Joe Strummer was no ‘ordinary Joe’. He was the most radical, politically aware and politically engaged performer of his peers. He prosecuted his politics with mass appeal, making him more successful in this task than any others from punk onwards. In 1969, radical folk singer Phil Ochs suggested any hope of revolution lay in ‘getting Elvis Presley to become Che Guevara’. Strummer came closer than any other to achieving this. Strummer understood music was a cultural battleground in the fight for social justice. For that, he will always be remembered. His legacy is a living one; it is one that seems to shine brighter the longer apolitical pop reigns. So this is the story of Strummer’s politics: what he thought, said, meant and did. Crucially, it is also the story of what impact he had. It is the story of his politics of radicalism, resistance and rebellion against the established order. It is the story of how one determined and talented individual made such a difference to the attitudes and behaviours of so many others. The study uses the framework of socialist realism to assess Strummer’s contribution and influence.

Having examined Strummer’s political influence using secondary sources, where little explanation and almost no substantiation were provided by those making ‘you changed my life’-type statements, this chapter turns to assess the primary data generated for this study. In doing so, it examines the self-reported evidence of influence on the basis of self-reported perceptions of Strummer and his politics. A key task is to examine whether his socialist period and his move to humanism were detected, and what impact these had. This chapter begins by examining the pilot study testimonies before analysing the full study testimonies. It finds that from amongst those giving testimony, Strummer’s socialist and radical influence was wide, deep and long-lived.

Strummer strayed from the radical road he previously set out upon, best exemplified by his stoutly held sense of socialism in the early to late 1980s. He did not become right wing, in favour of neoliberal individualism, but he did become disillusioned with the prospects for traditional left-wing politics and the collectivism used to pursue these politics. So this chapter begins by examining the predominant messages Strummer dispensed in the last years of his life, before considering his views of ‘new’ Labour, neoliberalism and the ‘new’ imperialism, along with his alternative of decentralised, small-scale, ethical capitalism. The transition from socialist to non-socialist is explained by the move in his personal disposition from certainty to uncertainty occasioning a reorientation. This leads to assessing his views on humanism, opinions, freedom and liberty, and his national identity.

This study provides the first extensive examination of Strummer’s politics and their influence, using a socialist realist framework. Strummer’s political significance stems from using music as a means to communicate radical ideals, which was shown in this study to have had significant influence. On this basis, it can be reasonably ventured he has been the most influential left-wing political musician in Western culture since the mid-1970s because his influence has breadth and depth in developing oppositional, including socialist, consciousness. This conclusion draws together the different threads of the previous chapters. What is noteworthy about this influence is that it has often been premised upon Strummer being perceived as more left wing than he actually was, highlighting that subjective judgements by followers were as important as what Strummer said and did.

This chapter examines what Strummer said about socialism, Marxism and revolution, both generally and in terms of the working class, unions, social movements and political parties. The significant changes in Strummer’s political perspective, where his radicalism dimmed and he moved towards humanism, are explored in Chapter 8. This chapter begins by examining what Strummer said about himself and his formative political influences. It concludes he was not a Marxist, and though his politics were complex in terms of their means and ends, he is best characterised as a social democrat in terms of ends.

There are various challenges that studying Strummer presents. The most obvious is to avoid conflating The Clash with Strummer and, to a lesser extent, Strummer with The Clash. The latter, which is less problematic, sees the impact of The Clash, as a band with members other than Strummer, attributed to Strummer. The former, which is the more problematic, sees Strummer’s impact, especially through his lyrics, attributed to The Clash. But given the dominant division of labour between Joe Strummer and Mick Jones, these conflations are less problematic than they may first seem, because Strummer was the principal lyricist, spokesperson, singer and performance frontperson. However, other challenges come from Strummer himself in terms of his complexity, contradictions and hyperbole. This chapter also lays out the primary and secondary data-gathering methods used.