Gerald Lenoir
Berkeley, California

I found Max Elbaum's book on the New Communist Movement (NCM) interesting and informative. Max's factual and historical account of the rise and fall of the NCM is helpful for those of us who lived through it and can be valuable for today's young radicals. His attention to detail and analysis of what went wrong were compelling. His description of the heady days of the surge in mass movements and their precipitous decline provided the backdrop for the voluntarism and dogmatism of the NCM.

I came into the movement at a time when Third World revolutions headed by Marxists seemingly had U.S. imperialism on the ropes. As a African American activist, I was greatly influenced by the struggles and revolutionaries from Guinea Bissau, Angola, Mozambique, South Africa and Namibia. I and many others espoused the "Third World Marxism" that Max writes about.

More time could have been spent in the book on the influence of the African National Congress and the South African Communist Party on budding revolutionaries of the time. I would have also liked more discussion on the role of the FBI's COINTELPRO in infiltrating and disrupting organizations.

Overall Max's book helped me to take a step back and understand the contributions and failings of the NCM. I would recommend this book to anyone trying to understand the history of the left in the U.S.