BOSTOIM PUBLIC LIBRARY

L

THE AMERICAN NEGRO

IN THE COMMUNIST PARTY

DECEMBER 22, 1954

U

Prepared and released by the

Committee on Un-American Activities, U. S. House of Representatives

Washington, D.O

COMMITTEE ON UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES United States House op Representatives

HAROLD H. VELDE, Illinois, Chairman

BERNARD W. KEARNEY, New York FRANCIS ."E. WALTER, Pennsylvania

DONALD L. JACKSON, California MORGAN M. MOULDER, Missouri

KIT CLARDY, Michigan CLYDE DOYLE, California

GORDON H. SOHERER, Ohio JAMES B. FRAZIER, Jr., Tennessee

Robert L. Kunzig, Counsel

Frank S. Tavenner, Jr., Counsel

Thomas W. Beale, Sr., Chief Clerk

Raphael I. Nixon, Director of Research

Courtney E. Owens, Chief Investigator

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CONTENTS

Page

Foreword 1

Background - 2

The Communist Line on "The Negro Nation" 4

The Negro Commission of the Communist Party 6

The Communist Betrayal of the American Negro 7

Communist Negro Front Organizations and Publications 10

Communist Activities Among Negro Youth 12

Index 14

in

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Public Law 601, 79th Congress

The legislation under which the House Committee on Un-American Activities operates is Public Law 601, 79th Congress [1946], chapter 753, 2d session, which provides:

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, * * *

PART 2— RULES OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES * ******

Rule X

SEC. 121. STANDING COMMITTEES *******

17. Committee on Un-American Activities, to consist of nine members. *******

Rule XI

POWERS AND DUTIES OF COMMITTEES *******

(q) (1) Committee on Un-American Activities.

(A) Un-American activities.

(2) The Committee on Un-American Activities, as a whole or by subcommit- tee, is authorized to make from time to time investigations of (i) the extent, character, and objects of un-American propaganda activities in the United States, (ii) the diffusion within the United States of subversive and un-American propa- ganda that is instigated from foreign countries or of a domestic origin and attacks the principle of the form of government as guaranteed by our Constitution, and (hi) all other questions in relation thereto that would aid Congress in any necessary remedial legislation.

The Committee on Un-American Activities shall report to the House (or to the Clerk of the House if the House is not in session) the results of any such investi- gation, together with such recommendations as it deems advisable.

For the purpose of any such investigation, the Committee on Un-American Activities, or any subcommittee thereof, is authorized to sit and act at such times and places within the United States, whether or not the House is sitting, has recessed, or has adjourned, to hold such hearings, to require the attendance of such witnesses and the production of such books, papers, and documents, and to take such testimony, as it deems necessary. Subpenas may be issued under the signature of the chairman of the committee or any subcommittee, or by any member designated by any such chairman, and may be served by any person designated by any such chairman or member.

v

RULES ADOPTED BY THE 83D CONGRESS House Resolution 5, January 3, 1953

-¥■ ^ ^ ^ ^ *p 3|»

Rule X

STANDING COMMITTEES

1. There shall be elected by the House, at the commencement of each Con- gress, the following standing committees:

******* (q) Committee on Un-American Activities, to consist of nine members. *******

Rule XI

POWERS AND DUTIES OF COMMITTEES *******

17. Committee on Un-American Activities.

(a) Un-American Activities.

(b) The Committee on Un-American Activities, as a whole or by subcommittee, is authorized to make from time to time, investigations of (1) the extent, char- acter, and objects of un-American propaganda activities in the United States, (2) the diffusion within the United States of subversive and un-American prop- aganda that is instigated from foreign countries or of a domestic origin and attacks the principle of the form of government as guaranteed by our Constitu- tion, and (3) all other questions in relation thereto that would aid Congress in any necessary remedial legislation.

The Committee on Un-American Activities shall report to the House (or to the Clerk of the House if the House is not in session) the results of any such investi- gation, together with such recommendations as it deems advisable.

For the purpose of any such investigation, the Committee on Un-American Activities, or any subcommittee thereof, is authorized to sit and act at such times and places within the United States, whether or not the House is sitting, has recessed, or has adjourned, to hold such hearings, to require the attendance of such witnesses and the production of such books, papers, and documents, and to take such testimony, as it deems necessary. Subpenas may be issued under the signature of the chairman of the committee or any subcommittee, or by any member designated by such chairman, and may be served by any person desig- nated by any such chairman or member.

VI

THE AMERICAN NEGRO IN THE COMMUNIST PARTY

FOREWORD

The Communist Party in the United States of America, in its continuing efforts to infiltrate and destroy the constitutional govern- ment of this country, has made the minority groups in the United States prime targets of attack. The control of majorities by minorities is a fundamental precept of Marxism and the individual Communist agent and party member has been drilled and schooled in the tech- niques and tactics of achieving such control through organized and pliable minorities. To this end the Communist conspiracy has concentrated on capturing smaller groups with the ultimate objective of seizure of the whole. One of the principal goals of the Communist Party in the United States is the infiltration and control of the Negro population in this country.

The House Committee on Un-American Activities has prepared this report in order to demonstrate some of the efforts that have been made by the Communist Party in this area and to recount the failure of the Communist experiment. It is hoped that this report may be a warning to other groups which find themselves, as minorities, targets of Communist infiltration and deception.

The fact that the Communist conspiracy has experienced so little success in attracting the American Negro to its cause reflects favorably on the loyalty and integrity of the vast majority of the 15,000,000 Negro citizens. To attest to this fact we restate the words of Mr. J. Edgar Hoover, Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, which appeared in the Congressional Record of January 26, 1953:

We recently reviewed the origins of 5,395 of the leading members of the Communist Party. The results were most interesting. Only 411 were Negroes but of the remaining 4,984, we found that 4,555, or 9lV2 percent were either of foreign birth or born of foreign parents. * * * The fact that only 411 Negroes were found in this select group is strong evidence that the American Negro is not hoodwinked by these false messiahs.

In furtherance of its traitorous design the Communist Party of the United States has exploited issues of genuine concern to the American Negro and all Americans. But as this report will show, the Com- munist has always been guided by the directives from the leader- ship of the international conspiracy and has betrayed the Negro's cause whenever it was expedient to further the policies of turmoil, dissention, and rebellion.

The House Committee on Un-American Activities does not possess the power to bring quick solution to the undeniable and vexing social and economic problems bearing on the harmonious coexistence of American citizens of different races or creeds. The committee has done everything in its power to nullify the efforts of certain groups to use the committee as a means of fostering and furthering bigotry and

2 THE AMERICAN NEGRO EST THE COMMUNIST PARTY

intolerance.1 One thing is certain, however, and that is that there has been no group within the United States or elsewhere which has realized the solution of its problems by embracing the Communist ideology.

The Communist has been adroit at exploiting social problems to confuse rather than correct inequities and injustices. In no instance is this fact more clearly exemplified than in the Communist efforts to exploit racial problems in the United States. Testimony and records of this committee establish beyond any doubt that the work of the Communist Party has been one of the greatest deterrents to recognition and realization of the legitimate aspirations of the American Negro. In this, as in many fields, the efforts of the Communist have done much to negate the efforts of sincere students and workers who have tried genuinely to cope with social and economic problems in this field.

This report, the committee believes, will expose the true purposes of the Communist Party in relation to this and other minority groups.

BACKGROUND

Information concerning the early efforts of the Communist Party to infiltrate and influence the American Negro population is reflected in the testimony of William Odell Nowell before the Special Commit- tee on Un-American Activities on November 30, 1939. Nowell, an American Negro, had been a member and officer of the Communist Party, USA, from the summer of 1929 until the latter part of 1936. He testified that in 1929 he had gone to Russia as a representative of the Communist Party of the United States. While in Russia he had several conferences with the Negro department of the Communist International and he testified that during the years 1928-30 the Com- munist International formulated a new program with respect to the American Negro.

Nowell recounted that the question of the American Negro had first arisen at the Second World Congress of the Communist International in 1920, at which time the American Negro had been discussed as a "national" minority rather than a "racial" minority. The discussions and plans considered during the 1928-30 period were to carry out a program to organize a separate Negro state and government in the southern part of the United States.

These discussions in the Negro department of the Communist International, according to Nowell, eventually led to the issuance of a resolution from the executive committee of the Communist International to the Communist Party in the United States. This resolution extablished the new program for Communist efforts to organize the American Negro. According to Nowell, the Communists theorized that American Negroes throughout some hundred-odd counties extending from Virginia to the Mississippi delta comprised a national minority, a national group, and a majority of the population throughout that area. The resolution directed that the Communist Party in the United States should organize the Negroes in that area along the line of a "revolutionary program" to ally them with the workers, or the "proletariat" as the Communists called them, and to use the Negro as a force supplementing and assisting the party in

1 See "Preliminary Report on Neo-Fascist and Hate Groups," published by the House Committee on Un- American Activities on December 17, 1954

THE AMERICAN NEGRO IN THE COMMUNIST PARTY 3

carrying out a policy of revolution. Nowell testified that this southern state composed of Negroes was to be considered a "buffer state," that it was to be a state established on the Soviet plan and under Soviet leadership. Nowell testified that the Communist strategy in this program was plain and he stated:

The plans were carefully laid out that in the event perhaps if it were not pos- sible to organize such a state before a revolution took place in the United States, but in the event that this country went to war, let us say, with Japan, or found itself for other reasons, due to depression or any circumstance that might weaken the national economy and arouse a great deal of discontent throughout the country, this would be the time to strike; this would be the time to utilize this position to set up a Negro republic in the South.

The 1930 resolution of the executive committee of the Communist International, according to Nowell, stated very definitely that the Communist Party should organize the colored people of the South for the purpose of setting up a separate state and government in the South. Nowell recognized the Communists' purpose as twofold and described these as follows:

In the course of publicizing, agitating for the immediate demands for the poor farmers, and so forth in the South, this movement would gain momentum. Therefore, the resolution states in any contingency, while the workers of the North, or the industrial workers throughout the country were organizing to strike against the system of capitalism for their independence, and for the over- throw and the setting up of the dictatorship of the proletariat, this national minority will bring up the rear, so to speak. That is, its revolt will serve as a tremendous means of weakening the entire system and therefore furthering the possibility for the industrial workers of the North to achieve their objectives.

At this point the committee cannot stress too strongly that this program was one formulated by the executive committee of the Com- munist International and not even by the Communist Party of the United States. There is no evidence that any responsible member or element of the Negro people in the United States did then or does now advocate such a course of action as called for in the Communist program. The fact is that this program of the Communists has with the passage of time proven to be one of the greatest deterrents to recruitment of American Negroes into the Communist Party.

Mr. Nowell in his 1939 testimony pointed out that the pursuit of such a program by the Communist Party could only result in the eventual sacrifice of the American Negro, a thing which, according to Nowell, would not be foreign to the Communist code of operations. Mr. Nowell described this eventual outcome in this manner:

So, hence, I have found out through my long experience and through further theoretical investigation and study that the whole policy of the establishment of a Negro republic in the South, even the practical attempts to work out such a program in its more elemental stages and form can only lead to race riots and victimizations of the colored people of the South, chaos, and eventually to a com- plete sacrifice offer by the party itself. Whether this was subjectively, consciously carried out for that purpose, I should not like to think so, that it was the intention of all those people who got up there and plugged for it.

There will be more details devoted to the Communist Party plan for a separate state for the American Negro. However, in considering the early background of the American Negro and the Communist Party, we must review the efforts of the Communist Party to utilize the American Negro for propaganda purposes.

Testimony relevant to this feature of the Communist International was received by the House Committee on Un-American Activities in

55160—54 2

4 THE AMERICAN NEGRO IN THE COMMUNIST PARTY

San Francisco, Calif., on December 1, 1953, from Mr. Louis Rosser. Rosser testified that he had been a member of the Communist Party and the Young Communist League in the United States from 1932 until December 1944. He stated that he, as a Negro, joined the Communist Party because he believed that the party was fighting against discrimination. Rosser testified that in 1932 the Communist Party gathered together a group of reputable young Negro intellectuals and persuaded them to visit the Soviet Union. The purpose of this visit was ostensibly to make a motion picture in Russia. The movie was to be a distorted Russian version of Negro life in America, and the movie was to be exhibited in Africa and Asia. Rosser pointed out that this excursion to Russia failed to convert these young Ameri- can Negroes. Instead, some of those who saw Russia as it really is, are among the foremost anti-Communists in America today.

THE COMMUNIST LINE ON "THE NEGRO NATION"

It has been pointed out previously in the testimony of William Odell Nowell that as early as the Second World Congress of the Communist International in 1920, the Communists had decided to cast the American Negro as a member of a "national minority." This program serves as an excellent example of the deceit of the Communists and the manner in which they adapt any problem, social or otherwise, to their own selfish and dedicated ends. They have exploited this theme of Negro liberation when it served their purposes and abandoned it temporarily when it was considered expedient or opportunistic to cast it aside.

We have seen what the Communist approach to this problem was during the period 1928-30. The Communist policy 10 years later was described by Mr. Louis Rosser. He testified that he had attended the 1938 World Congress of the Communist International, and there the Communists had devised a slogan of rebellion for the Negro people. The Communist tactic during this period was to use the American Negro to create confusion and disunity and in this manner to assist in bringing about the real aim of the Communist, a proletarian revolution. During this period of time the Communist International considered that war was imminent. It reasoned that this would either be a war against the Soviet Union, or a war between the capitalist nations. If it should be a war involving the Soviet Union, it was the Communist intention to use the American Negro as a means of creating disunity. Rosser described the Communist attitude in this manner:

Their (the Communist) policy changes as the world situation changes. * * * the policy of the Communist Party of America is tied up with the defense of the Soviet Union. If things are running all right, the Communist Party makes partial demands for the Negroes; they take it easy. If things are going rough, and they think the Soviet Union is in danger, the Communist Party raises this slogan again of rebellion trying to organize the Negroes to rebel.

Rosser also testified before the committee that this question of the so-called liberation of the American Negro was objected to even by those few Negroes who are members and officers of the Communist Party. He said:

In the ranks of the Communist Party there have been big discussions on this question, and the majority of the Negro Communists have opposed this and have accused the party of attempting to segregate the Negroes once the revolution is had and they have also accused them — said that if the Negro would rebel in the

THE AMERICAN NEGRO IN THE COMMUNIST PARTY 5

South, the rest of this country would shoot them down like a bunch of dogs, so you can see it is a tactic of the party.

During the period of 1943-45, when Earl Browder, then leader of the Communist Party, called for a united front for both the Com- munists and capitalists and offered the theory that communism and capitalism could co-exist in the world, the IS! egro program was changed. Browder informed the National Committee of the Communist Party in America that the Negro was opposed to the establishment of a separate state and that the Communist approach to the question had been a mistake. The Communist Party also had been renamed the Communist Political Association under Browder's leadership. Browder was deposed in 1945, and the Communist Party resumed its original name. The Communist Party also then revived its original policy on the Negro question — the eventual establishment of a sepa- rate Negro state.

Following the reconstitution of the Communist Party and the ouster of Browder in 1945, the Negro question was one of the key issues dealt with by the Communist leaders. The committee received valuable and informed testimony on these actions from Mrs. Barbara Hartle, who testified for several days in Seattle, Wash., during June 1954. Mrs. Hartle is a former official of the Communist Party who testified freely and fully, notwithstanding the fact that she had been convicted and sentenced to prison for violation of the Smith Act. Mrs. Hartle furnished the committee with first-hand information concerning the program devised by the Communist leaders in the United States for the American Negro following the dissolution of the Communist Political Association and the reconstitution of the Communist Party. On this issue she stated:

According to the Communist theory the Black Belt is the area of Negro majority in the South. It cuts across State and county lines, comprises more than a hundred counties, and it is the Negro people in this area who are a nation. The rest of the Negro people in our country are not a part of this nation, according to Communist definition. They are, instead of being a part of a nation, they are a national minority, just as the Mexican people, Slavic people, Jewish people, or other persons of a definite origin are considered a national minority.

According to the Communist theory, not all nations are oppressed nations, but the Negro nation in the United States of America is considered an oppressed nation, and every real — and I do believe that there are real problems of the Negro people in the United States of America — and every imagined problem is used by the Communist Party as proof that the Negro people is an oppressed nation in this country.

But the basic proof that the Communist Party uses is that the Negro people in the South do not own the land in anywhere near the same proportion as white people do.

And so the Communist theory says that the basic problem of the Negro nation is land reform.

Mrs. Hartle related that while the Communist Party used these various arguments for the establishment of a separate Negro state, the motivating force is still one of disunity, confusion and eventual revolution. She explained the ultimate Communist objective in this way:

In order for the working class to be able to assume power, led by the Com- munist Party — it is never conceived in the Communist Party that anyone but the Communist Party could lead this working class in assuming power — the work- ing class must mobilize all the allies it can who will go along with it. If the Negro nation will rise and force its own self-determination for land reform and for other things that the Negro people do want or should want — if they would do this in concert with the working class, this, along with what other allies that might be

6 THE AMERICAN NEGRO IN THE COMMUNIST PARTY

mobilized along many other lines, should make a sufficiently strong force to up- set the power of the capitalist class and create enough support to make it possible for the working class to retain power after seizing it. And it is frankly recognized in Communist theory that the whole strategy is not for the main purpose of Negro liberation but for the purpose of the proletarian revolution and this is not hidden in Communist theory.

Mrs. Hartle testified that in 1945 she was 1 of 4 delegates from the northwest region at the Communist Party's reconstitution convention held in New York City. She related how the problem of the Negro was taken up at that time:

That problem was taken up at that time, and there was quite a lot of discussion there about how to face the question. The problem was that the Negro people, Black Belt or not, very evidently don't want to be considered as a nation — are very much opposed to anything that smacks of separation from our country, of being set aside separately, and the point was made that, while this basic theoreti- cal position was correct and had to be adhered to, that it should not be blared forth in any immediate programs, any more than you would go to a labor union with a resolution on a raise in wages and then tack on that this is in the best interests of the proletarian revolution. And that is the way it was explained, and that is why I made the point that it is like the national question as a part of the front technique.

Further describing the attitude of the American Negro toward self- betterment, she said:

My own experience with the Negro people in and around the Communist Party had been that they are extremely interested in achieving a status of equality with other people; but until they are influenced by communism, it has never even entered their heads or their hearts that this ever needs to be in any way connected with disloyalty to our country. They consider equality as morally right and can be fairly easily attracted into front work that is skillfully done * * *

If a campaign is launched by the Communist Party that isn't very clearly in the interests of the Negro people, it is my experience that they will detect these extraneous matters very rapidly and see ulterior motives very quickly, and for this reason, I believe the Communist Party is forced to act in its so-called. sin- cere way. If the Communist Party wants to make any headway among the Negro people, it cannot crowd the issue; it has to work out a simple campaign directly based on a need or right of the Negro people and not crowd in other matters rapidly, or the Negro people will just disappear from it.

And if the Communist Party sets up a goal, like a job in a Safeway store, and puts on a picket line, maybe the Negro people will feel, "Well, it would be a good idea to have a job for a Negro in a store," but if you start carrying banners, you know, about 3 or 4 other subjects, this is very quickly detected, and the Negro people stay away from and don't want to be involved with a lot of other matters, involved matters that according to my understanding as best as I can under- stand it, is that they don't want to be disloyal to the country and they don't want to fight for things that they don't consider to be morally right.

Mrs. Hartle summed up her experience with the Negro question and the loyalty of the great majority of the American Negroes in this manner:

All of my experiences with the Negro people have indicated no evidence of any desire to be disloyal or even a thought of being disloyal until they became some- what acquainted with Communist theory and began to think that the only way they could get their rights was to be somewhat involved with these other matters. They had to be convinced by the Communist Party and by Marxist-Leninist theory, and it wasn't an easy thing to do in most cases.

THE NEGRO COMMISSION OF THE COMMUNIST PARTY

There has been considerable testimony before the House Com- mittee on Un-American Activities on the organizational structure of

THE AMERICAN NEGRO IN THE COMMUNIST PARTY 7

the Communist Party dealing with the Negro question. In de- scribing the structure Mrs. Hartle testified in Seattle as follows:

As a part of the emphasis on the Negro question, the Communist Party has established commissions, standing committees, in the national setup, in the dis- tricts, in the divisions of the districts, the regions, and even into the divisions of the regions, the sections, so that a system of standing committees on the Negro question is in existence much more developed than on any other questions that the Communist Party involves itself with.

These committees are devoted to bringing about the execution of Communist policy and program. They are subcommittees of the leading committee of the particular jurisdiction and are responsible to it fully. And especially since the reconstitution of the Communist Party the practice has been to assign top people, top Communist leaders, along with others, on these Negro commissions. And my own work on the district Negro commission was a district executive board assignment.

In describing the operations of the Negro commissions of the Com- munist Party and the manner in which they carried out the Com- munist Party line, Mrs. Hartle stated:

Yes; these Negro commissions followed the party line exactly the same as any other commissions or subcommittees or leading committees.

The purpose of the commission was not to have a separate line or program, but to develop a program of action to bring this line into effect among the Negro people.

After the leading committee approves of a line and program, the commission proceeds to assign specific persons and specific groups to carry out certain parts of the desired work. And a great deal of advice and attention is given by the district and national leadership to the Negro commission — nationally, in the dis- trict and in the regions, this is the case. Many articles of guidance are published in Political Affairs, which is the theoretical organ of the Communist Party, and there is really fundamentally no difference at all theoretically or organizationally between the Communist Party's work on the Negro question and on any other question. This is not any kind of an independent field, where the Communist Party operates, say, as a sort of service organization.

It is greatly desired, though, by the Communist Party that people should view their work in the field of Negro rights as a sort of special -service work. It is greatly desired that especially the Negro people should view it as such, but that is not the case; it is not a service organization — the Communist Party is not a service organization in a certain way for the Negro people. It is a Communist Party and its attitude toward the Negro people and Negro nation is exactly the same as that to any other group in respect to its objective.

THE COMMUNIST BETRAYAL OF THE AMERICAN

NEGRO

Throughout the testimony of individuals informed on Communist exploitation of the American Negro, it has become clear that when- ever the occasion presented itself the Communist Party did not hesitate to betray the interests of the American Negro.

Testimony relating to such betrayals was received from Mr. Shel- ton Tappes, a Negro union leader of Local 600, United Auto Workers, CIO, who appeared before the committee on March 12, 1952, in Detroit, Mich. It should be pointed out that while Mr. Tappes attended some Communist Party meetings, he testified he never became a member of the Communist Party.

On the betrayal of the Negro by the Communist Party, Mr. Tappes had this to say:

* * * I also feel that the major problems such as lynching, the poll tax, and fair employment practices are matters that the American people should very vigorously attend to, but I don't agree with the Communist Party of the United States who has installed itself as the one agency designed to solve the problems

8 THE AMERICAN NEGRO IN THE COMMUNIST PARTY

of the Negro people — I do not believe and I know that they are not sincere in their efforts. They have only grabbed the Negro issue as a means through which they can attain the help and support of 15 million Negro people in this country in furthering their policies of the Soviet Union which they are attached to.

I know there have been occasions when the Communist Party could have proven their sincerity but other parts of their program have been predominant to the point that they were willing to forego the rights of the Negro people in order to solve their international interest, particularly on their attitude on Negro questions during the last war.

I know of at least one instance and that is the instance of a doctor in the city of Detroit who had been drafted into the United States Navy and insisted that in answering the draft call, he should be drafted as a physician because he was then a practicing medical doctor in this city. I suppose he didn't know too much about the Communist Party as to its sincerity and he went to them for help and they turned him down saying that winning the war was primary and all of those things would have to wait until the war is over.

One other instance was mentioned yesterday. I remember this particularly because I had a personal experience when the National Association for the Ad- vancement of Colored People advanced as its program the double V program. That was known as victory at home and victory abroad in which they have un- slintingly supported the war effort of the country but still contented themselves with the domestic programs feeling that both were consistent and the interest was the same — we must win both of those battles — and the Communist Party was out-spokenly critical of the at-home portion of that double victory program.

So I could conclude by saying that the Communist Party does not represent the chosen spokesmen for the Negro people and that the Negro people know that there are many patriotic persons and patriotic organizations with whom they can associate themselves, in whom they know they have a real honest and sincere interest in seeing that complete democracy is a prevalent thing in this Nation.

Some of the most enlightening testimony on the vacillations of the Communist Party in its exploitation of the cause of the American Negro was that given by Mr. Louis Rosser, who has been previously referred to. Mr. Rosser attributed his eventual break from the Communist Party to the party 's easy betrayal of the Negro. He cited as an example the Communists' change in attitude toward the Negro at the time of the signing of the Stalin-Hitler Pact on August 23, 1939.

Mr. Rosser stated that the Communist Party followed a "united front" policy from 1935 up to the signing of the pact, and during that period the party had devoted considerable time and effort to fur- thering the employment of Negroes in industry. Mr. Rosser said that at that time it appeared that Negroes were making positive steps in their efforts to seek employment on an equal basis.

Communist Party policy changed abruptly upon Stalin's alliance with Hitler in 1939, however, and the party instructed its members to make every effort to sabotage the United States defense mobiliza- tion, Mr. Rosser stated. He said that as part of this sabotage effort, the Communist Party even attempted to destroy Negro gains which the party itself had previously worked for. The Communist Party's actions in this respect after the Stalin-Hitler Pact stood out in startling contrast to those by non-Communist trade unions and other groups, which continued to work for better employment opportunities for American Negroes.

Mr. Rosser related that the Communist Party line during the Stalin-Hitler Pact sought to dissuade American Negroes from answer- ing a draft call in the event a draft were ordered, on the alleged ground that the Army was segregated. The party even went so far as to discourage Negroes from giving blood to the Red Cross on the claim that Negro blood was being segregated. Meanwhile, the

THE AMERICAN NEGRO EST THE COMMUNIST PARTY 9

Communist Party was also preaching that the capitalist world was going to attack the Soviet Union, and warning Communists in the United States to be ready to lead the American working class in turning their guns against their own leaders.

Mr. Rosser related a particularly striking incident in which the Communist Party endeavored to sabotage the sincere efforts of reputable American Negroes to seek betterment for the Negro people :

What caused me to break with the party: The party raised the point during this period of Hitler's attack on the Soviet Union that we must fight for jobs, but we must see to it that the Negro organizations do not go out of bounds, and to give an example, the Negro press kept presenting, even during the time, that the FEPC that Roosevelt signed was too weak, Executive Order No. 8802. It didn't have any teeth in it, and Randolph, a leader of the pullman porters and the Negro people, and Walter White kept pushing for Roosevelt to put teeth in it, and the Negro press carried a campaign of double V; victory at home and victory abroad — this double V program. The party got sore because the party was carrying a program of open-the-second-front, and the party felt that the program of these Negro leaders and the Negro press— the leaders of America would think that the Communists were pushing these programs. So in a meeting of the Negro Commission in southern California it was decided that, and I am sure this came from New York, we should put pressure on the Negro press by getting prominent Negroes to write to Roosevelt and to the Justice Department that the Negro press was inflammatory, and it was dividing the war effort; it was against the war effort.

Randolph had threatened to march on Washington during the Hitler Pact. He had threatened to march a hundred thousand Negroes to Washington if they didn't sign an FEPC, and after they got it, he threatened again to get teeth in it. The Communist Party said that he had to be muzzled, and he was coming to Los Angeles in 1942, and I and Pettis Perry were given the job of working out a plan how we could discredit Randolph, which the

Mr. Scherer: Randolph was a Negro?

Mr. Rosser: Yes, a top Negro. So he was getting a medal that the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People give each year to some out- standing American Negro, white, or any nationality in the field of human relations, and he was getting it for his work of integration of Negroes into industry, and we found out that a fellow traveler, Mrs. Charlotta Bass, was speaking the night before he was speaking. Mrs. Bass' nephew, who was a writer on the paper — she has a paper — had a paper rather, the California Eagle— was a member of the Young Communist League.

We got together with him and convinced him to convince his aunt, Mrs. Bass, who already was close to the Communists, but not that close, to allow us to help with her speech, and she agreed, and we wrote a speech that praised the Soviet Union, that called for the opening of the second front, and that said Randolph was a traitor to his country, that his threatened march on Washington was a march that would bring chaos and disunite our country at a time when unity is needed, and she made that speech, and it created havoc. But it gave the party not only the opportunity to discredit this Negro leader, but it gave the party the opportunity to reach the top Negroes in America with the program of the Com- munist Party at that time.

This attitude of the Communist Party, according to Mr. Rosser, was in sharp contrast to that which the Communist Party adopted after Hitler invaded the Soviet Union and the United States had entered the war. He recalled that in August 1944 there was an explosion in the ammunition dump at Port Chicago, Calif. He recalled that following this explosion there was newspaper publicity indicating that Negro sailors were refusing to load any more ships with ammunition because of the explosion and further, that news- paper accounts indicated these Negro sailors might be subject to court-martial for their refusal. Rosser stated that upon learning of these facts, he went to the Communist headquarters in San Francisco and asked Communist leader William Schneiderman what action the

10 THE AMERICAN NEGRO IN THE COMMUNIST PARTY

Communist Party would take if there were an attempt to court- martial the sailors. Mr. Rosser told Schneiderman: "Ever since I have been in the party, every time something happens to a Negro, the Communists say, 'Let's do something'." Rosser testified that Schneiderman's response to this inquiry was: "Rosser, what is more important, loading those ships standing in the harbor for the Soviet Union or those 50 men over there who are going to jail?" Rosser stated that this, coupled with his experience of other betrayals of the American Negroes by the Communist Party, finally determined his action in breaking from the Communist Party.

COMMUNIST NEGRO FRONT ORGANIZATIONS AND

PUBLICATIONS

In order to extend its influence, the Communist Party has long sought to infiltrate and gain control of many legitimate organizations. In many instances, therefore, Communists have attached themselves to non-Communist organizations which were genuinely working in behalf of the American Negro.

For the same purpose, the Communist Party has also created hun- dreds of organizations of its own, commonly known as "front" groups. The groups usually have euphonious titles and slogans designed to disguise the actual Communist control. Many of these "front" organizations created by the Communist Party have had titles and/or programs specifically aimed at attracting support from America's Negro population.

Mr. Manning Johnson, who testified before the committee on July 14, 1949, in Washington, D. C, is a former Communist who was par- ticularly active in the party's efforts to recruit Negro members.

From the testimony of Mr. Johnson, as well as others who have testified before the committee, it appears that the most prominent and important Communist Negro fronts in the past have been the American Negro Labor Congress, the League of Struggle for Negro Rights, the National Negro Labor Congress, and the National Negro Congress.

Some of the first testimony relating to these Communist fronts was given by William Odell Nowell, previously referred to. Nowell testi- fied that after he had received instructions in the Soviet Union and returned to the United States, the Communist Party placed him as president of the American Negro Labor Congress. In his testimony he recounted how in 1929 or 1930 this organization was changed over to the League of Struggle for Negro Rights, and, very soon thereafter, the National Negro Labor Congress was formed.

Manning Johnson stated that the American Negro Labor Congress and the League of Struggle for Negro Rights had been ineffective and that the national committee of the Communist Party in 1935 dis- cussed the general situation among Negroes. As a result of this dis- cussion it was decided that the time was appropriate for the formation of a broad and all-inclusive organization dealing with the American Negro and his problem. Upon the recommendation of one of the members of the Negro Commission of the Communist Party present, it was decided the Communist Party should organize the National Negro Congress. Johnson testified that James W. Ford and the Negro Commission of the Communist Party were given the respon- sibility of organizing the National Negro Congress. Their first step,

THE AMERICAN NEGRO IN THE COMMUNIST PARTY 11

according to Johnson, was to approach a non-Communist, A. Philip Randolph, who agreed to become head of the National Negro Con- gress. Johnson testified that this organization received a response that was surprising even to the Communist Party, and that its early meetings had representatives from all walks of Negro life, as well as from the white population in the United States. He recounted how the Second National Negro Congress, which was held in 1937, was even more successful than the first meeting of this group. However, by the time the Third National Negro Congress was held it had become obvious to A. Philip Randolph and many other non-Com- munists that this organization was controlled completely by the Communist Party. Randolph resigned after making a public protest to this effect.

Further and more recent testimony concerning the activities of the National Negro Congress was furnished the committee by Mrs. Dorothy K. Funn, in New York City on May 4, 1953.

Mrs. Funn testified that she had been a member of the Communist Party from May 1939 until June of 1946, and that during the period from 1943 until 1946 she was the legislative representative of the National Negro Congress in Washington, D. C. Mrs. Funn stated that the National Negro Congress was a puppet of the Communist Party and that the program of the National Negro Congress was dictated by the Negro Commission of the Communist Party.

Mrs. Funn stated that she had joined the Communist Party and had commenced her activity in the Negro Congress because of the feeling that the Communist Party and the Congress were means of assisting the Negro race. Mrs. Funn explained this feeling and her realization of the Communist betrayal in this manner:

You know, the cause — -I'll answer you, sir — the cause of the Negro is a very touching one and one on which a lot needs to be done yet, and my feeling and conclusion is that the Communist Party took this great need that Negroes in America feel as a basis for exploiting of their wants, desires, and the things that they were working for, which were not for complete justice and equality for the Negro but it lends itself beautifully to an emotional tieup, and you can say, "Well, if this is the organization that's going to do this, therefore, this is the organization with which I want to affiliate myself."

Mrs. Funn also explained that the National Negro Congress ceased to exist in 1947 and that its activities were turned over to the Civil Rights Congress, another Communist-front organization.

One of the Communist fronts currently active in seeking to deceive American Negroes into serving the Communist cause is the National Negro Labor Council, which was first cited by this committee in its annual report of December 28, 1952.

The organization was formally founded at a conference held in Cincinnati, Ohio, October 27 and 28, 1951, under the direction of leading Negro Communists in the United States, such as Abner Berry, Sam W. Parks, and Coleman A. Young. According to the latest available information, Young is the present national executive secretary of the organization, from which post he controls and directs NNLC activities.

The National Negro Labor Council deceitfully states that its pur- pose is the union of "all Negro workers with other suffering minorities and our allies among the white workers" in order to obtain "first-class citizenship based on economic, political, and social equality." A study of the operation of the council shows that, rather than helping the Negro worker, it has been a deterrent to him. For example, it

12 THE AMERICAN NEGRO IN THE COMMUNIST PARTY

has made charges of Negro discrimination against the United Auto Workers, CIO, which has done much to advance the cause of the Negro worker. In fact, the Council has continuously attempted to discredit the efforts of non-Communist organizations. It has encour- aged disunity, rather than unity, and thereby performed a distinct disservice to the cause of the Negro worker.

The committee believes it would be helpful at this point to list organizations and publications which have been officially cited as Communist fronts by the Attorney General and by the Committee on Un-American Activities.

Organizations Cited by Both the Attorney General and the Committee on

Un-American Activities

American Negro Labor Congress Civil Rights Congress International Workers Order National Negro Congress National Negro Labor Council Negro Labor Victory Committee Southern Negro Youth Congress

Organizations Cited by the Attorney General

Committee for a Democratic Far Eastern Policy

Committee for the Negro in the Arts

Committee to Aid the Fighting South

Council on African Affairs

George Washington Carver School

Harlem Trade Union Council

Labor Council for Negro Rights

Philadelphia Labor Council for Negro Rights

Tri-State Negro Trade Union Council

United Harlem Tenants and Consumer Organization

United Negro and Allied Veterans of America

Veterans Against Discrimination of the Civil Rights Congress of New York

Organizations Cited by the Committee on Un-American Activities

Committee to Defend Angelo Herndon

Council of Young Southerners (also known as League of Young Southerners)

League for Protection of Minority Rights

League of Struggle for Negro Rights

National Emergency Committee to Stop Lynching

Negro Peoples Committee To Aid Spanish Democracy

Scottsboro Defense Committee

Publication Liberator

COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES AMONG NEGRO YOUTH

Throughout its history in the United States, the Communist Party has directed intense efforts to infiltrate and influence the youth of America. It has established such Communist fronts for youth as the Young Communist League, the American Youth for Democracy and the present'Communist youth group, the Labor Youth League.

The committee has also received testimony concerning the efforts of the Communist Party to infiltrate and influence the Negro youth of America. Some of the most descriptive testimony concerning these efforts was furnished the committee by Foster Williams, Jr., who appeared before the committee on June 17, 1954, in Seattle Wash. Williams, a 24-year-old Negro, testified that he became a member of the American Youth for Democracy in the latter part of 1946, and

THE AMERICAN NEGRO IN THE COMMUNIST PARTY 13

eventually his association with this group brought him into member- ship in the Communist Party.

Williams testified that after becoming an active member in the Communist Party he continued his activities in the American Youth for Democracy and was given instructions by the Communist Party to infiltrate other youth groups. One such group that he had been instructed to influence was a youth organization of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, a non-Communist organization. The experiences of Mr. Williams in the Communist Party were succinctly described in these words:

The Communist Party has a very despicable policy in regard to the American Negro. They tell him they are the only organization that is trying to help the Negro advance in obtaining all of his democratic rights that are justifiably his. Many Negroes, for a short period of time, believe this, but once you actually join the Communist Party and begin to work with them, you see how the Communist Party very sneakily manipulates the Negro people for their own purposes. They take up any kind of flimsy cause and the Communist Party supports it. This usually is the "kiss of death." The NAACP has had this trouble in the past of defending Negroes for various crimes and there has been a chance of getting com- mutation of sentence. The Communist Party is not interested in the welfare of the Negro, but simply takes these cases up to make propaganda. In connection with that, sir, if it is possible, I have a statement here which I prepared last night in which I take up some of the questions you raised.

I am very proud of the gains that the American Negro has achieved so far. A race almost entirely illiterate in the period following the Civil War, illiteracy has presently dwindled down to the vanishing point.

Recently the Supreme Court issued a historic decision which will speed us toward the goal of complete literacy. We have contributed many outstanding Americans, who have very ably served their country. To name but two, Dr. Ralph Bunche and Dr. Channing Tobias, who have represented the American people in the U. N. To these should be added the name of the late George Washington Carver.

Lynchings, once a dark blot on our Southland, are now considered a thing of the past. Earlier this year the Tuskegee Institute issued a report stating that not a single lynching occurred during the year 1953.

Our cultural achievements include the worldwide acceptance of Negro folk music as part and parcel of the American scene.

The American Negro has also served his country in time of war. In World War II he fought and died on many a foreign battlefield to help stem the tide of Axis aggression. In Korea he grappled alongside his white comrades in arms against the Red hordes of communism.

In looking at the achievements and contributions of the American Negro, we see at once that they have been made within the framework of our American political system. It is preposterous to think that the Negro will embrace the evil octopus of communism. Communism is not in the least interested in helping the Negro, but only in furthering its evil, monstrous ends.

I believe it goes without saying that the American Negro will continue to make progress within our democratic framework, while at the same time rejecting the falsehoods of communism.

In closing I would like to say that I believe that this committee is doing an excellent job in cutting out the cancer of communism before it eats into the vitals of our great Nation. And may I assure this committee they have the support of the overwhelming majority of Negroes, who are loyal American citizens.

CONCLUSION

From the facts set forth in this report, the committee can only con- clude that the vast majority of Americans of the Negro race have consistently resisted the blandishments and treacherous promises offered them by the Communist conspirators. The committee hopes that this detailed exposure of the true Communist aims and tactics in relation to the Negro people will serve even further to reduce the extremely limited and temporary Negro support which the Com- munists have obtained by subterfuge.

INDEX

Individuals

Page

Bass, Charlotta 9

Berry, Abner 11

Browder, Earl 5

Bunche, Ralph 13

Carver, George Washington 13

Ford, James W 10

Funn, Dorothy K 11

Johnson, Manning 10

Hartle, Barbara 5-7

Hoover, J. Edgar

Nowell, William Odell 2-4, 10

Parks, Sam W 11

Randolph, A. Philip 9, 11

Roosevelt 9

Rosser, Louis 4, 8-10

Schneiderman, William 9, 10

Tappes, Shelton 7

Tobias, Channing 13

White, Walter 9

Williams, Foster, Jr 12, 13

Young, Coleman 11

Organizations

American Negro Labor Congress 10, 12

American Youth for Democracy 12

Civil Rights Congress 11, 12

Committee for a Democratic Far Eastern Policy 12

Committee for the Negro in the Arts 12

Committee To Aid the Fighting South 12

Committee To Defend Angelo Herndon 12

Communist International 2-4

Second World Congress 2, 4

1938 World Congress 4

Communist Party, Negro Commission 10, 11

Council of Young Southerners 12

Council on African Affairs 12

Federal Bureau of Investigation 1

George Washington Carver School 12

Harlem Trade Union Council 12

International Workers' Order 12

League for Protection of Minority Rights 12

League of Young Southerners 12

Labor Council for Negro Rights 12

Labor Youth League 12

League of Struggle for Negro Rights 10, 12

National Association for the Advancement of Colored People 8, 9, 13

National Emergency Committee To Stop Lynching 12

National Negro Congress — 10-12

National Negro Labor Congress 10

National Negro Labor Council H> 12

Negro Labor Victory Committee - 12

Negro People's Committee to Aid Spanish Democracy 12

Philadelphia Labor Council for Negro Rights 12

15

16 INDEX

Page

Red Cross 8

Scottsboro Defense Committee 12

Southern Negro Youth Congress 12

Tri-State Negro Trade Union Council 12

Tuskegee Institute 13

United Auto Workers, CIO 12

Local 600 7

United Harlem Tenants and Consumer Organization 12

United Nations 13

United Negro and Allied Veterans of America 12

Veterans Against Discrimination of the Civil Rights Congress of New York. 12

Young Communist League 4, 9, 12

Publications

California Eagle 9

Liberator 12

Political Affairs 7

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