We introduce our duet of articles placing relational psychoanalysis in the political-historical contexts that preceded and accompanied its inception. These include the shift toward the ego psychological adaptationist orientation in the wake of the emigration of leading psychoanalysts from Central Europe and Cold War domestic anticommunism, and the subsequent emergence of an insurgent generation in social movements for civil rights, against the Vietnam war, women’s and gay rights, and other causes. The transactions between personal, professional, and socio-historical identities and identifications are considered throughout.