is that it seems a bit strange to have a Communist American folk hero. Although there have been Communist Party organizers in the U.S. since 1919, the country has not traditionally taken a lot of pride in its Communist elements. In fact, the U.S. spent the better part of the last century fighting Communism, abroad and at home. Even the more benign worldview known as socialism—also a big hit in the period between the two World Wars—is often presented as an outsider ideal that threatens U.S. capitalism (look no further than the 2008 presidential elections for examples of that issue). But "This Land Is Your Land" seems to envision a semi-socialist version of this very country. In Woody Guthrie's America, the land is held communally and the people come together in work and song. This land belongs to you and me. Literally. How did this radical anthem ever become such an accepted part of the mainstream?

To answer that question, we have to look back at Guthrie's personal history, but more importantly, at his political context. Guthrie was born in 1912 in rural Oklahoma, the grandchild of migrants who had been offered land parcels by the U.S. government at the end of the 19th century.
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