The Network was a review of the moves of the Soviet Union that sought to unmask it as a threat to the Western democracies. Ruth Fischer was an Austrian radical who immigrated to the United States from Berlin, where she had become disenchanted with Stalinist attempts to control the German Communist Party. This fact distinguishes The Network from the other anticommunist journal examined, which criticized Communism from a much different perspective.
The journal also differs from Counterattack in that it judges fascism and communism to be variations on the same general theme. This was a common criticism during the 1930s, when Germany and the Soviet Union were often categorized together as totalitarian states. While she gives no evidence of having lost her faith in true communism, Fischer attempts to throw light on the moves of Stalin and his potential post-World War II aims with regard to Germany.
