Conformity to the dollar & the Socialist ethic: on Langston Hughes

I tend to consider myself fairly neutral on the Langston Hughes judgement scale. I can recognize his contributions, his ingenuity in incorporation of both musical rhythms & spoken (vs. written) speech, etc., and how much these trends continued later on; I appreciate his LACK OF CONFORMITY to "white standards", that is, his conflict with other black writers like WEB duBois; but I agree with the point that his message only goes so far, that he has one message, and its not developed or evolving much as his poetry progresses. I, of course, imply that this lack of poetic progression is negative, but what is, of course, even more negative is that (white)views towards blacks weren't changing either, so Hughes had to keep reiterating his point.

Though still, one has to question where his motivations really came from, having a rich white patroness, what she was like, how she influenced he and Hurston's writing. Did she encourage him to be "as black as possible" (in quotes because I realize its a ridiculous statement), speaking in vernacular to emphasize the cultural differences b/w Harlem & the rest of Manhattan? That emphasizing differences put blacks & Harlem culture on display? I don't know anything about this woman, but I think one has to question her. Hughes also wants to highlight these cultural differences, though his motivation is in the now seemingly cliched, but still not fully recognized, statement "black is beautiful," in calling attention to the differences, while saying that the differences are equal, and in some cases, better (as he chastizes the upper-class blacks valuing white attributes, upholding lightness as a standard of female beauty, etc, wanting to "be dull like the Nordics" in their choice of worship music).

One peice that does seem most interesting to me, that I hadn't read before, is Goodbye Christ. In some senses his message has shifted, so that it's no longer the black/white struggle, but the proletariat struggle, the socialist worker, a call to workers of any cultural background, and the "anti-conformist" struggle. (I don't know if anti-conformist would be the right word, communism having its own form of conformity, though it's comformity to a working class, not the elite, where conformity to the elite, hollywood, corporations, in the general way the term is used now). Ain't nobody gonna sell ME To a king, or a general, Or a millionaire. He incorporates so many different politics here, anti-monarch, anti-military, anti-elite. It is very well-done. (And hardly the "simplicity" that his harshest critics assign him).