I agree with 99% of GUEST JC's analysis, but I have to say that his exoneration of MacColl's Stalinism as an "error of judgement" seems a bit gentle. Their were many many opponents of Sharpeville, of the Vietnam war, the treatment of Gypsies etc etc. Thevast majoriy came from a politcal viewpoint diametrically opposed to Stalinism. There is no need to support(or even condone) Stalinism in order to admire and share in "The Shoals of Herring", "Thirty Foot Trailer", "Dirty Old Town", "John Axon", "First Time Ever I saw Your Face" etc. The man was a giant.I believe that, but it's not going to make me start executing my political opponents, or even start wanting to.
    It wpould have been intriguing if his politics had won, and Ewan MacColl became First Secretary of The Party in the People's Republic of Britain. The sight of all our cities having a Peoples' Revolutionary Square in their centre with a thirty foot high statue of a man with his finger in his ear would have been amazing.