Song of the Old Communist
In 1991, the Soviet Union's state system collapsed, sending the global Communist movement into dramatic decline. The very idea of Communism was seen to have failed, the true nature of the USSR's political system nothwithstanding, and the notion that lasting progress could be won for the working classes around the world was rocked to its foundation. In song, Leon laments the death of that dream through the prism of an older man, who had fought for Communism all his life and now sees his hopes in ruin.
"This is for those people of my father's generation whose lives were lit by much burning faith, guided by such absolute conviction that they must now be desolated by the way history seems to have reversed itself." - LR (sleevenotes to Wo Sind Die Elefanten?, 1991)
"Gone was the comradeship, the fellowship (as William Morris called it), shared by those of my father's generation who never lost their belief that, despite the deceptions, the disappointments and the defeats, the dream would ultimately triumph and who now find themselves cast adrift by this cruel twist of history. 'Song of the Old Communist' was written for them." - LR (Turning Silence Into Song (songbook), p1)
“Many – like my father who died just before the collapse of everything he believed in – kept the faith, despite the deceits, the disappointments, the defeats, convinced that history was on their side, that their dream of a more just and humane society would ultimately triumph.” - LR (sleevenotes to The World Turned Upside Down (CD box set), p46)
"Gone was the comradeship, the fellowship (as William Morris called it), shared by those of my father's generation who never lost their belief that, despite the deceptions, the disappointments and the defeats, the dream would ultimately triumph and who now find themselves cast adrift by this cruel twist of history. 'Song of the Old Communist' was written for them." - LR (Turning Silence Into Song (songbook), p1)
“Many – like my father who died just before the collapse of everything he believed in – kept the faith, despite the deceits, the disappointments, the defeats, convinced that history was on their side, that their dream of a more just and humane society would ultimately triumph.” - LR (sleevenotes to The World Turned Upside Down (CD box set), p46)
Recordings
Version 1 (1991)