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A Threat of the First Magnitude: FBI Counterintelligence & Infiltration from the Communist Party to the Revolutionary Union - 1962-1974
Leonard, Aaron J.; Gallagher, Conor A.
Date Written: 2018-01-18Publisher: Repeater Books Year Published: 2018 Pages: 330pp Price: $10.37 ISBN: 9781910924709 Resource Type: Book Cx Number: CX22804 A Threat of the First Magnitude reveals the untold story of the FBI informants who penetrated the upper reaches of organizations such as the Communist Party, USA, the Black Panther Party, the Revolutionary Union and other groups labeled threats to the internal security of the United States. Abstract: - Publisher's Description: Sometime in the late fall/early winter of 1962, a document began circulating among members of the Communist Party USA based in the Chicago area, titled "Whither the Party of Lenin." It was signed "The Ad Hoc Committee for Scientific Socialist Line." This was not the work of factionally inclined CP comrades, but rather something springing from the counter-intelligence imagination of the FBI. A Threat of the First Magnitude reveals the untold story of the FBI informants who penetrated the upper reaches of organizations such as the Communist Party, USA, the Black Panther Party, the Revolutionary Union and other groups labeled threats to the internal security of the United States. As once again the FBI is thrust into the spotlight of US politics, A Threat of a First Magnitude offers a view of the historic inner-workings of the Bureau's counterintelligence operations -- from generating "fake news" and the utilization of "sensitive intelligence methods" to the handling of "reliable sources" -- that matches or exceeds the sophistication of any contenders. Praise for A Threat of the First Magnitude: "... an important book in shining a light on government repression and specifically the role of informants against the left." – FightBack! "… a first-rate history lesson in what the US power structure will do to those who threatened left wing revolution. At the same time, it is a warning to those who do so in the future." – Counterpunch "… Leonard and Gallagher turn a welcome spotlight on the informants who infiltrated deeply and likely illegally into radical political groups." – Scott Martelle, author of Blood Passion: The Ludlow Massacre and Class War in the American West "…a fascinating history that is also a prescient warning. After reading this book, I can't help but wonder how things might have turned out if the government's informants had never been members of the groups they helped destroy." – Ron Jacobs, author of The Way the Wind Blew: A History of the Weather Underground |