The U.S. Communist Party, often surprised by the turns of history, had another little surprise last week.
The Party had ganged up on the Book-of-the-Month Club's choice for May, Mark Aldanov's novel The Fifth Seal (Scribner's; $3). The Daily Worker opened the attack with a letter demanding that the club withdraw the novel as "subtly and viciously anti-Soviet." Then the machinery started turning whereby the Party gets a wide assortment of innocent bystanders and fellow travelers to forward the assassination. Labor unions, civic groups and authors received unsigned memorandums, urging protests; many obliged. Protests were made by Sculptor Jo Davidson, Artist...
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