Not to get too deep into the Weeds of political theory but Ruth Paine sounds like a Trotskyite.
The Trotskyite Left in modern times has come to be defined as the anti-Communist Left (At least Communism as practiced by the Soviets).
They are on the Left for the most part but suspicious of the Radical Left or the Authoritarian/Stalinist Left.
Some Trotskyites voluntarily informed the FBI about radical Left movements in the 1960s.
The co-Founder of Amnesty International, Luis Kutner, is probably the most high profile example of that sort of thing. He informed the FBI about radical Left groups and other things. He was also a Mob lawyer and knew Jack Ruby.
http://ourhiddenhistory.org/entry/luis-kutner-the-declassified-life-of-a-human-rights-icon
Also, didn’t Marina Oswald testify a few years after the assassination that she was told by the Secret Service that Ruth was close to the CIA?
Yeah, like you warned, we can get into the swamps of political theorizing and really pretend like we know more than we do <g>.
Trotsky, of course, was a Marxist. But he broke with Stalin - and Stanlinist Soviet Union - after Lenin's death and for that Stalin had him killed. Many of his followers were, similarly, anti-Stalin and anti-Soviet. But Trotsky was still a Marxist and an atheist and a believer in violent revolution. It seems to me that Ruth's worldview - as a Quaker pacifist - was steeped in religion, in the Christian social gospel cause of applying Christ's teachings to modern social problems like poverty and racism, et cetera. So while she may sympathize with the Trotsky view on economic justice and the exploitation of man, I don't think she'd embrace his call for the need for a violent overthrow of capitalist systems. Trotsky wanted to hang bankers from lamp posts; I think Ruth wanted to convert them to Christianity.
Having said that, maybe I'm full of it by labeling her politically as a liberal/leftist. Perhaps it was entirely religiously-based. But her pro-Sandinista work (as I see it) certainly indicates a political component of her behavior. I do think she and to a lesser extent Michael believed that our differences with the Soviets could be worked out through conversation and reasoning. Perhaps that not liberal/left "goo goo" thinking but just a faith in human beings.
And if I recall, I think either she or Michael said that Oswald called himself a Trotskyite.
As to Ruth and the CIA: Yes, but I think Marina was warned by the Secret Service that Ruth was associated with the FBI and Marina apparently thought she said CIA. I think that's in the McMillan book. I'll try and find it.
