The Politics of Thoreauvian Punk

Politics is complicated ... and pretty much always has been.

And in my latest project, The Punk on Walden Pond, I am intrigued by the issue of politics in relation to Henry Thoreau and punk rock. Was Thoreau a political writer and theorist? Is punk a political art form? At times Henry Thoreau argued he is not political, and many might say the punk on Walden Pond is above politics. Similarly, while the music and bands of punk rock certainly are anti-establishment and a challenge to the status quo, some musicologists argue that more than 80% of punk songs are not political, and that the bands have no clear political agenda. I'd imagine Joe Strummer, Jello Biafra, and bands like Propagandhi have some thoughts on that.

In my Walden Punk Project, I have a piece-in-progress titled "In the Mosh Pit: the Politics of Thoreauvian Punk." Here are some thoughts from that work.

Chapter 4 of Jane Bennett’s Thoreau's Nature: Ethics Politics & Wild (2002) is titled “Why Thoreau Hates Politics." Thoreau may have hated politics, but that doesn’t mean he wasn’t political. In fact, Bob Pepperman Taylor makes a strong case in two books America’s Bachelor Uncle: Thoreau and the Polity (1996) and Lessons from Walden: Thoreau & the Crisis of American Democracy (2024) for seeing Thoreau primarily as a political writer. He believes that even the supposed “nature writings” such as Walden, "Walking," and "Wild Apples" are actually political positions, specifically in how they criticize and challenge America to be what it claims. And that is as punk as it gets, in my opinion. For, Thoreau is in many ways the first true contemporary critic to challenge the national narrative to call out the American dream to pull back the curtain on the ruse that had been perpetuated against the people.

As far as punk is concerned, it's worth noting that much punk is simply about frustrations with daily life, as opposed to large political manifestos. As Legs McNeil says in his comprehensive history Please Kill Me, “... the great thing about punk was that it had no political agenda. It was about real freedom, personal freedom." In the study Rebel Rock, a review of lyrics suggest only 25% of songs are distinctly political. However, a counterargument is that for the music of a counterculture, even when songs aren’t political, they are. 

In viewing Thoreau as combative and political, and punk as a political movement – even when it’s not trying to be, the key elements are personal conscience and a sense of social justice. The goal of Walden is to promote a kind of personal responsibility because, for Thoreau, the fear is that people will succumb to a less interesting and morally deadening utilitarianism. Thoreau insists that we submit to principles which will make us nonconforming in an unjust world. Thoreau urges readers to be rebellious, be a tradition breaker, be civilly disobedient.