The 1920s and early 1930s were a very turbulent time in the working-class movement. As the ruling class no longer could maintain its power by means of bourgeois democracy, it took recourse to fascist dictatorship. The working-class movement was smashed – by the most brutal terror ever experienced by humanity. The revolutionaries were forced deeply underground.

The fascist dictatorship was destroyed by military means. But under the cloak of "education for democracy" the Western occupying powers exercised a veiled dictatorship for the purpose of unimpeded preparation of the Cold War. The German reactionaries were involved in this plan. The spearhead was directed at the Soviet Union.

Against this historical backdrop the author also describes his personal experiences and struggles as a functionary of the working-class movement: The past comes alive.