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FROM RUSSIA TO ROOSEVELT 35
scarcely any effort on its part.” Many who did not join remained sympathetic
fellow travelers. During the Popular Front period of 1935–39,
when the Communist Party encouraged an alliance with the American
left, well-meaning liberals fl ocked to myriad antifascist, pro-labor front
organizations. Far more than just a political party, Communism was a
whole climate of opinion. 60
Nowhere was the mood more pronounced than in New York’s artistic
and literary circles. One of the Party’s most powerful front groups was
the American Writers’ Congress, which called for a “new literature” to
support a new society, and even convinced President Roosevelt to accept
an honorary membership. “The Stalinists and their friends, under multiform
disguises, have managed to penetrate into the offi ces of publishing
houses, the editorial staffs of magazines, and the book-review
sections of conservative newspapers,” wrote Phillip Rahv, founder of
Partisan Review, in 1938. The result was de facto censorship, he asserted. 61
Not that Rahv was opposed to Marxism; indeed, he led the charge of
the Trotskyites, a rival Communist faction. The debate was not about
the merits of Communism; it was about what form of Communism
was best.
Rand had fl ed Soviet Russia only to fi nd herself still surrounded by
Communists. None of the talk about a new economic order impressed
her. Her struggles in Hollywood only reinforced her belief in individualistic
values, and she remained committed to the competitive market
system her father had thrived under during her youth. Even now, in the
depth of the depression, Rand scoffed at any collective solution to the
country’s economic agony.
She was particularly outraged by the glowing reports about life in
Russia. The Rosenbaums’ letters made clear that conditions had only
deteriorated in the years since she had left. Even her highly educated
and extremely resourceful family was just scraping by. Her artistic sisters
were working as tour guides and dutifully attending political meetings
to keep their employment. In his new role as house husband Rand’s
father scoured the streets for days in search of a lightbulb. The household
rejoiced when Anna Rosenbaum was once able to purchase an
entire bag of apples. 62 Rand had a manuscript that exposed the horrors
of life under Communism, but wealthy New Yorkers who had never
been to Russia only sniffed at her testimony.
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