John Lennon’s Political Activism:

Art Embroidered with Revolutionary Passion

By: Luka Pejić

1. INTRODUCTION

One could have a hard time defining John Lennon’s whimsical philosophy for its
obvious complexity. Cynicism and specific traits of the British humor, such as self-
deprecation and sarcastic with, had always followed his work and public appearance.
However, Lennon, one of the Fab Four, the band that rocked the world, was an idealist who
could not come to terms with an individual’s conformist social role and harmless guitar riffs
that made delirious girls in the crowd cry. Throughout his career, Lennon’s political stands
and their explicitness varied; during the Beatles years, from time to time, he would throw a
‘‘verbal bomb’’ and public apology would follow very soon (‘‘bigger that Jesus’’ statement,
for example). Lennon had to somehow tame his later outspoken socialist nature, for his
responsibility regarding the band’s reputation and collective interests. Although many Beatles
songs contain strong subversive elements, after meeting Japanese avant-garde artist Yoko
Ono, Lennon’s radical political attitudes broke free from any sort of restrictions, especially
those imposed by the establishment. His solo work deals with a wide range o issues; from
utopian hopes (‘‘Imagine’’) and working class struggle and social injustice (‘‘Working Class
Hero’’) to feminism (‘‘Woman Is the Nigger of the World’’), prison system (‘‘Attica State’’),
Irish question (‘‘Luck of the Irish’’), etc. These elements of Lennon’s art will be in the focus
of this paper.

2. ON THE ROAD TO BECOME A REVOLUTIONARY

John Lennon may not have been raised in a real proletarian family, but he was part of a
distinctly working-class youth culture. It all hit John at Quarry Bank Grammar School, itself a
place of some significance in working-class culture. It was called ‘‘the Eton of the Labour
Party’’ because its alumni included two socialist cabinet ministers. John at Quarry Bank
seemed to becoming a different kind of working class hero – a rebel. His rebellion was tied to
the new music coming from America, rock ‘n’ roll. (Wiener 1991, 147)
Lennon held on to his working class consciousness as the Beatles had their first great
triumphs. On tour in 1963 he told an interviewer, ‘‘People say we’re loaded with money, but
by comparison with those who are supposed to talk the Queen’s English, that’s ridiculous.
We’re only earning. They’ve got capital behind them and they’re earning on top of that. The
more people you meet, the more you realize it’s all a class thing.’’ When the Beatles were
invited for the Queen at the Royal Variety Performance in October 1963, John’s class
consciousness burst out again. Before they went on, Brian Epstein asked John how he could
get that kind of upper-class audience to join in. ‘‘I’ll just ask them to rattle their fucking
jewelry,’’ John said. On the stage he used the line without the ‘‘fucking’’ and it became the
most widely quoted evidence of his wit. (Wiener 1991, 148)
Religion also seemed to be an issue for Lennon. John’s following statement about
Christianity was published in the Evening Standard (London), on March 4, 1966:
‘‘Christianity will go. It will vanish and shrink. I needn't argue about that; I'm right, and I will
be proved right. We are more popular than Jesus now; I don't know which will go first – rock
'n' roll or Christianity. Jesus was all right, but his disciples were thick and ordinary. It's them
twisting it that ruins it for me.’’ This single quote, taken out of context, about the Beatles’

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being more popular than Jesus Christ cause a furor across the Bible Belt in the United States.
Beatles records were burned, and the Ku Klux Klan burned a Beatles effigy and nailed
Beatles albums to a burning cross. Lennon spent the following weeks and months clarifying
what he meant. (Lawrence 2005, 76) Bowing to pressure from his manager, Brian Epstein,
Lennon apologized for having made the remark, but also tried to make himself better
understood. ‘‘I am not anti-God, anti-Christ or anti-religion,’’ he explained. ‘‘I was not saying
we were greater or better. I believe in God, but not as one thing, not as an old man in the sky.
I believe that what people call God is in all of us.’’ His ideas did not change in the years that
followed. (Blaney 2005, 61-62)

Burning of the Beatles’ records (Georgia, USA, 1966)

For Lennon, God was something abstract that formed part of the human condition.
Speaking to David Wigg in June 1969, John said: ‘‘God is power, which we’re all capable of
tapping. We’re all light bulbs capable of tapping energy. You can use electricity to kill
people, or light the room. God is that. Neither one nor the other thing but everything.’’ Very
soon, Lennon characterized God as ‘‘a concept by which we measure our pain.’’ (Blaney
2005, 61-62)
Lennon’s ambiguous response to the 1968’s riots was the song ‘‘Revolution’’, of which
two different versions were released. Lennon’s pacifist ideals meant that he feared calls for

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revolution could fuel violent oppression from the state and the first version of the song
released states ‘‘you can count me out’’. However, in the version included on the White
Album, the lyrics alternately state that you can ‘‘count me out, in’’. This was a big step for
Lennon, moving from a desire to change the world that centered on idealism and individual
change – ‘‘revolution in the mind’’ – to looking towards mass movements and collective
struggle. The break up of the Beatles in 1969 coincided with an increasing disillusionment
with hippy ideals and a desire for real change. ‘‘Of course, there are a lot of people walking
around with long hair now and some trendy middle-class kids in pretty clothes. But nothing
changed except that we dressed up a bit, leaving the same bastards running everything,’’
Lennon said. (Maughan 2009, online)

3. BED-INS AND ‘‘GIVE PEACE A CHANCE’’ (1969)

In 1969 Lennon and Yoko staged a performance in order to symbolically address the issue
of world peace. In the midst of the Vietnam War, these newlyweds held two weeks long Bed-
Ins in Amsterdam and Montreal. During their unusual honeymoon they recorded the song
‘‘Give Peace a Chance’’ which ought to be an anthem of the non-violent anti-war movement.
Some individuals who participated in the New Left movement criticized Lennon’s Bed-In
and other similar pacifist actions as irrelevant and completely harmless for the Establishment.
Yoko defended the bed-ins on the grounds of impracticality of other forms of protest for
them. ‘‘We can’t lead a parade or a march because of all the autograph hunters. We had to
find our own way of doing it, and for now bed-ins seem the most logical way.’’ One could
assume that Yoko was also interested in bringing together her performance art with radical
politics. She and John were seeking to overcome the apolitical and anti-political aspects of the
avant-garde in a way that would also liberate radical political activity from its traditional
forms, especially the protest march. They rejected all notions of ‘‘political effectiveness’’,
which usually implies indispensable involvement of political figures and their reforms. By
staying in bed for a week to protest the war, Lennon and Ono radically attacked and
undermined some well-known conventions of ordinary politics. Lennon summed up his
irritation with criticism of this performance by saying that he ‘‘would rather talk to a naïve
person than a cynic.’’ He continued: ‘‘Sure, there are a lot of young naïve people out there,
but at least they can be moved.’’ A skeptical interviewer asked whether staying in bed meant
anything, even as a symbol. ‘‘Imagine if the American army stayed in bed for a week,’’ John
replied. But, the interviewer persisted, wouldn’t it be better if people ‘‘went out and did

4
something?’’ He also said that public is jeering at Lennon and Ono, not taking them seriously.
‘‘It’s part of our policy not to be taken seriously,’’ John replied. ‘‘Our opposition, whoever
they may be, in all their manifest forms, don’t know how to handle humor. And we are
humorous. We’re Laurel and Hardy. And we stand better chance under that guise, because all
the serious people like Martin Luther King and Kennedy and Gandhi got shot.’’ Today this
flawed political logic has become tragically ironic. The interviewer went on to ask, ‘‘If
anything happened to you, how would you like to be remembered?’’ John replied, taking the
question as referring to both of them: ‘‘As the great peaceniks’’. (Wiener 1991, 89-91) When
the cartoonist Al Capp interviewed Lennon and Ono during their Bed-In, the couple seemed
committed to an absolutist position regarding the issue of pacifism. “Tell me how you would
stop Hitler,” Capp demanded. “If I was a Jewish girl in Hitler’s day,” Ono replied, “I would
approach him and become his girlfriend. After 10 days in bed, he would come to my way of
thinking. This world needs communication. And making love is a great way of
communicating.” When Capp fumed that this sounded like “stark raving madness,” Lennon
shot back “What’s mad about it?” (McMillian 2010, online).

John’s and Yoko’s Bed-In session in Amsterdam (1969)

4. JOHN LENNON/PLASTIC ONO BAND (1970)

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 In 1970 Lennon released his debut solo album John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band which
features eleven songs. Two tracks should be mentioned for the sake of this paper: ‘‘I Found
Out’’ and ‘‘Working Class Hero’’.
In the song ‘‘I Found Out’’ Lennon decries the false idols and causes he had mistakenly
let into his life. He is seeking for some abstract truth, whatever it is. Like Dylan before him,
Lennon suggests us that we avoid following leaders. The only path to political, social or
religious enlightenment lies within, not in the abstract systems devised by others. (Blaney
2005, 58)
Song ‘‘Working Class Hero’’ was obviously influenced by contemporary left-wing
political thinking. Lennon believed that the only way to overcome a system that ensures
conformity is not through organized revolution but through the revolution of the self. Lennon
had already commented on the growing political unrest and student riots of 1968 with
‘‘Revolution’’ and ‘‘Revolution 9’’. His political commitment increased a pace the following
year with a far-reaching peace campaign. Aligning himself with the New Left, Lennon’s
‘‘Working Class Hero’’ restates their central belief, ‘‘The Personal is Political.’’ 1 Like the
New Left, Lennon argues that it is what you do and not some external theory that informs
your political stance. What was needed was a ‘‘new man’’, a working class hero who would
refuse to be co-opted by a repressive system. Talking about the song, Lennon once said: ‘‘I
just think its concept is revolutionary, and I hope it’s for the workers (…) I think it’s for the
people like me who are working class, whatever, upper or lower, who are supposed to be
processed into the middle classes, or in through the machinery, that’s all. It’s my experience,
and I hope it’s just a warning to people.’’ John had hopes that his song might bring about the
kind of revolution in the head that the New Left were dreaming of. He hoped that ‘‘Working
Class Hero’’ would be taken up in the same way as had ‘‘Give Peace A Chance’’. For him it
was a revolutionary piece of work and the ideal New Left anthem. While speaking about the
song Lennon stressed the political beliefs he had put forward in ‘‘Working Class Hero’’. ‘‘I
was very conscious of class,’’ he said, ‘‘they would say with a chip on my shoulder, because I
knew what happened to me and I knew about class repression coming down on us – it was a
fucking fact but in the hurricane Beatle world got left out, I got farther away from reality for a
time.’’ He continued: ‘‘But nothing changed except that we all dressed up a bit, leaving the
same bastards running everything. The continual awareness of what was going on made me
feel ashamed I wasn’t saying anything. I burst out because I could no longer play the game
1
This particular phrase, ‘‘The Personal is Political’’, originates from a 1969 essay of the same name written by
Carol Hanisch, radical feminist.

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any more, it was just too much for me.’’ While Lennon would be constantly be chided for
preaching from an ivory tower, with ‘‘Working Class Hero’’ the limitations he labored under
and the emotional effect it had upon him. To all his attempts to break free of the system,
Lennon concedes that he remained by a set of terms as narrow as his attempts to escape them
were broad. Recorded entirely solo by Lennon at Abbey Road, ‘‘Working Class Hero’’ draw
comparisons with early Dylan, whom he disavows in another song on the album, ‘‘God’’.
‘‘Anyone that sings with a guitar and sings about something heavy would tend to sound like
Dylan.’’, Lennon explained. ‘‘I’m bound to be influenced by that because that is the only kind
of real folk music I listen to. So in that way I’ve been influenced, but it doesn’t sound like
Dylan to me.’’ Because of its simplicity, the commercial version was issued in mono. It also
features an obvious edit at 1:25. Lennon admitted to Jann Wenner that he had missed a verse,
which he had to drop in later. An alternative version, issued on the John Lennon Anthology,
features a complete unedited take of the song. Because the lyrics included the ‘‘F’’ word,
crude edits, which remove the expletive, were made to the song for Australian pressings of the
album. The lyrics were also censored when they were printed on the record’s inner sleeve.
(Blaney 2005, 58)

5. IMAGINE (1971)

Lennon’s apparent fascination with utopian ideas made a significant impact on his career;
it had been a more or less notable constant, following him from the Beatles years (‘‘Nowhere
Man’’) to the conceptual art and political statements made in collaboration with Yoko
(Nutopia: The Country of Peace, for instance). However, ‘‘Imagine’’, opening track of the
album with the same name, stands out as his most famous song that directly evokes the
utopian sensibility for better, or at least different world. Lennon’s lyrics followed by a
calming and almost meditative melody are profoundly critical of religion, state, private
property, etc. One could trace anarchist and Marxist thoughts in these three minutes of
Lennon’s cry for unity and change. Therefore, ‘‘Imagine’’ remains to be a strong political
message that contains different longings of predominantly left-wing ideologies.
Paul McCartney said that he ‘‘like ‘Imagine’ which is what John is really like, but there
was too much political stuff on the other albums.’’ John responded in a published letter, ‘‘So
you think ‘Imagine’ ain’t political, it’s ‘Working Class Hero’ with sugar on it for
conservatives like yourself! Join the Rock Liberation Front before it gets you.’’ (Wiener 1991,
161)

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 ‘‘Imagine’’ is a song that has tremendous power through the decades. After 9/11, it was
reported that Clear Channel, corporate media and entertainment company that owns more than
thousand radio stations in the U.S., had it on a list of songs that would not be allowed to be
played on their stations. The Christian right in the United States have found Lennon’s wish to
abolish religion and state as a completely outrageous statement, and they have been
campaigning against that song ever since he recorded it in 1970. (‘‘John Lennon 1940-1980’’
2005, online)
One more song from the Imagine album should be taken in concern, and that is ‘‘I Don’t
Wanna Be a Soldier Mama’’.
Antimilitarist feeling was strong in English working class culture, and went with a cynical
attitude toward nationalism. All this contributed to John’s pacifism. His song ‘‘I Don’t Wanna
Be a Soldier Mama,’’ had the same title as a favorite working class song from World War I.
The film How I Won the War (1967), where Lennon had on of the leading roles, expressed the
working class sense that officers were ludicrous idiots who posed a deadly threat to their men.
The antimilitarist attitude, endemic in the English working class, found a new audience
among American youth during the Vietnam War. (Wiener 1991, 149)

Scene from the ‘‘Imagine’’ video

Three months after the Imagine album, John recorded ‘‘Happy Xmas (War Is Over)’’.
This particular song has none of the forced jolliness or phony sentimentality of most

8
Christmas rock songs; it’s a Lennon’s anti-war piece and wake up call for everybody which
urges self-scrutiny by singing ‘‘another year over… and what have you done?’’
6. DISCOVERING THE NEW YORK SCENE

After moving to New York in the early 1970s, Lennon committed himself to political
activism. He had spoken of ‘‘British socialism’’, supported the ‘‘Oz Three’’2, attacked the
Nixon government in ‘‘Give Me Some Truth’’, and issued ‘‘Power to the People’’. The
‘‘radical’’ views that Lennon put so much effort into promulgating, were tolerated in Britain,
but too much for Nixon’s paranoid government. The American authorities may not have
welcomed the Lennons with open arms, but the counterculture did. (Blaney 2005, 106-109)
Questions that bothered the New Left in 1970 included cultural revolution, workers’
control (Lennon expressed a wish to visit Yugoslavia and see how it functions there), relations
with the old left, and so on. Lennon tried to avoid radical clichés in a mindless way. John’s
move from drugs and mysticism to the New Left politics was summoned by his statement
‘‘The acid dream is over,’’ which became the title of the interview as it was reprinted
throughout the underground press in the United States in June 1971. (Wiener 1991, 153)

Rubin, Ono, Lennon and Hoffman in New York

2
Underground hippie magazine published in the late 1960s and early 1970s; know for its obscene and subversive
content.

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 David Peel, a fervent campaigner for the legalization of cannabis, made a big impression
on Lennon. More important, but more damaging for Lennon, was his association with Jerry
Rubin and Abbie Hoffman. Rubin had spent much of his adult life harassing the
Establishment. He was instrumental in organizing Vietnam War protests, which became
increasingly sophisticated, theatrical and media oriented. The Lennon/Rubin partnership was
made in heaven. Lennon’s desire to be recognized as bona fide political activist was complete,
and Rubin acquired a readymade spokesman. (Blaney 2005, 106-109)
Lennon tried to figure out ways that he could use his power as a celebrity to help end the
war. And the idea that he developed, along with Abbie Hoffman and Jerry Rubin and other
people, was that he should headline a national concert tour in 1972 that would coincide with
the presidential election campaign. ’72, Nixon was still President and preparing to run for re-
election. The war in Vietnam had reached a peak. It was clear that this was going to be a big
issue in ’72. Lennon wanted to combine rock music with radical politics and use the tour to
urge young people to register to vote—1972 was the first year that 18-year-olds were given
the right to vote, so that was going to be an important project—and vote against the war, and
that meant voting against Nixon. However, Nixon won by an overwhelming landslide in
1972. (‘‘John Lennon 1940-1980’’ 2005, online)
In a 1972 appearance on The Dick Cavett Show, Lennon stated support for the 10-point
program of the Black Panthers and their faith in self-defense. The 10-point program
encompassed calls for black self-determination, a decent education for black children free of
racist historical bias as well as “land, bread, housing… justice and peace.” He also
participated that year in a demonstration with the Native-American tribe the Onondaga
Indians against the government’s planned construction of a freeway through their land.
(Johnson 2010, online)
The U.S. government saw Lennon as such a serious threat that President Nixon attempted
to have him deported in 1972. In addition the FBI closely monitored his actions and amassed
a file on Lennon of over 400 pages. (‘‘John Lennon 1940-1980’’ 2005, online) Lennon spoke
out against the war at rallies and demonstrations. He associated with leading antiwar activists.
But the FBI files contain no evidence that Lennon committed any criminal acts: no bombings,
no terrorism, and no conspiracies. His activities were precisely the kind protected by the First
Amendment. The files show that he was a victim of an Administration obsessed with its
‘‘enemies’’, and abusing the power of Presidency in violation of the Constitution. (Gutman
2004, 196) Lennon fought the deportation case for several years until the U.S. court of
appeals finally overturned the order in 1975. (Edmondson 2010, xiv) In July 1976 his

10
application to remain a permanent resident of the U.S. was granted. Shortly after the court's
decision, Lennon posed in front of the Statue of Liberty, flashing the peace sign. (‘‘John
Lennon's Political Activism’’ 2011, online) The complete story of John's struggles with the
Nixon administration and the United States government is told in the exemplary 2006
documentary film The U.S. vs. John Lennon.
‘‘The authorities were terrified of him because he had so much sway,’’ says Felix Dennis,
now a media mogul, but in the 1960s a coeditor of Oz magazine in Britain, who was jailed for
violating obscenity laws. ‘‘They weren't frightened of people like Mick Jagger. That was just
musicians and silly long-haired gits with too much money misbehaving. The trouble with
John was that there was some intellectual force behind the argument.’’ (Maas 2006, online)

6.1. SOMETIME IN NEW YORK CITY (1972)

Sometime in New York City is, without any doubt, Lennon’s most political album. It
features a whole catalogue of songs that deal with various socio-political problems. Album
was not a great commercial and critical success but remains a fascinating historical document.
In the song ‘‘Sunday Bloody Sunday’’, Lennon addressed the massacre that took place in
Northern Ireland on 30 January 1972, when twenty-six unarmed civil rights protesters were
shot by members of the British Army. Lennon’s pro-republican agenda regarding the Irish
problem and his support of the IRAs activities, which often included terrorist attacks, gave
some people a reason to call him a hypocrite who used to sing about pacifism and non-violent
revolution. Lennon describe the whole thing as something rather ‘‘delicate’’, and stated that
‘‘if two people are fighting, I’m probably gonna be on one side or the other, even though I’m
against violence.’’ One should keep in mind the fact that Lennon’s roots were Irish, and
similar to McCartney, he had family ties with Ireland. He even bought a small island off the
coast of Ireland, on which he allowed small community of hippies to live, and which he
planned to make his retirement home. By writing the song ‘‘Sunday Bloody Sunday’’ and
aligning himself with the oppressed and their struggle, Lennon made his bond with Ireland
more personal. ‘‘The Luck of the Irish’’ is another piece dedicated to Lennon’s roots and
political situation in Ireland. The song features distinctive Irish folk music that was intended
to sound simple, yet direct and somehow ironic. (Blaney 2005, 114-116)
Lennon’s feminist anthem, ‘‘Woman Is the Nigger of the World’’, was inspired by
something what Yoko said in a Nova magazine interview in 1969. Although he was keen to
promote the idea that he and Yoko were equals, Lennon was the typical male artist perceived

11
by some even as a chauvinist. However, equality of sexes seemed important to him, within a
broader context of the revolutionary thought that he was fond of. (Blaney 2005, 103-104)
Despite the sexual revolution of the sixties, women in the West were still subject to a
sexual double standard and sexual objectification. Women were still paid less than men and
suffered sexism as well as lack of professional opportunity in the workplace. Vietnamese
women were being particularly dehumanized in the Vietnam War because of their race and
gender. American servicemen had themselves testified to the rape, torture and murder of
Vietnamese women. The statement that ‘‘women is the nigger of the world’’ may also have
carried a deep, personal importance for Ono. Although she had enjoyed a privileged
upbringing, the artist came from a deeply patriarchal society. She had equally experienced
professional disparagement in the art world and racism from the both the media and the public
in the West. The song also, of course, refers to the daughters, mothers and wives of oppressed
men. One could say that this track aims to unsettle, persuade and enlighten. Lennon addresses
men in the song and asks them to recognize the particular patriarchal oppression of women.
On meeting Ono, he confessed: “I was a working-class macho guy who was being served and
Yoko didn’t buy that. From the day I met her, she demanded equal time, equal space, equal
rights. I said, ‘Don’t expect me to change in anyway. Don’t impinge on my space.” She
answered, ‘Then I can’t be here. Because there is not space where you are. Everything
revolves around you and I can’t breathe in that atmosphere. I am thankful to her for that
education.” Radically, he added his wife’s family name to his own. (Johnson 2010, online)

Lennon performing at the John Sinclair Freedom Rally (Michigan, 1971)

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 ‘‘John Sinclair’’ is a tribute song named after the political activist who was sentenced to
prison for nine to ten years, for ‘‘sales and possession of marijuana.’’ Lennon wrote the song
as an attempt to criticize the Establishment’s draconian use of drug laws to silence the
counterculture. (Blaney 2005, 116)
In September, 1971, there was an uprising at Attica Prison in upstate New York. Couple
of thousand, mostly black, inmates who seized the prison, had a whole list of demands, such
as: decent health care, religious freedom for Muslims, alternatives to pork in the diet,
uncensored reading materials. The prison administration agreed to virtually all of the
demands, but then one morning, 1,400 New York state troopers stormed the prison and killed
32 prisoners and ten guards, and injured around 80 more. This was a complete outrage, and
the next month, December 1971, a protest meeting and a benefit concert for the families of the
prisoners who had been killed in the uprising took place. That was held at the Apollo Theater
in Harlem and John Lennon went there. (‘‘John Lennon 1940-1980’’ 2005, online) John
wrote a song dedicated to the killed prisoners, called ‘‘Attica State’’. He expressed his
solidarity with the inmates (‘‘…we’re all mates with the Attica State’’), bashing the
authorities for their approval of brutal violence and lack of compassion. Ironically, Lennon's
murderer, Mark David Chapman, is nowadays housed there on a life sentence.

7. DISILLUSIONMENT AND RETREAT

By 1975, politics had become a dangerous game for Lennon. When asked about Nixon’s
departure, he confessed, “I’m even nervous about commenting on politics. They’ve got me
jumpy these days.” (Johnson 2010, online)
In his book ‘‘Confessions of a Raving, Unconfined Nut: Misadventures in Counter-
Culture’’ (1993) Paul Krassner, American author and journalist, wrote the following: ‘‘Yoko
Ono and John Lennon spent a weekend at my house in Watsonville... In the evening we
smoked a combination of marijuana and opium, sitting on pillows in front of the fireplace,
sipping tea, munching cookies. We talked about Mae Brussell's theory that the deaths of
musicians like Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, and Jim Morrison had actually been political
assassinations because they were role models on the crest of the youth rebellion. 'No, no,'
Lennon argued, 'they were already headed in a self-destructive direction.' A few months later,
he would remind me of that conversation and add, 'Listen, if anything happens to Yoko and
me, it was not an accident.'’’ (Malmo-Levine, 2006, online)

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 In 1975 Lennon expressed the opinion that his political engagements had had a
detrimental effect on his art: “It almost ruined it, in a way. It became journalism, not poetry.”
Five years later, he made the striking comment about his past political activism: “That
radicalism was phony, really, because it was out of guilt. I’ve always felt guilty that I had
money, so I had to give it away or lose it. I don’t believe I was a hypocrite. When I believe, I
believe right to the roots. But being a chameleon. I became whoever I was with.” The
“revolutionary artist” as Lennon had characterized himself in the early ‘70s now distanced
himself from his radical past, manifestly wary and disillusioned. Lennon became a house-
husband and primary caregiver of his young son, Sean. He now amusingly confided to
journalists that he fed the baby, baked bread and cleaned up cat shit while his wife ran the
family business. Lennon’s last album Double Fantasy (1980) is a Valentine to those years.
The beguiling lullaby “Beautiful Boy” and courtly confession of male vulnerability “Woman”
express alternative ways of being a man. (Johnson 2010, online) One could say that it is hard
to believe the man who wrote Double Fantasy was a political radical in his thirties and placed
under CIA surveillance. (Richards 2010, online)

Front cover for the album ‘‘Double Fantasy’’ (1980)

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 8. CONCLUSION

Several factors affected Lennon’s artistic introduction of political themes into his rich
repertoire; however, Yoko’s and his decision to settle down in New York made a specific
impact on him, it triggered his always-present desire for concrete activism. The question is:
could John have continued to develop as a political artist in Britain in a personally satisfying
way? The British political world in the late seventies was probably too structured for him. A
classic political battle between capital and labor raged through the decade. And social
lifestyles were more rigid in Britain in the seventies. The lines separating classes were
inflexible, with few spaces in between. Lennon saw English society dominated by a
conservative ruling class as narrow-minded, repressive, and fairly racist. New York in
contrast offered a society that was much more open, with a Bohemian enclave in which a
working class superstar could flourish. (Wiener 1991, 152-170)
Since Lennon’s death (1980), different claims to discredit or demystify his loyalty to the
pacifist cause have been made.
The man, who returned his MBE (The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire)
because of Britain's links to the Biafran War, was possibly an air cadet. A card showing
Lennon's apparent Air Training Corps membership was found when The One Show staged a
Beatles memorabilia road show in Liverpool few years ago. (Burnell 2008, online)
Professor of history John McMillian wrote that during his lifetime, Lennon was
ambivalent about pacifism, and his public enthusiasm for the peace movement was fleeting
and capricious. McMillian says that it bears remembering that despite briefly campaigning for
peace, and writing exuberantly about love, Lennon’s inner life was stormy and tumultuous.
(McMillian 2010, online)
Today, Lennon’s political commitment is a catchphrase of the public image of the 1960s.
Many commentators have taken his work as a proof of the possibility of an honest bridge
between pop and politics. His political songs were not an instrument for change, just an
expression of the need for it. (Gutman 2004, 200-201) Lennon was at once noble and
narcissistic. He had both an artist’s arrogance and empathy. But what cannot be doubted is his
creative intelligence, intellectual curiosity, capacity for growth and willingness to take risks.
(Johnson 2010, online)

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 9. BIBLIOGRAPHY

Literature:

1. Blaney, John (2005). John Lennon: Listen To This Book. Paper Jukebox.
2. Edmondson, Jacqueline (2010). John Lennon: A Biography. Santa Barbara:
Greenwood.
3. Gutman, David and Thomson Elizabeth, eds. (2004). The Lennon Companion.
Cambridge: Da Capo Press.
4. Lawrence, Ken (2005). John Lennon: In His Own Words. Kansas City: Andrews
McMeel Publishing.
5. Wiener, Jon (1991). Come Together: John Lennon In His Time. New York: Illini
Books.

Internet:

1. Burnell, Paul. ‘‘Pacifist Lennon's military past’’. 2008. BBC NEWS.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/7246967.stm
(Accessed on 2011, February 8)
2. ‘‘John Lennon 1940-1980: History Professor Jon Wiener Discusses Lennon’s Politics,
FBI Files and Why Richard Nixon Sought to Deport Him’’. 2005. Democracy Now.
http://www.democracynow.org/2005/12/8/john_lennon_1940_1980_history_professor
(Accessed on 2011, February 8)
3. ‘‘John Lennon's Political Activism’’. 2011. John Lennon and the Mercy Street Café.
http://www.johnlennonandthemercystreetcafe.com/lennonactivism.html
(Accessed on 2011, February 8)
4. Johnson, Rachel. ‘‘Revolutionary Man: John Lennon As Political Artist’’. 2010.
PopMatters. http://www.popmatters.com/pm/feature/133778-revolutionary-man-john-
lennon-as-political-artist/P0
(Accessed on 2011, February 8)

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 5. Maass, Alan. ‘‘John Lennon’s revolution’’. 2006. SocialistWorker.org
http://socialistworker.org/2006-2/604/604_13_Lennon.shtml
(Accessed on 2011, February 8)
6. Malmo-Levine, David. ‘‘Was John Lennon Killed for his Pot Activism?’’. 2006.
Cannabis Culture Magazine, Marijuana Magazine.
http://www.cannabisculture.com/articles/4764.html
(Accessed on 2011, February 8)
7. Maughan, Greg. ‘‘Beatlemania – The Politics of John Lennon’’. 2009. Socialist
Alternative. http://www.socialistalternative.org/news/article20.php?id=1217
(Accessed on 2011, February 8)
8. McMillian, John. ‘‘Re-imagine’’. 2010. The Boston Globe.
http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/ideas/articles/2010/12/05/re_imagine/
(Accessed on 2011, February 8)
9. Richards, Paul. ‘‘The lost politics of John Lennon’’. 2010. LabourList.org.
http://www.labourlist.org/the-lost-politics-of-john-lennon
(Accessed on 2011, February 8)

Documentary:

1. The U.S. vs. John Lennon, directed and written by David Leaf and John Scheinfeld,
Lionsgate Films, 2006.

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