When I question the "movement" aspect of folk music, it isn't that I doubt that there was one--what I really have a problem with is that the "movement" was a bit too organized--

The Communists used folk music--"The People's Music" --to lay the foundations for "The People's Revolution" And it was not left to chance--they did it systematically--MacColl's heavy handed management of the "folk movement" in the UK bears a close resemblance to the controls exerted by Lomax in the US, and seems very much like the sort management that the communists excercised in other areas. And, contrary to comments above, the Party regularly purged individuals who did not support the party line--