Sanford’s anger

I enjoyed reading Tim Rutten’s fawning tribute to John Sanford (“Sanford’s Originality Came Through to the End,” March 8). In the piece, much is made of the author’s membership in the Communist Party and his Marxist principles. University of Michigan English professor Alan Wald is quoted as saying that when Sanford’s anger was channeled into hatred of oppression, it was very productive.

Interesting how, at least in the pages of The Times, tired old Communists are portrayed as moist-eyed idealists with a passion for social justice.

In fact, Sanford, together with his comrades, through their membership in the Communist Party, provided implicit and explicit support to one of the most oppressive regimes of the 20th century, perhaps of all time. A system they supported, and its leader, the Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin, slaughtered an estimated 20 million people, displaced and tortured millions more and enslaved much of Eastern Europe.

In the annals of brutally murderous tyrants, Stalin made Adolf Hitler look like a rank amateur. Yet I’d be curious to know how this tribute would have read if Sanford had been a member of the Nazi Party.

Harry V. Vinters

Venice