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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 first visited the Soviet Union in 1934. Upon his return, the official Communist Party organ ''The Daily Worker'' published an interview with him, in which he gushed about the "workers' paradise":<ref>Vern Smith, "[http://revolutionarydemocracy.org/rdv4n2/ussrpr.htm 'I Am at Home,' Says Robeson at Reception in Soviet Union]," ''The Daily Worker'', January 15, 1935, quoted in Philip Sheldon Foner, ''[http://books.google.com/books?id=V_CJfbpKOLwC Paul Robeson speaks: writings, speeches, interviews, 1918-1974]'' (Citadel Press, 2002) ISBN 0806508159, p. 95</ref>

Robeson first visited the Soviet Union in 1934, during<ref>[http://ukrainians.rutgers.edu/holodomor.htm Holodomor], Ukrainian Students Club, Rutgers University</ref> a genocide<ref>[http://www.ukrainiangenocide.org/dsovietpolicyandukrainiangenocide.html Soviet Policy and the Ukrainian Genocide of 1932-33], Ukrainian Genocide Famine Foundation - USA</ref> in which the Soviet government intentionally<ref>Katya Mischenko-Mycyk, [http://www.ukrainiangenocide.org/htestimonytext.html Testimony Presented to the Elementary & Secondary Education Committee Hearing], February 9, 2005. HB0312, 94th General Assembly, SCH CD-GENOCIDE STUDY</ref> murdered some 14 million of its own citizens through deliberate starvation<ref>Robert Conquest, ''[http://books.google.com/books?id=Bp31GmfH-6YC The Harvest of Sorrow: Soviet Collectivization and the Terror-Famine]'' (Oxford University Press, 1987) ISBN 0195051807, pp. 306, 327</ref> in an engineered famine.<ref>Askold Krushelnycky, [http://www.ukemonde.com/news/rferl.html Stalin's Starvation of Ukraine – Seventy Years Later, World Still Largely Unaware Of Tragedy], Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, April 8, 2003</ref> Upon his return, the official Communist Party organ ''The Daily Worker'' published an interview with Robeson, in which he gushed about the "workers' paradise":<ref>Vern Smith, "[http://revolutionarydemocracy.org/rdv4n2/ussrpr.htm 'I Am at Home,' Says Robeson at Reception in Soviet Union]," ''The Daily Worker'', January 15, 1935, quoted in Philip Sheldon Foner, ''[http://books.google.com/books?id=V_CJfbpKOLwC Paul Robeson speaks: writings, speeches, interviews, 1918-1974]'' (Citadel Press, 2002) ISBN 0806508159, p. 95</ref>

{{cquote|I was not prepared for the happiness I see on every face in Moscow," said Robeson. "I was aware that there was no starvation here, but I was not prepared for the bounding life; the feeling of safety and abundance and freedom that I find here, wherever I turn. I was not prepared for the endless friendliness, which surrounded me from the moment I crossed the border. I had a technically irregular passport, but all this was brushed aside by the eager helpfulness of the border authorities.}}

{{cquote|I was not prepared for the happiness I see on every face in Moscow," said Robeson. "I was aware that there was no starvation here, but I was not prepared for the bounding life; the feeling of safety and abundance and freedom that I find here, wherever I turn. I was not prepared for the endless friendliness, which surrounded me from the moment I crossed the border. I had a technically irregular passport, but all this was brushed aside by the eager helpfulness of the border authorities.}}