1 In Dubious Battle is one of my favorite books too but either Hitchens never read the book or wanted so badly to illustrate a point as to grasp at straws.  "The Party" in the book is only mentioned with dark shady language that implies some type of unseen evil.  The organizers work in the shadows.  Basically, Steinbeck presents the laborers as being equally explotied by the Land Owners (capitalist), that are more interested in profit than people, and the "Party" (communist), which are more concerned with the movement than the people.  While I realize 10 different people can read a book and each see something different, how anyone could walk away thinking that Steinbeck's view was anything other than populist must be...well, Christopher Hitchens...