Fred Siegel’s The Revolt Against the Masses

“The New Deal of the late 1930s unavoidably drew on the same circle of professors and professionals enamored of Moscow. A Communist connection, Edmund Wilson said, became a useful credential for a government job. We know from the unimpeachable Verona transcripts (intercepts of radio communications between American Communist Party and the Kremlin) that by the late 1930s, there were Soviet sympathizers honeycombed throughout the federal government. But it was only after WWII that the ties between the New Dealers, fellow travelers, and Soviet spies became political and emotional tinder.” ─ The Revolt Against the Masses, copyright © 2013 by Fred Siegel, Encounter Books, Page 89.

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“McCarthy was a great and long-lasting gift to the American Left. He allowed apologists for Stalin’s murderous regime to present themselves as innocent victims of Main Street’s prejudices. Even more important in the long run, McCarthyism meant that America’s Communists were never required to explain themselves. This would become a matter of considerable import when a so-called New Left emerged in the 1960s.” ─ The Revolt Against the Masses, copyright © 2013 by Fred Siegel, Encounter Books, Page 96.