Red Diapers: Growing Up in the Communist Left

If I had read nothing but the introduction I would have been more than rewarded. For one who belongs to this select group it answered many questions I have had about some of my strange, interesting and frustrating characteristics, not too late in the 78 years of my life. I am grateful to the authors and wish i had discovered it sooner.

This is a unique anthology of memoirs of kids who grew up in the 40's and 50's, in the "pink" shadow of the American Communist Party. Most of the nearly fifty contributors of this book are children of Eastern Jewish immigrants. Here are their fascinating memories: Joyous ones of Pioneer Camp, The Daily Worker, public rallies in support of women, workers, minorities, and disarmament. Fearful recollections of the Rosenberg executions, McCartyism, clandestine CP meetings, FBI surveillance, and the dreaded knock on the door in the middle of the night. Disillusioned remembrances of Khrushchev's denouncement of Stalin and the devastating revelation that "Uncle Joe" and the "Workers' Paradise" of the USSR were not what American Communists naively believed. Few of these writers still belong to the CP. A small number speak resentfully of parents who put the Party before family, exposing their children to bigotry and violence or to the anxiety and deprivation of a life "underground". The Party's over. But the great majority of these writers proudly retain their strong leftist values and ideals, and continue to practice the social activism instilled during childhood. This book gives a human and humane dimension to a misled but often wrongfully vilified American political movement.

This highly orginal book did not get the press it deserved when it was first published. It is a collection of brief, yet moving reminiscences written by "red diaper babies" whose parents had a connection -- some more than others -- with the "Movement". It is a definite "must read" for anyone who grew up in the fifties -- whether or not he or she wore red, pink or any other shade of diaper! -- whose parents did not share the prevailing political opinions of the times.