Was john lennon a communist? No. Lennon was a radical socialist, but not a communist. In order to make this claim, you have to ignore a LOT of Lennon history.
He actually said he was a ‘radical leftist’ in Rolling Stone Magazine.
John Lennon’s political views
Former Beatle, Lennon began his political activism on behalf of peace and understanding in the 1960s.
He said, “If you want peace, you won’t get it with violence.”
Here is how Lennon described his political views:
“I’m not a radical. I’m only trying to tell people the truth. I believe in peaceful revolution… (not) burning and bombing…”
In 1969 Lennon was interviewed by a radical underground newspaper in London called “Red Mole.”
He said, “…I’m not a communist, but I’ve been reading the works of (Karl) Marx and (Vladimir) Lenin…there is no one more admiring of communism than myself. That’s why I joined the Peace Movement….”
“What we need is a revolution…and another economic system.”
“You need the influence of people like (John) Coltrane and (Curtis) Mayfield and (Bob) Dylan. People with revolutionary minds, who know what they’re talking about….”
“I’m not a political person, but I give support to the (peace) movement.”
That is what we call being an ‘anti-war activist’, which YOU would know if you had been raised in the early 1960s.
John Lennon’s political views in music
The song “Revolution” was written and recorded by Lennon as an anthem for his ‘movement.’
The lyrics include, “You say you want a revolution/Well, you know/ We all want to change the world…”
He also wrote the song called “Power To The People.”
Is the song Imagine a socialist song?
Imagine that the lyrics of “Imagine” are blatantly socialist. Lennon states that it is a political statement, and “is virtually The Communist Manifesto”; he rejected socialism as practiced in Russian or China but preferred British-style socialists like Tony Benn (British politician) instead.
Yoko Ono on John’s views
Lennon’s wife Yoko Ono said that Lennon was “…quite a communist” (as if it were a bad thing).
In fact, he was a socialist.
And his activism, his music and art along with Yoko’s artwork were all rooted in the anti-war movement.
The reason you never heard or saw that is because John Lennon bashed America about as often as he sang about peace.
If YOU had been on campus back then…YOU would have heard BOTH calls for peace and anti-Americanism.
John Lennon bashed America with the F bomb…and he loved to sing about how much he hated her, too.
He always made sure that everyone knew we were an “AmeriKKKa” and just as bad as the Communists in Vietnam because we were all guilty of being “
What is communism?
Communism is an economic and political ideology that has strong opposition to capitalism. It shares the idea of a classless economy but does not allow private property or other forms of ownership like democracy would do.
