I Confess

The Truth About American Communism

In 1940, American socialist-turned-conservatist politician Benjamin Gitlow first published this work of political autobiography, I Confess: The Truth About American Communism. The book proved to be controversial and widely noticed, pushing Gitlow into the public eye as a leading opponent of American Communism. To this day, it remains an important primary document for the study of American Communism in the 1920s and 1930s.

“This book is a faithful and, resolutely candid account from the inside—and what is more important, from the top—of a vital phase of recent American history. The history is secret, and might well have remained so but for the extraordinary poise and courage of this man, Ben Gitlow, and his ultimate recovery of clear vision and unmixed devotion to his ideals.”—Max Eastman, Introduction