We have lost singer, actress, and literacy organizer Dolly Parton. Her contributions will not be forgotten.
Dolly Parton was a working-class icon, and socialists should celebrate her legacy. Karl wrote so Dolly could sing.
Common cultural critics in 2026 will say that country music is for conservatives. Identitarian leftists might criticize Parton for catering to the "Male Gaze". Effete intellectionals might dismiss her as crass and cartoonish. A closer look at the life and work of the late Dolly Parton is worthwhile, and tells a completely different story.
Becoming Dolly
As a child, Dolly would accompany her mother on supply trips to town from their home the rural Tenessee mountains. It was on these occasional trips that Dolly discovered her persona. In several interviews, Dolly described the moment on one of these trips that she noticed a woman walking on the street, and exclaimed to her mother "She's So Pretty!" Dolly's mom dismissed Dolly and admonished the woman: "Oh, she’s just trash." Dolly (still a child, and not fully understanding what her mom was saying) immidiately decided that that was exactly what she wanted to be: a trashy, gorgious woman. ("So I grew up just like her, I loved the makeup and nails and heels”)[https://www.facebook.com/ellentv/videos/dolly-parton-told-me-about-the-real-person-she-modeled-her-look-after/1327786542761705/]
Dolly developed this persona bereft of resources, and in addition to her singing and instrument practice regimen, she began using burnt matches to darken her eyes, crushed berries to redden her face, and merthiolate from the first aid kit as lipstick. She urged others to do their best: "You'll figure it out if you're inclined."
Parton described her work schedule in a 1979 interview: "It consumes most of my time, we do press conferences during the day, then we do the soundcheck, then we have supper, then we do the show. By the time the day's over, I'm pretty much ready to go to sleep. When you reach a certain point in the business you can call your own shots; I've always worked hard, I don't mind hard work: I think it's healthy for you. But it can be just as unhealthy if you work too much to where you don't have time to be close to the things you love the most." This is a rearticulation of what Karl Marx taught us. Working class people inevitably must "take pride" in their work to be successful, but despite the chance at class elevation the capitalist machine continually demands more output, and the "productive" worker always wishes they had more free time. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_J6tU8X1bIk
Literacy Program
Dolly famously founded a program that provides free books to children at no cost. Dolly Parton's Imagination Library has distributed over 300 million books, with a current rate of 3 million books sent per month. Normally, socialists should criticize wealthy charities: as we know, many "charities" operated by celebrities and wealthy individuals are cardboard PR-first tax-loophole shell companies that do not achieve anything meaningful. While I would love to live in a world where charity is obsolete, Dolly's work stands on its own. Countless celebrity charities have come and gone in the Imagination Library's 31 years of putting books in working-class children's hands.
For Dolly, this was personal. Her father was illiterate and Dolly was aware as a child that his opportunities were limited. In her appeal for contributions to the library, she said, "Before he passed away, my Daddy told me the Imagination Library was probably the most important thing I had ever done. I can’t tell you how much that meant to me because I created the Imagination Library as a tribute to my Daddy. He was the smartest man I have ever known but I know in my heart his inability to read probably kept him from fulfilling all of his dreams." Starting with her own county in Tennessee, Dolly was able to expand the library to serve children in 5 countries, crossing international borders. Most importantly, Dolly used her voice as an influencer and role-model to directly appeal to children and simply encourage more reading generally. (https://youtu.be/tscb01jfukc) "Let's share this dream where all children should grow up in a home full of books".
LGBTQ Ally and Feminist
Dolly Parton famously never shied away from an opportunity to stand up for groups that society has marginalized. In 1991, long before gay marriage was seriously discussed on the US political scene, Dolly released “Family”, a song about accepting and loving family members who were open about their sexuality. She also advocated directly for extending civil marriage rights to queer people, telling Larry King that “Judgement should be left to God”. She once asked a journalist “Why can’t they be as miserable as us heterosexuals in their marriages?” Perhaps those rhinestones reflected something deeper about the concept of “gender as a performance” that predated the discourse. Dolly once entered and lost a Dolly Parton lookalike contest in a West Hollywood nightclub. Never forgetting the stakes and the terrain, Dolly was actually flattered to be superseded by an exaggerated imitation of herself. She even condemned the mid-2010s transgender bathroom bans, and said that she would use whatever was available when she needed to go.
Writing Style
Dolly was part of the historic Appalachian American Folk music tradition, and this is reflected in her writing. A lot of times these sessions are informal, social gatherings where perhaps this week a mandolin player and a banjo player will show up, while last week there was an upright bass and guitar, while the subsequent week might have a pianist. This arrangement required flexible leadership and material that was easy to teach and learn quickly, even to beginners. This is actually an organizing situation, where optimizing to include the most people increases community solidarity. To the point, many of Dolly's songs are easy to play along to for a beginner musician, while still being interesting, fun, and beautiful enough for experienced musicians to enjoy as well. The folk scene also tends to have more cross-generational music sessions that facilitate traditional knowledge passing down, often without anyone ever putting pen to paper. It was on this scene, learning to play hundreds of American folk songs with members of her working-class community, that Dolly gained her mastery of performance. This extended not only to the instrument and singing but to the social performance of music, Dolly's on stage persona and notorious inter-song banter was unmatched. Importantly, she left something for all of us (from casual listeners to complete nerds like me) with her extensive catalog.
9 to 5
It is worth taking a moment to focus on Dolly's hit song and film "9 to 5". In the film, Dolly plays Doralee, who forms an alliance with other women in the office to overthrow a sexist tyrant boss who started a rumor about having an affair with Dolly's character. This boss, Mr. Hart, also passed up several experienced women in the office and instead promoted a less-qualified man, and fired a Latina woman for discussing her salary.
After one of the disgruntled women accidentally almost poisons the boss, he summons Doralee (Dolly) to his office and tells her she can keep her job only if she sleeps with him. Doralee refuses and her and her coworkers immediately kidnap and confine Mr. Hart. While the office dictator is gone, Doralee and the girls implement no-cost office daycare, equal pay, flexible hours, and work from home. Hart escapes captivity just in time to arrive at the office as the CEO makes an inspection visit, just in time to take credit for the increased productivity. An epilogue in the film's credits states that Doralee “quit the company and went on to be a country music star”.
While obviously a slapstick comedy, the film told a story of a member of the petit bourgeoise being abusive and workers organising reclaiming their power while navigating an intersecting class struggle. Most importantly, the workers failed and humiliated themselves a bit along the way and discovered themselves in the process of reclaiming their power and improving their material conditions. Additionally the song "9 to 5" is gorgeous, and uses some classic appalachian folk chordal motifs and a 70s rock disco rhythm typical of the period to tell a story that Karl Marx himself would probably have sung along to:
B (IV)
Working 9 to 5 yeah hey got you where they want you
F# (I)
There's a better life and you think about it don't you
B (IV)
It's a rich man's game no matter what they call it
Am7 (ii) C# (V)
And you spend your life putting money in his wallet
B (IV)
9 to 5 what a way to make a living
F# (I)
Barely gettin' by it's all taking and no giving
B (IV)
They just use your mind and they never give you credit
Am7 (ii) C# (V)
Its enough to drive you crazy if you let it
Dolly was able to accomplish all of this while somehow remaining "apolitical". This is an incredibly commendable achievement, as there is always some outrageous horror in the capitalist world to be pissed off about. Dolly demonstrated duality, and remained sincere and empathetic, never falling into neoliberal "relentless positivity.” Say what you want about Nietzsche, I think the Nazis got him wrong and he was correct that art is the proper task of life. Dolly did that. Today, we can see reflections of this pursuit in the way Mamdani carries himself, even in adversarial environments. We can see this spirit in Alyssa Liu quitting figure skating out of frustration with the system and coming back to the sport, picking her own coach, and winning on her own terms. We likewise see it in Donald Fagan and Walter Becker blowing out their record company’s budget and tossing aside many great session takes in a relentless pursuit of a perfect record. A positive vision and a plan are never skippable if the goal is to get something done. A smile and a bit of encouragement and trust can go a long way to bring the best out of someone, if you mean it. We have a lot of work to do and need to work together to accomplish anything. These are the enduring lessons of Dolly Parton. When I do my organizing work, I won't forget.
“It’s been quite a journey, but we have so much left to do”