Paul Robeson

Paul Robeson was interviewed by Elsa Knight Thompson and Harold Winkler of Pacifica Radio station KPFA in Berkeley, Calif., on Feb. 8, 1958. The accomplished singer and actor was known for his outspokenness on civil rights and labor issues, as well as his support of socialism and the Soviet Union. Comments in 1949 about American blacks refusing to take part in the Cold War prompted the U.S. government to place him under constant surveillance and revoke his passport in 1950.

Ostracized by American society and unable to travel abroad, Robeson’s career suffered greatly during the 1950s and would never recover. The progressive KPFA was one of the few outlets that would interview him. In the interview, Robeson spoke at length about his political beliefs and touched on the legal battle over his passport, which be returned to him later in the year.

Robeson told of how his socialist beliefs were influenced by meeting Welsh coal miners who were striking for better working conditions in the late 1920s “And here was the first understanding that the struggle of the Negro people, or of any people, cannot be by itself,” he said. “That is, the human struggle. And so I was attracted then … and my politics embraced also the common struggle of all oppressed peoples, including especially the working masses. Specifically the laboring people of all the world. And that defines my philosophy. It’s a joining one of ‘we are a working people, a laboring people, the Negro people.’ And there is a unity between our struggle and those of white workers in the South. I’ve had white workers shake my hand and say ‘Paul we’re fighting for the same thing.’ And so this defines my attitude toward socialism and toward many other things in the world.”

A short audio excerpt from the interview is available from WHYY radio.

To learn more about Paul Robeson, read his profile on findingDulcinea.