Paul Robeson--"A socialist society represents an advance to a higher stage of life!" [View all]

Robeson rose to international prominence as a premier singer and actor, breaking the race barrier in acclaimed appearances all over the world. However, his early life experiences with racism and labor injustice impelled him to fight in even wider arenas than the theater. In his biography titled Here I Stand, Robeson cites the words of abolitionist Wendell Potter, “...I would come to learn in my own way, the great truth he spoke of when, after chattel slavery was abolished, he joined the fight for Labor’s emancipation: 'When I want to find the vanguard of the people I look to the uneasy dreams of an aristocracy and find what they dread most.’” (Paul Robeson, Here I Stand, 1958)