Dead Stalinist honored

When actor John Randolph died last February, I didn't write a word about the man's life or death.

I didn't mention that all of the major media obituaries withheld critical information about the character actor.

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There are so many important issues to write about, even with a daily column, it's hard to keep up. I was tempted to expose the truth about him then. I didn't.

But the tributes to this un-American symbol of Hollywood subversion just don't stop.

The latest was held in New York on Sunday and was attended by celebrities such as Ossie Davis, Ruby Dee and Lee Grant.

According to the AP story published in hundreds of newspapers through the United States last February, Randolph was a "victim" of the Hollywood blacklist: "Though his film career was hobbled in the 1950s because of the blacklist, he chalked up dozens of roles in later decades."

John Randolph

In the only other reference to politics, the AP reported: "Born in New York City, Randolph described himself as an 'old radical' and became politically active in the 1930s. He rallied for convicted spies Julius and Ethel Rosenberg and later marched with the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. He refused to answer questions when called before the House Un-American Activities Committee in 1955 and was blacklisted from Hollywood for years, during which time he performed in plays in and around New York."

Let me tell you about the real John Randolph.

He was a member of the Communist Party USA during its heyday. This was during the time that Josef Stalin was murdering millions in the name of communism in the Soviet Union. And the Communist Party USA took its orders and received its funding from Moscow.

Try to imagine a Hollywood actor of his era who served as a member of the American Nazi Party. Upon his death, would the press talk about the jobs he was cheated out of because of his political affiliations? I don't think so.

He didn't talk to the House Committee on Un-American Activities because there wasn't much he could say. He was a communist, and the committee knew it. Like his friends in the Hollywood 10 before him, he was in a no-win situation before the committee. He could lie and deny membership in the party and face perjury charges and jail time or admit he was a communist and face rejection from the American movie-going public.

It was that simple.

Randolph had blood on his hands for being an ardent defender of the Soviet Union and Stalin's crimes against humanity.

And he never had any second thoughts. He never repented of the work he did on behalf of Evil Empire.

In fact, as late as the 1980s, Randolph took on the chairmanship of the Soviet-American Friendship Committee, a Moscow front group.

While Randolph was serving as the front man for this "peace group," the executive director of the organization, Alan Thompson, was arrested for picking up an illegal cash payment from the Soviet Union to fund its work.

While Randolph may have missed a few job opportunities as a result of the blacklist during a period of time when Americans understood the threat of communism, his work in the Soviet front group only served to make him a darling of Hollywood 20 years ago. He was the toast of the town – and he never missed a meal right up through his death last February.

So, please, shed no tears for John Randolph. He wasn't a victim of red-baiting. He got more than his fair share of earthly rewards. Under the communist system he loved so much, he would not have lived nearly so well.

We ought to be remembering the real victims – the tens of millions of innocents who died in the Soviet gulags, in the terror famines, in front of the firing squads.

John Randolph survived and lived to the ripe old age of 88 in the comfort of a nation he sought to overthrow.

Enough already. Now you know the rest of the story.