I remember listening to the Weavers singing "Goodnite Irene" on radio, away back. I didn't know then that I was listening to voices, among which was that of a man who would still be singing that song 60 years later as well as so many other great songs. His political philosophy was also, basically, unchanging.
OK, so Pete was a member of the Communist Party back then but it was his Marxist belief that led him to that. How can anyone say that he and others who had similar Marxist beliefs sought the deaths of those who opposed them ideologically ? How could Pete or they have known about the atrocities of the Stalinist regime ? Who among us ordinary people could have sorted out the propaganda from the truth back in the 40s/50s ? Pete believed in the sharing of wealth, but he was living in a most capitalistic society and unable to change things to the way that socialism prefers.