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Journal Article
Paul Robeson in Canada: A Border Story
2003
Overview
[Paul Robeson] visited Canada numerous times, and on each occasion he espoused through his music an international philosophy that supported freedom struggles by all peoples, including Black Americans, for whom he increasingly served as a spokesperson. In June 1942, Robeson was a guest artist in a \"Salute to Canada's Army\" held in Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto. (Document 1) The concert came at a time when Canada, the United States, and the Soviet Union were allies in the war against Nazism, and Communists supported Mackenzie King's government and an \"all-out\" war effort. The program reflected this political environment; it listed \"patrons\" of various political persuasions, was produced by Canadian Tribune, whose editor and future Communist (Labour Progressive Party -- LPP) MPP, A.A. MacLeod, opened the concert. Robeson was the main performer but UAW Director George Burt spoke briefly about \"Labor's Salute to Canada's Army.\" The program, with Karsh's photo of Lieutenant-General Andrew McNaughton on the cover, contained an Eaton's ad that promoted records of Paul Robeson's voice, a Karsh photo of Robeson, and a description of him as a singer of \"songs of the people\" who was known to millions around the world as \"a fighter for justice and the brotherhood of man.\" It had ads from both labour and non-labour groups, and the concert's proceeds went to the Canadian Red Cross Society. In wartime, temporary unity amongst unlikely partners, was in the interest of winning the war, and Robeson, as a man of peace, was willing to participate. John Gray, Robeson's manager, was anxious to prepare for another concert in 1954, as the American government still held Robeson's passport. A global campaign of support for its restoration, and thus Robeson's freedom of movement, involved major personalities from Britain. They launched a \"Let Robeson Sing\" campaign that grew so quickly that, by 1957, it was an embarrassment to the American government. Peace groups in France, Uruguay, Austria, Israel, South Africa, Iraq, and Finland sent protests to the State Department against Robeson's continued \"domestic arrest.\"(15) A planning committee organized a cultural salute to Robeson with an evening of song and drama in New York, including South Africans, West African students, the Workers Alliance of Guatemala, British writers such as Doris Lessing, and French trade unionists.(16) Robeson's many supporters argued that peoples outside the US wanted to hear the famous Black American singer. Around the world, thousands came to Robeson's defense; he had international appeal and interests, reflected in an entertainment program that drew upon music from different parts of the globe. For the last Peace Arch concert in 1955, the union's press statement stressed that the concerts were attended annually by thousands from both sides of the border, and were dedicated to world peace and international brotherhood. Once again, crowds gathered in a park and a farmer's field in the space between the borders, and the union was well prepared to deal with them. As the organizers told Robeson's manager, \"we are having the buses pick up along to the route to the Arch this year, and the pick-up points are stated on the tickets.\" The union advertised the concert in bus stations, in the local press, and placed ads in Seattle. It sold a program again, with Robeson's picture on the cover, with ads from labour and other groups welcoming Robeson to Canada. As [Harvey Murphy] wrote, \"the concert this year was a real success\" and \"Paul never sang better in his life.\"(19) To the audience, Robeson expressed his optimism that the political climate was improving, with Americans increasingly rejecting McCarthyism. Barriers to free speech still stood, but they were weakening, and as Robeson said, \"soon they must fall, and you and I together -- people everywhere -- shall sing the songs of peace and brotherhood, the songs of human triumph.\" And indeed the program included \"Freiheit,\" the song of the Thaelmann Brigade during the Spanish Civil War, and \"Zog Nit Keynmol\" a Yiddish song of the Warsaw ghetto. (Document 4) The union claimed that insofar as Robeson could travel to Canada, the Peace Arch concerts had \"won him for Canada; we must still help to free him for the rest of the world!\"(20)
Publisher
Committee on Canadian Labour History,Canadian Committee on Labour History
