As for the individual Communist at the branch level, four-fifths of the time he followed Party directives, one-fifth of the time he was on his own; on his own, he was supposed to respond to whatever happened in the course of a day in the neighborhood. (“What exactly does that mean?” I ask Lanzetti. “Oh,” he replies, “if there was a tenant conviction, or a sick comrade, or if he was needed to join a picket line, or canvas during an election. Or if the neighborhood needed a traffic light, or a shopkeeper was having trouble with the Fire Department. You know,” he grins, “just like the neighborhood Democratic Party would have operated—only we always got there first.”) The branch member’s other duties consisted of contributing a week’s wages to the Party once a year, selling the Daily Worker, and running off weekly leaflets.