A Life of the Party

What propelled the daughter of a renowned Jewish scholar to join a movement on the fringe of American society that rejected religion, capitalism, and other mainstream ideals?

Amy Schechter, born in England and educated in the United States, devoted two-thirds of her life, more than four decades, to the Communist Party in a quest to improve the lives of working men and women.

Party work took her across the United States, from textile mills and coal fields to shipyards and docks. During one of ...