SOURCE: "Odets, Miller and Communism," in CLA Journal, Vol. XIX, No. 4, June, 1976, pp. 484-93.

In the following excerpt, Miller discusses Odets's Till the Day I Die and places it within the social and political contexts of its day.

Between the time of the October Revolution and the Stalin-Hitler Pact, many European and American literati were attracted to communism. Some chose communism at a definite time in history because they had lost faith in democracy and they wanted to defeat fascism. When Hitler came to power in Germany, the Soviet Union felt threatened, and out of this uneasiness came "a Russian foreign policy based on support of collective security measures against aggression." Communist parties then adopted the Popular Front, whose purpose was to create political coalitions of all anti-fascist groups. The Communists continued to be effective and consistent opponents of the rising power of Nazi Germany.

The conversion to...