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More oxford books @ www.OxfordeBook.comFore more urdu books visit www.4Urdu.comFROM RUSSIA TO ROOSEVELT 35scarcely any effort on its part.” Many who did not join remained sympatheticfellow travelers. During the Popular Front period of 1935–39,when the Communist Party encouraged an alliance with the Americanleft, well-meaning liberals flocked to myriad antifascist, pro-labor frontorganizations. Far more than just a political party, Communism was awhole climate of opinion. 60Nowhere was the mood more pronounced than in New York’s artisticand literary circles. One of the Party’s most powerful front groups wasthe American Writers’ Congress, which called for a “new literature” tosupport a new society, and even convinced President Roosevelt to acceptan honorary membership. “The Stalinists and their friends, under multiformdisguises, have managed to penetrate into the offices of publishinghouses, the editorial staffs of magazines, and the book-reviewsections of conservative newspapers,” wrote Phillip Rahv, founder ofPartisan Review, in 1938. The result was de facto censorship, he asserted. 61Not that Rahv was opposed to Marxism; indeed, he led the charge ofthe Trotskyites, a rival Communist faction. The debate was not aboutthe merits of Communism; it was about what form of Communismwas best.Rand had fled Soviet Russia only to find herself still surrounded byCommunists. None of the talk about a new economic order impressedher. Her struggles in Hollywood only reinforced her belief in individualisticvalues, and she remained committed to the competitive marketsystem her father had thrived under during her youth. Even now, in thedepth of the depression, Rand scoffed at any collective solution to thecountry’s economic agony.She was particularly outraged by the glowing reports about life inRussia. The Rosenbaums’ letters made clear that conditions had onlydeteriorated in the years since she had left. Even her highly educatedand extremely resourceful family was just scraping by. Her artistic sisterswere working as tour guides and dutifully attending political meetingsto keep their employment. In his new role as house husband Rand’sfather scoured the streets for days in search of a lightbulb. The householdrejoiced when Anna Rosenbaum was once able to purchase anentire bag of apples. 62 Rand had a manuscript that exposed the horrorsof life under Communism, but wealthy New Yorkers who had neverbeen to Russia only sniffed at her testimony.