The Red Decade: The Classic Work on Communism in America During the Thirties

Book excerpt: Originally titled The Red Decade: Stalinist Penetration of America, this work describes a period in American history in the 1930s characterized by a widespread infatuation with communism in general and Stalinism in particular. Lyons believed this idolization of Joseph Stalin and of Bolshevik achievements to have reached its high point in 1938, running deepest amongst liberals, intellectuals, and journalists and even some government and federal officials. Of relevance today in light of the current interest in Socialism expressed by young voters and progressives in the U.S.