Talk:This machine kills fascists

Why?

Why did he put this on his guitars? Tad Lincoln (talk) 21:45, 29 August 2012 (UTC)

In my version of the story he first put it on a guitar after Hitler invaded the Soviet Union in WW Two. However that is completely an opinion and I'll look and see if I can find more. Carptrash (talk) 04:07, 13 July 2013 (UTC)

If the Balog photo dates from '41, and Guthrie was protesting the invasion of the USSR, then the opening sentence of this page is incorrect, as it says he placed the label on his guitar in 1943. Seaside rendezvous (talk) 14:40, 7 October 2013 (UTC)

Last two sentences

The last two sentences in the header (re Guthrie's refusal to enlist) are not supported with citations, are not relevant to the article, and their inclusion here seems to have some political, non-NPOV overtones. Suggest removing. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Kerksieck (talk • contribs) 00:03, 25 November 2016 (UTC)

This snarky comment

"Several authors have noted the irony that Guthrie refused to enlist in the military during World War II, despite being only 29 at the time of the Attack on Pearl Harbor. "
does not need to be here, particularly in the lede. Guthrie served in the United States Merchant Marine during the war, a place just as dangerous as being in the armed services where he didn't get to have a weapon to defend himself with. Well, except for his guitar. Carptrash (talk) 17:48, 28 November 2016 (UTC)

"Fascists" or rather simply "German soldiers"?

Sentence 'Guthrie did celebrate the killing of fascists by Soviet sniper Lyudmila Pavlichenko - - "You lift up your sight and down comes a hun, and more than three hundred nazidogs fell by your gun."' makes one read that Guthrie considered all German soldiers as fascists (even mixing fascism with national socialism). If so, the sentence makes one read that Guthrie had a limited appreciation of Germans ("huns") as people/individuals/human beings. And if not, the sentence should be changed to say 'Guthrie did celebrate the killing of German soldiers - -' to be in line of real life, as Palvichenko was a sniper, her duty being killing enemy soldiers, especially German military personnel, whether they were national socialists or not. --Jtuohini (talk) 11:23, 6 May 2018 (UTC)

Your original research is not usable. Content needs to be from a reliable source. (Hohum ^@) 12:50, 6 May 2018 (UTC)

See Also

I don’t know how relevant the “List of Guitars” article is to this article. It will be interesting to read, especially to Guthrie fans who visit the page, but I can’t think of how this pertains to the article other than the fact that the “this machine kills fascists” message was written on his guitar. If I could recommend an article to add to the “See Also” section, maybe it should link to an article about messages written on guitars or WWII forms of protest or to similar protests made by other musical artists. Maybe this article doesn’t even need a “See Also” section. This is not a particularly long or detailed article, so I’m not sure if further reading is even necessary. Dabblequeen (talk) 03:59, 22 March 2019 (UTC)

Date?

This article states the message was put on the guitar in 1941, but the List of guitars says 1943. Both articles use the same source for their claim. I do not own the Encyclopedia used as a source. Which one is correct? Until further notice, I will replace both with "during World War II". Zuurman1 (talk) 22:20, 8 April 2019 (UTC)

I've tweaked it to "the early 1940s". "During World War II" stretches it to a 6 year period and implies the phrase has a connection to the war. - SummerPhD^v2.0 02:43, 9 April 2019 (UTC)

I'm no expert, I just stumbled upon the subject matter and saw the discrepancy, but... Did it not? The fact that he did it in a specific period where his country was fighting a war against fascists does imply so, does it not? But this is fine too, anyway. Zuurman1 (talk) 16:19, 9 April 2019 (UTC)

Two of the three Axis powers were fascist. Opposing fascism is not the same as supporting a war where two thirds of the enemy powers are fascists, as the wording would imply. - SummerPhD^v2.0 04:07, 10 April 2019 (UTC)

The unnoticed comma

There is a comma between the word 'kills' and 'fascists'. What about that? — Preceding unsigned comment added by Tamaasvarga (talk • contribs) 12:27, 29 April 2019 (UTC)

While I do see something that might be after "KILLS" and might be a comma, I definitely don't see any sources that read it that way.

Without sources supporting it, I can't see changing the meaning of an iconic phrase based on whatever that is.

The comma makes "fascists" a noun of direct address. It's the difference between "I want to eat, mom" and "I want to eat mom". - SummerPhD^v2.0 15:11, 29 April 2019 (UTC)

Is this correct?

Is this correct?

"His famous “This Machine Kills Fascists” slogan on his guitar? Turns out that was a morale-boosting WWII government slogan printed on stickers that were handed out to defense plant workers — capitalist propaganda, if you will.

173.88.246.138 (talk) 10:19, 6 September 2020 (UTC)

I don't see that in the article and you didn't give a source, so I can't tell if it's verifiable and/or suitable for inclusion otherwise. Whether or not it is true is a different question. - SummerPhD^v2.0 22:13, 6 September 2020 (UTC)

Outlaws

Calamity Jane was not an outlaw. Whoever added this is ignorant, and needs to do a lookup, perhaps on wikipedia.... — Preceding unsigned comment added by 72.83.153.160 (talk) 17:57, 26 January 2023 (UTC)

That idea is from a direct quote from John S. Partington (2011). The Life, Music and Thought of Woody Guthrie. if you disagree you should talk to him. Carptrash (talk) 18:06, 26 January 2023 (UTC)

"drew criticism" from New Hampshire rep

I edited the page to remove a sentence about the new Hampshire representative. This seems irrelevant to the article. Here's the exerpt paragraph from the op-ed, so you can see exactly what was said. Doesn't seem like criticism of the phrase to me.

"My daughter was given a link to watch a video called Mesopotamia: crash course world history #3 with John Green, a person who has "this machine kills fascists" on the back of his computer which can be clearly seen." Bome sall 1 (talk) 01:15, 1 March 2024 (UTC)