Unnamed Members of the Communist Party

When an F.B.I. agent tries in 1940 to interrogate Stevens about Linda Snopes Kohl's activities, he mentions the people in the United States who are "Communist members and agents," and includes in this group "Jewish sculptors and Columbia professors" as well as "important people" (261). The Communist Party USA was a major political element during the Great Depression, working both to advance the interests of the Soviet Union and to improve the lives of American workers and blacks; it also organized the Lincoln Brigade to fight the Fascists (as Linda and her husband did) during the Spanish Civil War. As an organized party, it was essentially made illegal by the Smith Act in 1940, though fear of communism and communists was a major element in the politics of the 1950s.