Fact and Gossip

The Rise and Fall of American Communism, by Philip Jaffe. Introduction by Bertram D. Wolfe. New York: Horizon Press.

By a quirk of history Stalin chose the American Communist party, surely one of the least significant parties in the scheme of world revolution, as the vehicle for a signal to the world that the Soviets were ready to start the Cold War after World War II. Soviet efforts to undermine other societies were as old as the regime itself, but these efforts had been suspended during the early years of the war for survival. When victory was assured, the Soviets again cranked up the machinery geared to subverting the governments of foes and erstwhile friends.

Indeed, the war was still raging in Europe and the F...