"well perhaps he was a bit left wing about some things, l"
Henderson was a Marxist - he actually wrote on Marxism (about Gramschi), he quoted Marx in his writing and in the talks he have - his songs reflected his political position.
Can I remind people of how this bizarre offshoot began
It was suggested that the introduction of politics ruined folk song; it was pointed out that politics has been part of folk song for many centuries, in England and particularly Scotland and Ireland - radio silence on that one.
It was claimed that Hamish Henderson wasn't around in the early days of the folk song revival - it was pointed out just how long he had been around (since the forties, at least) - radio silence on that one.
It was claimed that Henderson was not political, despite his political songs, writing and statements - radio silence on that one.
Now it seems to have retreated to whether he was a Communist Party member or not.
Whether he was or not is immaterial - He as a political songwriter and poet - no argument on that whatever.
He described himself as "a communist" on at least two occasions I heard him speak.
His attitude to the people he collected from and wrote about was that of a left-wing humanist (small H).
Since at least the mid-sixties there have been more communists outside the Communist Party than there are members, and Henderson was one of those.
Can we move on?
Jim Carroll
A summary of Henderson's politics from Timothy Neat's book:
"Henderson emerged as one of the few intellectuals in Scotland able and willing to take on Hugh MacDiarmid: their public confrontations, particularly about the literary value of the folk tradition, were seminal and, in retrospect, these two very different poets can be seen to stand as the twin piers of 'revolutionary thought' in modern Scotland, archetypal representatives of Apollonian and Dionysian energy. They were Robespierre and Danton: MacDiarmid the small, ascetic, atheistic Presbyterian, Henderson the Falstaffian, Episcopal libertarian."