Joe-

While I agree with much of your statement above, the generalization of "They were idealists who believed in justice and freedom" is probably a stretch. There were many U.S. Communists who were simply pedantic cranks, and others who while well-intentioned were willing to shift political priorities radically when the party line as directed from Moscow changed. When Hitler's Germany formed a non-agression pack with Stalin's USSR in the late 1930's, U.S. Communists shifted from opposing fascism to opposing U.S. involvement in a capitalist European war. Then when Germany invaded the USSR, there was the new united front against fascism. The Almanac Singers (some of whose members later formed the Weavers) repetoire shifted accordingly. Of course, if I were a progressive back then I probably would have followed suit as well.

Charley Noble