Word: communist
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...book is finally out, and it turns out to be far more personal than that. It is a candid and powerful inquiry into his parents, their union activities during the 1940s and their secret membership in the Communist Party. As Bernstein explains to his father, "It's a very personal book. It's not a history book at all." In fact, it is a book about writing a book, a book about Bernstein writing the book that his parents did not want him to write...
Soon his parents' loyalty was questioned. In 1951, in front of a Senate committee, Alfred invoked the Fifth Amendment when asked if he was a member of the Communist Party. His wife Sylvia, also active in progressive causes, did the same three years later in front of the House Un-American Activities Committee. The family found itself shunned by many of its neighbors, friends and even relatives. The FBI kept the Bernsteins under surveillance for years (Bernstein's bar mitzvah is duly described), accumulating 2,500 pages of files that pop up in the book...
...loyalties" of the title thus refer to more than just the allegiance Bernstein's parents had to the Communist Party and to their Government. The real struggle in the book is between Carl's loyalty to (and love for) his parents and his search for the truth about their lives. At times his quest becomes traumatic. Bob Woodward makes cameo appearances, comforting his former partner when he breaks into tears at the memory of a childhood schoolmate calling his mother a Communist...
...honesty, Bernstein upholds the honor of his parents. They were never subversives, never disloyal to their country, he says. His sensitivity to Alfred and Sylvia (both still living) means that he never quite penetrates the deepest questions: Exactly why did people like them join the Communist Party? Just what did they do at their cell meetings? Was there in fact some danger in having people working for the Government whose loyalty was also to the Communist Party? And, on a more personal level, does he feel he has betrayed the father he clearly loves very deeply...
...accord is carried out, it will mark the first time a Communist government has voluntarily ceded a major share of power to the opposition. Not only would Solidarity and other opposition groups be free to compete for seats in the 98-member senate, but there would also be liberalized elections to the Sejm in which non-Communists could win up to 35% of the 460 seats. The two chambers would then elect the President. Details of the pact will not be unveiled until April 3, but both sides have already agreed to June parliamentary elections...