Lot 245
Die NATURFRENDE Socialism / Communism? Our Songs 1930s

Estimate: $100 - $150

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About this Lot
Description
DIE NATURFRENDE Inc. (publishers). [Socialism / Communism?] Our Songs

Offered for sale by Adam Langlands of 'Shadowrock Rare Books' - for more information please contact him via email at adamlanglands@gmail.com 

DIE NATURFRENDE Inc. (publishers). Our Songs. [No place, but New York:]  published by Die Naturfreunde Inc., [no date but probably 1930s]. Duodecimo (6 ¾ x 4 3/4ins; 172 x 121mm). Pp. [I-] III; 4-48. Letterpress and music combined. Original blue cloth, the upper cover with the title blocked in red (extremities slightly bumped).

A rare collection: OCLC locates only two copies. The Naturfreunde or Naturefriends is an organization which still exists today, but it has morphed into an environmental group (the International Friends of Nature). The choice of songs offers a glimpse of its much more radical iteration during the 1930s. Offerings include the Internationale; ‘Brothers to Light and to Freedom’; ‘Song of the Red Flag’ ; ‘Workingmen Unite!’; ‘Youth;s Anti-War song’; ‘Danish Worker’s March’; and to the tune of ‘Onward Christian Soldiers’, ‘Christians at War’: ‘Onward Christan soldiers! / Duty’s way is plain; ‘/ Slay your Christian neighbors. Or by them be slain. / Pulipteers are spouting effervescent swill, / Priests above are calling you to rob and rape and kill, / All your acts are sanctified By the Lamb on high, / If you love the Holy Ghost, go murder, pray an die…’ The socialist/communist message is quite openly pushed, but the pill is somewhat sugar-coated by the inclusion of more traditional camp-fire songs and black spirituals.

‘We Naturefriends in America, as part of organized labor, have always valued the power of militant and folk songs. We have tried in this song book to collect all those songs suitable for our needs and re-arranged, translated, and furnished an easy music with guitar accompaniment wherever necessary. Here it is. May it fulfill its purpose" (p. ii). “Through … various activities , …[we] aim to give the workers a healthier outlook and a better foundation for the building of a future workers society” (p.48)