Yes, SO'P I think that you've (finally!) done us all a favour by giving an example of the quality of MacColl's work rather than the constant rehashing of rumours about him.

All of this weary Mudcat wrangling and the recent re-issues of 'Journeyman' and selections from the Riverside recordings have got me thinking about MacColl, his life and work and attitudes towards him within the British folk revival. His politics and (to a ceratin extent) certain aspects of his personality obviously alienated some people (to such an extent that some of them can't seem to let it go 20 years after his death). But I suspect that it goes deeper than that and could be a generational thing. He was born in 1915, in an old-fashioned industrial slum, and lived in conditions that we can barely imagine now. He rebelled against those circumstances - a rebellion that shaped his personality and his work. There are passages in 'Journeyman' that suggest that he was a 'teenage rebel' in the 1930s at a time when most teenagers were 'just' younger versions of their parents. By the time the pop music driven 'youth rebellion' of the mid to late 1950s arrived MacColl was a mature man in his 40s whose earlier rebellious spirit had evolved into a mature and disciplined artistic vision. I suspect that that artistic vision was bound to collide with the more hedonistic 'rebellion' of the baby boomers. Added to that most post-war youth rebellions have had a strong aspect of inter-generational rivalry (i.e. young people rebelling against the previous generation(s)); and what also strikes me is how fashion-driven they have been. Although the participants have tended to see themselves as 'rebels' they have, in reality, tended to be more conformist than their parents but have conformed to different, often more hedonistic, norms. MacColl, on the other hand, seems to have revered his parents (although I'm sure that they had their differences) and to have inherited their political views and rebellious outlook.
So MacColl was well into the process of developing his vision of folk song, and its place in the modern world, when the pop-driven 'youth revolution' arrived. I suspect that many young people who chanced upon the folk revival were puzzled that its leading figure didn't conform to the usual stereotype of a pop hero. He was not in the least bit hedonistic, was of their parents' generation and was a bit fierce and austere (and, crucially I suspect, didn't play a guitar!). He was also an intellectual interested in ideas and keen on a disciplined approach to the singing of folk songs. Unfortunately, youth culture (which was rapidly becoming mainstream) was leading in a different direction and rapidly 'dumbing down' as it went; it despised (was terrified of!) intellectuals of any sort. MacColl's biggest 'crime' was that he didn't conform to the newly evolved norms of post-war pop culture and thought deeply about his art - but then he was a 'real', and very original, rebel from an earlier generation who refused to compromise or sell-out.