The following exchange was initiated when Max Elbaum was invited to respond to the short essay by Dennis O'Neil posted with the family tree of FRSO and the US new communist movement of the 1970s. After a long delay, Dennis answered Max, and Max promptly responded.

Max is one of the people best able to comment on the experience of this period. His activism goes back to the '60s in Madison, Wisconsin and he was actively involved in the section of the new communist movement (NCM, for short) sometimes called The Trend. (See Ethan Young's historical essay below on this grouping.) He was a member of Line of March and its successor group, the Frontline Political Organization, and in the early '90s, an editor of the influential magazine Crossroads. In addition to this practical background, he has devoted serious study to the experience of the NCM. His analysis will be laid out in a forthcoming book, Revolution in the Air: From Malcolm and Martin to Lenin, Mao & Che.

Max has been given the last word in the exchange posted today due neither to good manners on our part nor to our conceding the field to him, but in the hope that other people may wish to take part in this discussion as well, and that fresh voices will have something more to offer that neither Max nor Dennis has touched on. Please send your comments to This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it and indicate whether or not it is okay to post them in this part of the FRSO website.