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{{Cquote|[W]e were told, under threat of expulsion, never to reveal that Paul Robeson was a member of the Communist Party because Paul Robeson's assignment was highly confidential and secret... Paul's assignment was to work among the intellectuals, the professionals and artists that the party was seeking to penetrate and influence along communist lines. As long as Paul Robeson's identity with the party was kept secret, so long would his work among these groups be effective and serve the best interests of the party...<ref>Manning Johnson testimony, July 14, 1949, [http://www.archive.org/stream/investigationofu0304unit#page/4497/mode/1up ''Testimony of Paul Robeson,''] Investigation of the Unauthorized Use of United States Passports - Part 3, Hearings before the Un-American Activities Committee, House of Representatives, Eighty-fourth Congress Second Session, June 12 and 13, 1956, p. 4497. Cf. ''The Media Falsify Robeson's Record,'' AIM Report, March 1976, pp. 5-6, cited in Cliff Kincaid, [http://www.usasurvival.org/docs/chicago-obama.pdf ''Communism in Chicago and the Obama Connection''], USAsurvival.org, pp. 4-5</ref>}}

{{Cquote|[W]e were told, under threat of expulsion, never to reveal that Paul Robeson was a member of the Communist Party because Paul Robeson's assignment was highly confidential and secret... Paul's assignment was to work among the intellectuals, the professionals and artists that the party was seeking to penetrate and influence along communist lines. As long as Paul Robeson's identity with the party was kept secret, so long would his work among these groups be effective and serve the best interests of the party...<ref>Manning Johnson testimony, July 14, 1949, [http://www.archive.org/stream/investigationofu0304unit#page/4497/mode/1up ''Testimony of Paul Robeson,''] Investigation of the Unauthorized Use of United States Passports - Part 3, Hearings before the Un-American Activities Committee, House of Representatives, Eighty-fourth Congress Second Session, June 12 and 13, 1956, p. 4497. Cf. ''The Media Falsify Robeson's Record,'' AIM Report, March 1976, pp. 5-6, cited in Cliff Kincaid, [http://www.usasurvival.org/docs/chicago-obama.pdf ''Communism in Chicago and the Obama Connection''], USAsurvival.org, pp. 4-5</ref>}}

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> Martin Duberman, whom Robeson, Jr., selected as his father's "official biographer"&mdash;in part (according to Duberman) because of "my left-wing views"<ref>Martin Duberman, "[http://www.hartford-hwp.com/archives/45a/297.html Writing Robeson]," ''The Nation'', December 28, 1998</ref>&mdash;also claimed in his 1988 biography that Robeson "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> As his father's "official biographer," Robeson, Jr., selected Martin Duberman&mdash;in part (according to Duberman) because of "my left-wing views"<ref>Martin Duberman, "[http://www.hartford-hwp.com/archives/45a/297.html Writing Robeson]," ''The Nation'', December 28, 1998</ref>&mdash;who also claimed in his 1988 biography that Robeson "was never a member of CPUSA, never a functionary, never a participant in its daily bureaucratic operations."<ref name=dubermanpages/>

The same year Duberman's book appeared, however, this claim was undermined by no less an authority than CPUSA General Secretary [[Gus Hall]]. He corroborated Manning's testimony in a pamphlet entitled ''[http://www.amazon.com/Paul-Robeson-Communist-Gus-Hall/dp/B0006QXVGS/ Paul Robeson: An American Communist].'' Hall identified Robeson as a secret member of the CPUSA but, he wrote, "The U.S. Ruling Class and its corporate-ruled government made it impossible for Paul to declare his commitment to the Communist Party and a socialist USA."<ref>Cliff Kincaid, [http://www.usasurvival.org/docs/chicago-obama.pdf ''Communism in Chicago and the Obama Connection''], USAsurvival.org, p. 5</ref> According to [http://wernercohn.com/ Werner Cohn], professor emeritus of sociology at the University of British Columbia,<ref>[http://www.library.ubc.ca/archives/u_arch/cohn.html#bio Biographical Sketch], Werner Cohn fonds, University of British Columbia Archives</ref> Hall wrote:

A decade after Duberman's book appeared, however, this claim would be undermined by no less an authority than the Communist Party itself. According to Paul Kengor, professor of political science at Grove City College:

{{cquote|In May 1998, the centennial of Robeson's birth, longtime CPUSA head Gus Hall finally, proudly revealed the truth.

In this birthday tribute to "Comrade Paul," Hall and CPUSA came bearing gifts. "We have a birthday present for Paul that no one else can give," said Hall, "the full truth and nothing but the truth." And what's that truth? "Paul was a proud member of the Communist Party USA," stated Hall unequivocally. Paul had been a man of communist "conviction." This was "an indelible fact of Paul's life," in "every way, every day of his adult life." He "never forgot he was a Communist."<ref>Paul Kengor , "[http://spectator.org/archives/2012/03/30/the-nations-top-50-progressive/print The Nation's Top 50 Progressives… and Socialists and Communists]," ''The American Spectator'', March 30, 2012</ref>}}

The Communist Party reprinted Hall's tribute an a pamphlet entitled ''[http://www.amazon.com/Paul-Robeson-Communist-Gus-Hall/dp/B0006QXVGS/ Paul Robeson: An American Communist].'' Robeson was a secret member of the CPUSA but, wrote Hall, "The U.S. Ruling Class and its corporate-ruled government made it impossible for Paul to declare his commitment to the Communist Party and a socialist USA."<ref>Cliff Kincaid, [http://www.usasurvival.org/docs/chicago-obama.pdf ''Communism in Chicago and the Obama Connection''], USAsurvival.org, p. 5</ref> According to [http://wernercohn.com/ Werner Cohn], professor emeritus of sociology at the University of British Columbia,<ref>[http://www.library.ubc.ca/archives/u_arch/cohn.html#bio Biographical Sketch], Werner Cohn fonds, University of British Columbia Archives</ref> Hall wrote:

{{Cquote|My own most precious moments with Paul were when I met with him to accept his dues and renew his yearly membership in the CPUSA. I and other Communist leaders like Henry Winston, the Party's late, beloved national chair, met with Paul to brief him on politics and Party policies and to discuss his work and struggles."<ref>Werner Cohn, "[http://www.amazon.com/review/R323I3TZ2LOB18/ref=cm_cr_pr_viewpnt#R323I3TZ2LOB18 Inadequate]," Review of ''Comrades!: A History of World Communism'' by Robert Service, Amazon.com</ref>"}}

{{Cquote|My own most precious moments with Paul were when I met with him to accept his dues and renew his yearly membership in the CPUSA. I and other Communist leaders like Henry Winston, the Party's late, beloved national chair, met with Paul to brief him on politics and Party policies and to discuss his work and struggles."<ref>Werner Cohn, "[http://www.amazon.com/review/R323I3TZ2LOB18/ref=cm_cr_pr_viewpnt#R323I3TZ2LOB18 Inadequate]," Review of ''Comrades!: A History of World Communism'' by Robert Service, Amazon.com</ref>"}}

 

CPUSA Executive Vice-Chairman Jarvis Tyner concurred in a cover story in ''Political Affairs'', an official organ of the Communist Party:

On the 100th anniversary of Robeson's birth in 1998, CPUSA Executive Vice-Chairman Jarvis Tyner concurred in a cover story in ''Political Affairs'', an official organ of the Communist Party:

{{cquote|Because of the extreme repression of the McCarthy period, Robeson was not able to publicly announce the nature of his association with the Communist Party. During the House Un-American Activities Committee's hearing, Robeson joined thousands of others and refused to answer the infamous 'are you now or have you been' question<ref>Cliff Kincaid, [http://www.usasurvival.org/docs/chicago-obama.pdf ''Communism in Chicago and the Obama Connection''], USAsurvival.org, p. 5</ref>... As the centennial celebrations are taking place today, many are shamelessly going out of their way to distance Robeson from his Party. Unfortunately, if these lies go unanswered, Paul's legacy will be at war with the life he actually lived. We cannot allow the ruling class to praise him, in order to tear him down. We cannot allow them to turn Robeson into an ordinary liberal. The real Paul Robeson was no liberal&mdash;he was a freedom fighter, a revolutionary, a Communist, a 20th century giant.<ref>Quoted in [http://www.slate.com/id/1000896 Robeson Revised], Slate.com, June 22, 1998</ref>}}

{{cquote|Because of the extreme repression of the McCarthy period, Robeson was not able to publicly announce the nature of his association with the Communist Party. During the House Un-American Activities Committee's hearing, Robeson joined thousands of others and refused to answer the infamous 'are you now or have you been' question<ref>Cliff Kincaid, [http://www.usasurvival.org/docs/chicago-obama.pdf ''Communism in Chicago and the Obama Connection''], USAsurvival.org, p. 5</ref>... As the centennial celebrations are taking place today, many are shamelessly going out of their way to distance Robeson from his Party. Unfortunately, if these lies go unanswered, Paul's legacy will be at war with the life he actually lived. We cannot allow the ruling class to praise him, in order to tear him down. We cannot allow them to turn Robeson into an ordinary liberal. The real Paul Robeson was no liberal&mdash;he was a freedom fighter, a revolutionary, a Communist, a 20th century giant.<ref>Quoted in [http://www.slate.com/id/1000896 Robeson Revised], Slate.com, June 22, 1998</ref>}}