Editing Ronald Radosh (section)

==Early life==
Radosh was born in the [[Lower East Side of Manhattan]] and raised in [[Washington Heights, Manhattan|Washington Heights]].<ref>Ronald Radosh, ''Commies; A Journey Through the [[Old Left]], the New Left, and the Leftover Left'', Encounter Books, 2001. pages 10-11</ref> His parents, Reuben Radosh and Ida Kreichman, were Ashkenazi Jewish immigrants from [[Eastern Europe]]. A self-described [[red diaper baby]] who was, "born on the First of May", Radosh has stated that his earliest memory is of being taken to a [[May Day]] parade in [[Union Square (New York City)|Union Square]].<ref>Ronald Radosh, ''Commies; A Journey Through the Old Left, the New Left, and the Leftover Left'', Encounter Books, 2001. page 1.</ref> His maternal uncle, Irving Keith (formerly Irving Kreichman), had trained at the [[International Lenin School]] in Moscow and then travelled to the [[Second Spanish Republic]] to fight as a Commissar in the [[Abraham Lincoln Brigade]] during the [[Spanish Civil War]]. Irving Keith, who was [[killed in action]] during the spring 1938 retreat, was revered as an [[anti-fascist]] martyr by the Radosh family and his nephew grew up regularly re-reading his letters. It was only decades later that Radosh became very critical of his uncle's many written defenses of the ongoing [[Red Terror (Spain)|Red Terror]] by the [[Servicio de Información Militar]] throughout the [[Spanish Republican Army]], by simply repeating the [[conspiracy theory]] that all members of the [[anti-Stalinist Left]] were a crypto-fascist "[[fifth column|rearguard]]" who sought to "create divisions in the Popular Front".<ref>Ronald Radosh, ''Commies; A Journey Through the Old Left, the New Left, and the Leftover Left'', Encounter Books, 2001. pages 9-10.</ref>

In the 1940s and the 1950s, Radosh attended the [[Little Red School House]] and [[Elisabeth Irwin High School]], both of which were private schools for children from the [[Communist Party USA]] families. He also attended the communist-run Camp Woodland for Children in the [[Catskill Mountains]].<ref>''Commies'', Chapter 2, "Commie Camp", pages 15–24.</ref> His memoirs vividly describe school-day encounters with [[Mary Travers (singer)|Mary Travers]], [[Woody Guthrie]], and [[Peter Seeger]].<ref>''Commies'', Chapter 3, "The Little Red Schoolhouse", pages 25–48.</ref> Like almost everyone else he knew, Radosh was involved in protesting against American involvement in the [[Korean War]] and also believed in [[William A. Reuben]]'s "first conspiracy theory ... that the U.S. Government had framed [[Julius and Ethel Rosenberg|the Rosenbergs]] and forced the key government witness, [[Harry Gold]], to [[perjury|lie on the witness stand]]".<ref>Ronald Radosh, ''Commies; A Journey Through the Old Left, the New Left, and the Leftover Left'', Encounter Books, 2001. pages 46-47.</ref>

On June 19, 1953, Radosh joined [[Howard Fast]] and [[Civil Rights Congress]] leader [[William L. Patterson]] in a mass demonstration in [[Union Square (New York City)|Union Square]] against the imminent execution of [[Julius and Ethel Rosenberg]]. When Fast announced that the Rosenbergs were being led into the execution chamber, Radosh recalls that a wail went through the crowd and the Party's folk singers began singing, ''[[Go Down Moses]]''. The following morning, Radosh attended the Rosenbergs' subsequent secular funeral in full [[Labor Youth League]] regalia. He later recalled, "That moment would remain etched in my memory, forever the symbol of what awaited good, progressive Jews who dared to stand up for their beliefs. It would take almost forty years for me to face up to the real meaning of the Rosenberg case for America."<ref>''Commies'', pages 47–48.</ref>