Paul Froelich was a key figure in the formative years of German Communism. From a working-class family, he was active in the Social Democratic Party from the late 1890s, a left radical opposed to the First World War, and a founder member of the German Communist Party (KPD). His previously unpublished memoir, only recently discovered, casts valuable new light on a key period, particularly the intervention by the Communist International that led to the disastrous 'March action' of 1921.

The 'Red International of Labour Unions' (RILU) was a central instrument for the spreading of international communism during the inter-war period. This comprehensive history, based on extensive research in the former communist archives in Moscow and East Berlin, sheds significant light on the international trade union movement of the period, tracing the evolution of RILU from its origins to dissolution.

The political uses of historical writing--namely the genres of biography and autobiography within communist and socialist traditions--are closely examined in this issue of "Socialist History Journal." Leading the way, Reiner Torsorff presents the first-ever biographical study written in English of Alexander Losowski--his life before the revolution, his rise in the Profintern, and beyond. Steve Hopkins examines Irish republican autobiography--its political forms and functions. Emmet O'Connor critically examines the autobiography of Irish Communists in the Spanish Civil War with an eye toward the mythic purposes which such writing serves. Additionally, Neil Redfern conveys the story of Michael Shapiro, the "Daily Worker China" correspondent who sided with the Chinese in the Sino-Soviet splits in the 1960s.