"Woody Sez": Woody Guthrie, The People's Daily World, And Indigenous Radicalism‪.‬

Bound for Glory, director Hal Ashby's 1976 cinematic tribute to Woody Guthrie, concludes with the folksinger departing California for the greener pastures of New York City in early 1940. As he rides a freight train, Guthrie, portrayed by David Carradine, sings "This Land Is Your Land," which he wrote in February 1940. Under the direction of Ashby and the cinematography of Haskell Wexler, the film's conclusion becomes a bicentennial tribute to the resilient spirit of the American people. Film viewers, however, would certainly not surmise that Guthrie had penned his anthem in angry response to what the folksinger considered the narrow nationalism of Irving Berlin's "God Bless America." In fact, the film ignores Guthrie's association with the Communist Party and radical politics during his sojourn in California from 1936 to 1940. (1) In 1939 Guthrie penned a column entitled "Woody Sez" for the People's Daily World, the West Coast Communist newspaper published in San Francisco. The "Woody Sez" columns provide evidence that the time Guthrie spent in California during the late 1930s, observing first-hand the harsh conditions experienced by the migrants from the dust bowl, contributed to radicalizing the folksinger. The myth promulgated by Hal Ashby's Bound for Glory that Guthrie was simply a populist celebrating the American spirit before heading to New York City is negated by the Guthrie pieces in the People's Daily World. The Woody Guthrie who penned "This Land Is Your Land" in 1940 was, indeed, an American radical who raised serious questions as to whether the American capitalist system was serving the interests of the common working people.