Pierre Courtade (1915-1963) was recognized by his peer group to be an independent, sharply intelligent thinker and a talented writer. His principal work consists of journalism - near daily articles in the Communist press during the late 1940s and 1950s - six novels (two unpublished) and two volumes of short stories. This first study examines the conflict between Courtade's private and public personas and in particular his role as a political commentator and as an artist struggling to reconcile his talent with the demands made by Party ideology. A close analysis of Courtade's life and work is based on archival material and interviews with people who knew and worked with him. The author offers an assessment of his contribution to French left-wing intellectual life, placing him in the context of the evolution of French intellectuals' political commitment in the twentieth century. As witness to some of the most critical periods in French history - the Occupation and the Resistance, the Cold War and French involvement in Indo-China - Courtade's responses provide fascinating insights and a new perspective on this turbulent time. . This book will interest students and scholars of 20th-century French literary, cultural and political life.