Woody Guthrie: Voice of the People

Woody Guthrie's music was music of protest. Living at a time when the United States was in the Great Depression, Guthrie was inspired to speak out in support of the poor and the second class people. He also spoke against the forces he felt kept them poor. Guthrie inspired future musicians, writers, and political movements through his music. Guthrie's lyrics often reveal the relentless efforts of the working class despite seemingly insurmountable obstacles, as well as individuals such as outlaws and union leaders who rejected the social status quo, through civil and non-civil disobedience in order to help the downtrodden. Guthrie's music helped spark a folk music trend in the late 50s and early 60s, among popular musicians, primarily Bob Dylan who like Guthrie often focused on those at the bottom of the social heirarchy in America.

Guthrie's cause in life was best expressed in the statement he displayed on his guitar. The statement read, "This Machine Kills Fascists." What exactly did Guthrie mean when he mentioned fascists? How did his music speak out against fascists? Guthrie, who had ties to the American Communist Party, may have felt the same way as Leon Trotsky. Trotsky wrote in 1934, "The historic function of fascism is to smash the working class, destroy its organizations, and stifle political liberties when the capitalists find themselves unable to govern and dominate with the help of democratic machinery" (Basgen). This statement corresponds with many lyrics Guthrie used to speak against the abuses of capitalist forces working against the working class.

A less ideological cause of Guthrie's activism may have been the places and time period in which he grew up. Guthrie developed his musical talent and his social philosophy during the Great Depression. The impoverished environment he lived and worked in certainly influenced his lyrics. Guthrie believed that capitalist forces were crushing working class people and their organizations in the United States. Guthrie sympathized with the plight of the working class because he was a part of that class and had seen the abuses carried out by big business such as the economic death of his hometown of Okemah, OK. when the big oil businesses left town after the wells were no longer able to produce oil (Bound). The song "Vigilante Man" include the lyrics, "Preacher Casey was just a workin' man, /And he said, 'Unite all you workin' men.'/ Killed him in the river some strange man" ("Vigilante Man"). These lyrics in "Vigilante Man" refer to the murder of a union organizer known as Preacher Casey and suggest that anti-union capitalist forces were responsible.

The name Woody Guthrie is synonymous with the Dustbowl. Guthrie lived in Pampa, Texas, when the Dustbowl started and began his trek to California during the drought. During his trek to California, he described the landscape, "The storm poured over the wheat country, and the powdery snow was like talcum, or dried paste, blowing along with the grinding bits of dust. The snow was dry. The dust was cold. The sky was dark and the wind was changing the whole world into an awful funny looking place" (Bound). During this trek to California, Guthrie recalls those who helped him. This may have influenced his belief that social responsibility meant helping others. Among those who helped him, Guthrie mentions a cattle man who gave him a ride, a couple who stopped to pick him up and three boys who he descibed as being filthy from the storm or some sort of manual labor (Bound).

Guthrie was well aware of the social and racial discrimination and abuse that was prevelant during his lifetime. To Guthrie this discrimination was a form of fascism. Guthrie's most direct words against fascism are in the end of the song "All You Fascists," where he wrote, "I'm going into this battle /And take my union gun / We'll end this world of slavery /Before this battle's won /You're bound to lose, you Fascists /You fascists bound to lose!" (Guthrie). People were not only suffering from economic disadvantages during this time. Racism had a profound effect on minorities in the nation, especially African American people. Guthrie who had befriended African Americans in his childhood and during his travels felt that it was important to support their efforts to be accepted in American society (Bound). In the song "All You Fascists," Guthrie mentions the poll tax and the Jim Crow laws, stating that it "has got to go" (Guthrie). Guthrie also rejected the treatment immigrants received while in the United States working as migrant farm laborers. In his song "Deportee," the lyrics include the lines: "They chase us like outlaws, like rustlers, like theives. /We died in your hills, we died in your deserts, /We died in your valleys and died on your plains. /We died 'neath your trees and we died in your bushes, /Both sides of the river, we died just the same" ("Deportees"). Often being a migrant himself at times, Guthrie certainly understood the plight of these people who were leaving a bad situation hoping to find something better somewhere else only to be deported or treated badly once there.

The biggest influence on the world that Guthrie's music may have had was in his legacy. Younger muscians adopted his folk style and his ideology. Chief among these newer musicans was Bob Dylan, famous folk and rock muscian who wrote a tribute to Woody Guthrie in his poem, "Last Thoughts on Woody Guthrie" (Dylan). Dylan along with others who followed Guthrie's musical and social style were prominent figures in social changes that occurred in the 1960s.

Guthrie's music focused the American public's attention on the social crisis that was occuring not only in the Dustbowl areas, but also in the country as a whole. The support of the working class provided by Guthrie's music gave it the power to inspire change and its audience the desire to re-evaluate what it means to be a socially reponsible American. The music written by Woody Guthrie has been instrumental in creating social awareness, and has inspired musicians who continued to create social awareness through their music.

© 2007 Justin Kunsman

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