The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1933-10-21

fillment music, is folk music from
above" When it seems to give ex-
preston to the working class, as in
my Forgotten Man" it states the
case incorrectly, falling to point out
the basic class relations involved and
not for a moment limiting that the
way out is to be concerted mass ac-
ton, the solidarity of the working
class in strikes, unemployed demon
STATIONS, etc. No. The bourgeois pop
ular song, the popular song from
above"-i.e., from the class Of the
oppressors-tries to lull to sleep the
growing class consciousness Of the
masses. There is always the deceptive
CLINT of Niras wings, bourgeois prop
uganda in one form or another,
brought out to hoodwink the masses
and divert them from revolutionary
mass struggles.
This is not TO imply that all popu-
lar songs have the specific aim Of
smothering the growing class con-
seriousness of the proletariat. To re-
gard the average song writer of Tin
Pan Alley as q conscious propaganda
list for the machinery Of oppression
would be nonsensical but, consciously
or not, the ma jority of composers and
Iyricists who write sweet music are
in fact adding immeasurably TO the
dung-heap of bourgeois propaganda.
This is just as true of songs having
to do with sex as with songs bearing
on the economic plight Of the masses.
A dialectical consistency runs
through the whole range of popular
music.
Drugged with the poison Of popu-
lar music and with the virulent poi
son Of the capitalist propaganda ma
chine, prejudices are imposed upon
the masses. In the field Of art these
prejudiceS stand in the way OF di-
rect and sincere reactions. That
which is in reality shallow, cheap and
sensational - symphonic jazz, So
called semi-classical music-is often
times mistaken for the real thing,
the more so because it plucks insist
emily at surface emotions.
1T IS essential to acknowledge the
impurities brought into hot jazz
through popular music. Jazz very sell
dom claims or can claim to equal
the folk music of the African Negro,
Of the Spanish gypsy, or of the Bali
nese singers. Only in its best mo-
ments, when it is genuine expression,
has it the merit of being folk music,
truly expressing the creative and
emotional depths of the people. The
bourgeois-capitalist world tends to
stifle this creativeness. Centuries Of
class rule have attempted to incul-
cate in the masses bourgeois preju-
dices. This is why the revolution must
be fought out on every front, cultural
as well as economic.
At program given recently by
the Harlem section Of the Commu-
mist Party, Ruth Ely sang some rent
blues. The reaction Of many present
was that this was class conscious folk
music. A valid feelingi Isn't this the
answer to those who inquire, with
some skepticism, if proletarian jazz
is really possible? OF course it's pos
sible.
A DECADE ago jazz was decried as
II shallow emotionalisrn, but at least
certain elements of the proletariat
we're dancing to the hot jazz Of King
Oliver, the New Orleans Rhythm
Kings, the Memphis Five, the VOL
verines. the Mound City Blue Blow
ers, etc, and it began TO be noised
about that Blk Biederbecke, w. G.
Handy, Russell Robinson, Joe Venuti,
Hoagy Carmichael, Louis Armstrong,
Clarence Williams, Adrian Rollini,
Earl Hines, Rapollo, and others had
something to offer that was far from
being shallow emotionalisn. College
boys who could afford it collected
records Of hot-as time went on
many hot men turned luke-warm try
ing to adapt themselves to the "as
written" field (Which they called the
"as rotten")-records of the Cotton
Pickers (gone sweet by now; Red
Nichols, Little Ramblers, Jack Tea
garden, william Morris, Jelly-roll
Morton, Duke Ellington, Louis Arm
strong, Chicago Rhythm Kings, Dixie
Stompsrs with Fletch Hend son,
King Oliver, Milf Mole, Originc1 DIX
leland Five, etc, etc. Collectors and
musicians frequentsd the dance halls,
and the lesser known hot spots,
knowing that hot Jazz and hot musi-
clans were usually of proletarian
origin.
Even from this brief paper it is
possible to see in outline the history
of jazz music, its origins and its sub
sequent developments. Emphasis has
been placed on the Importance OF
bourgeois propaganda, especially as it
assumes the form Of folk music
from above" A further point needs
emphasis. In the class struggle the
means Of bourgeois exploitation are
not confined to the economic field
but extend to the cultural as well.
| Bourgeois popular Music, sterile in
content, attempts to rsviyify itself
with the music Of the masses, .ex-
plotting hot jazz as it exploited the
| Negro spiritual5 and work songs. This
! explains to a great extent the COR
ruption OF hot men, the incubitable
/ fact that all too often they turn
! luke-warm. That hot Jag continues
to flourish and that az least some OF
those who produce ii are beginning
to realize lis class content is anothe;
indication Of the growing class cen