanka prison. Pfeffer had been specially groomed and dressed and warned to behave properly, to pretend that everything was normal. He had, and then he was taken back to the KGB prison. Some time later he was executed, as one of a host of Yiddish intellectuals who were liquidated at the same time.”<ref>Herbert Marshall, "Obituary: Paul Robeson (1898-1976)," [http://opensiuc.lib.siu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?filename=15&article=1004&context=ua_news&type=additional Bulletin of the Center for Soviet and East European Studies, No. 17] (Southern Illinois University Carbondale), (Spring 1976), p. 4</ref>
Robeson's son vociferously denied this story, writing to Marshall, “Your description of events that supposedly occurred during two of Paul Robeson's post-war visits to the U.S.S.R. are wholly false according to my father's personal recounting of these events to me.”<ref>Letter from Paul Robeson, Jr. to Herbert Marshall, April 29, 1976, reprinted in {{cite journal |last= Marshall |first= Herbert |title=Paul Robeson's Obituary—The Aftermath |journal=Bulletin of the Center for Soviet and East European Studies |publisher=[[Southern Illinois University Carbondale]] |volume=18 |issue=Fall 1976 |page=1 |url=http://opensiuc.lib.siu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?filename=16&article=1004&context=ua_news&type=additional}}</ref> But two decades years later, Robeson, Jr., would admit that Attasheva's story actually was true. “Pfeffer had disappeared, nobody knew where he was,” he said. “He had been arrested, he was sitting in the Lubyanka Prison.” According to Mikhoels' daughter, “There were rumors that during the third-degree they tore his [Pfeffer's] finger nails out.”<ref>“Ходили слухи, что на допросах у Фефера вырвали ногти.” {{cite journal |last=Михоэлс-Вовси |first= Наталия |year=Январь 1976 |title=Убийство Михоэлса |journal=Время и Мы: журнал литературы и общественных проблем|publisher=Тель-Авив |url=http://www.belousenko.com/vremya_i_my/vremya_i_my_3.pdf}} ({{cite journal |last=Mikhoels-Vovsi |first=Natalya |title=The Assassination of Mikhoels |journal=Time and We: the journal of literarature and public problems)|publisher=Tel-Aviv |volume= 3 |issue=January 1976 |pages=173-197 (PDF 88-100)}} Quote appears on p. 190 (PDF p. 97). The English translation used here is from {{cite journal |last= Marshall |first= Herbert |title=Paul Robeson's Obituary—The Aftermath |journal=Bulletin of the Center for Soviet and East European Studies |publisher=[[Southern Illinois University Carbondale]] |volume=18 |issue=Fall 1976 |page=4 |url=http://opensiuc.lib.siu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?filename=16&article=1004&context=ua_news&type=additional}}</ref> After Robeson asked to see him, said his son, the NKVD “gathered him [Pfeffer] up, sent him home, dressed him up, gave him a meal and turned him loose in the lobby of the hotel, he couldn't run anywhere...”<ref>[http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/coldwar/interviews/episode-6/robeson2.html Interview with Paul Robeson, Jnr. (Part 2)] (Episode 6: Reds, [http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/coldwar/interviews/ Interview transcripts], “[[Cold War (TV series)|
Robeson's son vociferously denied this story, writing to Marshall, “Your description of events that supposedly occurred during two of Paul Robeson's post-war visits to the U.S.S.R. are wholly false according to my father's personal recounting of these events to me.”<ref>Letter from Paul Robeson, Jr. to Herbert Marshall, April 29, 1976, reprinted in Herbert Marshall, "Paul Robeson's Obituary—The Aftermath]," [http://opensiuc.lib.siu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?filename=16&article=1004&context=ua_news&type=additional Bulletin of the Center for Soviet and East European Studies, No. 18] (Southern Illinois University Carbondale) (Fall 1976), p. 1</ref> But two decades years later, Robeson, Jr., would admit that Attasheva's story actually was true. “Pfeffer had disappeared, nobody knew where he was,” he said. “He had been arrested, he was sitting in the Lubyanka Prison.” According to Mikhoels' daughter, “There were rumors that during the third-degree they tore his [Pfeffer's] finger nails out.”<ref>“Ходили слухи, что на допросах у Фефера вырвали ногти.” Наталия Михоэлс-Вовси, "Убийство Михоэлса," [http://www.belousenko.com/vremya_i_my/vremya_i_my_3.pdf ''Время и Мы: журнал литературы и общественных проблем'', No. 3] (Январь 1976), Тель-Авив (Natalya Mikhoels-Vovsi, "The Assassination of Mikhoels," ''Time and We: the journal of literature and public problems, No. 3 [January 1976], pp. 173-197 [PDF 88-100]) Quote appears on p. 190 (PDF p. 97). The English translation used here is from Herbert Marshall, "Paul Robeson's Obituary—The Aftermath]," [http://opensiuc.lib.siu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?filename=16&article=1004&context=ua_news&type=additional Bulletin of the Center for Soviet and East European Studies No. 18] (Southern Illinois University Carbondale) (Fall 1976), p. 4</ref> After Robeson asked to see him, said his son, the NKVD “gathered him [Pfeffer] up, sent him home, dressed him up, gave him a meal and turned him loose in the lobby of the hotel, he couldn't run anywhere...”<ref>[http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/coldwar/interviews/episode-6/robeson2.html Interview with Paul Robeson, Jnr. (Part 2)] (Episode 6: Reds, [http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/coldwar/interviews/ Interview transcripts], “Cold War,” [http://www.cnn.com/ CNN]), [http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/ National Security Archive], [http://www.gwu.edu/ The George Washington University].</ref>
After “Feffer [sic] indicated with gestures that the hotel suite was bugged,” he made small talk while “using sign language and notes on scrap paper,” to tell Robeson about “Stalin's 1948 purge of the leading Jewish intellectuals.” Feffer “peered through the spread fingers of his hands to indicate he was in prison.” Robeson “handed Feffer a one-word note: 'Mikhoels?' Feffer wrote, 'Murdered on Stalin's order.'”<ref>{{cite book |title=The Undiscovered Paul Robeson: Quest for Freedom, 1939-1976 |last=Robeson, Jr. |first=Paul |authorlink=Paul Robeson, Jr. |year=2010 |publisher=John Wiley and Sons |location=Hoboken, N.J. |isbn=0471409731 |page=153 |url=http://books.google.com/books?id=H0k2fhNWzwAC |accessdate=24 August 2010}}</ref> According to Robeson's son, “dad asked him, well what's going to happen to you and some of his friends who had also disappeared, others. So Pfeffer told a funny joke as he drew his finger cross his throat, meaning that they're going to shoot us.”<ref>[http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/coldwar/interviews/episode-6/robeson2.html Interview with Paul Robeson, Jnr. (Part 2)] (Episode 6: Reds, [http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/coldwar/interviews/ Interview transcripts], “[[Cold War (TV series)|
After “Feffer [sic] indicated with gestures that the hotel suite was bugged,” he made small talk while “using sign language and notes on scrap paper,” to tell Robeson about “Stalin's 1948 purge of the leading Jewish intellectuals.” Feffer “peered through the spread fingers of his hands to indicate he was in prison.” Robeson “handed Feffer a one-word note: 'Mikhoels?' Feffer wrote, 'Murdered on Stalin's order.'”<ref>{{cite book |title=The Undiscovered Paul Robeson: Quest for Freedom, 1939-1976 |last=Robeson, Jr. |first=Paul |year=2010 |publisher=John Wiley and Sons |location=Hoboken, N.J. |isbn=0471409731 |page=153 |url=http://books.google.com/books?id=H0k2fhNWzwAC |accessdate=24 August 2010}}</ref> According to Robeson's son, “dad asked him, well what's going to happen to you and some of his friends who had also disappeared, others. So Pfeffer told a funny joke as he drew his finger cross his throat, meaning that they're going to shoot us.”<ref>[http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/coldwar/interviews/episode-6/robeson2.html Interview with Paul Robeson, Jnr. (Part 2)] (Episode 6: Reds, [http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/coldwar/interviews/ Interview transcripts], “Cold War,” [http://www.cnn.com/ CNN]), [http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/ National Security Archive], [http://www.gwu.edu/ The George Washington University].</ref> Pfeffer begged Robeson to tell the world the truth, pleading, "''They're going to kill us. When you return to America, you must speak out and save us''."<ref>Tim Tzouliadis, ''[http://books.google.com/books?id=FeR9R-cpFRsC The Forsaken: An American Tragedy in Stalin's Russia]'' (Penguin Group, 2008) ISBN 1594201684, p. 268</ref> (Italics in original.)
After leaving the meeting, said his son, Robeson “tore up the little notes and burned 'em in an ash tray, flushed them down the toilet...”<ref>[http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/coldwar/interviews/episode-6/robeson2.html Interview with Paul Robeson, Jnr. (Part 2)] (Episode 6: Reds, [http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/coldwar/interviews/ Interview transcripts], “[[Cold War (TV series)|
After leaving the meeting, said his son, Robeson “tore up the little notes and burned 'em in an ash tray, flushed them down the toilet...”<ref>[http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/coldwar/interviews/episode-6/robeson2.html Interview with Paul Robeson, Jnr. (Part 2)] (Episode 6: Reds, [http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/coldwar/interviews/ Interview transcripts], “Cold War,” [http://www.cnn.com/ CNN]), [http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/ National Security Archive], [http://www.gwu.edu/ The George Washington University].</ref>
According to Robison, Jr., “dad followed up by writing a letter direct to Stalin [on Pfeffer's behalf], through diplomatic channels, along with Howard Fast, the famous left-wing writer here and Frederich Joliot-Curie, who was the famous French physicist and a Communist.” The letter apparently failed to move Stalin. Pfeffer and his colleagues were executed in 1952.<ref>[http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/coldwar/interviews/episode-6/robeson3.html Interview with Paul Robeson, Jnr. (Part 2)] (Episode 6: Reds, [http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/coldwar/interviews/ Interview transcripts], “[[Cold War (TV series)|
According to Robison, Jr., “dad followed up by writing a letter direct to Stalin [on Pfeffer's behalf], through diplomatic channels, along with Howard Fast, the famous left-wing writer here and Frederich Joliot-Curie, who was the famous French physicist and a Communist.” The letter apparently failed to move Stalin. Pfeffer and his colleagues were executed in 1952.<ref>[http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/coldwar/interviews/episode-6/robeson3.html Interview with Paul Robeson, Jnr. (Part 2)] (Episode 6: Reds, [http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/coldwar/interviews/ Interview transcripts], “Cold War,” [http://www.cnn.com/ CNN]), [http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/ National Security Archive], [http://www.gwu.edu/ The George Washington University].</ref>
Back in the U.S., instead of denouncing Pfeffer's murder, Robeson lied, denouncing reports of the pogrom as anti-Soviet propaganda. In the Soviet Union he had "met Jewish people all over the place," he told a reporter, and "heard no word about it."<ref>Tim Tzouliadis, ''[http://books.google.com/books?id=FeR9R-cpFRsC The Forsaken: An American Tragedy in Stalin's Russia]'' (Penguin Group, 2008) ISBN 1594201684, p. 268</ref> Robeson eventually confessed the truth to his son, making him vow not to make the story public until well after Robeson's death, "because he had promised himself that he would never publicly criticize the USSR."<ref>Louis Rapoport, ''[http://books.google.com/books?id=5rZtAAAAMAAJ Stalin's War Against the Jews: The Doctors' Plot and the Soviet Solution]'' (Free Press, 1990) ISBN 0029258219, p. 116</ref>
Back in the U.S., instead of denouncing Pfeffer's murder, Robeson lied, denouncing reports of the pogrom as anti-Soviet propaganda. In the Soviet Union he had "met Jewish people all over the place," he told a reporter, and "heard no word about it."<ref>Tim Tzouliadis, ''[http://books.google.com/books?id=FeR9R-cpFRsC The Forsaken: An American Tragedy in Stalin's Russia]'' (Penguin Group, 2008) ISBN 1594201684, p. 268</ref> Robeson eventually confessed the truth to his son, making him vow not to make the story public until well after Robeson's death, "because he had promised himself that he would never publicly criticize the USSR."<ref>Louis Rapoport, ''[http://books.google.com/books?id=5rZtAAAAMAAJ Stalin's War Against the Jews: The Doctors' Plot and the Soviet Solution]'' (Free Press, 1990) ISBN 0029258219, p. 116</ref>
"These men are the allies of fascism who want to destroy the new democracies of the world," the singer shouted. "Let's not get confused. They are the enemies of the working class."<ref>"[http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F50815F9395B167B93CAA8178CD85F4D8485F9 Rights Group Bars Socialist Pardon; Robeson Heads Fight on Plea For Restoring Liberties to Workers Party Members]," ''The New York Times'', July 18, 1949. Cf. [http://ia341028.us.archive.org/3/items/investigationofu0304unit/investigationofu0304unit_bw.pdf Investigation of the Unauthorized Use of United States Passports—Part 3], Committee on Un-American Activities, United States House of Representatives, 84th Cong., 2d sess. June 12-13, 1956 (Washington: United States Government Printing Office, 1956), p. 4676 (PDF p. 202)</ref>}}
"These men are the allies of fascism who want to destroy the new democracies of the world," the singer shouted. "Let's not get confused. They are the enemies of the working class."<ref>"[http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F50815F9395B167B93CAA8178CD85F4D8485F9 Rights Group Bars Socialist Pardon; Robeson Heads Fight on Plea For Restoring Liberties to Workers Party Members]," ''The New York Times'', July 18, 1949. Cf. [http://ia341028.us.archive.org/3/items/investigationofu0304unit/investigationofu0304unit_bw.pdf Investigation of the Unauthorized Use of United States Passports—Part 3], Committee on Un-American Activities, United States House of Representatives, 84th Cong., 2d sess. June 12-13, 1956 (Washington: United States Government Printing Office, 1956), p. 4676 (PDF p. 202)</ref>}}
His Stalinism also led Robeson to to suggest that African Americans were disloyal, by saying that they would not defend the United States from Soviet aggression. At a 1949 Paris conference sponsored by the Soviet Union, he sang "[http://www.aflcio.org/aboutus/history/history/hill.cfm Joe Hill]"<ref>[http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/coldwar/interviews/episode-6/robeson1.html Interview with Paul Robeson, Jnr.], "Cold War" (CNN), National Security Archive, George Washington University</ref> (a song honoring the [[IWW]] member convicted of murder and executed in 1915) and said, "It is unthinkable that American Negroes could go to war on behalf of those who have oppressed us for generations against the Soviet Union, which in one generation has raised our people to full human dignity."<ref>Freedomways, ''[http://books.google.com/books?id=L8pcRKhKjdoC Paul Robeson: The Great Forerunner]'' (International Publishers, 1998) ISBN 071780724X, p. 320</ref> In the official organ of the Communist Party, he expanded the claim to international scale: "At the Paris Conference I said it was unthinkable that the Negro people of America or elsewhere in the world could be drawn into war with the Soviet Union. I repeat it with hundredfold emphasis: They will not."<ref>Paul Robeson, “I Am Looking for Full Freedom,” ''The Worker'', July 3, 1949. Cf. [http://ia341028.us.archive.org/3/items/investigationofu0304unit/investigationofu0304unit_bw.pdf Investigation of the Unauthorized Use of United States Passports—Part 3], Committee on Un-American Activities, United States House of Representatives, 84th Cong., 2d sess. June 12-13, 1956 (Washington: United States Government Printing Office, 1956), p. 4502 (PDF p. 22); Sheldon Foner, ed., "[http://books.google.com/books?id=V_CJfbpKOLwC Paul Robeson Speaks: Writings, Speeches, Interviews, 1918-1974]" (Citadel Press, 1978) ISBN 0806508159, p. 424</ref> He later expanded this claim further to to include not just race but class: "And it seemed and still seems unthinkable to me that colored or working folk anywhere would continue to rush to die for those who own most of the stocks and bonds, under the guise of false patriotism."<ref>Sheldon Foner, ed., "[http://books.google.com/books?id=V_CJfbpKOLwC Paul Robeson Speaks: Writings, Speeches, Interviews, 1918-1974]" (Citadel Press, 1978) ISBN 0806508159, p. 344</ref>
His Stalinism also led Robeson to to suggest that African Americans were disloyal, by saying that they would not defend the United States from Soviet aggression. At a 1949 Paris conference sponsored by the Soviet Union, he sang "[http://www.aflcio.org/aboutus/history/history/hill.cfm Joe Hill]"<ref>[http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/coldwar/interviews/episode-6/robeson1.html Interview with Paul Robeson, Jnr.], "Cold War" (http://www.cnn.com/ CNN]), National Security Archive, George Washington University</ref> (a song honoring the [[IWW]] member convicted of murder and executed in 1915) and said, "It is unthinkable that American Negroes could go to war on behalf of those who have oppressed us for generations against the Soviet Union, which in one generation has raised our people to full human dignity."<ref>Freedomways, ''[http://books.google.com/books?id=L8pcRKhKjdoC Paul Robeson: The Great Forerunner]'' (International Publishers, 1998) ISBN 071780724X, p. 320</ref> In the official organ of the Communist Party, he expanded the claim to international scale: "At the Paris Conference I said it was unthinkable that the Negro people of America or elsewhere in the world could be drawn into war with the Soviet Union. I repeat it with hundredfold emphasis: They will not."<ref>Paul Robeson, “I Am Looking for Full Freedom,” ''The Worker'', July 3, 1949. Cf. [http://ia341028.us.archive.org/3/items/investigationofu0304unit/investigationofu0304unit_bw.pdf Investigation of the Unauthorized Use of United States Passports—Part 3], Committee on Un-American Activities, United States House of Representatives, 84th Cong., 2d sess. June 12-13, 1956 (Washington: United States Government Printing Office, 1956), p. 4502 (PDF p. 22); Sheldon Foner, ed., "[http://books.google.com/books?id=V_CJfbpKOLwC Paul Robeson Speaks: Writings, Speeches, Interviews, 1918-1974]" (Citadel Press, 1978) ISBN 0806508159, p. 424</ref> He later expanded this claim further to to include not just race but class: "And it seemed and still seems unthinkable to me that colored or working folk anywhere would continue to rush to die for those who own most of the stocks and bonds, under the guise of false patriotism."<ref>Sheldon Foner, ed., "[http://books.google.com/books?id=V_CJfbpKOLwC Paul Robeson Speaks: Writings, Speeches, Interviews, 1918-1974]" (Citadel Press, 1978) ISBN 0806508159, p. 344</ref>
This pronouncement drew public rebukes from African-American labor leader A. Philip Randolph, international president of the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters, the largest black labor union;<ref>"[http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F00F11FD355F177B93C5A9178AD95F4D8485F9 Robeson Criticized by Negro Union Head]," ''The New York Times'', November 7, 1949, p. 23</ref> by the National Urban League, which issued a resolution condemning exploitation of the race issue by "totalitarian forces of whatever persuasion";<ref>Doris Greenberg, "[http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F00612F73C5F177B93CBA91782D85F4D8485F9 Urban League Set to Chide Robeson; Leaders Draft Statement for Approval Today Condemning Exploiting of Race Issue]," ''The New York Times'', September 9, 1949, p. 15</ref> and by Sugar Ray Robinson, frequently cited as the greatest boxer of all time, who told a reporter that if he ever crossed paths with Robeson he would "punch him in the mouth."<ref>Michael C. Moynihan, "[http://reason.com/archives/2008/10/23/socialist-is-not-a-racist-smea 'Socialist' Is Not A Racist Smear]," ''Reason'', October 23, 2008</ref>
This pronouncement drew public rebukes from African-American labor leader A. Philip Randolph, international president of the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters, the largest black labor union;<ref>"[http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F00F11FD355F177B93C5A9178AD95F4D8485F9 Robeson Criticized by Negro Union Head]," ''The New York Times'', November 7, 1949, p. 23</ref> by the National Urban League, which issued a resolution condemning exploitation of the race issue by "totalitarian forces of whatever persuasion";<ref>Doris Greenberg, "[http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F00612F73C5F177B93CBA91782D85F4D8485F9 Urban League Set to Chide Robeson; Leaders Draft Statement for Approval Today Condemning Exploiting of Race Issue]," ''The New York Times'', September 9, 1949, p. 15</ref> and by Sugar Ray Robinson, frequently cited as the greatest boxer of all time, who told a reporter that if he ever crossed paths with Robeson he would "punch him in the mouth."<ref>Michael C. Moynihan, "[http://reason.com/archives/2008/10/23/socialist-is-not-a-racist-smea 'Socialist' Is Not A Racist Smear]," ''Reason'', October 23, 2008</ref>