By the time of the cotton strike, John Steinbeck had become acquainted with members of the John Reed Club in Carmel. The John Reed Club was the party’s organization for intellectuals, and club members were avid supporters of the CAWIU. Not limited to party members, the Carmel club included Lincoln Steffens, the Progressive Era muckraking journalist, and his wife, Ella Winter. Through the John Reed Club, Steinbeck met two organizers from the cotton strike, hiding near Carmel to avoid arrest for criminal syndicalism. Steinbeck talked with them about their experiences, and those conversations led to his description of the strike and the Communist organizer, Mack, in In Dubious Battle, published in 1936. Steffens sent Darcy a copy of the book and wrote that Mack was modeled on Darcy. Darcy, then in Moscow, was incensed by Steinbeck’s account of Mack delivering a baby despite having no experience. Darcy recalled that he replied to Steffens, “Steinbeck is a jerk. If I’d caught an organizer doing anything like that, as adventurous an act as risking a child’s life, I’d throw him the hell out.”