In 1986, the liberal weekly The Village Voice had its offices picketed by aged left-wing protesters. What occasioned this protest was an interview columnist Paul Berman conducted with William Herrick, who had served in the Abraham Lincoln Brigade during the Spanish Civil War. According to Berman, Herrick, during the interview, “decided to tell me things that he had never told anyone, not even his wife, about his time in Spain.” Asserting that the Brigade “answered to the Communist chain of command, which included the GPU,” Herrick recounted how he was indirectly warned after he mildly criticized the Party. As he...