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In addition, he chose to align himself with the Communists in 1952 despite his fellow left-wing intellectuals leaving the Communist Party in droves with the news of Stalin's crimes coming to the forefront. In response to this, he gave the following comments that completely contradicted his stance in his manifesto on commitment in ''Les Temps modernes'', "As we were not members of the Party or avowed sympathizers, it was not our duty to write about Soviet labour camps; we were free to remain aloof from quarrels over the nature of this system, provided no events of sociological significance occurred."<ref>Quoted in Walter Laqueur and G.L. Mosse, ''Literature and Politics in the Twentieth Century'' (New York, 1967), p. 25.</ref>

In addition, he chose to align himself with the Communists in 1952 despite his fellow left-wing intellectuals leaving the Communist Party in droves with the news of Stalin's crimes coming to the forefront. In response to this, he gave the following comments that completely contradicted his stance in his manifesto on commitment in ''Les Temps modernes'', "As we were not members of the Party or avowed sympathizers, it was not our duty to write about Soviet labour camps; we were free to remain aloof from quarrels over the nature of this system, provided no events of sociological significance occurred."<ref>Quoted in Walter Laqueur and G.L. Mosse, ''Literature and Politics in the Twentieth Century'' (New York, 1967), p. 25.</ref>

He also allowed himself to be made a performing bear at the December 1952 Communist World Peace Movement conference in Vienna, Austria, which meant truckling to Fadayev, who had previously referred to him as a hyena and a jackal, as well as very blatantly lying about how the three most important events of his life were the Popular Front of 1936, the Liberation, and the Communist World Peace Movement (which he referred to as 'this congress'), and also proceeded to cancel the performance in Vienna of his old, anti-Communist play ''Les Mains sales'' at the behest of the Communist Party bosses at least a year later.<ref>''Les Lettres françaises'', 1–8 January 1953; ''Le Monde'', 25 September 1954.</ref>

He also allowed himself to be made a performing bear at the December 1952 Communist World Peace Movement conference in Vienna, Austria, which meant truckling to Fadayev, who had previously referred to him as a hyena and a jackal, as well as very blatantly lying about how the three most important events of his life were the Popular Front of 1936, the Liberation, and the Communist World Peace Movement (which he referred to as 'this congress'), and also proceeded to cancel the performance in Vienna of his old, anti-Communist play ''Les Mains sales'' at the behest of the Communist Party bosses at least a year later.<ref>''Les Lettres françaises'', 1–8 January 1953; ''[[Le Monde]]'', 25 September 1954.</ref>

And he also proceeded to go to ludicrous lengths to back the Communist Party line in action and words, including his giving a very fawning account of the Soviet Union in July 1954 during a two-hour interview from the Communist ''Liberation'' magazine, being comparable to George Bernard Shaw's infamous expedition to the USSR in the early 1930s.<ref>''Liberation'' 15–20 July 1954</ref> Among the claims he made in the interview were that the Soviet citizens did not travel simply because they had no desire to leave the country, and not because they were prevented from doing so, and also said regarding freedom of speech in the country the following: "The Soviet citizens, criticize their government much more and more effectively than we do. There is total freedom of criticism in the USSR." He later admitted in 1976 this claim was a lie, or at least he didn't actually believe the claims when he wrote them and claimed he did so because otherwise it was "impolite," and falsely implied he didn't know where he stood when in fact he knew full well where he stood.<ref>"After my first visit to the USSR in 1954, I lied. Actually, lie might be too strong a word : I wrote an article . . . where I said a number of friendly things about the USSR which I did not believe. I did it partly because I considered that it is not polite to denigrate your hosts as soon as you return home, and partly because I didn't really know where I stood in relation to both the USSR and my own ideas." &ndash; ''Situations X'' (Paris, 1976), p. 220</ref>

And he also proceeded to go to ludicrous lengths to back the Communist Party line in action and words, including his giving a very fawning account of the Soviet Union in July 1954 during a two-hour interview from the Communist ''Liberation'' magazine, being comparable to George Bernard Shaw's infamous expedition to the USSR in the early 1930s.<ref>''Liberation'' 15–20 July 1954</ref> Among the claims he made in the interview were that the Soviet citizens did not travel simply because they had no desire to leave the country, and not because they were prevented from doing so, and also said regarding freedom of speech in the country the following: "The Soviet citizens, criticize their government much more and more effectively than we do. There is total freedom of criticism in the USSR." He later admitted in 1976 this claim was a lie, or at least he didn't actually believe the claims when he wrote them and claimed he did so because otherwise it was "impolite," and falsely implied he didn't know where he stood when in fact he knew full well where he stood.<ref>"After my first visit to the USSR in 1954, I lied. Actually, lie might be too strong a word : I wrote an article . . . where I said a number of friendly things about the USSR which I did not believe. I did it partly because I considered that it is not polite to denigrate your hosts as soon as you return home, and partly because I didn't really know where I stood in relation to both the USSR and my own ideas." &ndash; ''Situations X'' (Paris, 1976), p. 220</ref>