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Photo by Gerard Julien/AFP/Getty Images

Speak of irony! Here we sat, Montreal’s haute bourgeoisie, enthralled by one of America’s most successful capitalist’s denunciation of Russia’s contemporary ruthless leader, while 80 years ago his Communist grandfather had enthralled his audiences with ecstatic praise of another era’s ruthless Russian leader. (“With the deepest pride we accept the name of our most beloved teacher and guide. We are indeed Stalinists, and we hope to become ever more worthy of such a glorious name.”— Earl Browder, 1938.)

Six days after the Browder event, the world commemorated the 200th anniversary of the birth of Karl Marx. (Here we tear down statues of dead public figures who retroactively fail today’s tests for social-justice purity; the town of Trier, Germany, where he was born, just erected an 18-foot bronze statue of Marx. Go know.)

All ironies considered, here’s my opportunity to comment on the 1988 book, “Jimmy Higgins”: The Mental World of the American Rank-and-File Communist, 1930-1958 — in which Earl Browder plays a featured role.

She had the audacity not only to leave the CPUSA, but to write this tell-all book

First a word about the author. Aileen Kraditor, now professor emerita at Boston University, had a distinguished career as a feminist scholar. She wrote a pioneering study of the women’s suffrage movement and an influential history of women’s anti-slavery organizations. She held fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation and the National Endowment for the Humanities. But she never got the public recognition she deserved.