To Barbara Hartle’s lasting credit, she did not try to evade responsibilities for her past errors. The information that she furnished the FBI is now at work against the very Party that for almost twenty years duped her. And she, with a clear conscience, is winning back the respect and esteem she had before the Party stole her away. She deserves aid as she reconstructs her life. Many interviews with Party members reflect numerous men and women inside the movement today in various stages of disillusionment. Such doubts are good omens. They indicate that not all members are lost beyond recall. By the very nature of Party discipline doubts are inevitable. Any member in the Party today without doubts is indeed a complete slave. What causes doubt to arise in the minds of members? Our experiences reveal these major categories: 1. _The absence of freedom inside the Party._ The greatest single factor making for doubt is the lack of democracy inside the Party. “I was constantly whipped into line,” one member said, “on policies and issues with which I disagreed.” “Discussions at meetings were not open....” Party organizers would come and tell the club what to do. “Why Writer Quit Reds: They Frown on Thinking,” read a headline in a New York City newspaper. This member could no longer force himself “to live in the stifling atmosphere of the party line with all its ruthless intolerance for the processes of the mind.” In another instance a woman told us how she had voted “no” in a Party meeting. “People literally moved their chairs away from me. I walked out of the meeting and never attended a Communist Party meeting again.” More and more intellectuals are realizing that the Party is simply exploiting their prestige and talents, without trusting them. Intellectuals are encouraged to think, if they think the “right” way; but any independent thinking is not allowed. That is why, in the final analysis, the Party keeps the pressure on its members who are intellectuals. It fears that they might start thinking for themselves. As one intellectual stated, “I think that the Party was using me, as they were many other intellectuals.... I always had the feeling that they never trusted intellectuals beyond a certain limit....” 2. _The inability to live a normal life._ Closely allied is the impossibility of living as a decent human being. One member said he resented the Party’s constantly demanding his time. There was no end of assignments: distributing literature, attending meetings, getting petitions signed. Another member complained that she was “sick and tired” of her husband’s putting the Party before her and the children. The Party’s instructions must always take precedence. This constant stealing of time, never allowing the member to relax, develop a hobby, or enjoy a family, provokes the most searching doubts.