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Every Artist, Every Scientist, Must Decide Now Where He Stands. He Has No Alternative. There Is No Standing Above The Conflict On Olympian Heights. There Are No Impartial Observers. Through The Destruction, In Certain Countries, Of The Greatest Of Man's Literary Heritage, Through The Propagation Of False Ideas Of Racial And National Superiority, The Artist, The Scientist, The Writer Is Challenged. The Struggle Invades The Formerly Cloistered Halls Of Our Universities And Other Seats Of Learning. The Battlefront Is Everywhere. There Is No Sheltered Rear.

-Paul Robeson

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Every Artist, Every Scientist,

Paul Robeson

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Every Artist, Every Scientist, Must Decide Now Where He Stands. He Has No Alternative. There Is No Standing Above The Conflict On Olympian Heights. There Are No Impartial Observers. Through The Destruction, In Certain Countries, Of The Greatest Of Man's Literary Heritage, Through The Propagation Of False Ideas Of Racial And National Superiority, The Artist, The Scientist, The Writer Is Challenged. The Struggle Invades The Formerly Cloistered Halls Of Our Universities And Other Seats Of Learning. The Battlefront Is Everywhere. There Is No Sheltered Rear.

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I Am Truly Happy That I Am Able To Travel From Time To Time To The Ussr The Country I Love Above All. I Always Have Been, I Am Now And Will Always Be A Loyal Friend Of The Soviet Union.

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We Must Join With The Tens Of Millions All Over The World Who See In Peace Our Most Sacred Responsibility.

Artists Are The Gate Keepers Of Truth. We Are Civilization’s Radical Voice.

You Want To Shut Up Every Negro Who Has The Courage To Stand Up And Fight For The Rights Of His People, For The Rights Of Workers, And I Have Been On Many A Picket Line For The Steelworkers Too.

Sometimes Great Injustices May Be Inflicted On The Minority When The Majority Is In The Pursuit Of A Great And Just Cause.

As Americans, Preserving The Best Of Our Traditions, We Have The Right- Nay The Duty-to Fight For Participation In The Forward March Of Humanity

You Know I Am An Actor, And I Have Medals For Diction.

I Did A Long Concert Tour In England And Denmark And Sweden, And I Also Sang For The Soviet People, One Of The Finest Musical Audiences In The World.

I Said It Was My Feeling That The American People Would Struggle For Peace, And That Has Since Been Underscored By The President Of These United States.

If The American Negro Is To Have A Culture Of His Own He Will Have To Leave America To Get It.

To Be Free . . . To Walk The Good American Earth As Equal Citizens, To Live Without Fear, To Enjoy The Fruits Of Our Toil, To Give Our Children Every Opportunity In Life--that Dream Which We Have Held So Long In Our Hearts Is Today The Destiny That We Hold In Our Hands.

The Korean War Has Always Been An Unpopular War Among The American People.

And At Home In The United States We Found Continued And Increased Persecution, First Of Leaders Of The Communist Party, And Then Of All Honest Anti-fascists.

The Answer To Injustice Is Not To Silence The Critic But To End The Injustice.

I Do Not Hesitate One Second To State Clearly And Unmistakably: I Belong To The American Resistance Movement Which Fights Against American Imperialism, Just As The Resistance Movement Fought Against Hitler.

Through My Singing And Acting And Speaking, I Want To Make Freedom Ring. Maybe I Can Touch People's Hearts Better Than I Can Their Minds, With The Common Struggle Of The Common Man.

Yes, Peace Can And Must Be Won, To Save The World From The Terrible Destruction Of World War Iii.

For The First Time Since I Began Acting, I Feel That I've Found My Place In The World, That There's Something Out Of My Own Culture Which I Can Express And Perhaps Help Others Preserve..i Have Found Out Now That The African Natives Had A Definite Culture A Long Way Beyond The Culture Of The Stone Age...an Integrated Thing, Which Is Still Unspoiled By Western Influences...i Think The Americans Will Be Amazed To Find How Many Of The Modern Dance Steps Are Relics Of African Heritage.

Yes, I Heard My People Singing!-in The Glow Of Parlor Coal-stove And On Summer Porches Sweet With Lilac Air, From Choir Loft And Sunday Morning Pews-and My Soul Was Filled With Their Harmonies.

The Patter Of Their Feet As They Walk Through Jim Crow Barriers To Attend School Is The Thunder Of The Marching Men Of Joshua, And The World Rocks Beneath Their Tread.

Vast Quantities Of U.s. Bombers, Tanks And Guns Have Been Sent Against Ho Chi Minh And His Freedom-fighters; And Now We Are Told That Soon It Will Be 'advisable' To Send America Gi's Into Indo-china In Order That The Tin, Rubber And Tungsten Of Southeast Asia Be Kept By The "free World"-meaning White Imperialism.

My Father Was A Slave And My People Died To Build This Country And I Am Going To Stay Here And Have A Part Of It Just Like You.

In Fact, Because Of This Deep Desire For Peace, The Ruling Class Leaders Of This Land, From 1945 On, Stepped Up The Hysteria And Propaganda To Drive Into American Minds The False Notion That Danger Threatened Them From The East.

Whether I Am Or Am Not A Communist Is Irrelevant. The Question Is Whether American Citizens, Regardless Of Their Political Beliefs Or Sympathies, May Enjoy Their Constitutional Rights.

In The Early Days Of My Carer As An Actor, I Shared What Was Then The Prevailing Attitude Of Negro Performers :;that The Content And Form Of A Play Or A Film Scenario Was Of Little Importance To Us. What Mattered Was Was The Opportunity, Which Came So Seldom To Our Folks ... Later I Came To Understand That The Negro Artist Could Not View The Matter Simply In Terms Of Of His Individual Interests, And That He Had A Responsibility To His People Who Rightfully Resented The Traditional Stereotyped Portrayals Of Negros On Stage And Screen.

I Am Being Tried For Fighting For The Right Of My People, Who Are Still Second-class Citizens In This United States Of America.

Freedom Is A Hard-bought Thing And Millions Are In Chains, But They Strain Toward The New Day Drawing Near.

Like Any Other People, Like Fathers, Mothers, Sons And Daughters In Every Land, When The Issue Of Peace Or War Has Been Put Squarely To The American People, They Have Registered For Peace.

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And, Gentlemen, They Have Not Yet Done So, And It Is Quite Clear That No Americans, No People In The World Probably, Are Going To War With The Soviet Union.

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