correction: entering the war. The Comintern turned on a dime, once Hitler invaded Soviet russia.
How clever of the Communists, and this stupid writer to the editor in Santa Cruz (bedrock fake a@@ hippie heaven Santa Cruz. A city of RVs parked everywhere.)
Read Lynne Olson's "Those Angry Days", and get back to me. While you're at it, her "Troublesome Young Men" will detail the history of the British appeasement movement over the same period leading up to 1939. She has other titles that should appeal to you after you've digested those two.