Ballads of the B.E.F.

A collection of music for the Bonus Army (AKA the Bonus Expeditionary Force, as they called themselves), a group of World War I veterans who marched on Washington seeking the bonuses the government had promised them for their services but had never paid. It didn't end well: in 1932 President Hoover would have them gassed, shot at, and charged by the military under MacArthur. This particular collection of songs was produced anonymously by the Communist Party USA, looking to piggyback on the cause of the Bonus Army (whose exact politics remain the subject of debate amongst historians to this day). Similar to IWW songbooks, these are parodies of well-known songs with political, sometimes bitterly humorous lyrics. Illustrated.