Changes

Following Paul Robeson's first trip to Russia in late 1934, he became an ardent lover of not just the [[Soviet Union]]'s and its peoples, but Russian culture and history.<ref>Duberman, Martin. ''Paul Robeson'', 1989, pg 190.</ref> Robeson became fluent in Russian, studied Russian history in depth, learned about the many national minorities (eg: Yakuts, Uzbeks, Tartars) and wrote numerous essays and articles demonstrating his deeply held beliefs that the US should seek peace and understanding with Soviet Russia.

Following Paul Robeson's first trip to Russia in late 1934, he became an ardent lover of not just the [[Soviet Union]]'s and its peoples, but Russian culture and history.<ref>Duberman, Martin. ''Paul Robeson'', 1989, pg 190.</ref> Robeson became fluent in Russian, studied Russian history in depth, learned about the many national minorities (eg: Yakuts, Uzbeks, Tartars) and wrote numerous essays and articles demonstrating his deeply held beliefs that the US should seek peace and understanding with Soviet Russia.

===Silence on Stalin===

===Support for Stalin===

Despite the fact that in 1947 Stalin joined the United States in supporting the creation of [[Israel]], and supported Israel in the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, he ordered the murders of many [[Jewish]] intellectuals and artists living in the Soviet Union during the 1940s and 1950s. Robeson is often criticized for continuing to support the Soviet Union despite his awareness of state sponsored intimidation and murder.<ref name=Duberman354 /> Having experienced firsthand for himself during the 1930s a climate in Russia that he perceived as free from racial prejudice and then to see no western country or superpower actively attempt any comparable commitment to the rights of minorities or blacks, Robeson indefatigably refused any pressure to publicly censure the Soviet experiment.<ref name=Duberman354 /> In his opinion, the existence of the USSR was the guarantee of political balance in the world. During a 1949 address to the [[Glossary_of_espionage_terms#Fronts_and_cutouts|Communist front]] [[National Council of American-Soviet Friendship]]<ref>In 1953 the [[Subversive Activities Control Board]] (SACB) found that the National Council of American-Soviet Friendship, "advances positions...markedly pro-Soviet and...anti-United States Government...is a Communist-action organization which has as its primary purpose to advance the objectives of the world Communist movement under the [[hegemony]] of the Soviet Union; it has the policy to support and defend the Soviet Union under any and all circumstances...We conclude that the National Council of American-Soviet Friendship, Inc., is substantially directed, dominated, and controlled by the Communist Party of the United States...and is primarily operated for the purpose of giving aid and support to...the Soviet Union, a Communist foreign government."</ref>

Despite the fact that in 1947 Stalin joined the United States in supporting the creation of [[Israel]], and supported Israel in the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, he ordered the murders of many [[Jewish]] intellectuals and artists living in the Soviet Union during the 1940s and 1950s. Robeson is often criticized for continuing to support the Soviet Union despite his awareness of state sponsored intimidation and murder.<ref name=Duberman354 /> Having experienced firsthand for himself during the 1930s a climate in Russia that he perceived as free from racial prejudice and then to see no western country or superpower actively attempt any comparable commitment to the rights of minorities or blacks, Robeson indefatigably refused any pressure to publicly censure the Soviet experiment.<ref name=Duberman354 /> In his opinion, the existence of the USSR was the guarantee of political balance in the world. During a 1949 address to the [[Glossary_of_espionage_terms#Fronts_and_cutouts|Communist front]] [[National Council of American-Soviet Friendship]]<ref>In 1953 the [[Subversive Activities Control Board]] (SACB) found that the National Council of American-Soviet Friendship, "advances positions...markedly pro-Soviet and...anti-United States Government...is a Communist-action organization which has as its primary purpose to advance the objectives of the world Communist movement under the [[hegemony]] of the Soviet Union; it has the policy to support and defend the Soviet Union under any and all circumstances...We conclude that the National Council of American-Soviet Friendship, Inc., is substantially directed, dominated, and controlled by the Communist Party of the United States...and is primarily operated for the purpose of giving aid and support to...the Soviet Union, a Communist foreign government."</ref>

, Robeson spoke:<ref>Foner,Phillip.''Paul Robeson Speaks:The Negro and The Soviet Union'', 1978,pgs 237''</ref>:

, Robeson spoke:<ref>Foner,Phillip.''Paul Robeson Speaks:The Negro and The Soviet Union'', 1978,pgs 237''</ref>:

:"Yes, all Africa remembers that it was [[Litvinov]] who stood alone beside [[Haile Selassie]] in [[Geneva]], when [[Benito Mussolini|Mussolini]]'s sons flew with the blessings of the [[Pope]] to drop bombs on [[Ethiopian]] women and children. [[Africa]] remembers that it was the Soviet Union which fought the attempts of the Smuts to annex Southwest Africa to the slave reservation of the [[Union of South Africa]]... if the peoples of the [[Congo]] refuse to mine the uranium for the atom bombs made in [[Jim Crow]] factories in the United States; if all these peoples demand an end to floggings, an end to the farce of 'trusteeship' in the former Italian colonies.... The Soviet Union is the friend of the African and the [[West Indian]] peoples."<ref>Foner,Phillip.''Paul Robeson Speaks:The Negro and The Soviet Union'', 1978,pgs 238''</ref>:

:"Yes, all Africa remembers that it was [[Litvinov]] who stood alone beside [[Haile Selassie]] in [[Geneva]], when [[Benito Mussolini|Mussolini]]'s sons flew with the blessings of the [[Pope]] to drop bombs on [[Ethiopian]] women and children. [[Africa]] remembers that it was the Soviet Union which fought the attempts of the Smuts to annex Southwest Africa to the slave reservation of the [[Union of South Africa]]... if the peoples of the [[Congo]] refuse to mine the uranium for the atom bombs made in [[Jim Crow]] factories in the United States; if all these peoples demand an end to floggings, an end to the farce of 'trusteeship' in the former Italian colonies.... The Soviet Union is the friend of the African and the [[West Indian]] peoples."<ref>Foner,Phillip.''Paul Robeson Speaks:The Negro and The Soviet Union'', 1978,pgs 238''</ref>:

According to Joshua Rubenstein's book, ''Stalin's Secret Pogrom,'' Robeson also justified his silence on the grounds that any public criticism of the USSR would reinforce the authority of anti-Soviet elements in the United States which, he believed, wanted a preemptive war against the Soviet Union.<ref name=Duberman354>Duberman, Martin. ''Paul Robeson'', 1989, pgs 354''</ref>The serious consideration by the US of a pre-emptive strike against the USSR is documented in Gregg Herken's ,'The Winning Weapon: The Atomic Bomb in the Cold War, 1945-1950.<ref>Herken, Gregg. ''The Winning Weapon: The Atomic Bomb in the Cold War, 1945-1950'', 1980.</ref>

According to Joshua Rubenstein's book, ''Stalin's Secret Pogrom,'' Robeson also justified his support on the grounds that any public criticism of the USSR would reinforce the authority of anti-Soviet elements in the United States which, he believed, wanted a preemptive war against the Soviet Union.<ref name=Duberman354>Duberman, Martin. ''Paul Robeson'', 1989, pgs 354''</ref>The serious consideration by the US of a pre-emptive strike against the USSR is documented in Gregg Herken's ,'The Winning Weapon: The Atomic Bomb in the Cold War, 1945-1950.<ref>Herken, Gregg. ''The Winning Weapon: The Atomic Bomb in the Cold War, 1945-1950'', 1980.</ref>

A large number of Robeson biographers, including Martin Duberman], Philip S Foner, Marie Seton, [[Paul Robeson Jr]] and [[Lloyd Brown]] also concur with Robeson's own words, that he felt that criticism of the Soviet Union by someone of his immense international popularity would only serve to shore up reactionary elements in the U.S., the same elements that had lifted his passport, blocked anti-lynching legislation, and maintained a racial climate in the United States that also allowed Jim Crow, impoverished living conditions for all races and a [[white supremacist]] domination of the US government to continue.<ref name=Duberman354 /> Robeson is on record many times as stating that he felt the existence of a major socialist power like the USSR was a bulwark against Western European capitalist domination of Africa, Asia and the Caribbean.

Stalinist apologists which include Martin Duberman, [[Philip S. Foner]], Marie Seton, [[Paul Robeson Jr]] and [[Lloyd Brown]] also concur with Robeson's own words, that he felt that criticism of the Soviet Union by someone of his immense international popularity would only serve to shore up anti-communist elements in the U.S.<ref name=Duberman354 /> Robeson is on record many times as stating that he felt the existence of a major socialist power like the USSR was a bulwark against Western European capitalist domination of Africa, Asia and the Caribbean.

===Stalin Peace Prize===

===Stalin Peace Prize===