Howard Fast, well-known communist author, was mentioned in the last chapter. After years of Party membership and thousands of words of communist propaganda, he quit. The revelations of Khrushchev about Stalin’s murderous regime were too much. “The dimensions of this horror were not only beyond anything we could have dreamed of ... I was filled with loathing and disgust.” On the West Coast Barbara Hartle, because of her fiery energy and zeal, was recognized in Party circles as the outstanding woman communist in the Pacific Northwest. So active was she in Party circles that she was indicted, tried, and convicted under the Smith Act. But she, too, became disillusioned. Like Louis Budenz, Bella Dodd, Howard Fast, and Joseph Clark, she added her name to the growing list of communists who have said, “We’ve had enough. We’re quitting.” To understand why members break with the Party, let’s examine the case of Barbara Hartle, who exemplifies the anguish of a Party official desperately seeking her way to freedom. Her experiences may enable members still in the Party to look into their own hearts. Are they being beset by the same doubts? Why have these doubts arisen? What is working to increase or to quell them? On the other hand, Barbara Hartle’s story will give the patriotic citizen an appreciation of the anguish experienced by Party members on their journey to freedom. He can learn to be understanding, patient, and helpful. He will see, for instance, how a sympathetic citizen helped Barbara free herself from communist entanglement. On March 12, 1954, Barbara Hartle walked into the Seattle office of the FBI. She didn’t need to identify herself. The previous October she, along with four other top Party leaders, had been convicted in Seattle under the Smith Act. Barbara Hartle told her story: She had been graduated in 1929, Phi Beta Kappa, from Washington State College, majoring in English; then she went to Spokane, trying to find a job. Those were depression days and her story is all too typical. Hoping for a “better world,” she began to read Karl Marx. Deeply impressed, she joined the Socialist, then the Communist, Party. Her rise was rapid. Later she was transferred to Seattle where she occupied some of the highest Party positions in the Washington State organization. “I’ll go to jail if I must,” she once declared, “but I’ll remain a communist.” One day in 1945 Barbara Hartle sat writing an article for the communist press. Earl Browder was on his way out as head of the communist movement. By force of habit she defended him. But Party experience taught otherwise. Foster was now the “boss.” Confused by the sudden Party shift, she tore up the article.