A long view from the left : memoirs of an American revolutionary / Al Richmond.

Includes index.

I. Childhood and revolution -- II. The generations -- III. Semiprofessional revolutionary - 1 -- IV. Semiprofessional revolutionary - 2 -- V. An old problem of American radicalism -- VI. On the waterfront - 1 -- VII. On the waterfront - 2 -- VIII. Notes on the revolution and the 1930s -- IX. Journalism -- X. The arrest -- XI. The trial -- XII. Reappraisal -- XIII. Difficult decisions.

"Written by a lifelong member of the Communist Party - he was literally born into the movement as some theatre children are born to the stage, and was a political prisoner of sorts at the age of five - the book is neither confessional nor self-justification but a sober, searching attempt to evaluate both its author's role as a rank-and-file leader, organizer, and spokesman, and the basic meaning of Communist Party strategy at each juncture. Throughout his concern is less for the past that the present, and his intended audience not tired and retired radicals of his own generation but still active radicals of all generations. The tone is not one of nostalgia or disillusionment but one of practical concern and judgment." - From Science and Society.