In 1936 a group of Chinese communists were released from jail after a humiliating renunciation of communism. The Chinese Communist Party then secretly employed them to galvanise support in nationalist areas of the country. It later condemned the members of this group as renegades before finally rehabilitating them in 1978. Pamela Lubell uncovers the fascinating history of these communists, known as the Sixty-one, and in doing so produces a revealing account of the tensions within the Chinese Communist Party.