DOCUMENTS cz; .:.TMEr4T
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SAN FRANCISCO
PUBLIC LIBRARY
REFERENCE BOOK
Not to be taken from the Library
r-
OCT 4 1971
SAN FRANCISCO PUBLIC LIBRARY
3 1223 90138 4462
VOLUME ONE
Appendix to the Journa
of the Senate
LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA
1970 REGULAR SESSION
REPORTS
January 5, 1970-September 23, 1970
HON. ED REINECKE
President of the Senate
HON. JACK SCHRADE
President pro Tempore
DARRYL R. WHITE
Secretary of the Senate
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Jo|nf Legislative Retirement Committee
-^970 Committee Report
Joint Committee on Open Space Land
i/^inal Report
Senate Fact- Finding Subcommittee on Un-American Activities
^Fifteenth Report
INTERIM COAAMITTEE REPORT
JOINT LEGISLATIVE RETIREMENT COAAMITTEE
VOLUME 1 1969 NUMBER 6
REPORT OF THE
JOINT LEGISLATIVE RETIREMENT COMMITTEE
to the
1970 GENERAL SESSION OF THE
CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE
AB 1672, Chapter 1417, 1963
MEMBERS OF THE COA^IHEE
ASSEMBLYMAN E. RICHARD BARNES, Chairman
SENATOR JOHN G. SCHMITZ, Vice Chairman
Assemblymen Senators
HARVEY JOHNSON HUGH M. BURNS
L E. TOWNSEND JACK SCHRADE
DON A. ALLEN, SR., Consultant
ROBERTA CHOCK, Secretary
^3 3.?, 7 If
71 "'1
SMfmncisK VuiUc Uhraff
COMMITTEE LETTER OF TRANSMITTAL
Joint Legislative Retirement Committee
California Legislature
January 5, 1970
Honorable Robert Monagan ,
Speaker of the Assembly
Honorable Howard Way
President pro Tempore of the Senate
Gentlemen :
We are submitting herewith to you and to the Honorable Members
of the California Legislature the annual report of committee activities
in 1969.
The index will indicate the scope of these activities. In addition to
the interim hearings reviewed in this report, the Joint Committee was
concerned with the supervision of the Peat, Marwick, Mitchell & Co.
actuarial valuation and management survey of the Teachers' Retire-
ment System. This study was completed in May of 1969, and copies
of the PMM&Co report were distributed to the legislators.
Respectfully submitted,
E. Richard Barnes, John G. Schmitz,
Chairman Vice Chairman
Harvey Johnson Hugh M. Burns
L. E. TowNSEND Jack Schradb
Report of the
JOINT LEGISLATIVE RETIREMENT COMMIHEE
Interim Studies
1969
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Page
Letter of Transmittal 3
House Resolution 49 7
House Resolution 403 18
State Teachers ' Retirement System proposed
legislative program 20
Restructuring of the Joint Legislative
Retirement Committee 23
HOUSE RESOLUTION 49
Review and Recommendations
On September 12, 1969, the Joint Legislative Ketirement Committee
met to receive testimony on House Resolution 49, relative to termina-
tion of state employees from Social Security coverage. All members
of the Joint Retirement Committee were present, plus Assemblymen
Alex Garcia and Edwin Z'berg of the Assembly Public Employment
and Retirement Committee, who were invited to participate in exami-
nation of witnesses.
Although the stated purpose of the hearing was to study the subject
of termination of OASDI for state employees, it soon became evident
that the features of a particular bill to accomplish termination, AB
1949, were to be presented for examination by the committee. This bill,
introduced in the 1969 session, had been amended a number of times,
and was finally held for interim study by the Assembly Public Em-
ployment and Retirement Committee.
CSEA spokesman, Walter Smith, contended that the bill was in-
tended to accomplish, besides termination of the Social Security con-
tract, the following:
(1) An increase in retirement benefits for members of the Public
Employees' Retirement System who do not presently have the coordi-
nated plan;
(2) Equivalent benefits for those whose retirement program is now
coordinated, at reduced cost; and
(3) A guarantee clause providing that those who so elect shall, upon
retirement, receive exactly what they would have received, had there
been no termination.
It was further asserted that all this could be effected at a reduced
cost to the state, while maintaining a single, uncoordinated retirement
system for all state employees.
The committee has reviewed the transcript of testimony received
at the hearing, and examined numerous exhibits pertaining to this
subject. A number of points would seem to bear significantly on any
decisions that the Legislature might make in this issue. We will discuss
them in this report insofar as they relate to the specific proposals to
terminate the Social Security contract.
A. First of all, it should be noted that termination would apply to
all employees of the State of California and the state's university
system, numbering 151,879 in 1968-69. The proposal also affects ap-
proximately 200 blind workers in California, and some 40 members
of the State Legislature. The blind workers are covered under special
provisions of the state's Social Security agreement. State legislators
who took office after 1961 and who did not immediately elect to join
the Legislators' Retirement System were automatically covered by
Social Security.
These latter two groups have been virtually ignored as entities in
the discussions. The committee has received no indication that any of
these persons have been advised that they will receive absolutely no
equivalent benefits in the event their Social Security coverage is
terminated.
B. It was stressed repeatedly by proponents of AB 1949 that adop-
tion of their plan will result in a great deal of saving to the State
General Fund. In fact, projected figures cited by the CSEA ranged
from $37 million to $122 million in the period 1972 to 1988, based on
1968 salaries and including scheduled tax increases for OASDI. Should
the wage base be raised from $7,800 to $9,000, the greater saving figure
would be realized, according to the CSEA.
The consulting actuaries hired by CSEA to prepare an analysis and
costing of AB 1949, the firm of Milliman and Eobertson, Inc., explained
the major source of saving to the General Fund. They pointed out
that if Social Security contribution rates continued as scheduled, with
no change in that financing system, "then Social Security benefits
could be provided by the state at less cost to the state than the normal
employer Social Security taxes.
"The cost is less because of the forfeiture of contributions and
benefits by employees on termination — this does not occur under the
Social Security system since the employee normally moves to other
employment also covered by Social Security. Thus, the state could
save by withdrawing from Social Security and providing the same
benefits including future changes through the state plan. It should
be made clear, however, that such savings is at the expense of loss
of benefits by employees terminating from state service."
The forfeiture referred to here is the $12-per-month mandatory
charge made, under provisions of the proposed bill, against all em-
ployees who are presently coordinated and to all new employees after
the effective date of the bill. These amounts are not refundable upon
withdrawal of contributions, and are not counted as part of the
employee's interest-drawing account.
Specific provisions for receiving the dependent and survivor benefits
purchased by the $12 charge are set out in Section (K) of this report.
But at this point the committee would like to stipulate that the concept
of penalizing state employees with a loss of retirement benefits if they
do not continue working for the state until retirement is foreign to
the continuing policy of the Public Employees' Retirement Board. It
has also not been part of their basic policy to seek to reduce the cost of
retirement for either the State General Fund or the Retirement System
at the expense of the individual employee.
Current experience is that some 25,000 state employees separate each
year from public service and withdraw their contributions from the
Retirement Fund. In fiscal 1968-69, 25,419 state employees withdrew
more than $37 million in accumulated contributions. These fairly
typical figures illustrate the fluid population of public employees, par-
ticularly within the first four years of employment. The PERS man-
agement recognizes that continuity of protection is important for the
many employees who move from job to job, in and out of public
employment, and states that Social Security coverage is a significant
factor in recruitment.
C. It is also difficult for the committee to perceive any saving
to the employee under AB 1949. For those who are now coordinated,
and for all new employees, there is the mandatory, nonrefundable
$12-per-month charge, whether the survivor benefit is wanted or not.
8
For those electing the ' ' guarantee clause ' ' there is the nonrefundable
difference between what the cost of the program would have been if
there had been no termination, and what it costs for tlie provisions of
AB 1949. Furthermore, every time the Social Security rate is increased,
the contribution rate to PERS is automatically raised.
No one can tell what the exact costs of the ' ' guarantee clause ' ' would
be, nor those of the "Medicare-comparable" health benefit, for example.
But whatever difference develops between what would have been the
cost under the coordinated plan, and the cost of the new program, the
employee is charged for that cost and can't ever get those amounts
back, even if he quits and withdraws his deposits. On top of that,
every employee would immediately begin to pay 11 percent in addition
to his current contribution rate, for the 1/54 formula.
The committee finds it hard to believe that every state employee —
or even every member of the CSEA — has a complete understanding of
the program advocated by that organization, with its attendant costs
and the conditions for receiving the benefits. These features of AB 1949
are touched on more specifically in Items (J) and (K) of this report.
D. The complaint that all employees entering state service after
1961 had no choice but to accept the coordinated plan, is not answered
by this bill. It is noted that several of the provisions of AB 1949 are
automatically applied to all new entrants after the effective date of the
bill, including a blanket 11-percent increase in the retirement rates
plus the cost of some AB 1949 benefits. This does not compare favor-
ably with the current Social Security contribution rate of 4.8 percent
on a $7,800 wage base.
It was asserted by the CSEA that some emploj^ees who are now
members of the coordinated plan were urging termination of the Social
Security contract with no guarantees and no equivalent benefits what-
soever, simply a return to the original basic plan. It appears to the
committee that the bill proposed does not serve these interests at all,
because all members now on the coordinated plan, and all who subse-
quently are employed by the state, are mandatorially obligated for the
$12-per-month contribution for Sections 12 and 12.1 of the bill. This
charge is not refundable, and it is of no value to any employee who
has no wife, dependent children or surviving parents who might receive
the benefit. The large numbers of state workers who separate from
emplo3^ment annually must therefore forfeit $144 per year of their
contributions, even if they elect to withdraw the balance from the
system, in which case that sum has not accumulated any future benefits
whatever, in either Social Security or in PERS.
Thus, not only are the costs increased, and the provisions mandatory,
but there is no possible portability of tjenefits in the event of separa-
tion from state service. This raises the question of equity for all em-
ployees and not just for those whose situation in life and in the econ-
omy prompts a continued, unbroken lifetime of employment in state
service.
E. Mr. Smith stated that it has been the CSEA's official policy
since 1967 to terminate the Social Security contract and to increase
benefits. However, the committee does not consider that this policy
position is indicative of the understanding and wishes of all, or even
a majority, of their own membership. And this does not take into
account those many employees who are not CSEA members. Certainly
the written and verbal communications received by the committee, as
well as the personal representation at the HR 49 hearing, indicate
clearly that there is a strong diversity of sentiment among public em-
ployees on this issue.
The CSEA has cited the results of polls conducted among their
membership as support for their policy to terminate Social Security
coverage. In the matter of relying on these poll results as a basis for
making a decision of this magnitude, the committee is not convinced
that each and every state employee was fully apprised of the proposi-
tion and its many ramifications. Further, of those who did reply to
the single-question inquiry, it cannot be determined what their status
was in the retirement program at the time, nor on what information
basis their response was made.
It is clearly indicated that the decision to contract for Social Se-
curity coverage in conjunction with the public system was not made
on the basis of a poll response. The Public Employees' Retirement
Board resolved on January 30, 1959, after lengthy deliberation, to
contract for Social Security benefits for these basic reasons :
(1) It was in the interests of providing adequate retirement, sur-
vivor benefits, additional death and disability benefits, and increased
retirement allowances, at a reasonable cost to governmental em-
ployers and employees.
(2) The diverse pattern of coverage evidenced under integrated
systems held by many contracting agencies under the state and
county systems, for some 60 percent of their public employees (over
3 million individuals), was meeting their retirement needs well.
(3) The integration plan would be conducive to the orderly de-
velopment of an overall program to preserve continuity and pro-
tection of retirement, and survivor and other benefits to the greatest
extent possible for all state employees.
At that time the state made a substantial contribution ($18.92 mil-
lion) which was matched by those employees electing coverage and
picking up prior wage credits. Since that time a considerable invest-
ment in Social Security has accumulated ($27.93 million in state con-
tributions in 1968-69). All individuals who entered state service since
1961 have done so in the awareness that they would make OASDI con-
tributions and receive credits to their Social Security accounts.
Therefore, the committee concluded that responses to informal polls
of members of one employee organization was the least valid justifica-
tion for basing such an important and encompassing decision.
F. The proposed plan, in AB 1949, would not benefit the greater
number of state employees. The loss of portable Social Security credits,
for example, affects some 25,000 employees each year who move out of
state service.
Those employees who continue to work for the state after termina-
tion would find their Social Security accounts remaining static, with-
out continuing to build wage credits. At point of retirement the
number of years during which they were not covered by Social Security
would reduce the average monthly wage figure used in computing the
retirement allowances for themselves and their families.
10
Furthermore, the Social Security disability benefits for themselves
and their families begin to diminish, and eventually disappear after
five years without contributions. Survivor protection also diminishes,
and may disappear in the event of less than fully insured status.
AB 1949 provides that a member must be employed for five years
before being eligible to draw disability benefits, and 18 months after
separation (leaving contributions on deposit) he loses the benefit. Thus
it is possible for shorter term employees to find themselves with in-
sufiicient or no coverage should the need arise.
It would appear that a single, noncoordinated retirement plan under
the Public Employees' Retirement System is most beneficial to women
whose husbands have Social Security coverage in other employment;
to individuals who have acquired the maximum quarters of Social
Security coverage prior to or concurrent with their state jobs; and
to those who are ''career employees" in the sense that they begin
state employment at an early age, steadily improve their position status
to attain a high salary for at least three years, and maintain continuous
service until the normal retirement age.
The coordinated program (Social Security plus the PEES plan) is
most favorable to employees who move in and out of state employ-
ment; for unmarried women; for those married women whose hus-
bands do not have Social Security coverage ; and for women married
less than 20 years whose claim upon the spouse's account is eliminated
by divorce.
G. It is a premise of the California courts that once a basic retire-
ment plan has evolved between employee and employer, the employer
has an obligation to at least continue that relationship. Withdrawal of
an option or benefit must be replaced by an equal or better benefit.
Thus it becomes imperative that the Legislature avoid the impulsive
introduction into retirement law of features whose costs cannot be
clearly projected.
This would appear to be a difficulty with AB 1949, and its prede-
cessor AB 1339. Proponents of the bill stipulate that employees may
contribute on the basis of securing a "guarantee" of benefits equal-
ing those in Social Security. Despite the "equal or better" posture of
recent decisions, it is impossible to predict whether the courts would
indeed insist on a literal, dollar-for-dollar comparability should a suit
be presented at some future time. Unless, that is, the law specifically
outlined the relationship and named the particular benefit referenced.
Actuarially, this would place PERS in an untenable position since
it is impossible to project accrued liabilities which are tied to the
federally supported system. There arises a question of constitutionality
in determining whether the public system could maintain the required
reserve level under such an "open-end" obligation.
The Social Security law provides for the termination of coverage by
a group, such as the state employees. It also provides that once such
a termination has been accomplished, that group may never again
be granted Social Security coverage.
If "Medicare Plan A" were available without the Social Security
tie-in, then many of the retirees' demands could be met with this as
a supplement to their state retirement plan. However, it cannot be
predicted when if ever such a provision might be approved by the
11
Congress. Further, there is no way of foretelling whether such legis-
lation would permit groups to contract for this special Medicare
coverage if they had previously withdrawn from full coverage.
. H. It is extremely doubtful if the state could, or should, attempt
to support a "mini-Social Security system" for its employees. As testi-
mony indicated, the federal program is feasible in its present form
only because (a) membership is compulsory for all employed persons;
(b) there are no refunds of contributions; (c) it is financed so that
current benefits are paid from current contributions; (d) with the
sponsorship of the federal Treasury it is not necessary to maintain
an actuarial reserve to fund the system; and (e) it is not intended to
provide a retirement allowance that will fully maintain the living
standards of the recipient, but to provide a basic minimum income
which the individual can build a more comfortable retirement income.
Several increases in benefits have been voted by the Congress in
past years, and it is anticipated that one of the numerous plans being
advanced for automatic annual increases will soon be approved. The
Medicare provision, geared to the individual need, with a current esti-
mated cost of $30 per person per month, is a benefit that has not been
matched by private or public retirement plans. Under Social Security,
the Medicare, disability and survivors protection relate, as do the
basic benefits, to current wage levels and standards.
Social Security benefits are paid to retirees regardless of other non-
salary income. This encourages individuals to purchase supplementary
insurance, contribute to a public pension plan, or in some other way
provide for themselves a better standard of living after retirement.
"While an employee may never withdraw his contributions from Social
Security, he is assured that upon reaching retirement age his accumu-
lated contributions, plus those of his employer, will provide a monthly
allowance.
An employee who ceases working for the state before he has accumu-
lated $500 in his retirement account is automatically refunded the total
amount (excluding the $2 per month paid for survivor benefits), plus
accrued interest. With $500 or more in his account, he has an option
of leaving the account intact until he reaches retirement age, or he
may withdraw his contributions. Withdrawal severs all responsibility
on the part of the state to provide a future benefit.
Withdrawals are advantageous to the funding of the retirement sys-
tem because they eliminate the state's obligation to match these con-
tributions at some future date to pay a benefit. They keep the costs
of the program lower than they would otherwise be. The effect on the
employee is that he has the lump sum of savings for his own use if
he desires, and he has no possible future claim upon the state.
I. There are additional advantages to maintaining a coordinated
retirement plan which are most visible to the individual employee when
he reaches retirement age.
Social Security schedules favor the low-income contributor. Public
retirement systems, with benefits calculated according to the highest
three years of salary, are weighted to favor the high-income employee.
Thus it is considered valid and beneficial to the broad spectrum of
salary levels to provide a combination of the two features in a eo-
12.
ordinated program. This includes Medicare and certain survivors'
benefits not available in the state sj'stem.
The coordinated program is especially important for individuals who
find it difficult or even impossible to save money during their working
years, or who choose not to purchase insurance protection for the
future. State employees under the coordinated plan maintain their
Social Security accounts intact, and in addition may elect to leave their
contributions in the public retirement fund for a future benefit, even
if they do not stay in public service for their entire careers. If they
do withdraw PEES contributions, they still have not endangered any
future Social Security benefits which may accrue upon reaching retire-
ment age.
J. Section 15 of AB 1949 provides that PERS must contract for a
health program for retirees and annuitants age 65 and over, who are
not eligible for Medicare. No cost figures have been attached to this
benefit, nor is it known how many individuals would receive it. It is
stipulated that the plan selected must be "comparable to Medicare,"
rather than equivalent to Plan A. The terminology is too general for
the committee to reach a determination of the costliness of this item.
K. The following are the provisions of AB 1949, as presented by
Walter Smith of the CSEA. The letter ''G" indicates items that are
part of the ''guarantee clause," and the "$12" refers to those sections
which are mandatory, nonrefundable monthly charges made to cur-
rently coordinated employees and to all new employees.
1. Terminate the Social Security contract for all employees of the
state and the university system, the blind workers and some state
legislators.
(Note: None of the benefits of this program will apply to the
blind workers and state legislators. See Item A of this report.)
2. 11 percent increase in retirement benefits.
(Note : Employee's share of the new 1/54 formula for basic allow-
ance is funded by an 11 percent increase in contribution rates.)
Sec. 21251.142.
3. G $12 $90 per month annuity to spouse at age 65, of retired or disabled
member. Sec. 21265.
4. G $12 $90 per month allowance to dependent child of retired or disabled
member. Sec. 21266.
5. G $12 Increase in 1959 survivor benefit. Sec. 21382.1.
6. G $200 supplemental benefit for totally disabled member.
(Note : Member must have five years of state service ; benefit is off-
set by Workmen's Compensation payments.) Sec. 21301.
7. G Increased lump sum death benefit ($750) to active and retired mem-
bers. Sec. 21367.5.
8. Health benefit similar to Plan A of Medicare for those retirees not
eligible for Medicare.
9. G Guarantee clause, promising that retirees will receive "equivalent
benefits" to those they would have received had they continued in the
coordinated plan.
(Note : This provision is optional and must be elected within 90
days after operative date of the bill.
(Increases in Social Security contribution rates will automatically
reflect in employee contribution increases for the guarantee.
(Should the employee separate from state employment and later
return, his guarantee provision freezes at the point when his separa-
tion occurred and he may never resume it. Any subsequent allow-
ance increases which Congress might vote will not accrue to this
employee, nor to any employee after the date of his retirement.
13
(These benefits are payable only to those who retire from PERS.
(See Item L of this report, dealing with the survivor benefit, for
exceptions to this stipulation.)
(Members electing the guarantee will pay all they are now pay-
ing, including the Social Security tax rate, plus 11 percent. If the
Social Security rate increases, employees' cost rises automatically.
(Members now coordinated who do not elect the guarantee will
pay aU they are paying now, plus 11 percent, plus $12 per month
for provisions (3), (4), and (5).
(The nonrefundable portions of the employee's contributions are
either the $12 per month, or the difference between what the old
program would have cost and the cost of the new program).
L. It is useful to consider saparately the "survivor benefits," and
to compare this feature as it is provided by AB 1949, by PERS within
the present coordinated program, and by the Social Security.
AB 1949 Benefit
Section 12.1 of the bill provides for the $12 monthly contribution to
fund code Sections 21265, 21266, and 21382.1 which stipulate :
(1) Payment of $12 per month per member as a nonrefundable
contribution, to purchase an allowance of $90 per month to the
spouse of a retired or disabled member, an allowance of $90 per month
to the dependent child of a retired or disabled member, and increased
survivor benefits. These payments are (a) reduced if the member
made contributions for less than 20 years, and (b) offset by OASDI
allowances payable.
(2) An actuarial review shall be made at least every four years,
to determine the cost of the three above benefits. If the review shows
that the member is contributing more than 50 percent of the cost of
those benefits, his contributions will be reduced to the 50-percent
level. Under conditions of this bill, the employee's monthly contribu-
tion would never be higher than $12, even if the costs of the program
were to rise above expected levels, unless the law were later
amended.
(3) The $12 charge is mandatory for members now coordinated
with Social Security, and for all new members after that date. The
three benefits are optional to those not now on the coordinated plan ;
they may elect such coverage within 90 days of termination.
Section 12 provides the series of survivor benefits to replace the
"1959" survivor benefit. It increases the allowance amounts, and gives
a payment for the death of an active member, for death within 18
months after leaving state service (leaving contributions on deposit),
or for death after retirement if credited with 20 or more years of
service following the date of termination of Social Security. (There is
no benefit payable where death occurred before the termination of
Social Security.)
"1959" Benefit
When the "survivor benefit" was offered in 1959, and again in 1961,
employees elected the option. All new employees after effective dates
of the bills were covered mandatorially. Social Security coverage for
state employees, on a coordinated basis with the PERS program, began
January 1, 1962. At that time, employees who elected Social Security —
including that program's survivor benefit — ^were no longer covered by
14
the **1959" benefit. All new employees after January 1, 1962, were
mandatorially covered by Social Security.
Thus there are state employees who (a) did not elect the **1959"
benefit nor the Social Security — this is a diminishing group; (b) did
not elect the "1959" benefit but did elect Social Security; and (c)
elected the "1959" benefit but declined Social Security. All other em-
ployees, who became members since January 1, 1962, are mandato-
rially members of the coordinated program.
Figures as of 6/30/69 indicate :
Total state employee members of PERS 153,535
Total university employee members of PERS 15,188
168,723 100%
Total state employees with Social Security 102,560
Total university employees with Social Security 4,592
107,152 63.5%
Total state employees with "1959" survivor benefit 31,678
Total university employees with "1959" survivor benefit 6,065
37,743 22.4%
Total employees with either Social Security or "1959" benefit 144,895 85.9%
(Note: The only members in state service who are not eligible by law for Social
Security coverage are 5,500 Highway Patrol members (as of 6/30/69) who have
no Social Security coverage.)
The "1959" benefit is funded by a $2 contribution which is not re-
fundable nor is it calculated among the employee's "normal" contri-
butions for interest accrual. Benefits are paid to surviving wife or sur-
viving dependent spouse, and dependent children. (If contributions are
withdrawn upon separation, there is no further residual benefit.)
Social Security Benefit
The Social Security contribution for the survivor benefit is never
refundable under any circumstances, but a benefit accrues to the
worker after 1^ years of work and payment of contributions, increas-
ing in value as long as payments are made until a maximum is reached.
After the maximum level has been reached, this benefit will not diminish
even if the individual ceases to work in covered employment.
M. It was the conclusion of the PERS management that AB 1949
defied realistic administration, clear understanding, and lucid explana-
tion. Obviously, it is imperative that their staff be able to understand
all of its ramifications, options, costs and benefits, and be fully capable
of explaining these facts to inquiring members.
Although proponents of the bill asserted that the problems were not
insurmountable, the committee feels that it can rely on the experience
and integrity of the staff and officers of the retirement system, as their
testimony demonstrated some of the difficulties involved with the com-
plex provisions of the bill. It seems that a cleaner, neater, less com-
plicated approach to betterment of benefits can be taken, not only to
make administration more feasible, but so that the employees them-
selves might be able to clearly understand their options.
15
For example, costing of the guarantee clause under AB 1949 was
impossible because it was tied in with any future actions which the
Congress might conceivably take to change the funding or benefit levels
of the Social Security. One serious aspect was that when there was a
contribution rate change, the state employees would be automatically
charged a similar increased amount, but in the event of a simple,
across-the-board increase in the Social Security payment schedule,
the PEES would acquire an identical obligation to retirees without
receiving any additional money to fund it. The recent 15-percent in-
crease in payments to Social Security beneficiaries and retirees which
Congress voted to grant is a case in point.
The three items purchased with the $12 monthly charge are offset,
at time of payment, by wage credits on deposit with the Social Security.
Payments actually made are dependent on wage credits earned in state
service where the total wage credits include both state and other service.
This means that at the date of retirement of any member who had ever
had the coordinated plan, statements must be received from Baltimore
and an evaluation be made of those credits earned in state service.
Adjustments would be made, further, based on the status of his guaran-
tee clause, in the event that he did not continue in unbroken state
service until retirement. Impairment is a spectre that can never be com-
pletely dispelled in these situations, despite assurances to the contrary
at the plan 's inception.
N. If state employees were truly and knowledgeably desirous of ter-
minating their Social Security contract, the committee feels a more
rational approach to replacement of these benefits might be taken.
Instead of trying to buy support of termination with promises of bene-
fits "equivalent" of "comparable" to the Social Security plan, a pos-
sible and certainly more realistic avenue might be that suggested by
William E. Payne, Executive Officer of the PEKS :
' ' My conclusion is that rather than try to build into this retirement
system a complete substitute for Social Security — in other words,
translate into the retirement system the Social Security program and
guarantee the Social Security benefits — that we take a look at the
retirement system and see what we can do to achieve some compar-
ability with Social Security with some realistic understanding. . .
"It can be done by increasing to somewhat near Social Security
level the death benefit before retirement. It can be done by increasing
the death after retirement benefit under the system to something ap-
proaching Social Security coverage, or as good as. It can be done by
means of Mr. Barnes' recent legislation to provide a cost-of-living
program for the employees, on a permanent basis. . .
' ' Then it would seem to me that if there are dollars left over, then
you would look at the basic benefit formula, and if you wanted to
increase that, you would. But I would say, do it clear cut within the
system, rather than manipulating to arrive at comparability with
Social Security and following what the Social Security benefits do."
16
Committee Recommendations
Based on the facts and conclusions set forth in this report, and on
much more information presented in testimony at the hearing and com-
municated to the committee in connection with the proposed bill, it
is recommended :
1. That there be no termination of the contract with the Social
Security Administration by the Public Employees' Ketirement Sys-
tem.
2. That continuing efforts be made to improve the benefit program
of the PERS, with particular attention to cost-of-living increases.
17
HOUSE RESOLUTION 403
Review and Recommendations
At a hearing on December 15, 1969, the committee received testimony
on House Resolution 403. Senator Schmitz and Assemblyman Johnson
were present, with Senator Schmitz presiding.
This resolution called for a study of the feasibility and advisability
of coverage under OASDI of that service performed by California
teachers which is not included for credit in the State Teachers' Retire-
ment System. Such work includes teaching in summer school and adult
education classes, is termed "overtime," and therefore does not accrue
additional retirement credit for the teachers.
Information received from representatives of the Social Security
Division of PERS and the Teachers' Retirement System revealed the
following :
The law as it now stands permits an administrative decision by the
school districts to apply for this type of Social Security coverage. A
majority of those teachers who would be affected must first indicate
their desire for this coverage. After that, the option rests with the
school boards, which may or may not apply for the coverage.
In principle the State Teachers ' Retirement Board favors coverage of
such overtime teaching by the Social Security, which would permit
teachers to accumulate Social Security benefits through their own
diligence in working beyond the regular school year, as they might do
in any private industry.
However, two basic problems emerge as obstacles to the administra-
tion and equitability of such programs: (a) There is no standard
hiring procedure among districts in the state; and (b) it is therefore
impossible for the STRS to keep accurate records of creditable teaching
service.
For example, some districts stipulate a six-hour day as regular serv-
ice, with extra activity such as football and drama coaching, band
directing, etc., as overtime. Others contract to cover all such related
activity as part of the regular day. Still others provide for two hours
of daytime teaching, with two or three hours of adult education in the
evenings, terming the total as regular time. In some cases teachers may
be hired in the spring to complete a school year plus teaching a summer
session, with the contract stipulating that the entire combined service
comprises one regular year for crediting purposes. And there are many
other such practices and exceptions which deviate from the so-called
"normal" school year when counted for retirement credit.
In attempting to equalize these divergent practices, the STRS con-
sidered a proposal that all service during any school year would be
creditable service and those teachers must pay deductions from their
salaries. However, the part-time teachers then became victims of in-
equities in the contribution and benefit scale.
It was recognized that a solution could only be reached when the
Department of Education institutes a standard contracting procedure
throughout the state. This would make visible the exact nature of all
18
teaching service — ^whether it is regular day service, night school, or
summer session.
Lacking any other alternatives under the current benefit structure,
the Teachers' Eetirement Board has recommended that the current
practice be continued — ^regular daytime teaching is creditable for
retirement purposes, and evening and summer school teaching is not.
However, upon the implementation of the proposed revision in benefits
and financing of the Teachers' Retirement System, the new survivor
and disability provisions will be so favorable that teachers will not need
the Social Security benefits which they now seek.
The cost factor is another serious consideration. The districts would
be required to pay 4.8 percent of the covered salaries, to match the
teachers' contributions to Social Security, in addition to the regular
STRS contributions. After the proposed revised contribution scale goes
into effect, the districts would be paying (after five years) 8 percent
of payroll to the STRS for basic benefits. It is probable that there
would be few districts in the financial position of being willing to fund
the additional Social Security contributions as well
Committee Recommendations
In view of these elements of the problem, the committee recommends :
1. That the districts which are presently contemplating the inclu-
sion of Social Security coverage, for overtime teaching, should delay
their final decision until the STRS revision bills can be heard in
the Legislature.
2. That the Department of Education should proceed immediately
to establish a uniform contracting procedure to apply to all district
hiring in California.
3. That the Teachers' Retirement Board should communicate with
all of the districts regarding the ramifications of cost and administra-
tion which would attend such Social Security coverage. The com-
mittee feels that if there is a clear understanding of the problems
involved, and the alternative solutions now under consideration, the
school boards will voluntarily delay their decision for a year.
19
STATE TEACHERS' RETIREMENT SYSTEM
LEGISLATIVE PROGRAM
Review and Recommendations
The second agenda item at the December 15, 1969, hearing was a
presentation of the legislative program developed by the State Teachers '
Eetirement Board. Mr. Michael N. Thome, Chief Executive Officer of
the STRS, and Mr. Davis H. Roenisch, actuary with the firm of A. S.
Hansen, Inc., presented the program to the committee.
Testimony was rather lengthy, and justifiably so since the subject
is complex and comprehensive, having to do with a basic restructuring
of the financing and benefits of the Teachers' Retirement System.
Persons interested in a more detailed explanation than is contained
in this report are directed to study a transcript of the hearing which
is available from this committee, and the "Report to the Teachers'
Retirement Board on Financing and Benefit Improvements" issued
by the STRS offices on October 17, 1969.
For purposes of this annual report, however, a brief resume of the
testimony indicates the following:
1. It is generally recognized that the ''pay-as-you-go" financing of
the State Teachers' Retirement System is unsound by any actuarial
measurements, and further that the state's obligation to pay annual
benefits is rapidly approaching an intolerable figure. Mr. Thome
stated that on June 30, 1966, the unfunded accrued liability for the
system was in excess of $3,615,000,000, which was roughly equal to
the total bonded indebtedness of the State of California. By 1994 they
estimate an annual appropriation from the General Fund of a half-
billion dollars, and shortly after the turn of the century the pro-
jected figure is one billion dollars for payment of benefits in force.
2. This problem has been recognized in earlier times, with state-
ments by fiscal committees reflecting such warnings in 1919, 1924,
1929, and 1935. In 1944 there was an attempt to put the system
on a funded basis, but the efforts were unavailing, and the solution
to the compounding debt accumulating to the state remained undis-
covered.
3. Teachers have experienced keen disappointment in recent years
that their allowances have not been improved with automatic cost of
living increases, and that other desirable benefits have not been
effected. Legislators have found themselves in the unpopular and
regrettable position of voting no on such bills because of the danger
of adding weight to an already toppling load of state debt because
of the system's funding procedure.
4. The firm of Peat, Marwiek, Mitchell & Co. was retained by
contract with the Legislature to conduct a management survey of the
Teachers' Retirement System, and to perform an actuarial valuation
to give a clearer picture of the system's fiscal position. As a result
of those studies and recommendations, the management of the STRS
was completely revised and their Retirement Board began to examine
20
the possibilities for a more effective approach to benefits and fi-
nancing.
5. After nearly a year of concentrated effort, the Teachers' Ketire-
ment Board and their actuary, Mr. Roenisch, have developed a re-
structured program for improving benefits and for putting their
system on a sound financial basis. The following are basic points
in this program:
Improved Benefits
a. The program is designed to meet realistically the needs of
the two distinct groups of active teachers to be considered (ap-
proximately haK are under age 40, and half over that age). The
younger teachers with families are principally concerned with
survivor and disability benefits, and the older teachers are look-
ing toward receiving adequate retirement benefits, with provisions
for maintaining a standard of living.
b. The proposal incorporates a ''replacement of income" con-
cept so that a disabled teacher, for example, will still be able to
maintain his family during their growth years. A fatherless family,
similarly, would receive a replacement of his income during the
time of their dependencj^ The teacher's widow at age 60, even if
a family benefit was paid in earlier years, could receive an allow-
ance or withdraw the balance of the teacher 's contributions.
c. Retirement benefits would be calculated on the basis of 2 per-
cent of the highest three years of earnings, so that a 30-year
teacher would receive 60 percent of high salary upon retirement.
d. An automatic annual increase of 1^ percent of the original
benefit would assure the teacher of at least partial protection
against inroads in his income after retirement. This is related to
any government cost-of-living index, but is constant regardless of
changes in the economy.
e. Teachers who retired prior to 1965 would also receive the 1|-
percent increase to make up for the inflationary effects on their
income during the past six years. Their total immediate increase,
then, would be 9 percent of their benefit in 1965.
f . There would be minimum allowance payable of $10 per month
for each year of service, so that those few teachers now receiving
extremely low benefits would have more reasonable retirement in-
come.
Financing Provisions
a. Payments for disability would be offset by any other public
benefits which the teacher might be eligible to receive, such as
Social Security.
b. There would be a flat contribution rate for all teachers of
8 percent of salary. (Currently, teachers contribute varying
amounts averaging 7.4 percent.) This practice would save some
$300,000 annually in administrative costs.
c. The school districts would increase their contributions at the
rate of 1 percent each year until a level of 8 percent of payroll
is reached. This money would be payable at the same time the
21
teachers* share is paid, so that all could be invested throughout
the year. (The current practice is for the school districts to con-
tribute 3 percent by law — actually less than this because of tax
limitations — at the year's end to help pay benefits in force. Also,
they pay $12 per year per member for administrative expenses.)
d. The State General Fund would be obligated for a contribu-
tion of a flat $125 million for the next 30 years, at which time its
obligation to teachers currently retired would be amortized and
no further state contributions would be required. The system
would then be funded by the combined contributions of teachers
and school districts, and investment income.
6. The STES is presuming a 6-percent interest rate on investments.
This is considered conservative, and it is expected that if California 's
voters approve a proposition in the November elections to allow the
system to invest in common stocks, a greater increase level will be
realized.
7. Indications are that the groups most vitally concerned with this
program are in favor of this approach. Representatives of the Cali-
fornia Teachers' Association and the Eetired Teachers' Association
(by formal resolution), and the School Boards Association (unoffi-
cially) have expressed a favorable reaction to the proposal.
Committee Recommendations
It is recognized that in these times of increasing tax burdens for all
purposes, there are real problems in providing the financing for this,
as for any, benefit program. However, the committee feels that these
challenges can be met, the problems solved, and the funding provided.
The alternatives are to simply continue as we have done, until such
time as the annual appropriations for retirement become a major
budget item. At that time it will be too late to take the remedial meas-
ures which are so obviously indicated.
The Legislature cannot long resist the efforts of teacher organiza-
tions for a betterment of their benefits. And it is not fitting that we
should do so, thus penalizing an important segment of our society by
relegating them in their senior years to a substandard retirement in-
come.
The committee, therefore, recommends that the Legislature study
carefully the proposals of the State Teachers' Retirement Board for
improving benefits and restructuring the financial provisions of the
State Teachers' Retirement System.
The committee urges the members to inform themselves of the facts
surrounding this grave situation, so that their decisions when voting
on the bills to implement this proposal will be based on long-range,
far-sighted views of where the STRS and the state stand today, and
their positions some 30 or 40 years from now.
Finally, after careful study and a detailed review of the STRS pro-
gram, the committee recommends its passage by the 1970 Legislature,
as one of its most crucial and significant pieces of legislation.
22
RESTRUCTURING OF THE JOINT RETIREMENT COMMITTEE
Recommendations
In reviewing the processing of retirement bills during recent years,
the committee has become increasingly aware that the Legislature has
no systematic overview procedure for considering them. Consequently,
no single committee of members in either house has achieved the
expertise and continuity of background essential to a rational and
effective evaluation of changes to the state's retirement laws.
There are six separate retirement laws, controlling the funding of
more than one million active and retired public employees. There are
some 36 retirement systems, with assets in excess of $5 billion and
growing by over one-half billion dollars annually. Legislative changes
to any one system ultimately touches all others, either directly or by
establishing precedents.
Because many of these laws were the result of special interest efforts
for individuals or groups, the precedents set and the principles estab-
lished are not only expensive in themselves, but set tempting goals for
which other employees and groups can aim.
The resulting public pension laws are seen to lack uniformity, cannot
be readily understood and administered, and are prone to inequities
in individual application. The projected growth in public employee
population, retiree rolls, dollar value of pension funds, and prospective
benefit improvements, all make it imperative that the government re-
evaluate its approach to further retirement legislation.
The courts have ruled that once a benefit is established in law, it can
only be replaced by an equal or better benefit. It is, therefore, vital
to the stability and integrity of these retirement funds that expert
costing and evaluation be made of the potential accrued liability of
each bill introduced. Even a relatively small initial cost may prove
deceptive when valued in terms of the long-range obligation. For exam-
ple, costing of a benefit improvement for a particular group frequently
fails to reflect the impact of new retirees, who will also receive the
added amounts and thus increase the state's liability. Another defi-
ciency relates to short-range projections of dollar cost, rather than
revelation of the true actuarial accrual of debt for the coming 30 or
40 years.
Committee Recommendations
To meet the needs of the Legislature for a reliable costing of bills,
development of an expertise for reviewing retirement proposals, and
to overcome the effects of emotion and oratorical appeal which have
heretofore dramatically influenced judgment on retirement bills — ^the
committee recomends that:
1. The Joint Legislative Eetirement Committee, which was estab-
lished by statute in 1963 to review and study retirement proposals,
should be restructured and directed to analyze each and every piece
of retirement legislation introduced each session.
23
2. The committee should hold no public hearings, but should per-
form objective evaluations of these bills with the assistance of a
professional actuary.
3. An advisory group of professionally qualified persons from the
pension planning and actuarial fields should be appointed to assist
the committee in reaching accurate determinations,
4. The executive and legislative departments of state government,
with the management of the public retirement systems, should accept
the proposed role of the Joint Retirement Committee in providing
expert analyses and soundlj^ based recommendations on retirement
bills introduced each session.
After a careful review of the successful experience of such review
bodies in Illinois and Wisconsin, as well as in a number of other states,
the committee feels that this procedure would provide the Legislature
with the necessary tools to accomplish a more orderly and comprehen-
sive assessment of the retirement proposals which come before it.
The committee further recommends that such a body be established
soon, before the already burgeoning state obligation for benefits to
public retirees becomes a major item in the annual state budget.
printed in calipoknia office of statb printing
990—100 1-70 2M
CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE
JOINT COMMITTEE on OPEN SPACE LAND
FINAL REPORT
■^^1
HON. JOHN T. KNOX, Chairman
HON. ROBERT J. LAGOAAARSINO, Vice Chairman
MEMBERS OF THE COMMIHEE
ASSEMBLYMEN SENATORS
JOHN T. KNOX ROBERT J. LAGOMARSINO
JOHN P. QUIMBY WILLIAM E. COOMBS
EDWIN L Z'BERG WALTER W. STIERN
CLARE L BERRYHILL FRED W. MARLER, JR.
STAFF
JOHN C. WILLIAMSON, ExecofiVe Director
GERALD D. BOWDEN, Assistant Director
PEGGY JAMES, Secretary
February 1970
MEMBERS OF
CITIZENS TECHNICAL ADVISORY COMMITTEE
ON OPEN SPACE LANDS
Keverdy Johnson (Chairman)
Walter V. Hays (Vice-Chairman)
Floyd B. Cerini
Robert H. Morris
William T. Baleh
David M. Bryant, Jr.
William Staiger
William M. Beaty
Leslie E. Carbert
DeWitt Krueger
Leslie Howe
Arlen K. Bean
William MacDougall
Bert W. Broemmel
Harold Tokmakian
J. Herbert Snyder
Don Benninghoven
Marshall Mayer
Ronald W. Cox
Edward D. Landels
William Turnbull, Jr.
Judge Hugo Fisher
David Kelley
Herbert Sturdy (1968-1969)
John P. Whittemore (1968-1969)
George Goodall (1970)
Edward D. Landels, Chairman 1968-69
Reverdy Johnson, Chairman 1969-70
(2)
California Legislature
Joint Committee on Open Space Lands
Honorable Ed Eeinecke, President of the Senate
Honorable Eobert Monagan, Speaker of the Assembly
Members of the Senate and Assembly
Ladies and Gentlemen :
The Joint Committee on Open Space Lands was created by the
adoption of Assembly Concurrent Kesolution Number 26 during the
1967 Regular Session. The Committee was directed to "analyze all
facts relating to the grant of authority conferred upon the Legislature
by Article XXVIII of the State Constitution. ' '
During the 1968 Regular Session the Legislature adopted Concurrent
Resolution Number 60, which directed the Committee to present a pre-
liminary report during the 1969 session and a final report during the
1970 session. In compliance with that Resolution, the Committee now
submits its final report.
The Committee reached general agreement upon most of the matters
dealt with in the report. At the same time, some members did not agree
with certain of the recommendations contained herein, particularly
those dealing with regional responsibilities and state or regional re-
quirements and constraints upon local actions.
However, the members of the Committee recognize that the proposed
recommendations represent tlie results of many months of work by the
Citizens Technical Advisory Committee and the Committee staff, aided
by many suggestions from interested citizens. The members also recog-
nize that the recommendations comprise a set of proposals consistent
with each other, which offer a framework for decision and action to
preserve important open space.
Rather than excise those portions with which there was no consensus,
and thus deny the Legislature and the public the opportunity to make
their own evaluations of the proposals, the Committee has chosen to
submit the report in its entirety. Individual members will thus be free
to separately state their disagreement with any portion of the report,
and to support or oppose proposed legislation.
The failure of the Committee to reach accord on some of the pro-
posals should not obscure the fact that there was majority support for
Recommendations One, Three, Nine, and Twelve through Seventeen,
inclusive.
The Committee wishes to take this opportunity to thank the members
of the Citizens Technical Advisory Committee for their assistance in
studying the problems related to open space lands. The legislation
enacted pursuant to the Preliminary Report of the Committee and
many of the proposals contained herein are testimony to the countless
hours spent by them in considering this very serious problem.
Respectfully submitted,
Robert J. Lagomarsino John T. Knox
Vice Chairman Chairman
William E. Coombs John P. Quimbt
Walter W. Stiern Edwin L. Z'berg
Fred W, IVIarler, Jr. Clare L. Berryhill
(3)
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Page
Introduction 7
Chapter One : General Conclusions 9
Chapter Two : Summary of Recommendations 11
1. State Office of Conservation and Development Planning 11
2. State Open Space Program 11
3. State Open Space Policy 12
4. Regional Responsibilities 12
5. Regional Open Space Plan 13
6. Regional Review of Local Plans 13
7. Regional Approval of Local Plans 13
8. Regional Approval of Local Programs 13
9. Local Projects and Specific Plans 13
10. Local Open Space Plans 13
11. Local Open Space Ordinances 14
12. Development Planning Contracts 14
13. Development Planning Contracts 14
14. California Land Conservation Act:
Farm and Home Loans 14
15. California Land Conservation Act :
Eminent Domain Requirements 15
16. California Laud Conservation Act :
Notice of Cancellation Hearings 15
17. California Land Conservation Act :
Eligibility of Recreational Land 15
18. Funding of Open Space Programs 15
19. Subdivision Map Act 15
Chapter Three : Recommendations 16
1. State Office of Conservation and Development Planning 16
2. State Open Space Program 17
3. State Open Space Policy 18
4. Regional Responsibilities 19
5. Regional Open Space Plan 20
6. Regional Review of Local Plans 20
7. Regional Approval of Local Plans 21
8. Regional Approval of Local Programs 22
9. Local Projects and Specific Plans 23
10. Local Open Space Plans 23
11. Local Open Space Ordinances 25
(5)
TABLE OF CONTENTS-Continued
Page
12. Development Planning Contracts 27
13. Development Planning- Contracts 27
14. California Land Conservation Act :
Farm and Home Loans 29
15. California Land Conservation Act :
Eminent Domain Requirements 29
16. California Land Conservation Act:
Notice of Cancellation Hearings 30
17. California Land Conservation Act:
Eligibility of Recreational Land 31
18. Funding of Open Space Programs 32
19. Subdivision Map Act 34
Chapter Four: Open Space Objectives 36
Chapter Five : Planning Commission Study 41
Chapter Six: Open Space — What Is It? 51
Chapter Seven: Open Space and the Police Power in California _ 56
Chapter Eight : California Land Conservation Act Survey 116
Appendix A: Article XXVIII, California Constitution 120
Appendix B : Cost of Acquiring Open Space Proposals 121
U)
INTRODUCTION
The Joint Committee on Open Space Lands was established by the
California Legislature at the 1967 Eegular Session hy the adoption of
Assembly Concurrent Eesolution Number 26. The Committee was "au-
thorized and directed to ascertain, study and analyze all facts relating
to the grant of authority conferred upon the Legislature by Article
XXVIII of the Constitution of the State of California, including but
not limited to the operation, effect, administration, enforcement, and
needed revision of any and all laws in any way bearing upon or relat-
ing to the subject of this resolution and to report thereon to the Legis-
lature including in the reports its recommendations for appropriate
legislation. ' '
Article XXVIII was approved by the electorate at the 1966 General
Election.* It authorizes the Legislature to define open space lands, and
to provide, when such lands are subject to an enforceable restriction as
specified by the Legislature, that the Legislature may require that they
be assessed on the basis of the use to which the land is restricted rather
than upon market value.
A.C.R. 26 also instructed the Joint Committee to appoint a citizens'
advisory committee to assist the Joint Committee in its work.
A Technical Advisory Committee of outstanding citizens was ap-
pointed. Those who have served on the committee are truly dedicated
individuals who have given unselfishly of their time and talent in as-
sisting the legislative committee. They have served entirely at their
own expense.
During the first year of their work, the Technical Advisory Commit-
tee concentrated on changing the California Land Conservation Act
(Williamson Act) and the provisions of the Eevenue and Taxation
Code which govern the assessment of land enforceably restricted to
open space uses. The Committee also developed a proposal whereby
cities and counties might accept open space easements on land. These
recommendations of the Citizens Advisory Committee formed a major
part of the Preliminary Eeport of the Joint Committee on Open Space
Lands, and were introduced in the Legislature in March 1969 as Assem-
bly Bills 1175, 1176, 1177, 1178, 1186 and 2305. All six bills were
passed by both houses and signed by the Governor. They become law
November 10, 1969.
During the past year, the Citizens Technical Advisory Committee
has concentrated upon carrying out the broader aspects of Article
XXVIII and A.C.E. 26, namely, establishing machinery for protecting
the interests and concern of the people of the State in the preservation
of its open space lands.
In August of 1969, the Technical Advisory Committee submitted a
Semi-Final Eeport to the Joint Committee. This document consisted of
a number of proposals for changes in governmental structure and au-
* See Appendix A.
(7)
8 JOINT COMMITTEE ON OPEN SPACE LAND
thority upon which the Advisory Committee desired tlie benefit of
public discussion. This report was widely circulated and three public
hearings were held by the Joint Committee upon the suggestions con-
tained therein. These hearings were in San Diego on September 13-14,
in Fresno on October 13, and in San Francisco on November 3 and 4,
1969.
After the hearings the Advisory Committee held several additional
meetings. Its final report was prepared and submitted to the Joint
Committee on January 1970.
This report of the Joint Committee on Open Space Lands largely
reflects the recommendations included in the Final Report of the
Citizens Technical Advisory Committee. However, it has incorporated
most of the principal suggestions for change contained in letters of
dissent submitted by several members of the Advisory Committee.
The result is a series of recommendations calling for important
changes in the organization and structure of governmental agencies in
relation to open space land.
Neither this Committee nor the Citizens Technical Advisory Commit-
tee has considered it to be its role to document the need to preserve
California's open space lands. One has only to observe the millions of
acres of our best agricultural land that have fallen to the bulldozer
since World War II to know the fate of additional millions of acres
as our population continues to double every twenty to thirty years.
One has only to read any daily paper or to hear the statements of
responsible public officials to measure the seriousness and depth of
public concern over the threats to the State's environment. This Com-
mittee's study has convinced all that if we are in fact going to meet
the needs of the future, changes in traditional attitudes and methods
of dealing with the land are matters of necessity.
The message is clear : no action now — no open space in the future.
The Committee has considered its responsibility to be to recommend
steps to achieve the desired goals of society in the preservation of open
space land, rather than to merely add to the overwhelming evidence
of the seriousness of the situation and the necessity for action.
The recommendations contained in this report offer a reasonable
and realistic approach to a program of action by individuals and by
their governments. The adoption of this program may well be the only
way of avoiding more drastic measures in the not too distant future.
CHAPTER 1
GENERAL CONCLUSIONS
In submitting its final report to the Joint Committee on Open Space
Lands, the Citizens Technical Advisory Committee stated a series of
general conclusions reached after two years of thoughtful considera-
tion of the open space problem. In submitting this report to the Legis-
lature, this Committee endorses these general conclusions of the Tech-
nical Advisory Committee and presents them here as our own.
1. While the concern of the State in open space lands may be con-
sidered paramount, many of the State's objectives can be achieved
through action by local government and private landowners.
Nevertheless, good public policy cannot permit the land-use policy
of the State to be simply an aggregate of individual decisions
made by landowners and local governments without regard to
statewide interest.
<
2. The State's concern with respect to selected areas or categories
of land warrants direct action by the state government, either
through direct acquisition or control by use of the police power.
3. The general goal of the Committee 's recommendations is to assure
that all units of government have the authority and the will to
adopt and carry out open space policies that are consistent with
state objectives and sound conservation policies.
4. Formulation and execution of a land-use policy designed to pro-
tect the state's interest in its own development is basic to any
effective environmental quality program.
The importance of land to the total environment is both critical
and obvious. The lack of any positive guidance from the state has
forced local governments to develop policies without reference to
statewide concerns. Failure to articulate the state's interest in
rational land use has allowed the private landowner to unduly
control the location and timing of the state's metropolitan growth.
5. The basic mechanisms available for the control of land use are
those which must be tapped in dealing with other environmental
problems. Once the three basic tools of purchase of land by the
public, voluntary restriction in land use by the owner, and use
of the general powers of government at all levels have been called
upon to carry out a comprehensive land-use policy, they could be
adapted to achieve other environmental objectives with compara-
tive ease.
6. The importance of demonstrating dramatically a COMMITMENT
by the Legislature on behalf of the State to a course of action
calculated to ameliorate environmental problems cannot be over-
estimated,
(9)
10 JOINT COMMITTEE ON OPEN SPACE LAND
To do this, the Legislature should now: (1) declare state policy;
(2) provide a planning base and sufficient authority to carry out
those policies ; ( 3 ) commit substantial sums of money on a regular
basis to finance environmental programs.
7. State policies should not be adopted merely to meet the require-
ments of federal agencies.
The intrinsic worth of an open space policy must not depend
upon, nor appear to depend upon, the availability of federal
funds to carry it out. Policies, plans and programs must possess
a defensible significance which is independent of federal grant
programs.
8. The need for an assignment of state responsibility and authority
is urgent. No state agenej^ now has such responsibility and au-
thority extending beyond its narrow sphere. The State agency
given this assignment should have sufficient authority to :
a. control the policies of other state agencies in carrying out
open space policy ;
b. guide policies and programs of local governments without overt
state intervention in local decisions to achieve an integrated
open space policy.
9. The choice of the state agency to be assigned environmental re-
sponsibilities is critical. Such an agency must have sufficient
stature and operational capability to deal eii'ectively with other
state agencies as well as local or regional entities.
10. There is need for regional bodies to assure the rational coordina-
tion of local plans and action. While local open space problems
must be solved locally, it is important, also, that local plans be
prepared with regional needs in mind. This is only possible by
expanding the planning process to include logical planning regions
rather than following narrow and artificial political boundaries.
11. Given adequate guidance in the form of state policy, local gov-
ernments will devise open space plans which, in conjunction with
state and regional plans, will achieve the objectives of a compre-
hensive open space program. There is need to place both responsi-
bilities and restraints upon local government in the implementation
of plans and the administration of programs related thereto.
CHAPTER 2
SUMAAARY OF RECOMMENDATIONS
1. The Planning and Zoning Law (Title 7 commencing witli Chap-
ter 65000 of the Government Code) should be amended to abolish
the State Office of Planning and to establish a State Office of
Conservation and Development Planning with broad new author-
ity with respect to open space lands.
(a) In general, this office would :
(1) Be responsible to the Governor
(2) Be separate from the Department of Finance
(3) Provide information to, and cooperate with the Legisla-
ture
(4) Prepare a State Conservation and Development Plan,
including an open space program.
(b) The responsibilities of this office with respect to open space
would be to :
(1) Conduct and maintain an inventory of the state's land.
(2) Prepare a comprehensive long-range State open space
program for adoption by the Legislature.
(3) Administer statewide programs of financial assistance
and open space acquisition delegated to it by law.
(4) Control development in open space areas designated by
the Legislature.
(5) Review all proposals of state agencies which affect open
space land and advise the Governor and tlie Legislature
as to conflicts between any such proposal and the state
open space policj^ and program.
(6) Advise any agency designated by the Governor or the
federal government as state or regional clearing house
for proposals requesting federal funds as to the conform-
ity of such proposals or projects with the State Open
Space Program and Policy.
(7) Review and approve regional open space plans.
(8) Provide relevant supportive information to assist the
Legislature in considering the State Open Space Pro-
gram.
(9) Perform such other functions as directed by the Leg-
islature.
2. The State Office of Conservation and Development Planning
should prepare and the Legislature should adopt a State Open
Space Program which :
A. Identifies specific parcels of open space land which, because of
their unique characteristics, are of sufficient statewide im-
portance to justify direct action by the state to assure their
preserA'ation.
B. Defines categories of open space land which are of sufficient
importance to the state to require action by local agencies in
order to insure the long-range protection of the land.
(11)
12 JOINT COMMITTEE ON OPEN SPACE LAND
C. Provides guidelines for use by local government in preserving
open space land.
3. The Legislature should adopt a State Open Space Policy that will :
A. (1) Recognize the importance of the state's interest in open
space land.
(2) Recognize the need for direct action by the state to pre-
serve selected parcels or categories of open space land.
(3) Recognize that while the interest of the State in open
space lands is paramount, many of the state's objectives
can and should be achieved through action by local gov-
ernment and private lando"svners.
(4) Recognize the existence of serious threats to the State's
open space lands.
(5) Recognize the need for the policies of all state agencies to
be directed toward fulfilling State Open Space Policy.
(6) Recognize the need to design tax policies that will further
State Open Space Policy.
(7) Recognize that the continued growth of population de-
mands that cities, counties and the State at the earliest
possible date make definite plans for the preservation of
valuable open space land and take positive action to carry
out such plans by the adoption and strict administration
of laws, ordinances, rules and regulations to control land
use.
(8) Recognize the need to define the responsibilities of local
governments and to provide them with guidance, authority
and financial assistance in order that they may adopt and
carry out open space plans.
(9) Recognize the interest of the people in orderly urban de-
velopment.
(10) Recognize that open space land is a limited and valuable
resource that must be conserved.
B. Specify relevant factors to be considered by local agencies in
preparing open space plans.
C. Encourage cooperation among governmental bodies.
D. Recognize that certain types of open space land have greater
value to the people of California as open space than they
would have in any other use.
4. The Council on Intergovernmental Relations should assign re-
sponsibility for carrying out open space responsibilities in each
regional planning district into which the State has been divided
pursuant to Section 34216 of the Government Code. This respon-
sibility should be assigned to existing regional bodies in the fol-
lowing order of preference :
A. A general purpose regional government ; or
B. Either a voluntary association of gOA^ernments operating under
a joint exercise of powers agreement, or an area planning com-
mission, where such body has been recognized by the federal
government for purposes of Section 204 of the Demonstration
JOINT COMMITTEE ON OPEN SPACE LAND 13
Cities and Metropolitan Development Act of 1966 (Public Law
89-754.)
C. A regional planning board activated pursuant to Chapter 2
(beginning with Section 65060) of the Government Code.
D. Any association of counties and cities which the Council con-
siders appropriate for carrying out the necessary functions.
E. The Council on Intergovernmental Kelations.
5. The regional agency designated by the state to carry out open
space responsibilities within each region of the state should be
required to prepare a regional open space plan by January 1,
1973. Each regional plan shall :
A. Provide for the conservation and preservation of open space
land within the region ;
B. Be consistent with and carry out the purposes of the State
Open Space Program and Policy ;
6. Each regional agency should review all local open space plans of
the region and forward to the local agency its comments on the
local plan with respect to matters included in the State Open
Space Policy or Program and the regional Open Space Plan.
7. When requested by the local agency, the regional agency should
approve the local open space plan if it finds that it :
A. Is consistent with and implements the regional Open Space
Plan, and that it
B. Includes an action program setting forth specific programs to
be used in implementing the plan.
8. When requested by the local agency, the regional agency should
review programs and actions implementing local open space plans
and approve them if it finds them to be consistent with an ap-
proved open space plan.
9. The Planning and Zoning Law should be amended to :
A. Eequire that projects of local agencies, including school dis-
tricts, be required to be consistent with local general plans.
B, Permit cities and counties to adopt specific plans which include
regulation of the use of open space land.
10. The Planning and Zoning Law should be amended to :
A. Kequire that every city and county adopt an open space
element of its general plan by June 30, 1973.
B. Eequire that city and county open space plans contain an
action program consisting of specific programs which the board
or council intends to pursue in implementing its open space
plan.
C. Kequire that each open space plan adopted by a city or county
be submitted to the appropriate regional agency for its com-
ment as to consistency with the State Open Space Policy and
Program and regional open space plan.
D. Permit a city or county to submit its adopted open space plan
to the regional agency for its approval on the basis of its
14 JOINT COMMITTEE ON OPEN SPACE LAND
conformity with the Space Open Space Policy and Program
and the regional open space plan.
E. Provide that cities and counties must seek to fulfill open space
objectives and pursue state open space policy.
F. Provide that no city or county may issue any building permit,
approve a subdivision map, or adopt an open space zoning
ordinance unless the proposed construction, subdivision, or
ordinance is consistent with its adopted open space plan.
11. The Planning and Zoning law should be amended to :
A. Require that by January 1, 1974, every city or county adopt
an open space zoning ordinance consistent with an adopted
open space plan.
B. Require that every open space zoning ordinance or amendment
thereto be submitted to the appropriate regional agency for
review and comment as to its conformity with the State Open
Space Policy and Program and the regional and local open
space plans.
C. Require that the law governing the issuance of variances from
local open space ordinances be strictly interpreted and enforced
so as to protect the interest of the public in the orderly growth
of urban areas and in the preservation and conservation of
open space land.
D. Provide that any city or county may submit open space zoning
ordinances or amendments thereto to the regional agency for
approval on the basis of conformity with its approved open
space plan.
E. Provide that a city or county by resolution may establish an
approved open space ordinance as an enforceable restriction
within the meaning of Article 28 of the State Constitution.
12. The Legislature should enact a new law authorizing a city, a
county and the owners of land to enter into development planning
contracts which would :
A. Provide for the long range planning and staged development
of parcels of land adjacent to cities which lend themselves to
such long range planning.
B. Provide that land restricted to open space uses pursuant to a
development planning contract be deemed subject to an en-
forceable restriction within the meaning of Article XXVIII
of the State Constitution.
13. A county, the appropriate state or regional agency and the owner
or owners of land not included within the general plan of a city
should be authorized to enter development planning contracts in
the same manner and with the same effect as proposed for a city,
a county and land owner.
14. The California Land Conservation Act of 1965 (Williamson Act)
should be amended to require the Department of Veterans Affairs
to execute a contract pursuant to that Act upon the request of a
veteran purchasing a farm under its Farm and Home Loan
Program.
JOINT COMMITTEE ON OPEN SPACE LAND 15
15. The California Land Conservation Act of 1965 (Williamson Act)
should be amended to :
A. Prescribe a procedure by which a public agency proposing to
acquire land Mdthin an agricultural preserve for a project
extending into two or more counties may request approval of
its project of the board or council of the county or city admin-
istering the preserve ; and
B. Provide a method by which the public agency, in the event
the board or council refuses to give such approval, may seek
a court determination of its compliance with Section 51292
of the Government Code which would bar the issuance of a
Writ of Mandamus sought pursuant to the Section 51294 of
the Government Code.
16. The California Land Conservation Act of 1965 (Williamson Act)
should be amended to provide that mail notice of a public hearing
need be sent only to the owners of land under contract within
the same agricultural preserve and within one mile of land upon
which the owner of land is seeking cancellation of his contract
rather than to every owner of land within the preserve.
17. The California Land Conservation Act of 1965 (Williamson Act)
should be amended to extend eligibility to land open to the public
for specified recreational uses.
18. The Legislature should take steps to assure that regular annual
state appropriations are made available in an amount which, in
addition to funds from local and federal sources, will be sufficient
to finance an adequate open space program for California.
One possible step would be for the Legislature to seek approval
by the electorate of a general obligation bond issue to finance a
ten year acquisition and maintenance program.
The exact amount of such a bond issue should be agreed upon
after careful study. On the assumption that the State must pro-
vide a substantial amount of assistance to cities and counties,
and on the basis of the information included in the Urban Metro-
politan Open Space Study, the amount of such a bond issue should
approximate one billion dollars for expenditures over a ten year
period.
19. The Subdivision Map Act should be amended to :
A. Kequire cities and counties to require dedication of land or
levy fees in lieu of dedication which they are now permitted
to require or levy by Section 11546 of the Business and Pro-
fessions Code.
B. Permit such land and fees to be used for open space purposes
other than parks and recreation.
C. Eequire cities and counties to demand similar fees as a condi-
tion to granting a residential building permit for multiple
dwellings of four or more units where such fees have not been
paid in connection with the approval of a subdivision map.
CHAPTER 3
RECOMMENDATIONS
1. STATE OFFICE OF CONSERVATION AND DEVELOPMENT PLANNING
In 1965 a study of California's open space needs was conducted as
part of the State Development Plan Program. One of the general
findings of that study was that :
There are many agencies on all levels of government directly or
indirectly concerned with land for open space purposes, but there
is no single agency with the responsibility for coordination of open
space activities and preservation of open space. As a result of
this lack of a single purpose agency, every agency leaves it to
someone else and it does not get done.*
It has been apparent for many years that the state's failure to con-
trol the actions of its own entities has accounted for many of our pres-
ent difficulties. State government has viewed each isolated program
as a microcosm without considering the collective effect of these pro-
grams on one another. Historical inertia and resistance to change have
combined to thwart all moves to measure the interdependence of state
programs and their cumulative impact upon otlier levels of government.
When a freeway is routed through a local agricultural preserve or
park, it has a dramatic effect upon local policies and programs. Simi-
larly, the population which follows the location of such public facilities
as colleges and universities can have a significant effect upon the
ecological balance of the area. But while these relationships among the
various branches of state and local government have long been recog-
nized, there has never been an agency whose function was to unify their
action in an effort to protect our open space land resources.
Concerted action by the state will not be possible until a high level
agency is given the power to control the action of sibling agencies and
departments. Only by achieving this sort of unified state action can
local governments reasonably be asked to carry out statewide goals
and objectives.
If the State is to fulfill the statewide interest in the conservation of
open space lands, it is surely clear that responsibility must be assigned
to a single agency, directly responsible to the Governor, M'ith specific
duties assigned by the Legislature and with sufficient stature, support
and authority to influence the policies and action of other state agencies
as well as local governments with respect to open space lands.
Recommendation Number 1
State Office of Conservation and Development Planning
The Planning and Zoning Law (Title 7 commencing with Chapter
65000 of the Government Code) should be amended to abolish the
State Office of Planning and to establish a State Office of Conservation
• Urban-Metropolitan Open Space Study, Eckbo, Dean, Austin and Williams ; directed
by Edward A. "Williams; California State Office of Planning, 1965, finding 10, P.F.
(16)
JOINT COMMITTEE ON OPEN SPACE LAND 17
and Development Planning with broad new authority with respect to
open space lands.
(a) In general, this office would :
(1) Be responsible to the Governor.
(2) Be separate from the Department of Finance.
(3) Provide information to, and cooperate with the Legislature.
(4) Prepare a State Conservation and Development Plan, in-
cluding an open space program.
(b) The responsibilities of this office with respect to open space
would be to :
(1) Conduct and maintain an inventory of the state's land.
(2) Prepare a comprehensive long-range State open space pro-
gram for adoption by the Legislature.
(3) Administer statewide programs of financial assistance and
open space acquisition delegated to it by law.
(4) Control development of open space areas designated by the
Legislature.
(5) Review all proposals of state agencies which affect open
space land and advise the Governor and the Legislature as
to conflicts between any such proposal and the state open
space policy and program.
(6) Advise any agency designated by the Governor or the fed-
eral government as state or regional clearing house for pro-
posals requesting federal funds, as to the conformity of such
proposals or projects Avith the State Open Space Program
Policy.
(7) Review and approve regional open space plans.
(8) Provide relevant supportive information to assist the Legis-
lature in considering the State Open Space Program.
(9) Perform such other functions as directed by the Legislature.
2. STATE OPEN SPACE PROGRAM
It seems patently obvious that if a program of open space conserva-
tion is to be commenced with any hope of success, a comprehensive set
of plans must be integrated into a cohesive whole. Clearly the state
does have an interest in protecting its limited supply of open space
land. Advancing that interest can best be achieved by describing the
land which must be protected and then providing the means for con-
trolling its use.
The job of defining the categories of open space land and locating
the specific parcels which are of statewide importance should be done
by an agency of state government which can review the total needs of
both state and local levels of government.
In addition, local open space programs will be more likely to con-
tribute to meeting both local and statewide objectives if advice, stand-
ards and assistance are provided by the State.
Recommendation Number 2
The State Office of Conservation and Development Planning should
prepare and the Legislature should adopt a State Open Space Program
which :
18 JOINT COMMITTEE ON OPEN SPACE LAND
(a) Identifies specific parcels of open space land which because of
their unique characteristics are of sufficient statewide importance
to justify direct action by the state to assure their preservation.
(b) Defines categories of open space land which are of sufficient im-
portance to the state to require action by local agencies in order
to insure the long-range protection of the land.
(c) Provides guidelines for use by local government in preserving
open space land.
3. STATE OPEN SPACE POLICY
Before the state can direct its own agencies and demand that local
agencies protect the state's interest in land use matters, a standard
must be set. The Legislature must erect a target for all levels of gov-
ernment. In doing so the state must express the nature and extent of
its interest in land use. Conflicting policies must be rationalized and
competing programs harmonized.
For the state to articulate its goals and the means of achieving them
is for the state to declare its policy on the subject. Such a declaration
is necessary in order to pinpoint specific objectives as well as to assign
general responsibilities.
Recommendation Number 3
The Legislature should adopt a State Open Space Policy that will:
(a) (1) Recognize the importance of the state's interest in open
space land.
(2) Recognize the need for direct action by the state to preserve
selected parcels or categories of open space land.
(3) Recognize that while the interest of the state in open space
lands is paramount, many of the state's objectives can and
should be achieved through action by local goverment and
private landowners.
(4) Recognize the existence of serious threats to the state's open
space lands.
(5) Recognize the need for the policies of all state agencies to
be directed toward fulfilling State Open Space policy.
(6) Recognize the need to design tax policies that will further
state open space policy.
(7) Recognize that the continued growth of population demands
that cities, counties and the state at the earliest possible
date make definite plans for the preservation of valuable
open space land and take positive action to carry out such
plans by the adoption and strict administration of laws,
ordinances, rules and regulations to control land use.
(8) Recognize the need to define the responsibilities of local
governments and to provide them with guidance, authority
and financial assistance in order that they may adopt and
carry out open space plans.
(9) Recognize the interest of the people in orderly urban de-
velopment.
(10) Recognize that open space land is a limited and valuable
resource that must be conserved.
JOINT COMMITTEE OK OPEN SPACE LAND 19
(b) Specify relevant factors to be considered by local agencies in
preparing open space plans.
(c) Encourage cooperation among governmental bodies.
(d) Kecognize that certain types of open space land have greater
value to the people of California as open space than they would
have in any other use.
4. REGIONAL OPEN SPACE RESPONSIBILITIES
The trend toward urban growth on a regional scale has severely
taxed the ability of local governments to ineet new problems. Increas-
ingly, many local problems must be made within a regional context.
Undoubtedly, there remains strong sentiment in opposition to regional
planning and control, particularly in certain areas of the state. But
the political acceptability of a solution has no bearing upon the nature
of the underlying problem.
Since our planning problems so demonstrably cut across discrete local
political boundaries, the responsibility for directing local actions for
the mutual benefit of each resident of the region belongs with the
state itself. If the cities and counties which comprise a region are
unable to meet regional needs, it is incumbent upon the state to act
directly.
There are in California fifty-eight counties, more than four hundred
cities, and more than four thousand special districts. It is unrealistic
to assume that these factionalized entities of local government can suc-
cessfully safeguard the state's interest in open space conservation. It
is probably unrealistic even to assume that the state's interest can be
made known to each of these entities. The sheer mechanics of communi-
cation dictate that a more manageable approach be taken. If only for
the purpose of providing an initial framework for local consideration
of regional problems, dividing the state into rational planning regions
is logical.
The planning law already charges the Council on Intergovernmental
Relations with dividing the state into regional planning districts.
While this has been done, no action has been taken to activate regional
planning bodies in most of such districts. It is the view of the Com-
mittee that the local governments in the region should be given the
greatest latitude in establishing a single responsible regional planning
body within each regional district and that until this is done, the
State should exercise such responsibility within each regional planning
district.
Recommendation Number 4
The Council on Intergovernmental Relations should assign responsi-
bility for carrying out open space responsibilities in each regional
planning district into which the State has been divided pursuant to
Section 34216 of this Code. This responsibility should be assigned to
existing regional bodies in the following order of preference :
(a) A general purpose regional government.
(b) Either a voluntary association of governments operating under
a joint exercise of powers agreement, or an area planning com-
20 JOINT COMMITTEE ON OPEN SPACE LAND
mission, where such body has been recognized by the federal
government for purposes of Section 204.
(c) A regional planning board activated pursuant to Chapter 2
(beginning with Section 65060) of the Government Code.
(d) Any association of counties and cities which the Council con-
siders appropriate for carrying out the necessary functions.
(e) The Council on Intergovernmental Relations.
5. REGIONAL OPEN SPACE PLAN
The responsibility for assuring that the state's open space policies
are carried out at the regional level rests, in the final analysis, with
the state. It is appropriate for the state to delegate this responsibility
to some independent regional entity. But this should not obscure the
nature of the responsibility.
The State Open Space Program should isolate those matters which
are of concern to the state at large in order that they may be reflected
in regional actions.
A relatively higher degree of specificity should be expected of re-
gional open space plans than that reflected in the state open space
program. The function of the regional plan is to extend the broad con-
cepts outlined in the state open space policy and program. It must
also identify those matters which may be of little importance to the
state, but which constitute worthwhile goals for the region itself. This
twin role of the regional plan will necessitate a fundamentally different
approach from that followed at the state level.
Recommendation Number 5
The regional agency designated by the state to carry out open space
responsibilities within each region of the state should be required to
prepare a regional open space plan by January 1, 1973. Each regional
plan shall:
A. Provide for the conservation and preservation of open space land
within the region;
B. Be consistent with and csLTry out the purposes of the State Open
Space Program and Policy.
6. REGIONAL REVIEW OF LOCAL PLANS
This report does not contemplate the creation of any general govern-
mental responsibilities at the regional level. It does contemplate the
establishment of close working relationships among local governments
and their regional representatives.
Several procedures are available to local governments to form re-
gional planning bodies consisting of members of their own choosing.
The major metropolitan centers of California have created regional
planning bodies. The San Francisco Bay Area has the Association of
Bay Area Governments. The San Diego area has formed the Compre-
hensive Planning Organization. The Southern California Association of
Governments has been formed in the southern counties, and the Sacra-
mento Regional Area Planning Commission operates in the upper
central valley. These are all voluntary councils of governments. They
possess no regulatory, taxing or other governmental powers.
JOINT COMMITTEE ON OPEN SPACE LAND 21
Hence, no regional body has the power to compel local compliance
with the regional plan.
It appears desirable, however, to establish a procedure which will
facilitate cooperation between local and regional entities toward com-
mon objectives. To require that local open space plans be submitted
to a regional agency for review and comment will serve that purpose.
This is essentially the procedure which is followed in practice in
many areas. By providing for such a review procedure by law, each
regional body would be assured of the opportunity to review each
local plan within its region. Through such a procedure, the regional
body could inform local planning bodies of the regionally significant
issues raised by the local plan. In this way, local planners would
consider regional objectives in their ongoing planning operation.
Obviously, the extent to which state and regional objectives would,
in fact, be served would depend upon the sincerity with which local
bodies and their regional representatives utilize the procedure.
The scope of such regional review should be limited to matters
which the regional body considers to be of interest to either the state
at large or to the region.
Recommendation Number 6
Each regional agency should review all local open space plans of
the region and forward to the local agency its comments on the local
plan with respect to matters included in the State Open Space policy
or program and the regional Open Space Plan.
7. REGIONAL APPROVAL OF LOCAL PLANS
As a final extension of the liaison between local and regional plan-
ning, local governments should be able to ask the regional body to
determine whether a given local plan conforms to the state and re-
gional standards embodied in the regional plan and give a formal
approval to such a plan if it meets such specified standards. There are
several reasons for such an approval procedure.
One is to enable a local government to satisfy itself that it has been
successful in pursuing state and regional objectives.
A second is to determine whether the plan is of such quality that
other governmental agencies should be guided by the plan in making
decisions on such matters as the appropriation of state money or the
approval of the use of federal funds to carry out the local plan. It is
important to know whether state and federal funds are used to finance
programs which advance the state's interest. This can best be deter-
mined by measuring the program within the context of a local plan
which has been determined through the approval process to be con-
sistent with state policy.
The scope of the regional review and approval should be limited
to matters which are of importance to the region.
Recommendation Number 7
When requested by the local agency, the regional agency should
approve the local open space plan if it finds that it:
A. Is consistent with and implements the regional Open Space Plan,
and that it
22 JOINT COMMITTEE ON OPEN SPACE LAND
B. Includes an action program setting forth specific programs to be
used in implementing the plan.
8. REGIONAL APPROVAL OF LOCAL PROGRAMS
There is presently no requirement in the state planning law that
local land-use control programs conform to local plans. And assuming
that such a requirement existed, there is no means of determining the
degree of consistency between local plans and the programs designed to
carry them out.
There are a number of reasons why these programs should conform
to a plan. There are also sound reasons for devising a mechanism to
determine whether this requirement is met in practice. The question
is how far should such a testing mechanism be allowed to impose the
wishes of the tester over the tested.
Local governments argue with some force that only the local planning
body should be permitted to pass judgment upon the programs it
chooses to employ in executing its plan.
For the moment, the Committee is of the opinion that regional re-
view of and comment upon local plans and programs as suggested in
Recommendation Number 6 will give sufficient assurance that local
planning bodies will pursue regional and state objectives and will adopt
and enforce programs which are consistent with and carry out their
own plans.
There are, however, two situations where it appears necessary to re-
quire that regional approval be given to local plans and programs be-
cause of a compelling state responsibilitj^ or interest.
The first of these is in connection with state or federal assistance for
local programs which affect open space. Clearly, such funds should
only be authorized where they serve to carry out local open space plans
which have been reviewed and approved on the basis that they reflect
and carry out regional and state objectives.
The second is where the program results in use-value assessment
under the authority of Article XXVIII.
Legislative Counsel's Opinion No. 16738 indicated that for any land-
use control program to be considered an "enforceable restriction", the
state's interest is required by the Constitution to prevail over that of
the local entities which use them. That opinion concluded in these
words :
"Finally, it should be pointed out that Section 2 of Article
XXVIII . . . which authorizes the special assessment of open space
lands, provides that such lands must be subject to (an) enforce-
able restriction, as specified ~by the Legislature, in order to be
eligible for such assessment. We have doubts that enforceable re-
strictions specified by the legislative bodies of local government
. . . would satisfy this requirement. ' '
It is the opinion of the Committee that the state should condition
the approval of certain state and federal grant funds or local use of
Article XXVIII assessment of open space lands upon regional approval
of the local land-use control measures utilized in carrying out an ap-
proved open space plan. However, since application for state and fed-
eral funds and use of Article XXVIII assessment are optional with
JOINT COMMITTEE ON OPEN SPACE LAND 23
local governments, the question of regional approval of land-use pro-
grams should also be optional.
Recommendation Number 8
When requested by the local agency, the regional agency should re-
view programs and actions implementing local open space plans and
approve them if it finds them to be consistent with an approved local
open space plan.
9. LOCAL PROJECTS AND SPECIFIC PLANS
A. Local Projects
Too often government itself is responsible for violating the policies
which it has adopted to control the actions of others. By the location
of public service facilities, public bodies can exert a strong influence
over future patterns of urban development.
It seems only equitable that if local government is to act as the
guardian of the public's interest in prudent land use, that the rules
it proposes to guide private decisions should apply with equal force
to public land-use decisions. One difSculty is, however, that even in
areas where the local governing body endeavors to follow its own plan-
ning guidelines, special districts are not bound to comply. School dis-
tricts, for example, are not bound by local zoning.
One need not be a professional planner to appreciate the problem
created by the location of a school in an area set aside in a local plan
for agriculture. To do so will attract development pressures which
are inimical to the objectives of the plan. Because of such problems,
it is important that all local agencies be bound to comply with local
plans.
6. Specific Plans
The Planning and Zoning Law allows local governments to prepare
and adopt specific plans, based upon the general plan, as a means of
systematically executing the general plan. The value of such a pro-
cedure is that it clearly combines the plan with the enforcing regula-
tion. The statute now specifies certain purposes for which specific plans
may be used, most of which appear to limit its use to developed or
developing areas. It seems desirable to clearly authorize the use of
specific plans for the regulation of the use of open space land.
Recommendation Number 9
The Planning and Zoning Law should be amended to :
A. Require that projects of local agencies, including school districts,
be required to be consistent with local general plans.
B. Permit cities and counties to adopt specific plans which include
regulation of the use of open space land.
10. LOCAL PLANS
A. Open Space Element
The planning law presently specifies a number of "elements" which
must be contained in a local general plan. These elements concern land
use, circulation and housing (Government Code Section 65302). While
24 JOINT COMMITTEE ON OPEN SPACE LAND
some local governments have adopted an open space element of their
general plan, no requirement that they do so is contained in the plan-
ning law.
A large number of local agencies do not plan for open space. The
result of this is that most local plans are development oriented. Plan-
ning for urban expansion frequently dominates planning for open space
preservation. In order to assure a balanced consideration of land con-
servation objectives and the problems of planned urban growth, open
space should be added to the list of mandatory elements of each gen-
eral plan.
6. Action Program
There is currently no requirement that local plans contain a descrip-
tion of the program which the legislative body intends to promulgate
for the implementation of the plan. The result is to perpetuate the
dichotomy between the plan and the control measures which should
carry it out. This in turn tends to result in two parallel plans. One
plan is the official general plan. The other is the de facto plan drawn
by the local legislative body as it administers zoning and other land
use programs.
Ideally, there should be a unity between these two plans. The first
step toward that objective is to require that each open space plan
contain an action program setting forth the various means by which
the planning body proposes to achieve its planning objectives. Only
in this way will the various entities concerned with planning matters
be placed on notice of the entire planning pattern.
C. Regional Review of Local Plan
As discussed in Kecommendation Number 6, local open space plans
should be submitted to the regional agency for review and comment.
The scope of this review and comment should be limited to matters
which are of importance to the region.
D. Regional Approval of Local Plan
For reasons discussed in connection with Kecommendations Numbers
7 and 8, local governments may desire regional approval of their local
plans. The scope of this regional review and approval should be limited
to matters which are of importance to the region. It should not be
the job of the regional body to second guess local officials on purely
local issues.
E. State Objectives
It can be said that the state's overall interest in open space conser-
vation will never be protected until each of its subordinate units aligns
its open space policies and programs with those of the state. Local
decisions can easily undercut and erode statewide objectives. Accord-
ingly, both cities and counties must be bound to carry out the objec-
tives declared by the state.
F. Local Actions
The best plan poorly followed can be of little value. The Planning
and Zoning Law contains no requirement that the issuance of a building
JOINT COMMITTEE ON OPEN SPACE LAND 25
permit or the approval of a subdivision map be consistent with an
adopted plan. Until local actions are required to comply with the ap-
propriate local plan, the danger of thwarting planning goals will con-
tinue.
Recommendation Number 10
The Planning and Zoning Law should be amended to :
A. Require that every city and county adopt an open space element
of its general plan by June 30, 1973.
B. Require that city and county open space plans contain an action
program consisting of specific programs which the board or coun-
cil intends to pursue in implementing its open space plan.
C. Require that each open space plan adopted by a city or county be
submitted to the appropriate regional agency for its comment as
to consistency with the State Open Space Policy and Program
and regional open space plan.
D. Permit a city or county to submit its adopted open space plan
to the regional agencj^ for its approval on the basis that it con-
forms to the State Open Space Policy and Program and the
regional open space plan.
E. Provide that both cities and counties must seek to fulfill open
space objectives and pursue state open space policy.
F. Provide that no city or county may issue any building permit,
approve a subdivision map, or adopt an open space zoning ordi-
nance unless the proposed construction, subdivision, or ordinance
is consistent witii its adopted open space plan.
n. LOCAL OPEN SPACE ZONING
A. Zoning Ordinance Requiremeni
It is not enough merely to plan for open space preservation. There
must be some public assurance that plans will be carried out. One
means of insuring that local open space plans are carried out is to
require that land designated as open space in a local plan be restricted
to open space uses.
In the absence of such a requirement, there exists no guarantee that
open space objectives will be carried out. It is also important to estab-
lish a requirement of agreement between the open space plan and the
open space zoning ordinance.
6. Regional Review
To assure the necessary agreement between open space plans and
ordinances, it is desirable to provide for a regional review of the zon-
ing ordinance. This regional review should be similar to that suggested
for local plans. The regional body should be encouraged to issue a
public evaluation of the ordinance in terms of its regional significance.
This same regional review and comment procedure should also apply
to any amendments to an ordinance.
C. Variances
Protecting the integrity of open space zoning will require strict inter-
pretation and enforcement of variance requirements. Conventional zon-
26 JOINT COMMITTEE ON OPEN SPACE LAND
ing has not always been successful in preventing deviation from zoning
restrictions through administrative actions in response to political or
economic pressure. The extent of this problem is considered in detail
elsewhere in this report.
D. Regional Approval
As discussed under Recommendations 7, 8, and 10 D, local govern-
ments may wish to submit local open space zoning ordinances for re-
gional approval.
E. Open Space Zoning as an Enforceable Restriction
As discussed elsewhere in this report, zoning as practiced to date
has failed to inspire public confidence as a means of restricting the use
of open space land. Evidence of its failure as such a device is that the
existence of a zoning ordinance has usually been ignored by both pro-
spective buyer and assessor.
It is to be hoped that better land-use programs, resulting in con-
servation of open space land, will come from the legislative direction
proposed in this report and from use of the regular procedures recom-
mended.
In addition, recommendations 7 and 8, as well as 10 D and 11 D,
provide that local governments may seek regional approval of their
open space plans and enforcement programs in order that they may
qualify for state or federal assistance for open space projects, and in
order that they may offer use-value assessment to the owners of open
space land restriction by ordinance.
The Committee is of the opinion that special requirements recom-
mended in these proposals, including regional approval of open space
plans and ordinances, are such as to warrant mandatory use-value
assessment of such land. However, the Committee is also of the opinion
that the final decision as to whether an approved open space ordinance
is to have the effect of an enforceable restriction in the assessment of
land subject thereto, should rest with the city or county.
Recommendation Number 11
The Planning and Zoning Law should be amended to :
A. Eequire that by January 1, 1974, every city or county adopt an
open space zoning ordinance consistent with an adopted open
space plan.
B. Require that every open space zoning ordinance or amendment
thereto be submitted to the appropriate regional agency for re-
view and comment as to its conformity with the State Open
Space Policy and Program and the regional and local open space
plans.
C. Eequire that the law governing the issuance of variances from
local open space ordinances be strictly interpreted and enforced
so as to protect the interest of the public in the orderly growth
of urban areas and in the preservation and conservation of open
space land.
D. Provide that any city or county may submit open space zoning
ordinances or amendments thereto to the regional agency for
JOINT COMMITTEE ON OPEN SPACE LAND 27
approval on the basis of their conformity with its approved open
space plan.
E. Provide that a city or county may by resolution establish an
approved open space ordinance as an enforceable restriction
within the meaning of Article XXVIII of the State Constitution.
12 AND 13. DEVELOPMENT PLANNING CONTRACTS
In Article XXVIII of the State Constitution the people declared
"that assessment practices must be so designed as to permit the con-
tinued availability of open space lands" for the "production of food
and fiber, and to assure the use and enjoyment of natural resources
and scenic beauty for the economic and social well being of the state
and its citizens. ' '
The Legislature has authorized several programs for carrying out the
purposes of Article XXVIII. Under the authority of the California
Land Conservation Act of 1965 (Williamson Act) counties have entered
into contracts restricting over five million acres of land to agricultural
and compatible uses. Counties may also now accept open space ease-
ments and various other interests or rights to land. To date, however,
most of the land included in such programs is remote from cities and
other urban areas.
The principal reason for this is that these programs cannot be
adapted to fully satisfy the objectives of all who are concerned with
one or another of the aspects of problems involved in expanding urban
areas.
These problems are mainly the following :
(1) While counties may prepare and adopt long-range plans for
development of land either near expanding urban areas or in
remote areas which may offer promise as sites for new tOAvns and
other such developments, a count}' can do little to assure that
such plans will be followed because :
(a) There is no assurance that the desires of the landowner
will in the end coincide with the county plans.
(b) The likelihood that as development actually approaches, the
area will be annexed to a city or otherwise included in an
incorporated area.
(2) While cities may prepare long-range plans and may even pre-
zone land not yet annexed, it actually can exercise no direct
controls over the land until annexation takes place.
(3) Annexation of land A^ery far in advance of development is
avoided by cities because it commits them to providing municipal
services in advance of receipt of tax revenue, and by land-
owners because of the likelihood that assessed valuation will rise
to reflect the imminent development and because the land will
become subject immediately to city taxes.
(4) There is no present method whereby cities can act in concert
with landowners to limit the assessed valuation on land outside
the city to its present use-value or even to the value which may
reflect its ultimate use.
28 JOINT COMMITTEE ON OPEN SPACE LAND
(5) In the absence of any assured relationship between property
taxes and the time and nature of ultimate development, there
is little incentive for landowners to participate in long-range
planning in such a way as to allow cities or counties to partici-
pate in the entire planning process.
(6) The economic problem existing in the absence of any assured
relationship between property taxes and the timing and nature
of ultimate development can defeat the efforts of potential de-
velopers to hold or assemble large tracts of land for development
purposes.
In an effort to provide a program which will serve the objectives of
both the landowner and the public by relating long-range development
planning to property assessment, the Committee has developed the
following proposal which would :
(1) Permit a city, one or more counties having adopted a general
plan, and the owners of a specific parcel of land contiguous to
the city, to enter into long-term development planning contracts
which would:
(a) Be for a term that would extend at least until development
of the area is complete or until terminated in the public
interest by mutual agreement of all parties.
(b) Require a long-range plan for the development of the entire
parcel to be part of the contract.
(c) Require the adoption and annual updating of an interim
plan which would designate the kinds of development that
may be permitted by ordinance within five years.
(d) Provide strict conditions under which plans and ordinances
might be changed.
(e) Provide procedures for preparing, executing, and carrying
out the provisions of the contract.
(2) Permit one or more counties, a regional or state body, and the
owners of land to enter into a similar contract on land not
included in the general plan of a city.
(3) Provide for the restriction of all land according to its use at
the time the contract is executed, including open space uses, and
provide that land restricted to open space use be deemed subject
to an enforceable restriction for purposes of Article XXVIII
and Sections 421-29 of the Revenue and Taxation Code.
Recommendation Number 12
The Legislature should enact a new law authorizing a city, a county
and the owners of land to enter into development planning contracts
which would :
(a) Provide for the long range planning and staged development of
parcels of land adjacent to cities and which lend themselves to
such long range planning.
(b) Provide that land restricted to open space uses pursuant to a
development planning contract be deemed subject to an enforce-
able restriction within the meaning of Article XXVIII of the
State Constitution.
JOINT COMMITTEE ON OPEN SPACE LAND 29
Recommendatioii Number 13
A county, the appropriate regional agency and the owner or owners
of land not included within tlie general plan of a city should be
authorized to enter development planning contracts in the same manner
and with the same effect as proposed for a city, a county and land
owner.
14. VETERANS' FARM AND HOME PURCHASE LOANS
Because mortgage or other security holders are not bound by such
contracts in the event of repossession, some counties require that
secured creditors become parties to contracts entered pursuant to the
California Land Conservation Act. Apparently private lenders have
been willing to do so, thus clearing the way for the landowner to
execute such a contract.
However, the Department of Veterans Affairs has refused to enter
or countersign such contracts. The Department's policy in this regard
does not appear to rest on the question of risk or the effect of the
contract upon the value of the security. The contract has no effect
upon the title to the land and the Department's farm loans are based
upon appraisals that relate to the agricultural value of the land.
The Department maintains, however, that it has no statutory author-
ity to enter such contracts. Eepresentatives of the Department have
advised the Committee staff that, given such authority, they would have
no objection to doing so.
Recoininendation Number 14
The California Land Conservation Act of 1965 (Williamson Act)
should be amended to require the Department of Veterans Affairs to
execute a contract pursuant to that Act upon the request of a veteran
purchasing a farm under its Farm and Home Loan Program.
15. EMINENT DOAAAIN REQUIREMENTS
Article 6 (commencing with Section 51290) of the Government Code
establishes limitations upon the authority of public agencies and per-
sons to condemn land within agricultural preserves established pur-
suant to the California Land Conservation Act of 1965 (Williamson
Act).
Section 51291(b) requires that when it appears that land within
an agricultural preserve will be needed for a public use, the public
agency or person must advise the Director of Agriculture and the
local governing body.
Section 51292 states as follows:
51292(a). No public agency or person shall locate a public
improvement within an agricultural preserve hased primarily on a
consideration of the lower cost of acquiring land in an agricul-
tural preserve.
(b) No public agency or person shall acquire prime agricul-
tural land covered by a contract pursuant to this chapter for any
public improvement if there is other land within or outside the
preserve on which it is reasonably feasible to locate the public
improvement.
(Emphasis added)
30 JOINT COMMITTEE ON OPEN SPACE LAND
Section 51293 provides exemption from the requirement of Section
51292 in certain instances. Among these are :
51293(a) The location of improvements where the board of
council administering the agricultural preserve approves or agrees
to the location thereof.
51293(c) The location of any public utility improvement which
has been approved b}' the Public Utilities Commission.
Section 51294 provides in part that "Section 51294 shall be enforce-
able only by mandamus proceedings by the local governing body or
the Director of Agriculture."
These sections combine to create unusual problems for public agencies
proposing to construct water transmission facilities extending into
more than one county. Such public agencies can overcome the require-
ments of Section 51292 by gaining approval or agreement of the local
governing body. If they should fail to secure such approval, the only
avenue of appeal available to them would require that they proceed
without such approval at the risk of having the local governing body
or the Director of Agriculture seek a writ of mandamus, the issuance
of which they might contest in court.
While the Committee is not of the opinion that the present require-
ments of Section 51292 and 51293 should be weakened, it is the opinion
of the Committee that a more direct procedure should be established
whereby any public agency proposing to acquire land within an agri-
cultural preserve for a project extending into two or more counties
may seek the approval of such counties, and, if denied, be permitted
within a reasonable time to sue for a determination of compliance. Such
a suit should be permitted to be filed in any superior court of the
counties involved and have effect in each county subject to the suit.
Recommendation Number 15
The California Land Conservation Act of 1965 (Williamson Act)
should be amended to :
(a) Prescribe a procedure by which a public agency proposing to
acquire land within an agricultural preserve for a project ex-
tending into two or more counties may request approval of its
project of the board or council of the county or city admin-
istering the preserve; and
(b) Provide a method by which the public agency, in the event the
board of council refuses to give such approval, may seek a
court determination of its compliance with Section 51292 of the
Government Code which would bar the issuance of a Writ of
Mandamus sought pursuant to the Section 51294 of the Govern-
ment Code.
16. NOTICE OF HEARING ON CANCELLATION
Section 51284 of the Government Code provides that no Land Con-
servation Act contract may be canceled (as authorized in Section 51280-
51284) until after the county or city has given notice of and held a
public hearing on the matter. In addition, the county or city is re-
quired to send notice of the hearing to each of the owners of land
under contract and situated within the same agricultural preserve.
JOINT COMMITTEE ON OPEN SPACE LAND 31
In establishing agricultural preserves, at least one county, Stanis-
laus County, has followed the procedure of establishing a single agri-
cultural preserve for the county, which includes all land subject to
its A-2 (exclusive agriculture) zoning ordinance. This means that
various parcels of land may be widely separated although within
the same preserve.
It also means that in order to comply with the mail notice provisions
of Section 51284, the county would have to mail to every owner of
land under contract within the county.
The Committee considers the procedure followed by Stanislaus
County in establishing agricultural preserves in areas coextensive with
land subject to its A-2 zoning ordinance to be consistent with the law.
Such an integration of agricultural preserves and exclusive agricul-
tural zones appears to have advantages in carrying out the purposes
of the California Land Conservation Act.
While the Committee considers the mail notice to all owners of land
under contract to be unnecessarily burdensome, it is of the opinion
that it is important to continue to provide such notice to the owners
of land under contract in the proximity of the land upon which the
contract is proposed to be cancelled.
Recommendation Number 16
The California Land Conservation Act of 1965 (Williamson Act)
should be amended to provide that mail notice of a public hearing
need be sent only to the owners of land under contract within the same
agricultural preserve and within one mile of land upon which the
owner of land under contract is seeking cancellation of his contract
rather than to every owner of land within the preserve.
17. EXTENSION OF LAND CONSERVATION ACT TO RECREATIONAL LAND
As enacted, the California Land Conservation Act of 1965 (William-
son Act) was limited in its application to agricultural land as defined
in the Act. During the 1969 Regular Session of the Legislature, eligi-
bility was extended to certain "open space uses" defined by the Act
in Section 51201 as follows :
(n) "Open space use" is the use or maintenance of land in such
a manner as to preserve its natural characteristics, beauty or
openness for the benefit and enjoyment of the public, to provide
essential habitat for wildlife, or for the solar evaporation of sea
water in the course of salt production for commercial purposes,
if such land is within :
(1) A scenic highway corridor (as defined)
(2) A wildlife habitat area (as defined)
(3) A saltpond (as defined)
(4) A managed wetland (as defined)
(5) A submerged area (as defined)
While many areas used or available for public recreation are eligi-
ble as land in agricultural or open space use, the Committee is of the
opinion that land used for public recreation specifically should be
made eligible to be included within an agricultural preserve and to be
made subject to a contract restricting its use to recreational uses and
32 JOINT COMMITTEE ON OPEN SPACE LAND
uses compatible therewith. Such a proposal is consistent with Article
XXVIII of the State Constitution.
Recommendation Number 17
The California Land Conservation Act of 1965 (Williamson Act)
should be amended to extend eligibility to land open to the public
for specified recreational uses.
18. FUNDING
No program to preserve open space land is free from cost. To acquire
land for public use requires direct expenditure of public funds for
acquisition or maintenance. To encourage owners to use land in the
manner that offers the greatest value to the public assumes that such
use must be an economic one for the owner. If communities do no
more than forego a measure of tax revenue in order to make it pos-
sible and attractive to a landowner to maintain his land in an open
space use, it will result in a reduction in revenue which must be
replaced from another source. To restrict the use of land by govern-
ment action, such as zoning, will, if it is to be effective in preserving
the land, probably be viable only if property taxes are related to the
restricted use. This will also require that any reduction in revenue be
replaced from another source.
To meet the costs of open space programs, local governments must
be able to look to the State for financial assistance. The question of
sources of funds to meet state and local costs becomes the critical one.
An ideal funding source to finance an open space program would
have the following features :
(1) It would be intimately linked to the need for additional open
space or the use of existing open space.
(2) It would further a land-use policy by encouraging the preserva-
tion of open space.
(3) It would discourage practices which tend to result in the loss of
open space.
(4) It would expand as the need for additional funds for open
space grew.
Neither the Technical Advisory Committee nor this Committee has
been able to identify a source that meets all of these criteria. There-
fore, while the matter of specific sources of funds for open space
purposes has been considered, no definitive conclusion has been reached.
However, it seems certain that the commitment of a substantial amount
of money on a regular annual basis is vital if any long-range program
of preserving open space land is to be realized.
The Committee noted two studies which indicate that a very sizeable
annual amount would be required to carry out an adequate program.
The open space study conducted by Eckbo, Dean. Austin and Williams
for the State Office of Planning identified specific parcels of land witliin
a forty mile radius of the state's metropolitan centers which, if
acquired, in fee or less than fee, would cost four billion 1970 dollars.
Almost half of this would be required to finance existing plans of
various public agencies which have not been carried out because of
lack of funds.
JOINT COMMITTEE ON OPEN SPACE LAND 33
This study * found that of the total acreage recommended for acqui-
sition, 733,197 acres were subject to liigh encroaclnneiit pressures. The
stud}' recommended full fee acquisition on 272,472 acres at a 1970
cost of $1,861,889,524, and less than fee acquisition on an additional
460,725 acres at a 1970 cost of $1,105,419,848. These represent total
acquisition costs whicli presumably could be shared by federal, state
and local entities.
The study also estimated that the increase in costs resulting from
delaying acquisition of land in both categories from 1965 to 1970
would approach $700,000,000, or an increase of almost 30% over the
estimated 1965 cost.
Another study done for People for Open Space indicated that acqui-
sition of land to carry out the ABAG open space plan would require
an expenditure of $1.25 billion in the Bay Area alone.
The question of how such programs should be financed is critical.
Since the benefits to be derived from an open space acquisition pro-
gram will be shared by all of the people of the State, clearly the burden
should be similarly shared.
While single changes in the tax laws of the State could yield amounts
of the magnitude suggested, it would seem more appropriate to turn
to the general fund itself in order to assure the desired breadth of
support. This would of course dictate that the entire tax structure of
the state be examined and altered in order to produce the needed
amount.
It is contended that one of the most important elements of such a
financing program would be its reliability and regularity. Only with
such a dependable source can a long range program be devised and
carried out on a sound basis rather than on the basis of current avail-
ability of funds.
Many obstacles stand in the way of the Legislature making and
delivering on such a commitment. Even if one Legislature should em-
bark upon such a program in good faith, the temptation would always
be present for other Legislatures, hard pressed for revenue, to renege
upon such a commitment in order to continue other state programs
without raising taxes.
One way of giving considerable stability and security to such a
program of long-range financing is to seek authorization for general
obligation bonds in an amount sufficient to finance a ten j^ear program
of open space acquisition and development.
In addition to providing the necessary funds, the fact that such a
proposal would have to be approved by the electorate would give the
Legislature and the Administration a gauge of the people's sincerity
and sujjport for a massive program to preserve open space lands.
Obviously, such a program would be based upon carefully devised
programs and would be used to fund local and regional projects of
statewide interest as well as those of purely state interest.
There are, of course, many questions which arise at the thought of
such a bond issue. Among these is the current situation in which the
State finds itself with respect to the bond market. Even though issues
of short term bonds offered during 1969 attracted bids of 5% or under,
the State has refrained from offering authorized water project and
* See Appendix B.
2—1494
34 JOINT COMMITTEE ON OPEN SPACE LAND
veterans' bonds because it is unlikely that such bonds would attract
bids at that level.
S.C.A. 26 (Cologne) will be voted upon at the time of the June 1970
primary. While approval of this measure, combined with S.B. 763
(Chapter 740, Statutes of 1969) will raise the limit on the State's
general obligation bond rate to 7%, such an increase in interest would
obviously raise the cost of bond financing and militate against its
desirability.
On the other hand, it is possible that increases in acquisition costs
resulting from delay in purchasing open space land could be greater
than bond interest costs over the same period.
While many factors must be considered, the Committee is of the
opinion that such a method of financing acquisition and development
of open space lands is a thoroughly appropriate one. The Committee is
also of the opinion that the State is capable of undertaking a sizeable
bonding program for this purpose.
Recommendation Number 18
The Legislature should take steps to assure that regular annual state
appropriations are made available in an amount which, in addition to
funds from local and federal sources, will be sufficient to finance an
adequate open space program for California.
One possible step would be for the Legislature to seek approval by
the electorate of a general obligation bond issue to finance a ten year
acquisition and maintenance program.
The exact amount of such a bond issue should be agreed upon after
careful study. On the assumption that the State must provide a sub-
stantial amount of assistance to cities and counties, and on the basis
of the information included in the Urban Metropolitan Open Space
Study, the amount of such a bond issue should approximate one billion
dollars for expenditures over a ten year period.
19. EXTENSION OF PROVISIONS OF SUBDIVISION MAP ACT
Cities and counties now have the authority under Section 11546 of
the Business and Professions Code to require the dedication by subdi-
viders of reasonable amounts of land for park and recreation purposes
as a condition in the approval of a subdivision map. In lieu of land,
the subdivider may pay a fee. Land so dedicated and fees paid are now
required to be used for the benefit of the residents of the subdivision.
The use of this provision is presently being appealed in the courts.
Some cities have utilized this authority to require substantial fees
in lieu of the dedication of land. One city levies fees according to the
following schedule :
Single family or duplex, per lot $245
Single family dwelling, per acre 1,100
Multiple dwelling, per acre 1,470
Mobile home, per acre 1,470
Obviously, this method produces substantial revenue for acquisition
of land for park and recreation purposes by local governments. Its
extension to other open space lands and to use by the entire community
seems desirable.
JOIXT COMlillTTEE ON OPEN SPACE LAND 35
Recommendation Number 19
The Subdivision Map Act should be amended to :
A. Require cities and counties to require dedication of land or levy-
fees in lieu of dedication which they are now permitted to require
or le\y by Section 11546 of the Business and Professions Code.
B. Permit such land and fees to be used for open space purposes
other than parks and recreation.
C. Require cities and counties to demand similar fees as a condition
to granting a residential building permit for multiple dwellings
of four or more units where such fees have not been paid in
connection with the approval of a subdivision map.
CHAPTER 4
OPEN SPACE OBJECTIVES
GENERAL GOAL
The stated objective of Article XXVIII is the preservation of land
needed for recreation, scenic beauty, natural resources and the produc-
tion of food and fiber. It was proposed in response to a growing public
awareness that these resources, once thought to be unlimited, are being
lost at a rate which has no parallel. It w^as passed by a people who
sensed that California's environment, once the envy of the world, was
in imminent danger of being lost. It reflected the view that, to protect
the total environment, one must begin by preserving the land.
There can be little doubt that between 1966, when Article XXYIII
was passed, and today, the importance of conservation has assumed a
still higher priority in the public consciousness. The list of private or-
ganizations dedicated to protecting environmental amenities steadily
lengthens. Public opinion polls consistently place environmental con-
cerns in the first tier of problems demanding urgent public action. In
response to this, it is a rare public figure who has not stated within
recent months his determination to seek action to preserve the environ-
ment. The Committee has no doubt that these statements are sincere
and that eventually action will come.
SPECIFIC GOALS
The overall objective of environmental protection subsumes a number
of distinct goals. These goals concern: land-use planning, land-use con-
trol, real property taxation and program funding. Each of these fields
embraces its own set of problems and objectives.
7. Land Use Planning Generally
There can be little doubt that population control lies at the heart of
our environmental crisis. However, in the absence of population con-
trol, the single most important facet of environmental control concerns
land use. If the government is able to assure the optimum use of our
very limited land area, many environmental problems will have been
solved.
The central element of any program to safeguard environmental
amenities must concern the use of open space land. However, before we
can begin any long-range program of open space land conservation, we
must first identify the land we deem necessary to preserve as open
space. Second, we must establish an orderly- ranking of priorities for
the many land uses which compete with open space.
We must decide, therefore, what we want to save, and why we want
to save it. Onlj- then may we decide hoiv given areas of open space can
best be maintained.
(36)
JOINT COMMITTEE ON OPEN SPACE LAND 37
a. Local Planning
Under present law there is no requirement that open space needs be
considered in community planning. In those instances when open space
requirements are considered in local planning, there is no requirement
to relate land-use decisions to the plan. It is important, therefore, (a)
to assure that open space be considered as a part of the overall planning
process, and (b) to guarantee that public and private land-use decisions
be made within the context of planning decisions.
Traditionally, local governments have had little guidance from the
state or federal governments in making land-use decisions. Seldom does
the state demonstrate the importance of local planning to the region
or the state. Almost never does it require that local decisions reflect
regional, state and national needs.
h. Regional Planning
California's urban development has long since ceased to follow the
precise political designations of cities and counties. In recent years the
gulf between emerging patterns of urban growth and established po-
litical boundaries has grown steadily wider. With this trend has come
a general awareness of the need to reevaluate our parochial approach
to planning.
An important legislative goal should be the creation of regional
bodies capable of planning for regional needs. Ideally, such a regional
body should have the responsibility to prepare a comprehensive land-
use plan. Open Space objectives can be easily thwarted through failure
to control other land uses.
c. State Planning
The people, in approving Article XXVIII, affirmed the fact that
there is an identifiable statewide interest in the conservation of open
space land. It is the view of the Committee that this interest extends
to specific parcels of uniquely valuable open space as well as to broad
categories of land possessing values which are of statewide importance.
Safeguarding the state's interest in particular parcels or categories
of land which possess value to all the people is the function of the State
Legislature. This will require an inventory of the State's open space
land in order to locate those particular parcels or broad categories of
open space land which are of statewide concern. As a corollary to this,
it is necessary to provide some means of restricting the use of these
areas, either by the state or by local agencies.
2. Land-Use Control
All worthy land-use control programs are directed at the utilitarian
objective of securing the greatest social benefit to the greatest number
of people at a minimum of cost. Land-use control measures should be
sufficiently sturdy to protect the public interest, yet flexible enough
to permit deviation in cases of unique individual hardship.
We know of only three general categories of land-use control tech-
niques. The most effective and permanent, as well as the most costly,
is acquisition. Government may acquire an infinite variety of interests
in land, ranging from scenic or development easements, limited and par-
tial fees and future interest, to total fee simple ownership. However,
38 JOINT COMMITTEE ON OPEN SPACE LAND
acquisition has limitations. The most obvious of these is cost ; but there
are others. The greater the share of government ownership in land,
for example, the greater the removal of property value from the tax
base. And there is the additional question of how much land govern-
ment should o\^^l.
A second method of controlling the use of land is through the volun-
tary action of the landowner. The central difficulty of any voluntary
program is that of providing sufficient incentive to landowners to in-
fluence them to restrict the use of their land. California has sought to
encourage certain landowners to restrict their land to open space uses
in return for a tax assessment which is keyed to the ability of their
land to produce income in the restricted use. The normal result of this
procedure is to remove urban increments of value from the assessment,
and to lower the property tax. However, there are many other factors
that the landowner must consider in deciding what he should do with
his land. Some of these are sufficient to offset any benefit received from
lower taxes. This being the case, such a program places government in
the precarious position of basing the chances of success of its program
on the hope that the interests of the landowner will coincide with the
interests of society.
These built-in weaknesses of the voluntary approach render it in-
adequate as the mainstay of a land-use control program.
The third approach to the regulation of land use is that imposed by
government in order to satisfy the public interest. Sometimes this
would involve the imposition of controls without regard to the wishes
of the landow^ner. Zoning is the most common of these "police power"
mechanisms.
In theory, zoning represents the most equitable solution to the
problem of controlling land use in the public interest. Conceptually,
in zoning all land is regulated uniformly by the elected representatives
of the community. Each landoTSTier benefits in proportion to his share
of the overall betterment of the community.
However, there is a difference between theory and practice. In prac-
tice, zoning works reasonably well only in urban areas. For economic
and political reasons, zoning has not been successful in preserving open
space. Local officials have traditionally responded to pressures to ex-
pand the local tax base and to permit landowners to reap financial gain
by rezoning rural land to permit more intensive urban uses.
3. Taxation
In June of 1968 the Citizens Technical Advisorj^ Committee adopted
a series of goals. The first of these goals was to achieve a "more effec-
tive correlation between property tax laws and assessment policies and
local, regional and state planning so as both to encourage the de-
velopment of land when consistent with such planning and to dis-
courage the premature development of land when inconsistent with
such planning."
The Advisory Committee suggested three methods of achieving this
goal:
1. The assessment of agricultural and other income-producing land
on the basis of income in its highest and best restricted use, giving
consideration to both its relative quality for such use and the rela-
JOINT COMMITTEE ON OPEN SPACE LAND 39
tionship of the suppl.y to the demand for the products or services
indicated by such use.
2, The development of uniform guidelines for determining capitali-
zation rates and income.
3. The establishment of appropriate standards of valuation for the
assessment of land not producing significant income and which is
restricted to scenic, recreational or rural purposes.
These objectives express an interest in aligning our tax policy with
our land-use policy. Failure to maintain a consistency between these
two sets of policies has been responsible for the premature conversion
of open space to urban uses. A major objective of Article XXVIII is
to remove the impact of the property tax as a major element in deter-
mining land use.
In the 1969 session of the Legislature the Joint Committee on Open
Space Lands sponsored a number of assessment reform proposals, some
of which were recommended by the Technical Advisory Committee.
These measures concerned land which had been voluntarily restricted
by the landowner. All of these measures were enacted by the Legis-
lature. But while assessment policies do not now dictate our land use
policies in the ease of land restricted under voluntary programs, the
need to mitigate the impact of taxation on land controlled through
regulation by government has yet to be answered. In this report the
Committee suggests a "police power" program which is considered
to possess sufficient permanence to warrant an assessment which is
keyed to the restricted use of the land.
4. Program Costs
All land conservation programs cost some person or group some-
thing. The cost may be direct and visible, as in the case of acquisition.
The cost maj^ also be indirect and hidden, as in the case of lost tax
revenue. Regardless of the device used, there will always be an eco-
nomic cost to be borne by someone if the use of land is to be regulated.
It is in the critical area of allocating the burdens of preserving
open space that the sincerity of the public and their representatives
is put to the ultimate test. The question is whether society is suffi-
cientl}^ committed to preserving open space to be willing to pay the
price. In the final analysis, this issue is resolved less in terms of
"how much" than in terms of "who pays."
The traditional distinction between voluntary and involuntary land-
use control programs is seen to be wholly fallacious when viewed in
these terms. Once society decides that open space is worth keeping,
payment is always compulsory. The question is, compulsory upon
whom?
The landowner who involuntarily has the use of his land restricted
by governmental action, pays part of the price directly. The rest of
the price is shared by the community in the form of a tax shift.
When the public acquires open space through purchase, the tax-
paying public pays the whole cost. Each member of the community
is compelled to contribute his share of the cost through various taxes.
The residential homeowner who finds his property tax bill increased
through a tax shift resulting from a so-called voluntary open space
40 JOINT COMMITTEE ON OPEN SPACE LAND
program does not pay that higher tax voluntarily. He is compelled
to pay for his share of the open space or lose his property at a tax
foreclosure sale.
Since the turn of the century Americans have learned to accept a
relatively high degree of governmental regulation of urban land use.
They have accepted, and at times demanded, this control out of a sense
of general public necessity. This sense of necessity was at first directed
at preventing fire and maintaining standards of public health. Today,
in our more crowded age, it extends to aesthetic considerations as well.
The history of California has seen its population double every twenty
years. At the dawn of the 1970 's California's population approximates
twenty million people. It is clear that the pressures generated by what
has been called the population bomb will make public control of rural
land a public necessity.
The area which separates city from country, and city from city, has
all but dwindled away in many parts of California. One of the "prices"
which urban dwellers have had to pay in the interest of community
benefit has been the loss of the absolute right to use their land in any
way they chose. Eural landowners must inevitably join their urban
neighbors in sharing the burden of preserving an hospitable environ-
ment by accepting similar restraints.
The argument is often advanced that if society demands open space,
then society should pay for it by compensating the landowner for his
loss of freedom. This argument is seen to be wholly specious when
viewed in the light of accepted concepts of land-use control. There
appears little reason to prevent a residential homeowner from con-
structing a potentially lucrative service station on his land while
assuming that rural landowners must be compensated for a similar
regulation.
There is, of course, a point beyond which society cannot be per-
mitted to demand that public needs be provided gratuitously by its
individual members. Constitutional strictures as well as ordinary no-
tions of fairness preclude government from taking private property
without just compensation. Instituting more stringent land-use con-
trol measures in rural areas would restore equity among landowners
generally, and will go part of the way toward preserving land for
open space purposes. But it will not begin to eliminate the need for
the expenditure of public funds, either through direct payments or
replacing unrealized revenue. There remains, therefore, a need to
devise some means of financing a comprehensive open space program.
CHAPTER 5
PLANNING COMMISSION STUDY
Throughout the study by this Committee and the Citizens Technical
Advisory Committee the ability and in some instances even the desire
of local governments to preserve open space have been questioned.
However, it was also frequent!}- pointed out that the importance of
open space and its preservation has only recently become a matter of
widespread public concern and that it is only fair to assume that those
in local government will respond to it.
It is true that numerous examples of poor planning by government
can be found throughout California. But these are not limited to coun-
ties, cities and special districts. The record discloses that state and
federal entities are not free from fault in planning matters. For the
moment the Committee prefers to believe that with the changes in
direction and authority contemplated by these recommendations, local
governments will respond to the current concern of the public and take
steps to develop and enforce positive land-conservation programs.
The recommendations should not, however, be taken as a blanket
endorsement of local government's record in land-use decision making.
Indeed, they should not be taken as implying any value judgments of
any sort. Passing judgment upon the actions of local government is
not within the scope of this Committee's charge.
But while the Committee is not yet prepared to praise or condemn
local governments, it is important to examine the way in which they
function in practice.
Such an examination is important for two reasons. First, it is nec-
essarj^ in order to know what to expect from local agencies if the
above recommendations, especially as they relate to zoning, are enacted.
Second, an understanding of local practice is needed in order to pre-
dict the degree and kind of state supervision which may be needed in
the future.
In the course of the Committee's research, the staff has explored
several facets of the planning machinery as it now exists in California.
Part of this research has delved into the makeup and conduct of local
planning commissions. In this effort the Committee has been assisted
by the Stanford Environmental Law Society. Their report follows.
The report, prepared by Mr. Rummonds. indicates the need to main-
tain a vigilant review^ of the local land-use control procedures outlined
in this report. While we may hope it will be otherwise, such a review
may disclose the need for bolder action by the State in directing these
local decision-makers than the Committee feels justified in making at
this time.
(41)
42 JOINT COMMITTEE OX OPEN SPACE LAND
PLANNING COMMISSIONS IN THEORY AND PRACTICE
By JAMES S. RUMMONDS *
INTRODUCTION
Planning Commission Report
This report is a preliminary analysis of the theory and practice of
city and county planning commissions in California. It is part of a
continuing study of the role played by these local agencies in the
resolution of disputes over the competing demands for the use of pri-
vate property.^ The purpose of this preliminary report is twofold:
First, to analyze some of the major criticisms directed at planning
commissions; and second, to relate these criticisms to the actual prac-
tice and composition of planning commissions in California.
The data upon which the second part of this discussion is based
consists largely of questionnaires sent out to thirty-eight city and
fifty-three county planning commissions throughout California, sup-
plemented by field research in northern and southern California. The
survey requested the names of the planning commissioners, length of
service and current professions. It should be pointed out that the data
drawn from this source did not include information on the economic
interests of the commissioners, their financial status, or their relation-
ships with the local political and economic j)ower structure.
PLANNING COMMISSIONS IN THEORY AND PRACTICE
Today planning commissions are experiencing greater public scrutiny
and criticism than ever before. Appointments to the commissions are
said to be the result of political debts; the commissioners are charged
with incompetence, ignorance and conflict of interest; and the commis-
sion itself is viewed as an anachronism in theory and ineffectual in
fact.^ The truth of these charges has been hotly contested for some
time by critics and advocates of the present system. However, it is not
the purpose of this report to determine tlie validity of these allega-
tions, but rather to simply present and examine them.
Planning commissioners are universally appointed by the local legis-
lative body or the executive officer. As a rule there are no qualifica-
tions required for appointment. Once appointed the commissioner's
job is to "Advise the Director of Planning in the preparation of the
master plan . . . Hold all public hearings which may be required by
law . . . Adopt the master plan . . . Make such reports and recommen-
dations to the City Council as may be necessary . . . Report and rec-
ommend on ordinances, orders, or resolutions relating to planning
. . . and to/Make recommendations to the Department and others
concerned on matters important to sound and effective city planning
. . . " ^ Thus, in essence the planning commission, as a public decision
making body, is composed of laymen, has little independent power,
and is not responsible to the whole of the communit3^ Yet the opera-
tions of these agencies often involve millions of dollars in real estate.
The people that serve on planning commissions mu.st, to begin with,
have the time to spend at least one day a week meeting and holding
• Stanford School of Law, January 24, 1970.
JOINT COMMITTEE ON OPEN SPACE LAND 43
public hearings. As a result, representation of lower and middle class
groups is made virtually impossible. Of these who have the leisure
time to devote, a common criticism of their appointment is that it is
part of a system of political back scratching. In a taped interview
with a City Planner in a major California city the author asked about
this problem in regard to appointments to the Board of Zoning
Appeals :
Mr. Rummonds: Who serves on this appeal board and how are
they appointed?
City planner: Well, we have a close friend of the Mayor . . .
Mr. Rummonds: What does he do?
City Planner: He's kind of a wealthy guy. Spent most of his time
down here; seemed very involved in everything. I think he clips cou-
pons or something for a living. He was the Mayor's campaign manager
time before last. For a while he sat on both the Board of Zoning
Appeals and the Planning Commission. Kind of a funny situation.^
The rewarding of campaign aides with political appointment is
neither new nor unusual in American politics. Indeed, such patronage
is hardly unheard of in positions of much greater visibility, but few
if any offer a greater opportunity for self-dealing. Even in the case
where patronage is not a factor, the high financial stakes involved in
zoning subject the commissioner to intense pressure from those with
a vested interest in the decisions of the planning body. One need not
look far for examples.
It was recently discovered that the Sacramento County Planning
Commission chairman had intimate business relations with a local
developer. The commissioner voted on sixteen applications by his busi-
ness associate, fourteen for and two against, yet he never disclosed
his business dealings because, "he never believed his contacts with
'Mr. X' raised any questions of ethics."^
While the county commissioner was being linked to development
interests it was learned that a member of the Sacramento City Plan-
ning Commission also had business dealings with the same 'Mr. X'.
It happened that this same city commissioner was originally nominated
to the planning commission by a City Councilman who was an executive
of the same developer's construction company.^
Similarl.y in Palo Alto, where the City Council must approve of all
decisions made by the planning commission, there is a case pending
wherein two members of the City Council have been charged with
conflict of interest. One of the councilmen is employed by interests
seeking to develop an open space area on the outskirts of the city. The
other councilman is a partner in a construction company, who at the
time of voting on the decision to go forward with the development had
expressed an intent to bid on contracts for the job. Neither man
disqualified himself from voting on the issue. '^
In Los Angeles, where the City Council also must give final approval
to planning commission decisions, a former councilman was recently
convicted of accepting an $11,000 bribe from a developer in connection
with a Canoga Park zoning matter. The defendant in this ease claimed
that the $11,000 he received was a "loan" and that it did not influence
his decision on how to vote. The defendant was acquitted on another
44 JOINT COMMITTEE ON OPEN SPACE LAND
count involving $2,700 which he allegedly had received in connection
with another zoning matter. On a third count involving a $3,000
campaign contribution from yet another developer, the jury was
deadlocked.^
In another case from Southern California which is presently being
investigated by the local police department the level of self-dealing
appears to be reaching epidemic proportions. The players involved
here are two members of the Planning Commission and one high official
in the Planning Department. The facts are as follows :
In August of 1968 the Airport Board of Commissioners adopted a
resolution calling for the construction of a new airport in an unde-
veloped outlying area. Shortly thereafter one planning commissioner
and a member of the planning department put a down payment on
the property being considered for the new airport development. It was
later learned that the President of the Planning Commission had also
bought an interest in this property on his own. When the matter came
before the planning commission for a vote one of the commissioners
asked the City Attorney for an opinion regarding a possible conflict
of interest. The City Attorney's reply was that there was no legal
conflict of interest. At the time of voting the President did not divulge
his interest in the property but later asked for an opinion from the
City Attorney. Same negative reply. The City Council recently met
to discuss the case and decided to continue the hearing pending an
investigation bj^ the police department.^
From these examples it can be seen that there are certain problems
inherent in the present system of land use regulation that need imme-
diate attention. What constitutes conflict of interest ? How strict should
codes of ethics be and how should they be applied ? What considerations
need to go into the drafting of legislation to deal with such problems?
And on a broader scale, how effective are these local bodies in confront-
ing and resisting the pressures being applied ? Should the task of urban
planning be taken out of the hands of local agencies? The answers to
these questions are clearly beyond the scope of this preliminary report,
but it should be noted that any attempt to solve these problems must
look beyond the immediate protagonists. The more difficult problem
arises when a public official with inside information works through
unrelated third parties. It is remarkable that in this area where virtual
fortunes can ride on a single decision that there are no counterparts to
the regulations that control securities transactions such as those of the
Securities Exchange Commission. Insiders are given a free hand to use
their information in any way that does not run counter to the narrow
language of State conflict of interest statutes and the narrower lan-
guage of municipal codes of ethics.
Another criticism common to planning commissions is that the zoning
procedure is used by special interest groups to protect their own limited
interests. These interests may include protecting residential areas from
industrial intrusion, excluding the poor and minorities from desirable
residential neighborhoods, protecting property values, or achieving
financial gains. More than forty years ago University of Chicago Law
School professor, Ernst Freund, stated, "Everyone knows that the crux
of the zoning problem lies in the residential district, and that when
we speak of amenity we have in mind residential preference. ' ' ^" This
JOINT COMMITTEE ON OPEN SPACE LAND 45
premise is still widely accepted. Richard Babcock, in his recent book
The Zoning Game, states: "The insulation of the single-family detached
dwelling was the primary objective of the early zoning ordinances, and
this objective is predominant today . . ." ^^ This contention may very
well be true, however for the purposes of this report the important
point is that "residential preference" and "primary objective" rep-
resent dominant yet limited interests that express their preferences
through such vehicles as city councils and planning commissions. To
better understand the nature of these special interests it may be helpful
to briefly discuss the ostensible purpose of a planning commission as
seen through the ethereal prisms of the "public interest".
The task of urban planning is no longer simply a matter of dividing
up the community into industrial, commercial, single-family and mul-
tiple-family zones or districts. Although most decisions are still made
by laymen on local planning agencies, the past tifty years have brought
about some recognition of the burden involved in urban planning.
Over sixty universities presently award masters degrees in city and
regional planning, ten the doctor of philosophy. The breakdown of city
services and urban violence has generated a public recognition of the
severity of urban problems. Dr. Melville C. Branch, Professor of Plan-
ning in the Graduate Program of Urban and Regional Planning at the
University of Southern California has described the task of urban
planning in these words : "It is seen that urban planning is concerned
with all components of the city, is technically extremely complex, and
involves the most basic characteristics of Man and the full range of his
intents, environment, social-economic-political processes, public and
private institutions.^^
In theory these concerns are expressed through the democratic proc-
ess, and are implemented through such bodies as planning commis-
sions. Whether or not this political process actually serves to transfer
the wishes of the body politic into action, we should recognize this as
its root purpose. What in fact occurs, as indicated above, is often a
different matter.
University of California Davis Law School professor, Edward Rabin
recently told a workshop for planning commission members that,
"There is no question in my mind that much suburban zoning is a
euphemism for economic segregation. ' ' ^^ Initially, the concept of
zoning was the product of some ingenious legal footwork by sophisti-
cated and knowledgeable lawyers who believed that the common law
nuisance doctrine could be used to build a comprehensive scheme of
land use regulation under the aegis of the police power. The United
States Supreme Court recognized and upheld this concept in the land-
mark case of Village of Euclid v. Amhler EeaUy Co}^ The Court stated,
"A nuisance may be merely a right thing in the wrong place, like a
pig in the parlor instead of the barnyard." In this case the pig was
industry or apartments and the parlor was single family zones. Bab-
cock points out that the reasoning behind the extension of the nuisance
doctrine into land-use regulation was largely built on rather flimsy
legal fictions such as : the single-family district was insulated to prevent
the spread of fires ; minimum house sizes was related to public health ;
billboards were a threat to the morals of the community because of the
activities that took place behind them. All of this reasoning falls
4'6 JOINT COMMITTEE ON OPEN SPACE LAND
under the rubric of the public interest. No one believed this line of
reasoning when it was first advanced and no one believes it today; yet
many jurisdictions including California continue today to allow this
broad power to be utilized for private ends. Professor Rabin is ques-
tioning whether or not this is an illegal exercise of the police power
designed not for the public welfare but for the immediate goals of
dominant interests.
Judging the performance of planning commissions by the public
welfare standards is not an easy task. However, there are certain
guidelines. The California State Planning and Zoning law requires
that each city and county in the state create by ordinance a planning
agency.-^^ In practice this has generally come to mean a planning
commission, planning department and the local legislative body work-
ing together. The functions of the planning agency include the de-
velopment and maintenance of a general plan and periodic reviews of
the capital improvement plans of the city or county. ^"^
By statute, the general plan is required to include the following
elements :
(a) A land use element which designates the proposed general distri-
bution and general location and extent of the uses of the land
for housing, business, industry, agriculture, recreation, educa-
tion, public buildings and grounds, and other categories of
public and private uses of land. The land use element shall
include a statement of the standcirds of population density and
building intensity recommended for the various districts and
other territory covered by the plan.
(b) A circulation element consisting of the general location and
extent of existing and proposed major thoroughfares, transpor-
tation routes, terminals, and other local public utilities and
facilities, all correlated with the land use element of the plan.
(c) A housing element.^'^
It is the stated intention of this law that the general plan "serve as
a pattern and guide for the orderly physical growth and development"
of the cities and counties and as a "basis for the efficient expenditure
of its funds. ' ' ^^ There are, of course, problems in defining what is
and what is not an efficient expenditure of funds.
In an interview with a staff planner in Southern California the
author asked how development plans are formulated and what factors
go into the general plan. His comments are noteworthy.
Mr. Rummonds : What is your general plan 1
Mr. planner: It stems from a comprehensive zoning plan that was
adopted in 1946. Up until that time we really had no master plan as
such. Basically what we adopted as a generalized plan was a colored
map that sort of generalized the zoning that was on the ground.
Mr. Rummonds : Are you saying that the master plan was adopted
on the basis of how the land was being used at the time of adoption?
Mr. Planner: No, it involved a little bit more than that. It set
aside large industrial areas and tried to develop some balance out of it.
This was done by developing community plans and integrating them
JOINT COMMITTEE ON OPEN SPACE LAND 47
into the master plan. These eommunity plans are continually up-dated
and revised.
Mr. Rummonds: Then there is no actual general plan?
Mr. Planner: There are elements of a general plan.^^
The apparent confusion involved in determining what goes into urban
planning does not stop at innocent bumbling. The decisions regarding
priorities often reflect more limited interests. The follovs^ing illustration
is a case in point.
This illustration involves the major northern California city. This
city, like most other American cities, is to some extent controlled by a
central power structure. The dominant interests here include big labor
and big money interests (mainly in the form of land ownership). For
years, these interests, acting through the political process have con-
trolled the critical decision making bodies. It has been charged that
the planning commission has consistently ignored critical city problems
by approving projects contrary to the public interest, as seen in the
lack of attention to the crucial shortage of low cost housing.-^
A recent report shows the vacancy factor in this city of 2.3% for
all residential units, both single and multiple-family. In those units
costing less than .$100 per month the vacancy is .00%.^^ There are
over 6000 persons on the Avaiting list for public housing; and this
number, only because the Public Housing Authority stopped putting
people on the list because families were bringing all of their possessions
to the Public Housing Office to wait for an opening. By the 1960
census there were over 60,000 sub-standard housing units in this city.
Confronted with this situation the city planning commission has
approved of measures doing away with over 15,000 low cost housing
units. In their place the commission has approved of new projects
including skj^scrapers, luxury hotels, convention centers, and nine addi-
tional parking lots capable of accommodating around 12,000 cars. To
accomplish these projects the city is using over 50 million in federal
funds and government powers of condemnation.^^
It is estimated that over 10% of the dislocations from one of these
development projects are moving into an area with the second highest
population density in the country. ^^ Investigation by city health offi-
cials has shown that in this same area, 50% of the housing units are
without heat ; that often times as many as fifty people share a bath-
room ; and that on the average four people share bedrooms.^* The
question is can actions by the planning commission in approving con-
tinued financial and commercial development be justified in terms of
the public interest when weighed against this type of social need. Fur-
thermore, if in fact the public interest is not being represented,
whose is?
We have been looking at the planning agencies of cities and counties
in two different lights; on the one hand we see the commissions as a
vehicle for the implementation of the community's concept of itself;
on the other we see them composed of non-expert political appointees
who will find themselves soon after appointment with the possibility
of great pressures and temptations influencing their decisions. There
are other criticisms of the planning process ranging from structural
debilities, involving their recommendatory powers and appealable deci-
48 JOINT COMMITTEE ON OPEN SPACE LAND
sions, to the motives, capabilities and performance of the commis-
sioners. There have been numerous alternatives suggested including a
"task force" concept of citj^ planning, greater concentration of powers
in professional planners and regional control over land use regula-
tion; yet the city and county planning commission remains the domi-
nant form of organization for urban planning throughout California
today. We now turn our attention to the commissioners themselves;
who they are and what they do.
The planning commission survej- was sent out primarily to determine
what interests are being represented on planning commissions by pro-
fession. It was hoped that from this information some conclusions might
be drawn regarding the factors that influence the decisions of the com-
missions.
The returns from the survey were broken down into city and county
classifications. The professions represented in the replies were broken
down into twenty-five categories. Included are : agriculture, architect,
attorney, banker, business, clerical contractor, developer, educator,
engineer, forester, government employee, homemaker, insurance, labor
leader, manager or supervisor, merchant, medical profession, real es-
tate, real estate appraiser, retired, scientist, service organization, skilled
labor, and student. Although lacking in some important details, this
information provides some interesting insights. Because of the marked
distinctions between city and county commissions, each will be dis-
cussed separately.^''
As mentioned above there is a keen interest shown in the decisions
of the planning commission by certain segments of the community, viz.
those that have a vested interest in these decisions. It would seem rea-
sonable to assume that the most interested parties would be those that
stand to profit from these decisions; for example landowners (on which
we have only sketchy information), development interests (which would
include architects, land developers, contractors, and real estate), and
financial interests (including banking and insurance). If this is true
we might further hypothesize that these interests would seek to control
as many variables (viz. planning commissions) as possible in order to
see that their ends are accomplished and maximize their gains.
For example, the San Diego Planning Commission is composed of
seven members ; included are a bank president, an electrical contractor,
a real estate broker, an investment counselor, and a tax appraiser. In
Glendale the five man planning commission includes two building con-
tractors, an architect, and a banker. Pasadena's nine man commission
includes two architects, an insurance executive, a builder, a real estate
agent, and a real estate appraiser. Sacramento's commission includes a
construction trade union official, a saving and loan association presi-
dent, the president of Northern California Developers, Inc., and two
realtors among its nine members. Sitting on San Bernardino's eleven
man planning commission is a plumbing contractor, a sign contractor,
four realtors, a construction trade union representative, and an insur-
ance executive. Although in each of these examples it seems clear that
those with the most to gain from the decision-making process are mak-
ing the decisions, the sample is not sufficiently broad to draw any firm
conclusions. The statistics from the thirty-eight cities surveyed are more
reflective of prevailing conditions.
JOIXT COMMITTEE ON OPEN SPACE LAND 49
The highest proportional representation among the twenty-five pro-
fessional categories is real estate at 10.4%. Following is architects at
6.5%, insurance at 4.6%, construction at 3.9%, banking at 3.1%, labor
at 1.5%, and real estate appraisers at 1.2%. This means that 31.2%
of the people sitting on planning commissions at least theoretically
have a direct beneficial interest in the decisions that are made. If the
three categories of business interests represented in the survey are
added to the direct beneficiaries the total representation jumps to
52. 9%. 2^ This is not to suggest that a 52.9% representation of direct
and indirect beneficial interests conclusively proves that planning com-
missions are dominated by special interest groups that profit from their
own decisions. It is however strong evidence of the fact that planning
commissions, as presently structured and regulated, potentially can be
utilized in a manner that is contrary to the public interest. Indeed, the
existence and practice of self-dealing has already been amply demon-
strated in the above cited cases. The evidence is especially telling if we
define the public interest as meaning the long range beneficial interests
of the community at large rather than correlating it with the profit
making interests controlling the political economy.
Outwardly, it would seem safe to assume that what is true of the
city planning commissions would also be true of the county planning
commissions since structurally and functionally' there is little difference
between them. However there is one dramatic difference between many
of the county commissions and the tjT)ieal city commission. "Whereas in
the cities, the interests that we have broadly defined as development
oriented have the greatest stake in the application of land use regula-
tions, in the counties the dominant interests take on a more traditional
rural orientation. This factor enables us to make certain assumptions
regarding land ownership. For example we can assume that agriculture
is the dominant economic activity in most unincorporated areas. Given
this assumption and if the hypothesis is true we would expect to see a
marked increase in the representation of agricultural interests.
Examples showing the domination of county planning commissions
by agricultural interests are numerous; e.g., in Sutter County there are
five farmers on the seven man planning commission. Stanislaus County's
nine man planning commission includes five farmers and one farm
equipment dealer. On the Solano County Planning Commission there
are four farmers, one building contractor and a realtor among the nine
members. San Benito County has four farmers and a banker on its
six man commission. Four of the five members of Lassen County's plan-
ning commission are farmers and the fifth member is an insurance
broker. Merced County's seven man planning cominission is composed
entirely of farmers. It may be said that these particular examples re-
flect an unusual bias, but the same trend can be seen in the replies from
the fifty-three counties surveyed.
Agricultural interests are represented by 24.4% of all county plan-
ning commissioners. Behind the agricultural interests comes business
at 14.3%; retired, 9.3%; real estate, 9%; and insurance, 5.3%. With-
out going further, these five categories make up 62.3% of all county
planning commissioners. One fact seems clear : economic interest in the
disposition of competing demands for the use of private property, is a
major if not dominant factor in the composition of city and county
50 JOINT COMMITTEE ON OPEN SPACE LAND
planning commissions in California. The question remains whether or
not this interest is manifested in the decisions of these bodies.
The above examples of self-dealing and conflict of interest indicate
not only that decisions occasionally are made on the basis of self-
interest, but more important that the present system is easily adapted
to private interests. The question then becomes, to what extent are the
planning commissions in California controlled by self-serving interests.
The simple fact that the decision makers have an economic interest in
the decisions that are made does not necessarily prove that this interest
is carried over into the decision making process. What is needed now is
further research on the question of how the economic interests of de-
velopers and landowners are in fact reflected in the decisions of these
local agencies. Efforts in this area are presently going on at Stanford
and elsewhere.
Finally, once the influence of the economic factor has been deter-
mined, the issue shifts to what factors do we want to control the land
use regulation decision making process ; community interests, regional
interests, state interests, environmental interests, economic interests?
Optimally, the answer to this question is that all of these interests
should be represented. The problem remains of how to accomplish this
goal.
NOTES AND REFERENCES
1 Further study is presently being carried on dealing with the effect of economic in-
terest on voting patterns. This study will be completed by January 197i.
2 See Sacramento Bee, Oct. 17; Palo Alto Times, Nov. 22, 1969; Los Angeles Times,
Nov. 6, 1969. A program to improve planning and zoning in Los Ajigeles. By Citi-
zens Committee on Zoning Practices and Procedures, July 1968.
3 Los Angeles Citv Planning Commission General Operating Policies and Practices.
Adopted: October 19, 1967.
* City Staff Planner Interview; Los Angeles, California; November 13, 1969.
6 Sacramento Bee, October 17, 1969.
« Ibid.
■> Palo Alto Times, Nov. 22, 1969.
8 Los Angeles Times, Nov. 6, 1969.
»Los Angeles Times, Jan. 26, 1969.
W24 111. Law Review 135, 146 (1929).
^ At pg. 3.
12 Delusions and Diffusions of City Planning in the United States, pg. 2.
13 Sacramento Bee, Steve Gibson.
" 272 U.S. 36.5 (1926).
15 California Government Code, Section 65100.
"Ibid. Section 65101.
"Ibid. Section 65101.
^ 1968-1969 Annual Report of the Alameda County Planning Commission, pg. 1.
i» Interview with City Staff Planner, Los Angeles, California; Nov. 13, 1969.
20 Administrative Complaint in Opposition to a Workable Program ; filed with HUD
by the Citizen Task Force for a Workable Program.
21 Bradwell Report, December 1969.
22 Yerba Buena Redevelopment Project ; undertaken by the San Francisco Redevelop-
ment Agency and HUD.
23 The area referred to is the China Town, North Beach Census Tract. From a letter
by Justice Herman to the Chairman of the Human Rights Commission of San
Francisco dated September 12, 1969.
2* Chinatown Housing Survey, Spring 1969 ; by the Community Design Center, Univer-
sity of California Berkeley.
25 See Appendix 1 and 2.
2«The three categories referred to are: business (goods), business (services), and
merchants. Combined they represent 16.7% of the total.
CHAPTER 6
OPEN SPACE-WHAT IS IT?
Article XXVIII of the State Constitution authorizes the Legislature
in carrying out the provisions of that article to define "open space
lands.""'
Many definitions of open space land have been suggested.* However,
none of these definitions has succeeded in embracing the many ways
in which the term "open space" is commonly used. There are a number
of reasons for this.
The first of these is that open space is used in popular parlance to
denote a vague quality of openness.
Another source of difficulty stems from the fact that even among
those professing specific interests, open space is used to denote a wide
variety of land uses. The criteria for selecting open space vary, de-
pending upon one 's frame of reference.
"Some yearn only for lonely wildlands. others want no less than
a resort in the same place. Birdlovers wish for wooded acres ; archi-
tects for an inspiring vista ; airport designers for an unobstructed
glide path; city planners for a girdle to contain and define the
form of the city; municipal builders and highway engineers for
land to be held in reserve for future expansion. The city dweller
seeks a place to camp in the country; the farmer to defend his
acres from the encroachment of subdivisions.!
A third source of confusion concerning the meaning of the phrase
open space has to do with the policies we seek to advance by preserving
it, regardless of our definition of the term. For example, nrban
planners frequently include in their definition of open space land
needed for future expansion of urban areas. This criterion, of course,
implies nothing about the characteristics of the land itself other than
that it is capable of being built upon. This sort of open space is not
really open space at all. It is future city.
In short, open space means different things to different people for
different reasons.
In general, this should present no problem, leaving, as it does, the
determination of what is open space to "the eyes of the beholder."
However, where determination of government policy and action is
contemplated, something better is demanded.
* The federal government defines open space as "any undeveloped or predominantly
undeveloped land in an urban area which has value for (A) park and recrea-
tional purposes, (B) conservation of land and other natural resources, or (C)
historic or scenic purposes." Housing Act of 1961 (75 Stat. 149) Title VII, Sec-
tion 706. One definition employed by the State of California is : "Any space or
area characterized by (1) great natural scenic beauty, or (2) whose existing
openness, natural condition, or present state of use, if retained would enhance
the present or potential value of abutting or surrounding urban development, or
■^vould maintain or enhance the conservation of natural or scenic resources."
(Cal. Govt. Code Sec. 1, Ch. 12 of Div. 7 of Title 1, Sec. 69.54.) For purposes of
Article XXT^'III, open space has until now been defined as land which has been
designated as such by government and subsequently restricted to open space uses.
t B. Stanley Weissburg, Open S2)ace and the Law.
(51)
52 JOINT COMMITTEE ON OPEN SPACE LAND
Nevertheless, the Committee is not prepared to suggest a lexicog-
rapher's definition of open space. Indeed, it appears that it is neither
possible nor desirable to devise such a definition. The answer to the
question, what is open space, can only be given on a parcel by parcel
basis. Pinpointing open space is a planning rather than a linguistic
problem. The factors which influence the planning process will be
weighed differently in each case. The reason for this is that the prob-
lem of deciding whether a given parcel of land is or is not open space
for conservation or preservation purposes depends upon current no-
tions of social utility and upon the strength of competing land uses.
This is not to say, however, that the characteristics of open space
cannot be described. On the contrary, the social values which open
space possesses can and must be objectively identifiable so as to guide
public officials in their decisions regarding it.
There are basically three sorts of land which possess values to society
as open space.
7. Positive Open Space
The first of these is land which possesses positive value to society
in an open state. Such land may be either a specific parcel or a broad
category of land which may be located through the application of
objective criteria. Generally speaking, "positive open space" is land
which should be preserved for affirmative reasons having to do with
the characteristics of the land itself.
The Urban-Metropolitan Open Space Studj- conducted for the State
Office of Planning under the direction of Edward Williams in 1965
suggested a series of land classifications which represent positive social
values. Three of these categories are :
1. Resource production areas
a. Forest land
b. Agricultural land
c. Mineral resource land
d. Animal product areas
e. Water supply land
f . Commercial waterways
2. Resource conservation areas
a. Natural water habitat
b. Forest wildlife refuge
c. Geologic areas
d. Historic and cultural sites
3. Health and welfare areas
a. Ground water recharge areas
b. Waste disposal areas
c. Air shed
d. Recreational land
e. Recreational travel ways
f . Scenic areas
When open space characteristics are enumerated in this way, the im-
possibility of defining open space in such a way as to be able to sepa-
rate it through definition, acre by acre, from other land, becomes clear.
JOINT COMMITTEE ON OPEN SPACE LAND 53
Furthermore, the importance attached by governmental bodies to
preserving given parcels or categories of open space land will change
from time to time. For this reason, not all land presently used for any
of the above purposes will necessarily continue in that use as the de-
mand for more intensive land use increases.
In addition, the relative importance of land needed for specific open
space uses such as recreation will change markedly in years to come.
Not all undeveloped land now available for outdoor recreation will be
reserved indefinitely. However, more land will be needed and set aside
for regional parks, beaches, fishing access areas, hunting preserves, golf
courses, trails and the like.
Given all of these considerations, positive open space land is either
a specific parcel of land or a precise category of land which is objec-
tively definable. The San Francisco Bay, Point Heyes Seashore, Ca-
brillo Beach and Upper Newport Bay are examples of the former, and
prime agricultural land is an example of the latter. It is land which,
for reasons which relate solely to the nature and quality of the land
itself, is more valuable to society for open space purposes than for
any other.
2. Negative Open Space
The second category of potential open space land possesses qualities
which are essentially negative. This is land which would be dangerous
to use for any urban purpose.
Flood plains, unstable soil areas, geologic fault zones, airport flight
paths and areas subject to unusually high fire danger may be classed
as negative open space. For these sorts of land, urban usage presents a
threat to public safety.
Obviously, some land possesses both positive and negative open space
characteristics. For example, our best agricultural land is located on
alluvial flood plains.
3. Greenbelfs as Open Space
The term "greenbelt" has traditionally been used to denote a sepa-
rate category of open space. It would not be accurate to consider it
as such under this analysis, however, since greenbelts may possess
values which are (1) positive, (2) negative, (3) positive and negative,
or (4) non-open space. In this sense, greenbelts cut across the previous
two categories of open space and frequently provide public values which
do not necessarily relate to the need to preserve open space.
A greenbelt may be thought of as a peripheral band of open space. It
normally surrounds an urban area, although it may divide portions
of a greater metropolitan region.
As a matter of policy it may be justified for its positive values as
open space, such as for agriculture, parks or recreation. It may, in
turn, possess the sort of negative values discussed above, such as steep
slope, unstable subjacent soil, geologic fault or danger of fire or flood.
Where the land is capable of multiple uses it may provide both positive
and negative values to the public.
An equally important justification for the retention of greenbelts
makes reference to neither their positive nor their negative value to
the community as open space. As a matter of urban policy, it may be
54 JOINT COMMITTEE ON OPEN SPACE LAND
enough to preserve greenbelts simply as a means of directing the
growth of the city or as a means of defining communities and lending
aesthetic amenity to the city scape. In this sense the policy which
greenbelts serve relates not to the identifiable value of open space per
se, but rather to the public benefit of containing and guiding urban
growth.
Laud which is not presently ripe for development should obviousl}'
not be developed. Controlling the timing and location of urban devel-
opment is important. It can obviate the need to extend costly urban
services^ — streets, schools, fire and police protection — to an area which
is far beyond the present urban area. However, it is important to view
this function of land development control as a facet of urban policy —
that of preventing leapfrog development in the interests of the public.
The policy in favor of economizing in the provision of urban services
preserves open space only incidentally. Similarly, policies favoring
the preservation of the prime farmland surrounding many cities, or
preventing building on flood plains, advance our anti-leapfrog policy
only incidentally.
In short, we contain urban growth for reasons which make reference
to cities, and we preserve open space for reasons which relate to our
need to preserve certain land in an undeveloped state. Regardless of
the motive, the public benefits.
It of course makes little difference to the owner whether the land
is retained as open space because of its characteristics as open space,
or whether it is retained as open space in order to serve the purposes
of the urban area. For this reason there would seem to be little reason
to distinguish between parcels of land on this basis, as long as the land
is used for open space purposes and is subject to an enforceable re-
striction.
However, it is important to maintain the conceptual distinction
between open space which possesses positive or negative values and a
greenbelt designed to prevent urban sprawl, in order that programs
designed to preserve them are fully understood by the public.
Failure to understand and maintain these distinctions could lead to
the charge that open space policy is trying to accomplish two incon-
sistent objectives, whereas, in reality, each serves an important public
purpose.
The opinion of the Committee is that, where the interest of the public
dictates and findings to that effect are made by local governments, it is
appropriate, as part of comprehensive planning, to adopt programs to
preserve open space where any of these three conditions are present :
(1) The land has "positive open space" characteristics, i.e., it is
land Avhich, for reasons which relate solely to the nature and
quality of the land itself, is more valuable to society for open
space purposes than for any other.
(2) The land has "negative open space" characteristics; i.e., it is
land which would be dangerous to use for any urban purposes.
(3) The land is restricted by public action to an open space use as
a means of preventing development and as part of a planning
process which directs development elsewhere.
JOINT COMMITTEE ON OPEN SPACE LAND 55
CONCLUSION
One of the charges to the Legislature contained in Article XXVIII
is the task of defining open space lands. We have attempted to indi-
cate in the above discussion that such a task is akin to being asked to
define an object which is beautiful. No possible definition, in the ordi-
nary sense, will ever serve as a sort of Geiger counter to locate the
defined object. Instead, the object must first be located and then desig-
nated as meeting the test of the definition which, in this instance, is
a test of public value.
This is, of course, quite the reverse of the normal process of defining
anytliing. However, open space is more than an object. It is quality,
relationship and relative juxtaposition as well. If it were otherwise, a
simple set of criteria could be proposed which, when applied to the
landscape, would illuminate that which was open space and leave all
else cast in shadow.
In summary, it is the opinion of the Committee that where the Con-
stitution or the statutes call upon governmental bodies to "define"
open space lands for the purpose of public action, it is not intended to
require a literal definition. Instead, such provision should properly be
interpreted as obligating a governmental body to establish a basis for
the need for public action with respect to specific open space lands.
The extent of this public duty can only be measured by balancing the
public benefit against the burden that results. The logical extension of
this analysis is that these governmental bodies must also be expected
to provide a sj'stem of open space designation in order that specific
areas may be delineated for specific purposes.
CHAPTER 7
OPEN SPACE AND THE POLICE POWER
IN CALIFORNIA
By GERALD D. BOWDEN
California is a place in which a hoom mentality and a sense of
Chekhovian loss meet in uneasy suspension; in which the mind
is troubled hy some buried but ineradicable suspicion that
things had better work here, because here, beneath that im-
mense bleached sky, is where we run out of continent}
INTRODUCTION
Police Power
The police power has traditionally been viewed as society's right
to self defense.^ In the words of the Supreme Court, "It springs from
the obligation of the State to protect its citizens and provide for the
safety and good order of society ... It is the governmental power of
self -protection. ' ' ^
Through the nineteenth century and beyond, the scope of permissible
governmental interference in private land use was severely limited.
In the field of land use regulation, as with government generally, the
prevailing judicial attitude was essentially negative. "A century
ago", wrote one commentator, "the State acted merely as policeman,
soldier, and judge. ' ' ^
The job of government was to protect society from foreign and do-
mestic attack. "Leviathan hath two swords," said Hobbes, "war and
justice."^ If Hobbes was reluctant to give Leviathan compass and
calipers to chart a positive course for social progress, twentieth cen-
tury America was not.
California courts were among the first to recognize that "the police
power is not a circumscribed prerogative, but is elastic and, in keeping
with the growth of knowledge and the belief in the popular mind of
the need for its application, capable of expansion to meet existing con-
ditions of modern life, and thereby keep pace with the social, economic,
moral and intellectual evolution of the human race. ' ' In brief, ' ' There
is nothing known to the law that keeps more in step with human prog-
ress than does the exercise of this power. " ^
The police power has been expansive. It has changed to meet new
needs of society for self protection. But more importantly, it has
changed to meet new conceptions of government as a positive force
in directing the fortunes of society.
1 Joan Didion, Slouching Towards Bethlehem, (1968) p. 172.
^McGuire v. Chicago, B. and Q.R. Co., 108 N.W. 902, 907 (Iowa, 1906).
s Panhndle Co. v. Highway Commission, 294 U.S. 613, 622 (1935).
* Bernard Schwartz, A Com,mentary on The Constitution of the United States, Part
III, The Rights of Property, MacMillan Co., New York, 1965, p. 42.
t> Thomas Hobbes, Treatise on "The Matter, Form and Power of a Commonwealth,
Ecclestiastical and Civil", (1651).
0 Miller v. Board of Public Works, 234 Pac. 381, 383 (1925).
(56)
JOINT COMMITTEE ON OPEN SPACE LAND 57
"Nothing is more striking to a European traveller in the United
States," wrote de Tocqueville, "than the absence of what we term the
government, or the administration. " ^ In the century since de Tocque-
ville wrote, perhaps nothing has changed so much as the presence of
government in our daily lives. Nowhere has this ubiquitous presence
of government received more mixed reaction than in the area of land
use regulation. Governmental involvement in the use of private prop-
erty has been loudly acclaimed and vociferously denounced. But from
this dialectic has emerged a consensus that the conservation of our
limited supply of land deserves a high priority among the social in-
terests which government must rightfully protect. This public interest
in protecting the physical foundation of cultural progress has received
an increasing amount of judicial approval. Nearly a quarter of a cen-
tury has elapsed since the highest California court considered the issue
sufficiently well settled to state :
"That the protection and conservation of the natural resources
of the state is in the general welfare and serves a public pur-
pose, and so constitutes a reasonable exercise of the police
power, is now so well settled that no further citation of author-
ity is necessary. ' ' ^
Implicit in this consensus is the assumption that, considering the
limited supply of land needed to satisfy the virtually infinite number
of individual desires that press upon it, such land must be made to
go as far as possible.^ To that end the public has urged government to
enjoin conduct which does not promote the public's interest in prudent
land management. At the same time the popular demand for govern-
ment to assume a positive role in the preservation and provision of
land needed for public use has climbed steadily. As one writer put it,
"Earlier attitudes of laissez faire have given way in the face of the
obvious dissipation of forests and soil and the realization that the
resources of the nation are far from inexhaustible. ' ' ^°
American courts have made dramatic changes in the scope of per-
missible governmental control of the land. One scholar has sunmied up
the prevailing attitude of the American judiciary thus :
The legitimate interest of the society in its natural resources per-
mits it to take any measures which bear a reasonable relationship
to their conservation." ^^
Article XXVIII
The purpose of this report is to suggest the permissible steps which
California government may take to protect society's interest in her
rapidly diminishing supply of open space land. At the root of this in-
' Alexis de Tocqueville, Demod'acy in America, 70 (Bradley, ed. 1945). He also wrote
that "Scarcely any political question arises in the United States which is not
resolved sooner or later into a judicial question. Hence all parties are obliged to
borrow in their daily controversies tlie ideas, and even the language peculiar to
judicial proceedings." Gettell, History of American Political Thought, 212. This
may explain why this examination of open space land use regulation, a singularly
political issue, is here presented as a legal problem.
8 Tulare Irrigation District v. Lindsay-Strathmore Irrigation District, 45 P. 2d 972,
988 (Cal. 1935).
' See 3 Pound, Jurisprudence 305, and Tryon "Conservation," 4 Encyclopedia of the
Social Sciences, 111 (1931).
10 Schwartz, op. cit., p. 154, citing Nabbia v. New York, 291 U.S. 502, 528 (1934).
" Ibid.
58 JOINT COMMITTEE ON OPEN SPACE LAND
quiry stands Article XXVIII of the California Constitution. The stated
purpose of that article is to "continue in existence open space lands
for the production of food and fiber and to assure the use and enjoy-
ment of natural resources and scenic beauty for the economic and social
well-being of the state and its citizens."
To further this popular mandate to conserve open space land (Article
XXVIII was passed by a margin of nearly 600,000 votes), the Legisla-
ture was authorized to provide for the assessment of certain open space
land to maintain it for open space use. To establish eligibility for this
tax incentive, the Legislature must define what is meant by "open
space land." To qualify for assessment as "open space land", the
subject land must also be subject to an "enforceable restriction" to
open space use.
The job of the Legislature is, therefore, to define open space lands
and to provide for the assessing of qualified land on the basis of its
open space use whenever it is subject to an enforceable restriction to
such use.
At this writing the California Legislature has yet to define the term
"enforceable restriction" on more than an interim basis. One frequently
suggested definition involves zoning. This paper will examine many
of the issues which such a proposal raises.
One critical issue in this examination involves the question how far
may government go in implementing Article XXVIII via police power
land-use control such as zoning. In looking at that issue it is necessary
to examine the development of land-use regulation generally. Since
zoning is the principal vehicle for modern land-use control, it will be
examined here in what may prove for some to be laborious detail.
How far can government go in preserving environmental quality
through land-use control ? As we shall see, the answer changes with the
addition of each person to our population, each car to our highways,
each housing tract to our valleys, and wnth each tremor of the San
Andreas.
However difficult it may be to define with epistemological certainty
the shifting frontiers of governmental authority in directing land use
according to public necessity, this much can be said : it is greater today
than yesterday.
It is probably reasonable to assume that the courts will sanction still
greater control than that justified solely upon needs of society if
the landowner is compensated in some manner. It is important in this
respect that Article XXVIII permits the Legislature to grant special
property tax treatment to the owners of restricted open space land.
To the extent that this use-related assessment works to the financial
benefit of these landowners, the courts are likely to consider the tax
benefit as a measure of compensation given in exchange for the restric-
tion of their land.
A secondary purpose of this paper, therefore, is to show that the
Legislature has developed a firm policy favoring the preservation of
open space through use-related assessment. Indeed, it was the clear
purpose of Article XXVIII, in coupling use-value assessment with an
"enforceable restriction", to use a tax policy to further a land use
policy. It is probable, therefore, that any police power measure adopted
pursuant to Article XXVIII would receive greater judicial deference
JOINT COMMITTEE ON OPEN SPACE LAND 59
than programs rooted in a less elaborate set of policies and programs.
Similarly, it is likely that in eases of demonstrated public need, courts
will allow a relatively greater degree of land-use control when the
landowner is compensated via use-related assessment than when he is
not.
It is not the purpose of this paper to urge the Legislature to imple-
ment Article XXVIII through use of its police power. That is a
political, not a legal, question. The purpose of this paper is to raise the
issues which must be resolved should the Legislature choose to draw
upon its police power in fulfilling its responsibility under Article
XXVIII.
The question whether open space land should be regulated at all is
not in issue. The people in adopting Article XXVIII have said that it
should be. However, manj^ other questions remain. Why is zoning in-
adequate, either as a use restriction or as a justification for use-related
property tax assessment? Why should our land use policy be no more
than the aggregate of isolated decisions by self-seeking landowners ?
As one author pointed out, the fSan Andreas is not our only fault. ^-
There is much about California which is in need of serious question.
California may have been the first state to pass a regional planning
law expressl}^ authorizing open space planning. ^^ And yet after more
than forty years we continue to ignore the regional impact of state
and local land-use decisions. It has been pointed out that "this is the
only place in the world where people build 50,000 homes which are
bound to wash away in the first heavy storm — and keep on doing it,
year after year, in spite of repeated disasters."^"* The author concludes
that:
Clearly they are built by scoundrels and bought by fools; . . .
Why the local governments of California do nothing to curb the
suicidal impulses of its citizens is something of a mystery. The
most plausible answer that I got is that every Californian is at
heart a real-estate speculator, and would bitterly resent any zoning
laws which interfere with his divine right to destroy the landscape.
For people so eager to doom themselves, who needs an atom
bomb? ^^
The assumption of this report is that while severe obstacles lie in
the way of preserving our open space land resources, Californians are
not committed to self destruction. Assuming this, the purpose of this
report is to examine the constraints which limit zoning in an effort
to devise a workable land-use control program.
^ Curt Gentry, The Last Days of the Late Great State of California, 1968.
13 Stats. 1927, Ch. 874, p. 1899 at pp. 1910-1913. See especially Section 28 which reads
in part "Any regional planning commission is hereby authorized ... to make
... a regional plan for the physical development of its region. Such plan shall
be based on comprehensive studies of the pre.'^ent and future development of the
region, with due regard to its relation to neighboring regions and the state as a
whole . . . Such plan, including maps, charts, diagrams and descriptive matter,
shall show the commission's recommended actions for the physical development
of the region, and may include among other things the general location, extent
and character of . . . open spaces."
"John Fischer, "The Easy Chair — Where It's At" Harpers, Aug. 1969, p. 20.
15 IBID.
'60 JOINT COMMITTEE ON OPEN SPACE LAND
Part I
THE EVOLUTION OF ZONING
There is perhaps no more impenetrable jungle in the entire
law than that which surrounds the word '^nuisance." It has
meant all things to all nien.^^'
The common law tort doctrine of nuisance molded much of the de-
velopment of zoning. ^^ For centuries the doctrine of private nuisance
had allowed a landowner to prevent his neighbor from using his land
in a way which interfered with the use of surrounding property. From
a meager twelfth century beginning, embodied in the shadowy dictum,
"sic utere tuo ut alienum non laedas, "^^ the doctrine slowly crystal-
lized as the most meaningful safeguard against antisocial neighbors.
Parallel with the development of the civil action for private nuisance
there evolved the wholly separate principle that interference with the
rights of the crown, or of the public, was a crime.
The earliest cases appear to have involved purprestures, which
were encroachments upon the royal domain or the public highway,
and might be redressed by a suit by the crown. ^^
Much of the confusion between public and private nuisance stems
from the superficial similarity between blocking a private right of way
and the blocking of a public highway.^*^
Thus was born the public nuisance, that wide term which came to
include obstructed highways, lotteries, unlicensed stageplays, com-
mon scolds, and a host of other rag ends of the law.-^
In this way there grew up two distinct classes of nuisance. One was
narrowly confined to the invasion of private property rights, the other
extending to any interference with common public rights. In the words
of Professor Prosser :
The two have almost nothing in common, except that each causes
inconvenience to someone,-- and it would have been fortunate if
they had been called from the beginning by different names. Add
to this the fact that a public nuisance may also be a private one,
when it interferes with the enjoyment of land,-^ and that even
apart from this there are circumstances in which a private indi-
vidual ma}' have a tort action for the public offense itself,^'* and
it is not difficult to explain the existing confusion.^"
"Prosser, The Law of Torts, 3rd. Ed. 1964, p. 592.
"Anderson, American Law of Zoning, 1968, Sec. 2.03.
IS "Use your own property In such a manner as not to injure that of another."
"Prosser, The Law of Torts, 3rd Ed. 1964, p. 593 citing- Garrett and Garrett, Law
of Nuisance, 3rd Ed. 1908, 1. Modern examples of purprestures are Adams v. Com-
missioners of Toion of Trapj)e, 204 Md. 165, 102 A. 2d 830 (1954) ; Long v. New
Yo7-k Central R. Co., 248 Mich. 437, 227 N.W. 739 (1929) ; Sloan v. City of Green-
ville, 235 S.C. 277, 111 S.E. 2d 573, 76 A.L.R. 2d 888 (1959).
MIBID.
21 Nevvard, The Boundaries of Nuisance, 1949, 65 L.Q. Rev. 480, 482.
23 Public and private nuisance are not in reality two species of the same genus at all.
There is no generic concept which includes the crime of keeping a common
gaming-house and the tort of allowing one's trees to overhang the land of a
neighbor. Salmond, Law of Torts, 8th Ed. 1934, 233.
23 See Prosser, op. cit., 609 notes 76 and 77.
2* See Prosser, op. cit., 608.
2s Prosser, op. cit., 594.
JOINT COMMITTEE ON OPEN SPACE LAND 61
The inherited characteristics of modern zoning can be traced to the
early common law denunciation of conduct "which obstructs or causes
inconvenience or damage to the public in the exercise of rights common
to all Her Majesty's subjects. "^^ It was this criminal sanction which
by degrees gave way to the judicial practice of enumerating the mis-
cellaneous land uses which offended the public generally.
Noisome Stinks
By the eighteenth century, English courts had catalogued a number
of now quaint land uses such as "chandlershops, pig boarding houses,
soap factories and bone boiling establishments"^''' which were recog-
nized as public nuisances. Such land uses were actionable and abatable
despite their not having been specifically prohibited by statute. By
1757 the doctrine was well enough developed for Lord Mansfield to
denounce the :
erecting of buildings near the highway and near dwelling-houses
and there making acid spirits of sulphur whereby the air was
impregnated with noisome and offensive stinks, to the common
nuisance of all inhabiting and passing.^^
This doctrine of "public nuisance" allowed the governing body to
protect the public interest by judicial action. Through the power to
abate undesirable uses, government was given the power to regulate
the use of local land in a way which benefited the community as a
whole.
Governments in colonial America extended this power by statute.
Among the earliest of these statutes was the Massachusetts Gunpowder
Act enacted three quarters of a century before the birth of the United
States. In one case construing such a codification of nuisance doctrine,
the Court reflected with uncommon judicial reserve that :
It seems to us that there are few things one could do that would
annoy the communitj' more than the deposits of a large quantity
of gunpowder in the midst of a populous city. And this is so
universally felt to be the case, that the practice is to erect maga-
zines for keeping powder at a distance from the habitations of
men. 2^
For colonial America, this version of public nuisance was sufficient,
as one writer has put it, "to safeguard the interests of property owners
against onerous invasions by the noxious effluvia of their neighbors. ' ' ^°
But even as statutorily modified through the nineteenth century,
this system was barely sufficient to meet the needs of a developing
=« Stephen, General View of the Criminal Law of England, 1890, p. 105. The heredi-
tary lineage of zoning was made even clearer in this judicial definition of public
nuisance : "A common or public nuisance is the doing of or the failure to do
something that injuriously affects the safety, health or morals of the public, or
works some substantial annoyance, inconvenience or injury to the public."
Gommonwealth v. South Covington and C. St. R. Co., 181 Ky. 459, 463, 205 S.W.
581, 583, (1918).
'^ Rhodes v. Dunbar, 57 Pa. 274 (186S).
^ Rex V. White, 1 Burrow's Rep. 333, (May 1757). In holding that a public incon-
venience is not always a public nuisance, one ancient court said in Irresistibly
quotable judicial rhetoric, "Le utility del chose excusera le noisomeness del
stink." Mentioned in Stephen, General View of the Criminal Law of England,
1890, 106. Quoted in Prosser, op. cit., p. 603.
^Cheathem v. Shearon, 1 Swan, 31 Tenn. 213 (1851).
» Beverly j. Pooley, Planning and Zoning in the United States, 1961, p. 41.
62 JOINT COMMITTEE ON OPEN SPACE LAND
America.^^ The abundant size of the nation obscured the need for, and
popular laissez-faire attitudes made unwelcome, any extension of gov-
ernmental power in the realm of private property .^^
As the twentieth century dawned, however, and the old frontiers
receded, new problems emerged which demanded new solutions. As
cities sprang up and threatened to grow out of control, courts began
to recognize the necessity of increased governmental regulation of
private property. In 1915 the United States Supreme Court upheld
the California Supreme Court in recognizing the right of a city to
forbid a land use, even though that use had not previously been re-
garded as a nuisance. The case of Hadacheck v. Sebastian ^^ has since
been recognized as a landmark.^^
The land owned by Mr. Hadacheck contained a bed of clay which
was quite valuable for the manufacture of bricks. He had excavated
the property extensively and had erected elaborate machinery for pro-
ducing bricks. The brick factory had been in operation for some time
when the City of Los Angeles annexed the fringe area and passed an
ordinance prohibiting brick making in Mr. Hadacheck 's yet sparsely
settled neighborhood.
The petitioner had averred that "the manufacture of brick must
necessarily be carried on where suitable clay is found" and that "from
a financial standpoint" the clay could not be transported prior to use.
As authority he cited Ex parte v. Kelso,^^ where the court had declared
invalid an ordinance absolutely prohibiting the maintenance or opera-
tion of a rock or stone quarry within a certain portion of the City and
Countj^ of San Francisco.
The court distinguished Mr. Hadacheck 's position from that of Kelso
by saying, at 36 S. Ct. 146, that:
In the present ease there is no prohibition of the removal of the
brick clay; only a prohibition within the designated locality of
its manufacture into bricks.
The court reserved the question of how it would rule if the regulation
were broader, but anticipated Consolidated Bock v. City of Los An-
geles,^^ handed down nearly half a century later, when it reasoned that :
The logical result of petitioner's contention would seem to be that
a city could not be formed or enlarged against the resistance of
an occupant of the ground, and that if it grows at all it can only
grow as the environment of the occupations that are usually
banished to the purlieus.^'^
The veteran California jurist, Mr. Justice McKenna, encountered
little constitutional difficulty upholding the ordinance as well as the
conviction of Hadacheck. saying for the U.S. Supreme Court that:
It is to be remembered that we are dealing with one of the most
essential powers of government, one that is least limitable. It may,
indeed, seem harsh in its exercise, usually is on some individual,
«i See notes 42 and 45 along with text infra.
82 Pooley, op. cit., p. 42.
«i Hadacheck v. Sebastian, 239 U.S. 394, 36 S. Ct. 143 (1915).
»4 Anderson, op. cit. Sees. 2.06, 2.09, 6.06, 6.63 and 11.63.
ssJSa; parte v. Kelso, 147 Cal. 609, 2 L.R.A. (N.S.) 796, 109 Am. St. Rep. 178, 82 Pac.
241 (1905).
38 See footnote 105 and accompanying text infra.
»' 36 S. Ct. 145.
JOINT COMMITTEE ON OPEN SPACE LAND 63
but the imperative necessity for its existence precludes any limi-
tation on it when not exerted arbitrarily. A vested interest cannot
be asserted against it because of conditions once obtaining . . .
To so hold would preclude development and fix a city forever in
its primitive conditions. There must be progress, and if in its
march private interests are in the way they must yield to the
good of the community.^^
It should be remembered that the Los Angeles ordinance was enacted
pursuant to the city's poAver to declare certain land uses public nui-
sances. It is true that the taint of nuisance only attached if the prop-
erty was located in a prescribed area. This is not the same as zoning.
Zoning requires planning.'*^ Planning implies comprehensive coordina-
tion of land uses. In the early stages of land use regulation in Califor-
nia, courts were receptive to arguments pointing to the deleterious
effect on the community of allowing the Mr. Hadachecks of this world
to bake bricks which emitted "fumes, gases, soot, steam and dust,"
causing "sickness and serious discomfort to those living in the vicin-
ity. ' ' '*'* They were much less responsive to suggestions that certain land
uses should be permitted in one zone, but not in another, or that each
parcel of land should have a list of permitted uses determined by the
city fathers. Common zoning practices such as proscribing decorous
businesses from residential areas could not be justified on the basis
of nuisance doctrine since such a use is not inimical to residents of the
area.
The years following the Hadacheck case saw the judicial gap be-
tween nuisance prohibition and planned zoning narrow. In 1916, New
York City enacted the first "Comprehensive Zoning Kegulation." ^^
The combination of forces which saw the zoning ordinance upheld has
been summarized thus :
With the increase in traffic, with the growing congestion, the ills
attendant upon modern complexities and the daily growing inten-
sity of civic life, it was found that neither the proscribing of the
powder mill, the ostracizing of so-called nuisance occupations, the
establishment of 'Fire' Zone limits, the adoption of 'Tenement
House' Codes, the banishment of industries from residential dis-
tricts, the limitation of the proportion of a parcel of land which
a building thereon may occupy, the restriction of height, nor the
carefully drafted 'Building' Codes are — singly or collectively —
ssiBID.
^ By this I mean that the process dictates planning of a sort, and not that the Code
compels it. See Cal. Govt. Code Sec. 65860 and 65700. c.f. note 154 infra. In the
absence of a general plan, California courts view the zoning sclieme as a plan.
See Miller v. Board of Public Works, 195 Cal. 447, 488, 234 P. 381, 385 (1925)
where the court refers to, "a comprehensive and carefully considered zoning
plan." The court in Wilkins v. San Bernardino, 29 Cal. 2d Z32, 337 ; 175 P. 2d
542, 547 (1946) notes that "the establishment, as part of a comprehensive and
systematic plan, of districts devoted to strictly private residences . . . from which
are excluded . . . multiple dwelling structures, is a legitimate exercise of the
police power." See generally McBride and Babcock, "The 'Master Plan' — A
Statutory Prerequisite to a Zoning Ordinance?" 12 Zoning Digest, 353 (1960),
Green, "New Trends in Zoning as Recognized by Court Decisions," 6 Inst, on
Planning and Zoning 1,4 (1966), and Haar, "In Accordance with a Comprehen-
sive Plan," 68 Harv. L. Rev. 1154.
*oid. at 36 S. Ct. 144.
*i James Metzenbaum, The Law of Zoning, Vol. I, Second Edition, 1955, p. 7. See also
Anderson, American Law of Zoning, Vol. I, Ch. 1—2.
64 JOINT COMMITTEE ON OPEN SPACE LAND
able to cope with the daily arising problems of the community
42
It was this synthesis of interacting forces which prompted the United
States Supreme Court to affirm the validity of the tirst comprehensive
zoning ordinance to reach its docket. In the landmark case of Village
of Euclid V. AmMer Realty,'^'^ the court paraphrased the summary of
Mr. Metzenbaum just quoted ^^ by saying that :
. . . with great increase and concentration of population, problems
have developed, and constantly are developing which require, and
will continue to require, additional restrictions in respect of the
use and occupation of private lands in urban communities ... In
a changing world, it is impossible that it should be otherwise.^^
The court went on to say that even if the zoning plan in question
were not the paradigm of "wisdom and sound policy," the reasoning
may still be sufficiently cogent to preclude the court from saying "as
it must be said before the ordinance can be declared unconstitutional,
that such provisions are clearly arbitrary and unreasonable, having no
substantial relation to the public health, safety, morals or general
welfare. "46
This statement of the court's unwillingness to second guess the
findings of local government set the tone for those cases which were
soon to follow. Not only will the court defer to the legislative definition
of "general welfare", but once the meaning of that term has been
determined, the court will uphold the regulation unless no set of facts
may be posited which would uphold the reasonableness of the regu-
lation.*'^
On a case-by-case basis, the courts have evolved a series of tests by
which a zoning ordinance is judged. While the rubric of zoning is fluid,
salient characteristics stand out. One fundamental tenet of zoning is
that it must be reasonable. It must represent a rational execution of a
rational plan for the entire community. Cases like Hadacheck, where
the pecuniary loss was $740,000, and Euclid, where the loss was $7,500
per acre, show that monetary loss alone will not invalidate a zoning
law.*^ We temporarily reserve discussion of how far a regulation will
be allowed to erode property value and still be upheld.
We turn now to the question of how restrictive a zoning regulation
may be and still fall under the penumbra of the police power.
" Id. at p. 7-8.
*^Vtllage of Euclid v. Amtler Realty Co., 272 U.S. 365; 475 S. Ct. 114 (1926). See
Ander.son, op. cit.. Sec. 1.13.
** Mr. Metzenbaum served as attorney for the town of Euclid at all stages of the case
from drafting the ordinance to arguing the city's case before the U.S. Supreme
Court. For an anecdotal view of some interesting sidelights to the Euclid case,
see Metzenbaum pp. 56-60.
^Euclid V. Ambler Realty, 272 U.S. 366 at 386-87.
«Id. at p. 395.
♦^ See note 106 infra.
« A consistent line of California cases has confirmed that value diminution resulting
from the restriction is not controling. See Zahn v. Board of Public Works, 195
Cal. 497, 234 Pac. 388 (1925) ; Wilkins v. City of San Bernardino, 29 Cal. 2d
332, 175 P. 2d 542 (1946) ; Lockard v. City of Los Angeles, 33 Cal. 2d 453, 202
P. 2d 38 (1949) ; McCarthy v. City of Manhattan Beach, 41 Cal. 2d 879, 264 P.
2d 932 (1953) ; Johnston v. City of Claremont, 49 Cal. 2d 826, 323 P. 2d 71
(1958) ; Earner v. Toion of Ross, 22 Cal. Rptr. 686 (1962) ; Hamer v. Town of
Ross, 59 Cal. 2d 776, 31 Cal. Rptr. 335 (1963).
JOINT COMMITTEE ON OPEN SPACE LAND 65
LIMITS OF ZONING POWER
Property must not he taken without compensation, hut with
the help of a phrase (the police power), some property may
he taken or destroyed for puhlic use without paying for it, if
you do not take too much^^
Justice Oliver W. Holmes
Zoning has been defined as "the legislative division of a community
into areas in each of which only certain designated uses of land are
permitted so that the community may develop in an orderly manner in
accordance with a comprehensive plan. ' ' ^^ The power to execute this
"legislative division" is derived from what is loosely described as the
"police power." Since the parameters of zoning are coextensive with
the outer limits of the police power, it is important to imderstand the
nature of that power.
Mr. Chief Justice Taney once described the police power as ' ' nothing
more or less than the powers of government inherent in any sover-
eignty. ' ' ^^ Some years later the same court, speaking through Mr.
Chief Justice Waite, said that "under the powers inherent in every
sovereignty, a government may regulate the conduct of its citizens
toward each other, and, when necessary for the public good, the man-
ner in which each one shall use his own property. ' ' ^-
Perhaps no clearer outline of the source and extent of the police
power can be drawn than that offered by the New Jersey court in the
case of Schmidt v. Board of Adjustment :
The police power does not have its genesis in a written constitu-
tion. It is an indispensable attribute of our society, possessed by
the state sovereignties before the adoption of the federal consti-
tution ... It sanctions measures commensurate with the common
material and moral needs; and the correlative restrictions upon
individual rights — either of the person or of property — are mere
incidents of the social order, considered a negligible loss compared
with the benefits accruing to the community as a whole. ^^
In order to appraise accurately the police power as it is exercised in
the traditional zoning context, it must be remembered that local gov-
*^ Springer v. The Government of the Philippine Islands, 211 U.S. 189 at 209-210
(1927). See also Home Builders of the Greater East Bay v. City of Walnut Creek,
Contra Costa County Superior Court No. 107280, July 16, 1968.
^ Emmett C. Yokley, Zoning Law and Practice, Vol. I, Third Edition, 1965, pp. 14-15 ;
citing Eves v. Zoning Board of Adjustment of Lower Gwynedd Tp. (Pa.), 164
A.2d 7.
"License Cases, 46 U.S. (5 How.) 504, 582 (1847). In contemporary terms, this
equation of the police power with the sovereign power to govern was not as far-
reaching as would appear from the words used. As one commentator articulated,
"This was true because the power to govern was itself, until the present century,
conceived of primarily in negative terms. This meant that the police power, too,
was largely a negative power. When the main task of government (apart from
defense) was to keep the ring and maintain fair play while private interests
asserted themselves freely, the scope of 'the due regulation and internal order'
of the commonwealth was necessarily not unduly vast." Schwartz, oji. cit. p. 39,
citing Cooley, A Treatise on the Constitutional Limitations which Rest Upon the
Legislative Power of the States of the American Union, at 572, (1868), Robsom,
in Committee on Ministers' Powers, Minutes of Evidence, 52 (1932) and 4 Black-
stone's Commentaries, 162.
^ Munn V. Illinois, 94 U.S. 113 ; 24 L. Ed. 77 (1876).
^Schmidt v. Board of Adjustment of Newark, 9 N.J. 405 ; 88 A. 607 (1952).
3 — 1494
•66 JOINT COMMITTEE ON OPEN SPACE LAND
ernments are not sovereign. They are creatures of delegated power/''^
and therefore :
No municipality has inherent authority to enact ordinances whose
validity and enforcement rest on general police powers. All powers
of a municipality are derived from the State, but it cannot be
doubted that the State may delegate its authority or some portion
of it. The police power primarily inheres in the State, but if the
State constitution does not forbid, the Legislature may delegate a
part of such power to the municipal corporations of the State.^^
The scope of power delegated to local governments is at the sole dis-
cretion of the State Legislature. But regardless of the limits of that
delegation, the continued exercise of the police power remains subject
to legislative direction unless the State constitution provides otherwise.
Whether exercised by the State or local government, the police power
continues to be elastic. One view of this elasticity which is shared by
the courts of virtually every jurisdiction was supplied by the Minne-
sota court when it observed that :
The police power, in its nature indefinable and quickly responsive,
in the interests of the common welfare, to changing conditions,
authorizes various restrictions upon the use of private property
as social and economic changes come. A restriction which years
ago, would have been intolerable and would have been thought
an unconstitutional restriction of the owner's use of his property
is accepted now without a thought that it invades a private right.^^
The view of the Minnesota court has frequently been reflected by
scholars of zoning. One of these commentators has suggested that exam-
ination of the law of police power regulation "will reveal the police
power not as a fixed quantity, but as the expression of social, economic
and political conditions. As long as these conditions vary, the police
power must continue to be elastic. ' ' ^'^
In summary, the boundaries of the police power can only be pro-
visionally staked out. The clear reason for this is that the police power
must remain sufficiently flexible to meet the changing needs of a grow-
ing society. A society in flux must be regulated by flexible laws. To
be valid, a zoning ordinance must meet two tests. First, it must be
calculated to promote the public welfare. Secondly, it must be rea-
sonable. Both are somewhat murky guides and have been the subject
of much discussion. The Supreme Court, for example, in laying down
something of an "I know it when I see it" test of public welfare, has
said that :
The concept of public welfare is broad and inclusive . . . The
values it represents are spiritual as well as physical, aesthetic as
6* In California, the grant of zoning power to local government stems from three
sources. The first is a general Constitutional grant of power which provides that
any local government "may make and enforce . . . all such local, police, sanitary
and other regulations as are not in conflict with the general laws." Cal. Const.
Art. XI, Sec. 11. In re Hang Kie, 69 Cal. 149, 10 P. 327 (1886) was the first ease
to uphold an ordinance regulating land use pursuant to this authorization. The
second is the so-called "home rule" section which applies to chartered cities and
gives them exclusive legislative authority "in respect to municipal affairs," Cal.
Const. Art. XI, Sees. 6, 8. The third is the Planning and Zoning Act, found in the
Cal. Gov. Code at Sections 65100 to 65907. For citations and bibliography, see
^^ Miller V. Memphis, 181 Tenn. (17 Beeler) 15; 178 S.W. 2d 382 (1944).
^ Stats V. Houghton, 164 Minn. 146; 204 N.W. 569 (1925).
s'' Freund, Police Power; as quoted in Metzenbaum, The Law of Zoning, p. 90.
JOINT COMMITTEE ON OPEN SPACE LAND 67
well as monetary. It is within the power of the Legislature to deter-
mine that the community should be beautiful as well as healthy,
spacious as well as clean, well-balanced as well as carefully pa-
trolled.s8
The second test, that of reasonableness, has been said to embody
four interrelated ideas : ^^
1. The regulation must relate to a proper legislative goal.
2. The regulation must not discriminate against similarly situated
property owners.
3. The impact on the market value of the property must not be so
severe as to be confiscatory.
4. The regulation must not be designed to accomplish an objective
for which eminent domain would be more appropriate.
The question of land use regulation, like all other police power func-
tions, falls squarely within the province of the legislative apparatus.
The potential scope of the legislative concern is, as the Supreme Court
put it, "broad and inclusive." As we shall see, however, the vital ques-
tion is where regulation leaves off, and compensable taking begins once
a proper legislative goal has been established.
There is some divergence in judicial attitude toward land use regu-
lations. California courts have taken cognizance of the acute problems
which confront government in a time and place of rapid development.
From this awareness has come a deferential attitude toward legislative
decisions which was summarized well in the case of Lockard v. City of
Los Angeles, where the court noted that :
In considering the scope or nature of appellate review in a case
of this type we must keep in mind the fact that the courts are
examining the act of a coordinate branch of the government . . .
the legislature ... in a field in which it has paramount authority,
and not reviewing the decision of a lower tribunal or of a fact-
finding body. Courts have nothing to do with the wisdom of laws
or regulations, and the legislative power must be upheld unless
manifestly abused so as to infringe on constitutional guarantees
. . . the function of this court is to determine whether the record
shows a reasonable basis for the action of the zoning authorities,
and, if the reasonableness of the ordinance is fairly debatable, the
legislative determination will not be disturbed.^*'
Protecting the "constitutional guarantees" over which the Lockard
court stood guard ultimately turns on the question of whether the regu-
lation has gone so far as to become a taking.
Article I, Section 14, of the California Constitution provides that
"Private property shall not be taken or damaged for public use with-
es sermaw V. Parker, 348 U.S. 26, 33; 75 S. Ct. 98 (1954). It should be pointed out
that Berman v. Parker was an eminent domain and not a police power case. It
dealt with slum clearance and not with land use regulation, but one must, as
one state court put it, "consider such distinction to be immaterial in considering
the scope of the police power and its exercise to promote the general welfare."
State V. Wieland, 69 N.W. 2d 217, 223 (Wis. 1955). One commentator has de-
clared that, "What the Supreme Court said in Berman v. Parker should be a
powerful inducement to courts throughout the land to repudiate the notion that
the police power may not be employed to promote aesthetic progress — whether
through zoning or other regulatory measures." Schwarts, op. cit., p. 227.
^^ Ira Michael Heyman, "Planning and the Constitution : The Great 'Property Rights'
Fallacy," Cry California, Summer 19 68, p. 31.
^Lockard v. City of Los Angeles, 33 Cal. 2d 453, 461-2 ; 202 P. 2d 38, 43 (1949).
68 JOINT COMMITTEE ON OPEN SPACE LAND
out just compensation having first been made to, or paid into court
for, the owner ..." This provision, along with the fifth and four-
teenth amendments to the Federal Constitution, requires that where
land is taken for the public good, the general public must pay.^^
To establish an affirmative taking, it is not enough for the landowner
to show a diminution in market value as a result of the restriction.
Virtually every restriction has such an effect. One relatively recent
case restated the traditional California view by saying that " (i)t has
been settled by numerous decisions that the rule in California is that
financial loss to a property owner is not a sufficient ground for declar-
ing a zoning ordinance invalid. " ^^ As one commentator put it :
It has always been held that the legislature may make police regu-
lations, although they may interfere with the full enjoyment of
private property and although no compensation is given.^^
In introducing the distinction between regulation and taking, one
court expressed the common view that :
It is a well recognized principle in the decisions of the State and
Federal courts that the citizen holds his property subject not only
to the exercise of the right of eminent domain by the State, but
also subject to the lawful exercise of the police power by the legis-
lature ; in the one case property is taken by condemnation and due
compensation; the other, . . . are (sic) damnum abseque injuria,
(injury without damages). ^'^
Mr. Justice Harlan was not a man to resort to the lawyerly ploy of
lapsing into Latin just when the going got tough. Shortly after the
turn of the century, he summarized the doctrine of noncompensable
regulation in these expansive terms.
If the injury complained of is only incidental to the legitimate
exercise of governmental powers for the public good, then there
is no 'taking' of property for public use, and a right of compen-
sation, on account of such injury does not attach under the Con-
stitution.^^
In attempting to strike the line between regulation and appropria-
tion, it is helpful to bear in mind that :
. . . all property like other social and conventional rights, are (sic)
subject to such reasonable (police power) restraint and regula-
tions established by law, as the Legislature under the governing
and controlling power vested in them, may think necessary and
expedient. This is very different from the right of eminent domain
" The Federal Constitution does not preclude police power land use restrictions which
have the effect of substantially depressing the market value of the regulated
land. See Sax, "Takings and the Police Power," 74 Yale L. J. 37, 50-60 (1964).
Goldblatt V. Town of Heviiistead. 369 U.S. 590 (1962) and Consolidated Rock
Products Co. V. City of Los Angeles, 57 Cal. 2d 515, 20 Cal. Rptr. 638, 370 P.
2d 342, appeal dismissed, 371 U.S. 36 (1962).
B2 Earner v. Totvn of Ross, 22 Cal. Rptr. 686, 689, (1962). 59 Cal. 2d 776, 31 Cal.
Rptr. 335 (1963).
M Sedivick on Statutory and Constitutional Law at p. 506. See also Metzenbaum, op.
cit., p. 90.
«* Tenement House Dept. v. Moeschen, 179 N.Y. 325, 330 (1904).
85 Chicago and Burlington R.R. Co. v. Illinois, 200 U.S. 561, 26 S. Ct. 341 (1905).
JOINT COMMITTEE ON OPEN SPACE LAND 69
which is the right of government to take and to appropriate pri-
vate property . . . " ^^
In an opinion which concurred with this view, one court expressed
the distinction between regulation and taking thus :
Eminent domain takes property because it is useful to the public ;
the police power regulates the use of property or impairs rights
therein because the free exercise of these rights therein is detri-
mental to the public interest.
The line between these powers is a difficult one to hold, and it is
not surprising that they have occasionally been confused. •^'^
The distinction is indeed difficult to hold. In view of the vagueness
of such words as "taking" and "damaged" found in the statutes, and
the expansive limitations such as "general welfare" found in the case
law, the line between regulation and eminent domain must inevitably
be drawn from the trend of decisions in each jurisdiction. The line,
once struck, is not easily retained. The law of police power land use
regulation is of necessity rapidly evolving. California courts have con-
tributed measurably to the direction of that evolution. In a case which
predated EticUd, the California court recognized that :
. . . the police power, as such, is not confined within the narrow
circumscription of precedents, resting upon past conditions ob-
viously calling for revised regulations to promote the health,
safety, morals, or general welfare of the public ... as a common-
wealth develops politically, economically and socially, the police
poAver likewise develops ... to meet the changed and changing
conditions.*^^
Social Change and the Police Power
At no time in history has the change noted in the Miller case come
so rapidly. The history of man has been characterized by a gradual
coalescing of population, of inward migration. For economic and social
reasons as well as for mutual protection, man has slowly constructed
an urban culture. This gradual urbanization has brought with it the
need for ever greater governmental control, first to prevent fire and
disease, later to create a more livable environment.
This pattern has been radically altered in the past few decades, not
only in California, but across the nation. Better transportation, in-
creased leisure time, an expanded middle class and inner-city decay
have caused a mass exodus from the city.*^^ The age-old pattern has
been reversed. As those who can afford to evacuate the city do so. those
who cannot are left behind. The result is economic segregation which
results in profound cultural deprivation for those who are physically
'^ Sedivick on Statutory and Constitutional Law at p. 507 as quoted in Metzenbaum,
op. cit. pp. 70-71.
<" Toicn of Windsor v. Whitney, 9.5 Conn. 357; 111 Atle. 354 (1920). The Supreme
Court has concurred saying : "There is no set formula to determine where regu-
lation ends and taking begins." Goldblatt v. Hempstead, 369 U.S. 590, 594 (1962).
«^ Miller v. Board of Public Works, 195 Cal. 497 ; 234 Pac. 381 (1925).
""A Census Bureau report published in June of 1969 revealed that in the two pre-
vious years the rate of white emigration from the nation's central cities was
three times that of the previous six years. In 1969 this outmigration of whites
rose to 500,000 per year. At the same time the report noted a dramatic increase
in racial minority concentration in the central cities. Conrad Taeuber, Report to
House of Representatives, Subcommittee on Urban Growth, June 1969.
7(0 JOINT COMMITTEE ON OPEN SPACE LAND
cut off from the cultural and economic means to break out of the pov-
erty circle. '^^
The problems spawned by this pattern of outward migration to the
suburbs have been exaggerated by the massive influx of population to
California from other states, nearly all of which takes place in the
urban fringe."^ In the face of this rapid metamorphosis, California
courts recognize, now more than ever, that land use regulation is the
sine qua non for orderly growth. As one authority has put it :
. . . California courts will continue to . . . sustain regulations even
though there are some analogous precedents available to invalidate
them. Courts cannot ignore the consequences of their rulings, and
the consequences of unfavorable ruling on regulation would be
substantially detrimental to what might be described as the long-
run public interest in planning to cope with problems spawned
by rapidly increasing urban chaos.'^-
Contrasting California Law
As we have seen, any police power regulation must be reasonable if
it is to be upheld. The reasonableness test subsumes two facets which
courts treat differently. Courts look at the purpose of the ordinance as
well as its effect on the landowner. This is not to say that regulation
cases can be neatly lumped into two categories. Courts look at both
purpose and effect. They balance the public purpose against the detri-
ment to the landowner. These two aspects of reasonableness are there-
fore quite interrelated. At times they are so interrelated that the utility
of the distinction for purposes of analysis is doubtful.
Central to the analysis of police power land use control is the notion
of "public purpose." Courts use the phrase public purpose to express
two diametrically opposed concepts. On the one hand, public purpose
is used to identify a justifiable goal. To be upheld, a zoning ordinance
must promote some public interest such as health, safety or general
welfare. Such a public purpose is a necessary ingredient in any police
power regulation and its presence is a reason to uphold the zoning
ordinance. On the other hand, courts also use the words public purpose
as synonjTnous with "municipal function" or "community service."
When used in this sense "public purpose" is used to mean a purpose
for which eminent domain should be used. To distinguish between these
two senses of "public purpose," the phrase "municipal purpose" will
be used to mean an objective which can only be achieved through direct
compensation to the landowner.
Since both eminent domain and police power regulation must be
exercised in the name of some public purpose, this distinction is im-
portant. Perhaps the following statement of the New Jersey court illus-
trates as well as any the need to distinguish between the two sorts of
public purpose which confront the courts.
™ See Williams, "Planning Laio and Democratic Living," 20 Law and Contemp. Prob.
317 (1955) ; Jacobs, "The Death and Life of Great American Cities" (1961).
" California continues to be an urbanizing state as the fringes of existing cities
coalesce and as new urban development leapfrogs into previously rural areas.
In 1950, 84.9% of the population resided in metropolitan areas. In 1970, 86.6%
is expected to live in urban areas. California State Office of Planning, California
State Development Plan Program, 1968. Table 5, p. 65.
" I. Michael Heyman, Powers, Vol. I, "Regulation, Legal Questions." Prepared for
San Francisco Bay Conservation and Development Commission, April, 1968, p. 44.
JOINT COMMITTEE ON OPEN SPACE LAND 71
While the issue of regulation as against taking is always a matter
of degree, there can be no question but that the line has been
crossed where the purpose and practical effect of the regulation is
to appropriate private property for a flood water detention basin
or open space. These are laudable public purposes and we do not
doubt the high-mindedness of their motivation . . ."^
It is helpful to an understanding of the judicial attitude in this
area to recognize the categories of cases which present themselves.
Many courts Adew restrictions calculated to prevent external harm to
neighboring landowners — as in a public nuisance case — in a different
light from those designed to provide a purely municipal facility such
as a park. The distinction is between zoning to prevent public harm
on the one hand, and zoning to compel the gratuitous grant of affirma-
tive public benefit on the other.
A second line of cases concerns regulations which have the effect of
eliminating substantially all economic use of the land. Assuming a
valid legislative goal, many courts treat these cases differently from
those which have the effect of forcing the landowner to bear more than
his fair share of a public project.
The remainder of this section will look at the way in which Cali-
fornia courts treat these considerations as contrasted with the judicial
attitude of other jurisdictions.
Purpose of Regulation
The case of City of Plainfield v. Borough of Middlesex '^'^ is illustra-
tive of one commonly held judicial view. It stands for the proposition
that a regulation may be invalid if it is used to accomplish a purely
municipal purpose.
The City of Plainfield owned a parcel of land located in the neigh-
boring Borough of Middlesex. The land had formerly served as a sew-
age treatment plant. Plainfield was interested in selling the land.
Middlesex attempted, by means of a bond election, to raise the funds
necessary to buy the land. The measure failed. The Borough offered
Plainfield a lesser amount, but the tender was rejected.
Unable to buy the land, Middlesex passed an ordinance restricting
the use of the property to schools and parks. The clear purpose of the
ordinance was to prevent development and thereby compel Plainfield
to sell the land to its friendly neighbor Middlesex. The court found
that while the land was well suited for park use, the Borough's action
was unreasonable. In a key paragraph the court said :
The net result of the ordinance is to destroy for all practical pur-
poses the full value of plaintiffs' property and to leave plaintiffs
at the mercy of defendant as to the price that the latter may be
willing to pay. However desirable the property may be to defend-
ant for parks and playgrounds, defendant cannot use its power to
zone as a method of depreciating the value of the property for the
purpose of purchase.'^^
'^Morris County Land Improvement Co. v. Township of Parsippany — Troy Hilla, 40
N.J. 539, 139 A 2d, 233 at 241-42 (1963).
■* City of Plainfield v. Borough of Middlesex, 69 N.J. Super. 136 ; 173 A. 2d 785 (1961).
•Md. at 173 A. 2d 787.
72 JOINT COMMITTEE ON OPEN SPACE LAND
Vernon Park Realty Inc. v. City of Mount Vernon '^^ is another such
case. The litigation concerned an 86,000 square foot parcel which was
encircled by commercial development. In 1922 it had been zoned busi-
ness, but in 1927 it had been rezoned as residential. Prior to the re-
zoning it had been used as a train station parking lot. The 1927 ordi-
nance grandfathered in the nonconforming use ; indeed the city grew to
rely upon the presence of the lot.
In 1951 plaintiff bought the parking lot, intending to construct a
shopping center on the property. He brought suit to challenge the resi-
dential zoning restriction. In 1952 the city again rezoned the property,
this time as DPD, or Designed Parking District. The effect of the DPD
zone was to restrict plaintiff's use of the land to that of an automobile
parking lot.
The reason for the parking lot rezone was that the city had come to
depend on the property to alleviate some of the pressure on downtown
parking space.
Despite the public need for parking lots, and the fact that plaintiff
could realize some economic return from that use, the court struck
down the ordinance, saying :
However compelling and acute the community traffic problem may
be, its solution does not lie in placing an undue and uncompen-
sated burden on the individual owner of a single parcel of land in
the guise of regulation, even for a public purpose.'^'
The Vernon Park '^ case seems to stand for the proposition that zon-
ing may not be used to compel a landowner to confer an affirmative
benefit upon the community even if the restriction allows the land-
owner to profit from the restricted use. Where the community seeks to
exercise the police power to provide municipal services, then eminent
domain and not zoning is the route which must be followed.
McCarthy v. Manhattan Beach '^ is a California case which paralleled
Plainfield and Vernon Park in many respects. Plaintiff had owned a
stretch of beach for a number of years. It had been used by the public
without charge since the turn of the century. At one point it had been
zoned for single family dwellings. Plaintiff had asked that the property
be rezoned for commercial recreation. Several years after the land had
been so rezoned, the State began an eminent domain action to obtain
■"> Vernon Park Realty Inc. v. City of Mount Vernon, 307 N.Y. 493, 121 N.E. 2d 517
(1954).
"121 N.E. 2d 519.
^8 Cases like Plainfield and Vernon Park are cases where the zoning power was used
to promote a municipal function such as schools, parks and parking lots. These
cases should be distinguished from cases where no such municipal purpose is
being promoted, but where a public purpose for the restriction is lacking. Reyn-
olds V. Barrett, 12 Cal. 2d 244; 83 P. 2d 29 (1938). In that case the city had
zoned an entire section of the city as commercial and industrial, but had zoned
the plaintiff's lot as residential. In view of the fact that the plaintiff's land was
surrounded by business properties, the court said, "... a city, purporting to act
under its police power, cannot create a business district, and entirely within it
create an 'island' of one lot restricted to residential purposes when no rational
reason exists for such a classification." Id. at 12 Cal. 2d 251. See also Skalko v.
Sunnyvale, 14 Cal. 2d 213; 93 P. 2d 93 (1939) ; where no public purpose was
served in allowing a cannery to be constructed across the street from a home
zoned exclusively residential. People v. Haivley, 207 Cal. 395; 279 P. 136 (1929)
invalidating a Los Angeles ordinance prohibiting extraction of rock and gravel.
It should be made clear, however, that the diminution of value in spot zon-
ing cases such as Plainfield, Vernon Park and Reynolds, may be as important as
the alleged lack of public purpose. This is seen from the fact that "islands"
of more restricted use are far more frequently held invalid than "islands" of
less restricted use
•^McCarthy v. Manhattan Beach, 41 Cal. 2d 879 ; 264 P. 2d 932 (1953).
JOINT COMMITTEE ON OPEN SPACE LAND 73
the beach as a park. Before the State's action came to trial, plaintiff
began an action to have the land again zoned residential.
The landowner alleged that the restriction to beach and recreation
purposes prevented him from realizing any income from the property.
He asserted that the one time he had erected a fence in order to charge
admission to the beach, it had been demolished by a contentious public.
As a result, he argued, the property was not productive of income.®**
It was not for him to point out that if his property were rezoned, his
award in the eminent domain action would be increased substantially.
The plaintiff's arguments were a cross between those which had won
the Plainfield case, and those advanced successfully in Vernon Park.
As in Plainfield, the plaintiff argued that the restriction was a ruse
intended to hold the price of acquisition down. From Vernon Park
he borrowed the argument that to restrict the use of his land to what
is essentially a municipal purpose forces him to fulfill a community
need for recreational open space which he had not created. He lost
on both arguments.
The ordinance was upheld in part on the ground that the beach was
in the nature of a public asset, ^^ and that development would therefore
not be in the public interest. An equally important basis for the deci-
sion, however, was that the plaintiff failed to substantiate his claim
that the property had been rendered economically unproductive by
the zoning ordinance.
Underlying all of this was the eminent domain action which had
been pending for two j^ears and the question of how safe it would be
to build homes on the beach if the zone were changed. It may be true
that even in California land may not be zoned for public open space
simply because to do so would benefit the public. However, it is not
clear from the McCarthy case whether the result is different with
respect to land which is a unique public resource AND is also unsuited
for any other use. It would appear that under McCarthy it is enough
that the land is a unique public asset. But it is also true that the court
spoke in terms of whether the city could prohibit construction of
housing, not whether it could zone an area for beach recreational use
only. It is, therefore, possible to explain the McCarthy case on the
ground that the suitability of the land there involved for residences
was fairly debatable and that there was simply an insufScient showing
that the land could not profitably be used for beach purposes.
In view of these important issues, it is difficult to cavalierly cite the
case as establishing black letter law in California. But taken with
analogous cases, it can be said that California courts are more willing
than those of other states to uphold a land use regulation if any social,
economic or other rational justification can be found to support it.
In his exhaustive report to the San Francisco Bay Conservation and
Development Commission Professor Heyman states:
^ For a thorough analysis of the McCarthy case, see Prof. I. Michael Heyman, "Open
Space and the Police Power," in Herring, ed.. Open Space and the Law, Institute
of Governmental Studies, University of California, Berkeley, 1965, pp. 13-16. See
also Heyman, note 72 supra pp. 39—40.
» 41 Cal. 2d at 886, 264 P. 2d at 936. The court found relevant the fact that the City
had included plaintiff's beach as part of a recreation area in the Master Plan and
identified it as a major asset of the community which should be protected against
development. The court was therefore reluctant to draw a distinction between
regulations designed to prevent external harm and those intended to promote a
public benefit. See Heyman, Poxvers, p. 40.
T4 JOINT COMMITTEE ON OPEN SPACE LAND
California courts characteristically defer to legislative judgments.
Judicial deference is most notable to legislative definitions of
worthy public objectives and legislative choice of the means . . .
best designed to accomplish them.^^
Substantiation of this conclusion is ubiquitous in zoning cases. Ayres
V. City of Los Angeles ^^ and Bringle v. Board of Supervisors ^^ indi-
cate the extent to which the police power may be employed in restrict-
ing land use. They indicate at least two things. First, a land owner
may be compelled to dedicate a part of his property to public use even
if he did not create the need for which the land is sought to be used.
Secondly, a city may use official sanctions such as building permits,
etc., to bargain with landowners in municipal projects such as street
widening.
Ayres was a subdivision case in which the city compelled the devel-
oper to dedicate a substantial strip of his land to the city in exchange
for municipal approval of his subdivision map.^^ The developer con-
tended that it was a taking by police power extortion. He pointed out,
and it was never denied, that "the city contemplated taking the prop-
erty (by eminent domain) for the purposes indicated in any event",
and further, "that the benefit to the lot owners and the tract will be
relatively small compared to the beneficial return to the city at
large . . . " ««
The court was, in Professor Hejinan's words, "less than vigorous in
requiring that contributions of land exacted in return for development
permission must be related to costs created by the private devel-
oper. ' ' ^^ It finally concluded that " in a growing metropolitan area
each additional subdivision adds to the traffic burden, ' ' ^^ thereby
avoiding the developer 's charge.
The land in Bringle was zoned for agriculture. The landowner peti-
tioned for an extension of a variance to allow the land to be used as a
storage yard. Petitioner argued that since the land was totally un-
productive as zoned, and that only four vehicles were used in his busi-
ness, the variance was "required." The county agreed to grant the
variance if the landowner would dedicate a strip of county road front-
age 30 feet wide and 132 feet long to be used for street widening pur-
poses, pursuant to the county Master Plan.
There was no finding that the proposed use would create a need for
street widening. The landowner argued that such a condition amounted
to an uncompensated taking. The court disagreed, saying that while
there was no recorded evidence showing a relationship between the
variance and the dedication, it would assume that widening the road
was related to the proposed use.
Such an assumption was doubly suspect. First, it failed to explain
the fact that the Master Plan provision for widening predated the
variance application. Second, it ignored the fact that neighboring land
62Heyman, Powers, p. 17.
'^ Ayres v. City of Los Angeles, 34 Cal. 2d 31, 207 P. 2d 1 (1949).
^Bringle v. Board of Supervisors, 54 Cal. 2d 86, 351 P. 2d 765 (1960).
^ Johnson, "Constitutionality of Subdivision Control Exactions : The Quest for a
Rationale," 52 Cornell L.Q. 871 (1967): Hanna, "Subdivisions: Conditions Im-
posed by Local Government," 6 Santa Clara Lawyer 172 (1966).
^ Ayres v. City Council of Los Angeles, 34 Cal. 2d 31 at 40.
^ Heyman, Powers, p. 40.
*s Ayres v. Los Angeles, 34 Cal. 2d 31 at 41.
JOINT COMMITTEE ON OPEN SPACE LAND 75
was being acquired for road "widening through the use of eminent
domain.
But before any sweeping conclusions may be drawn from Ayres and
Bringle one must consider the relatively recent case of Mid-Way Cabi-
net V. San Joaqiiin.^^ While not on all fours with either Ay7-es or
Bringle, the Mid-Way Caiinet case can be said to have modified those
earlier cases. As in Ayres and Bringle the county had adopted a plan
which involved condemning certain highway frontage from Mid-AVay.
Indeed the county had already begun condemnation proceedings when
Mid-AVay asked for a building permit and the extension of an earlier
use permit. The county offered to grant the permits if Mid-AVay would
barter awaj^ what San Joaquin County was then in the process of
taking by eminent domain.
The case turned on the question of whether the new building would
add traffic to the highway. The court noted that the land was in a
rural portion of a notoriously rural count}', that the area was not
expected to develop in the foreseeable future, and that cabinet business
was not likely to draw more traffic after the building than it had
previously. The court read the record as disclosing "not the slightest
hint that there would be an appreciable increase in traffic" ^^^ and
concluded that "the conditions imposed upon Mid-AVay are not so
imposed because of any of its activities relating to that portion of the
sometime-to-be-built expressway . . . They were imposed because re-
spondents seem to conceive that the burden of the cost of access and
highway widening rights of way . . . can be shifted by government
onto adjoining landowners. " '^^ The fact that this is precisely what
was done in Ayres and Bringle failed to sway the court.^^
However, it would be a mistake to read Mid-Way as marking a sig-
nificant retreat from the position of Ayres and Bringle. The dicta con-
cerning the efficac}' of shifting the cost of municipal improvements
is of questionable significance since the court found a) no compelling
public need and b) no assurance that the bartered-for land would in
fact be used for highway purposes in the foreseeable future.
Taken together these cases seem to saj- that when the purpose being
served is of compelling importance, then the fact that a private land-
owner is incidentally forced to bear the burden of providing a munici-
pal service is given less weight. It is also possible that California courts
construe the grant of a governmental privilege such as a variance as a
form of compensation. The latter explanation is given added weight
when one notes that in Bringle neighboring landowners were given fi-
nancial compensation for similar frontage to that acquired from the
plaintiff in exchange for the variance.
If the latter suggestion has any merit, then it may be that the police
power is amenable to both the regulation and in some cases the actual
acquisition of open space land in exchange for governmental privileges
such as building permits, variances, subdivision approval, or perhaps
use-related assessment.
89 Mid-Way Cabinet Fixture Manufacturing v. County of San Joaquin, 257 Cal. App.
2d 181, 65 Cal. Rptr. 37 (1967).
^Mid-Way Cabinet v. San Joaquin, 257 Cal. App. 2d 181, 185.
»^ Mid-Way Cabinet v. San Joaquin, 257 Cal. App. 2d 181, 191-192.
»2 For another California case upholding such a shift see City of Buena Park v. Boyar,
186 Cal. App. 2d 61, 8 Cal. Rptr. 674. See also B7-ous v. Smith, 304 N.Y. 164,
106 N.E. 2d 503.
76 JOINT COMMITTEE ON OPEN SPACE LAND
Given the traditional willingness of California courts to uphold
police power regulations which demonstrably serve some public pur-
pose, it is difficult to conceive of a California court deciding a case like
Morris County Land Improvement Co. v. Township of Parsippany —
Troy Hills ^^ as it was decided by the New Jersey Court. Here 1500
acres of marshland, at one time part of Lake Passaic, were zoned for
agriculture, wildlife refuge and recreation. The town had recently be-
gun to feel the pressure of urbanization. Since the swamp was a valu-
able natural asset to the community, it had been restricted to uses
which were compatible with its natural condition. The land within the
zone was owned in part by a conservationist group, which had lobbied
through the ordinance, and in part by plaintiff.
The court struck down the ordinance saying at 139 A 2d, 241-42:
These are laudable public purposes and we do not doubt the high-
mindedness of their motivation. . . (But both) public uses (flood
water detention basin and open space) are necessarily so all-en-
compassing as practically to prevent the exercise by a private
owner of au}^ worth-while rights or benefits in the land. So public
acquisition rather than regulation is required.^*
It is difficult to determine from the opinion whether the court in-
validated the ordinance because it was designed to promote a purely
municipal purpose or because it divested the plaintiff of any beneficial
use. The court gives both factors equal weight.
Clearly one purpose of the ordinance was to preserve a quasi public
asset, a justification which the California court had accepted in
McCarthy. Another purpose was to control floods, traditionally consid-
ered well within the province of police power regulation. Both of these
purposes have been upheld in California. Metro Realty v. County of
El Dorado ^'' is a case in point. In Metro the county had identified
thirty-one potential reservoir sites. Pending the completion of a long
term development study, the county had prevented any development
on the proposed reservoir sites. The zoning restriction was to terminate
in three years, at which time the county water plan was to be com-
pleted. The court balanced the long range community benefit against
the temporary inconvenience to the landowner and upheld the zone.
It has been suggested that the Morris County case is distinguishable
from cases like Hadacheck v. Sehastian on the ground that in Morris
County, the landowner was being compelled to bestow a gratuitous
public benefit. In cases like Hadacheck he is being forced to forego a
»3 Morris County Land Improvement Co. v. Township of Parsippany — Troy Hills, 40
N.J. 593 ; 193 A. 2d 233 (1963).
^♦One leading authority, Jacob H. Beuscher, has written that "I'm not ready to agree
that Justice Hall's opinion in the New Jersey marsh case settles for all time and
all marshes the invalidity of zoning which prohibits filling or development. In
another case
— evidence of adverse public health consequences may be more impressive ;
— proof of direct substantial harmful effects on other landowners may be more
convincing, thus rooting the zoning in the rigorous soil of nuisance law ;
— income producing uses like hunting leases, the raising of marsh hay might be
practical possibilities ; or
— the zoners might be more forthright and not attempt as in the Parsippany case
to hide an absolute bar against development behind not one, but two compli-
cated permit application procedures."
Beuscher, "Comments on Mrs. Strong's 'Controls and Incentives for Open Space' "
in Opew Space Through Water Resource Protection (Anna Louis Strong Ed.)
Institute for Environmental Studies, Univ. Penn. (1965), p. 78.
0^ Metro Realty v. County of El Dorado, 35 Cal. Rptr. 480 (Cal. App. Div. 1963). But
see Peacock v. County of Sacramento, 77 Cal. Rptr. 391 (1969).
JOINT COMMITTEE ON OPEN SPACE LAND 77
use which causes tangible external harm to the public. ^^ Under this
harm-benefit analysis, owners who cause public harm can be enjoined
without compensation, while those who provide affirmative benefits
must have the cost apportioned among the public beneficiaries.^'^
Professor Heyman contends that while this harm-benefit theory is
logically tenable and affords an ethical means of distributing social
costs, it is not followed in California. He concludes, after extensive
analysis, that "California courts in regulation cases have been quite
insensitive to the cost-allocation line set forth in the harm-benefit
approach." ^^
To substantiate this conclusion, it is useful to compare the judicial
treatment of restrictions designed to stave off development. Set-back
cases are of this genre. Courts vary markedly in their attitude toward
these cases. The case of Gait v. Cook County ^^ represents one view. Put
in issue there was the validity of a set-back regulation which was ad-
mittedly designed to retard development. The Illinois court struck
down the regulation on the ground that the motive of the zoning body
in enacting the ordinance was inappropriate. It pointed out that the
ordinance was ancillary to a street-widening program and was intended
to freeze acquisition costs. The case seems to suggest that in Illinois
such a motive will tarnish an otherwise valid regulation.
Such has never been the law of California. Indeed, as indicated by
the excerpt from Lockard v. Los Angeles, quoted above at page 28, the
court would never reach the question of motive in a case like Gait. To
see what a California court would do if it were forced to face the issue,
one need look no further than Hunter v. Adams. ^^^ In Hunter, all de-
velopment within a redevelopment area had been frozen in order to
stabilize acquisition costs. Plaintiff challenged the denial of a building
permit on the same grounds advanced in Gait. The restriction was
upheld.
But Southern Pacific Co. v. City of Los Angeles,^^'^ more than either
Lockard or Hunter, indicates the gulf between the view expressed in
Gait and that held by the courts of California. The Southern Pacific
case dealt with an ordinance which was, by any test, more restrictive
than that disapproved in Gait. The ordinance conditioned the granting
of a building permit on the dedication of a street-front strip to the
city for street widening purposes. A line of cases in numerous juris-
dictions have upheld such dedications, usually in subdivision cases,
6« Heyman note 72 supra, pp. 36-37, citing Dunham, "A Legal and Economic Basis
for City Planning," 58 Col. L. Rev. 650 (1958). Dunham, "Flood Control "Via the
Police Power," 107 U. Pa. L. Rev. 1098 (1959) ; Dunham, "Griggs v. Allegheny
County in Perspective: Thirty Years of Supreme Court Expropriation Law," in
Kurland, ed.. Sup. Ct. Rev. 1962-1963 Term. (University of Chicago Press, 1964).
" One good statement of the harm-benefit theory is found in Dunham, "A Legal and
Economic Basis for City Planning," 58 Colum. L. Rev. 650, (1958) at 669.
"Where the legislation was upheld, the purpose and effect of the legislation was
to allocate to a land use the costs which, but for the legislation, the activity
would impose on other owners without compensation. In each instance where the
legislation was struck down, the purpose and effect of the legislation was to
compel one or more particular owners to furnish without compensation a benefit
wanted by the public." An earlier writer put it more succinctly. "(I)t may be
said that the state takes property by eminent domain because it is useful to the
public, and under the police power because it is harmful . . ." Freund, The Police
Power, Public Policy and Constitutional Rights (1904) at 546-547.
^8 Heyman, op. cit., note 72 supra, p. 38.
»9(?aZt v. Cook County, 405 111. 396, 91 N.B. 2d 395 (1950).
^00 Hunter v. Adams, 180 Cal. App. 2d 511 ; 4 Cal. Rptr. 776 (1960).
^'^ Southern Pacific Co. v. City of Los Angeles, 51 Cal. Rptr. 197 (1966). Appeal dis-
missed, 385 U.S. 657, 87 S. Ct. 767 (1967).
4 — 1494
78 JOINT COMMITTEE ON OPEN SPACE LAND
where the development by the landowner creates the need for the street
improvement.
The ordinance in the Southern Pacific case was not justified on this
rationale. There was no showing that the building contemplated by the
permit would necessarily impose an additional traffic burden, thereby
necessitating street expansion. The need for street expansion predated
the building and could only be exaggerated by the added commerce
brought to the Southern Pacific warehouse. Indeed, the D.C.A. in
Southern Pacific expressly rejects the argument that the value of the
dedicated land approximate the municipal cost generated by the ware-
house.^^^
The court concluded that in view of the difficulty of financing a
needed program of street widening, the mandatory dedication condition
was not unreasonable. It was candidly construed as ". . . another ap-
plication of the principle that the exercise of police power in traffic
regulation cases is simply a risk the property owner assumes when he
lives in modern society under modern traffic conditions . . . and par-
ticularly if he lives in the metropolitan area of Los Angeles. ' ' ^^^
The significance of the Southern Pacific case in the field of open
space regulation cannot be ignored. ^°^ The case stands for the proposi-
tion that once a valid legislative purpose has been found, a landowner
may be compelled to dedicate part of his land to public use in exchange
for the grant of some governmental sanction (e.g., subdivision map
approval, zone variance, building permit, etc.). This, despite the fact
that the purpose for which the land is acquired has no relation to the
land use sought by the landowner and despite the fact that the land-
owner may have played no part in creating the need for such govern-
mental acquisition.
Effect of Regulation
As we have seen, courts in some jurisdictions look closely at the
effect of a regulation on the market value of the subject property.
Numerous California cases, on the other hand, have held that diminu-
tion of market value alone is not sufficient to invalidate an otherwise
proper regulation. The cases examined thus far, however, have not
drawn a clear line between regulation and the constitutional prohibi-
tion against "taking , . . without just compensation." Consolidated
Rock Products Co. v. City of Los Angeles,^^^ comes as close to drawing
that line as any case yet decided in California.
Consolidated Rock concerned an ordinance which prohibited the
quarrying of rock in an area adjacent to the Sunland-Tujunga area of
Los Angeles County. Consolidated Rock Company was the lessee of
"the second largest alluvial cone of rock, sand and gravel in Los
102 242 Cal. App. 2d 38 at 50 limiting Los Angeles v. Offner, 55 Cal. 2d 103, 10 Cal.
Rptr. 470, 358 P. 2d 926 to its facts. See also 242 Cal. App. 2d 38 at 47 where
the court states that if appellant "desires the benefits resulting from the im-
provement or change in the character of the land, it must meet any reasonable
condition imposed by respondents before the issuance of a building permit."
Nowhere does the court hint that those conditions must relate directly to the
proposed use.
W3 242 Cal. App. 2d 38 at 46-47, 51 Cal. Rptr. at 201-02 quoting Ayres and citing
Peoiile V. Ayon, 54 Cal. 2d 217, 224, 5 Cal. Rptr. 151, 352 P. 2d 519.
104 For detailed analysis of the Southern Pacific case and its applicability to open
space control, see Heyman, note 72 supra, pp. 62—65 ; see also 4 San Diego L.
Rev. 233 (1966).
^'^Consolidated Rock Products Co. v. City of Los Angeles, 57 Cal. 2d 515; 20 Cal.
Rptr. 638; 370 P. 2d 34a; Appeal dismissed. 371 U.S. 36 (1962). See Note, 50
Calif. L. Rev. 896.
JOINT COMMITTEE ON OPEN SPACE LAND 79
Angeles County. ' ' The property was quite valuable for the production
of gravel, but the trial court branded as "preposterous" any assertion
that the property had any value for other purposes. The latter con-
clusion was reached after personal inspection by the judge as well as
unrebutted evidence that the land was subject to periodic flooding.
Plaintiff sought injunctive and declaratory relief alleging (a) denial
of due process; (b) denial of equal protection; (c) taking without com-
pensation; (d) discrimination. Much of the opinion is devoted to dis-
tinguishing the older cases predating zoning relied upon by the plain-
tiff from the cases which began with Hadacheck and Miller v. Board of
Public Woi'ks cited above. In this analysis, the court relied heavily on
the well established doctrine, that if reasonable men could differ, the
restriction must be upheld.^"^
Justice Dooling pointed out that the land in question was near an
area which had a reputation as a haven for those suffering from res-
piratory ailments. The argument had been made by the cit}^ that to
allow rock extraction would cause dust and noise which could be harm-
ful to those who had been attracted to the area in search of non-dusty
(if not smog free) air. The reasonable doubt was thus established.
Plaintiff's argument was that if such be the case, compensation is
the answer. Plaintiff resurrected the argument which had been antici-
pated in Hadacheck v. Sebastian that rock and gravel are where one
finds them and can hardly be transported prior to extraction. Con-
solidated argued further that since the property had no value for any
other purpose, to prohibit quarrying was to prohibit all possible use.
To so do, they concluded, was to take the property for public use.
Justice Dooling considered the former argument to be equally true
of nearly every parcel of property and every land use. That is to say,
there is a use for which every parcel is best adapted. To accept plain-
tiff's argument would paralyze government to control these economically
optimum uses. The court disagreed with the second argument as well,
pointing to several dubious uses which might be made of the property,
saying :
There was testimony before the legislative body that the property
could be successfully devoted to certain other uses, i.e., for sta-
bling horses, cattle feeding and grazing, chicken raising, dog ken-
nels, fish hatcheries, golf courses, certain types of horticulture,
and recreation.^"^
But the court went on to concede that :
... in relation to its value for the extraction of rock, sand and
gravel, the value of the property for any of the described uses is
relatively small if not minimal, and that as to a considerable part
of it seasonal fiooding might prevent its continuous use for any pur-
pose. However, the very essence of the police power as differenti-
ated from the power of eminent domain is that the deprivation
of individual rights and property cannot prevent its operation.
"» WiZfctMS V. San Bernardino, 162 P. 2d 711-717 (1945) "The power to declare zoning
ordinances unconstitutional only should be exercised where no substantial reason
exists to support the determination of the city council. If the reasonableness of
the ordinance is reasonably debatable, the ordinance must be upheld." Citing
Reynolds v. Barrett, 83 P. 2d 29, Zahn v. Board of Public Works, 274 US 325
47 S. Ct. 594. See also 29 Cal. 2d 332, 175 P. 2d 542 (1946).
i<" Consolidated Rock v. Los Angeles, 57 Cal. Rptr. 2d at 530.
80 JOINT COMMITTEE ON OPEN SPACE LAND
once it is shown that its exercise is proper and that the method of
its exercise is reasonably within the meaning of due process of
law . . . (Citing Beverly Oil Co. v. City of Los Angeles, 40 Cal. 2d
552, 557-558). 108
Since due process is what the courts say it is, the Consolidated Bock
ease seems to stand for the proposition that if a public purpose can be
found or conceived, the Constitution will not stand in the way of regu-
lation even if the property is reduced to a ''minimal" value.
Taken together, the cases of Southern Pacific v. Los Angeles and
Consolidated Bock v. Los Angeles point to a potent tool available to
California government in the realm of open space preservation. Con-
solidated Bock held that the economic value of land may be totally
eliminated ("made minimal") if the purpose of the regulation is valid.
Southern Pacific held that a landowner may be compelled to dedicate
part of his land to public use in exchange for the grant of a govern-
mental privilege (building permit) even if the landowner did not
create the need which the city seeks to resolve. It may be therefore
that such power may be used to deny the owner the benefit, without
direct compensation, from some interest in land (e.g., development
right) even though the denial of that right seriously depresses the
market value of the land affected. The question of whether that tool
should be used is a political and not a legal question.
This view of California law appears to have been substantiated by
the case of Hamer v. Town of Boss,^^^ which came down a year after
Consolidated. The court in the Hamer case said:
Applying this (value diminution) principle in Consolidated Bock
Products Co. V. City of Los Angeles (1962) 57 Cal. 2d 515, 20 Cal
Rptr. 638, 370 P. 2d 342, this court upheld an ordinance limiting
the subject property to agricultural and residential use, even
though it possessed great value for rock, sand and gravel extrac-
tion but 'no appreciable economic value' for any other purpose.^^"
It is difficult to determine the significance of the United States Su-
preme Court's dismissal of Consolidated Rock's appeal. The dismissal
appears to mean that the U.S. Supreme Court is willing to go at least
as far as the California Supreme Court in discounting the value dimi-
nution test of "taking."
The California Supreme Court appears not to have retreated from
the position taken more than thirty years ago that "the police power
is no longer limited to measures designed to protect life, safety, health
and morals of the citizens, but extends to measures designed to pro-
mote the public convenience and general prosperity." ^
Professor Heyman of the University of California Law School, in
capsulizing the law of police power regulation in California has
pointed out that :
Rights in property have been defined and protected by courts
only to the extent that such rights and protections are consistent
with social, economic and political realities. How far regulation can
w8 IBID.
109 Hamer v. Town of Ross, 59 Cal. 2d 776; 31 Cal. Rptr. 335, 382 P. 2d 375 (1963).
"o/d, 59 Cal. 2d at 787, 31 Cal. Rptr. at 342.
^^ Max Factor Co. v. Kinsman, 5 Cal. 2d 446 at 461 ; 55 P. 2d 117 at 184 (1936).
JOINT COMMITTEE ON OPEN SPACE LAND 81
go is basically a political question. It is safe to predict that Cali-
fornia courts will only intervene in cases of clear discrimination —
either because similarly situated owners are being treated un-
equally, or where demonstrable costs are imposed on just a few
landowners while others, quite similarly situated, are tangibly bene-
fitted by the regulation. ^^^
The Continuum From Control to Dominion — Summary
There is no line on the continuum between control and dominion
which separates regulation from taking. It does not even exist ab-
stractly. Instead, it is drawn in response to an infinite number of fac-
tors within the factual context of each case. Courts draw the line by
balancing the public need against the burden which is to be imposed
against the landowner. Ethical notions of fairness play a leading role
in this evaluation. ^^^
When government regulates the use of land in a way which is highly
onerous to the landowner and unnecessary to safeguard the public wel-
fare, a potential taking has occurred. At this point the landowner may
affirm the taking and demand compensation,^^'* or he may attack the
regulation and seek to have it removed.^^^
A number of early cases indicated that a regulation could be struck
down if its effect was to remove all economic value from the property. ^^^
In a landmark New York case the court stated :
We have already pointed out that in this case which we are review-
ing the plaintiff's land cannot, at present, or in the immediate
future, be profitably or reasonably used without a violation of the
restriction. An ordinance which permanently so restricts the use
of property that it cannot be used for any reasonable purpose,
goes, it is plain, beyond regulation, and must be recognized as a
taking of the property. The only substantial difference, in such
case, between restriction and actual taking, is that restriction leaves
the owner subject to the burden of payment of taxation, while
outright confiscation would relieve him of that burden. ^^'^
"2 Heyman, op. cit., note 59 supra, p. 33.
'^ See Hagman, California Zoning Practice, Sec. 3.7, p. 49; Michelman, "Property,
Utility, and Fairness : Comments on the Ethical Foundations of 'Just Compen-
sation' Law", 80 Harv. L. Rev. 1165 (1967) ; Sax, "Takings and the Police
Power," 74 Yale L. J. 36 (1964) ; Heyman and Gilhood, "The Constitutionality
of Imposing Increased Community Costs on New Suburban Residents Through
Subdivision Exactions," 73 Yale L. J. 1119 (1964) Dunham, "A Legal and Eco-
nomic Basis for City Planning," 58 Cohim. L. Rev. 650 (1958).
"* This approach is known as an action in inverse condemnation. It is widely believed,
although wrongly, that inverse condemnation involves an attack upon the valid-
ity of the regulation. It does not. An action in inverse condemnation accepts the
alleged taking and demands compensation. The petitioner asserts that a taking
has occurred and asks to convey the land to government in exchange for pay-
ment. See : Mandelker, "Inverse Condemnation : The Constitutional Limits of
Public Responsibility," 1966 Wis. L. Rev. 3, 47 ; Note, "Inverse Condemnation,"
3 Real Property, Pr-obate and Trust Journal, 173 (1968), and Hagmen, California
Zoning Practice, (Cal. C.E.B.) Sec. 3.18, p. 56 (1969), California Condemnation
Practice (Cal. C.E.B.) 1960, Ch. 9 ; Kratovil and Harrison, "Eminent Domain —
Policy and Concept," 42 Calif. L. Rev. 596 (1954).
'^ See Ayres v. City of Los Angeles, 34 Cal. 2d 31, 207 P. 2d 1 (1949) ; Bringle v.
Board of Supervisors, 54 Cal. 2d 86, 351 P. 2d 765 (1960) ; Sommers v. Los
Angeles, 254 Cal. App. 2d 605, 62 Cal. Rptr. 523 (1967) ; Southern Pacific v.
Los Angeles, 242 Cal. App. 2d 38, 51 Cal. Rptr. 197 (1966). But see Mid-Way
Cabinet Mfg. v. County of San Joaquin, 257 Cal. App. 2d 181, 65 Cal Rptr. 37
(1967).
"«See Pennsylvania Coal v. Mahon, 260 U.S. 393 (1922).
i"Ari;ine Bay Construction Co. v. Thatcher, 278 N.Y. 222, 15 N.E. 2d 587, 591-92
(1938).
82 JOINT COMMITTEE ON OPEN SPACE LAND
In recent years few regulations have been overturned under this
test ^^^ and where open space is concerned, courts are becoming increas-
ingly willing to uphold stringent regulations.^^^
In a recent Hawaii case the plaintiff alleged that the agricultural
zoning restriction on his land was unconstitutional because it was im-
possible to carry on an economically profitable enterprise under the
restriction. In upholding the regulation, the court said:
The record indicates that appellant's lands can be used for agri-
cultural uses. Many various types of agricultural products are
grown there. It might not be possible to carry on an economical
agricultural enterprise, but this should not invalidate the Regula-
tions. The court cannot strike down a zoning regulation merely
because the landowner cannot carry on a profitable agricultural
enterprise.
One of the primary purposes of the Land Use Law is to prevent
scattered subdi^'isions that require expanded public services and
expenditures. Placing appellant's lands in the Urban or Rural
District will be contrary to this purpose for appellant's lands are
not contiguous to Urban or Rural Districts. ^^^
A traditionally less liberal court reflected the growing trend of ju-
dicial attitude thus :
The maximum possible enrichment of developers is not a controlling
purpose . . . Unless there is a clear abuse of discretion by the zon-
ing authority which results in an unwarranted discrimination
against the property owner or an unreasonable deprivation of his
property rights, the welfare of the public, rather than private
gain, is a paramount consideration . . .^^^
It should be clear that there is no foundation in law to support the
popular view which holds that whenever governmental action results
in a deprivation of property or a reduction in its value, there is a
taking or damaging for which compensation must be paid. Considera-
tions of public welfare and government policy must be carefully
evaluated. We have looked at what the courts consider to be important
for the public welfare. "We will now turn to an analysis of the taxation
program which is at the heart of California's open space policy.
"8 Sax, "Taking and the Police Power," 74 Yale L. J. 36 (1964) Goldblatt v. Hemp-
stead, 369 U.S. 590 (1962).
"» See Krasnowiecki and Strong, "Comprehensive Regulations for Open Space : A
Means of Controlling Urban Growth," 29 J. A.I. P., 87-89 (1963).
i*>AHison V. State Lajid Use Commission, C.A. No. 1383 Circuit Court of the Third
Circuit, Hawaii (Memorandum of trial court decision).
'^'^ Corsiiio V. Grover, 95 A.L. R. 2d 751 at 759 (Conn. 1961). See also Franco-Italian
Packing Co. v. United States, 128 F. Supp. 408, 414 (Ct. CI. 1955) ; 1 Nichols on
Eminent Domain, 70 and Miller v. Schoene, 276 U.S. 272 (1928) where infested
trees were destroyed without compensation to protect neighboring trees.
JOINT COMMITTEE ON OPEN SPACE LAND 83
Part II
ZONING AND PROPERTY ASSESSMENT
INTRODUCTION
Like most states, California has always assessed land for tax pur-
poses at a percentage of its market value. ^^- Following World War II,
when the population of California began to mushroom at an unparal-
leled rate, the effect of market value assessment on land use began to
manifest itself. As California's flat alluvial valleys were carved up for
development, landowners soon discovered that the property taxes based
on the market value of their land could easily exceed its ability to
generate the income needed to pay them. As one landowner sold out to
a subdivider at a price reflecting value for nonagricultural purposes,
he set an hypothetical market value for neighboring land. As the land
which was sold was developed and appreciated in value, the assessor
imputed additional value to neighboring undeveloped land. This in-
creased value was reflected in a higher property tax bill. To pay the
tax, the second landowner was frequently forced to sell to a developer,
thus perpetuating the fission.
The result of this process was to make the assessment of land an in-
fluential factor in the timing and location of development in a county.
The assessor became by default the de facto planner of his entire
county. ^^^
The last decade has seen a series of attempts by the California Leg-
islature to ameliorate this condition. Most of these legislative efforts to
preserve open space have been directed to land which has either been
restricted as to use by government through the zoning process, or volun-
tarily restricted to open space uses by the landowner. These programs
have attempted to remove the urban increment of value which is re-
flected in high assessments.^^^
Land which is subject to a use restriction is not comparable in value
to similar land wliich is not restricted. Assuming this, the theory of
122 See Sacramento v. Hickman, 66 Cal. 2d 1010, 59 Cal. Rptr. 618 (1967) ; Hanks v.
State Bd. of Equalization, 229 Cal. App. 2d 427, 40 Cal. Rptr. 478 (1964) ;
Michels v. Watson, 229 Cal. App. 2d 404, 40 Cal. Rptr. 464 (1964) ; and Tldeman,
"Fractional Assessments — Do Our Courts Sanction Inequality?" 16 Hastings
L. J. 573 (1965).
'** See generally: Welch, "Agricultural Zoning and Assessment of Farm Land," 17
Zoning Digest 393 (1965); Note, "Taxation Affecting Agricultural Land Use,"
50 loiva L. Rev. 600 (1965) ; Hagman, "Open Space Planning and Property Tax-
ation— Some Suggestions," 1964 Wis. L. Rev. 628 ; Beuscher, ed., Land Use Con-
trols— Cases and Materials, 565 (3rd ed., 1964) ; W^eiss, "The Effect of Zoning
on Market Value," Seventh Inst, on Eminent Domain, 13 (1967) ; and Ehrman
and Flavin, Taxing California Property (1967). For discussion of the relationship
of tax policy to land-use policy, see Delogu, "The Taxing Power As a Land Use
Control Device," 44 Denver L. J. 279 (1968) ; Walker, "Impact of Taxing Prac-
tices on Land-L'se Problems," 3 lyist. on Planning and Zoning, 39 (1962).
12* The California Legislature has not confined its open space conservation programs
exclusively to the tax incentive approach. For example, in 1965 the Legislature
enacted the Open Space Maintenance Act, Cal. Gov. Code Sees. 50575-50628. This
little-used provision allows any local agency to form a special assessment dis-
trict to finance an open space program. See Volpert, Creation and Maintenance
of Open Spaces in Subdivisions: Another Approach, 12 TJ.C.L.A. L. Rev. 830
(1965), Haar and Hering, "The Determination of Benefits in Land Acquisition,"
51 Calif. L. Rev. 833, 877 (1963). For problems associated with the special dis-
trict approach generally, see W'illoughby, "The Quiet Alliance," 38 So. Cal. L.
Rev. 72, (1965) ; Comment, "The Use of Special Assessment Districts and Inde-
pendent Special Districts as Aids in Financing Private Land Development," 53
Calif. L. Rev. 364 (1965) and Nichols, "Comment: How Not to Contest Special
Assessments in California," 17 Sta7i. L. Rev. 247 (1965).
b4 JOINT COMMITTEE ON OPEN SPACE LAND
much of the recent California legislation has been that once a restric-
tion is placed on land, the free market "will reflect that restriction in
the selling price. That is to say that if a buyer knows when he buys a
parcel of land he will only be able to farm that land, he will only pay
a price which is predicated upon his anticipated income from farm-
ing. It follows, therefore, that otherwise comparable land which is not
so restricted would bring a higher price.
The Legislature, prior to the approval of Article XXVIII, relied
upon this hypothetical succession of events to achieve two things. The
first of these objectives was to guarantee that land would be assessed
for taxation on the basis of its restricted use. Its second goal was to
establish a close correlation between fluctuations in market value at-
tributable to the restriction and changes in the assessment. By indirec-
tion, the Legislature attempted to shift the focus of the assessor away
from value as reflected in sales of comparable land and toward value
as derived from the ability of the land to generate income.
The Legislature did this by refining the definition of "comparable"
in such a way that sales prices which are used to set value are only
used if the selling land is truly comparable to the valued land. Where
there is an insufficient number of sales of truly comparable land to
value the subject land, income becomes the only allowable index of
value.^^^
This legislation guiding the assessors' use of comparable sales in
valuing restricted land and the predicted result in terms of market
value impact were fully consistent with the constitutional require-
ment that land be assessed on the basis of its full cash value. How-
ever, general uncertainty concerning the practical effect of any given
restriction ^-^ eventually prompted the Legislature to propose a con-
stitutional amendment in order to empower the Legislature to devise a
system of use-value assessment. It was this proposal which led to the
passage of Article XXVIII of the Constitution.
Before Article XXVIII assessors were constrained to determine the
effect upon market value of certain retrictions such as zoning or land
use contracts or agreements authorized by the California Land Con-
servation Act.
Article XXVIII marked a profound departure from previous market
oriented procedures. It was not the purpose of Article XXVIII to de-
vise a new method of finding market value. It was the object of Article
XXVIII to devise a wholly new standard of assessment. Article
XXVIII empowered the Legislature to devise an equitable system for
assessing restricted open space land. Under Article XXVIII the as-
sessor's job is no longer that of finding and reflecting market value.
It is now within the power of the Legislature to a) define eligible
"open space lands", b) to specify acceptable methods of restricting
125 For a discussion of the constitutional difficulties posed by this legislative device, see
Williamson and Bowden, Joint Committee on Open Space Land — Preliminary
Report, March 1969, pp. 41-42.
i2fl Pre-Article XXVIII zoning- restrictions seldom had an impact upon the market
value of the restricted land. The reason for this was that prospective purchasers
seldom considered a zoning restriction as being permanent. To the extent that
these restrictions were not considered in the market place they were also ignored
by the assessor whose job it was to find and reflect market values. As a result
these zoning restrictions failed to establish an equation between the assessment
and the restricted use.
JOINT COMMITTEE ON OPEN SPACE LAND 85
their use to open space, and c) to devise a formula for assessing re-
stricted open space land which is related to the restricted use.
One task which is before the Legislature now is that of devising use
restrictions which justify a legislatively mandated use-value assess-
ment. To understand the problems posed by the proposal to include
zoning among those restrictions, it is necessary to review the historical
development of California assessment law.
In 1922, at a time when the evolution of modern police power con-
trols was yet embr^'onic, the California Supreme Court decided Wild
Goose Country Cluh v. Butte County. ^-'^ It was there held that:
In arriving at the value of the land it was proper to take into
consideration every use to which it was naturally adapted and
which would enhance its value in the estimation of persons gen-
erally purchasing in the open market. The question is not what
its value is for a particular purpose, but its value in view of all
the purposes to which it is naturally adapted, (emphasis added), ^^^
Wild Goose concerned a parcel of land which was owned by a duck
hunting club, but also used for grazing cattle. Neighboring land was
also used for grazing, but was not as well suited for hunting because
it was of a higher elevation and lacked the open water necessary to
attract ducks. The hunting club argued that while the topography of
their land may attract more ducks than does neighboring land, it does
not attract a higher selling price from cattlemen. In its petition to the
Board of Equalization, the club alleged "that the only value agricul-
turally said land has is for grazing ".^-^ The argument was made that
since a buyer would buy the land as grazing land, and since it is in
fact used as grazing land, it should be assessed as such. In the view of
the hunting club the suitability of the land for hunting purposes
should be irrelevant to the issue of valuation.
The court disagreed and held that in valuing land the assessor must
consider all possible uses to which it is naturally adapted.
As we have seen, the years following the Wild Goose case witnessed
a rapid development of governmental land use controls. It is no longer
enough to speak solely in terms of natural restrictions on the use of
land. The gun club's land may be admirably suited for duck hunting,
but that would be of little moment if it were zoned residential. Cases
like Wild Goose failed to anticipate this rapid change in land use law.
Section 402.5
In 1957 the California Legislature added Section 402.5 to the Keve-
nue and Taxation Code. The purpose of the code section was to insure
that uses to which land was legally adapted were considered on an
equal footing with those to which it was naturally adapted.
As amended in 1959, the statute said that where land is zoned for
exclusively agricultural, airport or recreational purposes, the assessor
could only consider factors relative to those legally available uses. The
assessor was only mandated to consider the legally available uses to the
extent that there was "no reasonable probability" that the land would
be rezoned for a use which w^ould increase the value of the land.
^2T Wild Goose Country Club v. Butte County, 60 Cal. App. 339 ; 212 P. 711 (1922).
^Id. at 212 P. 711-712.
^za/d. at 212 P. 713.
86 JOINT COMMITTEE ON OPEN SPACE LAND
Standard and Method
At the time 402.5 was adopted, the constitutionally obligatory stand-
ard of valuation was "full cash value ".^^" "Full cash value," as de-
fined in Section 110 of the Revenue and Taxation Code, "means the
amount at which property would be taken in payment of a just debt
from a solvent debtor. ' '
Mr. Justice Traynor, writing for the majority in De Luz Homes v.
County of San Diego ^^^ paraphrased the definition of full cash value
as:
. . . the price that property would bring to its owner if it were
offered for sale on an open market under conditions in which
neither buyer nor seller could take advantage of the exigencies of
the other . . . and might be called the market value of property
for use in its present condition. ^^^
Kaiser Co. v. Beid^^^ had held that the absence of an "actual mar-
ket" for the property does not mean that it has no value. Mr. Justice
Traynor had read the Kaiser case to mean that the constitutional stand-
ard is the "hypothetical market price" ^^^ which the property would
bring if sold at the time of assessment.
While market value was read as synonymous with full cash value,
the court in De Luz Homes recognized that the method of determining
market value was not compelled by the Constitution. The Chief Justice
noted that :
Assessors generally estimate value by analyzing market data on
sales of similar property, replacement costs, and income from the
property . . . and since no one of these methods alone can be used
to estimate the value of all property, the assessor, subject to re-
quirements of fairness and uniformity, may exercise his discretion
in using one or more of them.^"*^ (emphasis added).
In enacting 402.5, the Legislature was attempting to guide the as-
sessor in the use of that discretion. The reason for steering the assessor
away from comparable sales was outlined above. First, properties
which otherwise would have been considered comparable by the assessor
would not truly be comparable to the valued land when the zoning
restriction was considered. Second, if the valued land were assessed
without regard to the restriction, the value set would result in a tax
disproportionate to the income producing ability of the land. This
frequently led to premature development. Those who doubted the con-
stitutionality of such guidance contended that the Legislature had in
fact altered the "standard" from "full cash value" to income stream
under the guise of directing the assessor away from certain "methods"
of assessment.
'30 Article XI, Section 12, California Constitution, "all property subject to taxation
shall be assessed at its full cash value." See also Cal. Rev. and Tax. Code
Sec. 401.
•siDe Luz Homes v. County of San Diego, 45 Cal. 2d 613; 290 P. 2d 544 (1955).
132 /d. at 290 P. 2d 554. See also Gilmore Co. v. Los Angeles County, 186 Cal. App.
2d 471 ; 9 Cal. Rptr. 67 (1960) in accord.
^^ Kaiser Co. v. Reid, 30 Cal. 2d 610 ; 184 P. 2d 879 (1947).
i**290 P. 2d 544 at 555.
i»5 IBID.
JOINT COMMITTEE ON OPEN SPACE LAND 87
Consfitutionality of Section 402.5
The constitutionality of 402.5 was put in issue almost immediately
by the State Board of Equalization. In Opinion No. 57-119, November
19, 1957, the Attorney General headnoted his analysis thus: "Section
402.5 is a restatement of an established valuation standard and makes
no change in pre-existing law. ' ' ^^^
The Attorney General read the De Luz Homes and Wild Goose
Country Club cases as holding that :
The standard of valuation applicable to real property for ad va-
lorem tax purposes . . . necessarily includes a value based on the
highest and best use of the property.^^'^
No distinction was made between the constitutionally obligatory
"standard" and the "method" of deriving that standard. The At-
torney General concluded that :
It would seem evident that the highest and best use of property
zoned exclusively for agricultural or recreational purposes, as to
which there is no reasonable probability of the removal or modi-
fication of the zoning restriction within the near future could
only be agricultural or recreational use.^^^
By equating "highest and best use" with restricted use, the Attor-
ney General succeeded in avoiding the critical issue. The critical ques-
tion is not whether 402.5 laid down a method of assessment which
would have been "properly applicable even in the absence of statute".
The question to which the answer was needed is whether in the ab-
sence of sales, the assessor may be compelled to consider only those
uses legally available. If the assessor may be so compelled, are not
the owners of zoned land assessed by a more favorable method than
others similarly situated? Nevertheless, the Attorney General con-
cluded that :
We do not reach the question as to whether a statute which pur-
ports to establish a restricted standard for limited types of real
property is constitutionally defective.^^^
The Attorney General's sanction did not remove all of the obstacles
which were strewn in the path of 402.5. The principal road block in
the way of fulfilling the legislative purpose behind 402.5 was, in a
word, permanence. If the zoning was not permanent, the system broke
down.
For the assessor to decide whether a "reasonable probability"
existed that the zone would not be changed, he had to look at the his-
tory of zoning in his jurisdiction. This is not the time for a detailed
discussion of the permanency problem. That issue will be reserved for
the following chapter. It is enough now to say that a look at the past
quarter century of zoning practice across the State yielded no master-
piece of uniformity. Some zones tended to remain stable, others were
wholly transitory.
i^ 30 Ops. Atty. Gen. 246.
J»T IBID.
i»8 30 Ops. Atty. Gen. 246 at 247.
'»» IBID.
88 JOINT COMMITTEE ON OPEN SPACE LAND
The primary weakness of 402.5 was that in equalization proceedings,
the landowner was forced to bear the burden of proving the perma-
nence of the zone. In effect, he had to prove that the zone would not be
removed in the foreseeable future.
In 1965 the Legislature amended Section 402.5 to rectify this prob-
lem. The amendment established a "rebuttable presumption" that the
zoning restriction would not be removed in the foreseeable future.
After the presumption was established, the burden was on the asses-
sor to prove that rezoning was likely within the foreseeable future.
Unfortunately, the goal of relating assessments to legally available
uses was not reached even by the inclusion of the presumption. Obdur-
ate assessors continued to take the attitude that zoning restrictions ' ' had
to prove themselves." The Legislature had mandated the assessor to
presume that the zone would be permanent. He was not, however, re-
quired to assume that the zone, even though presumed permanent,
would have an effect on the market value of the subject land. Assessors
generally assumed that any police power restriction would have no
effect on market value until sufficient sales had occurred to prove him
wrong. The reasons for this assumption will be discussed in the follow-
ing section.
Constitutionality of Presumption
Within a year of its inclusion, the constitutionality of the presump-
tion was put in issue. The Attorney General decided that:
Section 402.5 ... as amended by the 1965 Legislation, requires
that the assessor observe a rebuttable presumption that there will
not be a removal or modification of the zoning restriction on the
property in the near future and that during such time he shall
consider no use factors other than agricultural use. This is clearly
a change in the law and is opposed to the usual presumption that
the assessor has regularly performed his duty in finding values
and entering assessments on the roll. See Code Civ. Proc. See.
1963 (IS). The Legislature, however, may make procedural
changes in the law, and the changing of the burden of proof is
clearly procedural. Now, rather than the taxpayer being required
to prove that the zoning restriction is not likely to change, the
burden of showing that a change is reasonably probable is on the
assessor.^**'
The Attorney General 's opinion did not construe the section as amended
to deviate from the constitutionally compelled "full cash value" stand-
ard discussed above. Indeed, this opinion, like its forerunner, did not
address itself to the distinction between the standard of assessment
and the method used in deriving the assessed value. The question of
whether Section 402.5 so drastically altered "methods" of assessment
that it changed the mandatory "standard" remained untested.
Section 402.7. Revenue and Taxation Code
Section 402.5 was repealed in 1966 and replaced by 402.1. These
two code sections were similar in many ways. The difference between
the two sections is primarily one of scope. 402.1 bound the assessor
i« 47 Ops. Atty. Gen. 171 at 179.
JOINT COMMITTEE ON OPEN SPACE LAND 89
to "consider the effect upon value of any enforceable restrictions to
which the use of the land may be subjected". It was not tied to agri-
cultural or recreational land. It said instead that "restrictions shall
include but are not necessarily limited to zoning restrictions limiting
the use of the land . . .". Section 402.1 directed the assessor to con-
sider any legal restriction on the use of land, regardless of what that
restriction or use might be.
Section 402.1 incorporated the rebuttable presumption of permanence
from 402.5 and spelled out the grounds for rebuttal. Among the grounds
specifically available to the assessor for rebutting the presumption are
(1) "past history of like use restrictions in the jurisdiction in ques-
tion," and (2) "the similarity of sales prices for restricted and un-
restricted land."
Where the presumption of permanence stands unrebutted, the as-
sessor is foreclosed from considering sales of land not similarh' re-
stricted as comparable in assessing restricted land.
As may have been inferred from the second paragraph of this discus-
sion, 402.1 really created two rebuttable presumptions. The first is that
the restriction is permanent. To overcome this presumption, the as-
sessor must show that a pattern of rezoning has characterized the area
or that historically, similar zoning restrictions have been frequently
avoided or circumvented. The second presumption is that the restric-
tion will have the effect of equating the value of the property to the
value attributable to the legally permissible use. Failure of this equa-
tion will be demonstrated by "the similarity of sales prices for re-
stricted and unrestricted land."
Conclusion
The Constitution requires that all property be assessed at its "full
cash value." Full cash value was long ago equated with market value.
All of the legislation thus far examined concerned the method by
which that value was found. Wild Goose Country Club v. Butte County,
in 1922, said that in valuing land the assessor must consider all pos-
sible uses to which it was naturally adapted. Kaiser Co. v. Reid, handed
down in 1947. said that in the absence of an "actual market" for the
valued land, the assessor must devise an "hypothetical market price"
for the land.
Beginning in the late 50 's, the Legislature began to direct the as-
sessor, when considering uses to which the land is naturally adapted,
to confine himself to those uses to which it is also legally adapted.
Assessors argued that if the free market fails to reflect the significance
of a zoning restriction, then it is not sufficiently significant to warrant
use-based assessment. The assessors argued further that if the land-
owner could avoid the zoning ordinance, then the use restrictions
spelled out in the zoning ordinance are in fact illusory and should not
be considered as permanently imposed. Landowners argued that there
was no reason why they should support strong zoning, since the assessor
would simply ignore the zone in making his assessment. liandowners
argued further that since the assessor would in any case take a "wait
and see" attitude, it would take many years for the significance of the
zone to be reflected in low^r sales prices.
90 JOINT COMMITTEE ON OPEN SPACE LAND
The effect of this was to eliminate zoning as a restriction warranting
use-related assessment. Market value as indicated by sales prices of
zoned and unzoned property remained the final arbiter of valuation
despite legislative efforts to minimize its effect.
JOINT COMMITTEE ON OPEN SPACE LAND 91
Part III
THE ZONING APPARATUS AND ITS ADMINISTRATION
The motive for limiting property rights is not the desire to
deprive anyone of that which is rightfully his. We hegin with
the assumption that we are more than one living on this moun-
tain.^"^^
INTRODUCTION
Zoning is based on the utilitarian notion that by restricting the
rights of all property owners, each will benefit. Each landowner re-
linquishes some property right for the good of the social whole. The
only compensation given to the landowner is a pro rata benefit in the
form of nuisance protection, reciprocal control over neighboring land
uses and property value stabilization.
The public attitude toward zoning may be described in the way Win-
ston Churchill described representative democracy: "It is the worst
system ever devised by the wit of man except for all the others."
Viewed in this light, zoning does enjoy wide public support. If the
pattern of history serves as a guide for the future, police power regu-
lation will play an increasingly important role in coming decades.
Professor Powell, dean of American property law scholars, has pointed
out that :
. . . the history of the law of private ownership has witnessed si-
multaneously a play-down of absolute rights and a playing-up of
social concern as to the use of property . . . Property rights have
been redefined in response to a swelling demand that ownership
be responsible and responsive to the needs of the social whole.
Property rights cannot be used as a shibboleth to cloak conduct
which adversely affects the health, the safety, the morals, or the
welfare of others. ^^^
Judicial authority for Professor Powell's position is not difficult to
find. One court put it thus :
In the fight for better living conditions in large cities, in the con-
test for more light and air, more health and comfort — the scales
are not well balanced if dividends to the individuals outweigh
health and happiness to the community.^^^
The question is not whether we will have governmental regulation
of land use but rather what form that regulation should take. The re-
mainder of this paper will be devoted to that question.
In discussing the attributes of an adequate land use regulation pro-
gram for purposes of Article XXVIII, a number of distinct questions
must be isolated. The first of these questions is whether the present
structure of police power regulations is adequate to warrant use re-
lated assessment. The second is whether a form of police power regu-
iiiEivinld Berg-grav, "Staten og Mennesket," in Land og Kirke, 222-24 (1945). As
quoted in Fred L. Mann, "Trends in the Use of Public Controls Affecting Agri-
cultural Land Ownership in Europe and Great Britain," 50 Iowa L. Rev. 458
(1965).
1" Powell, "The Relationship Between Property Rights and Civil Rights." 15 Hast-
ings L. J. 135 at p. 149 (1963).
"3 Welton V. 1,0 East Oak Street Building Corp. 70 F 2d 377 at 383 (1934).
92 JOINT COMMITTEE ON OPEN SPACE LAND
lation can be devised which would justify use related property assess-
ment of open space land.
This chapter will be devoted primarily to an investigation of the
zoning apparatus as it now exists in California. The purpose of this
investigation is to determine whether this zoning system is adequate
to justify use related assessment under Article XXVIII. For decades
assessors and others have pilloried traditional zoning. The following
pages will seek to determine whether this deprecatory criticism has
been justified.
The Mechanics of Zoning
One authorization for the adoption of zoning ordinances in Cali-
fornia is found in the Government Code at Sections 65800 and 65850.
The delegation is broad. The Legislature at one point declares its
intention to "provide only a minimum of limitation in order that
counties and cities may exercise the maximum degree of control over
local zoning matters." ^^^
Section 65900 allows the "legislative body of a city or county" to
"create . . . either a board of zoning adjustment, or the office of zoning
administrator or both." It is the duty of this body to administer the
zoning program.^^*" The legislative body may also appoint a board of
appeals ^^"^ whose job it is to "hear and determine appeals from the
decisions of the board of zoning adjustment or the zoning administra-
tor. "^^^ Where no appellate board has been created, the power to
review these administrative findings and decisions rests with the local
legislative body.^^*
Pursuant to Section 65300 of the Government Code, each city ^^^
and county is obliged to "adopt a comprehensive, long-term general
plan for the physical development of the county or city." The plan
must contain, among other things, a "land use element which desig-
nates the proposed general distribution and general location and extent
of the uses of the land for housing, business, industry, agriculture,^^"
recreation, education, public buildings and grounds, (etc.)."^^^
To implement the general plan, the legislative body may adopt a
scheme of "specific plans." ^^^ These specific plans may include "regu-
lations of the use of land and buildings, the height and bulk of build-
ings, and open spaces about buildings. " ^^^
The general plan is also implemented by the adoption of zoning
ordinances. No city or county, however, is required to adopt a general
i"Cal. Govt. Code Sec. 65800.
"^ Cal. Govt. Code Sec. 65901, "The board of zoning adjustment or zoning adminis-
trator shall hear and decide applications for conditional uses or other permits
when the zoning- ordinance provides therefor and establishes criteria for deter-
mining such matters, and applications for variances from the terms of the
zoning ordinance." Section 65902 provides that where there is no such body,
these duties shall reside in the planning commission.
"«Cal. Govt. Code Sec. 65900.
"■ Cal. Govt. Code Sec. 65903.
i«Cal. Govt. Code Sec. 65904.
i-i^ But see Govt. Code Sec. 65700, which exempts charter cities from coverage of plan-
ning provisions unless adopted by charter amendment or ordinance.
150 Beginning Nov. 1, 1968, the general plan must designate the proposed distribution,
location and extent of use of land for "natural resources" in addition to agri-
culture. See Stats. 1967, Ch. 1657, Sec. 1. By July 1, 1969, each general plan must
include a housing element. Cal. Govt. Code 65302(c). Amended by Stats. 1967,
Ch. 1658, Sec. 4.
I'^Cal. Govt. Code Sec. 65302(a).
152 Cal. Govt. Code Sec. 65450.
153 Cal. Govt. Code Sec. 65451 (b), (e).
JOINT COMMITTEE ON OPEN SPACE LAND 93
plan prior to the adoption of a zoning ordinance. ^^^ In theory, plan-
ning precedes zoning, whether a formal plan is adopted or not. The
zoning ordinance is intended to further the general plan, when one
exists, or embody a plan where no other plan has been developed.^^^
It is in the administration of the ordinance that the most crucial
test of these principles is encountered. It is at this stage that two
competing interests come together. These public concerns involve the
need for flexibility and the need for objective standards in zoning ad-
ministration. As one writer put it, zoning restrictions must:
. . . afford sufficient flexibility and responsiveness to community
needs to deal constructively with vicissitudinous situations, yet
(be) . . . administered pursuant to the rule of law, not uncon-
fined discretion. ^^^
Eminent authorities in the field of land use planning doubt that the
administrative process is achieving these objectives. ^^^ In the words
of Walter Blucher:
The question must be asked seriously whether zoning, as it is
currently being practiced, is endangering our democratic institu-
tions. A second question stemming from the first is : 'Is zoning
increasingly becoming the rule of man rather than the rule of
law ? ' I would be inclined to answer both questions affirmatively. ^^^
Zoning Flexibility
The most common devices used to achieve flexibility in zoning ad-
ministration are the special use permit and the variance. ^^^ It is the
record of these tools which furnishes the basis of much concern by
zoning experts. These two devices are fundamentally dissimilar. A
special use permit may be granted if the use contemplated is com-
patible with other uses in the zone. It is usually conditional and need
not be given in order to preserve the constitutional rights of the land-
owner. In contrast, a variance may be granted to permit a use which
is incompatible with other permitted uses in the zone. Indeed, a vari-
ance may permit a use which has been specifically disapproved by the
ordinance.
i«Cal. Govt. Code Sec. 65860.
1^ See note 39 suvra.
156 Sullivan, "Flexibility and the Rule of Law in American Zoning Administration,"
in Laio and Land, 129 (Harr ed. 1964).
157 For studies substantiating this concern see Note, "Zoning : Variance Administra-
tion in Alameda County," 50 Cal. L. Rev. 101 (1962), Gaylord, "Zoning: Vari-
ances, Exceptions and Conditional Use Permits in California," 5 U.C.L.A. L. Rev
179 (1958). Bryden, "Zoning: Rigid, Flexible, Or Fluid?" 44 Journal of Urban
Law 287 (1967), Dukeminier and Stapleton, "The Zoning Board of Adjustment:
A Case Study in Misrule," 50 Ken. L. J. 273 (1962), Babcock, "The Unhappy
State of Zoning Administration in Illinois," 26 U. CM. L. Rev. 509. (1959), and
Reps, "Discretionary Powers of the Board of Zoning Appeals," 20 Law and
Contemp. Prob. 280 (1955).
i58Blucher, "Is Zoning Wagging the Dog?", Planning 96 (1955).
159 Not all authorities agree that the variance was intended to achieve flexibility in
administration. For example, in the study by Dukeminier and Stapleton it is
argued that: "The board was not instituted to achieve flexibility. Variances were
not to be granted merely because the proposed use did not involve a substantial
departure from the comprehensive plan nor injuriously affect the adjoining land.
Unnecessary hardship, not insubstantial harm, is theoretically the touchstone of
the board's jurisdiction." 50 Ken. L. J. 273 at 321-22. The authors concede, how-
ever, that "planning flexibility could, and did, come in by this back door method.
Indeed, today it is the most frequently used (or, more accurately, misused)
method of administering flexible controls." 50 Ken. L. J. at 341.
5—1494
94 JOINT COMMITTEE ON OPEN SPACE LAND
Tustm Heights Association v. Board of Supervisors ^^^ has been cited
by a leading practitioner as a case ' ' v/liich . . . stresses the distinction
that a variance is not a matter of right, but is a special privilege with
the burden of proof being upon the applicant while the use permit is
contemplated by the ordinance, and thus constitutes a 'permitted' use
— subject to reasonable review and the attaching of appropriate condi-
tions. "^^^
Special use permits are available for such things as governmental
facilities, hospitals, sports arenas and other uses w^hich need not be
segregated into any one zone. These uses are normally part of the
zoning ordinance but are not included among the zone classifica-
tions. ^^2
For purposes of Article XXVIII the variance, or exception as it is
interchangeably known in California, is the more signifi(;ant of these
devices. While the w^ord variance is used in zoning parlance to denote
either a bulk or a use variance, ^*^' it will hereafter refer only to a
use variance.
It is relatively unusual for open or undeveloped bind to change to
a more intensive urban use through the use of a variance. Most of the
variance cases which we will examine presently concern urban land
uses. However, the variance remains important to the analysis of zon-
ing for open space. The weakness in zoning administration which ap-
pears in an urban context can be expected to appear in a rural context
if the police power is used to control rural land to the extent that
urban land is presently regulated.
To the extent that the variance now presents a weakness, it is a
weakness which is not limited only to zoning in urban areas. It is, in
fact, a weakness in the very fabric of zoning as an institution. The
fact that this weakness is most apparent in urban zoning may imply
only that the permanence of rural zoning is more easily challenged
legislatively than through the administrative process. It may also imply
that land ownership, and hence land use, changes more frequently in
the case of urban land than in rural land. It is clear, however, that
if rural zoning is to be used prospectively as a tool of open space pre-
servation, its strengths and weaknesses must be explored. It would
seem imprudent to assume that the difficulties which have been as-
sociated with urban zoning will not affect rural zoning as the pressures
for more intensive use of rural land develop. The inherent attributes
of zoning are not diminished by geography.
Purpose of Variance
It is generally accepted that the purpose of the variance is to in-
sulate the zoning ordinance from constitutional attack. Were it not for
some safety valve such as the variance, the restrictions of the ordinance
!«• Tustin Heights Association v. Board of Supervisors, 170 Cal. App. 2d 619, 339 P.
2d 914 (1959). , „
i« Charles R. Martain, New Alternatives to the Zone variance, 1968 Annual Confer-
ence, League of California Cities, Oct. 14, 1968, p. 4. (mimeo.)
'"^ Special use permits have been upheld in California. See Gonsalves v. City of JDairi/
Valley, 265 ACA 446 (1968) and Essick v. Los Angeles, 34 Cal. 2d 614. For limi-
tation on its use, see People v. Perez, 214 CA 2d 881 ; and Green, Are "Special
Use" Procedures in Trouble? 12 Zoning Digest, 73 (1960).
i«3 Dukeminier and Stapleton, "The Zoning Board of Adjustment : A Case Study in
Misrule," 50 Ken. L.J. 273 (1962) at 281, "A use variance allows a structure or
use in a district restricted against such structure or use. A bulk variance gives
the property owner relief from some ordinance requirement with respect to area,
height, setback, parking spaces and such."
JOINT COMlVriTTEE ON OPEN SPACE LAND 95
could operate harshly on particular parcels of property subject to the
zoning- restriction. If a landowner so affected were to prevail in a suit
challenging the ordinance as an uncompensated taking of his property
without due process of law, the entire ordinance could be struck down.
One writer has said that :
The variance procedure was intended to provide a safety valve in
cases where the hardship to an individual landowner was so great
as to invite litigation as to the validity of the applicable zoning
regulation, and where, in the event of litigation, the zoning regu-
lations were likely to be held invalid as applied to the land in
question.^^^
It has been correctly said that the granting of a variance presupposes
the reasonableness of the zoning classification as a whole. ^""^ The vari-
ance is granted to relieve a hardship which is unique to the petitioner's
property.^''^ If the hardship is shared by other property in the zone,
such a condition could furnish a basis for rezoning or an attack on the
ordinance itself. It does not furnish grounds for the grant of a variance.
Legal Grounds for Variance
It is difficult to draft a comprehensive zoning ordinance which oper-
ates fairly upon each parcel within its boundaries. ^^^ It is for that
reason that Section 65906 was added to the California Government
Code in 1965 to provide that :
Variances from the terms of the zoning ordinance shall be granted
only when, because of special circumstances applicable to the prop-
erty, including size, shape, topography, location or surroundings,
the strict application of the zoning ordinance deprives such prop-
erty of privileges enjoyed by other property in the vicinity and
under identical zoning classification.
The procedure followed in considering requests for variance is gov-
erned by administrative and not legislative standards. ^^^ Traditionally
California courts have been most reluctant to review a decision by the
administrative body denying the request for a variance ^^^ except for
procedural error. In addition, the scope of judicial review of variances
actually granted is unsettled.^'^^
However, this reluctance on the part of California courts to go behind
an administrative decision has been the subject of far-reaching change
in the past several years.
Prior to 1966, California courts presumed that when a variance was
granted, the administrative body had done so on the basis of appropriate
iM Cunningham, "Land Use Control — The State and Local Programs," 50 Iowa L. Rev
367 at 394 (1965). See also Lindell Co. v. Board of Permit Appeals, 23 Cal '>d
303; 144 P. 2d 4 (1943). Comment, "General Welfare, Welfare Economics 'and
Zoning Variances," 38 So. Cal. L. Rev. 548 (1965).
i« Comment, "Zoning : Variance Administration in Alameda County." 50 Cal L Rev
101 at 103-104 (1962). ...
^o« Minney v. City of Azusa, 164 Cal. App. 2d, 12,330 P. 2d 555. Appeal dismissed 359
U.S. 436 (1958).
^" For an enlightened view of the legitimate purpose of the variance see Hamilton v
Board of Supervisors (1969) 269 Cal. App. 2d, 75 Cal. Rptr. 106 269 AC A 59
at 61, footnote 2.
^^ Johnston v. Board of Supervisors, 31 Cal. 2d 66, 73: 187 P. 2d 686, 690 (1947)
^^^ Haddin, Inc. v. City of Inglewood, 101 Cal. App. 2d 47, 48; 224 P. 2d 913 914
(1950). Ruhin v. Board of Directors, 16 Cal. 2d 119, 126; 104 P '2d 1041 'l044
(1940).
170 Gaylord, "Zoning : Variances, Exceptions and Conditional Use Permits In Califor-
nia," 5 U.C.L.A. L. Rev. 179 at 182 (1958).
96 JOINT COMMITTEE ON OPEN SPACE LAND
findings and substantial evidence.^'^^ This presumption of adequacy-
has been rejected in a series of cases beginning with Cow Hollow v.
Board of Permit Appeals}"'- In that case the court tediously pored
over the record to determine whether the variance requirements set
down in the San Francisco City Charter and Planning Code had been
met. The requirements for the grant of a variance under the city code
are similar to those called for by California Government Code Sec.
65906. But it is interesting that the court nowhere mentioned the state
statute. ^'^^
The court found no evidence to substantiate the requirements "that
there are exceptional or extraordinary circumstances or conditions ap-
plying to the property involved or to the intended use of the prop-
erty, that do not apply generally to other property or uses in the same
class or district, that the literal enforcement . . . would result in , . .
unnecessary hardship ..." or that "the variance is necessary for the
preservation of a substantial property right of the petitioner possessed
by other property in the same . . . district." ^^^
The court concluded that to allow administrative decisions of this
sort to go unexamined ' ' would do violence to the meaning and purport
of the comprehensive zoning code and could result in a gradual whit-
tling away of its objective . . . Here again," said the court, "we would
have an amendment to the zoning code in the guise of a variance." ^'^^
The scope of appellate review in cases which challenge the grant of a
variance may have been further clarified by Broadway Laguna Assn. v.
Board of Permit Appeals. ^"^^ In that case Mr. Justice Tobriner dis-
tinguished the Cow Hollow and Broadway cases from the Siller ^'^'^ case
on the basis of the language found in the respective ordinances. The
San Francicso Charter and Code which governed both the Cow Hollow
^■'^ Siller V. Board of Supervisors, 58 Cal. 2cl 479, 25 Cal. Rptr. 73 (1962). Flagstad
V. San Mateo, 165 Cal. App. 2d 13 8, 318 P. 2d 825 (1957). Bradbeer v. England,
104 Cal. App. 2d 704, 232 P. 2d 308 (1951).
I'a CoiO Holloio Improvement Club v. Board of Permit Appeals, 244 Cal. App. 2d 160;
53 Cal. Rptr. 610 (1966).
173 There are two reasons why the court was not compelled to recognize the state
statute. 1. Cal. Govt. Code Sec. 65 803 provides that the requirements contained
in Cal. Govt. Code Sec. 65906 do not apply to chartered cities. The city and
county of San Francisco is both a chartered city and a chartered county. 2. Cal.
Const. Art. XI, Sees. 6 and 8, gives chartered cities exclusive legislative author-
itv "in respect to municipal affairs." Zoning has been held to be a "municipal
affair." Brougher v. Board of Public Works, 205 Cal. 426, 271 P. 487 (1928) ;
Fletcher v. Porter, 203 Cal. App. 2d 313, 21 Cal. Rptr. 452 (1962) ; Redwood City
V. Moore, 231 Cal. App. 2d 563, 42 Cal. Rptr. 72, Grass Valley v. Walkinshaw,
34 Cal. 2d 595, 212 P. 2d 894 (1949) ; Comment, "Legislative Control of Munic-
ipal Corporations in California," 7 U.C.L.A. L. Rev. 102 (1960). See 36 Ops.
Cal. Atty. Gen. 95 (1960) for discussion of state control of zoning by charter
cities. Since San Francisco is a chartered city, it is doubly insulated from the
state statute. Unless the Legislature makes zoning a matter of statewide concern
thereby preempting the field, the state statute will only be tested in a case in-
volving a county or a general law city. For a view contrary to this analysis, see
Hagman, California Zoning Practice, (Cal. CEB) Sec. 7.17, p. 262, where the
author submits that "Because California communities granted variances long
before there was any provision for them in the statutes, the power to grant them
may not be confined to what the statute permits."
"* Coic Hollow V. Board 245 Cal. App. 2d 160 at 175, 176, 179 and 180.
"s/d. at 181. Justice Sims dissented, contending that the facts could be interpreted
differently but that the "amphibological phraseology" used by the Board make
interpretation difficult. He did not disagree with the court's decision to scrutinize
the record.
i"8 Broofhoav Laguna Assn. v. Board of Permit Appeals, 66 Cal. 2d 767, 59 Cal. Rptr.
146, 427 P. 2d 810 (1967).
1" Siller V. Board of Supervisors, note 171 supra.
JOINT COMMITTEE ON OPEN SPACE LAND 97
and the Broadway cases required "the administrative board to specify
its subsidiary- findings and its ultimate conclusions. ' ' ^'^^
It was the view of six members of the Supreme Court that :
The variance sought by the developer in this case would confer
not parity but privilege ; to sanction such special treatment would
seriously undermine present efforts to combat urban blight and
municipal congestion through comprehensive zoning codes. So
selective an application of the provisions of the City Planning
Code would destroy the uniformity of the zoning laws which is
their essence. ^'^
It remains to be seen whether California courts will limit their review
to cases like Cow Hollow and Broadway.
The District Court in Robinson v. Oakland ^^" limited its investiga-
tion to a determination of whether the Oakland Municipal Code had
been complied with. As in the previous two cases, it ignored the state
statute and found that the variance had been improperly granted
under local ordinances.
However, in the recent case of Hamilton v. Board of Supervisors of
Santa Barbara County ^^^ the court invoked Section 65906 ^^^ and struck
down an improperly granted variance. After having a variance petition
denied by a 7-2 vote of the planning commission, the landowner ap-
pealed to the county board of supervisors. The board, sitting as an
administrative body, granted the variance. The court found that the
state standard for the grant of a variance contained in Section 65906
was "concededly controlling." In comparing 65906 with the record,
the board's elliptical findings did not appear to the court to sustain
the board's order.
In both Moss v. Board of Zoning Adjustment and Tush v. Board of
Supervisors, which dealt with the Los Angeles Charter and a Ventura
ordinance, respectively, the court refused to read either Coiv Hollow
or Broadway as establishing new statewide rules for the review of
variance cases. ^^^
No California case has yet extended the rationale of the cases be-
ginning with Cow Hollow to cities which lack the requirement that
variances be granted ovlj upon specific findings based upon relevant
evidence. It would appear, however, that these cases represent a positive
trend. The courts seem to be increasingly willing to look behind an
^''^ Broadway v. Board, 66 Cal. App. 2d 767 at 773. No such requirement was contained
in the ordinances or charters which governed the court in previous cases such
as Siller. The court found that "the basic difficulty with the board's findings in
the instant case is not that they lacli evidentiary support but rather tliat they
lack legal relevance : even if they are assumed to be correct, those findings sim-
ply do not meet the requirements of the planning code."
^^ Id. at 781.
^»o Robinson v. City of Oakland, 268 A.C.A. 285; 268 Cal. App. 2d, 74 Cal. Rptr. 17
(1968).
"i^ Hamilton v. Board of Supervisors (1969) 269 Cal. App. 2d, 75 Cal. Rptr. 106 269
A C.A 59
182 Cal.' Govt. Code Sec. 65906.
^^ Moss V. Board of Zoning Adjustment, 262 Cal. App. 2d 68 Cal. Rptr. 320, 262 A.C.A.
1 (1968). The court quotes board member holding forth on the propriety of
variances generally in these words, "I think people can talk a lot about paying
taxes and how come the economy isn't moving, but if you have vacant land and
people with reasonable uses, ... I think that the most persuasive argument with
me (for a variance) is the highest and best use of the land." 262 Cal. App. 2d
1 at 4. The board considered this reasoning inadequate to justify a variance.
Tush V. Board of Supervisors, 262 Cal. App. 2d, 68 Cal. Rptr. 505, 262 A.C.A.
284 (1968).
98 JOINT COMMITTEE ON OPEN SPACE LAND
administrative grant or denial of a variance in response to mounting
criticism of administrative abuse of discretion.
This trend should not go unnoticed by the Legislature in considering
an extension of police power regulation to open space land. It is, for
example, possible to mandate statewide compliance with the require-
ments of Cal. Govt. Code Sec. 65906 through preemption. If the Legis-
lature determines that the goal of open space conservation is a matter
of statewide concern, then the program of land-use regulation would
no longer be a municipal affair and charter cities and counties would be
bound by state standards.
Owing to the paucity of reported cases reviewing the grant of a
variance under Cal. Govt. Code Sec. 65906, it is difficult to predict the
effect which preemption would have. But since the legally sufficient
grounds for the grant of a variance in other jurisdictions has been
rather clearly settled, and since California 's legislation is not atypical,
the effect of preemption would probably be to impose the following
conditions upon the grant of a variance : ^^^
1. Because of the "size, shape, topography, location or surround-
ings'V^'^ the land is not economically productive in any use allowed
by the ordinance. "The fact that the owner could make a greater
profit by using the land in a nonconforming way is, by itself, no
ground for a variance . . . The question is whether the property
can be put to any conforming use with a fair and reasonable re-
turn, not whether the ordinance precludes its most profitable
use. "186
2. The hardship must not be self -created.
One cannot by one's own actions sell parcels out of a lot and then
finding he has room enough only for a hot dog stand insist on
using the property for that purpose.^^'^
3. The hardship must not be shared by other property in the zone. It
must be unique to the petitioner's land.
The practical difficulty or undue hardship relied upon as a ground
for a variance must be unusual or peculiar to the property involved
nnd must be different from that suffered throughout the zone or
neighborhood.188
4. The hardship must not be so recurrent throughout the area that it
is capable of being rectified by an amendment of the ordinance.^^^
181 See Dukeminler and Stapleton, op. cit., note 163, pp. 279-2S0. See also Bryden
'•Zoning: Rigid, Flexible, or Fluid?" 44 Journal of Urhan Law 287 at 304-306
See also Hagman (Cal. CEB) California Zoning Practice, Sees. 7.15 and 7 16.
i^Cal. Govt. Code Sec. 65906.
i»DukeminiGr and Stapleton, op. cit. note 163 at p. 279. See also Broadway Laguna
Assn. V. Board of Permit Appeals 66 Cal. App. 2d 767 at 775 (1967) and County
of San Diego v. McClurken, 37 Cal. 2d 683 at 690, 234 P. 2d 972 (1951).
^^ Beloin v. Blankenhorn, Superior Court, County of Los Angeles, No. 560, 288 (1951)
as quoted in Gaylord, op. cit. note 170 at 192.
188 Brown v. Beuc, 384 S.W. 2d 845, 852 (Mo. Ct. App. 1964). See Bryden op. cit. note
201 p. 306.
"^^^ English v. Zoning Board of Adjustment, 395 Pa. 118, 122 ; 148 A. 2d 912, 914 (Pa.
Sup. Ct. 1959), Young Women's Hebrew Ass'n v. Board of Standards and Ap-
peals, 266 N.T. 220, 275-76, 194 N.E. 751, 753 (1935).
JOINT COMMITTEE ON OPEN SPACE LAND 99
5. The variance will not alter the character of the neighborhood nor
conflict with some public interest in safety, etc.^^*'
Zoning Administration
The violations of zoning are to be found at every level of the ad-
ministrative and legislative process. I have said that in my opinion
50 percent of all the rulings of zoning boards of appeals in the
United States are probably illegal usurpations of power.^^^
In the past decade much has been written about the sad state of
zoning administration in the United States. ^^^ California has not es-
caped this scrutiny. A study of zoning administration in Alameda
County in 1962 disclosed that "Although 284 variances were granted
during the year, in only fifteen cases does the record appear to contain
substantive evidence of special circumstances and hardship sufficient
to warrant a variance . . . While 284 variances were granted as a result
of the applications submitted during the year, only 48 were denied." ^^^
The five criteria set out above were almost entirely ignored in the ad-
ministrative process.
It has been pointed out that : ' ' The fundamental question is whether
or not the Board acted on each petition in accordance with law, and
without substantial injury to the neighborhood and community values,
not whether it granted 'too many' or 'too few' petitions." ^^^ The record
of California is, like most states, a chronicle of failure. The case of
Beloin v. BlankenJiorn ^^^ has been used to illustrate the pattern of
malfeasance which has characterized zoning administration in Cali-
fornia.^^^ The petitioner had based his variance request on the ground
that "there are only two gasoline service stations in the locality and
those (are) on the 'wrong side of the street' . . . for the general public
travelling west." In addition, the petitioner argued that any use au-
^^° Fletcher v. Board of Supervisors, Los Angeles Superior Court No. 668, 954 (1956).
See Gaylord, op. cit. note 170 p. 184. See also "Government Control of Land:
Protecting the I-know-it-when-I-see-it Interest," 62 N.W. L. Rev. 439 where at
44 0 the author notes that "In order to obtain a variance, an applicant must show
particular hardship in the applicaion of the zoning- ordinance to him. This has
generally been taken to mean that the applicant must satisfy four conditions : he
must show that (1) strict enforcement of the ordinance would impose an un-
reasonable restraint on the use of his property; (2) the hardship would be due
to unique circumstances affecting his property; (3) the hardship would not be
self-inflicted; and (4) the variation would not disrupt the comprehensive plan by
changing the character of the zone or adversely affecting present or future uses
of adjacent property."
1"! Blucher op. cit. note 114 at 100. See also Maltbie, "The Legal Background of
Zoning," 22 Conn. B.J. 2 (1948).
i»2 Babcock, "The Unhappy State of Zoning Administration in Illinois," 26 U. CM.
L. Rev. 509 (1959) : Dallstream and Hunt, "Variations, Exceptions and Special
Uses," 1954 U. III. L.F. 213; Comment "Judicial Control over Zoning Boards of
Appeal: Suggestions for Reform," 12 U.C.L.A. L. Rev. 937 (1965); Leary, A
Model Procedure for the Administration of Zoning Regulations, (1958) ; Raps,
"Discretionary Powers of the Board of Zoning Appeals," 20 Law and Contemp.
Prob. 280 (1955) ; Note, 74 Hcrv. L. Rev. 1396 (1961) ; "Zoning Amendments
and Variations, and Neighborhood Decline In Illinois," 48 N.W. L. Rev. 470
(1953) ; Fox, "The Unreasonable Concept of Reasonableness in Zoning Disputes,"
41 Chi. B. Rec. 11 (1959) ; R. L. Wexler, "Zoning Ordinance is no better than its
administration: a Platitude Proved," I John Marshall J. 74 (1967); Fonoroff,
"Problems in Zoning Administration," 33 Ohio Bar 763 (1960) ; Green, "Rough
Justice: Baby or Bath Water?" 13 Zoning Digest 161 (1961) ; Pomeroy, "What
To Do About the Board of Appeals," 12 Zoning Digest 289 (1960) ; Souter,
"Zoning Appeals: How A Board of Zoning Appeals Functions," 40 Mich. S.B.V.
26 (1961) ; Richard Babcock, The Zoning Game (1966).
'"* Comment "Zoning: Variance Administration in Alameda County," 50 Cat. L. Rev.
101 at 107 (1962).
i»* Dukeminier and Stapleton, op. cit. note 163, p. 320.
'^^^ Beloin v. Blankenhorn, Superior County, County of Los Angeles, No. 560, 288
(1951).
^^ The discussion of the Beloin case has been taken from Gaylord, op. cit., note 170,
p. 188, 189 and 196.
100 JOINT COMMITTEE ON OPEN SPACE LAND
thorized by the zoning ordinance would require additional capital
which the petitioner neither had nor could obtain. In a rare and un-
reported opinion, Judge Hanson observed that ". . . if the defendant
cannot procure the necessary mortgage money for that purpose (a use
permitted) it is not of the slightest concern to the citizens of Los
Angeles or the Board of Zoning Appeals."
Understanding the Board
You cannot watch zoning activities around the country for long
without concluding that all zoning changes are now done by
pressure . . . Probably the weakest link in the zoning chain is the
board of appeals. The board must be educated to its responsibili-
ties and its powers. It must not be allowed to usurp legislative
authority, which it is prone to do. ^^^
Understanding the way in which zoning administrators perceive
their role is of paramount importance in trying to understand the way
in which they in fact do function. It should be understood at the out-
set that those who make zoning decisions are normally those who stand
to profit from their decisions. They are drawn from the business com-
munit}^ and are frequently involved in matters which they must
decide. -'^^ The Dukeminier and Stapleton study found the board to
comprise an attorney, an architect, a realtor and two businessmen. ^"^
The authors found that "Experienced builders and realtors seemed
almost invariably to succeed in their petitions. A high degree of suc-
cess was also obtained by established businesses. " ^^^ The unusual
record of success among these two groups was not apparently due to
better preparation, advocacy or compliance with judicial requirements.
The authors hypothesize instead that it is "attributable to the fact
that the Board members have identifications with, and perspectives of,
the same business and social groups with which these particular ap-
plicants identify. ^^^ The board members are, or provide professional
services for, businessmen. ' ' ^^'
One commentator has suggested that zoning administrators "see
their function as a broker for the individual citizen against the in-
evitable comprehensiveness of the law. "^^'^ Another has suggested that
they see their role as the dispenser of "rough justice", reflecting the
"conscience of the community — a close approximation of what most
people in the community would think the proper course of action. ' ' ^^^
It has also been posited that "Perhaps the very function of the board
=02 O'Harrow, "Trends in Planning," Public Management, Nov. 1955, pp. 253-54.
203 One of many zoning analy.sts has suggested tliat "It seems to be an inescapable
conclusion that, as matters now stand, the zoning law, far from accomplishing
its purpose to protect the property rights of others, has become merely an in-
strument of special favor, under which tho.se with power or influence can either
by special permission or by change of zoning, accomplish their own selfish pur-
poses regardless of the over all public good." John A. McCarthy, "Zoning and
the Property Rights of Others," 48 Mass. L. Q. 473, 499-500 (1963).
201 Dukeminier and Stapleton, op. cit. note 163, p. 274 footnote 5.
205 7d. at 325.
2o« Compare Horack and Nolan, Land Use Controls 176-77 (1955) : "The temptation
of the members of such boards (of adjustment), particularly in the community
where almost everyone is known to everyone else, is to play the good fellow and
substitute for the tests specified in the statute and ordinance the following: (1)
Will the variance help the applicant, and (2) are the neighbors complaining?" —
Dukeminier and Stapleton, o;;. cit. p. 325.
■■=0' Dukeminier and Stapleton, op. cit. note 163, p. 325.
2o» Frost, "The Trouble with Zoning," 47 Nat'l Mun. Rev. 275 at 277 (1958).
2o» Green, "Rough Justice: Baby or Bath Water?" 13 Zoning Digest 161, 165 (1961).
JOINT COMMITTEE ON OPEN SPACE LAND 101
makes for a built-in bias — that is, an inherent tendency to justify their
existence by drawing on their own unique power to grant vari-
ances.'' 2^"
Whatever the reason, the result of all this leger-demain is that "while
the courts view the benefit accruing to the landowner as a by-product
of the variance's primary function of insulating the ordinance against
constitutional attack, the boards tend to ignore the constitutional ques-
tion and view the benefit to the applicant as a basic purpose of the
variance." ^^^
More important than what is done and why, is the effect of alloMdng
administrative decisions to be made by unconfined discretion. Zoning
administration as it is now practiced in California and elsewhere has
the effect of subjecting property rights to the caprice of the current
whim of a temporary board member, rather than having them deter-
mined by the rule of law. The classic study of Dukeminier and Staple-
ton is illustrative.
Between January, 1960 and September, 1960, there were fourteen
requests for a sign variance. Three were granted; eleven were
denied. In September, 1960, one membership of the Board changed,
and so, apparently did the position of the Board respecting sign
variances. Between September, 1960, and June, 1961, the Board
had twenty-eight requests for a sign variance, including four re-
quests to reverse earlier decisions. (The planning staff recom-
mended granting three and denying twenty-four. It made no rec-
ommendation as to one.) Of these twenty-eight requests, twenty-
four were granted on first hearing. Only two requests were ulti-
mately denied. ^^^
The near total absence of objective legal standards in the administra-
tion of zoning stems primarily from the fact that the variance grant-
ing body is virtually immune from any review. The Alameda Countj^
stud}" ^^^ saw 322 variance applications heard in one year. Of these
284 or 87% were granted. In onlj'- 15 could any legal justification for
the variance be found. ^^'* Not one of these cases was ever reviewed bv
the court.215
Rigidity and fhe Variance
Like other issues of public policy, zoning and its administration are
partly a matter of whose ox is being gored. There are those who argue
vociferously if not cogently for a return to laissez faire land use policy.
One such advocate has written sarcastically that :
210 Comment, "Judicial Control over Zoning Boards of Appeal : Sugg-estions for Re-
form," 12 U.C.L.A. L. Rev. 937 at 943-44 (1965).
"i^Bryden, oj). cit. note 140, p. 296. See also Dallsti'eam and Hunt, "Variations, Ex-
ceptions and Special Uses," 1954 U. 111. L.P. 213. "Stripped of all planning jar-
gon", says Richard Babcock in The Zoning Game. (Madison: Univ. Wis. Press,
1966) "zoning administration is exposed as a process under which isolated social
and political units engage in highly emotional altercations over the use of land,
most of which are settled by crude tribal adaptations of medieval trial by fire,
and a few of which are concluded by confused ad hoc injunctions by bewildered
courts."
212 Dukeminier and Stapleton, op. cit. note 163, p. 292-93.
213 See Note 132.
2" IBID.
"5 Numerous suggestions have been advanced to inject an element of objectivity into
the variance procedure. See e.g. Sullivan, "Flexibility and the Rule of Law in
American Zoning Administration," in Latv and Land, 142 (Haar ed. 1964) (State
review board — special courts to hear variance petitions). See also Babcock, "The
Chaos of Zoning Administration: One Solution," 12 Zoning Digest 1 (I960).
(State Zoning Commission).
102 JOINT COMMITTEE ON OPEN SPACE LAND
The zoning ordinance, master plan, and the subdivision regulation
are all bulwarks against the innovator. Their very rigidity is the
essence of their usefulness. The constant lowering of population densi-
ties, while open land disappears at an unprecedented rate, thins out
the potential population so that when the match boxes have been
placed on larger and larger lots, our worthy citizens breath a sigh
of relief and exclaim 'Hallelujah, there is no more land!'^^®
It must be admitted that the developer's point is worthy of some
attention.^" The rigidity of the zoning structure is, after all, responsi-
ble for the need to resort to the variance device in the first place. Quot-
ing again from Professors Dukemiuier and Stapleton :
The primary reason for this metamorphosis ^^^ (of the variance)
is not far to seek. It lies in the unrealistic assumption of Euclid-
ian ^^^ zoning that little flexibility is needed and in the difficulty
of using the amendment and special exception devices to achieve
the flexibility which experience has shown to be necessary.^^^
It is the rigidity of the zoning aparatus, therefore, which has con-
tributed to the frequent misuse of the variance.^-^
Rezoning by Variance
In practice the variance is used not only to achieve flexibility but
to "rezone" as well. Some zoning administrators see their job as that
of affecting substantial changes in laud use regulations. This is clearly
a legislative and not an administrative function.
The chairman of one county zoning board of appeals has outlined
the factors which shape board policy in this way :
. . . time and circumstance have put great strain on the zoning
pattern. ]\!ost communities passed their zoning laws a quarter
of a century ago. The rush of city dwellers to suburb, the decen-
tralization of industry, the advent of arterial highways skirting
the edge of town, the growth of community shopping centers, . . .
have all helped jar the relationship between residential, commer-
cial, and industrial areas. These are some of the factors before
a board of zoning appeals when it decides to grant or deny an
application for a variation. ^^^
Another temerarious administrator has indicted the widespread usur-
pation of legislative power in these words :
218 Lloyd, "A Developer Looks at Planned Unit Development," 114 U. Pa. L. Rev.
3 at p. 5.
2" William H. W^hyte, The Last Landscape, Doubleday and Co. Garden City, N.T.
1968 p. 39. It is quite possible that in time we may have ordinances for maxi-
mum lot sizes. If the community is reconciled to housing more people and wants
to save open space, it will have to reverse course and demand that the developer
use less land for putting up his houses.
218 The change referred to is that of perverting the variance from a device to protect
the zoning ordinance from constitutional attack by alleviating unique hardship
into a device used to induce flexibility in administration. See footnote 159 and
text supra.
^" The phrase "Euclidian zoning" was added to zoning parlance by Professor Haar.
It was coined not from the system of geometry which it resembles, but from the
case which declared it constitutional: Euclid v. Ambler Realty Co. 272 U.S. 8G5
(1925). See notes 43 and 45 supra. See Haar, "Emerging Legal Issues in Zon-
ing," in Planning 138 (1954). See also Dukeminier and Stapleton, op. cit. p. 339.
220 Dukeminier and Stapleton, op. cit. note 163, p. 341.
-1 See Robert Seaver, "The Albatross of Localism," House and Home, Vol. 24, No. 6,
Dec. 1963 pp. 99-203.
222 Dallstream and Hunt, "Variations, Exceptions and Special Uses," 1954 V. III. L. F.
213 at 214. See Bryden, op. cit. note 201, p. 297.
JOINT COMMITTEE ON OPEN SPACE LAND 103
Too often variances have been granted in the past because indi-
vidual members of the board, without regard for the conditions set
up in the zoning ordinance, felt that variances were best for the
city, would remove an eyesore, or that the city commission was
behind times in changing a zone.^-^
The problems which flow from this practice of rezoning by variance
are several. First it means that zoning decisions are made by those who
lack the necessary expertise to do the job well. Administrative boards
normally "lack comprehension of the planning goals of the community
and the conditions necessary for achieving those goals. "^-^ Secondly,
major land use decisions must be made interstitially on a parcel-by-
parcel basis. Broad zoning changes can only be made as the landowners
petition for variance from the ordinance. Third, the rights of similarly
situated landowners are not protected by the application of uniform
principles known to those seeking a variance. As a result, landowners
frequently
. . . assume the Board sits like a Turkish cadi dispensing justice
out of an unwritten Koran . . . The form letter of appeal, given
petitioners by the building inspector, does not indicate what legal
grounds there are for hardship and what evidence they will be
expected to produce.^^^
Fourth, rezoning by variance has made swiss cheese of the zoning map
rendering it useless to prospective purchasers of zoned property, ' ' Since
a variance is nowhere recorded in a manner so that it is readily dis-
coverable by a purchaser of property in the area, the purchaser buys
at his peril. " 226
These four progeny of rezoning by variance should indicate a gen-
etic weakness in traditional zoning. However, they may also cause one
to wrongly assume that the legislative process has been replaced by
administrative procedures. While the above weaknesses are weaknesses
of zoning per se, in the case of open land the normal route of land use
change is via rezoning — and not variance. Modern zoning practice has
evolved a number of legislative devices which rival any administrative
system for flexibility. Since these particularized zoning classifications
constitute legislative acts which are relatively free from judicial scru-
tiny, many of the administrative problems just discussed are avoided.
?23 Souter, 'Zoning- Appeals : How a Board of Zoning Appeals Functions," 40 Mich.
S.B.J. 26 at 29 (1961).
2" Dukeminier and Stapleton, op. cit., note 163, at 337.
"^Id. at p. 323. A Palo Alto city attorney once wrote that "Many planning commis-
sion hearings have taken on the character of an oriental bazaar where applicants
wheel and deal with the commission on conditions and restrictions to be imposed
on zoning. Some hearings are more like ancient circuses in the coliseum of Rome
in the days of Nero except that the Christians then got a better deal from the
lions than some applicants do from the planning commission. Now, instead of
thumbs down or up the planning commission asks for a show of hands. Too
often decisions are not based on facts or master plans, but on pressures of bit-
terly complaining or approving neighborhood improvement associations who are
coming out from every rock, packing council chambers and snowing commissions
with petitions. The protection of health, safety and general welfare has been
forgotten in the desire to control competition, keep out foreigners, favor special
interests, obtain public right of way for free, zone tax users out and high tax
payers in." Robert Michalski, "Zoning- — The National Peril," Planning, 1963
(Selected papers from the Annual Planning Conference of the American Society
of Planning Ofiicials), at pp. 62-64.
'^Id. at p. 339.
104 JOINT COMMITTEE ON OPEN SPACE LAND
Planning Unit Development ^^^
One of the most successful devices for regulating a large scale devel-
opment is known as the planned unit development. Through this tech-
nique the rigidity of Euclidian zoning which is best adapted to regu-
lating existing developed areas, is not allowed to foreclose the
application of modern concepts of landscape architecture and com-
munity planning.
The term "planned unit residential dcA^elopment " has been defined
as "an area with specified minimum contiguous acreage to be developed
as a single entity according to a plan containing one or more residential
clusters or other residential housing units with an established overall
maximum density; with appropriate commercial and institutional uses
primarily for the benefit of the planned unit residential develop-
ment, "^^s
Planned unit development assumes prospective application of the
zoning restriction permitting mixed land uses and mixed building
types and clustering.^-^ It is a useful device for assuring the adequate
provision of open space from the inception of the development.
Phased Zoning
To obviate the problem of rezoning an area which is not needed or
used for the newlj- permitted land use, local government may provide
in one ordinance for the zone change to become effective on a phased
basis. The zone change may become effective first on only a fraction
of the area. The second fraction would be automatically rezoned when
the first fraction is used for the permitted purpose.
Contract Zoning
A relatively high degree of control may be obtained by executing a
contract between government and the developer. Local government
promises to rezone the land in exchange for the developer's promise
to use the land in a certain way.
While the contract zoning device has been disapproved in several
states,-^^ and has not yet been sanctioned by the California courts,
'^ The planned unit development approach has great potential as a means of pre-
serving open space in urban areas. It is only incidental to this study, but this
should not be read as diminishing the importance of this device. For a more
detailed explanation of planned unit development, consult the following sources :
Mandelker, Controling Planned Residential Developments, (1966) ; Goldston and
Scheuer, "Zoning of Planned Residential Developments," 73 Harv. L. Rev. 241
(1951) ; Clark, "Unified Development Controls, or Greater Flexibilitv in Zoning,"
16 Zoning Digest 265 (1964) ; Craig, "Planned Unit Development "as seen from
City Hall," 114 U. Pa. L. Rev. 127 (1965) ; Bair, "How to Regulate Planned
Unit Developments for Housing — Summary of a Regulatory Approach," 17
Zoning Digest 221 (1965) ; Hanke, "Planned Unit Development and Land Use
Intensity," 114 U. Pa. L. Rev. 15 (1965) ; Urban Land Institute, Legal Aspects
of Planned Unit Residential Development, Technical Bull. No. 52 (1965). There
is a possible conflict between the aggregate unit approach and Cal. Govt, (ilode
Sec. 65S52, which calls for uniformity of restrictions within each zone. But see
Millbrae Ass'n for Residential f>urvival v. Millbrae, 262 Cal. App. 2d 69 Cal
Rptr. 251 (1968) : Cheney v. Village 2 at Ne%o Hope Inc., 429 Pa. 626, 241 A
2d 81 (1968) discussed in Zucker and Wolffe, "Supreme Court Legalizes PUD:
New Hope from New Hope," 2 Land Use Controls, No. 2, p. 32 (1968).
228 Proposed statute to amend Title 40 of the Revised Statutes of New Jersey, Article
I, Section 1.3 (40). Mimeographed April, 1969 by New Jersey Department of
Community Affairs.
2» The terms clustering and planned unit development are frequently used inter-
changeably. It is more precise to use clustering to denote one device which may
or may not be employed in a planned unit development. Since clustering involves
the consolidation of residences for intensive land use in order to reserve extensive
open space as part of the development, it is frequently used in planned units.
See Dyckman, Book Review, 12 U.C.L.A. L. Rev. 991 (1965).
3^ Bay lis v. Baltimore, 148 A. 2d 429.
I
JOINT COMMITTEE ON OPEN SPACE LAND 105
it is widely practiced in California. This is a useful device for guaran-
teeing- that land which is zoned in a given way is so used. This dis-
courages speculation in attractively zoned land and permits govern-
ment to tie zoning more closely to planning.^^^
Conditional Zoning
It is possible to key the effective date of a zone change to the per-
formance or occurrence of such conditions as open space dedication,
removal of structures or the recordation of deed restrictions.^^^
The Floating Zone
Where a zone classification is outlined in the ordinance but is not
assigned a geographic location, it is known as a floating zone. Local
governmeut may use such a zone as a bargaining tool in negotiating
with the developer. When a development is proposed which meets the
criteria established in the floating zone, it may be designated on the
zoning map.^^^
Overlay Zones
Placing the same parcel of land in two zones so as to allow the prop-
erty to be put to any use which comports with either of the two cate-
gories is known as overlay zoning. Such a procedure is normally coupled
with a ' ' sinking zone ' ' by which the unused zoning designation expires
automatically upon the exercise of the other zone classification.
Exclusive Zoning
As has already been noted, it is difficult to restate the position of the
California courts on the question of exclusive zones. The case of Mc-
Carthy V. Manhattan Beach has been said to indicate that in California
local governments do have a limited power to impose zoning restrictions
which are narrowly defined. ^^^
However, there is coiLsiderable authority supporting a contrary view
in many other jurisdictions. In discussing this issue, Dukeminier and
Stapleton comment that
Nowhere in the field of zoning law do we find any indication that
the zoning authority may establish a zone or district that is
limited to only one particular use. Our concept of the legitimate
scope of the zoning power does not extend it to the point of
embracing the power to restrict the use of property other than
to reasonable general classifications.^^^
231 See Comment, "The Use and Abuse of Contract Zoning-," 12 U.C.L.A. L. Rev. 897
(1965) ; Comment, "Validity Rules Concerning Public Zoning and Private Cove-
nants: A Comparison and Critique," 39 So. Cal. L. Rev. 409 (1966) ; Comment,
"Municipal Endorsement of Private Restrictive Covenants : An Innovation in
Land-Use Control," J,Jt Tex. L. Rev. 741 ; Baylis v. City of Baltimore, 219 Md.
164, 148 A. 2d 429 (1959).
232 See Strine, "The Use of Conditions in Land-Use Control," 67 DicTi. L. Rev. 109
(1963); CroUy, "The Rezoning of Properties Conditioned on Agreements with
Propertv Owners," N.Y. L. J., March 8, 1961, p. 4 ; I Rathkopf and Rathkopf,
The Law of Zoning and Planning, at 2G-10, note 14 (3rd ed. 1960). For a recent
California case upholding conditional zoning, see Scrutton v. County of Sacra-
viento, 275 A.C.A. 464 (1969).
'^^ Smith V. County of Santa Barbara, 243 Oa. 2d 126. See also Haar and Henng,
"The Lower Gwvnned Case: Too Flexible Zoning or An Inflexible Judiciary?"
74 Harv. L. Rev. 241 (1959). See also Dukeminier and Stapleton, op. cit., note
163 at 342, Comment, "The Floating Zone: A Potential Instrument of Versatile
Zoning," 16 Cath. U. L. Rev. 85, (1966).
23* See note 79 and accompanying text supra. See also Roney v. Board of Supervisors,
138 Cal. App. 2d, 740 (1956) upholding an exclusive industrial zone.
235 Dukeminier and Stapleton, op. cit., note 163, at 341; note 206 and text.
106 JOINT COMMITTEE OX OPEN SPACE LAND
In view of the many devices available to the zoning practitioner,
there appears to be little need to rely on the variance as the sole means
of achieving flexibility. But the fact these malleable techniques exist
in the face of wide abuse of the variance would indicate that not all
of zoning 's weaknesses are structural. It would perhaps be more useful
to view zoning practice as a political rather than a legal system.
One of the legal limitations on zoning which is at least quasi political
in origin is the taboo against consent zoning. The proponents of using
conventional zoning as an enforceable restriction for purposes of Article
XXVIII often suggest that "exclusive agricultural" zoning effectively
restricts land to open space uses. Professor Hagman has indicated that
in California "Many ordinances . . . provide for application and re-
moval of exclusive agricultural zoning based on some measure of land-
owner's consent." -^^ With a few notable exceptions, his point is clearly
valid. He suggests further that "These consent provisions make the
zoning open to attack, "^^'^
Zoning is an exercise of the police power. It is not for the regulated
to define the regulation. It is black letter law that a) the legislative
body may not be compelled to remove a zoning restriction upon the
consent of neighboring lando^vners ^^^ b) a legislative body can not
abdicate the power to zone in the future except on request of land-
owners ^^^ and c) no decision to remove a zoning restriction may be
delegated to a majority of the neighboring landowners.^^"
The prohibition against spot zoning represents a second judicial limi-
tation upon the zoning power.^^^
The notion that zoning for purely aesthetic purposes is not per-
missible has been said to represent another legal limitation upon the
zoning power. But while this doctrine has a venerable heritage, courts
have steadily chipped away at it.^^^
Justice Jacobs of the New Jersey bench has written that :
... it is in the public interest that our communities . . . should be
made pleasant and inviting and that primary considerations of
*»Ha?man, California Zoning Practice, (Cal. CEB), 1968, Sec. 6.14.
«T IBID.
«» Stoclton V. Frishie and Latta, 93 Cal. App. 277, 270 P. 270 (1928).
«»32 Ops. Cal. Atty. Gen. 145 (1958).
^ Hurst V. Burlin(/ame, 207 Cal. 134, 277 P. 308 (1929). See generally Witnall,
"Moral and Legal Pitfalls Along the Paths of Planning Commissions," 4 Inst,
on Planning and Zoning. 1, 12 (1963).
*« In the words of Mr. Chief Justice Gibson : "So-called 'spot' zoning results in the
creation of two types of 'islands' . . . the objectionable type arises when the
zoning authority improperly limits the u.-^e which may be made of a small parcel
located in the center of an unrestricted zone. The second type of 'island' results
when most of a large district is devoted to a limited or restricted use, but addi-
tional uses are permitted in one or more 'spots' in the district." Wilkins v. City
of San Bernardino, 29 Cal. 2d 332 at 341; 175 P. 2d 542 at 549 (1946).
*" See Norton, "Police Power, Planning and Aesthetics," 7 Santa Clara Laicyer 117
(1967) ; Note: "Aesthetic Zoning: A Current Evaluation of the Law," 18 Univ.
Fla. L. Rev. 430 (1966) ; Agnor, "Beauty Begins a Comebacic : Aesthetic Consid-
erations in Zoning," 11 Journal of Pub. Laio 260 (1962) ; Dukeminier "Zoning
for Ae.sthetic Objectives: A Re-appraisal" 20 La%o and Contemp. Prob. 218 (1955)
and Rodda, "The Accomplishment of Aesthetic Purposes Under the Police
Power," 27 So. Cal. L. Rev. 149 (1954) ; comment, "The Place of Aesthetics in
Zoning," 14 DePavl L. Rev. 104 (1964) ; comment, "Zoning, Aesthetics and the
Fir.st Amendment," 64 Columb. L. Rev. 81 (1964) : comment, "Aesthetic Control
of Land Use: A House Built upon the Sand?" 59 N.W. Univ. L. Rev. 372 (1964)
and Varyiey and Green v. Williams, 155 Cal. 318, 320, 100 P. 867, 868 (1909)
where it all began. Many authorities contend that If land may be regulated for
aesthetic purposes, it may also be taken for that purpose by eminent domain.
Compare Gromley. "Urban Redeveloyiment to Further Aesthetic Considerations :
The Changing Constitutional Concepts of Police Power and Eminent Domain,"
41 N.D. L. Rev. 316 (1965) and Hagman, op. cit. Sec. 3.79.
JOINT COMMITTEE ON OPEN SPACE LAND 107
attractiveness and beauty might well be frankly acknowledged as
appropriate ... in the promotion of the general welfare of the
people.2^^
In the words of one New York court, "Beauty may not be queen, but
she is not an outcast beyond tlie pale of protection or respect. She may
at least shelter herself under the wing of safety, morality or
decency. ' ' ^**
^^ Point Pleasant Beach v. Point Pleasant Pavilion, 3 N.J. Super. 222: 66 A 2d 40
(1949).
'^* Puhnutter v. Greene, 259 N.Y. 327 ; 182 N.B. 5, 6 (1932).
108 JOINT COMMITTEE ON OPEN SPACE LAND
REVIEW
Euclidian zoning . . . at the age of fifty, is showing definite
signs of old age. We are not sure that hardening of the
arteries can he cured hy small, or even massive, doses of
Geritol}'^^
The result of this dissection of zoning is to raise the question whether
traditional zoning can be of any use in the implementation of Article
XXVIII.
It may be helpful to recap what we have seen thus far. In 1957
Section 402.5 was added to the Revenue and Taxation Code. That sec-
tion directed the assessor to value land zoned and used exclusively
for agricultural purposes on the basis of its agricultural use and no
other.-^^ The Attorney General construed 402.5 as simply restating
existing law.^^'^ The rationale of this opinion was that if the restric-
tion placed upon the use of land by zoning ordinance amounted
to a real restriction, it would have a depressing effect upon the market
value of the land. The assessor, basing his assessment upon market
value,^^^ would properly arrive at a proportionately lower assessed
value.
In practice, assessors generally ignored zoning restrictions in valuing
land. They did so on the ground that zoning had no effect upon market
value and therefore did not justify lower assessed valuation. The rea-
son that zoning failed to have an effect on market value was that buyers
knew the restriction could be removed in one way or another when
they as landowners desired to convert the use of the land. To buttress
this argument, assessors pointed out that even if the ordinance were
properly administered, no legislative body has the power to restrict
their exercise of legislative power in the future. It follows therefore
that a legislative body may not bind its successors. From this assessors
concluded there was no assurance that a future legislative body would
not either rezone a given parcel of land or do away with the ordinance
altogether.
The amendment of 402.5 in 1965 established a rebuttable pre-
sumption that a zoning ordinance enacted pursuant to a general plan
of land use was permanent. This amendment and Revenue and Taxa-
tion Code Sec. 402.1, which replaced it in 1966,2^9 thus shifted the
burden of proof to the assessor. It then became necessary for the
assessor to establish the likelihood of rezoning on a case by case basis.
By the enactment of A.B. 2011 ^^^ in 1967, the Legislature denied
to the assessor the use of sales data in valuing land subject to con-
=«Dukemlnier and Stapleton, op. cit. note 116, at 350.
2«Cal. Rev. and Tax Code Sec. 402.5. See also Joint Committee on Open Space Lands,
Open Space Lmo in Colifornia. May 1968, pp. 4-14.
2«30 Ops. Cal. Atty. Gen. 246 (1957) Opinion No. 57-119.
s!** Cal. Const. Art XI, Sec. 12, "All property subject to taxation shall be assessed at
its full cash value." Cal. Rev. and Tax. Code, Sec. 110, "Full Cash value . . ,
means the amount at which property would be taken in payment of a just debt
from a solvent debtor." Mr. Justice Traynor found "full cash value" to mean
"the price that property would bring to its owner if it were offered for sale on
an open market." De Lnz Homes v. County of San Diego, 45 Cal. 2d 613, 290
P. 2d 544 at 554 (1955). See notes 132 to 133 with text siipra.
2« Stats. 1966, 1st Ex. Session, Ch. 147 (A.B. 80).
asoStata. 1967, Reg. Sess. Ch. 1711 (A.B. 2011) (Sec. 1, 3 and 4).
JOINT COMMITTEE ON OPEN SPACE LAND 109
tracts authorized by the Land Conservation Act (Williamson Act).^^^
The same denial of the use of sales data was extended to the valua-
tion of land under "Williamson Act agreements ^'^^ or scenic easement
deeds ^^^ which were as restrictive as contracts.-^^
In effect, the Legislature said that in its view, the restrictions im-
posed by (1) contract, (2) a qualifying agreement, or (3) a qualifying
deed, are sufficient to justify requiring the assessor to ignore sales data
and to assess on the basis of what the land can earn in its restricted
use. Restricted use value is to be the assessment basis whether or not
there is any effect upon the market A^alue of the land as a result of the
restriction.
There are many reasons why the Legislature felt justified in com-
pelling the assessor to ignore sales data in the three cases mentioned.
Most of them are not relevant to this discussion of zoning. Basically,
the Legislature concluded that by using a Williamson Act ten year
automatically renewable contract as the yardstick for measuring re-
strictions, the public would have some assurance of deriving the benefit
of its bargain.
In recent years the proposal has been made with increasing frequency
that the Legislature give similar sanction to conventional zoning. The
proposal that zoned land should be assessed in the same way as land
subject to Williamson Act contracts for purposes of assessment raises
several difficulties:
First, in so doing, the Legislature would deprive the assessor of his
most convenient and irrefutable index of market value, i.e., sales data
on comparable land.
Second, the Legislature would be deciding that for assessment pur-
poses, the value of zoned land is the value attributable to the legally
permissible uses.
Third, such a decision would imply that the amount of tax load
shifted to other taxpayers equals the public value of open space.
Fourth, the Legislature would be compelled to face the problem of
legal impermanence. It would be difficult to remain mute on the ques-
tion of local government's inability to bind itself and its successors to
a given course of action. Unless this issue is resolved, the public will
have no assurance that the open space land will remain open for a
period of time sufficient to justify the tax shift resulting from use
based assessment. This problem is not insoluble. It could, for example,
be resolved by adopting a program of open space reservation via the
police power in which the state would play a role.
Fifth, the Legislature would be overriding the judgments of assessors
and professional appraisers in both state and local government as to
the effect and permanence of zoning. Such a move should follow cir-
cumspection. The policies followed by assessors and the State Board of
Equalization have not been developed in a vacuum. They are the pro-
duct of legislative, administrative, and judicial decisions. Decades of
applying the evolving law to factual situations has yielded an imposing
*5i Comment, "Assessment of Farmland Under the California Land Conservation Act
and the 'Breathing- Space' Amendment," 55 Cal. L. Rev. 273.
*52Cal. Govt. Code, Sec. 51255, et. seq.
«58Cal. Govt. Code, Sec. 6950, et. seq.
»4Cal. Rev. and Tax. Code, Sec. 422 (where the agreement or deed, taken as a whole,
provides restrictions, terms, and conditions which are substantially similar or
more restrictive than those required by statute for a contract.)
110 JOINT COMMITTEE ON OPEN SPACE LAND
body of assessment doctrine. The Legislature may be reluctant to flout
these established procedures and standards.
Sixth, if the state were to assume a role in the zoning process, it may
conflict with the home rule provision of the Constitution.^^^ Zoning has
traditionally been considered a "municipal affair. "^56 Charter cities
are regulated solely by their own charters where municipal affairs are
concerned.^'^''' The state may, of course, preempt the field of zoning al-
together and declare it to he a state rather than a municipal affair. A
simpler approach would be to narrow the scope of state involvement to
zoning for open space only. This would focus the state preemption on
open space regulation, leaving all other zoning as it is. Whatever the
resolution, there appears little reason for the doctrine of home rule to
preclude some sort of open space control for the limited purpose of
achieving the objectives of Article XXVIII. Local government would,
after all. retain its full regulatory power within the structure of its
present zoning system.
The seventh difficulty encountered in establishing zoning as an en-
forceable restriction concerns its administration. The Legislature would
be derelict if it were to arbitrarily confer upon the zoning system at-
tributes which are manifestly lacking.
One of the conclusions of the study of zoning administration con-
ducted by Professors Dukeminier and Stapleton was that :
The Board's decisions reflect very little concern with the rule of
law and the values that emanate therefrom. It is arguable that the
rule of law has been replaced here by rule of fiat, but more prob-
ably it has been largely replaced by anarchy.^^^
Without traducing zoning per se, it is apparent that its regulatory
structure contains serious flaws for purposes of Article XXVIII.
These considerations give some indication of the problems involved
in establishing zoning as an " enforceable restriction ' ' within the mean-
ing of Article XXVIII. Indeed, as far as traditional zoning is con-
cerned, these problems may well prove insurmountable.
2=s Article XXVIII begins "Notwithstandingr any other provisions of tliis Constitution."
Any program enacted pursuant to Article XXVIII, therefore would not be con-
fined by Article XI or any other provisions of the Constitution. It is unlikely
that the Legislature would be constitutionally compelled to preempt even one
facet of local zoning. For a general examination of the issue see comment,
"Zoning: Variance Administration in Alameda County," 50 Cal. L. Rev. 101, at
110, note 61. For more detailed analysis of the preemption problem see Blease,
"Civil Liberties and the California Law of Preemption," 17 Hastings L.J. 517
(1966) ; Van Alstyne, Background Study, Article XI. Local Government, a report
to the California Constitution Revision Commission ; Peppin, "Municipal Home
Paile in California I," 30 Calif. L. Rev. 1 (1941) ; Peppin, "Municipal Home Rule
in California II," 30 Calif. L. Rev. 272 (1942) ; Peppin, "Municipal Home Rule
in California III: Section II of Article XI of the California Constitution," 32
Calif. L. Rev. 341 (1944) ; Sandalow, "The Limits of Municipal Power Under
Home Rule: A Rule for the Courts," 48 Minn. L. Rev. 643 (1964).
2s« See note 173 supra.
2S' Cal. Const. Art. XI, Sec. 6, "Cities and Towns . . . organized under charters . . .
adopted by authority of this Constitution are . . . empowered ... to make and
enforce all laws and regulations in respect to municipal affairs, subject only to
the restrictions and limitations provided in their several charters, and in respect
to other matters they shall be subject to and controlled by general laws."
!S8 Dukeminier and Stapleton, op. cit. note 163, at 303. Other commentators have been
.^till more critical. After prolix documentation one noted scholar wrote harshly
. that "The running, ugly sore of zoning is the total failure of this system of law
to develop a code of administrative ethics. Stripped of all planning jargon, zoning
administration is exposed as a process under which multitudes of isolated social
and political units engaged in highly emotional altercations over the use of land,
most of which are settled by crude tribal adaptations of medieval trial by fire,
and a few of which are concluded by confused ad hoc injunctions of bewildered
courts." Richard F. Babcock, "The Chaos of Zoning Administration," 12 Zoning
Digest, 1 (1960).
JOINT COMMITTEE ON OPEN SPACE LAND 111
From this it is evident that programs which will achieve the pur-
poses sought by Article XXVIII are urgently needed. Land use prob-
lems are so diverse and complex that it is doubtful, however, that any
single approach will resolve the array of difficulties facing California,
Any adequate program must be acceptable to both the public and the
individual landowner. It must: (1) give greater initiative and control
to government in the selection of land to be preserved; (2) provide
needed flexibility to meet the demands of urban growth; (3) allow
rights of landowners suffering unique hardship to be decided judicially
rather than administratively; (4) allow local governments to meet
open space needs in a manner consistent with long range community
planning; and (5) provide sufficient permanence and stability to
guarantee public benefits and prevent abuse.
In approving Article XXVIII the people of California voiced a
desire that the question of open space preservation be made a matter
of statewide concern. In addition to the local impact of open space
retention, therefore, an adequate open space program must be geared
to the open space needs of the state as a whole.
112 JOINT COMMITTEE ON OPEN SPACE LAND
Part IV
CONCLUSION
Fertile valleys have heen destroyed forever in the un-
civilized conviction that every man is entitled to his own
drab little hox. In too many of the choicest coastal areas, Cali-
fornia has become a vast unkempt and unlovely bedroom.^^^
It is the job of the judiciary to protect private property from un-
reasonable governmental infringement. Courts act as a check to guard
against legislative over-reaching. The attitude of the courts of any
given jurisdiction furnishes the most accurate indicia of legislative
freedom. If the attitude of the judiciary is rigorous in confining legis-
lative action within traditional bounds, two conditions follow. First,
very little experimentation is likely to be undertaken locally. Second,
the legislature is forced to construct a system which is less flexible than
that possible in a more liberal jurisdiction.
California courts have historically recognized the need for legisla-
tive discretion. Thus the police power has become, through judicial ap-
probation, a versatile tool for land use control.
While the California courts have demonstrated that they will allow
creative use of the police power, local government has been unwilling
to cast aside outdated and often moribund machinery. Due largely to
the architecture of zoning, the only significant police power program,
the range of latitude allowed by the courts has not been tapped by
government at any level.
In case after case California courts have shown that the line between
regulation and taking is drawn in response to two factors: (1) the
extent of the public need, and (2) the relative burden to the land-
owner. Where the burden upon the landowner outweighs the public
benefit, the scope of the police power is narrowed accordingly. Where
acute public necessity is present, a great deal of regulation is permitted.
Numerous California cases have indicated that the court will allow
greater regulatory power when government either lessens the burden
upon the landowner or confers a benefit upon him to which theretofore
he was not legally entitled. The "taking-regulating" line will, in other
words, be shifted in the direction of greater regulation when govern-
ment gives some form of consideration to the landowner. That con-
sideration need not be monetary.
The importance of this ability to legislatively extend the parameters
of the police power should not be overlooked in considering the benefits
that can be given the landowner under Article XXVIII. It may well
be possible to encourage local legislative and administrative bodies to
utilize the full measure of their police power authorization where such
an exercise is necessary to protect the public interest. It may also be
possible for the California Legislature to extend the limits of police
power control in regulating the use of open space land through use
of its Article XXVIII authorization.
259 Population Reference Bureau, "California: After 19 Million, What?" Povulation
Bulletin, Vol. XXII, No. 2, June 1966 p. 30.
JOINT COMMITTEE ON OPEN SPACE LAND 113
By conferring upon the owner of open space land the benefits of an
assessment procedure related to the use of the land and not according
to its market value, the Legislature would clearly be providing a con-
sideration to the landowner to which he would not otherwise be entitled.
The privilege of use-related assessment, coupled with a program of
police power control, could allow government to exercise a high degree
of land-use control while avoiding both legal and political pitfalls.
Indeed the requirement that land be subject to a sufficiently rigid
''enforceable restriction" as a prerequisite to use- value assessment is
at the very heart of Article XXVIII.
It should be remembered that use related assessment need be no
mere sop to the constitutional Cerberus. It is a form of compensation
which could be of significant value to a landowner confronted by high
developmental pressures or possessing land with a low income-generat-
ing potential. The crippling expense of large scale acquisition would
thus be obviated. At the same time, a program of police power open
space regulation would be made legally and politically acceptable.
Such a police power program could vest in government the power
to guide land use which is consistent with the best interests of the state
as a whole. For government to fail now in seizing the initiative to pro-
tect our remaining open space land resources is to vest in the few the
power to shape the pattern of our State. To allow the interests and
problems of landowners to dictate the size, shape, location and charac-
ter of our cities as well as the character and quality of the landscape
is to place greater value in property rights than in the human right to
a livable environment.
At the same time :
Landowners generally must feel that they have received fair value
for the rights they have given up if any system of land-use con-
trols is to be politically acceptable. The balance of the bargain
may be upset by increasing the restrictions imposed or by de-
creasing the value received by the landowner in return for accept-
ing the restrictions . . . The criterion must be the effect upon the
total value of both individual and communal rights which each
member of the community will possess if a particular method of
land-use control is adopted.^^^
The interests of landowners and those of the public are not mutually
exclusive. One need not dominate the other. But to establish an equi-
table balance between the two, new programs will have to be instituted.
There are many agencies on all levels of government directly or
indirectly concerned with land for open space purposes, but there
is no single agency with the responsibility for coordination of open
space activities and preservation of open space. As a result of
this lack of a single purpose agency, every agency leaves it to
someone else and it does not get done.-*'^
If a police power land-use control measure is to be successful over
the long haul, it must be protected from the forces which undermined
iwBryden, "Zoning: Rigid, Flexible, or Fluid?" 44 J. of Urh. L. 287 at 288 (1967).
281 Eckbo, Dean, Austin and Williams. Open Space; the Choices Before California,
The Urban Metropolitan Open Space Study directed by Edward A. Williams for
the California State Office of Planning. General Finding No. 10, p. F.
114 JOINT COMMITTEE ON OPEN SPACE LAND
zoning. The demands of the market and the call for flexibility will
again prevail unless the administrative structure is broadly based and
removed from intense pressures.
Zoning did not fail to preserve open space because it was an inher-
ently poor system. It failed first because the economic forces which
compete in the land development market were too intense and too im-
mediate to be effectivel}^ dealt with locally. It failed also because the
public decision maker was too close to the problem. He was exposed di-
rectly to the heat of local politics and was furnished no means of in-
sulating himself.
These economic and political pressures were exacerbated by other
governmental policies. Too often government failed to consider the
land use implications of governmental programs. Major highways
were constructed through prime agricultural areas, thereby ensuring
the conversion of surrounding land to urban uses. At the same time we
jjrovided urban services wherever urban growth demanded them, rather
than providing these services only where urban gowth should be lo-
cated. As one writer put it:
. . . the growth of American society is attributable in large part
to the frontier psychology which insisted that the availability of
public services follows the demand rather than controls it.^^^
This report has tried to do five things. First, it has explored the
conceptual basis of zoning. It has looked into the very raison d'etre of
zoning. Second, it has traced the evolution of zoning. Third, it has
outlined the current limitations of zoning. Fourth, it has retraced the
tortuous path followed by the Legislature in its attempt to reach equity
in the assessment of land. Fifth, it has suggested that the police power
could be used by state and local government to achieve the objective
contemplated by Article XXVIII.
From this odyssey a number of truths have emerged. Foremost
among them is the fact that the Legislature need not adopt a program
of police power regulation which divests property rights without com-
pensation. Compensation is built into Article XXVIII. It should also
be clear that by compensating the landowner through use-related assess-
ment, the Legislature may authorize the imposition of restrictions
which are more rigorous than those allowed under conventional zoning.
The reason for this is that where a benefit is conferred upon the land-
owner, the line between regulation and taking is extended. It should
be clear also that courts will not close their ej^'es to public necessity.
Unprecedented growth has placed severe stress on California's land
resources. Courts, like legislatures, cannot escape the consequences of
their acts. It is fully possible for the Legislature to dovetail a program
of police power regulation with assessment control to meet the critical
open space problem now confronting California.
It is probably true, as Arthur Schopenhaur wrote, that "anything
which is worthwhile is as difficult as it is rare." Certainly it is true
that if we are to avert the decimation of California, a prodigious ef-
fort will have to be made. It will require stamina and uncommon cour-
age of our leaders. It may already be too late. Perhaps California is
destined to develop into two giant urban areas, "one in the South from
282 Richard F. Babcock, The Zoning Game, 1966, p. 149.
JOINT COMMITTEE ON OPEN SPACE LAND 115
Bakersfield and Santa Barbara to San Diego, with Los Angeles as the
hub, and the other in the North from San Jose to Stockton and Sacra-
mento, with San Francisco-Oakland at the center. Nearly all of this
growth on California 's best lands. ' ' -^'^ But to accept this as predictable
is also to accept it as desirable.
Whether we are to be, in the words of Goethe, "the hammer or the
anvil," the masters or the victims of our own existence, remains to
be seen. The winds of change are blowing seeds of hope. They manifest
themselves in the form of heightened public concern. One reflection
of that concern is evidenced by the broad public support for legislation
designed to stem the tide of wholesale conversion of California's open
space land. Such a worthwhile goal and such worthy concern deserves
our answer.
^s^ Dr. Samuel E. "Wood, Executive Director of California Tomorrow (since resigned),
"Californias' Open Space — A State and Federal Responsibility," Lecture, Univer-
sity of California at Berkeley, Continuing Education in Environmental Design,
June 18, 1968, p. 2.
CHAPTER 8
CALIFORNIA LAND CONSERVATION ACT SURVEY
In 1968, this Committee, in cooperation with the County Supervisors
Association, sent a questionnaire to each of the 58 counties in Cali-
fornia. Many questions were asked relative to the experience of the
counties with the California Land Conservation Act of 1965. The re-
sults of that survey were presented in the Preliminary Report of the
Committee in March 1969.
In 1969, the Committee sent a considerably less probing questionnaire
to the counties. The results of that survey are presented in Table I.
Contracts and Agreements Executed
By March 1, 1969, 37 counties had executed contracts or agreements
covering 4,252,157 acres. While the question was not asked, it is as-
sumed that all of the new acreage was made subject to agreements
rather than contracts.
Prime Agricultural Land
The counties reported that 572,611 acres were prime agricultural
land as defined in the California Land Conservation Act (Section
51201). However, Alameda, Butte, El Dorado, Fresno and Sonoma
Counties did not respond to this question. It can safely be assumed
that some of the land subject to contract or agreement in these counties
is prime land.
Using the incomplete figures, the prime land acreage is approxi-
mately 13% of the total land under contract and agreement. This
compares with 6% (131,273 acres of prime land out of the total acreage
under contract and agreement) on March 4, 1968.
Again using the incomplete reports, the prime land acreage is ap-
proximately 8% of the state's prime agricultural land.
Of the new land placed under contracts and agreements between
March 1968 and March 1969, 20% was prime agricultural land. This
percentage is slightly greater than the percentage of land in farms
that is prime land (18%).
Well over half the new prime acreage was in one county, Kern.
Location of Land Under Contract and Agreement
Most of the land under contract and agreement continues to be more
than three miles from the boundaries of a city. Only 69,344 acres is
situated within one mile of a city. 84,330 acres lies between one and
two miles; and 120,915 lies between two and three miles. This repre-
sents a total of 274,589 acres within three miles of cities, or 6.4% of
the total land under contract or ogreement.
Notices of Non-Renewal
The initial term of nearly all contracts and agreements is ten years.
This term is automatically extended by one year on each anniversary
of the contract or agreement unless either the owner or the county
or city serves a notice of non-renewal. In response to the Committee's
question, only four counties reported having received notices of non-
die )
JOINT COMMITTEE ON OPEN SPACE LAND 117
renewal from land owners. Of those counties, Kern received one ; San
■Mateo, three; Santa Clara, 2. and Sonoma, 2. The land involved will
remain under restriction until the remaining nine years have passed.
No count}' reported having served a notice of non-renewal.
Petitions for Cancellation
In addition to serving a notice of non-renewal, the owner of land
subject to contract or agreement may petition for immediate cancella-
tion of the contract or agreement. The county or city may grant such
a petition if "the continued dedication of land under such contracts
to agricultural use is neither necessary nor desirable" for the purposes
of the California Land Conservation Act. The board of supervisors
granting such a petition must make specific findings :
"(a) That the cancellation is not inconsistent with the purposes
of the Act; and
(b) That the cancellation is in the public interest.
In addition, the statute states:
"The existence of an opportunity for another use of the land
involved shall not be sufficient reason for the cancellation of the
contract. A potential alternative use of the land may be considered
only if there is no proximate, non-contracted land suitable for
the use to which it is proposed the contracted land be put.
"The uneconomic character of an existing agricultural use shall
likewise not be sufficient reason for cancellation of the contract.
The uneconomic character of the existing use may be considered
only if there is no other reasonable or comparable agricultural use
to which the land may be put. ' '
Subject to these conditions, three counties report having received
petitions for cancellation. Kern County has received two; San Mateo,
eight ; and Stanislaus, one.
The two petitions filed in Kern County were rejected by the Board
of Supervisors.
The petition filed in Stanislaus County was on 9.8 acres of land which
inadvertently had been included in the owner 's application through an
error in the property description. The petition was granted almost
immediately after the agreement was approved by the Board.
San Mateo County approved all of the eight applications, thus re-
moving 893 acres of land from contracts. While one of the applications
had been approved earlier on forty acres of land, the others were filed
under a special rule of the Board of Supervisors who were desirous
of responding to the claim of a few landowners who were among the
first to execute agreements in that County, that they had not fully
understood either the nature of the restrictions or the difficulty of
cancelling the agreements. Under these circumstances, the Board of
Supervisors offered to receive and grant petitions during a limited
period, with the explanation that land remaining under contract or
agreement after the expiration of that period would be subject to a
strict enforcement policy on cancellation. Under those circumstances,
seven petitions were granted on 853 acres. The other 34,590 acres in
San Mateo County were not affected.
118 JOINT COMMITTEE ON OPEN SPACE LAND
On the basis of the experience of counties with respect to notices of
non-renewal and cancellation, the Committee concludes that both coun-
ties and landowners are looking upon California Land Conservation
Act contracts as long term and meaningful commitments.
Capitalization Rates
While the Legislature in 1969 amended Section 423 of the Revenue
and Ttixation Code to spell out the method of determining the capitali-
zation rate to be used in valuing land subject to enforceable restric-
tions, these new provisions were not in effect for the 1969-70 assess-
ment year.
Capitalization rates for 1969-70 were, therefore, determined by
county assessors under the same statutory provisions as in 1968-69.
Generally, capitalization rates were higher than in the previous year,
ranging from 6% to 10|%, with both the median and the average
being 8%. Both the median and average were 7% for 1968-69.
The 1969 amendments require a "built-up" capitalization rate con-
sisting of three components, of which the major one is interest. Under
the new law, the interest component is determined by the yield rate
on long term United States Government Bonds as announced by the
Federal Reserve Bank.
Had these amendments been in effect during the 1968-69 and 1969-70
assessment years, the increase in sucli yield rates would have dictated
an increase in capitalization rates of only one-quarter percent.
However, since valuation of land under this program is a relatively
new procedure, an average increase of one percent in capitalization
rate is not considered to be unwarranted.
JOINT COMMITTEE ON OPEN SPACE LAND
119
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APPENDIX A
ARTICLE XXVIII
CALIFORNIA CONSTITUTION
OPEN SPACE CONSERVATION
Section 1. The people hereby declare that it is in the best interest
of the state to maintain, preserve, conserve and otherwise continue
in existence open space lands for the production of food and fiber and
to assure the use and enjoyment of natural resources and scenic beauty
for the economic and social well-being of the state and its citizens.
The people further declare that assessment practices must be so de-
signed as to permit the continued availability of open space lands for
these purposes, and it is the intent of the article to so provide.
Section 2. Notwithstanding any other provision of this constitu-
tion, the Legislature may by law define open space lands and provide
that when such lands are subject to enforceable restriction, as specified
by the Legislature, to the use thereof solely for recreation, for the en-
joyment of scenic beauty, for the use of natural resources, or for pro-
duction of food or fiber, such lands shall be valued for assessment pur-
poses on such basis as the Legislature shall determine to be consistent
with such restriction and use. All assessors shall assess such open space
lands on the basis only of such restriction and use, and in the assess-
ment thereof shall consider no factors other than those specified by the
Legislature under the authorization of this section.
(120)
APPENDIX B
The following data is taken from The Urhan-Metropolitan Open Space
Study conducted by Eckbo, Dean, Austin and Williams for the Cali-
fornia State Office of Planning, November 1965.
COST OF ACQUIRING OPEN SPACE PROPOSALS ^
1965-1970
By Probability of Encroachment, by Kind of Acquisition and by Region
HIGH ENCROACHMENT— FULL FEE (FF)
Cost 1965 Cost 1970
Region Acres (dollars) (dollars)
North. Calif. 184,022 357,171,466 535,757,199
Fresno 5,037 12,092,500 19,347,500
Tahoe-Sierra 4,005 9,026,340 11,282,925
South. Calif. 79,408 1,061,493,439 1,295,502,200
Palm Springs
Bakersfield
TOTAL FF 272,472 1,439,783,745 1,861,889,824
HIGH ENCROACHMENT— LESS-THAN-FEE (LTF)
North. Calif. 141,509 183,880,161 270,303,836
Fresno 83,335 35,916,486 51,001,410
Tahoe-Sierra
South. Calif. 177,527 604,867,750 762,133,365
Palm Springs 2,934 10,344,000 11,895,600
Bakersfield 55,420 8,847,050 10,085,637
TOTAL LTF 460,725 843,855,447 1,105,419,848
TOTAL FF & LTF 733,197 2,283,639,192 2,967,309,672
MODERATE ENCROACHMENT— FULL FEE (FF)
North. Calif. 106,548 112,348,430 165.152,192
Fresno 29,075 36,343,750 58,150,000
Tahoe-Sierra 2,181 1,092,500 1,365,625
South. Calif. 15,748 63,311,634 79,772,658
Palm Springs
Bakersfield
TOTAL FF 153,552 213,096,314 304,440,475
MODERATE ENCROACHMENT— LESS-THAN-FEE (LTF)
North. Calif. 98,130 40.774,617 58,307,702
Fresno 96,925 46,817,826 72,099,452
Tahoe-Sierra 3,380 680,875 851,093
South. Calif. 29,382 165,229,150 201,579,563
Palm Spring
Bakersfield 9,932 1,674,008 2,024,550
TOTAL LTF 237,749 255,176,476 334,863,360
TOTAL FF & LTF 391,301 468,272,790 639,303,835
(121)
122 JOINT COMMITTEE ON OPEN SPACE LAND
COST OF ACQUIRING OPEN SPACE PROPOSALS ^
1965-1970 — Continued
LOW ENCROACHMENT— FULL FEE (FF)
North. Calif. 303,893 121.013,463 196,041,810
Fresno 3,605 1,977,500 2,966,250
Tahoe-Sierra 13,955 2,790,860 3,470,666
South. Calif. 30,887 61,430,414 78,016,625
Palm Springs
Bakersfield 6,120 2,484,000 2,790,000
TOTAL FF 363,460 189,696,237 283,285,351
LOW ENCROACHMENT— LESS-THAN-FEE (LTF)
North. Calif. 335,063 125,804,413 173,610,008
Fresno 90,658 22,747,400 30,708,990
Tahoe-Sierra 14,651 484,694 560,867
South. Calif. 14,506 34,142,595 39,263,984
Palm Springs
Bakersfield 30,320 1,236,460 1,483,752
TOTAL LTF 485,198 184,379,562 245,627,601
TOTAL FF & LTF 848,658 374,075,799 528,912,952
GRAND TOTAL FF & LTF __ 1,973,156 3,125,987,781 4,135,526,459
iFull fee proposals include those by existing federal, state and local agencies (ap-
proximately 331,000 acres).
printed in CALIFOSNIA office of STATB PtlNTINa
1494 — 100 4-70 2M;
CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE
FIFTEENTH REPORT
OF THE SENATE FACT-FINDING
SUBCOMMIHEE ON
UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES
1970
MEMBERS OF THE SUBCOAAMIHEE
SENATOR HUGH M. BURNS, Chairman
SENATOR JOHN F. McCARTHY SENATOR H. L. RICHARDSON
SENATOR RICHARD J. DOLWIG SENATOR JACK SCHRADE
R. E. COMBS, Counsel
Virginia Anderson, Secretary Mary E. Albright, Secretary
Published by the
SENATE
OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA
LIEUTENANT GOVERNOR ED REINECKE
President of the Senate
JACK SCHRADE DARRYL R. WHITE
President pro Tempore Secretary
FOREWORD
No inference of subversive affiliation or activity should
be made solely because the name of a person, organiza-
tion, or publication, is mentioned in this report.
Previous reports are now out of print, but may be
found in the reference rooms of public libraries in Cali-
fornia.
(8>
A FINAL WORD FROM THE CHAIRMAN
This 1970 report of the Senate Fact-Finding Subcom-
mittee on Un-American Activities is the last it will be
my privilege to submit as the subcommittee's chairman.
My work as a member of this committee and its pred-
ecessor committees for some 30 years, and as its chair-
man the past 20 years, has been among my most reward-
ing service in the 34 years I have been a member of our
State Legislature.
As an Assemblyman, I was honored by appointment as
a member of the Joint Fact-Finding Committee on Un-
American Activities in 1941, and ultimately to the Sen-
ate Fact-Finding Subcommittee on Un-American Ac-
tivities when it was created in 1947.
Obviously I was honored when I was selected as chair-
man of the Senate committee in 1949, and I felt my
colleagues had conferred upon me a great trust and
privilege to serve.
The rewards of this service have been many and sat-
isfying, despite vicious attacks by subversive groups
throughout the country and by the left-wing and ultra-
liberal press.
Offsetting these continuing attacks has been the sup-
port of a vast majority of my fellow Americans, includ-
ing but not limited to the members of veterans ' organiza-
tions, patriotic groups and the business and industrial
communities.
For this strength-giving support, I am grateful, and
I am sure that I am correct in expressing the gratitude
of the legislators who have served with me on these
committees over the years.
Now the time has come for me to pass the leadership
in this vitally important work to another Senator.
It is my hope the Senate will continue this committee,
or a like committee, so that the important work begun
some 30 years ago can be continued as a safeguard to
our State and Nation. We must continue to advise the
(4)
Legislature, and the citizens of our great State, of the
dangers of uncontrolled and sometimes ignored sub-
version.
Your Fact-Finding Subcommittee on Un-American
Activities has been a leader and an example for other
Legislatures in the field of reasonable, effective investi-
gation of subversion. It has been one of the very few
vehicles available for advising the public, our citizens,
and our officials of the details of the threat from Un-
American activities by both the extremists of the left
and those of the right.
Your committee has kept the spotlight of publicity
firmly on subversion by the Communist world conspiracy
and from other sources as no other governmental agency
has been able to do.
Only by continuing to recognize and publicize subver-
sion can such activities, in the long-run, be countered.
It has been a privilege and an honor to participate
in this American activity.
Hugh M. Burns
Chairman
(5)
LETTER OF TRANSMITTAL
Senate Chamber, State Capitol
Saceamento, August 3, 1970
Honoeable Ed Reinecke
President of the Senate, and
Gentlemen of the Senate
Senate Chamber, Sacramento, California
Mr. Peesident and Gentlemen of the Senate: Pur-
suant to Senate Rules Resolution No. 7, amended De-
cember 10, 1969, under authority of Rule 12.5 of the
Standing Rules of the Senate, the Senate Fact-Finding
Subcommittee on Un-American Activities of the General
Research Committee was created and the following Mem-
bers of the Senate were appointed to said subcommittee
by the Senate Committee on Rules: Senators Hugh M.
Burns, Chairman, Richard J. Dolwig, John F. McCarthy,
H. L. Richardson and Jack Schrade.
The committee herewith submits a report of its investi-
gation and findings.
Respectfully submitted,
Hugh M. Burns, Chairman
John F. McCarthy
Richard J. Dolwig
H. L. RiCHAEDSON,
Jac?: Scheade
(6)
CONTENTS
Page
Foreword 3
A Final Word From the Chairman 4
Letter of Transmittal 6
Introduction 13
Dow Action Committee 13
Peace Action Council 17
Leadership of Peace Action Council 22
Meetings and Activities 23
United Front Control Protested 25
Participation at Montreal Conference 31
Activities, 1969-1970 36
Photo-Exhibits 39-42
Peace and Freedom Party 43
Origin and Early Activities 43
Coalition With Black Panther Party 48
Peace and Freedom Party Qualifies for Ballot 49
The Candidates 1 51
Headquarters Moved to Pink House 52
Trouble at the Pink House 53
Southern California Clubs 54
Skeleton Organization Maintained 56
Photo-Exhibits 60-65
Committee for Defense of the Bill of Rights 66
Office and Sponsors - — 68
Annual Conferences 68
Photo Exhibits 73-76
The New Left School 77
The Faculty 82
Photo-Exhibit 87
Movement to Abolish Committees on Un-American Activities 88
Growth and Activities 92
National Conference. 1967 94
Post-Conference Staff Meeting 100
Tenth National Committee Meeting 102
Personnel and Leadership 108
Photo-Exhibits 112-115
The Communist Party, U. S. A 116
The National Party 116
National Leadership 119
The General Secretary, CPUSA 119
International Connections 124
Force and Violence 129
The Youth Division 134
Communist Party of California 136
The San Joaquin Valley 142
Agricultural Organization 144
(7)
CONTENTS— Continued
Page
Militant North-Critical South 149
Gus Hall Arrives in California 158
Political Liquidation of Dorothy Healey 158
Attack on Labor 161
Propaganda 167
Photo-Exhibits 174-176
Progressive Labor Party 216
Local Meetings 188
Photo Exhibits 192-194
Students for a Democratic Society 195
Visit of Karl Dietrick Wolff— German SDS_ 201
Infiltration of Labor 203
The 1969 Convention 206
SDS Force and Violence 209
Photo-Exhibits 192-194
Socialist Workers Party 216
Organization and Publications 218
Militant Labor Forums 219
CP-SWP Rivalry 220
Photo-Exhibits 226-228
Racial Minority Groups 229
The Black Panther Party 231
Photo-Exhibits 249-257
Peace and Freedom Party Candidate 232
From Peking to Moscow 233
Friends of the Panthers 233
Friends of the Panthers Meetings 235
United Front Against Fascism 237
Robert F. Williams and the Revolutionary Action Movement 243
Ron Karenga 246
Mike Laski and the CP-(M-L) 247
The Brown Berets 258
Demonstrations 261
Trouble at Coachella 262
Organization and Personnel 263
Chinese Red Guards 264
Photo-Exhibits 268-269
The Revolutionary Union 265
Right Extremist Groups 270
National States Rights Party 270
The Minutemen 271
Photo-Exhibits 273-274
American Nazi Party 275
Photo-Exhibits 279-282
Universities
The Cleaver Course 284
Bettina Aptheker Article 285
Dominant Role of Communist Party 287
Photo-Exhibit 289
(8),
INTRODUCTION
When the 1964 demonstrations at the Berkeley campus
of the University of California occurred the public was
incredulous, angry and confident that the trouble would
be quickly handled by the authorities. But the trouble
was not handled quickly, or at all. Instead it mounted
in intensity and then spread from campus to campus
throughout the State and across the country. At first a
typical united front action, as that device is utilized in
Communist circles, it developed into a para-military
activity with its own propaganda, its own underground
presses, its own tough and experienced leadership.
We may allude here to the fact that we had warned
that trouble was brewing at Berkeley. We said so in
our published reports and we gave the reasons.
On Page 89 of our 1961 report, under the heading,
*' Approaching Crisis on the Campus," we stated that
''Quick to take advantage of the slightest opportunity,
the Communist Party in California is now solidifying its
position so far as the indoctrination and recruitment of
youth is concerned. From sources that we consider
eminently reliable, we have learned that the United Front
movement we described in our 1959 report will be em-
ployed in this effort to manipulate the numerous radical
student organizations on the various campuses of our
state university, at private institutions and in our state
and junior colleges, into collaboration with Communist
fronts and other groups that are in sympathy with the
general Communist line."
Our use of the term United Front was ridiculed as
nonsense, but we now have complete proof that this is
precisely the device that was used, and that it is still
being used by a number of groups that we have investi-
gated recently, including the Black Panther Party.
In the May 31, 1968, issue of The Black Panther, the
organization's ofl&cial publication, there is an official call
for people to attend the United Front Against Fascism
conference in Oakland July 18-20, 1968. And on pages
12 and 13 of that publication is a reprint of the entire
(9)
United Front speech delivered by Georgi Dimitroff in
the Soviet Union in 1935.
The Dimitroff speech and excerpts therefrom were re-
peated in following issues of The Black Panther publica-
tion.
It is obviously impossible to fight subversion without
some understanding of the techniques and strategies it
employs. Since the 1964 Berkeley rebellion, the united
front tactic has Ipeen used again and again, each time
with considerable success, by various subversive groups
that have been especially active since the issuance of our
last report in 1967.
It will be the purpose here to trace the nature and
activities of these various groups, together with their
leadership and their relationships with other organiza-
tions. It is not our intention to present any detailed ac-
count of the various disturbances and demonstrations
that occurred throughout the State, especially in southern
Oalifornia, during the past two years. We will discuss
those that were of particular significance, but for the
paost part these disturbances were adequately treated in
the press and other news media and do not warrant
additional discussion here.
It is an axiom of the dialetic principle that every ac-
tion engenders a reaction. Dialetic materialism is the
basis of Marxian ideology, and we may observe in passing
that Marx did not originate this concept. He borrowed it
from the German philosopher Hegel, who in turn bor-
rowed it from the Greek philosopher Sophocles. It is not
peculiar to Marxism but has been modified and embraced
by Marxists ever since the Communist Manifesto was
promulgated in 1848. In our own state, the epidemic of
violence on our campuses and in our streets, the destruc-
tion of buildings owned by the state, the insults and physi-
cal attacks against educational administrators, and the
mounting campaign to defy all public authority, as might
be expected, produced counteraction in many areas of our
society. In general it has disgusted the vast majority of
our people, has moved the Legislature to enact stern
measures to deal with the situation, it has provoked in-
creased activities on the part of law enforcement agencies,
^nd, which is more important to our present discussion,
(10)
it has brought into existence a whole series of ultra-right,
semi-vigilante type organizations that we shall hereafter
describe in detail.
Ten years ago the Communist front organizations that
were active in California had been in existence for a num-
ber of years. Their leaders were well-known, their activ-
ities stereotyped, and they operated on a permanent basis.
We have described them in our previous reports, such
large Communist-dominated organizations as the Civil
Rights Congress, the Joint Anti-Facist Eefugee Com-
mittee, and the Citizens Committee to Preserve American
Freedoms — to cite a few examples. At the other end of
the political spectrum of extremist organizations was the
National States Rights Party, the Ku Klux Klan, the
Minutemen, and the American Nazi Party.
In those days there were only two Communist organiza-
tions operating in the United States that posed any real
threat. One was the Communist Party of the United
States, and the other was the Socialist Workers Party,
or Trotskyist Party. Both are now more active than ever,
and, as we shall hereafter indicate, it is our view that the
Communist Party of the United States by quietly reach-
ing into and assuming control of other organizations,
presents a more serious threat than at any time in its
history of more than 50 years.
When we issued a report concerning the disturbances
at Berkeley, we were ridiculed from many quarters be-
cause we ascribed the disturbances to some hardcore Com-
munist leaders. We very much doubt that anyone now
would dispute that during those demonstrations of 1964
there was a united front collaboration between the So-
cialist Workers Party, the Communist Party, and a wide
variety of smaller but Marxist-oriented groups, such as
the Progressive Labor Party, Spartacist League, and
small student groups that came and went as the situation
demanded.
It will be our purpose in this report to first discuss
the major organizations that function with Communist
leadership and with Communist control, and that are now
active in California. We will then describe some of the
organizations of the extreme right.
(11)
These estimates and evaluations have been gained
through contacts with police departments, sheriff's offices,
the California Department of Criminal Identification and
Investigation, and other concerned official agencies. In all
instances, we have been accorded complete and thorough
cooperation, for which we are grateful, and which allows
us to present an accurate estimate of subversive opera-
tions and. conditions in the southerly and most populous
portion of our state.
Thereafter it will be our purpose to similarly give an
estimate of the situation in the Bay area. Lack of facil-
ities has prevented us from making a survey of the north-
ern California counties, but in considering the fact that
they are remotely located from large metropolitan areas
and have relatively small populations, we have found that
there is also an extremely low incidence of subversive
activities that diminishes the farther one proceeds toward
the Oregon border.
(12)
SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
ORGANIZATIONS
Dow Action Committee
The Dow Committee was created during the early
months of 1968. At first it held its meetings at 555 North
Western Avenue, Los Angeles, in quarters that were also
being used by the Peace Action Committee, another major
organization which will be discussed later. The purpose
of forming this organization was to protest against the
manufacture of Napalm by the Dow Chemical Company
which then maintained its southern California offices at
2600 Wilshire Boulevard. During the three years of its
existence, the Dow Action Committee staged several dem-
onstrations in front of the Dow Chemical Company office,
and participated in united front demonstrations through-
out the southern part of the State, with many other orga-
nizations that were either under Communist domination,
or were strongly oriented towards Marxism. We are
fortunate in having copies of the minutes and other offi-
cial documents of Dow Action Committee, obtained for
us by members to whom they were freely circulated.
Represented in the membership of the Dow Action
Committee were officers of the Socialist Workers Party,
or Trotskyist organization; the Student Mobilization
Committee ; Veterans for Peace ; Communist Party ; Pro-
gressive Labor Party; Peace Action Council, and many
other smaller but extremely militant organizations. By
March 1968 the organization had its new headquarters
at 746 South Alvarado Street, Los Angeles, Room 9, and
on Monday, March 4, 1968, at 8 :00 P. M., it held its gen-
eral memlDership meeting at that address. One of the
early leaders of the organization was Oscar Coover,
whom we have identified in several of our previous re-
ports, as one of the officers and leaders of the Socialist
Workers Party, or Trotskyite group, in Los Angeles.
We should once more make it clear that the only differ-
ence between the Communist Party of the United States
and the Trotskyist Communists lies in their ideological
(13)
14 UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA
differences and their animosity toward each other. They
will occasionally participate in joint activities through
some united front movement, but the implacable hatred
that stems from the bitter campaign of Joseph Stalin
against Leon Trotsky and which culminated in the assas-
sination of the latter at his Mexican refuge in the sum-
mer of 1940, still lingers and has provoked personal en-
counters of violence between Communists and Trotskyists
in the past several years. This deep rivalry between the
two Communist organizations has resulted in strenuous
efforts on the part of each to take over any organization
in which both are represented. Usually, because of the
superior numbers and the more subtle techniques em-
ployed by the Communist Party of the United States, it
has managed to prevail.
Quoting from the minutes of the Dow Action Commit-
tee meeting of February 19, 1968, we find that on the
agenda were the following items:
"Report of action, February 16, 1968; SDS (Stu-
dents for Democratic Society) conference report;
Mass Action Committee report; Boycott Committee
report; Education and Research Committee report;
Publicity Committee report; Fund Raising Commit-
tee report; Office; New Business, and Announce-
ments.'^
At the meeting of February 13, 1968, it was obvious
that the influence of the Trotskyists had become so power^
ful that the matter was openly discussed at the meeting,,
and it was decided that a united front approach should
be adopted, and that no one faction in the organization
should be permitted to dominate its activities. At the
meeting of March 11, 1968, Mr. Coover was elected chair-
man, and in the announcement for the next meeting,
which was to be held on March 18, it was stated that
there would be a demonstration and picket line in support
of H. Rap Brown at the new Federal building, 300 North
Los Angeles Street, Los Angeles. The announcement re-
quested members of the Dow Action Committee to be
present and participate, and this was the beginning of
its interest in a variety of activities that had nothing
whatever to do with the Dow Chemical Company or any
of its products.
UN- AMERICA!^ ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA 15
Among the organizations that received support from
Dow Action Committee were Southern Conference Edu-
cational Fund, 8247i Blackburn Avenue, Los Angeles,
California 90048. This organization and its Communist
infiltration has been discussed in other reports. Similar
support was given to the United Farm Workers Organiz-
ing Committee ; The Peace Action Council, a Communist-
controlled front organization; Students for a Democratic
Society; Student Non- Violent Coordinating Committee,
and also the same organization after it had dropped the
*' Non- Violent" from its name; Student Mobilization
Committee; San Gabriel Valley Veterans for Peace, and
Liberation University, 1400 West Jefferson Boulevard,
Los Angeles, 90007, at which guerrilla warfare and Marx-
ism were featured among the other courses.
This was nothing new so far as the activist organiza-
tions of the extreme left are concerned. It will be de-
veloped as our description of the other organizations is
set forth, that it was an exceptional occurrence if mem-
bers from all the activist groups did not join in partici-
pating in demonstrations, picket lines, sit-ins, marches,
pressure tactics and propagandizing — usually under the
guise of peace.
In 1969 headquarters for the Dow Action Committee
was at 619 South Bonnie Brae Street, Los Angeles, 90057.
Its organization during that year was considerably in-
creased and expanded, although it occasionally met in
other quarters. For example, the meeting on February 19
was held in Room 101, Berendo Junior High School, at
1157 South Berendo, Los Angeles. Members frequently
brought guests to meetings of the committee, and in some
of its demonstrations there was close collaboration with
such well-known Communist Party members as Nemmy
Sparks, Dorothy Healey, Ben Dobbs, and Irving Sarnoff.
Mr. Sarnoff, as will be seen, is the leading official in the
Peace Action Council, one of the largest and most active of
the Communist-controlled front organizations now oper-
ating in California. He was present at a meeting of the
i)ow Action Committee as a guest on June 3, 1968, and at-
tended meetings thereafter from time to time. During the
latter part of March 1968, the secretary of the Dow Ac-
tion Committee reported at a membership meeting that
Irving Sarnoff had gone to Chicago for the purpose of
16 UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALITOENIA
helping to arrange demonstrations there, and at the meet-
ing held August 12 of that year at 619 South Bonnie Brae
Street, Los Angeles, Morris Kight explained the disrup-
tion tactics that were to be followed at the Democratic
National Convention in Chicago. He declared, in the
presence of those assembled, that Jerry Rubin was to lead
his followers in a "wear-dowTi" tactic on a 24-hour basis
preceding the convention. The purpose of this tactic was
to erode police efficiency and follow the pre-convention
confrontations with seven other major demonstrations, in
which the Rubin followers were to be assisted by the
Chicago Anti-Draft Resistance. Three members from the
Dow Action Committee were to go to Chicago, and those
delegated were Morris Kight, Marcia Silverstein and
James Boggio. Upon arrival they were housed in a fra-
ternity house at the University of Chicago, but soon were
smnmarily ejected because they persisted in propagandiz-
ing for Black Power. This description was the substance
of a report by Morris Kight, both by telephone from Chi-
cago, and later to a regular meeting of the Dow Action
Committee.
By January 1969, a great many members of the Dow
Action Committee began to lose interest in the proceed-
ings and spent their time attending meetings of other
similar organizations which they considered more dy-
namic and productive. The Dow Action Committee was a
regular affiliate of the Peace Action Council, headed by
Mr. Sarnoff, paid monthly dues to the Council, and, as
many Council members were also affiliated with the Dow
Action Committee, there were often conflicts in meeting
dates and participation in demonstrations. Students for a
Democratic Society also shared office space in the same
building as the Dow Action Committee and similar orga-
nizations, but by February 1969 had allowed mail to accu-
mulate and neglected to pay for their rent, telephone bills,
and other expenses that originally were to be shared by
the various organizations that occupied the premises.
In a communication dated January 12, 1969, the Dow
Action Committee declared that its expenses were exceed-
ing income and requested assistance from other groups
*4n the Freedom Movement". At the same time internal
dissensions that are characteristic of these organizations
were plaguing Dow Action Committee, and evidence of
UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA 17
impatience and disillusionment were being expressed in
written statements from leading members. The April 1969
issue of Peace Happenings, announced that "We have
been meeting at one another's homes since our move from
619 (South Bonnie Brae). Those wishing to attend the
main meeting, call to get the address, ' ' and four telephone
niunbers were listed.
The Dow Action Committee provides an excellent ex-
ample of an organization which was started for a specific
purpose, to stage demonstrations and campaigns against
the manufacturer of Napalm. But, almost from its incep-
tion the group attracted publicly-known Communists,
such as Oscar Coover of the Trotskyist Socialist Workers
Party, and thenceforth the organization widened its activ-
ities and participated in demonstrations wdth a variety of
other groups, collaborated with numerous functionaries
of the Communist Party and sent its delegates to par-
ticipate in activities in Chicago, San Francisco and
various other communities in California.
We must make it clear, as we have in previous reports,
that not all of the members of the Dow Action Committee
were Communists, which is true of all front organiza-
tions. But from affidavits of members, from reports of
agents, from the written documents in our possession
that were issued to members and to the public, the true
character of the Dow Action Committee is established.
It actively collaborated with, and included in its mem-
bership, leaders of subversive Communist organizations,
and it actively cooperated with subversive groups during
the entire period of its existence. By February 1970, the
Dow Action Committee had ceased to function. Its mem-
bers, as will be seen, drifted into various other organiza-
tions, particularly the Peace Action Council, which has
its headquarters in Los Angeles, and which is one of the
most active and largest Communist-dominated organiza-
tions now operating.
Peace Action Council
Communists have always found it handy to advocate
peace for all non-Communist governments unless they
fought for and not against a Communist regime. The
principle of just and unjust wars is almost as old as
Marxism itself. According to the Marxist definition, an
18 UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFOENIA
imperialist war is one which the world Communist move-
ment opposes ; a peoples war is one it favors. World War
II was therefore branded as imperialist until the invasion
of the Soviet Union in June 1941, and thereupon became
a peoples war against fascism. During the peoples war
period the Communist line was to obtain a maximum of
military assistance from the United States. Prior to that
time and during the existence of the Non-Aggression
Pact, the line called for massive peace activities in this
country and an effort to reduce its military preparedness.
Thus from the inception of the Non- Aggression Pact in
1939 until it was breached by Germany by its inva-
sion of Russia in 1941, peace fronts were proliferating
throughout the United States. The two most important
were the American Peace Crusade and the American
Peace Mobilization.
In California the Peace Crusade was launched on June
8, 1940, and among its early officers were Don Healey
and Phillip M. Connelly. Raphael Konigsberg acted as
the coordinator for the California Peace Crusade in the
44th Assembly District. (1948 California Report, pages,
160, 161.)
After World War II these peace fronts became dor-
mant, but were quickly reactivated with the attempted
seizure of the South Korean regime by North Korean
Communists, and with the invasion of South Vietnam by
the Vietnamese Communists from the north, and United
States participation in both conflicts. According to the
Marxian definition these were imperialist struggles, and
all Communists were obliged to resist the American
forces with demonstrations, propaganda and all resources
at their command.
Accordingly, the Southern California Peace Crusade
was activated in 1951, and continued its activities into
July 1956. The notice of its dissolution was dated July
21 1956, and signed by Vicki Landish, executive director.
Miss Landish, whose married name was Fromkin when
she testified before us in 1950, stated that she was a
graduate of the University of California at Berkeley,
and the evidence submitted in connection with her ap-
pearance established she had been an organizer for the
Young Communist League in the East Bay area and
devoted virtually all of her time to the youth adjuncts
UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA 19
of the Cominunist Party. The name of the young Com-
munist organization has been changed from time to time
— American Youth for Democracy, Labor Youth League,
DuBois Clubs of America — but the changes have had lit-
tle effect on the nature of activities of the youth move-
ment of the Communist Party in the United States. The
evidence which was presented at the 1950 hearing also
established that in 1944 the witness attended the first
California State convention of American Youth for
Democracy at 1631 West Adams Street, Los Angeles;
that in 1946 she was listed as an officer of American
Youth for Democracy in a letter signed by its executive
secretary, Myer Freiden. In that letter he gave the offi-
cers as: Chairman, Jeanette Salve; Recording Secretary,
Lee Herendeen ; Student Secretary, Vicki Landish ; offices
situated at 408 South Spring Street, Los Angeles. (See
1948 California Report, page 185 ; letter from Myer Frei-
den, dated January 8, 1946.)
In 1947 Miss Landish was the executive secretary for
American Youth for Democracy in Los Angeles, and in
the following year was a state officer in that organiza-
tion, with headquarters situated at 1201 South Alvarado
Street, Los Angeles. (See 1948 California Report, pages
184, 185, 188; 1951 report, pages 24, 26, 29, 32).
Shortly after the Peace Action Council was activated,
it opened its 1967 office at 555 North Western Avenue,
Room 3, Los Angeles, 90004, and its by-laws were
adopted on September 27 of that year. Article II pro-
vided that ''the Executive Board shall be composed of
members elected by the following organizations, in the
number indicated:
Student Mobilization Committee 3
Draft Resistance Groups (organization not yet designated)
Women's Strike for Peace
Women's International League for Peace and Freedom
Women for Legislative Action .
Emma Lazarus Jewish Women's Clubs
East Los Angeles Peace Center
(additional from the Mexican-American Community, orga-
nizations not yet designated) 1 or more
The Black Community (organizations not yet designated). 1 or more
SANE Trade Union Committee
Trade L^nionist for Peace
Physicians for Social Eesponsibility
University Committee on Vietnam
20 UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIEORNIA
Valley Peace Center 2
West Side Committee of Concern
Long Beach Citizens for Peace
San Gabriel Valley Emergency Comm
Orange County Peace and Human Eights Council
Assembly of Men and Women of the Arts
American Friends Service Committee
Clergy and Laymen Concerned About Vietnam
It will be noted that this list of organizations did not
include the Communist Party or the Socialist Workers
Party, Trotskyite Communists, Students for a Demo-
cratic Society, or any specific racial minority extremist
group. There were a total of 21 organizations affiliated
through the Peace Action Council, the list growing to
77 affiliated organizations by 1969.
As an indication of the growth of the Peace Action
Council between 1967 and 1969, we set forth from its
own official records a list of the 1969 affiliated organiza-
tions.
^'American Mental Health Professionals Acting for
Peace ;
Assembly of Men and Women in the Arts Concerned
With Vietnam;
California Federation of Young Democrats;
Calif ornians for Liberal Representation;
Clergy and Laymen Concerned About Vietnam;
Committee Council for Opposition to the War in Vietr
nam;
Communist Party;
Community Council — Claremont ;
Dow Action Committee;
East San Gabriel Valley Emergency Council;
East Side Information Center;
Echo Park — Silver Lake Neighbors for Peace;
Fellowship for Social Justice of the First Unitarian
Church (Los Angeles) ;
Glendale Anti-War Committee;
Humanist Association of Los Angeles;
Independent Young Democrats of San Fernando
Valley;
Los Angeles Committee for Defense of the Bill of
Rights ;
UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA 21
Los Angeles Jewish Cultural and Fraternal Order;
Los Angeles Friends of the Minority of One;
Labor Assembly for Peace;
Emma Lazarus Jewish Women's Club Assembly for
Peace ;
Emma Lazarus Jewish Women's Clubs (Los Angeles
Council, Hollywood Chapter, Mid-town Chapter,
Oreska Chapter, Wilshire Chapter) ;
Long Beach Citizens for Peace ;
Malibu Discussion and Action Group ;
Northeast Peace Committee ;
Orange County Committee to End the War ;
Orange County Peace and Human Rights Council ;
Pasadena Emergency Council ;
Peace and Freedom Party, County Council, Forum
Club, Hollywood Hills Club ;
Peace Happenings ;
Physicians for Social Responsibility;
San Fernando Valley Committee of Concern ;
San Cabriel Valley Emergency Council ;
Socialist Parties ;
Socialist Workers Party ;
Social Workers for Peace ;
South Bay Peace Council ;
Southland Jewish Organization, (Freedom Chapter) ;
Students for a Democratic Society ;
Teachers for Peace in Vietnam ;
Trade Unionists for Peace ;
University Committee on Vietnam ;
Valley Peace Center ;
Veterans of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade ;
Vietnam Summers ;
War Resistors ;
War Resistors League ;
West San Gabriel Valley Emergency Council ;
West Side Committee of Concern on Vietnam, Council,
Beverly Hills Chapter, Beverly Wood Chapter,
Brentwood Chapter, Mar Vista and West Los An-
geles, Pacific Palisades, Santa Monica, West Holly-
wood;
Womens International League for Peace and Freedom,
Los Angeles Chapter, Pasadena Chapter, San Ga-
briel Chapter, Southern California District Council;
22 UN-AMEEICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFOENIA
Women for Legislative Action, Council, Central Chap-
ter, Day Chapter, Evening Chapter, Valley Chapter,
Valley Evening Chapter, West Chapter ;
Women's Strike for Peace, Council, Centinela-South-
Bay Harbor, Los Angeles-Beverly Hills, Laurel Can-
yon, San Fernando Valley, Santa Monica-Venice,
West Los Angeles, Whittier ;
Young Socialist Alliance."
Leadership of Peace Action Council
We have seen that one of the first officers in the Re-
activated Peace Organization in Los Angeles was Don
R. Healey. Identified as a member of the Communist
Party by several witnesses, Mr. Healey has engaged
in Communist activities since the late 30 's. He married
Dorothy Ray in 1941, was secretary of the Communist-
dominated Labors Non-Partisan League in Los Angeles,
and worked on a publication called Age of Treason, which
was published by the American Peace Crusade during
World War II. He was assisted by Philip M. Connelly,
who became Dorothy Healey 's husband after she divorced
Don Healey, and who also has been identified several
times as a member of the Communist Party. Both of these
men worked with Raphael Konigsberg, who was pre-
vented from becoming a member of the California State
Bar Association because, having: passed the Bar exam-
ination, he refused to state whether or not he was a
member of the Communist Party. He was formerly an
officer in a Communist front organization which we
described in our 1963 report, and which was known as
the Citizens Committee for the Preservation of American
Freedoms. Frank Wilkinson, another identified Commu-
nist and head of another front organization now operat-
ing nationwide from its base in Los Angeles, was also
an officer of this organization. Indeed, Konigsberg suc-
ceeded Wilkinson as its executive secretary and has acted
as treasurer for the Peace Action Council.
Probably the most important member of this orga-
nization, however, is Irving Sarnoff, its chairman. Mr.
Samoa's record as a Communist is both long and im-
pressive, and we can do no better than quote from an
official publication of the House Committee on Un-Amer-
ican Activities issued on April 3, 1959, page 50 of which
UN-AMERICAN ACTIYITIES IN CALIFORNIA 23
describes Mr. Sarnoff's activities and affiliations as fol-
lows:
**Sarnoff is a member of the District Council, Com-
munist Party, Southern California. He has been
extremely active in Communist youth organizations,
the American Youth for Democracy, and the suc-
cessor organization, the Labor Youth League. In
1956 he was labor director of Los Angeles County
Labor Youth League; member of the executive com-
mittee. Labor Youth League; and in 1957 a delegate
to the California State Labor Youth League Con-
vention. He was a delegate to three Communist Party
conventions in 1957, the Los Angeles County Con-
vention, the California State Convention, and the
Southern California District Convention. Sarnoff was
born on May 25, 1930, in New York City.
Sarnoff appeared as a witness before the Com-
mittee on September 5^ 1958, and invoked the Fifth
Amendment in response to questions concerning his
Communist membership and activity. Occupation:
Railroad car inspector."
Sophie Silver was a faithful member of the Peace Ac-
tion Council, and was usually present at its membership
meetings. From the same source from which we quoted
the record of Mr. Sarnoff, we give a similar record con-
cerning Mrs. Silver :
''Mrs. Silver was born Schewe Czeczelnitzki (Chel-
nick) on September 22, 1899, in Novay, Russia. She
arrived in the United States on January 13, 1913,
at Port of Philadelphia, Pa. She was naturalized
in New York City on November 4, 1943. Mrs. Silver
is a member of the District Council, Communist
Party, Southern District of California. She was a
delegate to and attended the Los Angeles County
Communist Party Convention on January 5-6, 1957,
the State Convention of the Communist Party on
January 19-20, 1957, and the Southern California
District Convention on April 13-14, 1957. In 1953,
1954 and 1955, she was a member of the Review Com-
mission, Juarez division of the Communist Party.
The Review Commission was commonly referred to
as a Disciplinary Commission, a Commission com-
24 UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA
posed of Communist Party members who review cases
of Communists charged with activity considered to
be detrimental to the Communist program. It is
within the purview of the Review Commission to
render disciplinary action or recommend expulsion
from the Communist Party.
Mrs. Silver appeared as a witness before the Com-
mittee on September 4, 1958, and invoked the Fifth
Amendment in response to questions concerning
Communist Party membership and activity. Occupa-
tion : Needle trades worker. ' '
Meetings and Activities
Each member organization of the Peace Action Council
paid $10.00 per anniun as dues, and the affairs of the
Council were conducted by an Executive Board, em-
powered to "formulate and recommend policies and ac-
tivities to the Council and carry out all activities dele-
gated to it by the Council." (Peace Action Council By-
laws.)
Actually, however, the organization is operated by a
steering committee consisting of the ''elected officers, a
staff member, and 3 other designated members of the
executive board." As we shall soon demonstrate, since
the steering committee was always dominated by the mem-
bers of the Communist Party, and since the Peace Actioi^
Council effectively squelched all complaints against this
concentration of power, it was, from its very inception^
operated as a front under the complete domination oi
the Communist Party.
By October 1967 the Unitarian Fellowship for Social
Justice of the First Unitarian Church in Los Angeles
had become an affiliated member of the Peace Action
Council. This was an important move, since a vdde
variety of similar organizations had long been in the
habit of meeting at the Unitarian Church facilities at
2936 West Eighth Street, Los Angeles. The moving spirit
of the Unitarian fellowship was Martin Hall, who also
played a leading role in the affairs of the Peace Action
Council, was regularly present at its meetings, and, as
we shall see, played a vital role in arranging trips abroad
for officers of the organization who attended meetings
behind the Iron Curtain.
UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA 25
Mr. Hall appeared as a witness before us in Los
Angeles in 1954, and as a result of that hearing it was
learned that he was born in Germany and christened
Karl Adolf Rudolf Herman Jacobs. He entered the
United States in 1937, legally changed his name to Martin
Hall in 1938, and became a citizen of this country in
1945. Hall invoked the protection of the Fifth Amend-
ment in responding to all questions concerning his alleged
Communist membership and his activities in Germany.
From other sources, however, it is learned that he was a
leading member of the Communist underground in Ger-
many before he came to the United States, was later active
in the Communist-dominated Fair Play for Cuba Commit-
tee, and visited Cuba in August, 1960. {Peoples World,
August 6, 1960). Hall was also a delegate to the World
Congress for General Disarmament and Peace, Moscow,
July 9 to 14, 1962, under the auspices of World Peace
Council, an international Communist front organization.
He addressed the Economic Commission, Moscow Con-
gress, and has been described by Benjamin Gitlow, one
of the top leaders of the Communist Party of the United
States during its early years and a member of the Com-
munist International, as one of the leading figures in the
German Communist underground. (See Gitlow testimony,
House Coromittee on Un-American Activities, July 7,
1953 ; House Conmiittee Hearings, April 26 and 27, 1962 ;
House Committee Report, November 2, 1962).
As the membership of the Peace Action Council
steadily grew larger, it held its smaller meetings at the
regular office at 555 North Western Avenue, but its larger
meetings were invariably held in the facilities of the First
Unitarian Church of Los Angeles, an accommodation
easily arranged by Mr. Hall, who exercised his influence
as the Director of the Unitarian Fellowship for Social
Justice.
United Front Control Protested
By May 22, 1968, the Dow Action Committee, and
especially some of its Trotskyist Communist members,
became dissatisfied with the continued operation of the
Peace Action Council by the same small group dominated
by Sarnoff, Konigsberg and Hall and their supporters.
The Dow Action Committee accordingly filed a four-pag6
26 UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA
complaint, in which it advocated the abolition of steering^
and executive committees, and asked that the Council
itself make its own policy decisions. "It has become pain-
fully apparent," declared the statement on page 3, "that
only a few leaders have developed in the Council." Per-
haps the key paragraph in the document was that which
was headed "Political Parties." It read as follows:
"We do think it unfair to all the parties concerned
that vast ignorance exists about the political motiva-
tion of some of the people involved; that the Estab-
lishment condemns the loyal workers in the Council
for their alleged political association as being too
radical, and that within the Council itself few know
that these people represent ideas long out of style
and downright conservative, if not reactionary. We
deplore the fact that these splinter relics of ancient
political' and economic concepts have used the Coun-
cil as a battleground on which to carry out their ego
games and revisionist and deviationist tactics."
In the Dow Action Committee, as in the Peace Action
Council, there were Stalinists, Trotskyists, Maoists, and
a variety of lesser Communist groups — but in none was
the control more firmly entrenched than by Sarnoff and
his supporters in the Peace Action Council. In all united
front movements, the activity commences with a broad-
base following, then at the proper time a small group
solidifies itself in power. A steering conunittee was pre-
cisely as important to the Peace Action Council as it had
been to the Free Speech Movement at Berkeley in 1964,
and for precisely the same reason. It is simply an integral
and vital element in any Communist united front opera-
tion, as promulgated by Georgi Dimitroff, the inventor
of this ingenious and highly efficient device. (See 1965
California Report, page 116, et seq.)
The Dow Action Committee lacked the tough, disci-
plined and experienced leadership that headed the Peace
Action Council. From that time on its strength dwindled
and it finally expired, as we have seen. But the Council
gained in strength and in influence. The complaints that
were made produced no results whatever, and the com-
plete control of Sarnoff and his associates over the Peace
Action Council has continued stronger than ever. Indeed,
UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA 27
at the meeting held on June 26 1968, it was officially
determined that the executive board should continue as
the key administrative body of the organization.
It is obvious that if the accredited delegates and a
few members from each of the affiliate organizations,
comprising the Peace Action Council, attended its mem-
bership meetings, even the facilities at the First Uni-
tarian Church would be inadequate, and the assemblies
would have to move to an auditorium. Actually the attend-
ance at the meetings was rarely more than 30 to 40 people,
but as will be seen when we describe a series of key meet-
ings, representatives from the various Communist orga-
nizations were invariably present. At these meetings there
was a literature table on which appeared propaganda
publications from Students for a Democratic Society, the
grape boycott of Cesar Chavez, various veterans groups
opposed to the war in Vienam, and propaganda material
from the Communist Party and various front organiza-
tions, but very little from the Trotskyist branch of the
Communist movement, although its representatives per-
sisted in attending the membership meetings.
Probably the most faithful member of the Council,
other than Sarnoff, was Donald Kalish, head of the De-
partment of Philosophy at the University of California
at Los Angeles. He has achieved considerable notoriety in
connection with his insistence that Angela Davis, al-
though an admitted member of the Communist Party,
be allowed to teach a course at the state-supported insti-
tution for credit. Mr. Kalish, who was instrumental in
employing Angela Davis, has been listed as a co-chairman
with Sarnoff of the Peace Action Council, and has made
several trips to Chicago, as well as to other states, in the
interest of the Council and some of its affiliated organi-
zations. At the meeting held on May 22 1968, and at
which the Sarnoff leadership was attacked, Kalish at-
tracted considerable attention when his chair broke and
he fell to the floor. This provoked considerable amuse-
ment on the part of some of his associates, but its diver-
sionary effect was not sufficient to prevent the leadership
from closing ranks and shunting aside the criticisms. At
this meeting, held at the First Unitarian Church, Sar-
noff, Konigsberg and Kalish were present, as well as
Martin Hall, Mike McCabe, representing the Young
28 UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIEOENIA
Socialist Alliance, youth section of the Trotskyist Com-
munists, and Mike Klonsky, who was at that time the
National Field Secretary for Students for a Democratic
Society. Frank Wilkinson's National Committee to Abol-
ish the House Committee on Un-American Activities was
also represented by Betty Rottger, who has been active
in a number of other front organizations and who regu-
larly attended the Council meetings.
At the meeting held on June 12, 1968, Sarnoff, Konigs-
berg. Hall, and Mike McCabe were also present. And at
the meeting held on July 17, 1968, at 555 North Western
Avenue, Los Angeles, plans were formulated for the
picketing of Vice-President Humphrey when he arrived
in Los Angeles. Sarnoff stated he had an informant in
Humphrey's local group, and was informed concerning
the itinerary. The motion to picket was made by Konigs-
berg, but the United States Secret Service was alerted
that same night by informants who also regularly at-
tended the meetings of the Peace Action Council for
various governmental agencies.
At the meeting held on July 18, which was a general
meeting as contrasted to the small meeting held at the
North Western Avenue premises the evening before,
Sarnoff, Kalish, Konigsberg, Robert Klonsky (Mike's
father), and Betty Rottger were present. Miss Rottger
stated that she understood Humphrey's visit had been
canceled, but Sarnoff telephoned his local contact and
reported that the visit to Kansas was the one that had
been canceled, not the one to Los Angeles. At this same
membership meeting, Kalish was elected to attend the
National Mobilization Committee Convention at Cleve-
land, Ohio, as a delegate, and was scheduled to depart
Los Angeles on the following day. The Mobilization Com-
mittee Convention was originally scheduled for Chicago,
but at the last moment switched to Cleveland where it
considered there were better facilities to plan demon-
strations. The Anti-Humphrey demonstration was held
on schedule at the Century-Plaza Hotel in Los Angeles
on Sunday, July 28, 1968, and 3,500 demonstrators par-
ticipated, which is some indication of the broad influence
of the Peace Action Council in Southern California.
On August 22 1968, a special meeting was called for
the purpose of discussing "police brutality" during the
Century-Plaza demonstration. This meeting was held at
UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA 29
the First Unitarian Church and approximately 200 people
were present. Irving Sarnoff acted as chairman, and the
meeting was also attended by Rose Chernin, Mike McCabe
and Nemmy Sparks. We cite these people for the purpose
of indicating the type of top control and support that
characterized the Peace Action Council during all of its
activities. Rose Chernin has repeatedly been identified as
an important member of the Communist party. For years
she was Executive Director of an old and firmly estab-
lished front organization known as the Los Angeles
Committee for Protection of the Foreign Born. Recently
the name of the organization has been changed to the
Los Angeles Committee for Defense of the Bill of Rights,
with its office located at 326 West Third Street, Room
318, Los Angeles, 90013. This organization has for its
prime purpose the providing of bail and legal services
for members of subversive organizations who become en-
tangled with our law^s. Mike McCabe we have already
mentioned as a national officer of Students for a Demo-
cratic Society, and Nemmy Sparks has long been iden-
tified as a top member of the Communist organization in
Southern California. Quoting from the House of Repre-
sentatives Report, issued on April 3, 1959, page 31, we
find this concerning Sparks' background:
''Sparks was born Nehemiah Ish-Kishor on March
6, 1899, in London, England. He received derivative
citizenship on December 13, 1913, in New York City
by virtue of the naturalization of his father. He is a
member of the Executive Board of the Southern
California District Council and Legislative Director
for the party's Southern California district. He
joined the Communist Party in 1922. In 1930, he was
in Moscow, Russia, as one of the American repre-
sentatives at an International Trade Union Congress.
He has held various positions in the Communist
Party throughout the United States — member of the
District Executive Committee, Seattle, Wash. ; Dis-
trict organizer, Pittsburgh, Pa.; District organizer,
Boston, Mass.; Instructor, Workers School in New
York City ; chairman. Communist Party in Wisconsin ;
alternate member. National Committee, Communist
Political Association. In 1945 he was transferred by
the Conmiunist Party from Wisconsin to Los Angeles
30 UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA
and replaced Carl Winter as head of the Communist
Party in Los Angeles County. Since his arrival in
Los Angeles he has held numerous functionary posi-
tions in the Communist Party on the County, State
and District levels. Occupation: Professional Com-
munist." (See Report on the Southern California
District of the Communist Party, House of Repre-
sentatives Committee on Un-Ajnerican Activities,
April 3, 1959).
One of the results of this meeting on police brutality
was a decision to mount another demonstration of protest
against the Los Angeles Police Department and other
law enforcement agencies to be held on Saturday, Sep-
tember 7, 1968, consisting of a march from Pershing
Square to the Police Administration Building. The dem-
onstration took place on schedule, 300 persons partici-
pated, and the procession was led by Rose Chernin.
At the meeting held on May 24, 1969, Sarnoff gave an
account of his trip to East Berlin, and his visit to Mos-
cow en route. The arrangements for his flight from Mon-
treal in a Soviet plane were made by Martin Hall, and
the purpose of Sarnoff's trip was to participate in the
preparatory arrangements for the World Peace Assembly
to be held in East Berlin June 21 to 24, 1969. Sarnoff
returned to East Berlin for that Assembly, and thereafter
made a trip to Stockholm where he participated in a study
of mass organizing techniques, having described this trip
at the Peace Action Council meeting which was held on
October 15, 1969. On the occasion of his trip to East Ber-
lin, one of his co-delegates was Arnold Samuel Johnson,
66. Johnson was identified by Attorney General Rob-
ert F. Kennedy as National Legislative Director of the
Communist Party in 1962, and a member of the National
Committee of that organization. He undoubtedly was ac-
corded a more friendly reception in East Berlin than he
received in Mexico in 1967, when he was sent back to the
United States by Mexican Security Police. (1963 Califor-
nia Report, pages 83, 88, 169; Peoples World, July 8,
1967.)
It might be noted in connection with the Sarnoff trips
to Communist countries and also the one he made to Swe-
den, that no account of them was given in the press, not
even in the Communist press, and so far as we have been
UN-AMEEICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA 31
able to discover they are being mentioned herein for the
first time. In November 1969, Sarnoff received a free
round-trip ticket to Khartoiun, Sudan, from the chairman
of the World Peace Council, Romesh Chandra. The prin-
cipal headquarters of this Communist-controlled organi-
zation is at Lonn Rotink, 18 v, Helsinki 12, Finland. At
the meeting of October 15, 1969, when Sarnoff reported on
his experiences at Stockholm, Dorothy Healey was in the
meeting as was Robert Klonsky, the father of Mike Klon-
sky, and at this meeting it developed that the organization
was flourishing as it recently loaned $1,000.00 to the New
Mobilization Committee that was currently using the
Council office space as its headquarters.
Participation at Montreal Conference
At the meeting on December 16, 1968 SarnofP reported
on his experiences at the Hemispheric Conference to End
the U. S. War in Vietnam at Montreal, November 28
through December 1 of that year. He provoked consider-
able interest when he exhibited the front page of Section
2 of the Montreal Star, which printed Sarnoff's picture
and the statement he was wanted by the F. B. I. for
allegedly helping Eldridge Cleaver to jump bail and flee
to safety outside the limits of the United States. From
Sarnoff's account and from other sources which we will
cite later, we learned that about 2000 people attended the
conference, which was characterized by many disputes and
one brief encounter between the Black Panthers from
California and some of the white activists who were
present.
There have been several important international meet-
ings conducted by the world Communist movement since
the Vietnam War provided a convenient catalyst. We
have already described Irving Sarnoff's visits to Moscow,
East Berlin, Stockholm, and Khartoum. Another meeting
of global signifiance was the Tri-Continental Conference,
which was held in Havana in January of 1966, and the
Budapest Conference of Communist Parties held the fol-
lowing October.
Preparations were made many months in advance of
the Montreal gathering. Scheduled originally to run from
October 12 to 14, it actually commenced on November 28
and ran until December 1. The delegates comprised a
32 UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA
conglomeration of revolutionists : American citizens fawn-
ing on our North Vietnam enemies, who came from Hanoi
by way of Havana; Americans who loudly proclaimed
their intent to bring about our violent downfall, fresh
from spreading their revolutionary sentiments on our tax-
supported campuses. There were Black Panthers, Trot-
skyists, and the grim and dedicated Moscow-type Commu-
nists who actually ran the show. There were do-gooders,
opportunists, fanatics and the customary sprinkling of
dupes. There were also scattered throughout the 2000
delegates, and fortunately not detected, an observant and
capable group of representatives from various official
agencies, both from the United States and Canada, from
whose accounts we can obtain an accurate idea of what
occurred; and there was also a group of journalists and
official observers from whose accounts we can also get an
accurate account of the conference.
The delegates registered in the basement of the St.
James United Church and received orange-colored identi-
fication cards, a program of events, and a list of recom-
mended restaurants and housing facilities. A quick survey
of the official list of participating organizations, spon-
sors and individual delegates, provides complete proof of
the tight Communist supervision of all the proceedings.
Among the participants and sponsors were the follow-
ing persons who have been identified as members of the
Communist Party: Irving Sarnoff, Professor Raymond
Boyer, who achieved notoriety as a participant in the
Canadian espionage case during World War II; Frank
Wilkinson, Carl and Anne Braden, Jarvis Tyner, Jim
Fite, James Jackson, Professor Leon Wofsy, Ben Dobbs,
Arnold Johnson (who accompanied Sarnoff to East Ber-
lin), Linda Appelhaus, Sam Kushner, Mike Myerson,
Eugene Tournour, Mike Eisencher, and Robert Duggan.
The list of sponsors also included Fr. Blase Bonpane,
ex-Maryknoll missionary and presently a peace activist
who frequently attended meetings of the Peace Action
Council in Los Angeles ; Rev. Stephen Fritchman, Pastor
of the Los Angeles First Unitarian Church; Dr. Ben-
jamin Spock; Professor Robert Greenblatt, Chairman of
the National Mobilization Committee that staged dem-
onstrations throughout the United States; Fr. Groppi,
UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA 33
militant Milwaukee priest who was convicted for his vio-
lent attack against the Selective Service System; Mario
Savio, former leader of the Free Speech Rebellion at
the Berkeley campus of the University of California ;
Professor Donald Kalish, and Harvey O'Connor, Na-
tional Leader of the Movement to Abolish the House of
Representatives Committee on Internal Security.
Bobby Scale, Black Panther leader from Oakland, was
scheduled to make a speech, but a spokesman for the
Panther delegation addressed the audience in most abu-
sive terms and complained that no effort had been made
to send Scale the necessary funds with which to make
the trip. The Panthers then threatened to disrupt the
meeting unless a suitable collection was taken. As might
also be expected, the Panthers , engaged in their usual
program of vulgarity and physical combat against a
group of young Communist activists, with whose ideology
the Panthers then disagreed.
One of the observers at the conference was David E.
Gumaer, who spent two years operating as an undercover
agent for a police intelligence division and who was able
to infiltrate Communist and front activities in general
and the W.E.B. DuBois Clubs in particular. He worked
in the national office of the DuBpis Clubs of America,
where he occupied a position of policy-making impor-
tance. His account of the hemispheric conference ap-
peared in the February 1969 issue of American Opinion,
complete with photographic coverage and a detailed de-
scription of the entire proceeding.
When Bobby Scale finally arrived at the speaker's
rostrum, he explained that the Black Panthers had been
formed to resist police violence in the same manner
that the North Vietnamese had been compelled to resist
attacks against them by the United States — ^by violence.
He called for unity with the Viet Cong, attacked the
police as *' racist pigs," and promised that the blacks,
along with other oppressed peoples, would overthrow and
destroy the ''avaricious businessmen, the pig police
forces, and the pig politicians who pollute the earth. We
will not halt," he declared, "until the American Empire
and its consequent racism are smashed." One dramatic
event, the description of which is agreed upon by all per-
34 UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA
sons who witnessed it, is described by Mr. Gumaer as
follows :
"The audience went wild when a sad little pile of
twenty-five American draft cards were burned in a
tinfoil dish by North Vietnam's Minister of Culture,
and Communist Galdino Guzman Cadena of Mexico^
Crowded around the now surrounded stage, the
Comrades cheered as the flames leapt higher, devour-,
ing a pile of American military classification cards,
a military identification card (which meant the donor
had become a deserter), and an American passport.
While the smoke and flames curled towards the ceil-
ing, a Black Panther shouted into the microphone:
'That's what an ohTnpic torch should really look
like.' Gifts were presented to the Viet Cong, includ-
ing a check for $2,000.00 from the New York Ameri-
can Friends Service Committee and the Communists'*
War Resistors League.
Following the immolation ceremony, the emotion-
ally drained Comrades climbed up on tables and
chairs, waving red flags and Viet Cong banners.
With arms raised in the Communist salute, they
stood at attention as the Viet Cong anthem was
played over a tape-recorder. Then they raised their
voices in crescendo, standing at attention with hands
and fists held high, singing the Communist Interna-
tional,
I slowly worked my way through the ravening
crowd, with those alien words still ringing in my ears,
and a lump in my throat, trying in vain to hide the
tears streaming down my cheeks. The Comrades, who
smiled as I passed, thought I was weeping from the
joy of it all. I was weeping for my country."
We have mentioned the disturbances as minor, but
should add that they were also frequent. The young Com-
munists who follow the Red Chinese theory of permanent
revolution were persistently trying to get control of the
proceedings. They clashed with the Panthers, shouted
and persisted in distributing propaganda throughout the
opening session on Friday December 29, which was held
in the St. James Church. Some of the delegates insisted
UN-AMEEICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA 35
that since American imperialism was being denounced,
that Russian imperialism should also be attacked because
of its armed invasion of Czechoslovakia in August, 1968.
But as the Moscow Communists controlled the confer-
ence, this protest was quickly subdued.
At one point during the violence Rev. Douglas Pilkey
of St. James Church insisted on summoning police to
quell the fighting at this conference for peace. But he
was subdued, also.
Saturday's session was devoted to workshops. The pro-
gram for the one on "racism" was clearly intended to
attract minority groups — mainly Negro and Latin-Amer-
ican— and to convince them that since racism and capital-
ism are inseparable, then racism could only be eliminated
when capitalism is destroyed. The inference concerning
the sort of regime that would replace capitalism then
becomes too plain to require comment. No mention was
made, of course, of anti-Semitism, purge trials, thought-
control, forcible invasion of other countries or cultural
repressions that exist in Communist countries.
This workshop program is reproduced to show how the
entire agenda at Montreal was switched from pleas for
peace in Vietnam to a vicious propaganda attack against
all non-Communist regimes in general and the United
States in particular. At the same time it served to forge
an international apparatus that now surrounds our
country.
Sunday's program was characterized by additional out-
bursts of violent fighting between some of the Latin-
American delegations. At this point the Black Panthers
volunteered their services as security guards and appar-
ently enjoyed their work in speedily moving to quell
disturbances.
Irving Sarnoff and other Los Angeles Communists had
worked diligently and effectively for months to prepare
for this Montreal conference. Their political action com-
mittee served as a rallying center. The PAC meetings
were devoted to soliciting members to make the trip to
Montreal and the propaganda tables were amply supplied
with materials such as the exhibits reproduced following
this section, especially the one headed, "Los Angeles
Organizing Committee, Hemisphere Conference to End
36 UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA
the U. S. War in Vietnam — Peace Action Council, 555
N. Western Ave., Los Angeles, Calif., 90004/HO 2-8188."
About 90 persons came from California in the group
headed by Sarnoff, and we should make it clear at this
point that our ability to describe the proceedings at Mon-
treal in such detail arises from the fact that very few
persons were screened for security, and observers were
permitted to attend all of the sessions, even some of the
workshop meetings. In addition, there were statements
by undercover agents for official agencies, reporters for
such anti-Comnmnists publications as American Opinion
and News and Views, Vol. 32, No. 2, Feb. 19, 1969, as
well as the reports of delegates who attended the confer-
ence and from Sarnoff himself, together with accounts in
publications of general circulation.
We have treated the Montreal conference at some
length and included it as part of our discussion of the
Peace Action Council, because this front organization
is the largest and most powerful now operating in Cali-
fornia. It is headed by a Communist, it is dominated by
Communists, and it is essential to understand the scope
of its operation and its participation in international
Communist meetings, such as the one in Montreal.
Activities 1969-1970
During 1969 and until the spring of 1970, the Peace
Action Council has been steadily growing in membership,
financial strength, and influence. In addition to the trips
abroad by Martin Hall and Irving Sarnoff on global
Communist business, and the large attendance at Mon-
treal, other PAC members reported their own foreign
travels at various meetings of the organization. Mike
McCabe gave an account of his trip to Sweden and
Czechoslovakia at the February 19, 1969 meeting. He is
a Trotskyist Communist official. At the same meeting,
held at 555 North Western Avenue, Los Angeles, Joel
Britten described his trip to Havana and his conference
with the representative from the North Vietnamese Na-
tional Liberation Front. Jim Fite, an officer of Students
for a Democratic Society, discussed his visit to Sweden
and Hungary where he also conferred with agents of
the National Liberation Front.
tJN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA 37
On the literature table at a special meeting held in
Room 101, Franklin Hall, Los Angeles City College, on
the afternoon of March 1, 1969, some of the leaflets urged
attendance at two speeches by Karl Wolff, a leader of
SDS in Germany. This organization is comparable to
Students for a Democratic Society in the United States,
and Wolff is noted for his trips abroad and his exhorta-
tions of fellow activists throughout the world to revo-
lutionary activity. Wolff spoke at 619 South Bonnie
Brae on Monday March 1, at Los Angeles City College
on March 3 in the afternoon, and that evening at 8162
South Melrose in Los Angeles. This gathering in Frank-
lin Hall was specially called to lay plans for a demon-
stration on March 6. Among those present were. Sarnoff,
Betty Rottger, Mike McCabe, and Raphael Konigsberg.
As the role of the PAC demonstrations became more
important, so did its security precautions. At the meeting
on November 17, 1969, Sarnoff distributed police code
books so that short-wave intercommunications could be
monitored. A report was also made by those PAC mem-
bers who participated in the San Francisco demonstra-
tions two days previously, in which an estimated 150,-
000 persons marched in the "moratorium parade."
The activities of this Communist-led organization pro-
vide a center from which demonstrations are planned
and support provided for a select cluster of its affiliates.
The propaganda influence of the Peace Action Council
is incalculable, as it smoothly coordinates its work with
the radical press and with the other Communist fronts
that we shall hereinafter describe.
Our collection of propaganda materials distributed at
PAC meetings in the name of peace includes copies of
the Vietnam Courier from Hanoi; materials urging
young men to defy the draft; notices of speeches by
well-known radical activists, and assorted other materials
designed to create disrespect for law and order, for law-
enforcement agencies, for the armed forces of the coun-
try, and to incite racial minority groups to rebellious
action.
Political Affairs is the official monthly publication of
the Communist Party of the United States. Writing in
the March 1963 issue, Arnold Johnson, heretofore men-
38 UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA
tioned as a co-delegate with Irving Sarnoff at one of
the foreign Communist meetings, wrote on page 14:
"... the peace forces must never become isolated
from the mass struggles. In this total struggle, there
is always a place for Communists."
In the Peace Action Council, a great many Commu-
nists have indeed found places, from which they operate a
typical, familiar Communist agit-prop (agitation-propa-
ganda) apparatus of great influence.
UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA 39
PEACE ACTION COUNCIL
EXHIBIT I
192P>
SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA PEACE CRUSADE
s509 No. WQStem Ave.
Los Angeles 4, Calif,
July 21, 1956
Dear Friend:
This is the last communication fron the Southern California
Peace Crusade that you will receive. Enclosed is a statement of the
Executive Board vrtilch officially dissolves the organization.
As a supporter of the Southern California Peace Crusade's
program, you can be justifiably proud of its pioneer vrork for peace
and your ovm share in this effort. For the first time in history popular
pressure is recognized as on active factor in determining a nation's
foreign policy.
We wish to thank each of you who contributed financially to
maintain our organization. Your generous support over the years
enabled us to play a pioneering role. We are proud that the history
of events has justified our program. We are also proud that this
program is now the goal of the majority of our countrymen, and that
more and more groups and individuals are working in their own v/ay to
achieve its ends.
We do not dissolve our organization in defeat, but in vic-
tory. TiVe have no regrets. For the years spent working in the Southern
California Peace Crusade were rich and satisfying*
There is no doubt that each of us — formerly cf the
Southern California Peace Crusade family — will continue to work
luaceasingly to make lasting peace a realitys
Sincerely,
Vicki Landish
Former Executive Director
40 UN-AMERICAN ACTmTIES IN CALIFORNIA
PEACE ACTION COUNCIL
EXHIBIT II
PEACE ACTION COUNCIL
OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
555 No. WMt«ra Atadu* Room 3 • Los Angeles, California 90004
HOUywood 2-8188
July 15, 1968
Dear Friends:
The visit to Los Angeles of Dave Bellinger, chairman cf the National
Itobilization Coimnittee to Bid the War in Vietnam, is an important event for
our local anti-war movement. His recent trips to Paris and Hanoi, as well
as his outstanding leadership in the National anti-war movement should help
all of us in planning for the crucial months ahead. Mr. Bellinger's talk
will also deal with some of the recent Vietnam peace proposals of some of the
major presidential candidates.
Because of our emergency organizing around the Humphrey visit, it has
been very difficult to publicize this event to the fullest extent.
We are therefore appealing to you personally to do all you can to come
and to bring as many friends as possible, '.fe hope that you and your organization
will phone as many of your activists as you can, so that we may all benefit
from Mr. Bellinger's experiences and knowledge.
While the main part of the program will concern the Paris talks, a
small part of the evening will be allowed for a report by the Rev, Arthur G,
Melville, Roman Catholic priest who was expelled from Guatemala and from the
Maryknoll Order there, for participating in the Guatemalan revolutionary
movement.
We have taken the liberty of enclosing a few anno\mcemts for your use
and remailing. As always, we are depending upon you and your organization for
a successful event.
Sincerely,
Irving SamoffJ chairman
Peace Action Council of Southern California
IS:ps
UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA 41
PEACE ACTION COUNCIL
EXHIBIT III
Los Angeles Organizing Committee " ^
HEMISPHERE CONFERENCE TO END THE U.S. WAR IN VIETNAM
PEACE ACTION COUNCIL
555 N. Western Ave., Los Angeles, Calif. 90004 /HO 2-
October 15, 1968
Dear Peace Worker:
On November 28, 29, 30 and December 1 in Montreal, Canada, the Hemisphere Conference to
End the U.S. War in Vietnam will gather. Enclosed is a copy of the call to the Conference.
Concerned people from most of the countries of North, Central and South America are respond-
ing; preliminary estimates are that more than 2000 participants will work together
at the Conference.
The Peace Action Council of Los Angeles has taken on the task of organizing Southern California
participation in the Conference, and raising funds for such participation. We believe it vital
that all sections of our country be involved in this great Conference, both for the value of the
Conference and for the opportunity for all sections of the U.S. peace movement to come together.
A charter flight has been arranged. The flight will leave Los Angeles Wednesday evening,
November 27 and will arrive back in Los Angeles early Monday morning. The cost is $150.00
round trip. For those who need it, the Hemisphere Conference Committee will supply food
and lodging in Montreal. Because this is a holiday weekend, early confirmation of the flight is
necessary. If you are interested in going as an individual or your organization is interested
in sending a delegate, please call immediately HO 2-8188.
We urge you to:
1. Fill out and return the enclosed envelope.
2. Discuss the Conference in organizations you are a member of. Speakers are available to
bring additional information and to answer questions.
3. Talk to your friends about the conference.
4. Make a contribution to help with Conference expenses. This is urgent!
Los Angeles Organizing Committee
Hemisphere Conference to End the
U.S. War in Vietnam
42 UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA
PEACE ACTION COUNCIL
EXHIBIT IV
PEACE ACTION COUNCIL
OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
555 No. Western Avenue Room 3 • Los Angeles, Caliiomia 90004
Hollywood 2-8188
Dear friend.
On June 14 over 300 people from So. Calif, met in a conference sponsored by Peace
Action Council. It was decided to launch numerous actions including a massive anti-war
demonstration at the Nixon Summer White House in San Clemente on Sun., Aug. 17. The confer-
ence also decided to show a more active concern for the increased racism, repression and
poverty that are the internal counterparts of U.S. foreign policy.
Since that time, PAC and affiliated organization delegates have travelled to the
World Peace Assembly in Berlin and the National Anti-War Conference in Cleveland.
At both gatherings actions were proposed to make the summer & fall of 1969 a period
of renewed activity against the Vietnam War & the racism and repression of
American society.
In Chicago on Oct. 11 and Washington on Nov. 15 there will be major national actions
with simultaneous demonstrations on the West Coast.
We are convinced that much of the administration's tactics are designed to pacify and
quiet the rising anti-war sentiments of the American people. We are convinced that much of
the peace talk of the Nixon Administration is disproved by their increased military
activity and preparations.
We feel, therefore that it is more important than ever to increase the tempo of our
actions to remove all U.S. troops from Vietnam immediately and to change our pri-
orities from those of war to solving the desperate problems of our people.
Your help is sorely needed to make our desire for an increased commitment a reality.
We need funds to help vacationing students reach out to new communities. We need funds
to do mailings, advertise, circularize so that thousands never before reached will become
involved in the movement to build a better America.
Your contributions have helped build a movement that cannot be ignored ; we are
confident that with your help the movement will accomplish its goals.
Please contribute as much as you possibly can.
Peafe i Love,
Irvini Sarnoff
Chairman — Peace Action Council
Please take note of the unique event described on the flap of the enclosed
remit envelope and also try to fill as many petitions as you can.
THE PEACE AND FREEDOM PARTY
Origin and Early Activities
At the National Conference for New Politics, held in
Chicago, August 31-September 1, 1967, among the offi-
cials present were Robert Scheer, Tom Hay den, C. Clark
Kissinger, of Students for a Democratic Society, Dr.
Carlton Goodlett, Stokley Carmichael, Carey McWil-
liams, Dick Gregory, Don Rothenberg, Mark Comfort,
Arnold Johnson (Publicity Director for the Communist
Party), H. Rap Brown and James Freeman. The con-
ference coordinator, Michael Wood, stated that Com-
munists were welcome and would provide leadership for
the proceedings. The documentation for this information
is taken from official papers issued by the National Con-
ference for New Politics, and current newspaper and
magazine accounts.
Much of the advance publicity released from the Bay
area in California proclaimed that from the conference
there would develop a new Peace and Freedom Party —
which, indeed, it did. Most of these releases came from
the Community for New Politics, and there were similar
statements issued from Chicago. The office of the Com-
munity For New Politics was at 2214 Grove Street,
Berkeley.
The Communist Party of the United States had stead-
fastly opposed the creation of a third political party, pre-
ferring the Left Establishment to operate through one
of the two major political organizations that already
existed. But although the conference proved a dismal
failure — except as a demonstration of Black Power —
there were emerging cliques that worked together to
create the third party, and in California three spokesmen
for the Peace and Freedom Party announced that a drive
would be launched to get the Party on the California
ballot in 1968 to oppose President Johnson. The spokes-
men were Professor Farrel Broslawsky of San Fernando
State College, Professor J. B. Nielands of Berkeley, and
Robert Avakian, a writer for Ramparts Magazine. On
(43)
44 UN-AMERICAN ACTIYITIES IN CALIFORNIA
September 17, 1967, approximately 200 people interested
in forming the new political organization met at San
Luis Obispo to plan strategy, the leaders being Robert
Avakian, Al Moreno of the Community for New Politics,
and Jack Weinberg, one of the leaders of the Free
Speech Movement at Berkeley in 1964.
On December 9, 1967, the Peoples World, a Communist
newspaper in California, ran a feature article about the
Peace and Freedom Party, and the Community for New
Politics in Berkeley directed a letter to its members
urging them to get behind the movement. Signers of this
letter included Professor Broslawsky, Malcolm Burn-
stein, Barbara Garson, Saul Landau, Robert Scheer, Pro-
fessor Franz Schurmann, Professor Stephen Smale,
Howard Jeter, Jack Weinberg, Robert Avakian and
Peter Franck. The San Luis Obispo Convention, which
actually launched the Peace and Freedom Party in Cali-
fornia, even derived its name from an article that ap-
peared a month earlier in the official publication of the
Communist Party. In the August 1967 issue of Political
Affairs, Gus Hall, national secretary of the American
Communist Party wrote:
"One of the most realistic and promising national
movements for mass independent politics is the coali-
tion of independent groupings gathered together
under the designation of the National Conference
for New Politics.
Thus far it is a coming together of important
forces from the Civil Rights Movement, various sec-
tions of the Peace Movement, some trade union
groups, organizations and leaders in the anti-poverty
struggles, student groups. Civil Liberties organiza-
tions and some organized farm groups. It is a move-
ment that has attracted forces from both the inde-
pendent movements of the past and the New Left
groups.
The New Politics movement is politically and
ideologically, as well as organizationally, independent
of the two old parties. In local electoral campaigns,
it has supported candidates running through the
apparatus of the two-party system, as well as candi-
dates running as independents. But it is truly inde-
pendent of the two-party system, the question of
UN-AMEEICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA 45
hotv it runs candidates for political office becomes,
secondary.
This is a young movement with tremendous po-
tential. It opens up the avenue for a political alliance
of the different mass dreams of struggle, a path that
can lead away from separate, fragmented and iso-
lated political movements. It is a movement engaged
both in expressing an electoral protest and seeking
electoral victories. It has the potential of becoming a
winning coalition of electoral forces." (Political
Affairs, August, 1967, page 6).
Mr. Hall exhibited Marxian omniscience when he wrote
on the following page of Political Affairs that "Whether
there will be a Peace and Freedom Presidential ticket in
1968 will be decided within the coming months. The re-
cently held meeting of the National Committee of the
Communist Party, U.S.A., states some of the tasks in the
following words: 'In our opinion the fight in the Demo-
cratic Party is very important, but not because we be-
lieve it can be taken away from the machine that controls
it nationally. It is important to the extent that it enfolds
a mass struggle against the Johnson Administration and
does grab areas of control away from the machine, thus
enabling certain more progressive candidates to emerge,
****this is why an independent ticket is the most im-
portant weapon even influencing developments in the two
major parties themselves.' "
We discussed the Community for New Politics in our
1967 Report, commencing at page 97. Since it was the
forerunner of the Peace and Freedom Party, it may be
helpful for us to give a brief resume of the Community
for New Politics, the Committee for New Politics, and
how these movements provided the background for the
organization we are now discussing.
Robert Scheer has been a radical activist for several
years. He was a member of SLATE, Berkeley campus
radical student organization with a strong Marxian
orientation, and thereafter was a campus leader of the
Fair Play for Cuba Committee, which was controlled by
the Communist apparatus. He has travelled to Hanoi and
elsewhere in Southeast Asia and has spoken and written
about his experiences. On August 17, 1965 he was fea-
tured in an anti- Vietnam war demonstration at Lake
46 UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA
Merritt Park, Oakland. Congressman Jeffrey Cohelan,
liberal California Democrat, had been asked to partici-
pate but declined because although he was opposed to the
continued bombing of North Vietnam, he was in accord
with President Johnson's position regarding the war in
general. The Radical Left became enraged because Cohe-
lan declined their invitation, and decided to run Scheer
against him in the next election.
Scheer 's most prominent and active supporters in-
eluded Jerry Rubin, one of the defendants at the recent
Chicago trial; Carl Bloice, Communist reporter for the
Peoples World; Roscoe Proctor, National Communist
Party Functionary from Berkeley; Steve Weismann, a
Free Speech Movement leader, and Robert Avakian, a
Maoist Communist. {National Review, Dec. 14, 1965,
pages 1157-1159; S. F. Chronicle, Jan. 15, 1966; S. F.
Examiner, Jan. 20, 1966; S. F. Chronicle, Feb. 2, 1966 r
Scheer Campaign Documents, Jan., 1966; Oakland Trib-
une, April 14, 1966 and May 10, 1966.)
Following its 1967 convention at San Luis Obispo, the
liewly created political organization launched a massivef
campaign to register enough voters to qualify for the
coming elections. Jack Weinberg was statewide coordi-
nator, and a Free Speech Movement leader at Berkeley
in 1964. In California this required a registration of
67,000 people by January 1, 1968. Most of the radical
activists rallied to this political effort, as they had done
to the Independent Progressive Party twenty years be-
fore. Indeed, the two political organizations were strik-
ingly similar in most respects except their names. But
there was one important distinction. Hugh Bryson, a
Communist, headed the Independent Progressive Party
and it was always under tight Communist control in Cali-
fornia. The Peace and Freedom Party, on the other hand,
was dominated by leaders from several Communist and
Marxist groups. As Professor Farrel Broslawsky wrote:
"Active support for the Peace and Freedom Party
cuts across sectarian lines and tactical divisions. Rad-
ical political militants supporting the Party, include
Bob Avakian, Mike Hannon, Paul Jacobs, Mai Burn-
stein, Jack Weinberg, and Robert Scheer. To date,
the Peace and Freedom Party has provided a focal
point for electoral activity on the part of radicals,
TJN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA 47
intellectuals, discontented middle-class individuals
and anti-war activists." (Claremont Courier, Nov.
29, 1967).
Professor Broslawsky, in his description of the Peace
and Freedom Party, could have been referring equally
well and with equal accuracy to the Independent Pro-
gressive Party of the late '40 's. In each instance there
was firm control at the top by subversive elements; in
each instance there were piany rank and file adherents
who were dissatisfied with the two major political parties
and had no idea of how the third party was structured
or controlled, and were in no sense subversive. And, as
was true in the Independent Progressive Party, the Peace
and Freedom Party also lost a great many of its members
when the true facts concerning the nature of the organi-
zation and its controlling factions became known. Once
the drive for signatures was under way, offices were estab-
lished throughout the state. Circulators of petitions were
recruited, lines of communication were opened, and in
southern California a headquarters was located at 4467
West Pico Boulevard, Los Angeles, 90019, to correlate
activities with the northern California offices. Even the
Socialist Workers Party, those Trotskyist Communists
who usually remain aloof from allowing members to run
on their political tickets, now freely consented to partici-
pate with the new third party organization. Even the
Peoples World, that had remained hostile to the concept
of a third party until the word came down from on high
that the General Secretary, Gus Hall, had approved, now
printed its consent and best wishes from such important
members in the Northern California Division as Albert
Lima, Bettina Aptheker and Roscoe Proctor, the three
declaring that "There is a determined radical wing
within the powerful Peace Movement in this country."
{Peoples World, Jan. 13, 1968; Oakland Tribune, Jan.
13, 1968).
The Community for New Politics was officially dis-
solved in February, 1968 and its members urged to become
active in the new Peace and Freedom Party. (Peoples
World, Feb. 17, 1968, page 3.) As the organization pro-
ceeded, the fledgling third party wasted little time in dem-
onstrating how different it was from the two major politi-
48 UN-AMERICAN ACTIYITIES IN CALIFORNIA
cal parties. In the Bay area it demonstrated against Sec-
retary of State Dean Rusk when he spoke at the Fairmont
Hotel in San Francisco in the evening of January 11
1968. In concert with the Stop the Draft Committee and
the Berkeley Campus Mobilization Committee, this aifair
was organized at Berkeley and several hundred partici-
pants hurled bottles and rocks at police at the San Fran-
cisco hotel. Fifty-two were arrested, and immediately
their supporters raised the familiar accusation of police
brutality. {Daily Calif ornian, Berkeley, Jan. 12, 1968;
Oakland Tribune, Jan. 12, 1968.) In January the Peace
and Freedom Party joined in a demonstration at San
XJnentin Penitentiary urging the inmates to strike on
February 15, 1968. {Berkeley Barb, Feb. 9, 15, 1968.)
Coalition With Black Panther Party
As shown by an exhibit that is reproduced at the con-
clusion of this section, there was early cooperation be-
tween the Peace and Freedom Party and the Black Pan-
ther Party. This exhibit provides an illustration of the
propaganda generated by some of these organizations in
an attempt to break down respect for constituted author-
ity, and to imbue minority groups with hatred against law
enforcement agencies. The handbill read, in part :
*'The Los Angeles police, like the police of other
large cities, are brutal, arrogant and insulting toward
all people in the Black and Brown communities. But
their most savage attacks are directed against the
militant organizations through which oppressed mi-
nority people fight for freedom. It is the clear and
unmistakable policy of the police department, serving
the same functions as did the Nazi Gestapo to crush
all organizations which threatened the rule of the
racist power structure."
John Haag soon emerged as the leader of the southern
California Peace and Freedom Party, and eventually,
with Mike Schon, became a co-chairman of the state orga-
nization. A graduate of an Eastern University, Haag
lived at Venice where he operated a coffee house that was
a gathering place for radicals, and he also headed the
youth adjunct of the Communist Party in the Los
Angeles area, the DuBois Clubs of America. By March
UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA 49
1968, the PFP was publishing a paper called the Agita-
tor. Issue No. 2, dated March 10, 1968, stated that it was
''Designed to promote radical thought, discussion and
action within the Movement." On page 8 it declared that
"the Black Panther Party for self-defense is in desperate
need of money for Huey New^ton's defense, for legal de-
fense of other members who are being harassed by the
law, and for their main job: organizing and defending
the ghetto."
This liaison between Panthers and the third party was
becoming more firm; and it was also one of the reasons
that contributed to the shrinking numbers in the Peace
and Freedom Party, due to defections when the nature of
its control and its cooperation with the Panthers seeped
down through its mass membership. As we have stated,
these Communist-operated third parties attracted many
liberals who were not willing to continue in either of the
other two parties, and therefore quickly registered in the
newly-created third party organization. But in southern
California, the slates of sponsors were soon announced
and among them were well-known Communist Party mem-
bers, such as Hursel Alexander and Frank Pestana, as
well as Mario Savio, the leader of the Berkeley rebellion.
And when the cooperation with Panthers became more
widely known, the defections increased accordingly.
Peace and Freedom Party Qualifies for Ballot
The Peace and Freedom Party's own figures in the
various California counties that enabled it to qualify for
the ballot, were as follows: Alameda, 12,886; Amador, 1;
Butte, 84; Calaveras, 1; Contra Costa, 1,219; Del Norte,
0; El Dorado, 5; Fresno, 141; Glenn, 0; Humboldt, 286;
Imperial, 9 ; Inyo, 1 ; Kern, 90 ; Kings, 3 ; Lake, 6 ; Lassen,
3; Los Angeles, 25,928; Madera, 2; Marin, 1,869; Mari-
posa, 1; Mendocino, 70; Merced, 3; Mono, 4; Monterey,
260 ; Napa, 1 ; Nevada, 1 ; Orange, 1,084 ; Placer, 31 ; Plu-
mas, 2; Riverside, 542; Sacramento, 617; San Benito, 1;
San Bernardino, 296; San Diego, 4,948; San Francisco,
14,610; San Joaquin, 41; San Luis Obispo, 60; San Ma-
teo, 1,677; Santa Barbara, 771; Santa Clara, 1,791;
Santa Cruz, 920 ; Shasta, 6 ; Siskiyou, 2 ; Solano, 153 ; So^
noma, 654 ; Stanislaus, 43 ; Sutter, 1 ; Tehama, 2 ; Trinity,
50 UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA
1; Tulare, 19; Tuolumne, 4; Ventura, 180; Yolo, 173,
Yuba, 6. These were the registrations reported by the
County Representatives to the Headquarters of the Peace
and Freedom Party, as of April 11, 1968. A few days
thereafter, the state steering committee convened at 55
Colton Street, San Francisco. Among those present were
Hugh Manes, Jack Weinberg, and Peter Franck. Manes
acted as chairman for the first session and it was decided
to add Eldridge Cleaver, Black Panther leader, as a mem-
ber of the steering committee, and also to form a working
coalition with the Black Panther Party. (Minutes, Steer-
ing Committee meeting April 13 and 14, 1968.)
The Peace and Freedom Party provided yet another
rallying medium for radical groups throughout the state.
At a meeting of the Progressive Labor Party, which
follows the ideology of the Eed Chinese Communists,
at 1617 East Palmer Street, Los Angeles, on April 10,
1968, it was announced that there would be a caravan
departing for San Francisco on April 18 to participate in
a demonstration for the Panthers in Oakland, and that
the Peace and Freedom Party would also send personnel.
Thus the description by Professor Broslawsky to the
effect that the new third party would include a broad
variety of radicals was proving eminently accurate. There
were Black Panthers, Trotskyist Communists, Maoist
Communists, DuBois Club members. Progressive Labor
Party members who also followed the ideology of Red
China, and members from the Dow Action Committee,
the Peace Action Council and various other fronts and
peripheral groups that were banding together in a united
front type of demonstrations and protests of various kinds.
A specific example is found in the gathering on Satur-
day, April 20 1968, at the southwest corner of Willow
Street and Long Beach Boulevard in Long Beach. The
rally was called, "A campus-community solidarity march
against the Vietnam war and White racism." Participat-
ing were the following organizations: Los Angeles Vet-
erans for Peace in Vietnam, Long Beach Citizens for
Peace, Students for a Democratic Society, Long Beach
State College Faculty Peace Committee, Independent
High School Students' SDS, Long Beach Womens Inter-
national Strike for Peace, Peace and Freedom Party
UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA 51
Clubs, Dow Action Committee, and Peace Action Council.
The parade proceeded along the sidewalk, down Long-
Beach Boulevard, turned west on Pine Street, and
stopped at a small park, where speakers addressed the
crowd of several hundred.
By May 1968, the Press carried articles describing the
shrinking of the ranks of the Peace and Freedom Party.
The Lqs Angeles Times, May 3 1968, stated :
'^ . . defections have averaged about 10,000 a
month since the Party qualified for the ballot, and
indications were that the Party's 105,000 voters
would be reduced to about 60,000, when all registra-
tions are tabulated.
In San Diego officials said 30% of the Party's
4,948 members had registered with other Parties.
Los Angeles was down about the same percentage
from 36,788, Alameda 38% from 20,000, and San
Francisco down about 50% from 19,347.
Many observers attributed the defections to the
emergence of 'peace candidates' in the established
parties and to the PFP 's alignment with the militant
Black Panther group."
The Candidates
Although the Socialist Workers' Party, Trotskyist
Communist group, collaborated with the Peace and Free-
dom Party, it ultimately decided to follow its usual proce-
dure in running its own candidates for public office.
Peace and Freedom Party attempted to run Eldridge
Cleaver as its candidate for President of the United
States, but shortly after the announcement was made, an
inquiry was received from the California Attorney
General's office inquiring whether or not Cleaver was
eligible from the standpoint of age. A quick search dis-
closed that he was two years shy of the requisite 35 year
age required by the United States Constitution. The
Secretary of State, upon receiving evidence of this fact,
refused to allow Cleaver's name to appear on the ballot.
A petition was immediately filed with the California
State Supreme Court, and was promptly denied, a serious
blow to the Peace and Freedom Party's campaign.
52 UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA
Other well-known candidates included Ben Dobbs, a
frequent patron of Communist Front organizations, and
a Communist Party member for more than 30 years. He
was a candidate for election to the United States House
of Representatives from the 17th Congressional District
in California. His boastful declaration of Party mem-
bership was an indication of the new technique currently
in use by Communists who are fairly well known as such,
to openly admit their membership and endeavor to make
the Communist Party and its members respectable in
the eyes of the American people. To some extent this
technique has succeeded; not because the threat of Com-
munism is decreasing — quite the contrary — but rather
because of the astounding apathy that pervades our
thinking and because people are peculiarly susceptible
to this type of propaganda.
John Haag was a candidate for election to the Califor-
nia State Senate from the 25th Senatorial District ; Sher-
man Pearl ran for Congress from the 28th Congressional
District ; Jack Weinberg ran for Congress from the 26th
Congressional District, and Hugh Manes from the 22nd
Congressional District. Paul Jacobs was the candidate for
United States Senator from California, and we have
alluded to him in previous reports. He was formerly an
organizer for the Socialist Workers Party, and is pres-
ently a consultant to the Center for the Study of Demo-
cratic Institutions at Pasadena. This organization, for-
merly known as the Fund for the Republic, recently went
through a drastic reorganization, during which several
of the original officers were discharged from their posi-
tions. Since its original grant from the Ford Foundation
has been used up, the Center now spends a great deal
of its time soliciting funds from private sources in order
that it may continue to operate. The Jacobs campaign
was vigorously conducted, especially in the southern part
of the state, but the entire Peace and Freedom Party
suffered from lack of funds and a dearth of trained po-
litical workers.
Headquarters Moved to Pink House
In July, 1968 the Peace and Freedom Party headquar-
ters in southern California was moved to the so-called
UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA 53
*'Pink House" at 619 Bonnie Brae, Los Angeles. This
is a two-storied, pink and white colonial structure, in
which the Dow Action Committee and the Liberation
News Service had their offices. The decision to move was
made at the PFP Council meeting held at 544 North
Western Avenue on June 23, 1968. (Peace and Freedon^
Party Broadside, July 2, 1968, page 2.)
At the September 30, 1968, PFP Council meeting in
the new offices, the minutes stated that: ''Discussion: Is
Cleaver reaching the people as a Presidential candidate?
Kesult: Cleaver makes impact on people; they are get-
ting educated whether or not they realize P and F is
behind that education."
And at the Council meeting on October 14 1968, the
minutes stated that: "Milt Zaslow reported on the prog-
ress being made toward launching a National Defense
Committee. The Black Panther Party is cooperating
fully, the initial sponsoring Committee has representa-
tives from the Black Panthers, Peace and Freedom, PAC
(Peace Action Council), Los Angeles Committee for De-
fense of the Bill of Rights (headed by Communist Rose
Chernin), the Communist Party, and the Socialist Work-
ers Party."
Trouble at the Pink House
It was inevitable that with so many similar organiza-
tions occupying offices in the same building and presum-
ably sharing expenses, that trouble would result. It did
result, according to a letter addressed to the Peace and
Freedom Party, dated November 11, 1968, and signed
by Dow Action Committee, Veterans for Peace in Viet-
nam, and GI's and Vietnam Veterans Against the War.
On the following day, the PFP Steering Committee re-
sponded with a letter referring to the other groups as:
"Our tenants" and claiming "priority" in the premises.
This attitude widened the breach, and the friction per-
sisted until the Peace and Freedom Party vacated the
Pink House headquarters by simply abandoning the
office and much of its contents in January 1969.
54 UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA
Southern California Clubs
By the end of 1968 there were 36 active Peace and
Freedom Party Clubs functioning in the Los Angeles
area. We list them here with their addresses in order to
show the extent of the influence each of these organiza-
tions exerted. They were :
Beverly Hills, 10334 Wilkins Street, LA 90024;
Cal State, 5424 Dobbs Street, LA 90032 ;
Canoga Park-Chatsworth, 19853 Dermit Street, Canoga
Park;
East Los Angeles, 216 South Soto Street, LA 90033;
East Valley Chapter, 13107 Margate Street, North Hol-
lywood ;
Echo Park-Silver Lake, 1448 Ridgeway, LA 90026;
Encino Club, 17261 Oakview Drive, Encino ;
Foothill, 10259 Helendale Avenue, Tujunga;
Forum Club, c/o Box 77-145 LA 90007, Meetings at
MacArthur Park ;
Granada Hills, 11013 Woodley Street, Granada Hills,
91344;
Health Sciences, 1530 South Monterey Street, Alham-
bra;
Hermosa Beach Club, Hermosa Beach ;
Hollywood Hills Club, 2401 Beachwood Street, Holly-
wood;
Hughes Aircraft Club, 4717 Vender Hill, Torrance ;
Inner Hollywood, 6141^ Romaine Street, LA 90038;
Long Beach Club, 362 East Louise Street, Long Beach
Los Feliz Club, 8030^ West Third Street, LA 90048
Manhattan Beach Club, 598 29th Street, Manhattan
Beach, 90266;
Northeast Area, 356 West Avenue 43, LA 90065 ;
North Hollywood, 6930 Fulton Avenue, North Holly-
wood, 91605 ;
North Hollywood No. 2, 4633 Willowcrest, North Holly-
wood;
Orange County, 6442 Larkspur Street, Huntington
Beach, 92047;
Ocean Park, 247 Bicknell Street, Santa Monica, 90405 ;
Olympic-Fairfax Club, 6248 Warner Street, Los An-
geles ;
UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA 55
Pasadena-Altadena, 167 North Orange Grove Blvd.,
Pasadena, 91103 ;
Pico-Crenshaw, 5130 Chesley Street, Los Angeles,
90043;
Pancho Villa Club, 20331 Mobile Street, Canoga Parkj
Pomona Valley, 636 Hendix Street, Claremont;
Eeseda Club, 7300 Wilbur Street, Reseda ;
Santa Anita, 3022 Ninth Avenue, Arcadia ;
Santa Monica High School Club, 722 Adelaide Place,
Santa Monica, 90402 ;
Sherman Oaks, 3945 Sunny Oaks Road, Sherman Oaks,
91403;
South Pasadena-San Marino, 1885 Petersen Avenue,
South Pasadena ;
Topanga Club, 20774 Hillside Drive, Topanga, 90290;
Venice Club, 1727 West Washington Boulevard, Venice,
90291;
West Los Angeles Club, 426i Veteran Avenue, Los
Angeles 20024;
West Los Angeles Central, 2687 Veteran Avenue, LA
90064;
Wilshire-Westlake, 1094 West 31st Street, Los Angeles.
There was also a Peace and Freedom Communications
Center, which was situated at 700 Greentree Drive, Pacific
Palisades. After vacating its quarters at the Pink House
in January, the Peace and Freedom Party remained
virtually dormant as a political organization during 1969.
It nevertheless continued its participations and demon-,
strations and marches from time to time, and held occa-
sional meetings in order to keep up the interest of mem-
bers and to perpetuate the Club organization. Ordinarily
these meetings were held at the offices of the Peace Action
Council, 555 North Western Avenue. Such a meeting was
held on April 5, 1969, at which the matter of defense
against police and also extreme rightist organizations was
discussed. About 34 people attended this meeting and it
was reported by Leo Fromkin that the Socialist Workers
Party had agreed to provide 33 members for defense pur-
poses, the young Socialist Alliance 17, the Communist
56 UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA
Party 10, Socialist Workers for Peace 10, Peace and
Freedom Party 20, Youth Educational Defense Commit-
tee 25, and that this force would be divided into 5-man
teams. Mike McCabe, representing the Socialist Workers
Party, stated he had received a report from an informant
to the effect that a motorcycle gang would try to disrupt
^ march scheduled for April 6.
This affair was sponsored by GI's Against War, Viet-
nam Veterans Against War and the Student Mobilization
Committee. It was held in MacArthur Park at noon, and
McCabe 's informant proved correct, as members of an
organization known as the Iron Cross Motorcycle Club
caused minor disturbances, as did some members of the
American Nazi Party, and a few anti-Communist Cuban
exiles. But the Los Angeles Police Department, rather
than the Security Squads, handled the trouble. And as
long as they were protecting the demonstrators, they were
not called pigs and accused of police brutality, these
terms being ordinarily applied when the police protect
the public against the demonstrators. At this affair Irving
Sarnoff read a message by the North Vietnamese Com-
munists from Hanoi ; there was a speech by a Black Pan-
ther, four demonstrators were arrested, and Rose Chernin
set about providing bail. We cite this to illustrate that the
Peace and Freedom Party engaged in other activities be-
sides running candidates for public office.
Skeleton Organization Maintained
In interviews with newspaper reporters recently, offi-
cial spokesmen for the Peace and Freedom Party have
indicated that they will maintain their organization for
the purpose of running candidates for elective offices
during the coming campaigns. Thus the Los Angeles
Times for February 13, 1970 stated :
''Because they want to stay alive politically and
because they don't like what the other parties are
doing. Peace and Freedom Party leaders have deci-
ded to enter candidates for statewide offices this year.
And the way things stand now, two PFP organizers
will lead the lists. Charles T. Webber, of Long Beach,
UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA 57
a 29 year old Party recruiter, will run for Governor.
John Haag of Venice, also a Party organizer, who is
now a state co-chairman for PFP, will run for IT. S.
Senator. Other members will run for lesser statewide
offices. Some will seek Congressional and State Legis-
lative posts. The candidates lots (sic) will be filled
and a Party platform drafted at a PFP Statewide
Convention next week at Cal State, Long Beach.
The Party acquired legal status in 1968 at the same
time the American Independent Party qualified for
the California ballot. Both of the new parties were
born mainly out of frustration with the two major
parties — Republican and Democratic. PFP members
were disenchanted with the Vietnam War Policy and
AIP members were backing the conservative views
of former Alabama Gov. George C. Wallace.
Webber said Republican Gov. Reagan and his pro-
spective Democratic challenger, Assembly Minority
Leader Jesse Unruh of Inglewood, are 'totally inac-
ceptable' to most PFP members and voters 'must be
given an alternative.'
But things are a bit different in the Senate race.
Republican incumbent George Murphy is a total
anathema to PFP members, but Rep. George Brown,
Jr., (D-Monterey Park), one of his prospective
challengers, is something else again, Haag said.
'Brown is a candidate who would be acceptable to
many PFP members if he were our candidate,' he
said. 'His views of the Vietnam War are very close
to ours. But he is seeking the nomination of a Party
(Democratic) hostile to his position. And I don't
really expect him to win the primary.'
Thus, if Brown fails to make the general election
ballot, peace-minded voters would have an alterna-
tive to Murphy in the PFP candidate — himself,
Haag explained.
'But if Brown should become the Democratic
nominee, then I would spend my time trying to
build our party.'
To stay alive as a legal Party qualified for the
California ballot, a PFP candidate in the statewide
58 UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALITORNIA
race must garner at least 2% of the total vote cast
in the race. That could mean that Webber or Haag,
or whomever is the PFP nominee in either race,
V7ould have to get 120,000 or more votes in the
general election. One of the problems the Party-
encounters in fielding a slate of candidates is filing
fees, which Haag and Webber believe are excessive
and which may be challenged in a test suit here."
Benefits From Third Party Political Efforts
We have described the creation and activities of the
Independent Progressive Party, which also endeavored
to run candidates for public office almost twenty years
ago. That organization was also run by members of the
Communist Party, and it failed miserably so far as the
polls were concerned. The Peace and Freedom Party,
split into many component groups, many of them with
divergent ideological beliefs, made an even worse show-
ing. Why, then, do these third party political movements
persist in their futile efforts, and why do the Communist
Party, the Socialist Party and the Socialist Workers'
Party persist in running their own candidates for public
office year after year?
In 1932 and 1934 the Communist Party engaged in a
vigorous campaign for the purpose of collecting enough
signatures on petitions to qualify its candidates for
California elections. The effort failed, but the result was
that the Party secured thousands of names of liberals
who were willing to assist the Communist Party in its
political efforts. This provided a compendium of contacts
that was invaluable, and it also provided an activity in
which a great many people could be interested in working
and organizing and propagandizing through a medium
that otherwise would not be available. The Independent
Progressive Party engaged in much the same sort of
activity, and the Socialist Workers Party and other
minority radical movements use the political device for
the purpose of issuing leaflets and pamphlets and having
candidates speak at public meetings, raising funds and
generally stimulating their respective organizations.
The Peace and Freedom Party, as we have seen, also
reaps this sort of political harvest from its activities. It
UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA 59
may be assumed that none of its candidates actually ex-
pected to be elected to the offices for which they cam-
paigned, but they did speak at numerous meetings, the
organization did raise funds, it did create an organiza-
tion, it made innumerable contacts and established a
great many clubs, it collected thousands of names on
petitions and received donations from thousands of con-
tributors. It also participated in many demonstrations, a
few of which we have described because we consider
them of particiular significance. The rest were covered
by the news media and it would serve no useful purpose
to describe them again here.
As this portion of the report is being written, we have
received information concerning the efforts of some of
the Peace and Freedom Clubs that are situated near high
schools to organize similar clubs among high school stu-
dents, and although the parent organization has become
relatively inactive, many of the clubs are flourishing and
exerting considerable influence in their respective areas.
60
UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA
PEACE AND FREEDOM PARTY
EXHIBIT I
WANTED ^
BY THE PEOPLE OF THE BEACH COMMUNITIES
for CONSPIRACY to stop the talking and withdraw U.S. forces from Vietnam,
to end the draft, release political prisoners,
to abolish political police, dismantle the war machine;
for ADVOCATING coimunlty control of coasnunlty affairs,
self-governnent for racial and cultural minorities,
neighborhood control of police, schools and parks,
adequate food, housing, medical care & education for all,
legal marijuana & abortion, voting at age 18,
low-cost public transportation Instead of freeways;
for AIDING and ABETTING the organization of farm workers, public employees,
military personnel, the unemployed & the poor;
for ASSAULT against the power structure and its two-party machine.
Sherman Pearl
CANDIDATE FOR CONGRESS
In the 28th District
former writer, publicist
John Haag
CANDIDATE FOR STATE
SENATE, 25th District
former coffee house
operator, organizer
and poet
Bob NiemaRi
CANDIDATE FOR STATE
ASSEMBLY, 60th District
former college profess'-^
and engineer
PAUL JACOBS - CANDIDATE FOR U.S. SENATE
ELDRIDGE CLEAVER - CANDIDATE FOR PRESIDENT
PEACE AND FREEDOM PARTY
BEACHHEAD CAMPAIGN OFFICE
1727 W. Washington Blvd.
Venice, California 90291
399-7681
noon to midnight
Mallbu 454-8471
Ocean Park 392-2010
Santa Monica 451-9320
South Bay 379-8175
West L.A. 478-9509
Labor donated
UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA
61
PEACE AND FREEDOM PARTY
EXHIBIT II
62 UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA
PEACE AND FREEDOM PARTY
EXHIBIT III
- 1931
iBuUetin Of The CENTRAL COMMITTEE OF CORRESPONDENCE
Volume n. Number 2. August 1968 P.O. Box 307. Pennington. N.J. 08S34
MOBILiZATION SET FOR VHiCAGO
Over 50,000 To Hv In Mass Action
NEW YORK. July 2b, 1968.
The National Mobilization Committee To End The War In Vietnam, which sponsored the famous
April 15 and October 21 demonstrations, has called for massive demonstrations at the Demo-
cratic Party Convention in Chicago, Tuesday and Wednesday August 27 and 28. The actions
will be oriented to issues, not candidates. Simply stated, these issues are American withdrawal
from Vietnam, and an end to repression in the ghettos.
Tom Hayden and Rennie Davis are leading a team of 25 full-time volunteers in Chicago, who are
arranging housing for 50, 000 visitors. Plans are also being made for legal and medical teams,
and possibly a daily newspaper for the week of the convention. August 28th is the day of the
actual nomination; the 27th is LBJ's birthday.
While the mass protests will take place on Tuesday and Wednesday, smaller actions are scheduled
to begin the previous week. These will consist of "street theater, rock music, mobile sound
trucks, pickets, sit-ins and so on, and will be led by seasoned demonstration leaders," according
to Tom Hayden. The National Mobilization Committee is setting up "affinity centers" in Chicago,
for participants to meet and plan decentralized actions. Visitors to Chicago will receive a
"demonstrator's guide" to the city.
Numbers to call for those who wish to help organize:
New York City: 212-964-6436
Chicago MobiUzation: 312-939-2666
Los Angeles: Contact Don Kalish, Dept. of Philosophy, Univ. of Calif. , LA,
CaUf. 90024.
According to the National MobiUzation Committee, "Chicago in August will be crucial to America.
... It will be better for the United States to get out of Vietnam than face the anti-war movement!"
The Coalition for an Open Convention, more oriented towards working within the Democratic
Party, has also called for a demonstration in Chicago, and has chartered buses from the New
York City area. The price is $34 round trip from New York, and housing is free. Dates:
August 26-29. (Bus tickets must be paid for by August 15. )
Information and bus tickets:
New York SANE, 124 E 40 St, Rm 203; 212-867-6554/867-6248
Coalition for an Open Convention, 189 Sunrise Highway, Rockville Center, L.I.
516-536-5811
PFP To Moid Convention
SAN FRANCISCO, July 27. 1968 (special to the Central Committee Of Correspondence).
Tlje Peace And Freedom Party (PFP), which astoimded analysts in California by registering
105,000 voters, has set its National Convention for August 17 and 18, according to Rick Hyland,
San Francisco area party coordinator. The convention will be held at the University of Mich-
(continued next page)
UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA
63
PEACE AND FREEDOM PARTY
EXHIBIT III— Continued
(PFP National Convention, continued)
igan In Ann Arbor. Delegations from 27 states will meet to agree on candidates for president
and vice-president. The potential nominees with the most support are Eldridije Cleaver, writer
and journalist (see book review this page), and Dick Gregory, the comedian known (or his dedi-
cated role in anti-war and open housing demonstrations.
The PFP national ticket will be on the ballot in at least 19 states. The party represents not
only an attempt to influence the 1968 election, but an effort to build a durable, grass-roots,
radical political party in America. The PFP is also one of the most successful working
coalitions between radical blacks and whites. The Bljck Panther Party, of which Eldridge
Cleaver is the Minister Of Information, has been a major source of its strength.
As of this writing, the states which will carry the Peace And Freedom slate are California,
Colorado, Connecticut, Hawaii, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New
York, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, Wisconsin,
and Wyoming. The other delegations to the convention will represent Arizona, District of
Columbia, Illinois, Indiana, KentuoKy, Massachusetts, Ohio, and West Virginia.
BooiiE: SOUL ON ICE, by Eldridge Cleaver,
McUraw-mil, NY, 1968. A Ramparts Book.
It is inevitable that one compare Eldridge Clea-
ver to Malcolm — both spent much of their youth
in prison, where both long adhered to and
finally rejected Elijah Muhammad's brand of
Islam; both emerged from prison with "self-
educations" that have enabled them to attract
large foUowings among college students and
intellectuals. On a deeper level, they both
showed an awareness — and resentment — of the
power of the White Woman on their psyches.
And both have evinced that great store of human-
ity which a sensitive black American must re-
quire to put aside devil-imagery, and recognize
his white tormentors as fellow victims of an in-
human, mechanized and sick system.
It is Cleaver's humanity which is the most
attractive attribute of Soul On Ice. After shower-
ing epithets on "ofays," he admits that he didn't
mean to hurt: "I did it primarily to relieve a
certain pressure on my brain. " Although the
more political chapters are phrased with firm-
ness, there is the hint over it all (as in the
chapter "The Allegory of the Black Eunuchs")
of the Qnal uncertainty of the sensitive man.
The book is a collection of essays and letters
written during the nine years the author spent in
Calliomla prisons for raping a white woman.
Many readers will be startled to discover in the
early chapters of the book that Cleaver and his
fellow-convicts thought of their "crimes" as
insurrectionary acts, and of themselves as
prisoners of war. Later chapters discuss poli-
ticB, and contain an analysis of Ameirlca's
racial situation via sexual prototypes.
But white radicals will gain less from the book's
poUtics, than from the rare insights into a
black brother's mind. They will find that, as
Mr. Cleaver has said of others, "respect
commands Itself. " — A. D.
PEACE MAILING LIST
TO SHIFT FOCUS
The Central Committee Of Correspondence,
which publishes the national mailing list of anti-
war organizations, plans to change the emphasis
of its next edition. As opposition to the Vietnam
War has grown, the list has become anwieldy,
while groups which deal mainly with other issues
— such as black liberation — have been omitted.
Therefore the next edition will be moved some-
what to the left, and the list will be re-titled,
"Organizations In The Movement. " The Cen-
tral Committee Of Correspondence anticipates
a smaller list which deals with wider issues.
All groups will continue to be Usted on request.
Mailing lists of organizations and publications
opposing the war in Vietnam are available on
GUMMED PAPER, ready to cut up and stick on-
to envelopes. The cost is only $2/copy, 3 for $5,
which is the cost of production. Write the Central
Committee Of Correspondence. Suggestions:
(1) Use the list selectively. Use it for regional
mailings; or mail to publications only, draft
groups only, McCarthy Democrats only, depend-
ing on your purpose. (2) The list has been used
successfully to announce major demonstrations,
conventions, political organizing campaigns, new
books, etc. It is not a good list for fund appeals.
(3) Canadian and other contacts abroad have been
selected for their potential usefulness to draft
counsellors and emigrants. (4) Take the Ust with
you when you travel. Make friends in other cities.
PRINTING: Want specifications for a small
printing qperation ($400 total investment)? For
complete details on how to set up a complete
system utilizing a re-bullt Multlllth 80, write
to Printing, % Central Committee Of Correspon-
dence, PO Box 307, Pennington, NJ 08534.
64 UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA
PEACE AND FREEDOM PARTY
EXHIBIT IV
DEFEND THE BLACK PANTHER PARTY AGAINST RACIST POLICE
The Los Angeles Police, like the police of other large cities, are brutal, arrogant and
insulting toward all people in the Black and Brown communities. But their most
savage attacks are directed against the militant organizations through which oppressed
minority people fight for freedom. It is the clear and unmistakable policy of the
police department, serving the same function as did the Nazi Gestapo, to crush all
organizations which threaten the rule of the racist power structure.
In recent months, the LAPD, along with the police departments of Oakland, Seattle,
and other cities has singled out the Black Panthers for an especially ruthless campaign
of harassment, frame-ups, and murder. Its aim is nothing less than the liquidation
of this young, dynamic, revolutionary political movement before it can gain a
solid foothold in the Black communities.
The LAPD has been systematically harassing members of the Black Panther Party
with the specific intention of provoking incidents. On August 5, they succeeded. On
that day, two officers followed and confronted a car in which three Black Panther
members were riding. In the incident that followed, the three Black Panther Party
members were killed. Two days later, eight, Panthers were arrested; three days
later, four more Panthers were arrested — all on trumped up charges. Though nothing
can be done to restore life to the three young men who were murdered, the police
practices which led to their deaths must be stopped!
We demand that Chief Reddin immediately circulate a memorandum to all his men
containing the following points:
1. Lists of Black Panther Party members' names, pictures and automobile
licenses shall no longer be circulated.
2. The practices of following and stopping the cars of Black Panther Party members
shall immediately and permanently be discontinued.
3. The practice of harassing, accosting and rousting Black Panther Party members
shall be prohibited.
4. Surveillance of Black Panther Party headquarters and the intimidation of
their landlord and neighbors must be discontinued.
We further demand that all police assigned to the Black and Brown communities be
immediately disarmed — because the ready use of guns by police has been one of the
prime causes of violence in the ghettos.
These are only emergency measures. The problem will not be solved until the police
are completely withdrawn from the ghettos and replaced by a new force consisting of
men who live in the communities they patrol, and directly responsible to members
of that community!
DEFEND THE RIGHT OF THE BLACK PANTHERS TO LIVE, TO ORGANIZE, AND
TO FIGHT FOR BLACK LIBERATION. ALL POWER TO THE PEOPLE; BLACK
POWER TO BLACK PEOPLE.
Los Angeles County Peace and Freedom Movement 484 - 1422
UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA 65
PEACE AND FREEDOM PARTY
EXHIBIT IV— Continued
THE BLACK PANTHER PARTY TEN POINT PROGRAM
1. We want freedom. We want power to determine the destiny
of our Black Community.
2. We want full employment for our people.
3. We want an end to the robbery by the white man of our
Black Community.
4. We want decent housing, fit for shelter of human beings.
5. We want education for our people that exposes the true
nature of this decadent American society. We want
education that teaches us our true history and our role
in the present day society.
6. We want all Black men to be exempt from military service.
7. We want an immediate end to POLICE BRUTALITY and
MURDER of Black people.
8. We want freedom for all Black men held in federal, state,
county and city prisons and jails.
9. We want all Black people when brought to trial to be tried
in court by a jury of their peer group or people from
their Black Communities , as defined by the Constitution
of the United States.
10. We want land, bread, housing, education, clothing,
justice and peace.
PEACE AND
FREEDOM
■ PARTY '
Los Angeles County Peace and Freedom Movement 484 - 1422
COMMIHEE FOR DEFENSE OF THE
BILL OF RIGHTS
This is one of the oldest, most effective of all the Com-
munist fronts. It has had the same executive director for
the past thirty years, Eose Chernin Kusnitz, and its pur-
pose; has always been to provide legal aid and bail for
those radicals who have become embroiled with the law.
Like all other Communist-dominated organizations, it
utilizes the courts, the immigration and naturalization
service, and other official tribunals as forums through
which to scatter propaganda and defiance; it maintains
a close collaboration with other fronts, and it has become
so extremely well known because of its longevity and
militancy that it scarcely makes any effort to conceal its
Communist nature.
Rose Chernin Kusnitz was born Rachmiel Czermin on
September 14, 1902, in Gashniky, Russia. She was natu-
ralized in New York City on February 15, 1929. Identi-
fied by sworn testimony as a member of the Comtmmist
Party, Mrs. Kusnitz ' sole activity, aside from participat-
ing in the activities of other front organizations, such as
the Dow Action Committee, the Peace Action Council,
the Peace and Freedom Party, and the other Communist
fronts that we shall hereafter describe, has been the Com-
mittee for Defense of the Bill of Rights. {House Commit-
tee Report, April 3, 1959, page 44.)
Because of its special functions, this front deserves-
particular attention. It recently changed its name, there-
tofore having been known as the Los Angeles Committee
for Protection of the Foreign Born. We have briefly dis-
cussed it in previous reports, and from them we have
condensed the following history of the organization and
some of its sponsors and officers. Executive Director Kus-
nitz was, of course, also the director of the organization
when it went by its former name. And, indeed, the front
is precisely the same so far as its objectives and activities
and its basic personnel are concerned. It has remained at
the offices which it has occupied for many years at 326
West Third Street, Los Angeles, and Mrs. Kusnitz was
(66)
UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA G7
recently elected a member of the District Committee^
Southern District, Communist Party of California.
The worlid Communist movement has always had orga-
nizations to render legal assistance to members. Originally
this unit was known as MOPR — the Russian initials for
International Red Aid, and it was operated as a sub-
division of the Comintern. Headquarters was maintained
at Moscow, and branches existed in each foreign country
where there was a Communist Party. In the United
States it was known as International Labor Defense, and
in California it maintained offices in San Francisco and
Los Angeles. International Labor Defense was extremely
militant during the period of the thirties, and partici-
pated in one way or another in virtually all of the major
strikes and labor upheavals on the Pacific Coast.
The American Committee for Protection of the Foreign
Born was created during the late twenties, and was
closely linked with International Labor Defense which
continued to function for a few years and then disap-
peared. (See Workers^ Monthly, Oct., 1925, pages 531-
538; House Committee Appendix 9, pages 344-345; 1948
California Report, pages 315, 316.) There were many
subordinate units scattered over the country in the most
populous areas where labor trouble and subversive activi-
ties flourished, each headed by an executive director, of
which Mrs. Rose Chernin Kusnitz was one of the earliest.
On June 1, 1948, and again on September 21 of that
year, the organization was declared to be subversive and
Communist-operated by the Attorney General of the
United States, who, at that time, was Tom Clark,
who later became an Associate Justice of the United
States Supreme Court. After the official findings of the
Attorney General, the organization made little effort to
disguise its Communist character and this was especially
true in Los Angeles County, where Mrs. Kusnitz was
widely known as a Party member, and it is even more
true because of the fact that she now plays a double role
as executive director of the Committee for Defense of the
Bill of Rights and as a member of the Communist Dis-
trict Committee. It is therefore quite clear that members
and sponsors of this organization who have remained in
fheir positions for a period of years have no excuse td
plead ignorance concerning its true nature.
68 UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA
Officers and Sponsors
The Committee for the Defense of the Bill of Rights
has had its list of sponsors and officers, like all other
front organizations — a list that includes liberals who
cooperate with Communists, working members of the
Communist Party, Fellow Travelers, and some members
who are not quite certain about anything except what the.
group professes to stand for — and if they agree, then they
also join and participate in its activities. Rose Chernin
Kusnitz, who is commonly known as Rose Chernin, and
will hereinafter be designated by that name, has been
executive secretary for more than 20 years. For most of
that time the offices were located at 326 West Third
Street, Los Angeles, and some of the sponsors and officers
who have served the organization include Robert W.
Kenny, now a Superior Court Judge in Los Angeles
County, Rev. Stephen H. Fritchman, Dorothy Marshall,
Charles Gladstone, Sanford Goldner, John Howard Law-
son and Frank Wilkinson. Kenny is notable for his mem-
bership in Communist front organizations over a period
of more than 20 years ; the same is true of Dorothy Mar-
shall and Stephen Fritchman. Some have been repeatedly
identified as members of the Communist Party, and these
include Charles Gladstone, Sanford Goldner, John How-
ard Lawson and Frank Wilkinson. Kenny's name appears
on an Exhibit, which is reproduced at the conclusion of
this portion of the report, as an officer as of April 1969.
Betty Rottger, who is Wilkinson's aide in another front
organization known as the National Committee to Abolish
the House Committee on Un-American Activities, has re^
cently been listed as a sponsor, as has Reuben Borough,
whom we discussed in connection with our explanation of
the Constitutional Liberties Information Center in our
1963 report on page 100 et seq.
Annual Conferences
The Los Angeles Committee for the Defense of the Bill
of Rights has held annual conferences since its inception.
On April 19, 1969, the 19th conference was held, and we
shall describe it in some detail. These conferences are
ordinarily characterized by addresses delivered by the
Committee's group of attorneys, most of whom have been
UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA 69
identified by sworn testimony as members of the Commu-
nist Party. For example, at the meeting of the organiza-
tion held February 7, 1953, one of the featured speakers
was Esther Shandler. This meeting was attended by Mrs.
Ruth Drader, who was serving in the capacity of an agent
for the state committee, and who testified concerning the
meeting at a hearing held in Los Angeles in December,
1954. (See 1955 California Report, page 325.) Other at-
torneys identified as Communist Party members, who
have also supported and acted for the Conmiittee for the
Defense of the Bill of Rights are Frank Pestana, Sey-
mour Mandel, Rose Rosenberg, and John Porter.
Many of the meetings were held in the First Unitarian
Church of Los Angeles, for which Stephen H. Fritchman,
recently retired, had served as pastor for 20 years or
more. On the evening of August 21, 1968, 8:30 P.M., such
a meeting was held for the purpose of protesting alleged
police brutality and to plan an anti-police demonstration
on September 6. The demonstration was to be sponsored
by the Los Angeles Committee for Defense of the Bill of
Rights, acting in conjunction with the Peace Action Coun-
cil and Peace and Freedom Party. Rose Chernin called
the meeting to order, and Irving Sarnoff was elected to
preside as chairman. Among the 180 persons present
were representatives from a variety of radical groups.
There was Mike McCabe from the Trotskyite Commu-
nists, accompanied by William Hathaway and Harold
Schultz; there was Pierre Mandel, from the New Left
School; Jerry Palmer, Students for a Democratic Soci-
ety, and representatives from the Peace and Freedom
Party. Nemmy Sparks, a Communist Party functionary,
was also present, and the meeting, which was attended by
some of our representatives, was actually run and domi-
nated by Rose Chernin and Irving Sarnoff, supported by
a solid majority of their comrades and collaborators.
The invasion of Czechoslovakia by Soviet armed forces
had occurred one day before this meeting, and it produced
an atmosphere of considerable tension. The spokesman
announced that the Trotskyist Militant Labor Forum
would hold a special meeting on the Czechoslovakian
crisis on August 23, at 1702 East Fourth Street, Los An-
geles. It was then announced that Dorothy Healey, chair-
man of the Southern Division, Communist Party of Call-
70 UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA
fomia, was expected to issue a statement. This producecl
a feeling that the armed invasion would be vigorously
attacked by the Trotskyites and defended by Mrs. Healey.
But, as we shall see, matters did not work out as antici-
pated. Mrs. Healey 's speech, delivered at Baces Hall,
August 23, was a sharp criticism of the Soviet Union for
its suppression of the Czechoslovakian regime by force —
an attitude of courage and independence that resulted in
her replacement as chairman of the Communist Party in
southern California, a position that she had held for some
20 years.
It is, of course, obvious from a study of the persons
who attended these various front meetings, that they did
so interchangeably. Thus it will become increasingly ap-
parent to those who continue to read the balance of this
section of the report concerning southern California or-
ganizations that Frank Wilkinson, who heads one Com-
munist front organization, was frequently seen in attend-
ance at others. Rose Chernin was frequently seen at
meetings of the Peace Action Council, the Peace and
Freedom Party, and meetings of Mr. Wilkinson's organir-
zation. Betty Rottger was not only assisting Mr. Wilkin-
son, but she was also a sponsor with him of the Los
Angeles Committee for the Defense of the Bill of Rights,
and also frequently appeared at the same meetings that
Mrs. Rose Chernin attended. Reuben Borough and Mrs.
Dorothy N. Marshall, who were active in the Constitu-
tional Liberties Information Center, were sponsors for
the Los Angeles Citizens Committee for Defense of the
Bill of Rights and also were seen in attendance at the
other meetings. Rose Rosenburg, a lawyer and a member
of the legal panel that served the Committee for the De-
fense of the Bill of Rights, was also a member of Friends
of the Black Panthers organization in southern Califor-
nia, as we shall shortly see. Thus the interlocking nature
of the front group network in the southern portion of the
state gradually emerges as we continue to discuss the
groups one by one.
Mr. Kenneth Rottger, 4031 Wilshire Boulevard, Los
Angeles 90005, and the husband of Betty Rottgrer, whom
we have already mentioned, is one of the bail fund trus-
tees for the Committee for the Defense of the Bill of
Rights.
UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA 71
There was an abundant supply of the usual literature
at the conference. Some of it was disseminated by hand,
and stacks of it were available from literature tables. One
handbill entitled "Defend Huey Newton and Eldridge
Cleaver," was issued by the Newton-Cleaver Defense
Committee. It listed its chairman as Melvin Newton, and
its Director as Milton Zaslow, its Secretary-Treasurer
as Barbara Brittin. The sponsors included Alvah Bessie,
Prof. Farrell Broslawsky, Joel Britton (not to be con-
fused with Charles and Barbara Brittin), Rose Chernin,
David Dellinger, Ben Dobbs, Vincent Hallinan, Michael
Hallinan, Prof. Donald Kalish, and Morris Kight. The-
office of the organization was given as 619 South Bonnie
Brae Avenue, Los Angeles 90057.
Literature from the National Lawyers Guild, which
has been described as the legal bulwark of the Commu-
nist Party, contained a statement instructing demonstra-
tors concerning their legal rights, in the following class-
struggle language:
"Grand Jury proceedings can be used by the Estab-
lishment to destroy comnmnity organizations and
discourage peoples' activity. You cannot respond
effectively to this repression alone. Work with your
organization in meeting this threat."
Here the Establishment is clearly depicted as the en-
emy of the people, and its legal institutions held up as
objects of contempt. There was much other written ma-
terial available. A 160-page booklet by Charles R. Allen,
Jr., was entiled "Concentration Camps, U. S. A." This
treatise, published by the Citizens Committee for Con-
stitutional Liberties, a front which we have already
alluded to, carried forward the theme advanced by Mr.
Wilkinson during his address. This scare propaganda
proved somewhat premature, however, as the Federal
Government recently decided to de-commission the relo-
cation centers throughout the United States that had been
used during World War II to relocate Japanese who were
excluded from the Western Defense Command.
Since the 19th Annual Conference of the Los Angeles
Committee for Defense of the Bill of Rights, it has
stepped up its solicitation campaign for contributions to
increase its bail fund. It reported that in late December
72 UN^-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA
1969, '^350 students, faculty and community supporters
in 3 colleges were arrested. In many cases bail was set
for their release pending trial." The "Progressive, radi-
cal, college and underground press," were urged to print
this plea in full. Funds were to be sent to Mr. Rottger.
A financial report was submitted by John Uhrin, treas-
urer for the organization, disclosed that the budget for
1968 had been $40,000.00, but that due to the accelerated
demonstrations and consequent arrests, should be in-
creased to $45,000.00, and that the organization was now
$8,000.00 in debt.
We very much doubt whether the Committee for De-
fense of the Bill of Rights would provide any of its bail
funds for persons such as members of the Ironcross
Motorcycle Club or the American Nazi Party who might
be arrested during some of these demonstrations, which
is the attitude of all of these subversive organizations
whose solicitude is confined to the support of the orga-
nizations that collaborate with them, and for individuals
who share their beliefs. All other individuals are con-
sidered as class enemies, ineligible to participate in the
benefits provided by such organizations as the Committee
for Defense of the Bill of Rights.
The organization's official publication, the Tribunal,
Nov. 2, 1969, referred to the extending of official recog-
nition of this militant Communist front by the Los An-
geles State College, as follows:
*' Friends of the Los Angeles Committee for De-
fense of the Bill of Rights received recognition as
an on-campus organization last week at Los Angeles
State College. With this recognition, the facilities
of the College may be used for speeches and confer-
ences. Notices of L. A. Defense Committee activities
may be posted on campus and in the College news-
paper, and fund raising activities will be held reg-
ularly on campus. This is the first new area coromit-
tee in about 19 years, and it is the first time the
L. A. Defense Committee has been officially recog-.
ized on any college caipapus^"
UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA
73
COMMITTEE FOR DEFENSE OF THE BILL OF RIGHTS
EXHIBIT I
LOS ANGELES COMMITTEE FOR DEFENSE OF TOE BILL OF RIGHTS
326 West Third Street, Room 3Xb
i->.t -t -c^-
LUja niivjCLco, \.,au.j.i.'^i.it^'
J - o on 1 o
MARCH
CALENDAR OF EVENTS
BULLETIN
l/^ BSR PROGRAM
March 22. Sat. 8 PM PARTY -
1251 5. St. Andrews PI, Los Angeles.
Rock Dance Band. Revolutionary
Films. Food and Refreshments.
Donation $1.00. For ftirther infor-
mation call 625-2169.
March 30. Sun. 4 PM BIRTHDAY PARTY
for Clara James, Chairman of South
Side Defense Comm. 1251 So. St.
Andrews PI. Donation * Food *
Music.
April 19, Sat. ALL DAY
L.A. Defense Cornm. Annual CcMvference .
Larchmont Hall. Workshops and nation-
ally known speakers, 118 N. Larchmont.
Registration Fee $2. Lunch 75<?
May IS, Sun. 2 PM PETE SEEGER
CONCERT at the Greek Theater,
Sponsored by L.A. Defense Canm. and
other Freedom and Peace Orgs. More
information next bulletin.
The Black Student Alliance is
ccmposed of representatives
from Black Student Unions from
30 campuses in Southern Cali-
fornia. The Black Students
Alliance believes in freedom
for all people, but not at the
expense of black j^cople. Be-
cause this is impossible in
the United States of America
as it presently exists, we
demand:
1. That all existing educa-
tional institutions en-
gaged in serving the tilack
canmunitry be imnediately
turned over to and con-
trolled by the people so
that relevant and needed
programs of education may
be instituted.
2. That all institutions of
-continued on Page 2-
74 UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA
COMMITTEE FOR DEFENSE OF THE BILL OF RIGHTS
EXHIBIT II
OFFICERS
Rt. Rev. Walter Mitchell
Mrs. Charlotta Bass
Reuben Borough
Hugh DeLacy
Robert Freeman
Clara James
Judge Stanley Mof fatt
Rev. Stephen H. Fritchman
Hon. Robert W. Kenny
Mrs. Dorothy N. Marshall
WE MUST ALL COMBAT RACISM
FOR OUR OWN SURVIVAL**
LET RAP Rap
ADVANCE DINNER RESERVATION
Please send your advance reservation for Conference Dinner not
later than TUESDAY, APRIL 16, 1968.
ADVANCE CONFERENCE REGISTRATION
The following Delegates □ Observers □ will be at the Conference
Name
Address Phone.
Name
Address Phone.
Enclosed find $ for Registration Fees ($1.00 per person), and
S for dinner reservations. (At tS.OO per person.)
MAIL TO:
L. \. Committee for Defense of the Bill of Rights
326 W. Third Street Room 318 Los Angeles, California
MA 5-2169 - -M\ 5-2160
Labor donated
UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA 75
COMMITTEE FOR DEFENSE OF THE BILL OF RIGHTS
EXHIBIT III
CONFERENCE PROGRAM
REGISTRATION Frp-n 9:00 A.M. One Dollar per Person
SESSION ONE 10:00 A.M. to 12:00 Noon
SYMPOSIUM
GENERAL ^SSEMPLY
Clara James .... Chairman
(Executive Director of the Southside Defense Ccmm.)
Speakers: Ccmmunity Leaders
Kitty Sanderow Jewish Community
Delfino Varella Chicano Coirjnunity
Brother Giballi Black Students Alliance
Rose Chernin .... Annual Report . . . Executive Director L.A.C.D.B.R.
Luncheon 12 noon to 1 P.M.
Luncheon Served on Premises - 75(;: per plate
SESSION TWO 1:00 p.m.
££NERAL ASSEMBLY
PANELS
DEFENSE OF THE BLACK GHETTOS :
Franklin Alexander Chairman
Velma Neal Reporter
Valerie Mitchell Secretary
DEFENSE OF THE BARRIOS:
Juan Marquez Chairman
Juan Ochoa Co-Chairman
Cruz Olmeda Reporter
Rose Mary Davis Secretary
DEFENSE OF THE CAMPUS :
Kendra Alexander Chairman
Cliff Fried Reporter
Shirley Nelson Secretary
DEFENSE AGAINST REPRESSIVE LEGISLATION:
Ken Cloake Chairman
Dan Lund Reporter
Rosa Lucas Secretary
Lee Gonzales Conference Secretary
76 UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA
COMMITTEE FOR DEFENSE OF THE BILL OF RIGHTS
EXHIBIT III— Continued
Conference Program cont'd page 2.
SESSION THREE 3:30 p.m. to 5:00 p.n.
GENERAL SESSION
Nathen Shapiro . . . .Chairman
REPORTS FROM PANELS:
Defense: (Black Ghettos) Wilma Neal
Defense: (Barrios) Cruz Olmeda
Defense: (Campus) Cliff Fried
Defense: (Repressive Legislation) Dan Lund
Credentials: Helen Castello, Dawn Goldstein
Resolutions: F. Rinaldo, N. Shapiro,- Ethel Bertolini
Financial: John Uhrin
Nominations & Elections . . . .B. Fradkin, R. Spector, Natalia Ramirez,
Art Dmytryk
SOCIAL HOUR 5:00 to 6:30 p.m.
flngelo Bertolini, Mike Yueff ,
Aaron Grosberg, Joe Ginsburg.
Steering Committee: . . Blanche & David Fradkin, Nathan Shapiro, Fred Firestone
CONFERENCE DINNER
DIMER 6:30 p.m. - 10:00 p.m. $ 3.25 per person.
PROGRAM OPENING 8:00 P.M.
FRED RINALDO - M.C. and Introductory Remarks
Elaine Brovm - Vocalist
Frank V/ilkinson - Remarks
Kendra or Valerie
Elaine Brcwn_ - Vocalist
DR. RICHARD WASSERSTROM - GUEST SPEAKER
Adj ournment
THE NEW LEFT SCHOOL
Communist Party schools were scattered about the
United States during the 1920 's, shortly after the Com-
munist Party was created. Originally they were known as
Workers' Schools, one in Los Angeles having been in-
stituted in 1927, and met on Wednesday evenings at
2706 Brooklyn Avenue. One of the officials connected
with this early educational institution was the late Paul
Crouch. Mr. Crouch, formerly on our staff, came from
North Carolina, joined the Party when he was a com-
paratively young man, was sent to the Soviet Union
for training, and held the rank as a Colonel in the Red
Army, having studied at the Frunze Military Academy.
After returning to the United States, he was made a
member of the National Committee of the Party and put
in charge of its youth movement nationwide.
The Workers' School in San Francisco was located at
675 Minna Street, and was later known as the Tom Mooney
Labor School, and finally the California Labor School;
In Los Angeles the Workers' School became known as
the Peoples' Educational Center and finally functioned
under the name of the Southern California Division of
the California Labor School in San Francisco. All of
these institutions, regardless of the names they adopted'
from time to time, have been repeatedly identified by
official agencies as Communist educational units operated
by the Party and designed for the indoctrination and'
recruiting of new members and specialized training for
the older ones.
With the advent of the so-called New Left, it was nec-
essary to have an educational institution tailored to its
needs. Indeed, there was little use for the old Communist
Party schools since the campuses were thrown open to
a traveling group of high-powered Communists function-
aries who lectured the students where facilities were
provided at taxpayers' expense. A few years ago none
of these institutions would have tolerated the presence
of people like Herbert Aptheker, Dorothy Healey, and
other well-known officials of the Communist Party to
(77)
78 UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA
harangue the students and incite them to a defiance of
constituted authority; nor would they have tolerated for
an instant the presence on their faculties of people like
Herbert Marcuse, Angela Davis or Leon Wofsy.
In 1969 the Federal Bureau of Investigation submitted
certain evidence before the House Sub-Committee on Ap-
propriations, April 17. A portion of that testimony,
dealing with this travelling school of Communist lec-
turers, was as follows :
''Ever since its 18th National Convention in June,
1966, the Party in this Country has been moving
more into open activities, running candidates for
public office and attempting to improve its image
witl^ stepped-up public relations efforts through its
publications. All this provides the Party with many
opportunities to propagandize the American people.
While on a trip through the United States in 1968,
Gus Hall stated that through speaking appearances
on television, on radio, and in person he was able to
reach an estimated 50 million people.
In addition to continuing to publish the twice-
weekly newspaper, TJie Worker, Party leaders
worked hard during 1968 to accumulate finances and
staff for a new daily publication. The Daily World,
which began publication 5 days a week, in July, 1968.
Publication of The Worker was then discontinued.
Also, during the academic year 1967-1968, the
Communist Party — U. S. A. continued its program
of having Party leaders appear on college campuses
as speakers; 48 such appearances have been made
during that school year. This is a small decrease
when compared with the appearances during previ-
ous years. As I pointed out earlier, this is in line
with the Party's relinquishment of some of its ac-
tivity on the campuses to the New Left, in order to
concentrate on industry.
I submit a list of names of these leaders, the dates
of their appearances and where they appeared:
University of Santa Clara, Santa Clara, Calif., Her-
bert Aptheker, October 17, 1967 ;
Los Angeles Valley College, Van Nuys, Calif., Doro-
thy Healey, November 21, 1967 ;
UN-AMEEICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA 79
University of the Pacific, Stockton, Calif., Bettina
Aptheker Kurzweil, November 28, 1967;
Raymond College of the University of the Pacific,
Stockton, Calif., Bettina Aptheker Kurzweil, No-
vember 28, 1967 ;
California State College at Hayward, Hayward,
Calif., Bettina Aptheker Kurzweil, February 8^
1968;
Stanislaus State College, Turlock, Calif., Bettina
Aptheker Kurzweil, April 3, 1968 ;
San Fernando Vallev State College, Northridge,
Calif., Dorothy Healey, May 7, 1968;
Shasta Junior College, Redding, Calif., Bettina
Aptheker Kurzweil, May 21, 1968." (We have
listed only the appearances in California.)
In a subsequent section of the report on the infiltra-
tion of colleges and universities, we shall deal with the
individual members of the Party who are currently em-
ployed in teaching positions in our California schools.
The sensational and continuous publicity concerning the
cases of Herbert Marcuse and Angela Davis have tended
to divert attention from other individuals, equally ob-
jectionable, who are quietly entrenching themselves in
academic positions from which they can exert untold
damage.
hifluence of the Berkeley Rebellion, 1964
One of the faculty members of the New Left School in.
Los Angeles, Joseph Byrd, is a teaching assistant at
UCLA. He was quoted in the National Guardian, pro-
Communist newspaper, September 25, 1965, and in The
New York Times for December 12 of that year, as stat-
ing that the Free Speech Movement at the University of
California in Berkeley undoubtedly triggered the need
for the establishment of Marxist schools throughout the
United States, including the New Left school in Los An-
geles.
At any rate, in 1965 the institution was a going concern
at 1853 South Arlington Avenue, Los Angeles 90019. It
was staffed by representatives from the Communist
Party, by Trotskyist Communists, members of the Du-
Bois Clubs of America and assorted liberal groups. The'
80 UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA
complete faculty list of this first New Left school, to-
gether with an outline of the courses offered was as
follows :
"Harvey Wheeler, co-author of the book 'Fail-
Safe', Fellow, Center for the Study of Democratic
Institutions; Rev. Stephen H. Fritchman, Minister
First Unitarian Church, Los Angeles ; Richard Licht-
man, Fellow, Center for the Study of Democratic
Institutions; Irving Laucks, Industrialist, Fellow,
Center for the Study of Democratic Institutions j
John Howard Lawson, Writer; Rev. Paul Sawyer,
Minister, Valley Unitarian-Universalist Church;
James Gallagher, Executive Board Member, Los An-
geles Socialist Party; Dorothy Healey, southern
California chairman. Communist Party; Theodore
Edwards, Los Angeles chairman, Socialist Workers'
Party (Trotskyist Communists) ; Margaret Thorpe,
Los Angeles chairman. Students for a Democratic
Society ; Darrel Meyers, Los Angeles chairman. Young
Socialist Alliance; John Haag, Los Angeles area
chairman, W. E. DeBois Clubs of America ; Jim Gar-
rett, Los Angeles Field Representative, Student Non-
Violent Coordinating Committees ; Don Smith, chair-
man, Los Angeles CORE; Don Wheeldin, chairman
Pasadena CORE; Hugh Manes, Civil Liberties At-
torney, and David Frankel, Civil Liberties Attor-
ney." (From New Labor School brochure, Septem-
ber, 1965.)
The New Left School courses of instruction are de-
scribed in its various announcements. They were strik-
ingly similar to the curricula of the old Communist
schools, the radical courses being lightly sprinkled
through with instruction in "Psychedelics, Love Power
and The Honest Revolution; Modern Dance; Rock and
Roll; Music and the State; Graphic Designs; Electron-
ics; Communal Living, and Karate."
The overwhelming preponderance of the courses and
the entire tenor of the school was, however, devoted to
courses of which these are examples: "World Commu-
nist Movements; Black Nationalism; Marxism; Social-
ism; Tactics of the Negro Revolution; Practical Revolu-
tions; Alienation; Anarchism and Voluntarism; Dialec-
tics; Revolution and Contemporary Philosophy; Modern
UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA 81
Imperialism; Principles of Marxist Theory; Draft
Counselling and Resistance, and Peoples' Warfare."
Other courses underscored racial conflicts with instruc-
tion on Negro and Mexican minorities and the teaching,
of the Swahili, Spanish and Chinese languages.
We devoted 61 pages of our 1953 report to the subject
of "Communism and Education," describing how almost
any course could be used by a teacher as a vehicle for
widespread radical indoctrination. We cited examples,
Msted textbooks used for propaganda rather than objec-
tive teaching, and dealt with the growing violation of
academic freedom in the classrooms. There is no need
here, therefore, to repeat our explanation of how courses
in woodworking or electronics, for example, may be
utilized for subversive purposes.
The organizations that collaborated in establishing the
New Left school did so because they deemed it easier,
more practical, and less expensive than to operate sev-
eral schools that would provide instruction for a variety
of Marxist ideologies. The one common academic theme
on which all could agree was that the courses should be
based on the Marxist theory. But this meant one thing
to the Socialists, something else to the Moscow line Com-
munists, and was still differently viewed by the Trot-
skyists and followers of the Red Chinese interpre-
tations by Chairman Mao. Experience indicated, too, that
rivalry would inevitably develop among these groups,
and especially between the Moscow line Communists, or
** Stalinists," and the "Trots" as the Moscow line and
Trotskyist Communists are commonly referred to in the
movement. As in the Dow Action Committee and
Peace Action Council, these struggles for control were
continuous, yet in the united front demonstrations and
other mass action matters, these two implacable rivals
worked together. They are — and always have been — sol-
idly in accord on one thing: the necessity to bring about
the utter destruction of the United States Government
by any and all means available.
The Moscow line Communists quickly gained the as-
cendancy in the New Left School, and selected Pierre
Mandel as its coordinator. Ideologically he was well
equipped, but as an efficient administrator he left some-
thing to be desired, and was unpopular with cliques of
82 UN-AMEKICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFOKNIA
faculty and students. Records oi the U. S. Immigration
Service and other governmental agencies show that
Mandel was born in Russia, was active in the Communist
Party of France, and came to the United States in 1948.
He attended meetings of the Southern California Dis-
trict Committee of the Communist Party in 1958 and
1959, and was a delegate to its convention in 1959 and
1960.
The Faculty
The brochures issued by the New Left School from
time to time not only set forth a list of the courses and
their contents, but also the names of the instructors and
a brief resume concerning their educational qualifications
and background. Since this institution was created for
the purpose of bringing together the various radical
groups, comprising the New Left and presented courses
of instruction that were permeated by Marxism, it seems
strange that the information concerning the faculty mem-
bers was devoid of data about their activity in Communist
front organizations and other radical groups. We there-
fore undertake to supply this information for the pur-
pose of disclosing something about the common ideology
of the faculty.
Members of the faculty included Daniel Bessie, the son
of Alvah, and who is a historian of the Spanish Revolu-
tion. On March 7, 1964, he attended a meeting at the resi-
dence of Frank Pestana, in Los Angeles. Pestana has
repeatedly been identified by sworn testimony as a mem-
ber of the Communist Party. Others attending this meet-
ing were Ron Ridenour, Franklin Alexander and Marvin
Treiger. The meeting was being held for the purpose of
formulating plans prior to the Socialist Youth gathering
at San Francsico on March 21 and 22, 1964. This was the
meeting that brought together groups of Marxist youth
for the purpose of creating the W. E. DuBois Clubs of
America, the youth adjunct of the Communist Party.
Joseph Byrd is a teaching assistant at UCLA, and was
quoted by the National Guardian, September 25, 1965,
as declaring that the Berkeley Rebellion had triggered a
demand throughout the United States for the establish-
ment of New Left schools similar to the one we ar6
discussing.
UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA 83
Leo Baefsky, from Monterey Park, was a member of
the Citizens Committee to Preserve American Freedoms,
the Communist front organization that we have discussed
in a previous report, and to which he made regular
monthly contributions.
Michael Bye was a member of the Independent Stu-
dent Union in 1960, and at that time resided at 4856
West 130th Street, Hawthorne. The Independent Stu-
dent Union has also been described by us in previous
reports as a Marxist organization of young people in
Southern California. It was one of the component youth
groups that attended the San Francisco conference in
March, 1964.
Charles Brittin, the husband of Barbara Brittin, wiH
be discussed hereafter as one of the more active members
of the Communist-controlled Friends of the Panthers in
Southern California.
Farrell Broslawsky, Rose Chernin and Kendra Alex-
ander, we have already discussed.
Mike Davis is an active member of Students for a
Democratic Society.
Robert Eugene Duggan was elected a member of the
National Committee of the Communist Party of the
United States in 1966, and three years later wrote an
article for the official publication of the Communist
Party, Party Affairs, Vol. 3, No. 2, Feb. 21, 1969, pro-
posing that the Young Communist League be reconsti-
tuted to replace the stagnating DuBois Clubs of America.
Ben Dobbs is the organizational secretary for the
Southern District of the Communist Party of California.
James Dann is the leader of the Progressive Labor
Party in Southern California, which follows the ideo-
logical line established by the Chinese Communists and
Mao Tse-tung.
Rev. Stephen H. Fritchman was also an instructor at
the school; we have already discussed him as the Pastor
of the First Unitarian Church in Los Angeles, a position
from which he retired a few months ago.
Donald Freed was formerly connected with the Los
Angeles Art Theater, and is an organizer for the Friends
of the Panthers. He was indicted, with Shirley Jean
Sutherland, of conspiring to obtain 10 hand grenades for
the use of the Black Panther organization in southern
California. The case was dismissed by United States
84 UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA
District Judge Warren J. Ferguson because of technical
flaws in the indictment and a constitutional question
concerning the validity of the provision under which the
indictment had been issued. The United States Attorney
for the Southern District of California has declared that
he intended to appeal the decision. {Los Angeles Times,
February 17, 1970.)
John Harris was the leader of the Progressive Labor
Party at Watts, during the riots in that area. He was
born in Birmingham, Alabama, was a former student at
Howard University, and occasionally works at UCLA as
a reader and teaching assistant in the Department of
Sociology.
John Haag we have already discussed in connection
with the Peace and Freedom Party and the DuBois
Clubs of America.
Art Kunkin is the Publisher and Editor of the Los
Angeles Free Press, a so-called underground newspaper,
and was recently indicted for publishing the names and
addresses of California narcotic agents operating out of
the office of the California Attorney General.
John Howard Lawson, a motion picture writer, has
been mentioned in many of our previous reports, and has
been repeatedly identified by sworn testimony as a mem-
ber of the Communist Party.
Richard Lichtman was an instructor at the University
of California in Berkeley, a fellow in residence at the
Center for the. Study of Democratic Institutions in Santa
Barbara, and his anti-capitalist, pro-Marxist views ap-
peared in the November, 1966 issue of Political Affairs,
page 50 at pages 51 and 54.
Ed Moritz is an activist in the Students for a Demo-
cratic Society in Los Angeles.
Jerry Palmer is an activist in the Students for a Demo-
cratic Society, a graduate student at UCLA, and one of
the coordinators of the Vietnam Day Committee demon-
strations.
Ron Ridenour is a graduate student at Los Angeles
State College, and we have already referred to his arrest
with Daniel Bessie at the residence of Frank Pestana.
Marvin Treiger is a graduate student at California
State College in Los Angeles, was a member of the Inter-
national Student Union, attended the Socialist Youth
UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA 85
meeting in San Francisco, heretofore mentioned, was
arrested at the Pestana meeting on March 7 1964, and
delivered the main address at the Peoples World picnic in
Los Angeles on July 16, 1967. {Peoples World, July 8,
1967.)
Philip Taylor is a national committeeman of the Pror
gressive Labor Party.
Helen Simon Travis is the wife of Robert C. Travis,,
who was secretary for the Communist Front organization
known as the Constitutional Liberties Information Center
in Los Angeles.
On April 17, 1969, J. Edgar Hoover, Director of the
Federal Bureau of Investigation, testified before the
House Subcommittee on Appropriations. What he had to
say on that occasion concerning the New Left movement
in general can be appropriately quoted here in connection
with the New Left School in Los Angeles. Mr. Hoover
said:
*' During 1968, the New Left movement in the
United States continued to reveal itself as a firmily
established subversive force dedicated to the complete
destruction of our traditional democratic values and
the principles of free government. This movement
represents the militant, nihilistic and anarchistic
forces which have become entrenched, for the most
part, on college campuses and which threaten the
orderly process of education as the forerunner of a
more determined effort to destroy our economic,
social, and political structures.
The discontent expressed by the movement in this
country is also found in other countries. As a result,
the New Left movement is a new specter haunting
the Western World. It is a movement that is united
to some degree by common issues, such as the Viet-
nam War, Civil Rights matters, so-called capitalist
corruption, and a so-called archaic university system.
New Left funds are generally obtained from con-
tributions, dues, sales of literature, benefits, adver-
tisements, and its publications and fund drives. The
main sources of revenue are contributions, and it is
estimated that nearly 60% of Students for a Demo-
cratic Society Funds, for example, come from thig
source."
86 UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA
Mr. Hoover concluded his remarks concerning the New
Left with this statement, which emphasizes what we have
already said about the Communist Party departing from
its former isolated position and identifjdng itself with
mass movements in general and New Left activities in
particular :
''Communist Party — U. S. A. leaders have recently
urged Party members to give time and money to
'New Left Demonstrations and Causes.' Much of the
nationwide travel engaged iii by prominent New Left
leaders is paid for by honorariums paid to them gen-
erally out of student funds for their guest speaker
appearances on college campuses. ' '
UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA
87
NEW LEFT SCHOOL
EXHIBIT 1
The New Left Scftool oflos Angeles • 1853 S. Arlington Ave., Los Angeles, Calif. 90019
YOUR FRIENDS mj) ENEMIES BETTER
ASSOCIATES*
Harvey Wheeler
Co-author of "Failsafe"; fellow, Center foj
the Study of Democrati
Richard Lichtman
Fellow, Center for the Study of
Democratic Institutions
Irving Laucks
Industrialist: fellow. Center for
Study of Democratic Instit
John Howard Lawson
James Gallagher
Executive Board Member.
Los Angeles Socialist Party
Dorothy Healey
Southern California Chairma
Theodore Edwards
Los Angeles Chairman.
Socialist Workers Party
Margaret Thorpe
Los Angeles Chairman,
Students for a Democratic So
Darrel Meyers
Los Angeles Chairman.
Young Socialfst Alliance
John Haag
Los Angeles Area Chairman,
W. E. B. DuBois Clubs of Amei
MORE OP HOW AND WHY SOCIETY SOCIETY CHANGES
SEEKING TO SERVE THOSE DESIRING TO UNDERSTAND
THE NATURE OP PRESENT SOCIETY AND THE POSSI_^
BILITY FOR SOCIAL CHANGE OFFERS CLASSES AND
DISCUSSIONS IN MANY SUBJECTS INCLUDING THE
FOLLOWING :
ETHICS NEGRO HISTORY
ECONOMICS ALIENSTION
LABOR TACTICS AND HISTORY
PHILOSOPHY MARXISM
P$)LITICS
AND OTHERS AS REQUESTED
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION AND THE FALL BROCHURE
TEAR OFF THE COUPON BELOW, PLACE YOUR NAME AND
ADDRESS ON THE OTHER SIDE, AND A ^4 STAMP ON
THIS SIDE, AND PLACE IN MAIL SBX,
►as of Sept. 1965
Tiply support for
TO:
: NEW LEFT SCHOOL OF LA
L853 S. ARLINGTON AVE
L.A., Calif. 90019
LEFT SCHOOL by i
MOVEMENT TO ABOLISH COMMITTEES
ON UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES
In 1959 the late Aubrey Williams set about to organize
a nation^ mpvement for the abolition of the House Com-
mittee on Un-American Activities; to unify the isolated
and uncoordinated local groups dedicated to attack the-.
Committee, which we will hereafter refer to as HUAO.
HUAC convened at San Francisco in May 1960, and
during its hearings there was a mobilization against it
by thousands of defiant young people, led by members of
SLATE, from the Berkeley campus of the University of
California, and by other radical groups from the Bay
area. The highly controversial film "Operation Abolition"
resulted from these demonstrations, which were fore-
runners of succeeding activities, such as those on Van
Ness Avenue and at Sheraton-Palace Hotel, and that
were to culminate in the Berkeley rebellion of 1964.
On Wednesday, August 17, 1960, Professor and Mrs.
Joseph Morray held a meeting in their home at 2963
Magnolia Street, Berkeley. Mimeographed copies of the
minutes of the meeting were widely distributed in an efv
fort to arouse interest in bringing these anti-HUAC or-
ganizations together in a formidable unit that would have
the political strength and the necessary membership and
financial ability to make a determined effort against the
reconstitution of HUAC by the House of Representatives
of the United State Congress. The House Committee,
which has been functioning since 1938, issued numerous
reports as a result of its hearings, and took testimony
from many undercover informants who were members of
the Communist Party and its galaxy of front organiza-
tions. In these reports the exposure of Communist activ-^
ities and organizations throughout the United States was
made available to the American people, and kept Con-
gress accurately informed as to the extent of domestic
subversion. It was natural, of course, that it would be
met by determined opposition from the elements it ex-
posed.
(88)
UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIEOENIA 89
Forty-eight people were present at the home of Pro-
fessor and Mrs. Morray and represented the following
organizations: East Bay Community Forum, Students
Civil Liberties Union, Friends Committee on Legislation,
Grassrooters Club, Democratic Party, Berkeley Commu-
nity YWCA, SLATE, Womens International League for
Peace and Freedom, Associated Students of Social Wel-
fare, University of California, North California Ameri-
can Jewish Congress, Unitarian Fellowship for Social
Justice, National Lawyers Guild, California Democratic
Council, Trinity Methodist Church Committee on Chris-
tian Social Relations.
The meeting adjourned after deciding to call a Bay
area conference, to establish a speakers panel, and to
coordinate all California groups opposing HUAC.
Among these groups were two in Los Angeles that we
devoted considerable space to in previous reports. They
were the Citizens Committee to Preserve American Free-
doms and the Constitutional Liberties Information Cen-
ter. A letterhead of the first organization discloses that
its address was 555 Northwestern Avenue, Los Angeles,
and that its office coordinator was Betty Rottger. Others
who were active in the organization included Rev. Stephen
H. Fritchman, Dorothy Marshall, Frank Wilkinson, Jack
Berman, Frank Spector, Martin Hall, Raphael Konigs-
berg, James Burford, William Elconin, John Howard
Lawson, Rose Chernin, and Albert Maltz. Dr. Herbert
Aptheker, the father of Bettina Aptheker Kurzweil, was
scheduled to be the main speaker at a meeting of the orga-
nization which was held on July 8 1955, in the Embassy
Auditorium in Los Angeles.
By 1961 the National Committee to Abolish the Un-
American Activities Committee had perfected its or-
ganization. Aubrey Williams was its chairman, Dorothy
Marshall was secretary. Judge Robert W. Kenny was
treasurer and the field representative was Frank Wilkin-
son. National headquarters was established in Washing-
ton at the Carroll Arms Hotel, First and C Streets,
Washington D.C. In January 1966 the Citizens Commit-
tee to Preserve American Freedoms sent a letter to all
members of its executive board and its sustaining con-
90 UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA
tributors to the effect that the organization now pre^-
sented for consideration the following propositions:
1. The Citizens Committee to Preserve American
Freedoms be dissolved.
2. A new organization to be known as 'Southern
Californians to Abolish the House Un-American Ac-
tivities Committee,' be established. The letterhead
and literature of the new organization would carry
the following information : ' Formerly, Citizens Com-
mittee to Preserve American Freedoms,' and *Af^
filiate: National Committee to Abolish the House
Un-American Activities Committee.'
3. The Executive Board of the new organization
would consist of all present members of the Citizens
Committee to Preserve American Freedoms Execu-
tive Board who wished to continue on the Board,
and one or more representatives to be invited from
each Congressional District in southern California.
4. The new organization would be responsible for
all funds raised in southern California for the
HUAC Abolition Campaign; develop a budget; and
allocate funds for local and national abolition work.
First claim on funds raised by the new organization
would be for payment of the salary of National Ex-
ecutive Director, Frank Wilkinson, and for the over-
head, rent and telephone, of the national office in
Los Angeles of the National Committee to Abolish
the House Un-American Activities Committee.
5. The new organization would select a staff pei^
son, voluntary or paid, to work on a part-time or
full-time program to coordinate Congressional Dis-
trict activities, education work, fund raising, and
other duties the organization would establish to
further the HUAC Abolition program in southern
California.
The present executive board of the Citizens Com-
mittee to Preserve American Freedoms will continue
until such time as the above proposals can be acted
on. Five members of the present CCPAF Board
were named to implement the above program, if ap-
proved. Dorothy Marshall, chairman; Rev. Stephen
H. Fritchman; Raphael Konigsberg; Betty Rottger;
and Vic Shapiro; Frank Wilkinson, ex-officio.
TJN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFOENIA 91
Attached to this letter, which bore the signature of
Betty Rottger, was a ballot mailed to all members, and
as a result of the returns, the Citizens Committee to Pre-
serve American Freedoms was liquidated.
Shortly thereafter similar actions were taken by some
of the other local organizations, and under the efficient
guidance of Mr. Wilkinson, the national organization
gathered momentum and strength.
Wilkinson, who had served as executive secretary of
the Citizens Committee to Preserve American Freedoms,
has been frequently mentioned in our reports. He first
appeared before us as a witness during our investigation
of the Los Angeles Housing Authority in 1952 and was
on that occasion represented by three attorneys: Judge
Robert W. Kenny, Robert S. Morris and Daniel G. Mar-
shall. He invoked the Fifth Amendment in response to
all questions about his Communist affiliations and activi-
ties, but there was ample evidence from the testimony of
those in the Party with him to establish his membership.
Mrs. Anita Schneider so testified as did Robert C. Ron-
stadt, and other witnesses on separate occasions, Mrs.
Schneider and Ronstadt both having been undercover
members of the Communist Party reporting to the F.B.I,
for several years.
Ronstadt testified that he and Wilkinson were selected
as members of an elite security Communist unit and that
when the Housing Authority investigation was under
way, his "specific instructions at that time were to hold
Frank up and keep him from breaking, because he was
close to breaking. The hierarchy of the Party at that
time felt that there was a possibility of breaking Frank,
and, as a result, I used to pick him up just about every
evening when he was before the Committee or waiting to
be heard. Of course, I instructed him to plead nothing
else but the Fifth, and give his name and plead the
Fifth, and this was it, and that I hammered home to
him." (See testimony of Robert C. Ronstadt, HUAC,
Oct. 10, 1962.)
When Wilkinson later appeared as a witness before
HUAC, however, he refused to answer all questions con-
cerning his Communist membership, and he also refused
to rely on the protection of the Fifth Amendment. He
was therefore found guilty of contempt of Congress, and
92 TJN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA
after his conviction was upheld by the U.S. Supreme
Court on February 27, 1961, he was compelled to spend
a year in a Federal penal institution. (Congressional
Record, May 3, 1961.)
Growth and Activities
During the late summer of 1957 Wilkinson inteiv
viewed Congressmen and some of their staff members
to determine what the general Congressional attitude
would be toward the reconstitution of the House Com-
mittee, and thereafter reported his findings in a detailed
statement to several interested parties. He had taken a
leave of absence from the Citizens Committee to Pre-
serve American Freedoms and was assisting another
front organization in New York, The Emergency Civil
Liberties Committee, in making this survey. The con-
tacts made and the responses received were of great value
in his later duties, after liquidation of the Citizens Com-
mittee in Los Angeles and the launching of the new
National Committee to Abolish HUAC in 1960.
Both local and national anti-HUAC offices were sit-
uated at 555 North Western Avenue, Los Angeles. Dorothy
Marshall, who had been chairman of the Citizens Com-
mittee to Preserve American Freedoms, was elected
chairman of the organization that replaced it, Southern
Californians to Abolish HL^AC. The sponsors included
James Berland, who in 1969 was an assistant to Rose
Chernin in her front organization, Farrell Broslawski,
Donald Kalish and Irving Sarnoff. Mrs. Marshall was
also a vice-president in the national organization to Abol-
ish HUAC.
In 1961, 23 years after the creation of HUAC and less
than a year after the new anti-HUAC org^anization was
established to abolish it, the House of Representatives
re-established it bv a vote of 412 to 6, with an appropria-
tion of $331,000.00. (New York Times, March 5, 1961.)
Wilkinson was hard at work in his new role, perfecting
details of establishing a network of centers in strategic
locations and linking them together in a powerful,
smoothly-functioning chain. Two years later, the House
Committee was mandated to continue its work bv a vote
of 385 to 20, and a top appropriation of $360,000.00.
(Los Angeles Time, Feb. 28, 1963). But Wilkinson's
UN-AMEEICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA 93
organization had been raising money, too. Envelopes
were mailed soliciting contributions and signatures on
petitions for the abolition of the House Committee.
Recipients of these postpaid return envelopes were di-
rected to: "Make checks payable to Robert W. Kenny,
Treasurer, National Committee to Abolish the House
Un-American Activities, 555 North Western Avenue,
Room 2, P.O. Box 74757, Los Angeles 4, California."
By the summer of 1964, the letterhead of NCA-HUAC
(National Committee to Abolish HUAC), listed the fol-
lowing officers:
"Honorary Chairmen James Imbrie
Alexander Meiklejohn
Clarence Pickett
Chairman Emeritus Aubrey W. Williams
Chairman Harvey 0 'Connor
Little Compton R. I.
Vice Chairman Dorothy Marshall, Coordinator
Sylvia E. Crane, Organization
and Liaison, P 0 Box 423, Ca-
thedral Station New York City,
25 NY;
Charles Jackson, East Coast Re-
gion
Harry Barnard, Midwest Section ;
Rev. Edward L. Peet, West Coast
Region
Southern Region Committee Carl Braden
John Lewis
Rev. C. T. Vivian
Rev. Wyatt Tee Walker
Secretary Prof. Walter S. Vincent
Treasurer Robert W. Kenny
Exec. Director and Field
Representative Frank Wilkinson
Midwest Regional OflSce, Chicago Committee to Defend the Bill of
Rights. 431 South Dearborn Street. Room 424. Chicago 5, Illinois
East Coast Regional Office. New York Council to Abolish HUAC,
150 West 34th Street. Room 442. New York City, 1
Legislative Office, Washington Area Committee for the Abolition of
HUAC, P. O. Box 2558, Washington 13, DC."
Despite the determined efforts of NCA-HUAC, Con-
gress continued to provide funds for the investigation of
domestic subversion, and even some of HUAC's most
vocal critics were forced to concede that it had accom-
plished some extremely valuable work. But these conces-
sions came from the liberals, never from Communists.
94 UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA
The liberals were critical of some of HUAC 's techniques.
The Communists were inherently dedicated to the opposi-
tion of any investigation of subversion, because the prin-
cipal target would necessarily be the Communist Party
and its network of front organizations.
The use of the word ''abolition" in the title of this
anti-HUAC Front carried a concept of utter liquidation.
There was no compromise in the attack by the Commu-
nists and no suggestion of reform. As the new drive
picked up momentum its propaganda began to demand
the abolition of the U.S. Senate Subcommittee on Inter-
nal Security, as well as HUAC. And since 1967 the
attack has been expanded to include all state legislative
committees, including this one which has been in con-
tinuous operation for the California Legislature for the
past 30 years.
Generally the efforts against the California Subcom-
mittee and its predecessor committees have been run from
the San Francisco office of the Wilkinson organization,
and have included printed attacks, attempts to ascertain
in advance what the contents of the reports would be and
to emasculate them, attempts to mobilize political opposi-
tion, and the instigation of harassing tactics in general.
The same tactics have, of course, been employed against
the other legislative agencies, including the Subversive
Activities Control Board.
This broadening of the scope of NCA-HUAC provoked
some opposition among its members and staff, and when
HUAC became a standing committee and thereafter
changed its name to the House Internal Security Com-
mittee, the anti-HUAC organization was compelled to
expand its already cumbersome name from the National
Committee to Abolish the House Committee on Un-
American Activities (NCA-HUAC), to the National
Committee to Abolish the House Committee on Un-
American Activities/House Committee on Internal Se-
curity, (NCA-HUAC/HISC).
National Conference 1967
The House of Representatives appropriated $425,000.00
for HUAC in 1966, the vote being 299 to 24. This was
considerably more than had been anticipated, as the
January, 1966 issue of Abolition News, NCA-HUAC
TJN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA 95
publication, stated that the 1965 grant of $420,000.00
had been "unprecedented", and predicted that "HUAC's
1966 appropriation request faces an increasingly critical
House of Representatives." Shortly thereafter the "un-
precedented" 1965 grant was boosted by $5,000.00. This
appropriation naturally provided a topic of almost con-
tinuous discussion at the National Conference, held in
Chicago at the Pick-Congress Hotel, April 8 and 9, 1967.
From the schedules, rosters and records of proceedings
circulated at this conference, it is learned that Chairman
Harvey O'Connor opened the conference on the morning
of April 8, and after introducing the sta:ft members and
national officers, the balance of the two-day session was
occupied with speeches, discussions and panels. A roster
of those present, as issued at the Pick-Congress Hotel,
was as follows:
"Donna Allen, Washington representative,
3306 Eoss Place, NW, Washington, D. C. 20008 ;
Prof. Russell Allen. Michigan State University,
East Lansing. Michigan ;
Frank A. Anglin, Jr., President. Chicago Chapter, National
Lawyers Guild, and Treasurer, Chicago Committee to Defend
the Bill of Rights,
33 North Dearborn Street, Chicago, Illinois 60602 ;
Rev. William Baird, Essex Community Church, Executive Direc-
tor. Chicago Committee to Defend the Bill of Rights,
7240 South Blackstone. Chicago. 60619 ;
Simon Beagle, American Federation of Teachers.
215 East Dunhill Road. Bronx New York 10467 ;
Bernice Belton. Executive Secretarv, Southern Californians to
Abolish HUAC; Director NCA-HUAC's Southern California
Area OflSee,
555 North Western Avenue, Los Angeles, California 90004;
Prof. Daniel M. Berman, American University, NCA-HUAC's
Vice-Chairman East Coast,
1901 F Street. NW, Washington. D. C. 20006;
Barbara Bernstein, Chairman, Dayton Committee for the Bill of
Rights,
1426 Katalpa Drive. Dayton. Ohio. 45406 ;
Barbara Bloomfield, NCA-HUAC's Southern Regional Director,
3210 West Broadway, Room 4, Louisville, Kentucky, 40211 ;
H. H. Booker, International Workers of the World,
536 North Rush Street. Room 621. Chicago. Illinois. 60611 ;
Carl Braden. Director, Southern Conference Educational Fund,
4403 Virginia Avenue. Louisville, Kentucky. 40211 ;
Prof. Francis Broadhurst, College of Emporia, Emporia, Kansas,
Committee to Abolish HUAC ;
96 UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA
Prof. Howard Buchbinder, Social Worker and Consultant to the
office of Economic Opportunity,
7334 Dorset Street, St. Louis, Missouri, 63130 ;
Rev. Edwin T. Buehrer, Third Unitarian Church Board of Direc-
tors, Chicago Committee to Defend the Bill of Rights,
132 North Menard Street, Chicago, Illinois 60644 ;
Edward Carey, Board of Directors, Chicago Committee to Defend
the Bill of Rights,
3630 West 135th Street, Robbins, Illinois, 60472 ;
Michael S. Chrisman, Student,
Lake Forest College, Lake Forest, Illinois, 60045 ;
Charles Cogen, International President, American Federation of
Teachers,
535 North Michigan Avenue, Chicago, Illinois, 60611 ;
Tess Cogen,
535 North Michigan Avenue, Chicago, Illinois, 60611 j
Milton Cohe^,
5322 Kimbiar^ Street, Chicago, Illinois, 60615 ;
Prof. Verne Countryman, Harvard University, Chairman, Massa-
chusetts Committee to Abolish HUAC,
Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138 ;
Sylvia E. Crane, NCA-HUAC's Vice-Chairman, Organization and
Liaison,
315 West 106th Street, Room 16B, New York, NY 10025 ;
Richard Criley, Secretary, Chicago Committee to Defend the Bill of
Rights and NCA-HUAC 's Midwest Regional Director,
431 South Dearborn Street, Room 803, Chicago, Illinois, 60605 ;
F. Crowley, Southern Christian Leadership Conference,
5047 Glenwood Street, Chicago, Illinois, 60640;
Prof. Stanton L. Davis, Clevelanders for Constitutional Freedom,
3838 East Antisdale Road, Cleveland, Ohio 44118 ;
Ernest DeMaio, United Electrical Workers Vice-President,
27 South Ashland Avenue, Chicago, Illinois, 60607 ;
Jerry DeMuth, Journalist,
1943 West Chase Street, Chicago, Illinois, 60626 ;
Annette Dieckmann, American Civil Liberties Union,
Chicago, Illinois ;
Prof. Thomas I. Emerson, Yale University, NCA-HUAC 's Advisor
on Constitutional Law,
2271 Ridgeroad, North Haven, Connecticut 06473 ;
Carl F. Farrs, Southern Christian Leadership Conference,
1435 North Hudson Street, Chicago, Illinois 60610 ;
Abe Feinglass, International Vice-President, Amalgamated Meat
Cutters and Butcher Workmen,
2800 North Sheridan Road, Chicago, Illinois 60657 ;
Hugh Fowler, Chairman, DuBois Clubs of America,
180 North Wacker Drive, Chicago, Illinois 60606 ;
Peter L. Gale, Greater Philadelphia ACLU (American Civil Lib-
erties Union),
4604 Chester Avenue, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19143;
UN-AMERICAN" ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA 97
Dale Gronemeier, Executive Secretary, Northern Californians to
Abolish HUAC and NCA-HUAC's Northern California Area
Director,
1842 East 25th Street, Oakland, California, 94606 ;
Loretta Hall, Southern Christian Leadership Conference,
1435 North Hudson Street, Chicago, Illinois 60610;
Freeda Harris, Womens ' International League for Peace and Free-
dom, Member Clevelanders for Constitutional Eights,
2445 Derbyshire Street, Cleveland, Ohio 44106 ;
Hazel Henderson, Emporia Committee to Abolish HUAC,
132 West Twelfth Street, Room 9, Emporia, Kansas, 66801 ;
Mrs. Ernest Higgins, National Board, Womens' International
League for Peace and Freedom,
834 South Kenilworth Street, Oak Park, Illinois 60304 ;
Rev. Herschel Hughes, Chairman, Social Action Committee, United
Church of Christ,
228 West Sixth Street, Tilton, Illinois;
Solon Ice, Secretary, Coordinating Council of Community Orga-
nizations,
7947 South Woodlawn Street, Chicago, Illinois 60619 ;
L, H. Jackson, Vice-President, West Side Chapter, National As-
sociation for the Advancement of Colored People,
3450 West Jackson Street, Chicago. Illinois 60624 ;
David Jehnsen, Coordinator West Side Christian Parish and Board
Member, Chicago Committee to Defend the Bill of Rights,
3101 West Warren Boulevard, Chicago, Illinois 60612 ;
Prof. Michael Johnson, Emporia Committee to Abolish HUAC,
1208 Beverly Street, Emporia, Kansas, 66801 ;
Chester Kamin, Attorney at Law, Raymond, Mayer, Jenner and
Block,
135 South LaSalle Street, Chicago, Illinois 60603 ;
John Kerney, Director, Independent Voters of Illinois,
22 West Monroe Street, Chicago, Illinois 60603 ;
Marjorie Kinsella, Secretary, Chicago Peace Council,
2552 North Southport Street, Chicago, Illinois 60614 ;
David LeMau, DuBois Clubs of America,
10727 Ewing Avenue, Chicago, Illinois 60617 ;
Sidney Lens, Business Representative, Local 329 United Service
Employees ' Union,
5436 Hyde Park Boulevard, Chicago. Illinois 60015 ;
Rubin Lenske, Oregon Committee to Abolish HUAC,
7243 Southeast 34th Street, Portland, Oregon 97214 ;
Arnold Lockshin, Secretary, Massachusetts Committee to Abolish
HUAC and New England Regional Director for NCA-HUAC,
144A Mount Auburn Street. Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138 ;
Jo Longiaru. Dayton Committee for the Bill of Rights,
521 Otterbein Street, Dayton, Ohio, 45406 ;
Prof. David R. Luce, LTniversity of Michigan, Milwaukee Chapter,
American Civil Liberties Union,
2914 North Downer, Milwaukee, Wisconsin 53211 ;
98 UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA
Prof. Curtis MacDougall, Northwestern University, Vice- Chairman,
Chicago Committee to Defend the Bill of Rights,
537 Judson Avenue, Evanston, Illinois 60202 ;
Richard J. Maiman, Student Body President, Lake Forest College,
Box 499, Chicago, Illinois 60045 ;
Dorothy Marshall^ Chairman, Southern Californians to Abolish
HUAC, NCA-HUAC 's Vice Chairman and Coordinator,
555 North Western Avenue, Room 2, Los Angeles, California
90004;
Ernest Mazey, Director, American Civil Liberties Union of Michi-
gan, and an Observer for the National Office of the ACLU,
1600 Washington Boulevard Building, Detroit, Michigan 28226 ;
Horace McGill, Congress of Racial Equality,
5475 Cabanne Street, St. Louis, Missouri 63112 ;
Fr. F. J. McGraph, St. Finbarr Roman Catholic Church,
1359 South Harding Street, Chicago, Illinois 60623 ;
James Melton, Emporia Committee to Abolish HUAC,
512 Turner Road, Emporia, Kansas 66801 ;
Ann Mercer, Clevelanders for Constitutional Rights,
5207 Gifford Street, Cleveland, Ohio 44144 ;
Lyle Mercer, Executive Secretary, Washington State Committee
to Abolish HUAC, Member State Board and Chairman of Com-
mittee on HUAC, American Civil Liberties Union of Washing-
ton, and NCA-HUAC 's Western Regional Director,
747 21st Avenue East, Seattle, Washington 98102 ;
Frances Mihelich, 37 South Ashland, Chicago, Illinois 60607 ;
tj^ay Miller, Executive Director, Illinois Division of American Civil-
Liberties Union and an Observer for the National office of the
ACLU,
19 South La Salle, Chicago, Illinois 60603 ;
Patti Miller, Southern Christian Leadership Conference,
1957 North Bissell, Chicago. Illinois 60614;
Susan Miller, DuBois Clubs of America.
4916 North Glenwood Street, Chicago, Illinois 60640 ;
Donna Morgan, Students for a Democratic Society,
4717 North Bernard, Chicago, Illinois 60625 ;
Fr. Richard Morrisroe, Our Lady of Angels. Roman Catholic
Church, 730 North Wabash, Chicago, Illinois 60611
Ruth Muench, Board of Directors, Chicago Committee to Defend
the Bill of Rights.
5522 South Everett, Chicago, Illinois 60637;
Rev. Richard Mumma, Chaplain. Harvard University, Treasurer,
Massachusetts Committee to Abolish HUAC,
1785 Cambridge Street, Massachusetts 02138 ;
Russ Nixon,
171 Hicks Street, Brooklyn. New York 11201 ;
Betty Norbeck, Iowa City Committee to Abolish HUAC,
22 Montrose. Iowa City, Iowa 52240 ;
Prof. Victor Obenhaus. Chicago Theological Seminary, Vice-Chair-
man Chicago Committee to Defend the Bill of Rights,
5757 University, Chicago, Illinois 60637 ;
UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA 99
Harvey 0 'Connor, Chairman, NCA-HUAC,
Little Compton, Rhode Island, 02837 ;
Charles Ostrofsky,
670 North Tippieanoe, Gary, Indiana 46403 ;
Kiehard Orlikoff, Attorney at Law,
1371 East Park Place, Chicago, Illinois 60637 ;
Rev. Edward L. Peet, Methodist Church, Hayward, California,
Chairman, Northern Californians to Abolish HUAC, NCA-
HUAC 's Vice-Chairman, Western Region,
628 Schaef er Road, Hayward, California 94544 ;
Reed Peoples, Southern Christian Leadership Conference,
10231 South Peoria Street, Chicago, Illinois 60643 ;
Jesse Prostein, International Representative, United Packing
House Workers of America,
4800 Chicago Beach Drive, Chicago, Illinois 60615 ;
Albert A. Raby, Coordinating Counsel of Community Organiza-
tions,
366 East 47th Street, Chicago, Illinois 60638 ;
Don Rose, Board of Directors, Chicago Committee to Defend the
Bill of Rights,
5006 South Dorchester. Chicago, Illinois 60649 ;
Prof. Theodore and Amy Rosebury, Washington University Emer-
itus, NCA-HUAC sponsor,
6837 South Bennett, Chicago, Illinois 60649 ;
Ralph Russell. Treasurer Washington Area Committee for the
Abolition of HUAC,
2930 Legation, Washington D.C. 20015 ;
Louis B. Rosenthal, Student. Lake Forest College,
Box 618, Lake Forest, Illinois 60045 ;
Norman Roth, President, Local 6, United Auto Workers Union,
307 South Central, Chicago. Illinois 60644 ;
Judith Rudnick. Northern Californians to Abolish HUAC,
2626 Fulton Street, Berkeley. California 94704 ;
Dennis Schreiber, Staff Assistant, Chicago Committee to Defend
the Bill of Rights,
431 South Dearborn Street, Room 806. Chicago, Illinois 60605 ;
Henry Siegel, Clevelanders for Constitutional Rights,
5207 Gifford, Cleveland, Ohio 44144 ;
Jack ^iegel, Director of Organization, United Shoe Workers
Union; Chairman, Spring Mobilization, Chicago Area; Treas-
urer, Trade Union Division, Committee for a Sane Nuclear
Policy; Board of Directors, Chicago Committee to Defend the
Bill of Rights,
647 Buckingham Place. Chicago. Illinois 60657 ;
Robert Schwartz, Students for a Democratic Society,
Roosevelt University, 4821 North Paulina, Chicago, Illinois
60640 ;
Naomi Tabbert. Observer. Chairman. Anti-HUAC Committee,
Toledo and Ohio Division. American Civil Liberties Union,
3616 Wyckliffe, Toledo. Ohio 43613 ;
Marnesba Tackett, Director, United Civil Rights Council,
2540 Fourth Avenue, Los Angeles, California 90018 ;
100 UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA
Eugene Tournour, Regional Action Council, Congress of Racial
Equality,
204 "West North Avenue, Chicago, Illinois 60610 ;
Prof. Walter S. Vincent, University of Pittsburgh, NCA-HUAC's
Secretary,
209 Sleepy Hollow Road, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15216 ;
Rev. C. T. and Octavia Vivian, Executive Board, Southern Chris-
tian Leadership Conference and Southern Conference Educa-
tional Fund,
6836 South Merrill, Chicago, Illinois 60649 ;
James Milburn, Chairman, East-West Coordinating Council, St,
Louis, Missouri ;
Prof. L. T. and Laura Wyly, Northwestern University, 1210 Greg-
ory Street, Wilmette, Illinois, 60091 ;
Frank Wilkinson, NCA-HUAC's Executive Director-Field Repre-.
sentative. ' '
Post-Conference Staff Meeting
Apparently all of the business of the NCA-HUAC was
not settled during the transactions at the Chicago Con-
vention, because less than three months thereafter a high-
level staff meeting was held at the Greenwood Lodge at
Soquel, Santa Cruz County, California. It is operated by
William and Elsie Beltram, who before assuming man-
agement of the Lodge, resided in Oakland where they
were active in various Communist front organizations,
especially those sponsored by or on behalf of the Peoples
World. (See 1953 California Report, pages 278, 282; 1961
California report, page 30.)
Those who were scheduled to attend the Greenwood
Lodge meeting were Mr. and Mrs. Frank Wilkinson ;-
Mr. and Mrs. Rottger, Dale Gronemeier, from the San
Francisco office; Arnold Lockshin, Director of the New
England region; Lyle Mercer, from the Seattle office;
Richard Criley from the office at Chicago ; Dorothy Mar-
shall, national coordinator and former officer of Citizens
Committee to Preserve American Freedoms; Donna Al-
len, from the office at Washington, D.C. ; Miriam Roths-
child and Judy Rudnick, from San Francisco; Carl and
Anne Braden, from Kentucky; Rev. Edward Peet, Vice-
Chairman of the West Coast region from Hayward, Cali-
fornia, and Barbara Bloomfield, Southern Regional office
in Kentucky.
The 1968 letterheads of NCA-HUAC disclose that Mrs.
Judith Soltes Rudnick had been Director of Northern
UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA 101
California area, and also that Robert S. Morris had re-
placed Judge Robert Kenny as National Treasurer. This
change, we assume, was occasioned when Kenny was ap-
pointed to the Superior Court Bench in Los Angeles by
former Governor Pat Brown after his defeat by Gover-
nor Reagan, and should have made little practical differ-
ence in the operation of this national organization, since
Mr. Morris was an attorney in Kenny's office, and was a
counsel, with Kenny and the late Daniel Marshall, when
Frank Wilkinson appeared before our Committee dur-
ing the investigation of the Los Angeles Housing Author-
ity in 1952. (1953 California Report, page 86.) It should
be observed, however, that Judge Kenny continued to
occupy an official position in another Communist front
organization also operated by a Communist Party func-
tionary, the Los Angeles Committee for Defense of the
Bill of Rights.
In 1968, Dale Gronemeier, who had been Executive Di-
rector of the NCA-HUAC office in San Francisco, de-
cided to resign following a disagreement with the major-
ity of the national staff over the expanded activities and
operational techniques of the organization. He was also
embroiled in a dispute with the Department of Rhetoric
on the Berkeley campus of the University of California.
He was employed as a teaching assistant in the Rhetoric
Department, and charged political bias on the part of
the Department Head, Professor Leonard Nathan. Grone-
meier also was Vice-President of the Teaching Assist-
ants' Union, and Conn Hallinan, who was instrumental
in the organizing of the DuBois Clubs, and was now
President of Local 1570, American Federation of Teach-
ers, joined Gronemeier in the attack against Professor
Nathan.
Thus Gronemeier was fully occupied with his own
operation to abolish the head of his University Depart-
ment, and dropped away from the operation to abolish
the House Committee on Un-American Activities. {Daily
Galifornian, May 13, 1969.) Hallinan is quoted as charg-
ing that "A political purge of union activists is under-
way in the Department of Rhetoric, with the full knowl-
edge and cooperation of its chairman, Leonard Nathan."
The Gronemeier disaffection from NCA-HUAC was
o'ne of several personnel changes that occurred during
102 XTN-AMERICAlSr ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA
1968 and 1969. The organization was originally created
for the sole purpose of bringing about the liquidation of
the House Committee. Then it was expanded to bring
about the abolition of the Senate Internal Security Sub-
committee, and then all legislative committees, both state
and federal, engaged in the investigation of domestic
subversion.
Tenth National Committee Meeting
On March 22-24, 1969, the NCA-HUAC/HISC (it was
in 1969 that the House Committee changed its name from
House Committee on Un-American Activities to House
Internal Security Committee), met in its tenth session,
this one designated "Legislative Conference and Lobby,
In Pursuit of First Amendment Principle to Abolish In-
quisitorial Committees & Oppose Repressive Laws.
The purpose of this meeting in Washington, D.C. is set
forth in the title quoted above from an official document
circulated at the conference. Now the purposes of the or-
ganization not only aimed for the abolition of the House
Committee, but it was dedicated to the abolition of all ''in-
quisitorial committees", and for the opposition to all "re-
pressive laws."
Headquarters for the convention was established at
Dodge House, 20 E Street, NW, Washington, D.C. 20001.
Richard Criley, Donna Allen, Frank Wilkinson, Anne
Braden, Mike Klonsky, David Dellinger and Attorney
William Kunstler were among the featured speakers. It
was not long after this convention that Dellinger, one of
the seven defendants in Federal Judge Hoffman's Court
in Chicago would be represented by Kunstler, whose fame
prior to this spectacular trial had been confined almost en-
tirely to radical left circles.
Most of the proceedings were conducted in panel groups
on Sunday March 23. The panel on "Inquisitorial Com-
mittees" was conducted under the chairmanship of Phil-
lip J. Hirschkop, who w^as also Vice-Chairman of the East
Coast Region, and its principal speakers were Prof. Ar-
thur Kinoy, from Rutgers University Law School, and
William Kunstler.
The panel on "Pending Legislation and Hearings: Pri-
orities for Action," was led by Sylvia E. Crane, Vice-
Chairman and Organization Liason for NCA-HUAC/
UN-AMEEICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA 103
HISC, and Prof. Thomas I. Emerson from Yale Univer-
sity, and Donna Allen who runs the Washington office.
The third panel dealt with "Defense of Right to Dissent
in Period of Social Crises," and its chairman was Rev. C.
Vivian. He was also Vice-Chairman of the Mid- West Re-
gion for the national organization. The participants were
Prof. Douglas Dowd, Cornell University; James Rowan,
Southern Commitee Against Repression; Anne Braden,
identified Communist from the staff of the Southern Con-
ference Educational Fund; Mike Klonsky, National Sec-
retary of Students for a Democratic Society, and Dave
Dellinger, chairman of the National Mobilization Com-
mittee to End War in Vietnam.
Rev. Edward L. Peet, is Vice-Chairman of the West
Coast Region, and presided over the panel on ' * Opposition
to Repressive Laws." Participants were Attorney John
J. Abt, Dennis J. Roberts, and Prof. Sidney Peck from
Western Reserve University.
The fifth panel operated under the chairmanship of
Dorothy Marshall, and was concerned with the "Orga-
nizational and Political Goals of NCA-HUAC, 1969."
Participants were staff members.
An analysis of these several topics discloses how the ex-
pansion of the scope of NCA-HUAC/HISC resulted in
one panel on Ways and Means to accomplish the original
goal of the organization, and the other four were devoted
to activities of the New Left and peripheral matters.
The official roster listed the following persons who wer6
in attendance at the Washington meeting :
*' California:
Louise Bauers, 7882 Matilija, Van Nuys, Calif 91402, Women for
Legislative Action ;
Bernice Belton, 555 North Western Avenue, Boom 2, Los Angeles,
Calif. 90004, Director, Southern Californians to Abolish
HUAC/HISC ;
Eose Chernin, 326 West Third Street, Los Angeles, California
90013, Executive Director, Los Angeles Committee for Defense
of the Bill of Eights ;
Prof. John Ellingston, 1522 Funston Avenue. San Francisco. Cali-
fornia 94122, Northern Californians to Abolish HUAC/HISC;
Mike Harris. 5604 Dorothy Way. San Diego, California 92115 ;
Eebecca Krieger, P. 0. Box 77221. San Francisco California 94107,
Director of Northern California Area NCA-HUAC/HISC, Ex-
ecutive Secretary, Northern Californians to Abolish HUAC/-
filSC}
104 UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA
Mr. and Mrs. James Krieger, Terra Krieger, 4420 Third Street,
Riverside, California 92501 ;
Juan Carlos Lopez, 173 Peralta Avenue, San Francisco, California
94110, Teacher, Defendant, SACB (Subversive Activities Con-
rol Board) Proceeding, March. 1969;
Rev. Edward L. Feet, 350 Arballo Drive, Apt 6 C, San Francisco,
California 94132, Glide Memorial Methodist Church ; Vice-Chair-
man, Western Region NCA-HUAC/HISC, Chairman, Northern
Californians to Abolish HUAC/HISC.
Miriam Rothschild, 35 Galilee Lane. San Francisco, California,
94115 ; Northern Californians to Abolish HUAC/HISC ;
Frank Wilkinson, 555 North Western Avenue, Room 2, Los An-
geles, California 90004, Executive' Director-Field Representa-
tive NCA-HUAC/HISjC ;
Connecticut:
Prof, and Mrs. Thomas I. Emerson, Law, Yale University, New
Haven Connecticut 06520, Advisor on Constitutional Law to
NCA-HUAC/HIgC;
Illinois :
Milton Cohen, 5322 Kimbark Avenue, Chicago, Illinois 60615;
Social Worker Plaintiff, Stamler, Hall & Cohen; Constitutional
Challenge to HUAC ;
Richard Criley, 431 South Dearborn Sireet, Room 803, Chicago,
Illinois 60605 ;. Executive Director, Chicago Committee to Defend
the Bill of Rights; Midwest Regional Director NCA-HUAC/-
HISC;
Rev. Martin Deppe> 8712 South Emerald Avenue, Chicago, Illinois
60620; Chairman, Board of Social Concerns, Northern Illinois
Conference, I'^nited Methodist Church ;
Abe Feinglass, 2800 North Sheridan Road, Chicago. Illinois 60657 ;
International Vice-President Amalgamated Meat Cutters &
Butcher Workmen ;
Prof. Robert J. Havighurst, 5844 Stoney Island, Chicago, Illinois
60637 ; Education, University of Chicago, Co-Chairman Chicago
Committee to Defend the Bill of Rights ;
Dave Jehnsen. 3302 Congress Parkway, Chicago, Illinois 60624;
Field Trainer, Vista Program. Board of Directors, Chicago Com-
mittee to Defend the Bill of Rights ;
Daniel Kaufman. 1503 West 91st Street, Chicago, Illinois, 60620;
Staff Member, Chicago Federation Union of American Hebrew
Congregations ;
Fr. Francis J. McGrath, 2455 North Hamlin Avenue, Chicago,
Illinois 60647 ; Board of Directors, Chicago Committee to Defend
the Bill of Rights ;
Jesse Prosten, 4800 Chicago Beach Drive, Chicago, Illinois 60615 ;
International Representative, Amalgamated Meat Cutters &
Butcher Workmen ;
Walter Soroka, 1440 Rosita, Palatine, Illinois 60067 ; Board of Di-
rectors, Chicago Committee to Defend the Bill of Rights ;
UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA 105
Beatrice M. Stuart, 720 Coronet Koad, Glenview, Illinois 60025;
Staff Assistant, Chicago Committee to Defend the Bill of Rights ;
Edmonia Swanson, 6926 South Wabash Avenue, Chicago, Illinois
60637; Illinois State Board of Social Concerns, United Church
of Christ ;
Quentin Young, M. D., 1512 East 55th Street, Chicago, Illinois
60615 ; Past National Chairman, Medical Committee for Human
Eights ; Plaintiff Constitutional Challeoge of HUAC ;
Iowa :
Lowell Foote, 6667 Hawkeye Court, Iowa City, Towa 52240. Stu-
dent, University of Iowa Law School, Iowa City Committee to
Abolish HUAC/HISC ;
Kentucky:
Carl Braden, 3210 West Broadway, Louisville, Kentucky, 40211;
Executive Director, Southern Conference Educational Fund,
Inc. ; Southern Regional Committee, NCA- HUAC/HISC ;
George Meyers, 25 West 26th Street, New York, NY 10010 ; Labor
Secretary, Communist Party, USA ;
Loren Siegel, 30 West 90th Street, New York, NY 10024 ;
Nancy Stearns, 296 West 11th Street, New York, NY 10014; Coun-
sel, Constitutional Challenges of HUAC ;
North Carolina:
Jim Rowan, 1009 Burch, Durham, North Carolina 27701; Chair-
man, Southern Committee Against Repression ;
Ohio :
Lynda Anastasia, 1920 West Grand Avenue, Dayton, Ohio, 45407 ;
Social Worker ;
Barbara Bernstein, 1426 Catalpa Drive, Dayton, Ohio 45406;
Chairman, Dayton Committee to Defend the Bill of Rights
Prof. Aaron Dindman, 628 North Wittenberg, Springfield, Ohio
45504 ;
Chris Buchanan, 229 West Dunedin Road, Columbus, Ohio 43214 ;
Student ;
Prof. Franklin Buchanan, 229 West Dunedin Road, Columbus,
Ohio 43214; Education, Ohio State University, Chairman, Co-
lumbus Committee to Defend the Bill of Rights;
Terry Snider, 10636 West Panther Creek Road, Bradford, Ohio
45308 ; Social Worker ;
Oregon:
Rubin Lenske, 7243 Southeast 34th Street, Portland, Oregon 97202 ;
Charles Porter, 2680 Baker Street, Eugene, Oregon 97401 ; Chair-
man, Oregon Committee to Abolish HUAC/HISC ;
Pennsylvania :
Candie Black, 4714 Hazel Avenue, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
19143 ; Teacher CORE ;
106 UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA
Katie Eastman, 4437 Chestnut Street, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
19104; Staff, Pennsylvania ACLU (American Civil Liberties
Union) ;
Mr. and Mrs. Peter Gale (Barbara), 4207 Chester Avenue, Phila-
delphia, Pennsylvania 19104; Former Director, Southern Re-
gional Office NCA-HUAC/HISC (Mrs.)
Mr.. and Mrs. Herman Liveright, (Betty), 200 Locust Street, Phila-
delphia, Pennsylvania 19106 ; Development Director, Highlander
Research and Education Center (Mr.)
Mr. and Mrs. Frank Petersen (Bertha), 2006 Walnut Street, Phila-
delphia, Pennsylvania 19103 ; Resistance ;
Prof, and Mrs. Walter Vincent (Helen), 209 Sleepyhollow Road;
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 16213; Medicine, University of Pitta-
burgh, Secretary, NCA-HUAC/HISC ;
Bhode Island:
Mr. and Mrs. Harvey O'Connor (Jessie), Little Compton, Rhode
Island 02837 ; Chairman, NCA-HUAC/HISC ;
Utah:
Uda Hanson. 191 North First West, Spanish Fork, Utah, 84660;
Wayne Holley, 175 North 1600 West, Mapleton, Utah, 84663 ; De-
fendant, SCAB Proceeding, July, 1968, Steelworker;
Mr. and Mrs. Bob Sayer, (Irma), Route 1, Springfield, Utah
84663 ; Farmer ;
Tirginia :
Thelma Deviange, 3316 North Vernon Street, Arlington, Virginia
22207 ;
Phil Friedman, 2994 South Columbus Street, Arlington, Virginia.,
22206 ;
PhiUip J. Hirschkop, Post Office Box 234, 110 North Royal Street,
Alexandria, Virginia 22313; Counsel. Constitutional Challenges.
of HUAC, Oct. 1968 ; Vice-Chairman, East-Coast, NCA^HUAC/-
HISC;
Steve Romines, 1715 Army-Navy Drive, Arlington, Virginia 22202
Washington State :
Prof. Alex Gottfried, 4811, 107th, NE, Seattle, Washington 98125
Political Science, University of Washington; Chairman, Wash
ington State Committee to Abolish HUAC/HISC; Vice-Chair
man, Washington State ACLU;
Dorothy Johnson, Route 1, Box 812, Vashon, Washington 98070
Washington State Committee to Abolish HUAC/HISC ;
Lyle Mercer, 747 21st Avenue East, Seattle, Washington 98102
Executive Secretary, Washington State Committee to Abolish
HUAC/HISC ; Director, Western Region, NCA-HUAC/HISC
Washington, D. C:
Donna Allen, 3306 Ross Place, NW, Washington, D.C., 20008
Washington Representative, NCA-HUAC/HISC ;
Rick Bela, 1826 Jefferson Place, NW, Washington, D.C., 20036;.
TJN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA 107
Barbara Bick, 2231 Vancroft Place, NW, Washington, D. C. 20008 ;
Editor, W. S. P. Memo, National Office, Womens' Strike for
Peace ;
Lola Boswell, 1301 Masachusetts Avenue, NW, Washington, D. C,
20005 ;
Margot Burman, 100 Seventh Street, NE, Washington, D. C,
20002; Washington Representative-Assistant, NCA-HUAC/-
HISC;
David Clarke, 1909 19th Street, NW, Washington, D. C. 20009 ;
Jim Cunningham, 1216 30th Street, NW, Washington, D. C. 20006;
Leanna Eikenberry, c/o Myrtle Oliver, 1438 Iris Street, NW,
Washington, D. C. 20012 ;
Joseph Forer, 711 14th Street, NW, Washington, D. C. 20005 ; of
Counsel, SACB Proceedings, Revived Internal Security Act;
Sponsor, Washington Area Committee for the Abolition of
HUAC/HISC ;
Charles T. Gift, 5906 13th Street, NW, Washington, D. C. 20011 j
Womens ' International League for Peace and Freedom ;
Anthony Henry, 1909 19th Street, NW, Washington, D. C. 20005,
Director, Tenants Right Program, American Friends Service
Committee ;
Mr. and Mrs. Allen Hoffard (Laura), 1422 V Street, SE, Washing.
ton, D. C. 20020 ;
William S. Johnson, Sr., 1236 Harvard Street, NW, Washington,
D. C. 20009 ;
Julius Kaplan, 738 Longfellow Street, NW, Washington, D. C.
20011 ;
Kenneth S. Kovack, 1001 Connecticut Avenue, NW, Washington,
D. C, 20036; Legislative Representative, United Steel Workers
of America ;
Albert Lannon, Jr., 1341 G Street, NW, Washington, D. C. 20005 ;
Legislative Representative, International Longshoremen's &
Warehousemen 's Union ;
Carole Leavitt, 1706 S Street, NW, Washington, D. C, 20009 ;
Marilyn Lereh, 1816 New Hampshire Avenue, NW, Apartment 908,.
Washington, D. C. 20036 ; Teacher ;
Jonathan Lerner, 1826 Corcoran Street, NW, Washington, D. C.
20009 ; Students for a Democratic Society ;
Jack Davis, 1826 Corcoran Street, NW, Washington, D. C. 20009;
Students for a Democratic Society ;
Jilrs. Elizabeth Anne Newton, c/o Miss Stephanie Stilwell, 1484
Wyoming Street, NW, Apartment 3, Washington, D. C, 20009 ;
Myrtle Oliver, 1438 Iris Street, NW, Washington, D. C. 20012,
Womens ' International League for Peace and Freedom ;
Jacklyn Potter, 120 Maryland Avenue, NE, Washington, D. C.
20002; Administrative Assistant, Womens' International League
for Peace and Freedom ;
Martha Powers. 20001 19th Street, NW, Washington, D. C. 20009;
David Rein, 711 14th Street, NW, Washington, D. C. 20005 ; Wash-
ington Area Committee for the Abolition of HUAC/HISC ;
108 UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA
Ann Kicks, 1419 Chapin Street, NW, Washington, D. C. 20009;^
Corresponding Secretary, Washington Area Committee for the'
Abolition of HUAC/HISC ;
Kev. Charlie Rother, 1620 S Street, NW, Washington, D. C. 20036 ;
Chaplain, American University ;
Mr. and Mrs. Ralph Russell (Margaret), 2930 Legation Street,
NW, Washington, D. C. 20015; Treasurer, Washington Area
Committee for the Abolition of HUAC/HISC ;
Fred C. Samuelson, 12013 Viers Mill Road, Silver Spring. Mary-,
land 20906; Washington Area Committee for the Abolition of
HUAC/HISC ;
Francois Somlyo, 1216 H Street, NW, Washington, D. C. 20005;
Business Agent, Cooks, Pastry Cooks & Kitchen Employees,
Local 209 ;
Lawrence Speiser, 1424 16th Street, NW, Washington, D. C. 20036 ;
Director, Washington Office. American Civil Liberties Union ;
Mr. and Mrs. Pulius Weisser (Ethel). 3923 McKinley Street, NW,
Washington. D. C. 20015; Secretary, Washington Area Com-
mittee for the Abolition of HUAC/HISC (Mrs.)
Bill Woolf, 1756 Corcoran Street, NW, Washington, D. C. 20009 ;
Wisconsin:
Prof. David R. Luce. 2914 North Donner Avenue, Milwaukee, Wis-
consin 53211; Philosophy, University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee;
Wisconsin Civil Liberties Union. ' '
Personnel and Leadership
In other reports we have repeatedly warned that mere
membership in a Communist front organization does not
necessarily imply that a member is pro-Communist.
Front organizations are designed to attract the unwary
liberal, and most fronts have succeeded in this respect.
It is hard to conceive of a person of intelligence belong-
ing to the Committee for Defense of the Bill of Rights
under Rose Chernin's leadership, or to NCA-HUAC/
HISC under Frank Wilkinson's leadership, however,
without being fully aware of the real nature of these
groups.
We have already indicated that the Committee for the
Defense of the Bill of Rights operates to provide bail
and legal talent for members of the radical Left. This, of
course, includes anyone deemed valuable to the Commu-
nist movement. There have been instances where the In-
ternational Labor Defense in California (forerunner of
JjACDBR), provided bail for a Stalinist Communist and
then withdrew it when he became a Trotskyist Comowu-
nist. (Testimony of Norman Mini, transcript, Los Angeles
hearing, 1950.)
UN-AMEKICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA 109
A contention frequently advanced by critics of HISC
and other official investigating agencies in the domestic
subversion field is that they are not needed, and that all
of their activities should be handled by the Federal Bu-
reau of Investigation. This assertion has deluded many
uninformed people, but the truth is that the FBI is not
permitted to make public disclosures of its findings, it
has no power of subpoena, and it reports to no law-mak-
ing body. Legislative fact-finding committees have served
as sources of information to law-making groups, state
and federal, ever since colonial days in the United States.
The theory behind the operation of these bodies is sim-
ply that they are invested with broad investigating pow-
ers, and their sole function is to provide accurate infor-
mation which may or may not be the subject of
subsequent legislation, to the bodies by which they were
created. Their activity is not measured in the volume of
laws their disclosures initiate, but rather in the extent and
accuracy of the information they provide on the matters
within their jurisdiction.
Another complaint often made by Communist front or-
ganizations in general, and the one under discussion in
particular, is against what has become known as "guilt
by association," and a word concerning this propaganda
device might not be amiss at this point. There is nothing
inherently abhorrent about this term — although the radi-
cal Left has sought to give it a connotation of something
evil. It is nothing more than the principle of a man being
known by the company he prefers to keep, as he is
known by his personal habits, the clothes he wears, the
books he reads and the organizations to which he belongs.
He does these things by his own freedom of choice. The
law has long taken cognizance of this in its provisions
concerning conspiracy. If a man chooses to support the
American Nazi Party, Minutemen, Ku Klux Klan, and
States Rights Party — all militantly Right organizations,
and he reads Fascist literature consistently, supports
Nazi Party candidates for public office, and attends meet-
ings featuring Gerald L. K. Smith — that is working one
side of the ideological street, and the Communist front
organizations would be the first to attack such a person
as an activist of the radical Right. If he chooses to fol-
low the same pattern with persons and organizations of
110 UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA
the extreme Left, he is free to do so, but he cannot escape
the fact that his tendencies and habits will be judged by
his actions and his associations. It certainly would not
mean that the man was either a member of the American
Nazi Party or the Coromunist Party, but his support of
these organizations of the extreme right or left would
most assuredly indicate his sympathy for one or the.
other extreme ideology. Formal membership in subversive
organizations is quite another matter and requires a
vastly different sort of evidence. At this point, and in the
light of what we shall say about the leaders of NCA-
HUAC/HISC, it is also appropriate that we should
point out the meaning of the term "identified Commu-
nist." By that term we refer to unrefuted sworn testi-
mony concerning a person's membership in the Commu-
nist Party by a witness or witnesses who served in the
organization with the person under discussion. Obviously,
no Communist Party member is happy at being exposed
in his undercover and subversive activities by witnesses
before legislative committees ; hence, the vituperation and
campaigns of abuse that have been waged against under-
cover operatives for federal and state governments; and
it is equally clear that the abolition of legislative com-,
mittees, state and federal, would enable the Communist
Party to operate with greater freedom and security.
We have already explained the Communist Party mem-
bership of Mr. Frank Wilkinson, the National Executive
Director of NCA-HUAC/HISC, and the fact that he
served a term in a federal penal institution for con-
tempt of the House Committee. It remains to discuss
briefly the Communist affiliations of some of the other
leaders of this organization, in order to remove any
doubt concerning the real control of its operations.
Richard Criley graduated from the University of Cali-
fornia at Berkeley in 1934, and thereafter became an
official of the Young Communist League in the East
Bay area. He has been identified as a Communist by four
witnesses who were in the Party with him and who testi-
fied before the House Committee. He was a speaker at
the 1938 California State Communist Party convention,
and was expelled from Local 26, United Packing House
Workers of America, because of his Communist activi-
ties. At present he is Secretary of the Midwest Regional
UN-AMEEICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA 111
office for NCA-HUAC/HISC, at Chicago, Illinois. (See
HUAC report, July, 1954; See report, Congressional
Record, May 3, 1961, page 4.)
The NCA-HUAC/HISC continues to flourish pursuant
to its expanded objectives, and a familiarity with its
leaders, officers, and sponsors removes any lingering
doubt about the fact that this organization is under com-
plete Communist Party domination, and has been so since
it came into existence in 1960. Indeed, no sooner had
the House Committee been established in 1938 than the
Communist propaganda machine was set in motion to
hamper its investigations and bring about its abolition.
(The Communist, Sept., 1938 ; Proceedings, 14th National
Convention, Communist Party of the United States, New
York, August 6, 1948.)
The Daily Worker, May 25, 1950, describing a session-
of the National Committee of the Communist Party,
U. S. A., on May 22 and 23, 1950, stated that :
^'Joe Brandt, who is now in charge of the defense
campaign of the Party, then reported that the Non-
partisan Committee for the Defense of the 12 Com-
munist leaders and the Civil Rights Congress are
planning activities for the Abolition of the Un-
American Committee."
This official declaration by the Party heralded the cre-
ation of the NCA-HUAC/HISC, as we have explained.
The National Chairman, Harvey O'Connor has been
identified as a member of the Communist Party, (HUAC
report, October, 1962) so has Frank Wilkinson, its Ex-
ecutive Director, Richard Criley, who heads its mid-
west region, and Carl and Anne Braden who operate
in its southern region. Space will not permit, nor would
any real purpose be gained, by setting forth here, the
detailed Communist Front activities of all the other
officers and sponsors of the organization. Although it
has found more support among its contacts outside of
Congress than in the House of Representatives of that
body, it continues to operate more energetically than
ever.
112 UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA
NATIONAL COAAMITTEE TO ABOLISH HUAC
EXHIBIT I
Citizcr.s Committee to
.% JSc:\Vi AKEiVICAl^J FREEDOMS
iii IS. WESTERN AVENUE • Mailing Addre.i: P.O. BOX 74757 • LOS ANGELES 4, CALIF. • HOIIywood 2-1329
January \k, 1966
0 a;.l m£^i3ers of the executive board and sustaining contributors of the citizens
Crs.1iT.££ TO PRESERVE AMERICAN FREEDOMS:
T-e CCPA? Executive Board held two special meetings on January 3rd and 8th to discuss
i>roposa:s to improve the work in the Southern California area of the national campaign
X.0 abol ish HUAC.
The following proposals were agreed to and are now presented for your consideration
and vote;
1) The Citizens Committee to Preserve American Freedoms (CCPAF) , be dissolved.
2) A r.i:,,/ organization to be known as "Southern Californians To Abolish the House
Un-American Activities Committee" (SCAHUAC) , be established. The letterhead and
literature of the new organization would carry the following information:
a; "Formerly, Citizens Committee to Preserve American Freedoms"; and
b) 'Mffillate: National Committee to Abolish the House Un-American Activities
Comfflit-ee"
3) The Executive Board of the new organization (SCAHUAC) would consist of all present
members of the Citizens Committee to Preserve American Freedoms' Executive Board
who wish to continue on the Board, and one or more representatives to be invited
from each Congressional District in Southern California.
4) The new organization (SCAHUAC) would be responsible for all funds raised in Sou-
thern California for the HUAC abolition campaign; develop a budget; and allocate
funds for local and national abolition work. First claim on funds raised by the
new organization would be for payment of the salary of the national executive
director (Frank Wilkinson) and for the overhead (rent and telephone) of the
national office in Los Angeles of the National Committee to Abolish the House
Un-American Activities Committee.
5) The new organization (SCAHUAC) would select a staff person, voluntary or paid, to
work on a part-time or full-time program to coordinate Congressional District
activities, education work, fund raising, and other duties the organizations would
establish to further the HUAC abolition program in Southern California.
The present Executive Board of the Citizens Committee to Preserve American Freedoms
will continue until such time as the above proposals can be acted on. Five members Of
the present CCPAF Board were named to implement the above program, if approved.
Dorothy Marshall, Chairman; Reverend Stephen H. Fritchman; Raphael Konlgsberg; Betty
Rottger; and Vic Shapiro; - Frank Wilkinson, ex officio.
Please mark the enclosed Ballot and return In the enclosed addressed and stamped enve-
lope, - no later than January 25th
DUE TO THE ILLNESS OF DOROTHY MARSHALL. CHAIRMAN:
Submitted by:
BETTY ROTTGER
Office Coordinator
UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA 113
NATIONAL COMMITTEE TO ABOLISH HUAC
EXHIBIT I— Continued
CITIZENS COMMITTEE TO PRESERVE AMERICAN FREEDOMS
-BALLOT-
In regard to the proposals to improve the work in Southern California
of the national campaign to abolish HUAC, submitted on behalf of the
CCPAF Executive Board by Betty Rottger on January lU, 1966, I vote as
f o 1 1 ows :
/ / I approve
/ / I disapprove
Note: Ir, addition to the proposals submitted by the Executive Board,
your own suggestions regarding ways and means of improving the
HUAC abolition campaign in the Southern California area are most
welcome .
MEMBERS OF THE CCPAF EXECUTIVE BOARD:
If the proposals to dissolve the Citizens Committee to Preserve American
Freedoms and establish a new organization to be known as "Southern
Californians For the Abolition of the House Un-American Activities Com-
mittee", are approved:
I wish to continue as a member of the
Executive Board of the new organization / /
I am unable to continue as a member of the ^_^^
Executive Board of the new organization / /
NAME
114 UN-AMERICAN ACTI\1TIES IN CALIFORNIA
NATIONAL COAAMITTEE TO ABOLISH HUAC
EXHIBIT II
PETITION -CONTRIBUTE TO ABOLISH HUAC
URGEMTF
NATIONAL COMMITTEE TO ABOLISH HUAC
□ Enclosed is my petition in concurrence with the constitutional law
authorities. Please present it to my Representative before Congress
convenes on January 4, 1965. Please send me more copies.
□ Enclosed is $-
as my contribution toward the National
Committee's campaign to abolish HUAC.
(Make checks payable to ROBERT W. KENNY, Treasurer)
Name.
Address.
City
-State.
.2lP CODE.
Honorary Chairmen
Chairman Emeritus James Imbrie
Aubrey W. Williams Alexander Meiklejohn
Clarence Pickett
Chairman
Harvey O'Connor
555 North Western Avenue #2 / Los Angeles 4, Calif. / HOllywood 2-1329
UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA
115
NATIONAL COMMITTEE TO ABOLISH HUAC
EXHIBIT III
SPONSORS
Jtm Berland
Prof. Fairel Broslawsky
HmocT. LA Valley Coliccc
Nina Byer^
Prof Vern L Bulloufh
Prof John A Buchanan
ipe«<h. L A Viiley Coli*te
Prof Frank B Cannomio
Dr. Arthur Carslcns
Jeanne Cay a
Rabbi William Cutter
Ernesi C Dillard
Prof Bernard R Gelbaum
MaihemaiKs Ut»« of Cilit . Ir<i
Rodehc Gorney. M.D
Ralph R Grecmon. M D
Ps^chisiry. LiCLA
Prof Keiih Gunderton
nuMxoptt}. L'CLA
J Stuan Inneru
Quaker Leader
Prof Donald KaJish
Samuel Kalish
Ben D. Leeds
CDC Director
James P. Lennon
Rcacarcti Anttum
JerrvLennon
Prof Millard C Madten
FtycSotocT. UCLA
Prof. Richard Montague
John W Porter
Prof Oeste F. PuccUni
UCLA
Rex Ragan
Pubbc Heakli. UCLA
Imng Samoff
Sowthem California
Prof C Wade Savage
Rev Henry P Schroerlulte
Louis 5 Smith
Ret>o«u] Dirccior. COItE
Fred H Stdnmetz
Leslie SteinmcU
Zenu M. Sykes
Southern Califanians to Abolish HUAC/HISC
[House Comrrifiee on Internal Security]
AFFILIATE OF NATIONAL COMMITTEE TO ABOLISH THE HOUSE UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES COMMITTEE
555 N. Western Avenue. P.O. Box 74757. Los Angeles, California 90004, 462-1329
OpP«*e the SAC8 Hearings la Los Angeles
The first witch hunt in Los Angeles since 1962 has been
set for next Tuesday - June 17th!
Acting imder HUAC/WISC's revived Internal Security Act,
the Subversive Activities Control Board has selected
Los Angeles for its first "hearing" outside of Washingtca.
Your Southern Califomians to Abolish HUAC/HISC warned
and informed regarding the threat to our liberties under
the new Act. After several decisions of the Supzemt Court
of the United States had declared the original Uw to be
unenforceable and unconstitutional, we helped organise
opposition to the HUAC/HISC scheae to nullify the high
court decisions and revive the Act.
Los Angeles' leading dergy^n, a score of our professors
•f l»Wt and over one thousand other citizens petitioned
against the revived Act. 12 Southern California Congress*
■en voted against reviving the Act.
But we lost. The Act was revived.
Now, the Nixon Adainistration has soved to use the new
law as part of their arsenal of repression. Deputy Attorney
General Richard Eleindienst has announced that the Justice
Departnent is "not just going to keep" the Act alive, but
would "give it
David Thompion
TcKher
Prof. Harold C Urr
»l/.S
Tbe enclosed literature speals for itself.
We aust act. We urge you:
1 - Wire your Congressmen to ask the Justice Departnent
to stop proceedings until the SupresK Court can again
rule on its constitutionality; - and to introduce leg-
islation to repeal the revived Act, and its corollary
concentration caap provisions!
2 - Cone down and join the picket line in front of the old
Federal Building (312 N. Spring Street) - frca
10 a.B. to 4 p.a. next Tuesday, Jtaie 17thi
3 - Use the enclosed envelope to contribute to SCAHUAC^ISC's
special expenses in connection with our educatiea -
action caopaign against the SAC8 witch fauati
ChS Vaufht
CluirHur>.lA.-SN<
Prof Karl With
t To Afio'/Jl Inauistloria' Commiilees 4 ODOOse Pepressi*
THE COMMUNIST PARTY, U.S.A.
The National Party
The Communist Party of the United States was cre-
ated from the left wing of the Socialist Party at a Chi-
cago convention in September, 1919. Thereafter it per-
fected its organization over a period of five years, always
recruiting on a highly selective basis rather than attempt-
ing to build a large mass revolutionary organization. At
first the country was divided into districts, California,
Arizona and Nevada comprising District 13 with head-
quarters in San Francisco. A few years ago this desig-
nation was dropped, and District 13 thenceforth com-
prised California, Arizona and Hawaii, and still more
recently California achieved a significance that entitled
it to have a Communist organization of its own, divided
into Northern and Southern districts, which will be ex-
amined in detail later.
It is difficult to convince people of how the Communist
Party, a relatively small organization, can exert an enor-
mous influence far out of proportion to its numerical
strength. This is achieved, of course, because of its elab-
orate network of front organizations, its smoothly-func-
tioning propaganda machinery, its highly disciplined and
trained membership, its function as a part of an inter-
national Communist movement, its dual structure of above
and below ground organizations, and its vast support
from fellow travelers, members at large, sympathizers,
and so-called "sleepers", or those persons under Party
discipline who are placed in sensitive positions and who
remain dormant until they are called upon to perform
a service for the Party.
The Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation
stated in 1965 that "few things would give the Com-
munist Party, U.S.A., more comfort than a widespread
underestimation of the menace which it presents to the
internal security of the Nation." (Testimony, Hearing
before House Subcommittee on Appropriations, March
4, 1965.)
(116)
TIN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA 117
The present National Head of the Communist Party
in this country, Gus Hall, had expressed his views con-
cerning the Federal Bureau of Investigation on several
occasions. Two years before Mr. Hoover's testimony,
Hall had declared: "We Communists are well acquainted
with the unlawful, degenerate activities of the F. B. I.
We know about their business of lying, of manufacturing
evidence, illegal tapping of telephones, illegal breaking
into homes, their practice of intimidation and coercion,
about the method of keeping a file on all public officials.
and using them to assure huge appropriations for itself
and to keep an atmosphere of fear so there is no criti-
cism of its activities." (Communist Viewpoint, official
Communist publication, Vol. I, Nos. 5 and 6, 1963, page
3.)
Mr. Hall also made a significant statement, perhaps in
an unguarded moment, when he declared: "... I think
that we are a bigger factor in American life than most
people want to recognize or even fully appreciate.'*
(Mike Wallace interview, Dec. 28, 1959, transcript, page
83.)
The national headquarters for the CPUSA is situated
in a drab brick building at 23 West 26th Street, Room
305, New York City. For security reasons, however, little
important business is transacted there, the affairs of the
organization being conducted from the residences of its
leaders, and records concerning membership and payment
of dues no longer being maintained at a central location
by written record, but rather by subordinate Party units
throughout the country, and, if reduced to writing at all,
kept in code. No membership books, cards, or other writ-
ten indications of membership have been issued by the
Party since December, 1947, which renders the phrase:
^'Card-carrying Communists" obsolete.
Spokesmen for the Party would like to have us believe
that it operates wholly independently from the headquar-
ters for the international Communist movement in Mos-
cow, that it advocates a transition from our present form
of government to Communism by education and peaceful
persuasion, that it abhors force and violence, and that its
great concern is the preservation of world peace.
The fact that the Communist Party of the United
States is an integral part of the world Communist move-
118 UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA
ment, with the ideology, the experience, the strategy, the
discipline, the dedication, and the energy that flows to it
from the longevity of its operation and its ties with for-
eign organizations, sets it apart as distinct and far more
dangerous than all of the other domestic subversive or-
ganizations combined. As one expert has put it :
''In one very important respect, the American
Communist Party differed from all political organi-
zations that had preceded it in American history.
This was its connection with the world Communist
movement, making the local Party a piece of politi-
cal and administrative apparatus in a larger struc-
ture of international organizations, managed from
the Soviet Union/' (The Communist Controversy in
Washington, by Earl Latham. Harvard University
Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1966, page 19. Dr.
Latham is chairman of the Department of Political
Science at Amherst College.)
We have frequently described the organizational struc-
ture of the CPUSA, and have no intention of repeating
the detailed explanations concerning it that have ap-
peared in previous reports. It is, however, necessary to
know that the most populous states such as California
and New York are allow^ed to have their own Party or-
ganizations, subordinate to the national body, and that
the less populoiis states are sometimes grouped together
to form districts. Nationwide activities are conducted by
a Secretariat of the National Committee. This is an exact
duplicate of the Soviet system, in which a Central Com-
mittee is operated by a political bureau, and that organi-
zation is run by a Secretariat. Both in the Soviet Union
and in the United States, the General Secretary is the
highest official in the Communist organization. There are
also numerous commissions, such as commissions on labor,
racial minority groups, youth, agriculture, and the like.
The whole system operates under a principle which is
designated as Democratic Centralism. This is supposed
to mean that the decisions are made by the membership-
at-large, conveyed to the top leadership, and by it placed
into operation. Actually, however, the exact reverse has
been true in practice. The decisions are made at the top
and transmitted through various subordinate function-
UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA 119
aries to the state and district organizations and then im-
plemented by action at these lower levels. Any criticism
of the world Communist line as announced from the
Soviet Union is summarily squashed, dissident members
are expelled, discipline from the top is rigid and puni-
tive, and this deviation from the democratic principle
has, as we shall see, caused deep rifts in the Party mem-,
bership.
In previous years we have devoted much attention to,
the Communist educational systems through its network
of schools, its propaganda outlets, its underground ap-
paratus, its ''special sections" devoted to espionage, and
its system of communicating with foreign Communist
Parties by sending delegates to international front or-
ganization meetings, and by means of couriers*
National Leadership
The late William Z. Foster, a militant trade union or-
ganizer, Earl Browder and Gus Hall are the three gen-
eral secretaries of the Conmiunist Party of the United
States who are widely known. Foster led the Party in
its great crusade to infiltrate and dominate key trade
union organizations in this country; Browder was more
intellectually inclined, wrote extensively, and was even-
tually expelled from the Party because he was deemed
insufficiently militant. The present leader of the CPUSA
is Gus Hall, and since he virtually dictates the activities
of the national organization, and because we have not
devoted sufficient attention to him in the past, and be-
cause of his frequent appearances in California, we will
examine his background and activities at some length.
The General Secretary, CPUSA
Gus Hall was born Arvo Kusta Halberg, October 8,
1910 in Minnesota. He worked as a lumberjack and a
steel worker, served in the U.S. Navy for 14 months,
and became a member of the young Communist League
when he was approximately 16 years of age. Charac-
terized by a tough, blunt and active attitude. Hall rose
rapidly in the ranks of the Communist Party, had his
name legally changed to the one he now uses, and was
soon functioning in Ohio as a Communist Party official
and an organizer in the steel industry. He spent several
120 UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA
years attending the Lenin School in Moscow, where he
roomed with Leonard Patterson, a former member of
the Communist Party who has testified extensively con-
cerning their activities in the Soviet Union.
In the Lenin School, Hall learned about street fighting,
the use of explosives and other revolutionary techniques.
It would appear, of course, that if the CPUSA spoke
the truth when it insisted and still insists upon its peace-
ful attitude and its opposition to violence, it would have
been superfluous to teach the American students at the
Lenin School a sophisticated technique in blowing up
buildings, bridges and other public works. Hall returned
to the United States and lost little time in putting his
lessons to the practical test. As a leader of the Steel
Workers' Organizing Committee, he ran a strike in Ohio
against the Republic Steel Corporation. Lester Abele
was at the time adjutant for the 73rd Brigade, Ohio
National Guard and was a speaker for the Ohio House
of Representatives. His testimony concerning Hall's ac-
tivities in the strike was detailed before the Senate In-
ternal Securitv Subcommittee, February 2 and 3, 1960,
pages 25, 26, 27 :
"We obtained the confessions of an Arthur Scott,
and also John Borawies, and George Bundas. The
gist of the confessions was this, that Gus Hall was
the leader of the group who obtained, or sent for
and obtained, dynamite and nitro-glycerin . . . the
orders of Gus Hall, according to these confessions,
were to blow up and destroy the property of the
Republic Steel Corp., homes of non-striking work-
ers; railroad property, including tracks and bridges.
They were to blow up the huge tanks, holding per-
haps a quarter of a million gallons of highly volatile
benzol on the property of the Republic Steel Corp.
They were to blow up the Municipal Electric Light
plant in Warren. They were to destroy the power
transformers near the steel plant. The Meander Dam
. . . was to have been blowm up. There were plans
to fly over the steel plant shops in an airplane and
drop bombs."
When Hall appeared before the subcommittee and was
asked to comment on or refute any of these charges, he
UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA 121
refused to do so, claiming the protection of the Fifth
Amendment.
Edward J. Herzog, former undercover member of the
Communist Party, also has testified that he had knowl-
edge of Hall directing the attacks against the strike-
bound corporation, and that Hall "told the boys to go to
Oil City and bring back some nitro-glycerin . . . there
were rifles, shotguns, clubs, ballbats, pieces of pipe, pieces
of old sickle onto clubs, and a couple of tommy guns . . .
there were about 3 gallons of nitro-glycerin in the head-
quarters at that time, and Gus told Art Scott to get the
crew together and go down and blow out the bridge
across the plant . . . and to take another lot out and
blow up the benzol plant. They had approximately a
quarter of a million gallons of volatile benzol. Gus gave
them orders to go out and blow up the benzol plant. ' '
(Testimony of Edward J. Herzog, Senate Internal Secu-
rity Subconunittee, February 2 and 3, 1960, page 27;
see also Testimony of Leonard Patterson, Senate In-
ternal Security Subcommittee Report, op.cit., pages 14,
35-46.)
An indication of Hall's early attitude toward revolu-
tion in the United States is seen in an excerpt from the
transcript of his testimony in the case of Minnesota v.
Halberg, et al., 1934, as follows:
"... the working class elements of the Army and
Navy will fight with the workers and farmers when
the time comes. Q. You mean that certain traitorous
gentlemen in the Army and Navy will join with you
in overthrowing the Government? A. Absolutely.'*
A convincing example of the duplicity of Communist
leaders, and their slavish devotion to the inconsistent
turns and twists of the international party line, is seen
when, during an interview by Mike Wallace, referred to
above, on December 28 1959, Hall said: "Mao Tse-tung
is a Communist and stands for peace." (Transcript of
Mike Wallace inter\dew.) But, writing in the theoretical
publication of the National Committee of the CPUSA,
October 1963, Hall declared that : " . . . the conflict, it is
clear, has now gone far beyond ideological disputes be-
tween Communist parties, and has taken on the character
of all-out warfare by the Communist Party of China
122 UN-AMERICAN ACTIYITIES IN CALIFORNIA
against the fundamental views and poMcies of the rest of
the international Communist movement. . . . nor is the
Chinese leaders' assault on the party (CPUSA) confined
to this. The editorial (by Mao in the Peking Review, Aug.
1963) states that 'there are not a small number of genu-
ine Communists, both inside and outside the Communist
Party of the United States, who firmly adhere to Marx-
ism-Leninism and oppose Revisionism and Dogmatism.'
It expresses the highest hopes for these Revolutionary
Marxists-Leninists in the United States. And who are^
these 'genuine Communists'? Obviously, these individuals
who oppose the ideological position and policies of our
Party and support those of the CPC, [Communist Party
of China.] And what is this pronouncement, if not en-
couragement to such elements 'both inside and outside'
the Party to work to undermine and destroy it? In fact,
it is no secret that the Chinese party gives support and
encouragement to anti-Party splinter groups, led mainly
by individuals who have been expelled from the Commu-
nist Party, to carry on such activities. Thus, to the delib-
erate falsification of our position, and to slanders about
following the Soviet baton, the CPC adds its direct
support of anti-Party elements working to disrupt and
wreck the Party." (Editorial, Political Affairs, October,.
1963, pages 18 and 19.) And this was published before
the leader of the Chinese Communist, Mao Tse-tung,
whom Hall had described as "a Communist who stands
for peace," sent his armed forces to open fire on Soviet
troops in the sensitive border area between the two coun-
tries. Afterwards, Hall reversed himself and said:
"As for Chinese-Soviet relations, matters have
worsened. The armed border attacks on the Soviet
forces were due to the Mao dictatorial leadership,-
which is following a path of rank nationalism and
great-power chauvinism. Anyone who knows the poli-
cies of the Soviet Union and of Mao cannot hut con-
clude that the provocation is from the side of the
Chinese (Our italics.) The Mao leadership has delib-
erately aggravated the Soviet-Chinese relations and
further whipped up nationalist and chauvinist feel-
ings, either to interfere with the progress of the com-
ing World Conference of Communist and Workers*
UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA 123
Parties, or to bring about conditions intended to in-
terfere with the advance of the Soviet Union." {The
Revolutionary Process, by Gus Hall, Report to the
19th National Convention of the Communist Party,
U.S.A., by its General Secretary. New Outlook Pub-
lishers, 32 Union Square East, Room 801, New York^
NY 10003, June, 1969.)
Cp.mmunists have become accustomed by long practice
to these bland contradictions that appear foolish to
others. They declare themselves opposed to force, except
against the establishment that is so misguided as to
resist their efforts to destroy it. They are for peaceful
co-existence, so long as it fits the Communist plan for
world domination. It opposes "imperialist wars", but
"peoples wars" are justifiable. It practices "democratic
centralism" so long as there is no opposition to the ruling
hierarchy, and if there is, the dissidents are summarily
liquidated. Stalin w^as acclaimed as an infallible saviour
until he died and was attacked by a successor, then after
more than a quarter of a century of adulation he sud-.
denly became a monster. Our former Secretary of State,
Dean Atcheson, has stated: "The Russian idea of nego-
tiation is carrying on war by other means." (Televised
statement to Eric Severeid, September 28, 1969.)
Unless one understands this natural duplicity, which is
inherent as breathing to Communists, one is simply not
equipped to comprehend their deadly day-to-day menace
to our society. It enabled diplomatic representatives of
the USSR to deliberately lie to us concerning the nuclear
missiles in Cuba — for, in Marxian concept, this is simply
a weapon in the inexorable progress of their drive toward
world domination.
The late Robert F. Kennedy has vividly described this
incredible deception:
"... on September 11, (1962), Moscow disclaimed
publicly any intention of taking such action and
stated that there was no need for nuclear missiles
to be transferred to any country outside the Soviet
Union, including Cuba.
During this period of time, an important official
in the Soviet Embassy, returning from Moscow,
brought me a personal message from Khrushchev
124 UN-AMERICACN- ACTIYITIES IN CALIFORNIA
to President Kennedy, stating that he wanted the
President to be assured that under no circumstances
would surface-to-surface missiles be sent to Cuba.
Now, as representatives of the CIA explained the
U-2 photographs that morning, Tuesday, October 16,
we realized that it had all been lies, one gigantic
fabric of lies. The Russians were putting missiles in
Cuba, and they had been shipping them there and
beginning the construction of the sites at the same
time those various private and public assurances
were being forwarded by Chairman Khrushchev to
President Kennedy." (Thirteen Days, A Memoir of
the Cuban Missile Crisis, by Robert F. Kennedy.
W. W. Norton and Company, Inc., N.Y., 1969, page
27.)
International Connections
The Communist movement is a drive against all non-
Communist societies. It has always been a global move-
ment, with close connections between the various parties,
and aU led by the USSR. In the beginning the parties
were commanded and monitored by Comintern represent-
atives, Soviet agents sent abroad by the Communist
(third) International in Moscow. This central organiza-
tion was divided into sections that specialized in the in-
filtration of labor organizations, the provision of legal
aid to Party members, and agitation and propaganda.
In the face of massive Evidence to the contrary, Ameri-
can Communists have largely succeeded in their deter-
mined campaign to clothe the Party with a certain aura
of respectability. At the same time, the propaganda
against the FBI and other authoritative sources is cal-
culated to discredit all evidence concerning the subver-
sive nature of the CPUSA. Thus among students and
younger members of faculties of our educational system,
we find a new and growing acceptance of and accommoda-
tion with Communists, and a refusal to accept evidence
against them. This attitude is by no means universal, but
it is growing — a fact made evident by a recent resolution
by the Statewide Academic Senate of the University of
California, urging repeal of the prohibition against the
emplo\Tnent of Communists on the faculties of the nine
campuses of that State-supported institution.
UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIEOENIA 125
A little monthly magazine called ^^ Political Affairs''^ is
the publication of the National Committee, CPUSA. It is
about the size of Readers' Digest, but assuredly has no
other resemblance to that magazine. It makes dreary
reading, but it does accurately carry both the world and
national Party line. In the issue for August 1949, page
29, it declared that ''in their fight for unity the Commu-
nists have a tested weapon. It has brought victory in
glorious battles for the cause of the working class, for
Socialism. It is proletarian internationalism."
Gus Hall also has had something to say about the inter-
national connections of the Communist Party, and in
the April, 1969, issue of Political Affairs, he wrote:
''The CPUSA disaffiliated from the CI (Commu-
nist International) sometime before the Interna-
tional was discontinued. This 'disaffiliation' was not
only because of anti-Communist laws. It was moti-
vated by the opportunistic, deep-seated Browder
revisionist trends that had already set in. The act
of 'disaffiliation' from a world organization only
added fuel to the fires of opportunism and revision.'*'
This excerpt, in which Hall places the word "disaffilia-.
tion" in quotation marks, can only mean that the pur-
ported break from the international organization was a
quotation-mark-break only, not a real one, and that it
also was a mistake. If so, then bearing in mind that Hall,
T^oi Browder, now heads the CPUSA, one may assume
that he has taken appropriate steps to correct this error.
Among the departments of the Secretariat in the For-
eign Department of the Soviet Union, one has jurisdiction
over "registration and allocation of international cadres,
ministry of foreign affairs; communications and con-
trolling contacts with foreign Communist Parties; for-
eign Communist Parties in non-Communist Countries; (our
italics) World-wide Communist Trade Union Movement;
'Fighters for Peace;' World-wide Communist Youth
Movement (The 'Festivals'); Periodical Problems of
Peace and Socialism." (The Communist Party Apparatus,
by Abdurakhman Avtorkhanov, Henry Regnery Com-
pany, Chicago, published in cooperation with Foun-
dation for Foreign Affairs, Inc., 1966, pages 204-205.)
The author is a former member of the Communist Party
126 UN-AMERICAN" ACTIVITIES IN CALIFOENIA
of the Soviet Union, ex-chief of its organization bureau,
Chechen region Party Committee, and head of the Com-
munist publishing house, and a graduate of the Institute
of Red Professors in 1937. He is also a founder of the
Munich Institute for the Study of the USSR, and Profes-
sor of Political Science at the U.S. Army Institute for
Advanced Russian Research. In 1966, the Soviet Commu-
nist functionary v^ho was in charge of the ''contacts vdth
foreign Communist parties and foreign Communist par-
ties in nine Communist Countries, ' ' wsls Yuri Ponomarev,
and so far as we know, he still occupies that position.
There is also a network of international fronts, some of
the more important ones being the World Federation of
Trade Unions, the World Federation of Democratic
Youth, International Juridical Association, World Fed-
eration of Democratic Writers, and the International
Union of Students. The latter organization has its head-
quarters at Vocelova III Prague II Czechoslovakia. It, in
turn, is connected with radical youth groups throughout
the world. Some of them are the Bolivian University Fed-
eration, National Union of Students of Brazil, National
Council of Colombian Youth, All-India Student and Youth
Federation, Confederation of Iranian Students, Coalition
of Teachers and Struggle Committees of Mexico, General
Union of Palestinian Students, University Students Fed-
eration of Peru, Federation of Uruguayan University-
Students, Japanese Zengakuren, Porto Rican University
Federation, and, of course, the several Marxist radical
youth groups in the United States. (International Student
Union News Service Bulletins, 1968, 1969, 1970.)
The Bulletins of the International Union of Students
are sent to educational institutions throughout the world,
with heavy saturation in the United States. They are prop-
aganda media that not only serve to disseminate informa-
tion concerning student radical demonstrations and ac-
tivities in other countries, but also to distribute the most
blatant propaganda attacks aerainst the United States, its
armed forces, its constituted authorities, and its educa-
tional institutions. The American delegates are sent to the
ISU meetings, such as those held jointly by the World
Federation of Democratic Youth and the international
Union of Students at Czechoslovakia during September
and October, 1967.
UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA 127
Gus Hall, the head of the CPUSA, has repeatedly-
stressed the need for more international solidarity. At the
Consultative Conference of Communist and Workers'
Parties at Budapest, February 28, 1968, he declared that :
''The new level of the military struggle in Vietnam must
be watched by a new level of political, ideological and dip-
lomatic struggle in every continent^ in every country, in
every city and hamlet the world over ..." (Political Af-
fairs, April, 1968, page 1.) The demonstrations, racial
troubles, bombings, rebellions of students, attacks against
moderates and conservatives are faithfully reported and
encouraged in this massive flood of propaganda material
that flows into our schools from a variety of the world
Communist front organization networks. At the same time
an attack is levelled against our police, our National
Guard, and our confidence in the Armed Forces of the
United States.
A World Seminar on National Liberation was held at
Alma-Ata, capital of the Soviet Republic of Afghanistan,
October 1-7, 1969. An accovmt of the conference is printed
in Political Affairs for February, 1970, page 20. More than
100 delegates attended, conferring on matters of revolution
and propaganda techniques, and the personnel included
''liberation fighters from Africa, Asia, South America, the
Middle East and from the United States."
From February 21 to 28, 1969, representatives of Na-
tional Student Unions from 37 countries and two inter-
national organizations attended the Executive Committee
meeting of the International Union of Students at the sea-
side resort of Varna, Bulgaria, where exchanges of infor-
mation and experiences were made through representa-
tives travelling from these foreign countries, which
included the United States. (ISU News Service, Nos. 7-8,
April, 1969.)
A few years ago our Government denied passports to^
representatives of domestic subversive groups, but de-
cisions by the Supreme Court struck down the last re-
strictions, and now we sit helplessly by while agents of
the Communist Party of the United States, Students for
a Democratic Society, Progressive Labor Party, Socialist
Workers' Party, and other Marxian organizations travel
freely back and forth to Cuba and other countries, re-
turning with fresh instructions, fresh training, and re-
128 TTN^-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA
newed dedication to work for our destruction. At the
same time the Students for a Democratic Society, despite
its announced plan to destroy our Government by force
and violence, is accorded official recognition on our state-
supported campuses, and Communist speakers are allowed
free use of our state-owned facilities to indoctrinate the
students and incite them to defiant rebellion.
In the face of this, the CPUSA has the effrontery to
insult our intelligence by telling us that it has no organi-
zational connections abroad, that it seeks to accomplish
our overthrow by a nonviolent means. We have neither
the space nor the inclination to clutter this report with
more examples of these international connections, since
any effort to describe all of the global fronts would re-
quire a volume.
One other such organization should be mentioned, how-
ever, and that is the World Peace Council which is based
in Vienna, and although it numbers many non-Commu-
nists among its members, it is operated by an Executive
Bureau that has always been under Communist control,
(World-Wide Communist Propaganda Activities, F.
Bowen Evans, Ed., the MacMillan Company, New York
1955, pages 112-116.) Members of other fronts staff the
important offices of the World Peace Council, and many
of them are from the World Federation of Trade Unions,
the Womens' International Democratic Federation, the
World Federation of Scientific Workers, and the Inter-
national Association of Democratic Lawyers. The organi-
zation has met in Vienna, East Berlin and Stockholm —
the most recent meeting in East Germany having been
described briefly in connection with the two visits to that
affair by Irving Sarnoff, Chairman of the Peace Action
Council.
We have described a few of these organizations to dis-
pel any notion that the CPUSA operates in isolation and
makes its own decisions in complete independence of the
rest of the world Communist movement. And, obviously,
with delegates constantly traveling from one to another
of these far-flung fronts, there is a continuous interchange
of information, and a continuous correlation of propa-
ganda and activity.
UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA 129
Force and Violence
The CPUSA has consistently insisted that it never ad-
vocates the use of force and violence to accomplish its
revolutionary objectives. This contention not only ap-
pears in its publications intended for the general public,
but is also hammered home to its rank and file members
at club meetings. But if the attempt to subvert us meets
with forcible resistance, then, according to Communist
ideology, they must reluctantly resort to force and terror
which is made necessary by the class enemy — us. The use
of violence then becomes the fault of the existing regime
instead of the forces that rise in revolution to overthrow
it. (Marx and Engels, Selected Works, Foreign Lan-
guages Publishing House, Moscow, 1951. Vol. I, pages
45, 46, 54, 62, 65.)
There can be little doubt about the attitude towards
the use of force and violence and revolutionary activities
on part of the Soviet Union. A few authoritative sources
will suffice to settle that matter, and beginning with the
doctrines of Marx and Engels we find these principles
continued by Nikita Khrushchev in his report to the 20th
Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union:
*' While noting that the possibility of a peaceful
resolution has appeared, Marxists-Leninists are at
the same time aware of the fact that in a number of
cases a sharp accentuation of the class struggle is
inevitable. Wherever the reactionary bourgeoisie has
a strong army and police force at its disposal, the
working class will encounter fierce resistance. There
can be no doubt that in a number of capitalist coun-
tries the overthrow of the bourgeois dictatorship will
inevitably take place through an armed class strug-
gle." (Report to the Central Committee of the Com-
munist Party of the Soviet Union, by Mkita Khrush-
chev, 20th Congress.)
Khrushchev reiterated this principle in an article which
appears in the Wor-ld Marxist Review, as follows:
"Marxism-Leninism starts from the premise that
the forms of the transition to Socialism may be
peaceful and non-peaceful. It is in the interests of
the working class of the masses, that the revolution
be carried out in a peaceful way. But in the event
130 UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA
of the ruling classes resisting the revolution with
violence and refusing to submit to the will of the
people, the proletariat will be obliged to crush their
resistance and launch a resolute civil war." (World
Marxist Review, January 1961, page 23.)
Leonid Brezhnev, who now occupies the position for-
merly held by Khrushchev, perpetuated this principle
when he declared to the 23rd Congress of the Soviet
Communist Party:
^'It goes without saying that there can be no
peaceful co-existence where the internal processes
of the class and national-liberation struggle in the
capitalist countries or in the colonies are concerned.
Peaceful co-existence is not applicable to the rela-
tions between the oppressor and the oppressed, be-
tween colonialists and the victims of colonial oppres-
sion." (Brezhnev Report to the Central Committee
of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, 23rd
Congress, World Marxist Review, Canada, May 12,
1966, page 29.)
An example of the use of a state-supported educational
institution for the purpose of providing instruction and
enthusiasm for forcible overthrow of government, is seen
in the Experimental College at San Francisco State Col-
lege, in 1967-1968. The course was entitled "Institute for
Social Change in Latin America," in 1967. In 1968, how-
ever, it was called "Guerrilla Warfare." The instructor
was a man who called himself Major Roberto Kaffke.
The first 1968 course commenced on Tuesday February
22, and was attended by a gathering of approximately
125 students. Revolutionary experts other than Kaffke
were brought in to deliver some of the other lectures.
The subjects were listed as: "The Ghetto Uprisings,
Intelligence Operations, Sandino Campaign, Urban War-
fare, Weapons and Demolitions, Counter-Insurgency
Tactics, and Perspectives of Revolution in America.'*
(San Francisco State College Daily Gater, February 23,
1968, page 7.)
Kaffke said that the "prospects of revolutionary war-
fare begins" with urban war. War in the cities would be
followed by mountain warfare, mobile field warfare,
UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA 131
seizure of State power and the establishment of a new
Government.
Kaffke asserted that he was an honorary member of
the Nicaraguan Liberation Front and was therefore well
prepared to brief his class on the theory and tactics of
Guerrilla warfare. He was also said to be a veteran of
World War II and of the conflict in Korea, where he
was a member of the United States Army Combat Engi-
neers. (Daily Gater, op. cit.)
Tpe was better known in San Francisco for his partic-
ipation in various demonstrations in 1963 and 1964, and
was one of the Bay area students who defied the United
States Department of State when he went to Cuba in
1963, and when he was arrested for the demonstration
at the Sheraton-Palace Hotel in San Francisco in March,
1964. At that time he was 36 years of age, and had resided
at 3030 Regent Street, Berkeley, and at 1054 Randolph
Street, San Francisco. (See Tocsin, July 10, 1963; Sa%
Francisco Chronicle, September 20, 1963; Tocsin, March
18, 1964, pages 1-4.)
Some of his associates in the Bay area demonstrations
were Bettina Aptheka, Nora B. Lapin, David L. Jenkins,
Paul D. Richards and Stephen J. Kahn.
Courses in guerrilla warfare were also taught at the
New Left School, which we have already described, and,
as will be seen, at various other meetings of subversive
organizations throughout the state and at forums and
lectures at various educational institutions, all of which
will be treated in detail in the appropriate succeeding-
portions of this report.
Party Affairs is a publication of the Communist Party
of the United States, and is issued from 23 West 26th
Street, New York, 10010. The issue for April 30, 1969,
page 10, carries a declaration by one of the youth clubs
of the Party from Portland, Oregon, an excerpt regard-
ing the use of force and violence being as follows:
*'Just as there is no argument that the interna-
tional approach of the Party revolves around the
notion of peaceful co-existence, there is no argument
but that its approach to attaining Socialism in this
country revolves around the notion of a peaceful
parliamentary * democratic struggle within the
framework of the antimonopoly coalition'. Peaceful,
132 UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA
parliamentary and democratic as they are used in
this perspective are related bits of opportunism and
reformism that have almost nothing to do with the
realities of the struggles taking place in this coun-
try."
In the John Burroughs Junior High School Audi-
torium, Sixth Street and McCadden Place, Los Angeles,
a program on various aspects of violence was presented
Tinder the auspices of an organization, presumbably ad
hoc, known as Discussion Unlimited. The program com-
menced on May 9, 1969 at 8:00 P.M., and the featured
participants were Charles R. Garry, attorney for the
Black Panthers; Jerome Cohen, attorney for the United
Farm Workers Organizing Committee, headed by Cesar
Chavez, and Terrance Hallinan, who was attorney for
the Associated Students at San Francisco State Univer-
sity and who was one of the leaders in the founding of the
DuBois Clubs of America.
John McTernin, a Los Angeles attorney, was chair-
man of the evening and the program announced that Mr.
Garry would discuss "The Black and BrowTi Commu-
nity;" Mr. Cohen, "Farm Workers;" Mr. Hallinan,
"The Vietnam War," and that Mr. McTernin would
preside as chairman of the evening. What the program
neglected to state was that McTernin has been repeat-
edly identified as a member of the Communist Party of
the United States, and that according to the program,
outlined in a folder the violence experienced in connec-
tion with the activities of the Black Panthers, the United
Farm Workers Organizing Committee, the dissident stu-
dents at San Francisco State University, and in connec-
tion with violence between police and demonstrators were
all caused by the Establishment instead of by the radical
demonstrators. (Folder and announcement of program,
Discussion Unlimited, Inc., 7235 Woodrow Wilson Drive,
Los Angeles, California 90028.)
Daniel Rubin put the matter in unmistakable terms
when he submitted his paper entitled "How a Program
Can Be Strengthened," as a preliminary to the new
program for the CPUS A. He said, in part:
"On the possibility of peaceful transition, we
should not speak in absolute terms of violence or
UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA 133
no violence. There is violence now for which the
ruling class is responsible, and we are likely to ex-
perience it in various forms and degrees from here
on. Our aim, and at this distance it remains a pos-
sibility, is to prevent major violence, such as a civil
war, from being precipitated by the ruling class.
("Discussion on Communist Draft Program," Dan-
iel Rubin, Political Affairs, May, 1968, page 43 at
page 52.)
In connection with Mr. Rubin's discussion, he pointed
out the necessity for organizing and indoctrinating the
liberal teachers and professional workers, saying that:
*^ . . Now a section of the New Left has drawn
more positive conclusions about the working class.
However, it contends that a single 'new working
class' — teachers and other college-graduated profes-
sional workers — has become the leading sector, on
the grounds these groups have the training to think
theoretically and in broad terms and to work out
a strategy for social progress."
Thus we see that from the very inception of the Com-
munist movement, which originated mth the promulga-
tion of the Communist manifesto by Karl Marx and
Frederich Engels in 1848, carried on through the Rus-
sian Revolution of 1917, implemented in savage warfare,
oppression, tortures, slave camps, purge trials, and ter-
rorism promulgated by a secret police in the Soviet
Union, force has always been an essential ingredient of
Communism. By virtue of the fact that this movement
is global and revolutionary, and because it believes that
the end justifies whatever means may be necessary to
attain it, the record is replete with overwhelming evi-
dence of underground organizations, fanaticism, and the
constant practice of deceits and falsehoods, ranging all
the way from the deliberate lies told to the late Presi-
dent Kennedy concerning the missile crisis in Cuba, to
the current declarations of the CPUSA to the effect that
it abhors violence, while the utterances set forth above
show that this is merely a weapon in the subversive ar-
senal of Communism to lull us into a false sense of
security.
134 UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA
Far from being the decimated, moribund organization
it would have us believe, the Communist Party in this
country has had an astounding revival, and has grown
to exert a power that has enabled it to infiltrate and as-
sume control of mass organizations such as the Peace
Action Council, and the other organizations that will be
dealt with later in this report. An adequate understand-
ing of the present techniques and menace of the CPITSA
is utterly impossible unless one also understands the
record of its past performances. Such an organization,
operating to a large extent in secrecy, its security precau-
tions never greater than at present, can only be analyzed
by a careful scrutiny of its techniques, its contradictory
statements, its propaganda, its bookstore outlets, its in-
doctrination schools, the structure of its network of front
organizations, and its basic literature. But it is only by
a knowledge of the past that we can adequately prepare
for the future, and unless we understand thoroughly
such techniques as the use of the united front, the em-
ployment of the so-called "Diamond Pattern" by which
a small group of Communists can infiltrate and take con-
trol of a far larger mass organization, we have simply
not armed ourselves with the most fundamental and rudi-
mentary weapons with which to combat this prime threat
to our continued existence.
the Youth Division
The first Youth Division of the CPUSA was the
Young Communist League, which was a subordinate
group in the Young Communist International. This, in
turn, was a division of the Comintern, and its headquar-
ters was at Moscow. The late Paul Crouch, an active
Party functionary for 17 years, was once a director of
the YCL in the United States. Crouch was also an agent
of ours for several years, as stated above.
During World War II, in a gesture to make the entire
Communist organization less offensive to the United
States, the CPUSA changed its name to Communist
Political Association, and the YCL became Americail
Youth for Democracy. Once the need for U.S. military
aid ended, however, the CPUSA again became the name
of the American Communist Party, and the name of its
Youth Division became the Labor Youth League.
UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA 135
We devoted many pages of our 1965 report to the
formation of the DuBois Chibs of America, that replaced
the LYL, and it now remains for us to bring the subject
up to date by describing the Young (Communists) Work-
ers' Liberation League, the latest CPUSA youth or-
ganization. The DuBois Clubs never quite managed to
attract radical youth. It started with a flourish after the
Progressive Youth Organizing Committee met in San
Francisco in June, 1964. (1965 Report, page 37, et seq.)
As the membership dwindled, it soon became evident
that the militant young people throughout the country
were being attracted more to the dynamic action or-
ganizations, such as Students for a Democratic Society,
and also to some of the organizations that followed the
Chinese Communist line, than to the DuBois Clubs that
were suffocated with minor internal splits, supervision
from older and more experienced Communists, and the
bureaucracy that is always present in any Conmiunist
organization.
Consequently, the membership of the DuBois Clubs
steadily dwindled until it became a matter of liquidating
them altogether and sending Communist youth into the
other organizations, or to replace the DuBois Clubs with
a new Communist youth division.
Accordingly, a meeting was held in Sherman House,
Chicago, February 7-9, 1970. Gus Hall spoke to the meet-
ing of 395, of whom about 275 were official delegates. The
main address, however, was delivered by Jarvis Tyner,
member ^of the National Conunittee of the CPUSA and
National Chairman of the DuBois Clubs of America.
Some idea of the Party's difficulty in recruiting youth
is revealed in the statement of Albert J. Lima, Chairman
of the Northern District of the California CP (Partp
Affairs, March 6, 1969, page 24) and the other articles
and reports in Party publications. As attempts to or-
ganize and recruit fell far short of expectations, the
columns of Insurgent, official DuBois Clubs publication,
carried reports of factionalism, disorganization and dis^
appointment. It was not difficult to discern the causes
for this decline — it was primarily due to competition
from Students for a Democratic Society, Progressive
Labor Party, Young Socialist Alliance, and similar
groups whose members were outside throwing rocks while
136 UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA
the DuBois members were inside splitting ideological
hairs and arguing with their Communist elders. The
resentment of young people against adult discipline,
whether at a University, at home, or in the Communist
Party, led many of the DuBois Club members to express
their impatience with the restraints that were placed
upon them by older and more patient members of the
adult party. There was a marked dichotomy between the
Party leaders who urged a patient program of infiltra-
tion and domination of other youth organizations, and
the DuBois Club members who preferred to take to the
streets and man the barricades.
From California those who were proposed for places
on the new governing body of the Young Workers Liber-
ation League, were James Bond and Mike Lima (son of
Albert J. Lima), from Northern California, and Kendra
Alexander and Roberta Woods from the Southern Cali-
fornia District. Temporary officers were Jarvis Tjruer,
Chairman; Carolyn Black, Black Liberation Secretary;
Mike Zagerell, Educational Secretary; Barry Cohen, Or-
ganizational Secretary; Judith Edelman, Trade Union
Secretary, and Roque Restorucci, Publications Secretary.
(Combat, March 1, 1970.)
It is yet too early to predict the direction to be taken
by the Young Workers Liberation League, and undoubt-
edly it will concentrate its attention during the next few
months on increasing the population of the organization
which is based on the remnants of the DuBois Clubs mem-
bership and aggregates approximately 800 to 1000 mem-
bers.
It has already followed the CPUSA lead in declaring
support for the Black Panthers, and since Gus Hall,
Daniel Rubin, CPUSA, Organizational Secretary, Mike
Zagerell, National CP committee member, and Jarvis
Tyner all combined to launch and monitor this new youth
organization, it will scrupulously conform to and propa-
gate the Communist Party line.
Communist Party of California
There are, of course, many characteristics of the adult
Communist Party organization that are also found in the
Youth Division. Before proceeding with the details of the
Communist organization in California, it will be helpful
UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA 137
to consider the testimony of a man served for several
years as an undercover informant for the Federal Bureau
of Investigation, the accuracy of whose testimony has
never been controverted. Howard Philbrick testified be-
fore the Senate Internal Security Subcommittee in April,
1953. (See Senate Internal Security Subcommittee Re-
port, Page 739, et seq.) In view of the important disclo-
sures made by Mr. Philbrick, we quote from his testi-
mony at some length :
''Well, there are a great many layers and degrees
of Communist Party membership, Senator. Of
course, in their propaganda, the Communist Party
talks about a classless society, society without classes.
Actually inside the Communist Party I discovered
perhaps the most complicated class degree of classes
that I had ever experienced. First of all, of course,
there are, in broad general terms, two classifications :
The above-ground Communist Party membership,
the Communist Party functionaries, the known Com-
munists who actually are the fall guys for the Com-
munist Party. Those are the people who are known
publicly as Communists and whose names appear in
the newspapers with the Communist label attached.
Then the second section of the Communist Party
is the underground section of the Party. Now, in the
undergroimd I discovered that there were three ad-
ditional classifications. First of all, there was ■ the
active Communist Party member, and perhaps later
on after we come to my later experiences, we can
describe precisely how these members function.
First of all, the active underground Party member
attended several meetings. He was assigned to a cell
and attended meetings with other Communists know-
ing them as Communists, cells numbering from five
to ten or even twelve members prior to 1948. Then in
the underground section of the Party, there is a sec-
ond classification known in Communist terminology
as a floater. A floater, I was told, was a Party mem-
ber who did not belong and was not assigned to a
specific cell. In fact, he would avoid attending a cell
meeting in order that he would not be picked up and
not be discovered by government or by counter-espi-
onage agents. A floater would remain active, carrying
138 UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA
on Commimist Party instructions. He worked under
Communist Party discipline. He would receive Ms
instructions by courier, usually one or two people,
and he would make his reports through these same
individuals.
Then a third type of underground Communist
Party member is a sleeper. A sleeper, I was told, is
a comrade who is put on ice completely. He is salted
away. He is in contact with nobody with the Com-
munist Party. He remains completely separated from
all Party contacts until such time at some date when
the Communist Party has some special action, some
very special task, which it may need to have done
with the greatest security, and that is when they will
call upon the sleeper to carry on a particular task.
By that time, of course, they hope that the govern-
ment has no knowledge nor new information indicat-
ing that this individual is in fact a hardened, dis-
ciplined Communist Party member.
All through the years, way back, starting with the
youth activities, we were constantly instructed by
Communist Party bosses to work upon the church
groups, church and youth activities, church-youth
organizations, and upon both minister and laymen in
the church field. ..."
*******
''. . . no teacher or professor, a member of the Com-
munist Party, can in any way pursue the normal, what
we know to be the intellectual freedom or freedom
of speech . . . because these people are completely
under Communist Party discipline. They are not
free as Communist Party members, to take individ-
ual free action outside the discipline of the Com-
munist Party. They cannot do it and remain mem-
bers of the Communist Party. It is impossible for
them to do it and remain members of the Communist
Party.
Well, now, in 1944 Fanny Hartman repeated the
same instructions to me when I received my Com-
munist Party card, and said: 'If you are questioned
or if you are charged to be a member of the Com-
munist Party, you will swear on a stack of Bibles
UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA 139
that high (indicating) that you are not and never
have been a member of this organization.' "
Another undercover FBI informant testified at a later
period, in 1962, that he was imbued with the same Com-
munist doctrine concerning disclosure of membership, and
he testified as follows :
"Mr. Scherer: Can you tell the committee just
how the arrangements were made for Frank Wilkin-
son to take over the Executive Secretaryship of the
Citizens Committee to Preserve American Free-
doms?
Mr. Ronstadt: I don't know all the details, but
the only thing that I can relate is that in an associa-
tion, you might say, with any of these groups, there
has to be a central organizing figure that will take,
you know, charge of the thing and do a good job.
Of course, he was not known, you see, as a Com-
munist, and he had refused, of course, to testify
before the California Senate Committee, but this,
per se, as you probably know, does not make a per-
son a Communist. I have heard this though, in later
years, that he has denied that he was a member of
the Communist Party. For instance, people that have
circulated petitions in relation to him. I have spoken
to people that have heard him speak when he has
stated that he has not been a member of the Com-
munist Party or never has been.
Mr. Travenner: Which you know is untrue?
Mr. Ronstadt: Which I know definitely to be un-
true.
Mr. Johansen: But those denials were not made
at any time under oath, the denials of membership
that you refer to ?
Mr. Ronstadt: As far as I know, they were not
made under oath. This was at places where he has
spoken to various groups and things like this, where
the question has been asked. Yet, I can truthfully
say, I was present with him at these various Party
meetings. Not only that, but I delivered instructions
to him on — during the latter part — well, part of 1952
and through 1953, and I was at that time receiving
my own instructions from a fellow by the name of
140 IJN-AMEEICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA
Dave Elbers." (Ronstadt testimony, October 10,
1962, HIT AC Report, op. cit., page 1492.)
The covert and overt system of membership still con-
tinues. Prior to 1957, when the Northern and Southern
Districts of California were formed, the Party almost,
but not quite, followed the orders issued from National
Headquarters. It was this spirit of independence that
has characterized California Communists from the very
beginning of their existence.
After the Chicago convention of 1919, where the most
radical elements of the Socialist Party broke away to
form the Communist Party, the radical California So-
cialists met in Oakland. This October meeting actually
launched the Party in this state, and a month later the
organization was well underway.
There had been a background of Socialist radicalism
for several years, split and weakened by World War I^
but regaining vigor by the end of 1919. On November
9 of that year, delegates assembled at Loring Hall, Oak-
land, from San Francisco, Oakland, Dimond, Richmond,
San Jose, Santa Cruz, Fresno, and Lodi. (See: Forma-
tion of the California Communist Labor Party, by Ralph
E. Shaffer, Associate Professor of History, California
State Polytechnic College, Pomona, in Pacific Historical
Review, February, 1967, page 59, et seq.) This convention
founded the Communist Labor Party of California. For
several years after 1919 no Comintern representatives
came West to issue orders to the California Communists,
and visits from national officers were exceedingly rare.
New York and Chicago were in those daj^s the focal
points for the new movement and California was vir-
tually ignored until the early 30 's.
With the depression, the unemployed and farm work-
ers received great attention in this state, and the ranks of
the Party rapidly grew. Furthermore, there was the great
influence and prestige of Max Bedacht, the barber from
California. He had attended the founding convention
in October, 1919; he was elected a member of the Na-
tional Committee; and through loyalty to Stalin suc-
ceeded Ben Gitlow as General Secretary of the CPUSA
—the post now held by Gus Hall. (Native Daughter, the
Story of Anita Whitney, by Al Richmond. Anita Whit-
ney's 75th Anniversary Committee, 170 Golden Gate
TTN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA 141
Avenue, San Francisco, 1942 ; / Confess, by Ben Gitlow.
E. P. Button & Co., Inc., 1940, pages 326 and 327.)
Bedacht made several trips to Moscow, participated
in some important Comintern sessions, became friendly
with Solomon Losovsky, head of the Red Trade Union
International, and was eventually made head of its Amerir
can section, the International Workers Order. (Gitlow,
op. cit., page 456.) He eventually became involved in
savage factional warfare, lost his power, and quietly
dropped out of all Party activities. It was Max Bedacht,
however, the obscure San Francisco barber, whose in-
fluence and power in international and domestic party
circles focused attention on the California organization,
and it was Bedacht who was responsible for its added
importance commencing in 1935 when William Schneider-
man became the district organizer.
The era of provincialism had passed, and as California
grew in population and in strategic significance, the Com-
munist organization here assumed enormous importance.
As Berkeley has become a symbol for student rebellion,
so has the California Party become a symbol for Com-
munist revolution.
The two most important figures in the California Com-
munist Party have been Dorothy Healey and Albert J.
Lima. Mrs. Healey was, until recently, chairman of the
Southern District; Mr. Lima is chairman in the North.
They have been mentioned frequently in the press and
have appeared on California campuses as speakers.
Dorothy Healey was born in Denver, Colorado. She
joined the Young Communist League in the 30 's and when
we first questioned her as a witness in December 1941,
she was employed by the state as a Deputy Labor Commis-
sioner. Most of her early activities were in the agricultural
areas, notably in Imperial Valley. She has been the wife
of Louis Schneiderman, Donald Healey, and Phillip Con-
nelly, each having been identified as a Communist func-
tionary.
Mrs. Healey is a good speaker. In her several appear-
ances before us, she has refrained from the vituperative
antics that are exhibited by witnesses with less control.
She has steadfastly refused to discuss other Party mem-
bers, but has usually testified freely about her own ac-
tivities, and about the Communist movement generally.
142 UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFOENIA
Unlike many highly-placed officers in the Party, Mrs.
Healey is very well informed concerning Marxian ideol-
ogy, and seldom declines an invitation to make public ap-
pearances on the speakers platform or over TV and radio
facilities. Now 55, she has spent more than 40 years in the
Communist movement, advancing from agitprop work in
the fields to membership on the National Committee and
then to the top office in southern California.
Albert J. Lima has a background of agitprop work in
the field of industrial organization. His wife, Helen Cor-
bin Lima, has been active in the same general area, having
been employed at Herrick Hospital in Berkeley, and ac-
tive in union matters. She has also participated in the usual
succession of Communist front activities, fund-raising
drives for the Peoples World, and keeping house for her
husband and three children at 6115 Dover Street, Oakland,
where the Limas have resided for the past several years.
Previously they had lived at Eureka, Richmond, San
Francisco and Berkeley. Many prominent Communist of-
ficers have visited the home on Dover Street, and Bet-
tina Aptheker lived there for awhile, as the Limas have
occasionally extended the use of their premises to board-
ing guests.
The San Joaquin Valley
The San Joaquin Valley, although part of the Northern
District, is not only important because of the role it has
played in Communist history, but because it has been very
much neglected by both Communist and non-Communist
writers. This richly productive region was the scene of
labor violence, riots and murders in connection with the
cotton strike of 1933 when it was a ' ' Grapes of Wrath ' ' lo-
cale; since Cesar Chavez opened his headquarters at De-
lano, the cycle of labor unrest in the San Joaquin Valley
has commenced anew.
In the 30 's and early 40 's James McGowan was the
Communist official who operated the Party organizations
in Tulare and Kings Counties. His headquarters was at
329 North L Street in the City of Tulare. He appeared
before our committee on several occasions, and concen-
trated his work in conformity with the existing social con-
ditions and problems of the time, on the recruiting of
UN-AMEEICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA 143
migratory farm workers and the unemployed, at which h-e
was extremely proficient.
Lima spent relatively little time in the central Califor-
nia area, most of his attention being concentrated in San.
Francisco, Oakland, Berkeley, Marin and Contra Costa
counties, and thence north to Sacramento. South of the
Bay, he frequently visited San Jose and other cities in
that vicinity. Northern California, being more sparsely
populated, included many counties where a survey of an-
nual fund drives for Party publications, front group ac-
tivities, and registration in the Independent Progressive
Party and the Peace and Freedom Party discloses a very
thin Communist population.
Mr. and Mrs. Howard Thompson served as undercover
Communists, the husband for 14 years and his vdfe for
12 years, attending meetings, working their way up into
positions of official importance, and regularly reporting
to the FBI. As is often the case, Howard Thompson was
first an active worker for the Independent Progressive
Party, and through this Communist-operated organiza-
tion, he came immediately into contact with many Party
members and sympathizers. He was eventually invited to
discussion meetings in members' homes, and was ques-
tioned closely about his political beliefs. After an appro-
priate period of probation and investigation, he was
invited to become a Communist Party member, and as-
signed to the San Joaquin County Club. Its members,
averaging about a dozen, met in private homes and ob-
served strict security precautions guarding against in-
filtration by government agents.
Thompson proved an eager member, and was soon made
chairman and secretary of his club, then a delegate to
both district and state conventions. After the Thompsons
became members of the executive committee of the San
Joaquin Valley Section, and because of their contacts at-
conventions, their area of acquaintance and knowledge-
were greatly expanded. Indeed, the valley section meet-
ings were held in the Thompson home, and he served as
a section delegate to district meetings in San Francisco.
From the reports the Thompsons faithfully made to the
FBI from their testimony before the Subversive Activi-
ties Control Board and their statements to the House
Conomittee, as well as from documentary sources, it was
144 UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA
learned that the sections in the Northern District were as
follows : San Francisco County area ; East Bay area ; San
Mateo, Santa Cruz, and Santa Clara Counties; Sonoma
County; Marin County; Humboldt County, and the San
Joaquin Valley. In addition there were the usual commis-
sions that varied as exigencies demanded, but which
basically were about the same as those in the Southern
District under Dorothy Healey : trade unions, agriculture,
youth, Negro, legislative, peace and sometimes security.
More often, however, security matters were handled as
special assignments given to members experienced in this
field. The disciplinary or "control" commissions were
once a permanent fixture in all Party organizations, but
in recent years control commission members have also
been specially selected when the occasion arose.
Agricultural Organization
Howard Thompson stated that in 1960 a report was
made by the Agricultural Commission, San Joaquin Val^
ley Section, to the Northern District of the Communist
Party in California. It contained a proposal directed to
the United States Department of Labor, to the effect that
open hearings should be held with union participation for
the purpose of fixing wages and working conditions for
Mexican farm workers. "We wanted a statement," said
Mr. Thompson, "from the Conmiunist Party of Mexico,
that they did not want the braceros to come to this coun-
try. They were against the braceros being shipped into
this country. The Communist Party of this country came
out with the policy, stating that they should be organized,
not necessarily in the Communist Party, but in labor or-
ganizations to give them protection of labor organizations.
So at the time this w^as written we asked Al Richmond
to contact, if he could, the leadership of the Communist
Party in Mexico to get a final statement from them as to
what they believed on this bracero program, because we
found the Communist Party in the United States was
directly in reverse with the Comnmnist Party in Mexico."
(Testimony to House Committee, July 12, 1964, April 27
and 28, 1966, page 47.)
This of course was not only a forerunner of the United
Farm Workers Organizing Committee in the agricul-
tural valley, headed by Cesar Chavez, but it also illus-
UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFOENIA 145
trates the international contacts between the Communist
Parties in the United States and Mexico. We shall deal
with the Communist manipulations of racial minority
groups later in this report in the sections dealing with the
Slexican and Negro minorities in particular, but it is use-
ful to understand that since the 30 's in California, the
Communist Party has persistently been striving to or-
ganize the unemployed, alienate the racial minority
groups from the rest of the country, foment as much
trouble as possible, and then to step back and manipulate
the resulting disturbances from positions of remote con-
trol.
It will be remembered, w^e hope, that our 1967 report
contained 60 pages concerning the Delano grape strike
and the origin and nature of the United Farm Workers
Organizing Committee. We are also aware of the fact
that certain Communist front organizations managed
to secure advance copies of our report even before it
was released to the press, and concluded that it was
sufficiently innocuous so far as the Cesar Chavez opera-
tion was concerned, that they refrained from organizing
their usual attack against us, the report, and the con-
tinuation of the subcommittee. Some of our information
came from members of the Chavez staff working in the
Delano office; other information came from official docu-
ments of the organization, reports from law-enforcement
agencies, and from an analysis of the wide-spread sup-
port that came from a wide variety of organizations.
Our investigation convinced us that the movement was
not dominated by Communists, but we did find that they
had, characteristically, infiltrated the organization and
exercised considerable influence over its activities. This
is the classic pattern of Communist activity, but it does
not mean that every organization they infiltrate is under
Party domination, any more than all campus demonstra-
tions are the direct results of Communist plots. In case
the concerned front organizations manage to get a pre-
view of the present report, we anticipate that their at-
tack against it and against us will be much less gentle,
as we have undertaken to cover a far wider range of
activities on a statewide basis, and to bring the sub-
versive situation in our state up to date.
146 UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALITOENIA
In previous reports, we have discussed professional
sections or clubs of the Communist Party. They are, as
the name implies, composed of doctors, lawyers, univer-
sity and college professors, and other professional peo-
ple whose membership in the Party is preserved in the
most rigid secrecy. This has always been true of Com-
munist Party organizations throughout the country, and
now it is especially true in California and New York.
These are the people whose proficiency in Marxian dia-
lectics and their positions of prestige and influence render
them indispensable aids when the Party needs expert
advice and leadership. In the present era of security
anxiety that amounts to almost paranoia in the Party,
the security restrictions and precautions have reached
an all-time high. As we have pointed out, there have been
no written membership cards or other written records
of memberships since December, 1947; no membership
records or records of dues are kept at Party headquarters
or even in the homes of the chairmen of the Northern
and Southern districts. On the contrary, they are scat-
tered widely among a few trusted members, such as Mrs.
Thompson, the FBI undercover informant, who was
charged with keeping the membership records for the
San Joaquin Valley section of the Northern District of
the Communist Party of California, and therefore was
very conversant with the membership. Her husband testi-
fied that: '^ . . this area of operation in the Communist
Party is very secret, even to the leadership of the Party,
in that I consider myself, as a district committee mem-
ber, among the leadership and we were not given this
knowledge. It is kept very secret, and you just know
that there are such people and that they turn to them
for advice and knowledge when they need it, but they
are people who are so advanced in Party policy and
principles of Marxism-Leninism that they do not need
direction from people of the club and district level."
(HUAC report, op. cit., page 66.)
Mrs. Lulu Thompson concluded her testimony by:
stating :
''Many times I would attend meetings in San Fran-
cisco, which would last all day and every speaker at these
meetings would try to outdo the next speaker in tearing
our country down and ripping the Government into
TJN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA 147
shreds. They accused our leaders of every heinous crime
imaginable, including germ warfare in Korea and North
Vietnam. They would deny God. They ridiculed churches
and religions. I felt unclean both mentally and spiritu-
ally. It seemed when I got out in the brisk air of San
Francisco, I wanted to clear my lungs and breathe deeply
of the San Francisco air. I would raise my head for a
breath of air and I would see our Flag fluttering atop
one of the buildings, and this would reassure me, and
I knew this Government would overcome the people that
were trying to tear it apart.'' (HUAC rep., op. cit.,
page 115.)
It is extremely unfortunate that a consistent and
vicious flow of subversive propaganda has cast these ex-
tremely patriotic and courageous individuals who at great
personal loss to themselves, both emotionally and finan-
cially, agree to penetrate the very heart of subversive
organizations in this country for the purpose of pro-
tecting it, and reporting to those official agencies that
are striving to protect us, in the role of the villains in-
stead of the heroes.
The same propaganda, of course, is calculated to under-
mine public confidence in covert informants for the vari-
ous official agencies, and to cast the agencies themselves
in the role of red-baiters, witch-hunters, and to hold them
up as objects of ridicule and derision. We have recently
noted that the same technique is being employed now
against our courts of justice throughout the land, the
brazen defiance and arrogance having risen to a new
degree of boldness, and the way having been paved by
torrents of propaganda that pour into the United States
from abroad in an endeavor to subvert a Government
that so far has taken no steps to stem the flood.
Factionalism in the California Party
It is inevitable, when foreign Communist parties are
compelled to support the policies of the USSR, that they
at times appear both inconsistent and inexplicable. When
the world Communist movement condemned fascism as
evil to be shunned by all faithful Party members the
world over, and a pact was later made pledging non-
aggression with Hitler, in August 1939, it stunned Ameri-
can Party members and their comrades everywhere. But
148 UN-AMEEICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA
they steadfastly rallied to support the party line. When
during World War II American Communists were in-
structed to keep our country out of the conflict and
preach peace at any price, they obeyed as usual. That was
because the war in its early stages was an evil imperialist
war, according to the Communist definition. Then because
the Soviet Union was, as we have said, invaded on June
22 1941, the war became a peoples w^ar and American
Communists were ordered to support it, which they did
by simply reversing their position overnight. Then came
the jolt when Stalin, whom they had literally worshipped
for almost thirty years as the infallible leader of the
world movement, was exposed by his successor as a
monster who had betrayed the Communist cause. Then
came the armed invasions of Poland and Hungary by
Soviet troops in 1956, and the crushing of Communist
regimes in those countries simply because they wished to
pursue their own paths towards the Communist utopia.
Many Party members became disillusioned when Stalin
was revealed in all his brutality as the sort of man the
capitalists had been describing. For almost thirty years
the Party faithful had been taught to disbelieve the capi-
talist press and to rely only on publications that printed
the truth: The Party press. Now this was all shattered.
The effects were deep and powerful, and many Commu-
nists resigned openly, criticizing the Party as they did so.
Most of them, however, quietly dropped out of Party
activities and tried to forget the bitter mistake they had
made. There was much criticism of the hierarchy in the
United States, that self -perpetuating clique that remains
at the head of the Party nationally through thick and
thin: members of the National Committee and trusted
party-liners like Gus Hall, Herbert Aptheker, Jack
Stachel, Philip Foner, Louis Diskin, and their obedient
supporters in California, such as Irving Sarnoff, Rose
Chernin, Al Richmond, William Taylor, Roscoe Proctor,
Ben Dobbs, Nemmy Sparks, Emil Freed, Lou Goldblatt,
Rude Lambert, Elsie Monjar, Delfino Varella, Archie
Brown and a host of others too numerous to include here.
We have mentioned those whose names will be familiar
to readers of previous reports. We should, of course,
include Albert J. Lima, but we omitted the name oi
Dorothy Healey, because she has been a center of Party
UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA 149
dissension that has spread throughout the entire move-
ment in California, and which is exerting such a pro-
found and important effect on the membership that it
must be treated here at considerable length.
Many of the California Communists, Mrs. Healey
prominent among them, have not hesitated since 1956 to
criticize the actions of the Soviet Union in invading-
Poland and Hungary. When Russian troops and military
hardware invaded Czechoslovakia on August 20 1968, it
was the last blow to many Communists, both in this
country and abroad. In examining the liberal and demo-
cratic regime that was being created within the frame-
work of the Czech Communist government, the Kremlin
considered it was departing from the path of Soviet
rectitude, and the Soviet armed forces crushed not only
the last resistance of the Czech people, but at the same
time crushed the loyalty of many thoughtful Party
leaders, to say nothing of many more rank and file
members.
As we have stated, democratic centralism is a high-
sounding theory, but one that exists only as a theory in
the Communist Party. Actually, as all Communists know
very well, the decisions are made at the top of the organi-
zational pyramid and thence transmitted down to the
broad-base membership. Those decisions and directives
must be carried out without question, or charges of fac-
tionalism and deviation are levelled, a trial committee
picked, and discipline handed out in an exceedingly un-
democratic manner. Many of the more courageous Party
officials resented being told to follow the Communist line,
no matter how outrageous it was, and many said so to
their comrades. The blind obedience to the world party
line as promulgated in Moscow and handed down on high
to the American membership, was being questioned.
Militant North— Critical South
The two major propaganda outlets that supply Commu-
nist literature to the Pacific coast are the International
Bookstore in San Francisco and the Progressive Book-
store in Los Angeles. The former is at 1408 Market
street, the latter at 1506 West Seventh street. It is es-
sential to an understanding of the relatively dogmatic
and militant adherence to the party line by Mr. Lima's
150 UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA
northern district of the Party, and Mrs. Healey's more
moderate district, if we examine the tenor of the propa-
ganda disseminated from these sources.
We have conducted such examinations from time to
time, and what we wrote in our 1959 report about them
is even more applicable today. Our surveys were made
in 1957, one year after the Soviet invasions of Poland
and Hungary, and the California party was still suffer-
ing from the shock. In the Healey district there was much
criticism of the USSR; in the Lima district there was
an effort to justify the invasions and a perceptible stiff-
ening of the militant line. These attitudes were reflected
in the nature of the propaganda being handled by the
two propaganda outlets.
In our 1959 report, pages 146-147, we said:
''The person who is usually in charge of the Pro-
gressive Book Store in Los Angeles is Frank Spector,
a Russian Communist who has been defying efforts
to deport him for a good many years, and who has
appeared before this committee as a witness. Until
the 'secret' Khrushchev speech in February 1956,
the contents of this bookstore were uniformly and
militantly Communist. Thereafter a few books be-
gan to appear on the shelves that in the old days
would have been considered completely heretical. For
example, before the publication of Dr. Zhivago by
Boris Pasternak, there was a book called Not By
Bread Alone. Dudintsev, the author, held a promi-
nent place in the literary fraternity of the Soviet
Union. During the Stalin regime and until the
Khrushchev speech heretofore mentioned, the clamps
of rigid censorship had been tightened, to such an
extent that no Soviet writer dared to produce any-
thing that was not in strict conformity with the
Communist line, and certainly he would never dare
publish a single word that was even inferentially
critical. But in the Khrushchev speech there was a
promise that these old rules should be relaxed, that
criticism should be invited, that Bolshevik self-
criticism was an excellent thing, and that writers
should be free to publish their true feelings. This
book A^ot By Bread Alo7ie, was certainly critical of
the Soviet regime and it rocked the intellectual f oun-
UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA 151
dations of the country. Yet it was being sold in the
Progressive Book Store in Los Angeles by Frank
Spector. In addition, even after he had been impris-
oned in Yugoslavia for such rash heresy, Milovan
Djilas' book. The New Class, was also sold in the
Progressive Book Store, as were copies of the Pas-
ternak book, Dr. Zhivago. No such attitude was taken
in the San Francisco outlet, the books in the Inter-
national Book Store clinging steadfastly to the Com-
munist cause, and carrying no item that was critical
of the Soviet regime or the Party line. We almost
neglected to say that in addition to the three books
already mentioned that were sold in Los Angeles,
there was another, even more indicative, called The
Naked God, by Howard Fast. This book, which is a
garbled but nevertheless angry and vehement criti-
cism of the Communist Party of the United States
published shortly after Fast left the organization,
was roundly lambasted in Political Affairs by a re-
viewer under the title 'The Nakedness of Howard
Fast.' Yet this book was sold with the three com-
panion volumes heretofore mentioned under the direc-
tion of Frank Spector in the Progressive Book Store
in Los Angeles.
Why this sudden deviation from the old and rigid
Party line? Obviously, the cause is attributable to
the fact that the Progressive Book Store wants to
divert suspicion from itself or because it has made
a sincere and pronounced deviation from the path of
Communist rectitude. We believe it has done the lat-
ter, that it has received great criticism because of
this deviation, and we will set forth our reasons in
detail in that section of the report, which is entitled,
'Current Communist Techniques.' "
On pages 181-182 of our 1959 report, we wrote as fol-
lows:
"Participating in strikes, lending her considerable
organizational talents to the creation and operation
of front organizations, directing the preparation and
distribution of propaganda, Dorothy Healey rapidly
rose in the ranks of the Communist Party until
finally she emerged as a member of its National
Committee and head of the organization for all of
152 UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA
Southern California. But Dorothy Healey was also
caught up in the developments of 1956. We should
say at this juncture that many of the Party mem-
bers who either defected in 1956 or shortly there-
after, or who veered sharply to the Right and at-
tacked their superiors who still clung to the old
dogmatic Communist ideas, had gradually been go-
ing through a process of disillusionment for a great
many years. In many cases this occurred uncon-
sciously, but people with any semblance of judgment
can hardly justify a long period of complete con-
tradictions in the Communist Party line, and find
their ideals and beliefs blasted overnight without
realizing that no one single thing has actually caused
them to leave the movement. So when the events of
1956 occurred, for many individuals it was simply
the final nudge necessary to complete disillusionment
and a break with the Party. Some individuals, of
course, left the movement completely. Some re-
mained true to Marxism, but left the Party or-
ganization for one reason or the other. Others re-
mained in the Party and fought to put over their
own relatively conservative ideas against the stub-
born Party leadership represented by William Z.
Foster. (Foster preceded Gus Hall as General Sec-
retary of the CPUS A.) Dorothy Healey belonged
to the latter group. Her battle with Foster was vi-
cious and heated. It boiled over into the pages of
Political Affairs and threw the Southern California
Party organization into a turmoil. This is the reason
for the presence of the anti-Communist books in the
Progressive Book Store on West Seventh Street,
and it also underscores the contrast between this
projDaganda outlet and the store in San Francisco
where no such literature is to be found. In both
stores. Communist books and other materials are on
sale, but in Los Angeles, the Party member can buy
literature on both sides of the question. At 1408
Market Street, San Francisco, no such choice is
available.
We have it on very good authority, which we are
unable to disclose for public scrutiny, that Dorothy
Healey is in very bad graces with the Communist
UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA 153
high command, and ttiat she will either be ]^rought
back into the path of strict obedience and rectitude
or be. compelled to leave the Party. In the mean-
time, efforts have been made to restore discipline
among the rank and file membership in Los Angeles,
and this effort has met with considerable success."
The invasion of Czechoslovakia by Soviet armed forces
occurred on August 20, 1968. Three months earlier Doro-
thy Healey, having recently returned from that country,
made some extremely important statements in an official
Communist document known as the Discussion Bulletin,
Conununist Party, Southern District of California, No. 1,
May, 1968, which were sufficiently provocative to raise
great interest not only among the Communist member-
ship in California, but also throughout the country.
Mrs. Healey had, as we have seen, been critical of the
autocratic rule of the Communist hierarchy for a num-
ber of years, and subsequent events exerted such a reac-
tion in the Communist structure of California, that we
quote at length from her remarks in May 1958.
"... generally we are correct," said Mrs. Healey,
"when we point to the enormous problems in the build-
ing of a new society — but all too often the answer is
given whenever one discusses any weaknesses in the
socialist world, 'Oh well, but look at the greater evil
of capitalism'. Of course that's absolutely true, and we
wouldn't be Communists if we didn't believe it was true,
but the fact is that the evils of capitalism cannot in my
opinion be used to justify the defects of socialism. If
they are, then what are we fighting for'? If all we are
going to have is the continuation of the evils reproduced
in a different way, with a different method of ownership,,
then there's not the qualitative transformation that we
insist must take place." (In Communist discussions, the
words "Socialism" and "Communism" are used inter-
changeably.)
In discussing her impressions during her visit to Czech-
oslovakia, Mrs. Healey said :
"I was particularly interested in the events in Czech-
oslovakia because while I was there, by a set of very
fortunate and unusual circumstances, I was able to
spend almost all of my time with the men and women
154 UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIEOENIA
who are in a great sense responsible for the fact that
the Communist Party is itself giving the leadership
today in making an enormous stride forward around
the questions of socialist democracy and what social-
ist democracy should mean. I met with an organized
group set up in the Academy of Scientists of the
Czechoslovakian Party, of historians, economists, so-
ciologists, philosophers, constitutional lawyers and
others meeting as an interdisciplinary team of all the
academic disciplines to debate one question : Power in
a socialist country. What do you do about it ? How do
you guarantee that there are any methods of checks
and balances? How do you provide (and I am really
quoting what they said, none of this is my own lan-
guage), when you have a one-party state, that the
trends within the party are legal? Because obviously
there is never a time when all people are going to think
alike in a Communist Party. How do you provide the
different opinions are legalized and allowed to chal-
lenge one another, to debate and confront each other ?
And this is a very serious question, because anyone
who has travelled in the socialist world knows that
this is a problem that confronts every socialist country
without exception.
They asked: How do you guarantee that the polit-
buro of a party is not the sole, main, almost exclusive
repository of all decisions'? How do you guarantee
that there is a flow back and forth of decision-making
power? Who makes decisions and where are the de-
cisions made? The questions they ask and what they
were debating are precisely the questions that came to
the fore in the last few weeks in Czechoslovakia, and
as contrasted, I believe, with Poland and the Soviet
Union, in Czechoslovakia the party leadership is giv-
ing the most important direction in guaranteeing that
these kinds of questions be answered in a different
way than ever before.
Part of the problem, the rationale, the justification
of the actions that have taken place in the socialist
world were able to happen, is that part of it that stems,
in my opinion, from the fact that a certain mystifica-
tion and institutionalizing of Marxism has taken
place. First there developed a theory that there was
UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA 155
only one scientific truth and since theory and practice
must be in unity, there can therefore be only one sci-
entifically correct policy. And the authority for es-
tablishing this one correct truth is the central commit-
tee, or to be more accurate, the politburo. Therefore
the policy of the politburo at every stage is the sci-
entifically correct application of scientific socialism.
Everybody knows that's what happens all over the
world, including in our own party, but it seems to
me that this is a doctrine like Papal Infallibility,
transplanted to a Marxist framework with science in
the role of god. I think we have to fight for a return
to what I think is proper Marxism, which is the rec-
ognition of the relativity of truth, that always it's an
approximation, that no truth in (sic) complete and
final, that the process of unveiling truth is dynamic
and not static and that therefore there will be dis-
agreements. And disagreements do not mean heresy,
necessarily, but disagreements become a way of un-
folding truth."
Mrs. Healey then proceeded to discuss the unyielding
dogmatism of Communist ideology, and cited as her ex-
ample the attitude of the small group of Communist
leaders in the Soviet Union who exercise absolute power,
and who, although not trained in biology, nevertheless
made a decree that one of their prominent scientists Tro-
fim Denisovich Lysenko, favorite of Stalin, member of
the Supreme Soviet, and showered with honors, rejected
theories of heredity accepted by most geneticists, but be-
ing in line with Marxian ideology, won the support of the
Party. The teaching of biology in Russia was therefore
adjusted to his theories and since Stalin gave his personal
support to Lysenko, any scientist who opposed his doc-
trine became subject to reprisals. (Encyclopedia of Russia
and the Soviet Union, Michael T. Florinsky, Ed. McGraw-
Hill Book Co., Inc., 1961, page 326.)
Dorothy Healey 's comment on this subject in the Dis-
cussion Bulletin was as follows :
*' Secondly, in regard to the institutionalizing of
Marxism, we have the idea that the Communist Party
at any one stage can be the final word on all aspects^
of human life — the economic, the political, the philo-
156 UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA
sophical, the esthetic, no matter what it is — that the
Communist Party is and must be the determining-
judge of all these questions. I don't think anybody
has ever really reckoned with, for instance, what the
tragedy Lysenko represented to the Soviet Union in
terms of its development scientifically. Here was the
well-known example, and there are others that are
not as well known, of where the Communist Party's
leadership decided tJiis was the correct approach to-
wards biology, and only this was the correct approach
towards biology — and everything else in the biological
schools of the Soviet Union had to be dismissed,
rejected or subordinated almost totally to Lysenko 's
theory. At the minimum, they estimate and print
in their own estimates now, almost 20 years of sci-
entific advance was lost in the field of biology in the
Soviet Union because of this."
Mrs. Healey said a great deal more, indeed five legal
size pages more, but we have given enough of her critical
remarks to lay the foundation for what was to come later.
The Discussion Bulletin also contains comment from nine
other prominent members of the Southern District of
the Communist Party of California, and the document
is a vital one because it served as a catalyst to bring to
a crisis the long-smouldering elements of criticism and
dissatisfaction with what the critics considered dogmatic
and unyielding autocratic control by a handful of Party
leaders in the United States, the "Papal Infallibility"
of the world Communist movement, and, most important,
the complete hypocrisy of the Soviet foreign policy in
announcing, as Khrushchev did in 1956, that each Com-
munist country should be permitted to pursue its owD:
independent way toward the ultimate utopia, and then
using armed force to invade any Communist country that
failed to conform to the Kremlin's idea of what that
path should be.
On Saturday, August 31, 1968, the leadership of the
CPUSA called a special meeting at the Hotel Diplomat
in New York City to strive and heal the deep rift that
was splitting the membership more seriously than at any
time since the Soviet troops invaded Poland and Hungary
in 1956. A motion was made to authorize censorship of
those members who deviated from the official line by con-
UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA 157
demning the thrust into Czechoslovakia, but votes for and
against this move were almost equally divided, finally
carrying by a scant majority. The decision having been
made on September 2, the Party leaders from all parts
of the nation remained divided. Mike Stein, Executive
Secretary of the New York Party, termed the decision
"vindictive," and declared that Gus Hall had refused to
summon the National Committee to make the critical
decision, pointing out that eleven days had elapsed since
the invasion. Gilbert Green, veteran functionary from
New York, criticized the armed interference with the
internal affairs of the Czech Communist regime as a
very serious blunder. These sentiments were echoed and
re-echoed across the country — but, as has been the case in
all of these critical situations, the CPUS A Politburo
prevailed, and the condemnations of the "deviationists"
were forthcoming. Dispatch from New York, Los Angeles
Times, September 3, 1968.)
The influence and arguments of Dorothy Healey and
her followers in California this time extended over a
much wider area than the Southern District. Perhaps
because this was the third such armed intrusion by Soviet
forces across the borders of other Communist countries,
and because of the assurances that Khrushchev had made
that such acts would not occur, the dissent was more
stubborn and involved more people.
The Peoples World in San Francisco carried a series
of articles in complete defiance of the world party line,
written by Al Richmond, from Prague. He described the
unity of the Czech people despite the occupation of their
country by Soviet troops, and declared with approval
that the workers rallied to the support of liberal leader,
Alexander Dubcek, first secretary of the Czech Com-
munist Party — a position comparable to that held by Gus
Hall in this country.
After returning to the United States, Richmond, long
identified with the staff of the Peoples Worlds stated that
on stone walls and buildings people had written their
sentiments of resistance, and added that it would be more
difficult to eradicate these sentences from the peoples
hearts and minds than from the surfaces on which they
had been written. He quoted one worker as telling him
that *'for six months we had more democracy than any
158 UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA
other country on earth." His observations on the spot,
wrote Richmond, had convinced him that 98% of the
people supported the Dubcek regime, and that the rank-
ing leaders of the Party, Dubcek included, had actually
been "abducted" by Soviets. {Los Angeles Times, Octo-
ber 14, 1968.)
Qus Hall Arrives in California
On April 5, 1969, Grus Hall spoke at the Southern Dis-
trict convention of the California Communist Party in
Larchmont Hall, 118 North Larchmont Boulevard, Los
Angeles. He announced that he had been studying some
of the reports made by Dorothy Healey on the preceding
day, as well as the discussion bulletins for the past sev-
eral years, and said: "I would be less than honest if I
did not say that I have had some difficulty in reacting
to them."
^_ Early in his speech, which ran for 14^/2 typed pages,
Hall confirmed our 1959 report concerning the difference
between the Northern and Southern Districts of the Cali^
f ornia Party. He said :
"... when I was on the trip, the Secretariat met
on the California elections, mainly, because there was
a disagreement between the North and South, and
what was the disagreement? The same as it has al-
ways been. The Northern District pressing for a
more militant. Left policy, and the Southern District
pressing for a more conservative Right policy."
Hall lashed out at Dorothy Healey repeatedly, sarcas-
tically castigating her and her following. He charged that
they alleged the World Communist movement and the
CPUS A had never accomplished anything constructive,
"right or relevant." He said their approach was always
negative, never positive, and he urged the members of
the Southern District to elect officers who would act to
suppress the dissidents.
Political Liquidation of Dorothy Healey
Gus Hall returned to the United States from a meeting
in Moscow, and shortly thereafter on October 18, 1969,
the press quoted Mrs. Healey as stating that she had in-
deed lost her office as chairman of the Southern District,
UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA 159
because of her opposition to the Soviet occupation of
Czechoslovakia. Then she went to the office of the State
Department of Employment at Inglewood, and applied
for unemployment compensation. She was awarded $35.00
a week for six months. She remains a member of the
Party, and retains a nominal position on the District
Committee. But she also steadfastly holds to her beliefs,
that the invasions of Poland, Hungary and Czechoslo-
vakia by the Soviet armed forces were grave mistakes,
and that the Party should permit free discussion and
disagreement by all Communists instead of blind obedi-
ence to directives issued by entrenched Party bureau-
crats. We have not yet come across any resentment in
the Party because Mrs. Healey's successor was imported
from outside the State instead of being selected from the
California membership.
Frank Spector, the Russian Communist deportee who
ran the Progressive Bookstore on West Seventh Street
in Los Angeles for so many years, and had held a variety
of highly important positions in the movement, soon dis-
appeared from his usual position at the store and soon
thereafter resigned from the Party. There were, of
course, others. But Dorothy Healey and Frank Spector
were the most important Communists in California who
suffered because of their disagreement with the official
line.
At the time of her ouster, Mrs. Healey was making
$65.00 a week from the Party for work as chairman of
the Southern District that demanded virtually all of her
time and energies. If the opponents of Communism
would be willing to accept such small compensation and
work as hard to preserve the country, as the Communists
are to subvert it, most of the threat from internal sub-
version would rapidly decline.
Another well-known Communist figure w^as toppled
from his position when the Communist Party of France
removed Roger Garaudy from its Central Committee for
'•'revisionism". Garaudy had long been respected among
Communists throughout the world as one of their most
noted theoreticians. Soon after the invasion he charac-
terized it as "a crime against hope, a crime against so-
cialism, a crime against the future." (Preface to La
Liberie en Siirsis — Prague, 1908, October, 1968, page 4;
160 UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIEOENIA
The New Crises in European Communism, by Kevin Dev-^
lin, Problems of Communism, Nov.-Dec, 1968, page 57,
n.l.)
Garaudy had been chosen as the most capable of all
European Communists to lead the dialogue between
Marxists and religious leaders in various non-Communist
countries. He came out rather badly in exchanges with
Jesuit theologians at St. Louis, but was hailed by the
Party press almost until the time of his ouster. {Com-
munism and Christianity, by Hyman Lumer, Political
Affairs, Aug., 1968, page 16.) This famed spokesman for
the Communist ideology had been the recipient of similar
praises in other official Party publications in many coun-
tries. But at the 19th Congress of the French Communist
Party, 960 delegates listened quietly when Garaudy ad-
dressed them and said "Our cause is just, our objectives
will be achieved — all the more quickly when our methods
have been profoundly changed." So, after 36 years in
the Party, he left the rostrum, ousted from the Central
Committee on which he had served for 24 years. He
had described the invasion of Czechoslovakia by saying
"Brezhnev surpassed Stalin." {Time Magazine, Feb. 23,
1970.)
We have devoted this extensive attention to upheavals
resulting from the invasion of Czechoslovakia not only
because of the profound upheaval produced throughout
the Communist World, and the very pertinent effect it
exercised on the Party in California, but more particu-
larly because it once again demonstrates the toughness,
the resilience, and the iron discipline of the entire World
Communist movement. After each major crisis, the dis-
sidents were demoted, ousted, isolated. Then the remain-
ing loyal and subservient members regrouped and went
on with their business of revolution. While attacking
other countries for imperialist actions, these Commu-
nists will sanction the most flagrant imperialism on the
part of the USSR, even to the armed invasion of other
countries, without raising the slightest protest.
We can only hope that the true nature of the Com-
munist apparatus will be better gauged by this example
of the Parties throughout the w^orld, notably in Cali-
fornia, closing all possibility of criticism of the Soviet
Union or of the Party line, and the swift, inexorable
UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA 161
purging of any members presumptuous enough to venture
a view in opposition.
In these reports we have frequently described the back-
ground, the changes in the Party line, the techniques
used successfully by the Party to accomplish its objec-
tives, such as the "diamond pattern,'' which is used to
enable a small group of Communists to dominate a large
non-Communist organization and their amazingly suc-
cessful use of the united and popular front techniques.
While we realize these matters are neither sensational nor
colorful, we also realize that the Communist Party in
California today cannot possibly be understood unless
one first understands the sort of background and tech-
niques that are in use. It is, in short, impossible to under-
stand where we now are and where we are heading,
unless we also know where we have been.
Attack on Labor
At least three years ago, the phrase *' monopoly capi-
talism" began appearing in the Party press, and ever
since this propaganda phrase has been repeated over and
over again to prepare the rank and file membership for
a drive to infiltrate labor organizations. The reason for
this is very understandable. What is puzzling is why
the all-out drive was not made sooner. The essence of
Marxism is the clash between those w^ho produce and
those who own . the means of production, or as Com-
munists say, the class struggle between the proletariat
and the bourgeoisie. This exerts an immediate appeal to
the have-nots, who look with envy on those who, for one
reason or another, have achieved material success. The
wide range of differences in natural capacities seems to
play no part in this dichotomy.
The Russian Revolution arose from organizing the
exploited workers — but in the so-called satellite countries,
the class conflict was vastly subordinated to infiltration,
propaganda, subversion on all fronts, and, most decisive
of all, rude shoves instead of gentle nudges by Soviet mili-
tary force. Economic strikes have been useful to Commu-
nists in all countries. When infiltration and control of
strategically important labor organizations attains such
proportions that it controls huge unions of teachers and
professors, who condition students as revolutionaries;
162 UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA
unions dealing with the production and processing of
foods, with communications, newspapers, radio, TV,
transportation, and law enforcement agencies — then an
entire nation can be paralyzed. This has been the classic
technique of Communist infiltration, control and sub-
version of regimes the world over. Some observers be-
lieve that this new move to infiltrate American labor is
doomed to failure almost before it gets launched, con-
tending that there are no longer any large numbers of
oppressed workers in the United States, but on the other
hand the average trade union member is well protected,
well organized, well paid, and well adjusted. Our respon-
sibility is to present the facts, and it is a fact that a mas-
sive, determined drive to infiltrate our strategic labor
unions is already underway.
It has happened before. The CPUSA has moved into
control of such unions, and it has launched general strikes
so savage and bloody that they paralyzed huge segments
of our society. We are prone to forget that the State Re-
lief Administration was honeycombed with Communists
in the late 30 's and early 40 's; that the general counsel
for the entire CIO organization in the United States was
a Communist; that the national governing body of the
CIO was dominated by Communists; that the CIO in
California was run by Communists — among them Dorothy
Healey Connelly's husband, Phillip; that the general
strike in San Francisco in 1934 was started and run by
Communists; that the United Mine, Mill and Smelter
"Workers, International Longshoremens' and Warehouse-
mens' Union; United Electrical Workers, Marine Cooks
and Stewards, American Communications Association,
United Office and Professional Workers, United Federal
Workers and other labor organizations mentioned in
previous reports, were all under solid Communist control.
During this same early drive, the Los Angeles Federation
of Teachers was investigated by its parent organization
and ousted from the AF of L because it was found to be
under Communist domination.
All of this deep penetration was abetted by propa-
ganda, not only from the Party press, but from covert
Communists who had secured positions on large news-
papers, placed there largely through the e:fforts of Phillip
UN-AMEEICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFOENIA 163
M. Connelly, a proven member of the Communist faction
of the American Newspaper Guild.
When the situation grew alarming, both the CIO and
the AF of L undertook to rid their unions of subversive
elements. In those cases where the task proved too for-
midable, the unions were expelled, but they are still
growing in power and they are more firmly under Party
control than ever. A study of this penetration of labor
organizations in the 30 's and 40 's enables us to under-
stand how, by the use of the so-called "diamond pattern"
a handful of carefully trained and highly disciplined
Communists, well versed in disruptive tactics and par-
liamentary procedure, can easily control a large, non-
Communist organization. The tactics used in the earlier
effort, tried and tested by practical application, are now
being used again. It is too obvious to require extended
comment that if a subversive force manages to secure
control of large trade union organizations, it cannot only
paralyze our society by a succession of strikes, but it can
also affect our economy by constant demands for higher
wages, thereby forcing up prices in a ceaseless ascent.
The preparations for this new attack on American
labor organizations has been going on for several years.
It has been an extraordinary campaign, so insistent in
carrying such a theme of urgency that it was clearly in-
tended to permeate the Party in great depth. As might
be expected, the most authoritative announcements of the
new program appeared in the most authoritative official
publication of the Communist Party, Party Affairs, and
was repeated in the Daily Worker, Peoples World, in
pre-convention discussion papers, and in endless booklets
and pamphlets distributed by Party bookstores and thence
to the local clubs. {Party Affairs, Spring-Summer Quar-
ter, 1967; May, 1968; October-November, 1968.)
The revised second draft of the new program, CPUSA,
was issued in January, 1969, and stated:
"The Centrality of the class struggle in present-
day capitalist society remains unaltered by the
growth of monopoly and state monopoly capitalism.
To be sure, monopoly capital represses other classes
and social strata, but the base of its profits, the most
indispensable source of its wealth and power, is the
164 UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIEOENIA
exploitation of the workers in the productive process.
In this fundamental exploitative relationship lies the
special position which the working class occupies in
the anti-monopoly struggle.
It is the working class which offers the basic chal-
lenge to capitalist exploitation. It is therefore the
cardinal force of social progress. But it is also in-
evitable that all the forces of social progress are
increasingly compelled to question the right of the
capitalists to exploit human energies and natural
riches for private profit. And since the primary vic-
tim of this exploitation is the working class, all
struggles, as they move closer to directly questioning
the right of exploitation, tend to gravitate increas-
ingly around the working class." {New Program of
the Communist Party, USA; second draft, revised,
January, 1969, III-6.)
This document also alluded to the skepticism on the
part of many liberals and some Party members concern-
ing the advisability of the new campaign, a matter to
which we have already alluded. This attitude was handled
as follows:
"What is surprising is that today professed radi-
cals echo the line that in America the class struggle
has either vanished or lost its relevance. Objectively
such a line reinforces the position of the 'class part-
nership' advocates within the labor officialdom. For
if there is no class struggle, there can only be 'class
partnership' and 'class peace'.
We Communists emphatically reject this line and
its logic of surrender. In a society governed by the
exploitation and oppression imposed by monopoly
capital, ' class partnership ' can only mean the sub-
ordination of the workers' interests to those of mo-
nopoly. It places a premiiun on non-militancy and
accommodation with the employers, or taking the
path of least resistance. It seeks to turn workers into
wooden soldiers, marching behind the battle banners
of U.S. imperialism, even into such criminal ventures
as the war in Vietnam." (New Program, op cit.,
III-16.)
UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA 165
Albert Lima contributed his support to the new under-
taking in an article, which appeared in Political Affairs,
as follows:
''The effort to involve the trade unions in issues
which go beyond the narrow economic and political
needs, is always a task the Communist Party must
fulfill in all periods and under all conditions. That is
the special role of the Communist Party . . . this is
elementary for every Communist Party struggling to
overthrow the capitalist system." (Further on Labor
Opportunism, by Albert J. Lima. Political Affairs,
May 1969, page 44 et seq.)
The main direction must be against the monopolies
and the state monopoly system in our country. Rac-
ism and an imperialist war economy are two of the
main props of the monopolies. The main pressures
must be directed against them.
The struggle will also have to be directed against
the top leaders of the organized labor movement, and
to organize and to win the base which they have
among sections of the working class. Otherwise a
change in policy will be left to spontaneity."
Daniel Rubin, one of the leading national officers of the
CPUS A, put the matter in its proper perspective after
the 19th convention of 1969, when he stated in Political
Affairs:
"The convention that succeeded in restoring fully,
in practice, the orientation of the entire Party to-
ward the working class, black and white, and par-
ticularly toward its basic industrial core." (The 19th
Convention: a Turning Point by Daniel Rubin. Po-
litical Affairs, July 1969, page 3, et seq.)
''The main theme of the convention, Industrial
Concentration, was reflected in a number of ways.
On several occasions the convention was brought to
its feet by speeches of delegates who are shop work-
ers as they dealt with their experiences, with the
meaning of the Party for them and with the indus-
trial concentration policy." (Political Affairs, op. cit.,
page 5.)
%66 UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA
The same issue of this monthly publication of the nar
tional committee of the Communist Party carried another
article on the same subject by George Meyers, in which
he described a meeting of the Alliance For Labor Action
held in Washington, D.C. May 27-28, 1969, wrote Mr.
Meyers ;
"It can mark the beginning of a rapid growth of
the ranks of organized labor and a major shift in
the role the trade union movement plays in the po-
litical life of the country.
The ALA has come on the scene as the ruling class
decided to mount a wave of repression against demo-
cratic organizations. The freedom movement is a
special target with frame-ups, police brutality and
murder. Peace activists and student demonstrators
are on the receiving end of brutal treatment. Efforts
to smash the hospital strike in Charleston are a
sample of what can happen to the struggles of the
workers in the mines, mills and factories if the
monopolies have their way.
The United Front of Labor — a Left-Center Coa-
lition— is what is required. Reaction can be stopped
in its tracks today as it was stopped in the 30 's. The
founders of the ALA are emerging as the center. A
Left is needed to complete the united front. The re-
building of this Left in the labor movement is the
most urgent task facing Communists and other pro^
gressives. This means first of all, rebuilding the Com-
munist Party. Participation, is the word — not pas-
sivity/' (A Significant Lahor Conference, by George
Meyers. Political Affairs, July 1969, pages 32, 33,
42.)
The exact methods employed to accomplish this massive
infiltration project are not new. They brought success
during an earlier era when the attempt was made, and
we have no doubt that the Communists have profited by
mistakes made then. It remains to be seen whether or-
ganized labor will also profit by the lessons of the past,
and at least acquaint itself with the early signs — they are
unmistakable — of penetration. The least that labor can
do is become thoroughly familiar with the techniques by
which these infiltrations are made possible; with the
UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA 167
changing nature of propaganda on the subject; with the
identities of the leaders of the movement, and the effects
upon the ranks of organized labor. In every instance that
has come to our attention over the y^ars, where a labor
organization has kept abreast of these infiltration at-
tempts, giving them widespread publicity, and taking
adequate counter measures, the effort has been a com-
plete failure.
Propaganda
The three main sources of Communist propaganda in
California, in addition to the constant flood of materials
from abroad and the publications of front organizations
in this country, are the Peoples World, the International
Bookstore in San Francisco, and the Progressive Book-
store in Los Angeles. The newspaper is almost entirely
supported by fund drives and large individual contribu-
tions. Only recently a similar paper in New York, the
Daily Worker, received a bequest of more than a million
dollars from the estate of the late Herman Kaplan, the
custodian for this sum being Herbert Aptheker, Lement
Harris and Philip Foner. {Chicago Tribune, April 7,
1967.)
Lists of those who receive these publications as sub-,
scribers must be treated with extreme caution by amateur
investigators, because some subscribers read and use them
because of intellectual curiosity, as classroom documents,
or for counter-subversive purposes. All subscribers are,
of course, not Communists nor sympathizers any more
than all members of Communist fronts are members of
the Party.
We have mentioned Political Affairs as the one organ
that declares the world and national Party lines each
month. It is assuredly one of the dreariest of publica-
tions, and certainly one of the most important.
In addition to these two major publications, the Peo-
ples World and Political Affairs, there are the book-
lets, programs and leaflets constantly being used by the
CPUS A and its elaborate, interlocking network of front
organizations.
Under the leaky provisions of the Foreign Agents
Registration Act of 1938, millions of Communist prop-
aganda items come flooding into the United States an-
168 UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA
iiually from the USSR and other Communist countries^
Needless to say, the U.S. publications permitted in Rus-
sia amount to a drop as compared to a torrent. Records
of the U.S. Customs Service in San Francisco reveal
that in 1959 more than ten million separate propaganda
items entered the United States from Communist coun-
tries, a flood that is steadily increasing.
Irving Fishman, Deputy Collector of Customs in New
York City, has repeatedly submitted reports to Congress
on this subject. They reveal that there are three maim
check points in the United States at which foreign prop-
aganda is monitored, New York, New Orleans and San
Francisco. But because of gaping holes in the Federal
law, attempts to stem the tide have been futile.
The San Francisco office has been paying particular
attention to the quantity of propaganda coming to this
state from China, North Korea and North Vietnam.
Since the smoldering Sino-Soviet conflict escalated into
a vicious and occasionally bloody confrontation, the
theme has been to indoctrinate California young Ameri-
cans of Chinese descent and persuade them to comie to
mainland China for study, or to work in this country
as Maoist Communists. We shall deal later with the
success this effort has achieved. Reproductions of some
recent Red Chinese and Vietnamese propaganda, with
some from other countries, are presented as exhibits at
the conclusion of this section.
In addition to the domestic and foreign printed prop-
aganda, there are speeches by Communists on the
campuses of our state educational institutions, from high
schools to universities. Quite manifestly they have noth-
ing whatever to do with the standard curricula, and in-
deed are often so emotional and exhortive that they are
followed by riots and destruction. There are the constant
succession of meetings by front groups, accompanied by
panel discussions, speeches, and instruction and class-
room indoctrination in our schools that will be discussed
more fully hereafter.
This relentless propaganda attack has been mounting
in intensity for years. The measure of its success can be
estimated by its increasing volume and its monumental
cost. In recent years the Customs Service has reported
that much of this material has been coming from Mexico
UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA 169
and other Latin-American countries. A subcommittee of
the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee, studying the
techniques of Soviet propaganda, had this to say:
"The use by the Communist propaganda appara-
tus of auxiliaries as diverse as they are inconspicu-
ous emphasizes the importance of the ability to
recognize them, despite their variety and conceal-
ment. Two distinct traits betray them. First, the
auxiliary invariably and undeviatingly supports each
position on international affairs, supported by the
Soviets and faithfully follows Moscow in every re-
versal, twist and turn of policies; second, the auxil-
iary will systematically denigrate every aspect of
western regimes, while attempting to whitewash the
Communists with equal consistency.
While the Party line may shift with bewildering
rapidity, a random sampling of the January, 1965
position of auxiliaries vis-a-vis international politi-
cal affairs would include:
Opposition to any strengthening of Europe, es-
pecially a European army.
Denunciation of the retention of American troops
in Europe.
Disapprobation of NATO and SEATO.
Approval of the U.N. veto power for the Soviets.
Favoring abandonment of Berlin and disengage-
ment in Germany.
Opposition of the Federal German Republic and
the 'revenge mongers' of Bonn.
Advocacy of diplomatic recognition, and admission
to the U.N., of the Peking government.
Agitation for nuclear test bans and disarmament
without control agreements.
Condemnation of West European missile bases di-
rected at the USSR, but not of USSR bases di-
rected at Europe.
Censure of the 'feudal and corrupt dictators*
Chiang Kai-shek, Moise Tshombe and Antonio
Salazar, but praise for the anti- American dicta-
tors Fidel Castro, Ben Bella and Achmed
Sukarno.
Pressure for the surrender of Quemoy and Matsu
to Peiping.
170 UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA
Opposition to the Franco-British action at Suez,,
but approval of the anti-Franco British action at
Baghdad.
Antagonism to Israel, Fellowship of Arab 'Na-
tionalism'; Antagonism to France, Fellowship of
the FLN; Antagonism to Britain, Fellowship
with the Mau Mau; and in Moslem Kashmir,
Antagonism to India.
Promotion of Summit Conferences on any and aU
occasions.
Endorsement of 'Cultural Exchanges,' but tolera-
tion of USSR literary censorship and radio jam-
ming.
Enunciation of Western 'colonialism' and Asia and
Africa, with complete silence concerning brutal
Soviet colonialism in Eastern Europe.
Opposition to internationally controlled free elec-
tions on German unification but endorsement of
'elections' on Vietnamese unification without in-
ternational control.
Censure of 'dollar Imperialism' anywhere in the
World, but loud praise for 'ruble aid' to under-
developed nations.
Condemnation of American bases in Europe and
Asia, but strident defense of Communist parties,
which are effectively Soviet bases in all
countries.
Obviously many independent minds will, whether
logically or fallaciously, arrive at the same position as
the Soviets on some individual issues, but it is in-
conceivable that any but a dominated and disciplined
auxiliary will be in systematic and synchronized
agreement with all the Kremlin's positions. It is by
this consistency that the auxiliary can be recog-
nized." (The Techniques of Soviet Propaganda,
Senate Document No. 34, 90th Congress, 1st Session,
1967, pages 9 and 10.)
Mr. Fishman has stated that his Customs Service or-
ganization reported to Federal agencies an increase in
the propaganda material directed to students and youth
in this country, that is increasing at the rate of approxi-
mately 40% a year. One of the sources is the huge print-
ing plant operated by the Soviet Embassy in Mexico City
UN-AMEEICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALITOENIA 171
for the purpose of prepg^ring and disseminating anti-
American propaganda both in this country and through-
out Latin America. The American taxpayer is, of course,
being compelled to indirectly finance the distribution of
this propaganda throughout our country because of the
subsidy to the United States Post Office Department.
It would indeed be difficult to find three well-known
Americans, the first a scholar and writer, the second a
former Chief Justice of the United States Supreme
Court, and the third the Director of the Federal Bureau
of Investigation, whose views on most topics would be
more divergent. But on one thing they are in solid ac-
cord, as the following quotations will demonstrate. Dr.
H. A. Overstreet, in his book. The Great Enterprise,
W. W. Norton & Co., Inc., N.Y., 1952, wrote on page
254:
"We have so recently become acquainted with
Communist strategies that we have scarcely as yet
begun to work out our own psychological counter-
strategies. On the contrary, we have occupied our-
selves chiefly with the more familiar strategies of
military defense and offense . . . this means, first
and last, that we must learn how not to be taken in.
We know now, after a number of painful experi-
ences, that Communists who come to the support
of oppressed individuals or groups are not primarily
interested in the oppressed, but in the use they can
make of them as a springboard from which to laimch
propaganda looking to the overthrow of our system
of life."
Former Chief Justice Earl Warren declared that :
**A11 those who are devoted to the Communist cause
are our enemies, whether they are within or without
our country." (Los Angeles Times, August 4, 1950.)
It remains for Mr. Hoover, testifying before the House
Subcommittee on Appropriations, April 17, 1969, to put
the matter into final perspective. He said :
''Although activities of old-line Communist organi-
zations in the United States have been overshadowed"
by the militancy of the New Left and racial disorders,
the threat of Comnnmism has certainly not dimin-
ished. It flows from the Communist Party — USA —
172 UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA
with its blind obedience to the Soviet Union and from
the various Communist splinter groups, such as the
Progressive Labor Party, the pro-Peking group I
mentioned earlier which, in addition to stepped-up
efforts to extend its influence on college campuses, has
made a concerted effort to take over the national lead-
ership of the Students for a Democratic Society, the
militant pro-Marxist anarchistic, campus-based New
Left groups; the Socialist Workers' Party; the
Workers ' World Party ; and their affiliates. These or-
ganizations seek to transform this country into a Com-
munist state, but differ on the plans to be followed.
The turbulence generated by the New Left stimu-
lated all these organizations into moving forward to-
ward increased militancy themselves. Seizing any pre-
text as the foundation for a protest demonstration,
leaders of these organizations seek to proliferate such
demonstration into a massive confrontation with the
authorities to generate disrespect for law and order.
A typical example occurred in connection with the
coalition group participating in picketing against es-
tablishments of the French Government in the United
States in July, 1968. In the Berkeley, Calif., area this
coalition was led by an official of the Socialist Work-
ers' Party and included members of the Socialist
Workers' Party; the Young Socialist Alliance, the
Youth Group of the Socialist Workers' Party; Spar-
tacist, a Trotskyite group ; and others. The aggressive
action taken by this group necessitated a curfew in
Berkeley in order to quell the disturbance.
The growing militancy of the old-line Communist
organizations was also demonstrated at the Eighth
National Convention of the Young Socialist Alliance,
held November 28 through December 1, 1968, at Chi-
cago, 111. The Young Socialist Alliance is the youth
and training section of the Socialist Workers Party,
a militantly revolutionary Party based on the theories
of Marx, Engels and Lenin, as interpreted by Leon
Trotsky. Among the nearly 800 in attendance were 7
enlisted men from the U.S. Army and several mem-
bers of the Students for a Democratic Society, as well
as individuals from Canada, Mexico, France and West
Germany. Members of the Black Panther Party, a
UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFOENIA 173
militant Black Nationalist group, were among t^e
speakers at the convention.
One speaker described those in attendance as being
the vanguard of the young students and workers who
are called upon to bring the liberating ideas of Social-
ism to the American people. Another speaker appealed
to the group to increase their efforts to reach the
G. I. 's, to invite them to participate in demonstrations
as a group of 100,000 G. I.'s can make the revolution.
At the time of the convention, Young Socialist Alli-
ance members were reported to be located in 101 col-
leges or universities, 32 high schools and 5 junior high
schools.
While all the splinter organizations have their roots
in the Communist movement, it is essential that it be
clearly understood that there are ideological differ-
ences between them, and that all these organizations
are not part of the Communist Party — USA. Most
of these Communist splinter organizations follow the
interpretation of Marxism-Leninism, espoused by the
late Leon Trotsky, or Communist China.
The Communist Party — USA, on the other hand,
represents that part of the international Communist
movement in the United States, which is pro-Soviet.
As a result we find the Communist Party — USA, fol-
lowing the line established by the Communist Party
of the Soviet Union regardless of the effect that such
action will have on the Party's acceptance in the
United States. Thus, during the past year, we had
Party leader Gus Hall holding a press conference in
Budapest, Hungary, in February, 1968, where he de-
clared that United States 'imperialism' was the cen-
tral issue uniting the 67 Communist and Workers'
Parties gathered in Budapest for a consultative meet-
ing. It was also at this time that Hall stated the meet-
ing had unanimously approved a proposal by the U. S.
delegation that it send a message of sympathy and
support to North Vietnam for its valiant stand
against 'American aggression.' "
174 UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA
CPUSA
EXHIBIT I
HOW TO
ORGANIZE
MASS
MEETINGS
Prepared by
ORGANIZATIONAL-EDUCATIONAL COMMISSION,
NATIONAL COMMITTEE OF THE CJ>.U.S.A.
New York
Workers Library Publishers
UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA
175
CPUSA
EXHIBIT II
u^e May Day
AT A MEETING TO
SUPPORT LIBERATION STRUGGLES
AT HOME AND ACROSS THE WORLD
HEAR:
TOM HAYDEN
Former national leader of SDS. Presently
organizing for People's confrontation at
National Democratic Convention.
BOBBIE HIESLER
National Educational Director of W.E.B.
Du Bois Clubs of America
SEE
MARTES 13
Prize winning Cuban
Film on NORTH
VIETNAM
^' ' ^"' -=31^- DONATION
/^^fl^t,\/t, VVED.. IVIAY 1st - eF^lVI $1.00
sponsor: YOUTH SECTION , SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA COMMUNIST PARTY
176 UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA
CPUSA
EXHIBIT III
PARH AFFAIRS
A PUBLICATION Of THE COMMUNIST PARTY. U.S.A.
23 Weii 26tti Sheet, New York. N.Y. lOOlO
VOL. 3 No. 2 Price 25c 40<.2O9 February 21. 1969
NOTES ON THE RESOLUTION FOR A YCL
\/' Bob Duggan, Southern California District
(This is a revised version of the original docunnent, )
RESOLUTION:
THE NAME OF THE ORGANIZATION BE THAT OF THE YOUNG COM-
MUNIST LEAGUE. THAT IT OPERATE AS A VANGUARD CADRE YOUTH
ORGANI ZATION. THE GOAL OF A YCL MUST BE TO BUILD A REVOLU-
TIONARY YOUTH MOVEMENT, WHICH SEEKS TO ESTABLISH ITS MASS
BASE IN THE WORKING CLASS AND SEES AS ITS STRATEGIC GOAL THE
DEEPENING OF THE ANTI-CAPITALIST, ANTI-IMPERIALIST CONSCIOUS-
NESS AND ORGANIZATION OF THE MOVEMENT FOR SOCIALISM. A YCL
MUST ORGANIZE THAT MOVEMENT AMONG YOUTH, PARTICULARLY
AMONG WORKING CLASS YOUTH. THAT IN THE PARTICIPATION AND
CREATION OF DEMOCRATIC MOVEMENTS THAT IT RELATE TO SUCH
MOVEMENTS IN ORDER TO ENSURE THE DEEPENING OF CLASS CON-
SCIOUSNESS. A YCL OUGHT TO WORK AND PARTICIPATE IN THE DE-
VELOPING OF WORKING CLASS STRUGGLES AND OF THE SHARPENING
OF THE CLASS CONTRADICTIONS. THAT IT HAVE A PROGRAMMATIC
EMPHASIS ON THE ORGANIZING OF THE UNORGANIZED, THE MOST OP-
PRESSED SECTOR OF THE CLASS, BLACK, MEXICAN, PUERTO RICAN,
AND POOR WHITE WORKERS. IN TRADE UNIONS OUR CADRE WORK WITH
THE OBJECTIVE OF BECOMING OPEN COMMUNIST AS SOON AS POSSIBLE
IN THEIR ORGANIZING OF INDEPENDENT LEFT CAUCUSES OF YOUNG
WORKERS. THAT OUR STUDENT CADRE WORK AS OPEN COMMUNIST IN
RADICAL STUDENT ORGANIZATIONS AND MINORITY YOUTH ORGANIZA-
TIONS AS THE MAIN AREA OF WORK ON THE CAMPUSES AND HIGH
SCHOOLS. THAT IN THE COMMUNITIES IT HAVE A LONG RANGE VIEW
TOWARD INFLUENCING THE MARXIST CONTENT OF NATIONALIST
FORMS OF ORGANIZATION.
Every organization must have a clear conception of what its strategic
goal is. Failure to have a clear goal in mind will result not in an organiza-
tion but a movement that is threaded together on the basis of vaguely or im-
plicitly understood issues. It will not be a vanguard organization, not even a
leading organization.
It has always been true in a revolutionary movement that every strategic
goal has a minimum and maximum progrann. Moreover, at any particular
monnent in history, struggle over minimunn goals may be sharper and nnore
PROGRESSIVE LABOR PARTY
Levi Laub, Milton Rosen and Mortimer Scheer were
expelled from the CPUSA because they were found
guilty of "Left deviationism, " which in lay language
means that they became impatient with the long-range
strategy of the Party. They preferred the Trotsky-
Maoist theory of permanent revolution and immediate
violent action. When, in the summer of 1960, the rift
between Moscow and Peking loomed as real and deep,
these leaders, with a considerable following, boldly ex-
pressed their sentiments and were promptly ousted.
This splinter group of Marxist radicals then formed
their own organization of activists and called it the Pro-
gressive Labor Movement. It openly espoused the Red
Chinese brand of Communism and engaged in a cam-
paign of violence. Members were sent to Cuba for indoc-
trination and training; a recruiting campaign brought
in a fresh supply of new members and a West Coast
headquarters was opened at 2629 Acton Street, Berkeley
under the direction of Mort Scheer, who had been an
organizer for the CPUSA in Buffalo, New York.
In 1965 the Progressive Labor Movement changed its
name to Progressive Labor Party and continues to func-
tion under that title. By 1967 the PLP had become so
strong and active that the FBI revealed a message of
congratulations from the Communist Party of China to
leaders of the PLP, that Peking regarded it as "the only
revolutionary Marxist-Leninist Party in the United
States." (Testimony of J. Edgar Hoover, Subcommittee
on Appropriations, Op. cit., page 54; 1965 California
Report, pages 165-169.)
Cuba was, and to a large extent continues to be, the
mecca for the more militant young Marxists in the
United States. Castro and the late Ernesto "Che" Gue-
vara are their idols. They were exponents of guerrilla
warfare that had been patterned after the Maoist tech-
niques that were successful in China and brought that
country into Communist domination in 1949. It has been
said that during the post-revolutionary period in Cuba,
{ 177 )
178 UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA
Castro's body was figuratively divided, with his heart in
Peking and his stomach in Moscow. But while emotional
starvation is disagreeable, food starvation is more grimly
realistic. So when Castro sought to make Cuba a center
from which his revolution would be exported throughout
the South American countries, Peking applauded but
Moscow^ began to decrease its material aid. Che Guevara
was killed and his small guerrilla band captured during
its attempt to subvert a South American country; there
were other failures and finally the hot tactic of guerrilla
warfare w^as replaced by the slower, tested, less percep-
tible tactic of subversion Moscow style : infiltration, prop-
aganda, recruiting and a steady nibbling away at the soft
understructures of non-Communist regimes.
From an analysis of the group affiliations of the young
radicals who have made the trips to Havana from United
States and from the disclosures of those who were disil-
lusioned, we find that while Cuba is still the center for
propaganda and training, it has veered closer to the Mos-
cow than to the Peking pattern of revolution.
The national PLP has been immersed in violence al-
most since its inception. During a meeting at its New
York headquarters, 336 Lennox Avenue, January 21
1965, Larry Phelps, a 23-year old graduate student from
the University of North Carolina, who had visited in
Cuba in 1963, was stabbed to death. Two women who
were attending this meeting were also seriously injured.
{Neiv York Times, January 24, 1965.)
Violence so imbued PLP members that they clashed
repeatedly in fights with other radical groups. We know
of no instance involving clashes with members of the
CPUSA, notwithstanding deep ideological and strategy
differences arising from the Sino-Soviet split. On the
contrary, these two Marxist groups have collaborated in
many united front demonstrations. An example is seen
when, among the 120 pickets at the Los Angeles Herald
Examiner offices at 11th and Broadway, Los Angeles,
August 8, 1968, Dorothy Healey and James Dann, chair-
man of the Los Angeles PLP, walked amicably in the
same picket line.
No such collaboration was accorded the Socialist Party
members however, as demonstrated by the incident in San
Francisco on July 15, 1967, when hot-headed PLP mem-
UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA 179
bers launched an attack. This provoked a letter, which we
quote for the purpose of showing how animosity was
spreading among some of the radical organizations, not^
ably the San Francisco Socialist Party and the Socialist
Workers' Party (Trotskyite Communists) in that city.
The letter was as follows :
An Open Letter to The Progressive Labor Party
''On Saturday, July 15, 1967, 8 members of the
San Francisco Socialist Campaign Committee, the
Young Socialist Alliance and the Socialist Workers
Party were physically attacked by approximately
20 supporters of the Progressive Labor Party. The
assault occurred while we were distributing litera-
ture at a street demonstration on the corner of 22nd
and Mission. According to the San Francisco Chron-
icle, the rally had been called by the Mission Tenants
Union.
As Socialist candidate for mayor, I was present
at the rally, along with a few friends, to distribute
my campaign material. I was told by a member of
the Progressive Labor Party that if I handed out
any literature I would be physically removed and
my literature would be confiscated.
I contacted Robert Himmel, local chairman of the
Socialist Workers Party, and asked him to come to
the rally to get some official clarification from leaders
of PLP on what appeared to be a blatant attempt to
suppress my rights.
When Himmel and a few other SWP members
arrived a short time later, we approached a leading
member of PLP, Dennis Mosgofian, in an effort to
work out what we hoped was simply a misunder-
standing. Himmel was told by Mosgofian that I had
lied about the threats and nobody would interfere
with us. He told us to 'go ahead and hand out any-
thing you want'.
But when we attempted to distribute our leaflets
we were attacked, knocked to the ground, kicked and
beaten by about 20 supporters of PLP, including
Mosgofian, PLP candidate for S.F. Supervisor John
180 UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA
Ross, West Coast PLP organizer Chris Raisner,
and S. F. State PLP Chairman John Levin.
The Progressive Labor Party claims to advocate
Socialism. Is this claim supported by beating up
candidates running on an anti-war and pro- Socialist
platform? What kind of conduct is this? What kind
of respect for civil liberties is this from a group
advocating Socialism? Socialists should be in the
forefront of the fight for free speech!
No one in the radical movement gains from such
conduct. Radicals should be united in defending free
speech for all. It is a scandal when Socialists have
to defend their right to free speech against 'Social-
ists' who proclaim their socialism by using goon
squad tactics to trample on that right.
In the past the YSA and the SWP have consist-
ently fought every effort by the bourgeois state and
the right wing to abridge democratic rights. We have
fought all attacks, whether they were directly against
us, the Communist Party, PLP or anyone else. We
will continue to do so in the future.
We fought during the 30 's when the Stalinized
Communist Party tried to use its superior numbers
and influence in this country to smash radical oppon-
ents through the use of violence.
Do you of the PLP believe that you can resurrect
the methods of Stalin? Or do you think you are the
American incarnation of Mao's Red Guards? Do
you imagine that Stalinist nonsense about Trotsky-
ists being 'Fascist agents' will get you by in this day
and age? By attacking us, you can only make your-
selves look ludicrous.
We trust that the national leadership of the PLP
rejects such attacks as both unworthy and unwork-
able. We trust that you will take disciplinary action
against those of your members who were involved
in this scandalous attack. We trust that a public
apology will be forthcoming.
(Signed) Robert Davis
Socialist Candidate for Mayor
of San Francisco."
UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA 181
The foregoing letter was written on the stationery of
the Socialist Campaign Committee, 1733 Waller Street,
San Francisco, Calif., 94117. Phone 752-1790.
Swept along by its determined belligerence, its tech-
nique of direct action, and its generally defiant attitude
against anything connected with what it referred to as
"the establishment," PLP grew rapidly. It drew some of
the younger members from the Socialist Workers Party
and from the CPUSA, opened offices at central points
of importance throughout the United States, conducted
recruiting campaigns on college campuses, issued an as-
tounding quantity of leaflets, booklets, newspapers and
other propaganda that loomed out of all proportion to
the membershii3 of the organization and its relatively
meager income from dues.
At the height of its success, the PLP placed many of
its members in the ranks of another and larger organiza-
tion of revolutionary youth. Students for a Democratic
Society, and when they considered their strength sufficient
they launched a drive to take control of this organization.
At the same time, in Los Angeles, a similar move was
conducted which created a rivalry between the PLP and
the CPUSA in the attempts of each organization to bend
the Los Angeles SDS to its own objectives. In the ensu-
ing section, dealing with Students for a Democratic So-
ciety, we will consider this rivalry in detail, and demon-
strate how the superior discipline and the experience of
the Communist Party enabled it to prevail, sharply re-
ducing the effectiveness of the PLP and stemming the
exodus of young CPUSA members into the new roilitant
youth organization.
Publications and Finances
In 1964 Challenge issued Volume I, No. 1, as a weekly
from an office at 66 West 109th Street, New York. The
editor of this PLP publication was Fred Jerome, and it
comprised an 8 page newspaper, the last two pages of
which were in Spanish.
A year later the San Francisco PLP issued its publi-
cation. Spark: Western Voice for Revolution from its
office at 3382 18th Street, San Francisco, and carried arti-
cles by John Ross, Steve Cherkoss, Jim Carrico and John
Hayes. It, too, devoted 2i of its 8 pages to material in the
182 UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA
Spanish language. Whether the title of this California
paper was inspired by the name of the publication Lenin
wrote during his exile in Switzerland for the Russian
Revolution, is not known. Levin's paper was Iskra, which
means *' Spark" in Russian. At any rate, the San Fran-
cisco Spark was extinguished early in 1968 after a rela-
tively short life, and thereafter the PLP news from Cali-
fornia was carried for the most part in the Eastern
publication Challenge, and in the endless leaflets, reports,
pamphlets and other propaganda material issued by all
of these Marxist radical movements.
We have made some reproductions of several PLP
publications to accompany this text as exhibits, and they
will serve to give some very slight indication of the great
expense incurred in producing the propaganda that
spreads the Maoist-Castro brand of Communist Revolu-
tion. It seems that almost from its beginning, the PLP
was plentifully supplied with cash, the question was,
where from"?
The PLP has been an exceedingly tough and influential
movement, and as it reached the zenith of its power in
1964-1965, its publications were increasing in volume and
its members were making the pilgrimage to Cuba more
frequently. This was the time when the CPUSA was col-
laborating with most of the other radical groups of the
New Left. In Oakland the Dover Street home of Albert
Lima was visited by Bettina Aptheker, who was a house
guest there at one time, and other Communists of note,
and also by members of the PLP, in one of whom we are
especially interested, Yvonne Marie Bond, sometimes
known as Geraldine Hightower. Miss Bond does not con-
ceal the fact that she is a Communist affiliated with the
PLP. In 1964 Miss Bond, then 23, and a former student at
Berkeley, was living at 5225 Miles Avenue, Oakland.
Another resident in the Lima home for several months
during 1964 was a parolee from San Quentin Prison, Man-
uel F. Rodriguez, whose criminal record as set forth in
the official documents under number A-19958 is massive.
Bettina Aptheker often visited the Lima home while
Rodriguez lived there, and indeed was present when the
parole officer to whom Rodriguez was assigned made his
inspection of the premises at Dover Street. Rodriguez has
stated that he frequently met Yvonne Bond, Bettina
UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA 183
Aptheker and other Communists during Ms stay with the
Lima's.
The circumstances by which Rodriguez was released
from prison and resided with the chairman of the North-
ern Division of the Communist Party of California are
interesting and intriguing. While Rodriguez was a San
Quentin inmate, Albert J. Lima attempted to send him
$25.00 as evidenced by a postal money order bearing
number 12-71-542-731. It was returned with a letter
dated June 12 1962, because Lima had not been approved
as a correspondent or visitor. Lima then submitted the
required questionnaire giving his occupation as "con-
struction" and his residence as 6115 Dover Street, Oak-
land.
On September 6, 1962, Helen Corbin Lima filled out a
similar questionnaire, her $25.00 money order No. 12-717-
544-283 for Rodriguez also having been returned with a
letter from prison ofiicials dated July 20 1952. Mrs. Lima
gave her occupation as "hospital kitchen worker," Her-^
rick Hospital, Berkeley.
Mr. Lloyd Culardy, who as a representative of a Hos-
pital and Drug Employees Union, interceded on behalf
of a parole for Rodriguez, managed to get him a job in a
Berkeley restaurant on Shattuck Avenue, and when the
parole was granted on July 11 1963, the parolee became a
resident in the Lima home. He was not a Communist and
had no subversive record so far as we have been able to
ascertain. He had met Lima and other high Communist
officials while they were confined in the Los Angeles jail
on a conspiracy charge, subsequently dropped in 1951.
Rodriguez was a prisoner in the same institution for an-
other offense. Then, 10 years later, there was a sudden
interest in Rodriguez — the attempts to send him money,
the working for his parole, the securing of a job for him,
and accepting him in the Lima home where this vulnera-
ble parolee was allowed almost daily contact with numer-
ous Communists — including the one in whom we are most
interested, Yvonne Marie Bond of the Progressive Labor
Party.
The particular interest in Miss Bond was occasioned by
her sudden and mysterious affluence during the early
summer of 1964. On May 19 she appeared at the Oakland
office of Trans World Airlines, 5225 Miles Avenue, Oak-
184 UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA
land, and paid $12,468.00 in crisp new one hundred dollar
bills for transportation for herself and 29 other young
people from California to Paris. Later this deposit was
cancelled and the money refunded.
On May 22, 1964 Miss Bond registered at Gramercy
Hotel, New York City, and telephoned Lee Coe, 840
Delaware Street, Berkeley. Coe had been a well-known
member of the CPUSA in the Bay area, served a term as
labor editor of the Peoples World, and was now working
on the editorial staff of Progressive Labor^ one of the
early publications for PLP.
On May 23 Yvonne Bond and Morton Slater appeared
at the office of Travel Associates, New York City, re-
questing information concerning the price of tickets and
flight schedules from New York to Paris.
On May 25, Monday, Miss Bond and Mr. Slater re-
turned to Travel Associates and deposited 47 crisp, new
one hundred dollar bills in part payment for tickets for
28 students from San Francisco to Paris, a part of the
deposit being 3 one dollar bills and 30 cents in change and
a cashier's check for the balance of $12,450.00.
On the same day. May 25, 1964, Miss Bond and Mr,
Slater visited Pan American Airways office in New York,
where Slater paid $10,420.00 in cash for tickets, from
Chicago to Paris with crisp, new one hundred dollar bills.
On May 26, Mr. Slater went to Foreign Tours, Inc.,
New York City, and purchased transportation for a
group of young people from New York to Paris and paid
for the tickets with crisp, new one hundred dollar bills.
Due to the alertness of one of the individuals with
whom these transactions were conducted, the serial num-
bers of the bills were noted and a telephone call was made
to the New York field office of the Federal Bureau
of Investigation. The nimibers were K3735411-13}
K3735431; K3735442-48; K3735605-31; K3735633-41.
They were immediately traced, of course, and were found
to have been shipped to the San Antonio Branch of the
Federal Reserve Bank in July 1962. The money was held
there until April 20 1964, when they were issued to the
First National Bank of San Antonio. On that same day
they were included in the shipment of one million dollars
made to the Banco de Mexico in Mexico City by the First
National Bank.
UN-AMEEI€AN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA 185
Investigations of this entire matter were made by the
House Committee, an independent investigation made by
us, and one by the Federal Bureau of Investigation,
which we need hardly add was conducted independently
of the other two.
Thus, we know that suddenly Miss Bond received some
money from Mexico, that it amounted to a large amount
in new one hundred dollar bills, that she purchased
tickets for "students" and members of the PLP to visit
Cuba, because, as she admitted, the flight departed from
Kennedy International Airport, New^ York, on June 10,
1964 for Paris; thence on Air France, flight 010; thence
by Czech Airlines, flight 508 to Prague, Czechoslovakia
on June 11, 1964 ; thence to Havana, Cuba on June 11 via
Cubana Airlines, arriving at Havana Airport on June
12. The departure from Havana was made August 12.
During their stay the visitors conferred with officials of
the Cuban regime and other Communists from various
countries before returning to Kennedy International Air-
jDort on August 14, 1964 via Prague and Paris.
The foregoing account serves to illustrate the collabora-
tion between the PLP and the Communist Party in 1964,
and that the California unit of the PLP was so highly
regarded that Miss Bond was trusted with the money
from Mexico and the making of arrangements for trans-
portation of these young radicals from the United States
to Havana for indoctrination and training. She went to
the Oakland TWA office on May 19, 1964, and the Eod-
riguez parole had been canceled four days previously
and he was back in prison again. He has declared that
he found out where Miss Bond got the money — ^but al-
though we have corroborated some of his statements, and
although the records show that he told his story to the
FBI, much of it remains to be verified, which in view
of his instability in other respects will require a vast
amount of time and work. It must be pointed out, how-
ever, that Lima considered him sufficiently stable to send
him money, arrange for his parole, get him a job, re-
ceive him in his home, and permit him to have contacts
with the constant stream of visitors to the premises at
6115 Dover Street in Oakland.
From the first issue of Challenge, all of the PLP prop-
aganda was keyed to a vicious attack against the police,
186 UN-AMEKICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA
urging the Black people to take to the streets and smash
the class enemy. A Black Liberation Commission was es-
tablished, and issued its own highly incendiary appeals —
replete with pictures and cartoons. The first issue of
Challenge, dated June 11, 1964, carried a blazing red head-
line ''POLICE WAR ON HARLEM" with tales of al-
leged sadistic tortures of black victims by law enforce-
ment officers. These all-out drives to incite the Negro
and Latin American minorities continued, interspersed
with the usual line on Vietnam, attacks on big business,
on landlords, and even against some Communist-con-
trolled fronts. The collaborations with the CPUSA had
cooled down as the Sino-Soviet split heated up. Thus,
in Spark, December, 1967, the California PLP organi-
zation, took after the Peace Action Council of Los An-
geles as follows :
"In contrast to Corky Gonzales in Denver, and
Lopez (Reies) Tijerina in New Mexico, the East
Los Angeles Peace Committee and the Peace Action
Council have ignored the oppression of working peo-
ple here and have not tried to lead a fight against
imperialism in their own community as well as in
Vietnam. They turn their backs on the struggles of
the people all around them, while they claim to be
concerned about the struggles about the Vietnamese.
They are afraid to tell the people the truth, that
the big businessmen and their government make huge
profits off the war and the oppression of the Viet-
namese, just as they do off the oppression of the
working people here, including the Mexicans and
Black people."
This mounting antagonism was repeated in Challenge
for March, 1968, in an article on page 17 headed " 'New
Party' is C.P. Planned to Rule or Ruin New Left," as-
serting that "C.P.'s guiding principle is 'if you can't
beat them, get in there and control them.' " The article
continued with the Maoist line that the CPUSA had be-
trayed Marxism by holding that "class interest is the
basis of politics," and declaring that "the Progressive
Labor Party has always maintained that Black radicals
must base themselves on organizing Black workers to
lead the broad Black Liberation struggle, just as White
UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA 187
radicals must base themselves on organizing White work-
ers."
But while the PLP was attacking the Communist
Party for its well-known device of infiltration and con-
trol, it was doing precisely the same thing in a drive to
infiltrate and control the large and violent Students for
a Democratic Society. And it is ironic to note that when
the power play was made by the PLP during the 1969
SDS Chicago Convention, the position that turned the
tide against the effort was the PLP attack on the Black
Panthers ; surprising indeed after the propaganda urging
Black radicals to militant action. But the detailed dis-
cussion of this futile power drive properly belongs in
the following section, dealing with Students for a Demo-
cratic Society.
The most ambitious and expensive PLP publication
was Progressive Labor at 50^ a copy, a thick magazine
lavishly illustrated and a good part of which was devoted
to praises of the "Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution
in China," and citing Mao Tse-tung's definition of Rev-
olution: "A revolution is an insurrection, an act of vio-
lence by which one class overthrows another." (Vol. VI,
No. 2, Nov.-Dec, 1967.) Some of the featured articles in
this issue of the magazine are: "Power in the University"
by John Levin, PLP student organizer at the University
of California, page 35; "The Great Delano Grape Strike,"
page 45, and "We Must Rule the Schools," page 50. The
latter article was also considered sufficiently important
to be reprinted in booklet form and widely disseminated
throughout the country.
Local Meetings
As Students for a Democratic Society has spread and
flourished, the Progressive Labor Party has declined in
size and influence. This is not to say that these followers
of the Red Chinese attitude towards violence are not
among the most dangerous and active radicals in our
country today, who continue to devote themselves to the
use of force and violence to destroy our way of life, and
whose dedication to revolution through disruption con-
tinues unabated. Meetings and training classes are usually
held in private homes, attended by an average of ten to
twenty members, and are uniformly reported as dull
188 UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA
and uninspiring. The lectures at public meetings such as
the Progressive Labor Forums are however more fiery
and speakers are more able and effective than those at
the smaller gatherings.
During 1967 and 1968 training classes and meetings
were held in Southern California at the following ad-
dresses: 448 North Westmoreland, April 22, 1967; 4920
South Figueroa Avenue, Los Angeles, November 3, 1967 ;-
House Meetings and Training Sessions at 1169 South
Mullen Avenue, Los Angeles, December 15, 1967; 1617
East Palmer Street, Compton, January 28, 1968; 1004
Lake Street, Venice, February 11, 1968; 1121 South
White Avenue, Compton, February 25, 1968; 1617 East
Palmer Street, Compton, March 10, 1968; 1004 Lake
Street, Venice, March 14, 1968; 1617 East Palmer Street,
Compton, April 11, 1968.
At these meetings there was much discussion of the
Communist movement in the Chinese Peoples Republic,
many copies of Mao Tse-tung's little red plastic volume,
such as "The Sayings of Chairman Mao," and "Chair-
man Mao Tse-tung on Peoples War," posters, propa-
ganda pamphlets and other written material were con-
stantly being circulated and studied. Outlines for study
at the training classes consisted of red, yellow, orange
and blue documents, with page citations, and photocopies
of the curricula for some of the early classes of PLP
disclosed that they covered a wide variety of topics. Some
of them were: "Road to Revolution, Peoples Art in
China, Worker-Student Alliance, Students and Liberal-
ism, Anti-Imperialist Groups Must Fight, The Plot
Against Black America, The Revolt in Watts, PLP Com-
munity Work, PL Trade Union Program, U.S. Workers,
A Force for Revolution."
As we have seen, there were delegations of PLP mem-
bers travelling back and forth between Cuba, Czechoslo-
vakia, and other Communist countries, constantly keep-
ing up their enthusiasm through contacts with world
Communist leaders, and attending indoctrination and
training classes abroad. Red China was also encouraging
its young admirers in this country, as shown by state-
ments appearing in the Hsinhua News Agency, China
News Service, Kandachuo Building, 20, 3 Chome Kanda,
Nishikicho Chiyodaku, Tokyo. This address is simply
UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA 189
an outlet for Red Chinese propaganda, as also is the
one used by the News Agency in Hong Kong. They come
into this country as part of the propaganda flood that
continues unchecked under existing law, and we conclude
this section on the Progressive Labor Party by quoting
material from the News Agency dated January 12, 1969,
and March 31, 1969, as follows:
*' Peking, January 8, — an ordinary staff member
of the U.S. Progressive Labor Party has justly
denounced the criminal capitalist system in an enemy
court and expressed his determination to thoroughly
bury that system by means of violent revolution,
according to the November issue of Challenge, or-
gan of the Party.
Eric Johnson, PLP's West Coast Trade Union
organizer, and his comrades-in-arms were regarded
as a thorn in flesh by the U.S. Ruling Circles because
they actively organized the masses to wage political
struggles against police brutality and against the
war of aggression in Vietnam. The reactionary San
Francisco authorities put Eric Johnson and six
other persons on a legal trial last September and
flagrantly sentenced to one year on the charge of
'assaulting a police officer'.
Answering the Judge's interrogations in Court,
Eric Johnson declared resolutely that he was fighting
for the end of a system that is based on profit and
that to do it he would resort to whatever means
necessary, including violent means, because those
who hold the system 'are holding it by whatever
means they have to hold it, one of the means by
which I find myself in this courtroom.'
When the Court vainly lulled his struggle by re-
minding him that he had a wife and child, Eric John-
son said firmly, 'I hope my child grows up to fight
these Courts in the same way that I have ; and I hope
that my child takes it up the same way I have.'
The Judge tried to intimidate him into 'admitting
his error', but Eric Johnson reported that he was
'resisting and interf erring with the attack that was
made upon the people that I know and have worked
with.'
190 UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA
He said: 'Those who attack me and attack the
rest of us were sent there by those who are really
guilty in this society, men w^ho stood above you in
judgment, people that make billions out of all the
people in the world, who squash the people in this
world into blood, and they think they can get aw^y
-^th it forever and they think they can get away
wjth putting people in jail and attacking people.
There must be a n^ovement to smash them, (that
system and the people that run that system) forever,
to run them off the face of the globe,' he stated."
(Daily, News, Release, Hsinhua News Agency, Janu-
ary 10, 1969.)
The second reference to the Progressive Labor Party
in the United States is headed "American Progressive
Labor Party Leader on Party Building," and appears in
the News Agency for March 31, 1969, pages 26-27. It
carries a March 21 dateline from Peking, and praises
Bill Epton, a functionary of the PLP in the United
States, for calling on young radicals to overthrow the
system of government in the United States. And quoting
chairman Mao as follows:
"If there is to be a Eevolution, there must be a
Revolutionary Party. Without a Revolutionary
Party, and without a Party built on the Marxist-
Leninist Revolutionary theory and in the Marxist-
Leninist Revolutionary style, it is impossible to lead
the working class and the broad masses of the peo-
ple in defeating imperialism and its running dogs."
Epton is further quoted as writing in his article for
the February 1969 issue of Challenge, that:
"The United States imperialist system is the most
ruthless and vicious system in the world today . . .
It has a history of murder, plunder, oppression and
exploitation. It will not give up easily and just stop
this exploitation of the people of the world and of
the working class here at home ... It is because
of the solidarity, unity, discipline and guidance by
the science of Marxism-Leninism that our small
Party, that is scarcely four years old and learning
from its mistakes, has already taken on U.S. im-
UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA 191
perialism boldly and has lead and participated in
many struggles of the working classes, both Black
and White. It is because we are being trained in the
revolutionary science of Marxism-Leninism and are
struggling to put it into practice that we are begin-
ning to have a definite impact in the struggles that
affect the lives of the American people."
This same publication carries messages from the Cen-
tral Committee of the Chinese Communist Party; from
the Central Committee of the Communist Party of
Burma; from the Vice-Chairman of the Central Com-
mittee of the Communist Party of Burma; from the
Revolutionary Communist Party of Chile; the Marxist-
Leninist Party of France; the Marxist-Leninist Com-
munist League of Sweden; the Mongolian Revolutionary
People, and the Communist Party of Brazil. The tenor
of these readings and the texts that accompany them is
condemnation of the Soviet Union for betraying the
philosophy of JNIarx and Lenin, and pointing out that
only the Red Chinese Communists are the true follow-
ers of that ideology, together with their supporting or-
ganizations throughout the various countries of the world
where the Maoists have managed to maintain organized
groups.
It must be emphasized that the mere fact that occa-
sionally the CPUS A, the Trotskyists, the Maoists, and
other radical Marxist groups see fit to collaborate in a
united front activity, by no means should indicate that
the deep ideological animosity that sets them against one
another, sometimes in hand-to-hand combat, is not al-
ways smoldering and ready to burst into flames when the
provocation arises.
192 UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA
PROGRESSIVE LABOR PARTY
EXHIBIT I
STUDENTS
AND
REVOLUTION
PROGRESSIVE
LABOR
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UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA 193
PROGRESSIVE LABOR PARTY
EXHIBIT II
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194 UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA
PROGRESSIVE LABOR PARTY
EXHIBIT III
PROGRESSIVE
LABOR
PARTY
TRADE
UNION
PROGRAM
STUDENTS FOR A DEMOCRATIC SOCIETY
The inception, organization, officers and activities of
SDS has been set forth in previous reports. To recapit-
ulate briefly, it commenced as the Youth Section of the
old League for Industrial Democracy, which had its ori-
gin some 50 years ago. In 1960 this youth division
changed its name to Students for a Democratic Society
and reorganized at a convention held at Port Huron,
Michigan, two years later. A declaration of purposes and
principles had been prepared by Tom Hayden, a founder
and national president of SDS. It was adopted enthusi-
astically at the Port Huron convention and has since
served as the manifesto for the movement.
Communists and "Right Extremists" were at first
barred from membership, but the ban against members
of all radical Left groups was soon lifted, and young
members of the Communist Party, Socialist Workers'
Party (Trotskyites) and Progressive Labor Party gave
added impetus to SDS, which was already growing with
surprising speed. This influx led to participation in
united front demonstrations with other organizations and
paved the way toward eventual arguments over ideologi-
cal matters, splits and cliques and drives for power. This
was, of course, inevitable because of dual memberships
in SDS and other radical organizations, and to allegi-
ances stemming from older affiliations. The SDS rapidly
became vastly larger than the other New Left groups, or
Old Left, for that matter, and presented a tempting tar-
get to be hit by the old device of infiltration and capture
of key positions.
By 1966 the membership included advocates of '* Par-
ticipant Democracy," those who preferred to accomplish
social and political change by persuasion and non-violent
means, orthodox Socialists, hippies, Maoists, Commu-
nists, Trotskyists, and an influential group that urged
blowing up the Establishment first and worrying about
replacing it later. Inexorably the organization was being
divided into moderate and violent revolutionists.
( 195 )
196 UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA
The League for Industrial Democracy looked aghast
at the antics of its offspring; it had always opposed and
resisted radical totalitarianism, and when SDS removed
its ban against Conmiunists, the parent bade it a firm
farewell.
After the founding conference at Lake Huron, SDS
members returned to their respective campuses and em-
barked on an ambitious campaign with the primary ob-
jective of ''radicalizing the students." (A Study in
Marxist Revolutionary Violence: Students for a Demo^
cratic Society, 1962-1969. By J. Edgar Hoover. Fordham
Law Review, December, 1969.)
During the next two years, most of the activities were
in the Civil Rights and Community Project areas. After
the Berkeley rebellion of 1964 and trips abroad to Com-
munist countries by SDS members, the attention of the
organization was shifted rapidly to violent demonstra-
tions at one campus after another. This change was also
accelerated, obviously, after the rescinding of the ban
against Communists and the influx of new members
whose ideas were far more radical. They demanded im-
mediate and violent action, and their influence was con-
siderable.
Gerald W. Curt, undercover FBI informant, has testi-
fied that he was admitted into the CPUSA, largely be-
cause of the hard work he had done as a SDS member
for the past several years. The Communists instructed
him to remain in SDS and strive to gain an influential
position.
In 1968 SDS launched a nationwide campaign to radi-
calize high school students. An underground newspaper,
The Free Student appeared in May, and announced that
it was being published as an underground organ by High
School Students for a Democratic Society in the Los
Angeles area *'to unify high school students" and above
the announcement was a picture of a clenched flst and the
caption ''resist". This publication carried news from
various high schools in the Los Angeles area and publi-
cations issued by SDS indicated that this was one of its
major projects in California. A Los Angeles regional
newsletter carried an item entitled "SDS Summer in
LA," by Jim Fite, on page 1, stressing the need to orga-
nize high school students and declaring that SDS chap-
UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA 197
ters '' should begin to prepare to relate to high schools in
the Fall. The regional office, under the direction of high
school SDS, should begin weekly classes with chapter
representatives to produce a program for Fall high
school work." On October 13, 1968, the SDS National
Council met on the campus of the University of Colorado
at Boulder, and voted to stepup recruiting on high school
campuses, plan demonstrations simultaneously in major
cities and adopted resolutions toward those ends that had
been prepared by Bernardine Dohrn, National Organi-
zational Secretary, and John Jacobs and Jeff Jones of
New York. {Los Angeles Times, October 14, 1968.)
In describing the rapid growth of SDS, J. Edgar
Hoover wrote :
**. . . A scant two years ago, few Americans had
heard of Students for a Democratic Society. Today
these initials are the trademarks of a movement whose
members have developed into embittered vociferous
revolutionaries who have ignited many campus in-
surrections. They have nothing but contempt for this
country's laws.
Here is a new type of extremism, an extremism all
the more dangerous because it emanates from a group
of young people (many of whom are highly trained
academically) whose bitterness against this country
is so intense that many of them want blindly to destroy
without much (if any) thought as to what is to emerge
from this destruction. Their ill will is guided more
by whim than plan, more by cynical pessimism than
by hope for a better future, more by the spiteful re-
venge of the frustrated than by dedication to a noble
cause. A type of youthful barbarism seems to have
taken hold of this minority (SDS being an extremely
small minority of our college generation). Danger
arises from the fact that these people, in their hatred
and anti-intellectualism, will cause great damage not
only in the academic community but also in society as
a whole." (J. Edgar Hoover, Fordham Law Review,
op. cit., page 3.)
The change of SDS from an organization of college
youth, largely from upper-middle class families interested
in civil rights and community projects, into a militant
198 UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIEOENIA
movement that has now become one of the most dangerous
revolutionary threats to our national security is too obvi-
ous to warrant additional comment by us. To recount all
of the violent demonstratioi^s SDS has caused in Cali-
fornia during the past two years woulji be useless here;
the press, TV and radio accounts have provided details of
these occurrences. It is essential, however, to understand
thoroughly that these revolutionary acts are fully sup-
ported and encouraged by constant contact with foreign
revolutionaries, and that despite internal fights there apr
pears no likelihood that the violence will abate during the
coming months.
New Left Notes is the official organ of the national SDS,
issued from its headquarters at 1608 West Madison Street,
Chicago. A few quotas from its columns will suffice to set
the pattern of SDS plans. Thus the issue for August 12,
1968 illustrates the utter contempt SDS exhibited at
UCLA toward an official disciplinary body at that insti-
tution, in its complete double standard of intolerance for
the views of other student groups. SDS had been banned
from all campus activities for tearing down what it de-
scribed as "A racist display of pictures depicting war
atrocities supposedly perpetrated by the National Libera-
tion Front against the Vietnamese people. The display was
put up by the Thomas Jefferson Club, a Right-mng patri-
otic group on the campus. SDS ignored the disciplinary
proceedings and refused to recognize the Board's author-
ity."
Bernardine Dohrn, inter-organizational secretary for
SDS, was the author of an article entitled "Revolution
in the Army, ' ' which appeared on the front page of New
Left Notes for January 22, 1969. Miss Dohrn was indicted
with other SDS members recently by a Chicago Federal
Grand Jury for alleged violation of the anti-riot law, in
that she was charged with conspiring to foment violent
disturbances in Chicago last October. Her article was an
interview with two recently discharged soldiers who had
served in Vietnam, and was a propaganda assault calcu-
lated to foment disruption in our armed forces.
On February 21, 1969, the paper displayed a photor
graph of a student raising his clenched fist in the Com-
munist salute, which accompanied an article by Jeff Jones
and Douglas Norberg entitled *' Mission High Rebellion,"
UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA 199
dealing with the student uprising at this San Francisco
high school and praising the rebels, attacking the admin-
istration and the police, and showing the results of the
SDS program of indoctrination in high schools through-
out the state and nation. Jones was one of those indicted
with Bernardine Dohrn for conspiring to violate the Fed-
eral anti-riot law.
The Berkeley strike by racial minority groups was her-
alded on the front page of New Left Notes for February
28, 1969, with a picture showing one of the demonstrators
throwing a cherry bomb at a store window and describing
the overturning of police vans by rioting mobs on Febru-
ary 20.
New Left Notes for March 13, 1969, featured articles
entitled "Mexican Movement Fights Continued Repres-
sion," by Bob Stewart, chairman of the Chicago Revolu-
tionary contingent, and one entitled "L. A. Schools Blow
Out," the latter article reading in part, as follows:
"Demanding an end to police occupation of the
schools, more than 20 Los Angeles schools (including
junior high schools, high schools, and junior colleges)
*blew out' last week after police and students fought
at Carver Junior High.
The blow-out grew out of a week-old strike at all-
Black Southwest Junior College in the southside
ghetto. The newly-built ghetto school, hurriedly built
after threatened actions by the Black community,
obviously couldn't meet that community's needs for
quality education. The Black Students Union (BSU)
at Southwest called a strike March 7, demanding,
among other things, a Black studies program and an
end to the school's racist practices.
Forty-one of the 64 teachers formed a racist caucus
and refused to teach as long as they were 'intimidated'
by the Black students at the school. The remaining
teachers organized a radical caucus and offered to
teach 'liberation classes' called by the students.
. . . The student government at LACC (Los An-
geles City College), composed almost entirely of
members of BSU, UMAS and SDS, turned over
$92,000.00 in student body funds to the bail fund for
the striking students. In a state of panic, President
Gooder offered concessions to the strike committee.
200 UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA
He offered to issue a public statement in sympathy
with the Carver Junior High students and promised
to 'hum^nitarianize' the police science department,
the long range target of the LAGC student move-
ment.
In response to Gooder's offer, the strike committee
issued the following statement : In order to show good
faith so that negotiations of campus and social issues
might be won, we demawi the following:
I. All barricades remain intact by the order of
the President.
II. The College President and other administra-
tors must join in the Peoples' Cause and stand
with the people on the barricades.
III. The above stand as pre-conditions to negoti-
ate existing demands. We find these terms
necessary because of the long history of dis-
honesty on the part of the administration.'*
In 1968 the Los Angeles regional office of Students for
^ Democratic Society, then located at 510J Hoover Street,
Los Angeles, issued a document signed by field secretaries
Michael Klonsky and Paul Shinoff, announcing that SDS
was planning a ten-day program, April 20-30, which
would be coordinated with national and international
anti-war activities. Enclosed with the announcement was
a document entitled ''SDS — Ten Days of Resistance, a
Program for the Spring," by Carl Davidson, former Na-
tional head of SDS, and Greg Calvert, a member of the
national committee. This document read in part:
"SDS will initiate a call for a ten-day program of
actions in resistance to the war in Vietnam, centering
on the period of April 20-30. The action will be sub^
sumed (sic) under the title of 'Ten Days to Shake
the Empire,' and/or 'The International Weeks of
Resistance.' A variety of targets for direct action
on and off the campus, as well as the tactics for deal-
ing with them will be chosen, not only for their moral
symbolism, but mainly for their effectiveness in de-
veloping a more sophisticated political consciousness
regarding the operation of American imperialism at
home and abroad. Where possible and appropri-
ate, financial and corporate industrial targets should
UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA 201
be attacked, rather than a single aspect of imperialist
repressiveness, such as the Selective Service System.
This is essential if we are to develop a focus on the
economic aspects of corporate capitalist imperialism.
The cooperation of NACLA and other radical re-
search groups should be solicited to help pinpoint
these targets.
The international aspects of the program should
be developed I) through coordinated speaking tours
by those who have travelled to North Vietnam and
Cuba and, II) through encouraging anti-imperialist
youth groups abroad (e.g. German SDS, French
UNEF, Japanese Zengakuren, etc.) to plan direct
action in their own countries to coincide with ours."
Visit of Karl Dietrick Wolff-German SDS
In 1969 the Los Angeles regional office of Students for
a Democratic Society announced that it would present
Karl Dietrich Wolff, President of German SDS, on a
speaking tour in this country. Among his engagements
was one to appear at the regional office of SDS, then at
619 South Bonnie Brae, Los Angeles, on the evening of
Saturday, March 1. SDS, in German, stands for "So-
cialistiches Deutsches Studentenbund, " a loose movement
of revolutionary sections much like Students for a Demo-
cratic Society in the United States. The background of
Mr. Wolff and his personality are intriguing. He was
born on February 27, 1943, at Marburg, Germany, and
visited this country as an exchange student during 1959-
60, but only for a total of one year. He was President of
the Socialist German Students Federation, a militant
Left-oriented student organization, attended the Ninth
World Youth Festival at Sophia, Bulgaria, is a colleague
of Daniel Cohn-Bendit, one of the leading Socialist revo-
lutionaries in Europe, and sat with the latter during his
trial in West Germany in January of 1969.
On his tour of this country, sponsored by Students for
a Democratic Society, Mr. Wolff spoke at the following
educational institutions and organizations:
February 25, 1969 : Western Washington State College,
Bellingham, Washington, where he professed to be'
202 UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA
a Marxist and attacked the United States as being
run by fascists and imperialists.
February 28, 1969: Eadical Student Union, Berkeley
campus, a recognized student orgnization.
February 28, 1969: Glide Memorial Church, San Fran-
cisco.
February 28, 1969: Stanford University.
March 1, 1969: SDS Regional Office, Los Angeles.
March 3, 1969: Galifprnia State College, Los Angeles,
March 3, 1969: Los Angeles City College, and during
his speech on that occasion he referred to the Los
Angeles Police Department as being composed of
''pigs."
March 6, 1969 : University of Colorado, Boulder, Colo-
rado.
March 6, 1969: Arrived in Lansing, Michigan, under
the name of W. Benjamin, on North Central Airlines
Flight 974, and spoke that night at Wells Hall, Mich-
igan State University.
March 8, 1969: University of Michigan, Ann Arbor,
where he stated that his tour had been arranged by
Bernardine E. Dohrn, national officer for Students
for a Democratic Society, and stressed the necessity
for forming an international revolutionary alliance.
March 9 and 10, 1969 : University of Detroit and Wayne
University, Michigan.
March 11, 1969 : George Washington University, Wash-
ington, D.C.
March 12, 1969: Columbia University, New York City.
The United States Senate Subcommittee on Internal
Security questioned Wolff on March 14 and 18, 1969, and
on that occasion the attorney for the witness was Mr.
Michael Tigar, formerly identified with radical organiza-
tions at Berkeley and presently teaching law on the
faculty of the Law School at UCLA. An example of
Wolff's incredible defiance, arrogance and insulting man-
ner may be gathered by his answer to a single question,
although his entire testimony was one of complete con-
tempt for the Senate Subcommittee, and resulting in a
situation that will make his return to the United States
difficult indeed. The question was: "Your name is Karl
Dietrich Wolff?" The witness responded, "You Mr. Sena-
tor, and your like, are just a bunch of criminal bandits.
UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA 203
I have certainly not come here today to serve any of
your dirty purposes. We know that we are not alone/'
(Transcript of testimony, Senate Subcommittee on In-
ternal Security, Washington, D.C., page 7.)
Infiltration of Labor
The Communist Party press during 1969 urged mem-
bers of the CPUS A to infiltrate and agitate in the ranks
of organized labor and large industrial organizations.
This new directive was originally announced by Gus Hall
and thereafter repeated in several issues of Political
Affairs (Political Affairs, March, April, 1969.)
The Communist newspaper, Daily World, for Thurs^
day, April 24, 1969, page 6, carried an article entitled
"Labor — Students Turn to the Factories," by William
Allan, and datelined Detroit. It read in part :
"Hundreds of students this summer, sparked by
Left-wingers on the campuses, including the DuBois
Clubs and Students for a Democratic Society, among
others, are lining up at factory gates for jobs. SDB
has told its members to go into the shops and work
for a student- worker alliance."
Throughout the summer of 1969 SDS members, hai^
neatly cut, suitably dressed for the occasion, did apply for
jobs in accordance with the new directive, but the effort
was almost entirely unsuccessful. To begin with, orga-
nized labor throughout the United States has always been
wary of any organized group attempting to interfere with
its structure and operation, and union officials had ample
warning of the attempted infiltration. Industrial corpora-
tions alerted their security facilities and took steps to
resist the disruption of their activities, and a good num-
ber of SDS members who had worked for several months
at a respectible wage appeared to lose some of their revo-
lutionary zeal and became more interested in performing
their new jobs than in radicalizing their fellow workers.
As a result, SDS has quietly withdrawn from this type
of activity and has resumed its disruptive activities
against university campuses, agitprop activities within
the armed forces, violent street demonstrations, agitation
among racial minority groups and a general campaign of
subversive propaganda. As illustrated by the mob vio^
204 UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA
leuce near the Santa Barbara campus of the University
of California, following the speech by William Kunstler,
and the blowing up of the Bank of America branch
nearby, it became clear that instead of sending activists
inside ba:pks and similiar capitalistic organizations, the
mob had decided upon more direct means by disrupting-
these institutions from the outside.
An SDS' paper entitled "Work-In this Summer
Against the War and Racism," casts considerable light
on this work-in experience :
"This summer many of us will be getting jobs in
offices, summer camps, factories and stores in various
cities throughout the country. Most of us need this
money to help pay for our college education or other
expenses. But we also want to devote a lot of time this
summer working to get the U. S. out of Vietnam and
fighting racism. The need to have a job and the desire
to do political work are not incompatible. We can, in
fact, do both.
Last summer a couple hundred radical high school
and college students in Boston, New York, Chicago,
San Francisco and other cities took part in what was
called a 'work-in'. Its aim was to use the situation of
our jobs — a situation which brought students into
close day-to-day contact with the working people —
to put forward our ideas of the war in Vietnam, the
ghetto rebellions and student demonstrations. We
also wanted to learn in return whether or not work-
ers are bought off and impossible to talk to and also
to learn how the majority of the American people
live.
Our experiences were generally good, and this sum-
mer the work-in promises to be much larger. We felt
that since workers make up the vast majority of the
American people and since the draft, taxes, inflation
and day-to-day job oppression weigh most heavily
upon them, they can and must be reached and brought
into the movement that aims at serious social change
in America. The 'work-in' will give us the chance to
talk with working-class high school students whom
we usually don't get to know. Many of these ties
could last into the school year and help us in our high
UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA 205
school organizing. This summer the 'work-in' can
help with community organizing projects by talking
to people at work about it.
We found that we had as much to learn from
workers as we had to offer. We found that, although
they were often racists and anti-Communists, they
were also often knowledgeable about who runs the
country and responsive to our ideas. We tried not to
just spout off about our politics as if we knew it all;
we avoided being stereotyped as the ' student with the
crazy politics.' Instead, we learned a lot by listening
about the concrete situation at the plant or factory,
and we tried to relate our ideas to the grievances
people actually felt. For example, when workers
complained from their lifelong experience that the
boss didn't give a damn about anything but profits,
we asked how it was possible to believe that those
same bosses had gone halfway around the world to
Vietnam to help working people there.
Those of us who worked-in last summer came away
with many changed attitudes towards the workers.
We decided that the problems of reaching them lie
more within ourselves than with them, and that we
must rid ourselves of attitudes of superiority. We
felt that it was not a matter of figuring out how to
talk to them — but of rooting our ideas in concrete
realities of life. And as we did this, our own commit-
ment to fight in the people's interest was strength-
ened. Now, when workers go out on strike, as tele-
phone workers, sanitationmen, copper miners, and
others have done recently, we see this not as a greedy
attempt to get a larger slice of the pie, but as militant
people fighting to get or keep a decent standard of
living that is being undermined by the war, taxes,
inflation, speed-up, etc.
If you can't work-in, it might be a good idea to go
to summer school to keep in touch v^ith large numbers
of high school students. The work-in will also have
various kinds of meetings, sometimes with speakers,
that you could attend. Some support work (like leaf-
leting) will be needed and starting this summer. The
National High School Newsletter of SDS will start
coming out again, with articles about high school or-
206 UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA
ganizing, high school student experiences on the
work-in, poetry, national and international politics,
etc.
Get in touch with us for more information and also
subscribe to the high school SDS newsletter.
CONTACTS: Stephen Lippman, 11427 Waterford
Street, Los Angeles, California 90049
Stuart Rose, 50 Green Park, Newton,
Massachusetts 02158."
The 1969 Chicago Convention
At the Michigan State University Convention in 1968,
the Progressive Labor Party almost gained control of
the eleven-member National Interim Committee, which
is actually the body that makes the decisions and sets the
pattern for SDS action, assisted by the national officers.
As we have explained, this incipient clash between the-
Maoists PLP and the rest of the SDS membership had
been brewing for some time, and when the National Con-
vention was held in Chicago during June 19-22, 1969, the
all-out drive for power was launched by the PLP faction.
National SDS secretary Mike Klonsky, before deciding
on Chicago for the 1969 convention city, had complained
about being turned down by the University of Chicago,.
Southern Illinois University, University of Wisconsin,
University of Buffalo and Cornell University. As matters
turned out, it was well for the Klonsky group that the
convention was finally held in Chicago, since that was the
national headquarters for the organization, and of course
the records and files of SDS were relatively secure in its
national office.
On Tuesday June 19, 1969 the convention opened in
Chicago's coliseum annex. Security guards wearing green
arm bands barred reporters — though there were several
who managed to slip in. After the one thousand delegates
were called to order, the PLP commenced its factional
activity. Hostility between the evenly-divided factions
often provoked loud demonstrations, but the first pre-
liminary contests were in the form of position resolutions
and were won by PLP. Then came their criticism of the
Black Panther activities, and the national officers of SDS,
led by Mike Klonsky and his followers, walked out. This
UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA 207
left the militant Maoist PLP members very little besides
a half empty hall. Klonsky's group unquestionably gained
an advantage in that they retained possession of the mem-
bership and mailing lists, official documents and financial
records of the organization, although both factions elected
officers under the SDS name.
The Klonsky group elected Mark Rudd, Columbia Uni-
versity, National Secretary; William Ayres, University
of Michigan, Educational Secretary; Jeff Jones, San
Francisco State, Inter-organizational Secretary; National
Committee members were Mike Klonsky, Robert Avakian,
Barbara Riley, Bernardine Dohrn, Knoll Ingiton, How-
ard Matchinger, Corky Benedict and Linda Evans.
The PLP group elected John Pennington, Harvard,
National Secretary; Allen Spector, New York, Educa-
tional Secretary; Patricia Forman, San Francisco State
College, Inter-organizational Secretary; National Com-
mittee members were Mike Golash, Sandy Meyer, Fred
Gordon, Jarad Israel, David Russell, Ed Galloway, West-
ley Lincoln and Becky Revis. (See: Human Events, July
27, 1968 ; Los Angeles Times, June 7, 1969 ; San Francisco
Examiner, June 19, 1969, June 24, 1969 ; Comhat, August
1, 1969.)
Formal action was eventually taken to expel from SDS
all members belonging to the Progressive Labor Party
and their supporters, accusing them of opposing the Na-
tional Liberation Front, disruption of the organization,
positions contrary to those adopted by the SDS National
office leadership, and because of criticisms made against
the Black Panther Party and its activities.
This action was taken after the Klonsky delegation had
left the meeting place, and held its own gathering in an
adjacent room. Thereafter some of them returned and the
Resolution of Expulsion was read and elaborated upon
by Bernardine Dohrn, SDS Inter-organizational secre-
tary.
John Pennington, the new National secretary of the
ousted PLP group, declared that his organization would
be more militant than ever before, would back the Black
Panther Party in its most violent activities, and declared
that they would continue to function under the name of
Students for a Democratic Society. We fully realize how
extremely confusing it is to continually refer to the names
208 UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA
of these subversive organizations that have proliferated
so rapidly throughout our country during the last three
years. As they factionalize, liquidate, create new fronts,
and engage in forums, discussion groups, indoctrination
schools, and splinter groups, the confusion is unavoidable.
We have endeavored to make our references to them as
clear as possible, but the circumstances will not permit us
to do more than refer to them by their initials, occa-
sionally using the full names in order to remove any
doubt about the organizations to which we refer. Thus, we
now come to still another split, the National Office Group
led by Klonsky, taking its name from a song by Bob
Dylan that contains the language "You Don't Have to Be
a Weatherman to Know Which Way the Wind Blows."
Klonsky 's group is therefore known as the Weatherman
faction, or Revolutionary Youth Movement I, while the
ousted PLP members of Students for a Democratic So-
ciety is now referred to generally among young revo-
lutionary circles as Revolutionary Youth Movement II,
or RYM I and II to distinguish the two organizations.
The confusion is made more complicated by reason of
the fact that each group persists in using the title Stu-
dents for a Democratic Society, although the Klonsky
group is more frequently being referred to as the Weath-
erman faction, while the PLP dissidents that were ex-
pelled are referred to simply as RYM II. We shall use
these designations henceforth for the sake of whatever
simplicity we may be able to achieve. There is, of course,
(I goal common to all of these subversive groups. Com-,
munists, Trotskyists, Maoists, Black Panthers, Weather-
man, PLP, RYM II and all the rest — and that is to ac-
complish the overthrow of the government of the United
States. This central objective never changes, which is the
reason that no matter how antagonistic idealogically these
groups may be toward one another, they will when the
occasion justifies it, join together in a united front action
against the common foe, to-wit: "The Establishment."
There is not the slightest doubt that SDS, split or not,
still comprises the most grave and imminent peril to the
security of the country, together with the Black Panther
Party and scattered groups of fanatic revolutionaries.
UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA 209
SDS Force and Violence
In his statement before the House Subcommittee on
Appropriations, April 17, 1969, J. Edgar Hoover, Di-
rector of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, described
some of the activities of the Students for a Democratic
Society. He said:
*'The militant mood of the 1968 National Conven-
tion of the Students for a Democratic Society was
obvious from the subjects discussed and the sugges-
tions made at its various workshops. For example,
at a workshop dealing with sabotage and explosives,
the participants discussed such things as disrupting
Selective Service and police facilities during riots;
mailing letters dipped in combustible materials;
flushing 'bird bombs' in toilets to destroy plumbing;
using sharp, tripod-shaped instruments to halt ve-
hicles; jamming radio equipment; firing Molotov
cocktails from a shotgun; using electronic firing de-
vices, and inserting 'thermit bombs' in manholes to
destroy communications.
The same militant mood was evident in suggestions
made for a proposed pamphlet by participants in a
workshop on self-defense and internal security. Sug-
gested articles included starting rifle and karate
clubs; infiltrating right-wing organizations; starting
rogues galleries of police oflicers, and spotting plain-
clothesmen by observing them as they testify in
court.
The 1968 SDS Convention also adopted a resolu-
tion on the military. This resolution created a pro-
ject for 'G.I. Organizers' and established a coordi-
nating office for the project in New York. The
project will support individuals who wish to con-
tinue the 'struggle against imperialism' by entering
the military service in order to 'politicize' and or-
ganize those in military service to resist authority..
The project has established 'G.I. Drop-In Centers'
near military facilities in order to offer a political
program to aid servicemen in their organizing efforts
within the military.
In addition, the resolution encourages local SDS
chapters to organize a campaign to involve service-
210 UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA
men in social and political activities; establish a
military counseling service; provide support for de-
serters, and give support to demonstrations and pubr
licity to radicals within the military service."
Ari^ong the acts of violence listed by Mr. Hoover ancj
attributed to SDS were the following: In September
1968 within a five-day period, three ROTC establishments
were sabotaged and a fourth threatened in diverse points
across the nation. On September 13, 1968, Callahan Hall,
the Naval ROTC building at the University of California
at Berkeley, was damaged by explosives which caused an
excess of $25,000.00 in damage. Two previous attempts
were made to firebomb this building in 1968. On Septem-
ber 15, 1968 several firebombs were thrown into the
ROTC Armory at the University of Delaware damaging
or destroying 300 military uniforms and public address
system equipment. On September 18, 1968, a fire of un-
determined origin caused extensive damage in Clark
Hall, the Naval ROTC building at the University of
Washington in Seattle. Prior to this date, members of
the SDS at this University had announced the Naval
ROTC unit as one of their targets. Furthermore, at the
scene of the fire, Robbie Sterns, self -described SDS ac-
tivist, was observed chanting, 'Hhis is number one and
the fun has just begun; burn it down, burn it down."
In Storrs, Connecticut, a source reported that SDS
was planning to blow up the ROTC building on Septem-
ber 17, 1968 at the University of Connecticut, but the
bombing attempt did not take place. On September 29,
1968, the local CIA office at Ann Arbor, Michigan was
bombed. Ann Arbor is the home of the University of
Michigan where there have been numerous New Left ac-
tivities the past several years. The New Left at the Uni-
versity and specificallv SDS has claimed credit for the
bombing of this CIA office. On February 20, 1969,
Michael Siskind, a student at Washington University, St.
Louis, Missouri, an SDS member, on a plea of guilty in
Federal Court in St. Louis, was sentenced to five years
imprisonment in connection with charges stemming from
the attempted firebombing of the ROTC headquarters on
that campus, December 3, 1968. Between January 20 and
January 28, 1969, high-power transmission towers were
UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA 211
dynamited in and around Denver, Colorado. On February
14, 1969, Cameron David Bishop, an SDS activist, was
indicted by a Federal Grand Jury in connection vrith
these incidents and is currently being sought as a fugi*
tive.
Mr. Hoover added that it was coincidental that in
June 1968 at the SDS National Convention one of the
workshops dealt with sabotage and explosives. Many of
those who attended the SDS National Convention re-
turned to school in September 1968, and as noted previ-
ously, acts of violence occurred early in that school year.
The SDS continues to make available information re-
garding the use of explosives. For example, at a National
Council meeting of the SDS held in Boulder, Colorado
from October 11, 1968, to October 13, 1968, copies of a
pamphlet captioned "Sabotage" and setting forth in-
structions on how to make firebombs and incendiary de-
vices were left on the stage of the auditorium where the
meeting was held. (Hoover testimony, op. cit., pages
53, 56, 57.)
In March 1970 a New York town house was destroyed
by explosions and fire and a subsequent investigation dis-
closed the body of a young man, identified as Theodore
Gold, 23, a student at Columbia University and a member
of the militant Weatherman faction of SDS. He had been
crushed by debris and died of asphyxiation. Catherine
Wilkerson was injured and taken alive from the prem-
ises, and was also found to be a member of SDS. On
November 16, 1967, she and three others — all SDS officers
— left for Hanoi in a group recruited by New York anti-
war activist David Dellinger. A police investigation led
to the conclusion that experiments with high explosives
had gotten out of control and caused the blast.
In October 1969, violent riots occurred in Chicago, as a
result of which indictments were handed down by a
Federal Grand Jury in Chicago against Mark Rudd, 22,
head of the Weatherman faction of SDS; Bernardine
Dohrn, 27, Weatherman organizational secretary; Kathy
Boudin, 26, William Ayres, 25, Jeffrey Jones, 22, Terry
Robbins, 22, John Jacobs, 22, Linda Evans, 22, Howard
Machtinger, 23, Michael Speegle, 23, Judy Clark, 21 and
Lawrence Weiss, age unknown. All were said to be mem-
bers of the Weatherman faction of SDS, and all were
212 UN-AMEKICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA
charged with conspiring to violate the Federal Anti-Riot
Act in connection with the four-day disturbance last
October. (See Los Angeles Times, March 10, 1970; April
3, 1970.)
With ail of the available knowledge about the true
character and activities of SDS and its two factions, it
seems utterly incomprehensible to us that university ad-
ministrators and the heads of high schools, junior col-
leges and State colleges should continue to afford official
recognition and campus status to this organization, pro-
vide State owned facilities at taxpayers expense, while
SDS goes about its business of revolution and its activi-
ties in disrupting the campus, blowing up its buildings,
terrorizing students who presume to disagree with its
principles and propaganda and arrogantly defying all
authority.
UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA 213
STUDENTS FOR A DEMOCRATIC SOCHETY
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CM Comrades
''"''" Hlet on U.S. history
Enclosed is the ^--'^if^;;/^^? approved it, with
by Noel iqnatin. Since the Niu ^o qo ahead
several recommendations we f e^P^^ ^^^^.^^ y,,, f.nal
S^privL^^^rpirasrcfn^n immediately.
-;^^i^tn^ri.^a?-|^/SHS ..
recommendations should be called ^^ ^^.^^^^ P^'^'^^^^,,
rrrpar^r.ortfeVc.'^rrrciS, to he more .or general
distribution.
Ideas and samples for posters too.
vH^nk Of the new letterhead?
'■mat do you thinK ox i^'ic
/v
Bernardine Dohrn
214 UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA
STUDENTS FOR A DEMOCRATIC SOCIETY
EXHIBIT II
AN
INTRODUCTION
jf, STRUGGLE J,,^
IS JUST ^,^^
UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA 215
STUDENTS FOR A DEMOCRATIC SOCIETY
EXHIBIT III
LA. RE^'onAL 510^ HoovEP-
StuDFnts Foe- J>£MoCPAtiC 5oCi£ty
To the movement conmunlty:
You may already know that SDS is planning a 10-day program, April
20-50, which will be coordinated with national and International
anti-war activities. At this very moment, Susan Eanet, one of our
Los Angeles regional organizers. Is In '^st Bsrlln at a conference
planning the International strategy for the Ten Days program. Locally,
the prgram is designed so that specific actions will come out of
ongoing campus and community projects. For Instance, a mass rally
in central L.A. on April 27 will deal with the serious repression
against the black movement and against anti-draft activists.
The theme of the program is to be an attack against American im-
perialism on all fronts. American economic and military domination
of Southeast Asia, Latin America and Africa, domestic Imperiflllsm
in the black ghettoes as well as against Mexican-Americans and
other minority groups, and the issue of the draft will all be focuses
for rallies, teach-ins, guerilla theater actions and demonstrations.
Educational actions are being planned both on the campus and in
the conmunlty, with the main emphasis on reaching new people and
building new bases for the rapidly growing anti-war movement.
You may ask how you can involve yourself in this project. First,
you active participation in such actions as the April 27 march or
in the teach-ins and rallies on the Third World can help build the
large movement so desperately needed to end the war. Also, your
contributions can support full-time orgainizers actively involved
in work at colleges, high schools and in working-class conmunities .
we hop>e you will be able to do as much as possible to make this
vital program a success.
Yours truly.
(tl<Ul 'Ki^' A^>^^
rfetionalT"leld secretaries.
Students for a Democratic
Society
PLEASE CLIP AND RETURN
I wish to actively participate in the Ten Days Program .
I would like to ••ntribute $ for the Ten Days Program.
NA ME TELEPHO NE
ADDRESS CITY ^ZIP
SOCIALIST WORKERS' PARTY
The Socialist Workers' Party is an international Com-
munist organization that was founded in 1938 by Leon
Trotsky, whose real name was Lev Davidovich Bronstein.
With Lenin he was a leader of the Russian Revolution,
long before Stalin rose from his relatively obscure posi-*
tion as an organizer of riots.
After Lenin's death in 1924, Stalin, who by then was
General Secretary of the Russian Communist Party,
used his position to undermine and isolate Trotsky, driv-
ing him from Russia to a Turkish exile in February,
1929. (Stalin: A Critical Survey of Bolshevism. By Boris
Souvarine. Alliance Book Corp., N.Y. 1939, page 492.)
There he was so hounded by Stalin's agents that he was
forced to France where he remained until 1936. During
his stay, he laid the foundation for a world wide move-
ment, and it may be accurately described as having its
formal beginning at a constituent assembly of 21 follow-
ers at Paris in 1938. (Souverin, op. cit.; The Mind of An
Assassin by Isaac Don Levine. Farrar, Straus and Cud-
ahy, N. Y. Co., 1959; 1957 California Report, page 84 et
seq.)
The organization was, and frequently still is, referred
to as the Fourth International to distinguish it from the
Communist Third International directed from Moscow.
Since the new movement was created in France, and since
it was highly organized by Trotsky's son, who remained
there until he was assassinated, it is natural that France
should become the principal base of operations. This will
explain the visits of French representatives to SWP
meetings in the United States, and frequent references to
the French Trotskyists in SWP publications that we
shall soon describe.
Socialist Workers Party in America
The CPUSA was created when, in 1919, the radical
members of the American Socialists Party left after a
stormy Chicago convention to form a separate group that
( 216 )
UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA 217
would affiliate with the Russian Comintern. These turbu-
lent gatherings are, as we have seeji, characteristic of sub-
versive movements. Undermining, disruption, reyojation-
ary zeal and an obssessive urge toward power are (3ommon
traits of the menabers, and undoubtedly contribute to
these violent sectarian clashes. A recent example is the
ouster of mi}}tants from the CPUS A, who thereafter
pledged allegiance to Peking and formed the Progressive
Labor Party. An even more recent illustration was the
split in Students for a Democratic Society, and its divi-
sion into the Weatherman and RYM II sects.
The Socialist Workers' Party, or Trotskyist Commu-
nists, was formed in the same manner. When Leon Trot-
sky was attacked by Stalin, those in the American Com-
munist Party who defended him were ousted, and sought
refuge in the Socialist Party. Then came the inevitable
battle for control, and at a Chicago convention in March
1937, the result was the ouster of the Trotskyists. James
P. Cannon, leader of the SWP, has described the event
as follows:
**We called a meeting of the National Committee
of our faction for June in New York, worked up the
resolutions for our fight and organized it on a na-
tional scale. They retaliated by wholesale expulsions,
beginning in New York. I never saw more bureau-
cratic and brutal violations of democratic rights and
Party constitution than these pious Social Democrats
resorted to when they found they couldn't beat us in
fair debate. They just framed us up and threw us
out." (TJie History of American Trotskyism, Report
of a Participant. By James P. Cannon, Pioneer Pub-
lishers, New York 1944, pages 250-251.)
After this expulsion the Socialist Workers' Party was
founded on January 1, 1938, and has continued to func-
tion as one of the most militant of the Communist organi-
zations in the United States, and is, as we shall show,
more militant now than at any time in its history.
At the time the Socialist Workers' Party was born,
Trotsky was at Coyoacan, near Mexico City, where he had
been granted asylum by the Mexican Government. But
the hatred between Stalin and Trotsky was irreconcilable.
Trotsky alive was a constant threat to Stalin's power.
218 UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA
and as Trotskyist groups were established in one country
after another, the danger of counter-revolution loomed,
as there were many Trotsky sympathizers in the Soviet
Union, terrorized and silent because of the bloody repris-
als that reached their climax in the purge trials and sub-
sequent executions that had swept the Soviet Union prior
to Trotsky's exile. From his sanctuary at Coyoacan, the
old Bolshevik continued his criticism of the Stalin re-
gime, wrote his tracts and directed his far-flung organi-
zation.
On August 20, 1940, Trotsky was assassinated by Ra-
mon Mercader, an agent in the Communist Secret Police.
(Levine, op. cit.) Several American Communists pre-
viously mentioned in our reports, participated in the
scheme to engineer and finance Mercader 's escape from
prison in Mexico, but the attempt was abandoned when
the prisoner made it clear that he felt much safer in his
cell. We have given this background not alone because
it is essential to an adequate understanding of the SWP,
but also because it provides a grim example of the under-
ground Communist intrigues that are so far removed
from the knowledge of the average Americans that unless
amply supported by incontrovertible evidence appear in-
credible and are discredited. Of course, the Communist
propaganda machine plays a powerful role in this regard.
Organization and Publications
The very title of this Trotskyist Communist group,
Socialist Workers' Party, is deceptive. On radio and TV
programs the spokesmen for and members of this ex-
tremely revolutionary movement are usually referred to
as Socialists, when in truth they regard the CPUSA
as being too mild, and elect to follow the guerrilla war-
fare ideology of the Red Chinese far more closely than
the mandates of the Moscow-directed movement. They
operate under strict discipline, maintain their global con-
tacts, support Castro, and implement the Trotsky-Maoist
theory of permanent revolution.
The adult SWP maintains its headquarters at 873
Broadway, New York 10003. The youth division, known
as the Young Socialist Alliance, has its national office at
the same address. In California SWP offices are situated
at 1702 East Fourth Street, Los Angeles, 2338 Market
UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFOENIA 219
Street, San Francisco, and 2519-A Telegraph Avenue,
Berkeley.
The Militant is the SWP's official paper. It is generally-
regarded in counter-subversive circles as more readable,
better edited and published in a far more impressive for-
mat than the CPUSA's Worker and Peoples World. It
is issued weekly, usually comprises 12 large pages, and
sells for 15 cents a copy or $4.00 for a yearly subscrip-
tion.
The Young Socialist Alliance publication is, or was,
The Young Socialist. It is issued monthly except during
the summer and sells for 25 cents a copy, 15 cents at
newsstands, or $2.00 per year. In December 1969, it was
decided to cease its publication because the magazine-
type, profusely-iUustrated organ was proving too expen-
sive. But as this report is being written, it is yet too early
to state definitely whether the four-page paper, Young
Socialist Organizer, will permanently replace it.
In addition to The Militant, Young Socialist and
Young Socialist Organizer, the SWP has issued the usual
barrage of tracts, leaflets and booklets, some of which are
reproduced herein as exhibits. Additional coverage is
gained by running SWP candidates for public office, with
publicity over the communications media that would not
otherwise be available.
Militant Labor Forums
The Socialist Workers' Party has conducted these
forums in California for many years, usually at SWP
headquarters, but occasionally in public facilities when
the occasion demands a large audience. We shall make no
effort to summarize more than a few, selected because
they will serve to corroborate some of the statements we
have heretofore made.
Ralph Schoenman was the featured speaker at the
Forum held at 1702 East Fourth Street, Los Angeles, on
January 19, 1968. He was formerly secretary to Bertrand
Russell, and during his remarks described the revolution-
ary situation in Bolivia where he had recently visited.
He told the audience of almost a hundred people that he
had been ousted by that country for radical activity, and
220 UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA
repeatedly declared that an armed revolution was neces-
sary in the United States, and that a Black uprising
should be the prelude to a general violent White revolt.
He sharply criticized Moscow-oriented Communist par-
ties and suggested a reprisal list of public officials in the
United States for retaliatory liquidation. Among his lis-
teners on this occasion were Oscar Coover, Sharon Han-
din, Mike McCabe, Arley Dann, Arthur Hopkins and
Eon Ridenour. The attendance of these people at SWP
functions with great regularity has often been noted.
On March 1, 1968, Mike McCabe, who also served on
the Student Mobilization Committee, in addition to his
duties as a SWP officer, spoke to a group of forty on the
subject of '^ International Youth Radicalization. " The
other leading activists in the Southern California So-
cialist Workers 'Party who usually attend these Militant
Labor Forums are Joel Britton, William Hathaway,
Theodore Edwards, Oscar Coover, Pete Seidman, David
Frankel, Max and Shevy Geldman, and Victor Dinner-
stein.
Mike McCabe addressed thirty-eight persons at the
Forum held on March 1, 1968. On January 31, 1969, the
featured speaker was Shermont Banks, then an officer in
the Black Panther Party for the Los Angeles area.
C.P.-S.W.P. Rivalry
The Trotskyists (SWP) have run their own candidates
for public office, as was seen in our discussion of the
Peace and Freedom Party. During the last National
campaign, Fred Halstead and Paul Boutelle of New
York were the candidates for President and Vice-Presi-
dent of the United States. They were endorsed by the
following California supporters who were affiliated with
the Young Socialist Alliance: Vic Dinnerstein, Califor-
nia State College at Los Angeles; Ernie Erlbeck, Lanea
College ; Susan Montauk, Merritt College ; Linda Richard-
son, Oakland High School; Dan R. Petter, Santa Bar-
bara; Irvin H. Sutley, Jr., Sonoma State College; Anita
Hansen, San Jose; John Maynes, San Francisco Poly-
technic High School; Jim Miller, San Francisco City
College; Kathie Harer, San Francisco State College;
UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA 221
Arnie Egel, University of California at Berkeley; John
Montgomery, Yuba College and John Gray, Los Angeles.
(SWP campaign leaflet, "Endorse the Halstead-Boutelle
Ticket")
The Militant, Friday, February 7, 1969, page 16, car-
ried an article that further demonstrated the political
rivalry and independence that exists between CPUSA
and the SWP in running separate slates of candidates
for public office. The article, entitled "Socialist Slate To
Run In Berkeley Elections," by Lauren Charous, not
only describes the Berkeley campaign but also gives an
authentic background of some of the candidates: "The
Socialist Workers' Party announced the candidacy of
Peter Came jo, Antonio Came jo and Pat Wolf for the
Berkeley City Council and Froben Lozada for a seat on
the Berkeley School Board. ' '
Some of the campaign issues, dedicated to the creation
of strikes and travels to Cuba by SWP members, is de-
scribed in the balance of the article as follows:
"The campaign will help build mass support for
the current strike led by the Third World Libera-
tion Front and American Federation of Teachers, on
the San Francisco State College campus and at the
University of California at Berkeley. It will also aid
in mobilizing support for the G. I. -Civilian Anti-war
March planned for April 6.
Froben Lozada, who the Berkeley Gazette calls a
'firebrand' in the TWLF movement throughout the
Bay area, is a Chicano educator and activist. After
obtaining his M. S. in Spanish, he spent several years
teaching at Highlands University and the all- White
University of Southern Mississippi. He was fired be-
cause of his civil rights organizing amongst students
at Southern Miss.
He moved North and taught at the University of
Wisconsin at Oshkosh, and in 1967 went to South
Texas where he was employed in the public schools.
Again, his anti-war and civil rights activity in the
Chicano community led to harassment and loss of
job. With the help of the American Civil Liberties
222 TJN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFOENIA
Union he was able to win his job back. Most recently
he has been teaching at Napa College, in addition
to his active role in the TWLF movement in the Bay
area.
Peter Came jo, a SWP candidate for Mayor of
Berkeley in 1967, is a former National Secretary of
the Young Socialist Alliance and a member of the
National Committee of the SWP.
Peter Came jo, who is currently in Cuba, sent a
message of solidarity to be read at the press con-
ference on behalf of the Cuban people to the Black
and Third World Liberation Fighters in the U.S.
Pat Wolf, 24, is a member of the Young Socialist
Alliance. He has been active in the anti-war move-
ment since its start, helping to found the Vietnam
Day Committee at the University of California. He
was a volunteer worker for the Delano Grape Strike
and is an active member of the American Federation
of State, Count, and Municipal Employees, Local
1695.
Antonio Came jo, 27, is a long-time member of the
YSA. He was active in the Fair Play for Cuba Com-
mittee, has toured Latin America interviewing rev-
olutionary leaders for The Militant and other radical
publications, and in 1964 he helped produce and
direct a documentary film on the guerrillas struggle
in Venezuela, 'FALN'.
He is a member of the Executive Council of the
Berkeley AFT (American Federation of Teachers)
Local 1078 and has been active in building the
TWLF strike on the Berkeley campus."
There is a widespread tendency to scoff at the part
ideology plays in these Marxist groups, just as there is
a tendency to denigrate such subversive battle devices as
the united front and the diamond infiltration pattern. But
the bloody feud between Stalin and Trotsky sowed seeds
of hostility between the Moscow-line Communists and
Trotskyist Communists the world over, the results of
which are still evident and, as we shall see, rapidly be-
coming more bitter. And because France is still symbolic
of the Trotskyist base, we find such representatives from
UN-AMEEICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA 223
that country as Yves Sallese, a leader of the French
Jeunesse Communiste Revolutionaire, who visited the
United States for the purpose of attending the Young
Socialist Alliance convention in Chicago, November 28-
December 1, 1968, and then came to California a few
days later. During a KGO radio interview in San Fran-
cisco, he announced that he was an "observer" at the
violent student rebellion at San Francisco State College.
Sallese is a French high school teacher and one of the
officials of the Jeunesse Communiste Eevolutionare^
which was described in Young Socialists for December,
1968- January, 1969, page 8, as "The French Counterpart
of the Young Socialist Alliance."
In connection with his Berkeley campaign, Peter
Camejo wrote a booklet entitled "PFP (Peace and Free-
dom Party) for SWP (Socialist Workers' Party) in
1968 — A Critical History of New Politics in Berkeley."
In it he stated that ' ' The Communist Party is faced with
a serious problem. After working for three decades in
the Democratic Party, it is difficult for them to shift
over to support a 'lesser evil,' Republican, should the
Democrats renominate Johnson," and he added that the
Communist Party "looks yearningly to a 'third ticket*
coming out of the Peace Movement."
The final word concerning the CPUS A attitude toward
the Trotskyists in the United States, and for the rest
of the world, for that matter, came with the appearance
of an article in the March 1970 issue of Poltical Affairs,
page 38. ' Here was a clear and unmistakeable directive
from Moscow, written by A. Basmanov, which established
the Party line as follows:
"The activities of the Trotskyites in the capitalist
countries never seems to flag. Their efforts to influ-
ence the youth of France and Japan, their constant
intrigues in the Latin American countries, are doing
serious damage to the revolutionary struggle. In ad-
dition, they proliferate fabricated propaganda ma-
terials, which the bourgeois press then quickly accepts
and publicizes."
224 UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA
In further describing the activities and ideological na-
ture of the SWP, Basmanov continued :
'* Trotskyism does possess a certain tenacity be-
cause its ultra-Left views accord with the sentiments
of sections of petty-bourgeois intellectuals of declassed
elements, and various adventurers. Trotskyism does
adapt itself to such sentiments. Besides, the experi-
ence of class struggles shows that Leftism often comes
as a reaction to the * original sin' of Right-wing Social
Democracy, rejecting revolutionary forms of class
struggle. The leaders of Trotskyism themselves do not
conceal the fact they hope to find their support among
the extremist petty-bourgeois elements. And the lat-
ter, who as a rule are ready to denounce capitalism in
words, are at the same time inclined to reduce all
forms and methods of struggle against capitalism to
adventurism alone.
''Here and there the Trotskyites operate in the same
environment as the groupings of Mao Tse-tung's sup-
porters. During the last years' student actions in
France, for instance, the Trotskyites and the Maoists
actively helped each other, inciting the youth with
equal zeal to rashness and violence. The Trotskyites*
alliance with the pro-Maoist organizations is also to
be observed in some of the Latin-American countries."
"... Trotskyites try their best to penetrate first of
all into youth organizations, and to do this by playing
on the political immaturity of some of the youth, who
in addition, have only a very vague notion of Trot-
skyism and its true aims. They adapt themselves to
the moods of youth and flatter it, calling it the most
'radical wing of the movement.' As was pointed out
in the theoretical organ of the Communist Party of
Great Britain, Marxism Today, the Trotskyites con-
stantly root about among teenagers, assuring them
that 'the revolution is around the corner' and only
they, the Trotskyites, have the true 'revolutionary
program. ' . . . they continue to do everything in their
power to undermine the Communist movement and
to befuddle at least part of the petty-bourgeois sec-
tions of the populations and student movement.
UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA 225
That is why the true representatives of the interests,
of the broad anti-Imperialist movement, the Commu-
nist and Workers Parties, carry on an acute, irrec-
oncilable struggle against Trotskyism. That i& why
they continually expose the Trot sky it es as enemies of
the working-class movement, showing their anti-revo-
lutionary nature and unmasking their methods of
fostering subversive activity/^ (Our emphasis.)
After this denunciation from the highest authority, we
doubt very much if there is any further collaboration be-
tween these two militant branches of the world communist
movement, the CPUSA and the SWP. What the article
failed to state, however, is that the activities of SWP in
penetrating youth movements and fomenting violent dem-
onstrations and revolutionary activity is equally charac-
teristic of the CPUSA.
226
UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA
SOCIALIST WORKERS PARTY
EXHIBIT I
MILITANT
LABOR
FORUM
sptcifii ffkim
''"^:llli[
ifti
PROMINENT ,
TOPICS OF iNTLt-.Lil
DONATION Sl.CO
Students l!n<../,i',PdS 35
FRIDAY JANUAPsY 19 1968
BEWTRAJID RnSSDLL'S PRIVATE SECPETA"Y
'yi^xcio^., mTssELL peace fohmdatioi;
SiJCSTAnY-GEITSRAL, inT3^NATI0?iAL WAR
I CRIMES TRIB-TNAL
l^yc/i ifcck cn:
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(D0QJF5iU [EK-KC VOaOJU D(DM
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MR. SC.-OSr'MAM
Wag In Bolivia from July through
Nov., 1967, as part of the Commission
of Enquiry sponsored by the Russell
Poun-iatlon to help defend Ragis
Dobray, the French journalist who vas
with Che Guevara in Bolivia
Interviawod Dcbray in prison and
attenptod to speak at Debray's trial -
was arrested and dooortod to United
States in Novt mber.
Is presently nrer)arinp vrorlf on a
commission on cri-^-cs against the
American people
1702 E. FOURTH STREET
LOS ANGELES. CALIF. 90033
ANgel US$4953
UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA 227
SOCIALIST WORKERS PARTY
EXHIBIT II
THE BERKELEY
UPHEflVRL
n SOCIRLIST VIEW
PETE CRMEJO
SUSPENDED BERKELEY STUDENT
ELECTED TO VC STUDENT SENATE
FORMER NATIONAL SECRETARY, Y SA
SUNDAY, DEC. IT
1:30
1702 E. Fourth St.. Los Angeles Donation SI. 00
sponsor: Young Socialist Alliance
228 UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA
SOCIALIST WORKERS PARTY
EXHIBIT III
young
socialist
December 1968 — January 1969 25<
High
Schools
Explode
RACIAL MINORITY GROUPS
Negro Americans
In 1956 we held an open hearing in Los Angeles to
examine Communist efforts to infiltrate and control Ne-
gro organizations, particularly the National Association
for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). Dur-
ing the hearing much documentary evidence was received
and we were fortunate in having the testimony of two
experts. They were William Byron Rumford, then a
California State Assemblyman from Alameda County,
and Franklin H. Williams, an attorney from Palo Alto,
who served as administrative officer for the NAACP,
with jurisdiction over the then Territories of Alaska and
Hawaii and the States of Oregon, Washington, Arizona,
Utah, Idaho, Nevada and California. Mr. Rumford, a
highly respected legislator, had been an NAACP officer
for many years.
These witnesses had observed the Communist infiltra-
tion efforts closely. They provided abundant evidence
that the attempt had failed. The NAACP is by far the
largest Negro organization in the United States and
represents the sentiments of the vast majority of our
Negro citizens who, despite abuses, discrimination and
frustrations, have steadfastly opposed the use of violence
as a means to rectify their condition.
Said Mr. Williams :
"It was at the Sixth World Congress of the Com-
munist International in Moscow that the Party af-
fected an interest in the Negro, which was to mani-
fest itself in a prosegregation resolution in the year
1930. That resolution reads in part:
'The main Communist slogan must be: the right
of self-determination of the Negroes in the Black
Belt. Complete right of self-determination includes
also the right to government separation . . . the right
of the Negroes to governmental separation will be
unconditionally realized by the Communist Party
. . . the Communist Party must stand up with all
( 229 )
230 UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA
strength and courage for the struggle to win in-
dependence and for the establishment of a Negro
Republic in the Black Belt.'
Thereafter, the entire Party apparatus began to
grind out tons of propaganda on 'Negro self-de-
termination.' Responsible Negro leadership within
the NAACP and those heading up respected church,
labor and fraternal organizations saw easily through
this not even thinly-veiled alien replica of our home
grown racial segregation. They rejected this prop-
osition with the same vigor as they were fighting
indigenous Jim Crow.
Undaunted by the Negroes' rejection of Commu-
nism and his faith in American democracy, the Party
stepped up its efforts to recruit our largest minority,
capitalizing fully upon the tragic depression years
and the generally deplorable condition of civil rights.
Seeking to alienate Negroes from their leaders,
particularly those who would not be seduced by the
'United Front,' NAACP officials, churchmen and
labor leaders were denounced as 'bourgeois reform-
ists,' 'tools of the capitalists,' and 'allies of the lynch-
ing forces. ' ' '
Mr. Williams then proceeded to discuss the problems
his organization had experienced in California, referring
to cases where, with callous hypocrisy, the Communist ap-
paratus milked every major case where the Negro had
become embroiled with the law in some serious offense,
draining the incident of every vestige of its propaganda
value and then completely ignoring the individual in-
volved.
"Within the past two years this propaganda and agita-
tion drive has been increased enormously, using the Peace
Movement, the war in Vietnam, civil rights, courses in
Black studies at our educational institutions, and a long
series of non-negotiable demands, for the purpose of
arousing the most susceptible elements of the Negro mi-
nority to violent action against the government.
There can be no doubt that this accelerated campaign
has succeeded in some degree, but it has utterly failed
to reach the Negro minority as a whole, and while space
does not permit us to discuss this problem in depth, we
will devote the main portion of this section of our report
UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA 231
to the most militant of the Negro organizations, the Black
Panther Party, and some of the smaller but equally
dangerous groups.
The Black Panther Party
Originally known as the Black Panther Party for Self*
Defense, this organization was formed in Oakland in
October 1966, and thereafter branches were established
in large urban centers throughout the United States. Its
members carried rifles on city streets, usually dressed in
black berets and leather jackets, and soon moved from
defense to attack. On May 2, 1967, a group of Panthers
startled the members of the California Assembly by shov-
ing their way past guards and invading the chamber
while the Assembly was in session. The invaders carried
a variety of weapons, and said they had staged their
dramatic trespass to register their protest against pend-
ing legislation to restrict possession of firearms. Twenty-
six of them were arrested and booked on a variety of
charges.
Eldridge Cleaver, Huey P. Newton and Bobby Scale
were the prime movers of this organization. Its objec-
tives were mainly to keep track of police activities and
protect the Negro population from law enforcement agen-
cies. Soon they were stockpiling supplies of weapons and
ammunition, patrolling streets and acting as an armed,
guerrilla force.
After the invasion of the State Assembly, the incidents
between police and Panthers rapidly grew to grim pro-
portions. At the same time the Panthers, few of whom are
employed, were able to send their representatives to Cuba
and other foreign countries for indoctrination and train-
ing, to publish a newspaper and other propaganda ma-
terials, and to amass formidable supplies of arms, aromu-
nition and explosives.
The United States was divided into seven Panther
regions, with numerous national and local divisions and
officers. Discipline is rigid, but members are provided
with living expenses, legal services, and medical care
without cost. Since no Panther will disclose the member-
ship strength of the national organization or the local
unit to which he belongs, we can only estimate the total
population of the organization. A safe guess would put
232 UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA
it at approximately 25,000. Clearly, a great amount of
money is needed annually to finance these purchases, ac-
tivities, travelling expenses and services. There is sub-
stantial evidence concerning the various sources from
which these funds are procured, but since several of them
are currently under intensive investigation, it is not ap-
propriate that we should discuss them here. One of the
sources is obviously the front organization known as
Friends of the Panthers, and which we shall soon ex-
amine.
As the Panthers became more boldly militant and vio-
lated the law with growing contempt, police raids and
arrests increased proportionately and thus the battles
between law enforcement agencies became more frequent.
The news media have reported these confrontations and
killings of participants on both sides in lurid detail and
there is no use of our repeating them here. By mid-1968
the Panthers were financially troubled, their leaders had
been slain, convicted or fled the country, and the deci-
mated organization was beginning to flounder. At that
time there was no organization such as Friends of the
Panthers through which legal aid and financial assist-
ance was forthcoming, but there was a growing indica-
tion that the CPUSA was becoming interested in the or-
ganization, particularly when the Peace and Freedom
Party had one of its Northern California meetings en-
dorsed the Panther program.
Peace and Freedom Party Candidate
The Peace and Freedom Party announced that it would
run Eldridge Cleaver as its candidate for President of
the United States. Despite several attorneys who held
offices in the Peace and Freedom Party, no one had
bothered to find out whether or not Cleaver was eligible
for the position. The California Secretary of State
checked with us, and learned that Cleaver was two years
shy of being thirty-five, the age required by Article II of
the United States Constitution as a prerequisite for be-
coming President of the United States.
After the arrest of Huey Newton and Cleaver and the
latter 's flight from this country, legal aid and financial
assistance was quickly materialized through the Newton-
Cleaver defense committee. Many of its sponsors have
UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA 233
records of pro-Communist activity, and it was interesting
to note that whereas the Panthers were originally ori-
ented toward the Maoist-Communist line, thereafter the
organization moved steadily toward the CPUS A. Pan-
thers had faithfully carried the little red plastic-covered
books of Mao's thoughts and attended classes to learn
about Red Chinese Communism and guerrilla warfare.
But with aid channelled to the Panthers through the
Newton-Cleaver defense committee, the little book of
Maoism vanished and the first evidence of Panther hos-
tility toward the Maoist Progressive Labor Party and
Socialist Workers' Party became evident.
From Peking to Moscow
The Panther's swing from Peking to Moscow was also
seen in the new white advisers and associates that came
to the aid of the organization. As the CPUSA publica-
tions pointedly geared their propaganda in support of the
Panthers, a new attorney undertook to defend them in
the courts. He was Charles R. Garry, a San Francisco
lawyer who was admitted to the state bar in 1938. He was
identified as a Conununist Party member by the testi-
mony of Dr. Jack Patten, who appeared before the
House Committee on June 19, 1957, and stated that he
and Garry were members of the highly secret profes-
sional section of the Communist Party in San Francisco.
When subpoenaed and questioned about his affiliation,
Mr. Garry invoked the protection of the Fifth Amend-
ment. When not under oath, he has since denied that he
was ever a member of the Party. Garry was a candidate
for election to the Congress of the United States on the
Independent Progressive Party ticket in 1948. The IPP
was a forerunner of the Peace and Freedom Party, and
solidly controlled by the Communist apparatus in Cali-
fornia. Garry was also connected with the Communist
school in San Francisco and the International Workers'
Order, a potent Communist Front. His partner, Benja-
min Dreyfus, has also been identified as a Communist.
Friends of the Panthers
The Friends of the Panthers in Southern California
was created from the older Newton-Cleaver defense com-
234 UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA
mittee in 1969. At that time the Panthers still clung to
their Maoist orientation, evidenced by their continued
collaboration with the Progressive Labor Party and the
Socialist Workers' Party. After the Friends of the Pan-
thers began to provide counsel and cash, however, this
collaboration ceased and was replaced by a marked ani-
mosity between the Panthers and the pro-Maoist groups.
Even as late as April 13, 1969, Bobby Scale addressed a
Friends of the Panthers meeting at 400 West Washington
Boulevard, Los Angeles and announced that a Chinese
Maoist organization in San Francisco known as the Red
Guards had endorsed the Panther program. At this same
gathering Donald Freed announced that the CPUSA,
Southern District of California, had contributed $100.00
to the Friends of the Panthers.
This was the first important meeting of the new ad-
junct organization, attended by 550 persons. Donald
Freed was master of ceremonies, and, as will be shown,
at subsequent meetings of the Friends of the Panthers,
he was always a passionate advocate of violent revolution
and the use of explosives and guerrilla warfare. Freed,
who had taught at San Fernando State College and
UCLA, described the Panthers as The Black Shock
Troops of the Revolution — the Black revolt by guerrilla
tactics on their part would soften up the country for the
mass revolt that would come later.
In October 1969, Freed and Mrs. Shirley Sutherland
were indicted by a Federal Grand Jury in Los Angeles
for conspiracy to purchase grenades, alleged to have been
intended for use by the Panthers. Mrs. Sutherland re-
sided at 1144 Tower Road in Beverly Hills. In July 1969,
when ofl&cers went to this address to make arrests, Mrs.
Sutherland was away. But they did find Odis N. Grimes
and Arthur D. League, both wanted by the FBI, the
former for harboring a fugitive and the latter for the
murder of a Santa Ana police officer. Freed and Mrs.
Sutherland were subsequently released on a technicality.
Freed 's play, "The US v. Julius and Ethel Rosenberg,"
has been appearing in Cleveland, and is scheduled to open
in New York. It is an account of the prosecution of
Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, executed as Soviet espionage
agents after having been convicted of supplying classified
information to a foreign power.
UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA 235
Friends of the Panthers Meetings
On May 17, 1969, a meeting of the Friends of the
Panthers was held at the First Unitarian Church in Los
Angeles, 2936 West Eighth Street, at 8 :40 a.m. There was
a heavy attendance of about 120 people, among whom
were included Raymond Masai Hewett, then chairman of
the Los Angeles Black Panther Party; Donald Freed,
then chairman of the Friends of the Panthers; Bernard
Hirsch, chairman of the Friends of the Panthers Political
Education Committee ; Charles Brittin, chairman of Pub-
lic Relations, Barbara Brittin, his wife; Rose Chernin,
heretofore mentioned as executive director of the Los
Angeles Committee for Defense of the Bill of Rights;
Fred Wheeler and others who contributed financially for
the assistance of the FOTP, and who were to participate
in its future activities.
Raymond Hewdtt spoke for approximately 30 minutes
during which he attacked Ron Karenga and his militant
Negro following, and Donald Freed spoke during the
afternoon session and predicted an armed revolution. A
schedule of political education classes was announced;
Mondays at 4072 Glenalyn Street, Los Angeles ; Tuesdays
at 722 Adelaide Place, Santa Monica; Wednesdays at
1169 South Mullen Avenue, Los Angeles, and at 5752
Tobias Avenue, Van Nuys; Thursdays at 2720 South
Raymond Avenue, Los Angeles, and Fridays at 9017
Columbia Avenue, Sepulveda. A week or so later, the
classes at the Glenalyn and Columbia Avenue addresses
were cancelled.
On May 23, 1969, a meeting of the FOTP was held at
1235 East Portner Street, West Covina. Twenty-five peo-
ple were present, and at the meeting Donald Freed de-
scribed the effectiveness of guerrilla hit-and-run tactics,
diversionary raids, and the advisability of studying texts
on the use of explosive devices. Freed added that non-
violent people, as he described them, who might be
squeamish about inflicting direct violence upon the per-
sons of others, could serve in the disruption of power
stations, transformers, water mains, telephone lines and
similar facilities.
On May 24, 1969, an FOTP executive committee meet-
ing was held at 1169 South Mullen Avenue, Los Angeles.
The meeting started shortly after 2.00 p.m., and lasted
236 UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA
until approximately 5:30 p.m. There were about 36 per-
sons present, among whom were Donald Freed, Elaine
Brown, Edward Medard, Barbara Brittin, James Cook-
son and Bernard Hirsch. One of the highlights of this
gathering was an interesting statement made by Barbara
Brittin to the effect that the Culver City Police Depart-
ment was offering courses on the use and care of firearms,
and she urged all FOTP members to attend the classes in
line with the security aspect of the organization. She as-
serted that these classes were given in the basement of
the Culver City Police Station, that the pistol course in-
volved 12 classes of three hours each, running from 7 to
10 in the evening, at a cost of $12.00 per student. She
gave specific directions on the method of applying for the
course and correct answers to the questions that might be
asked. Edward Medard disclosed that he was also taking
the course at the Culver City Police Department and
agreed with Mrs. Brittin in advocating that other members
of the organization enroll.
Upon receiving this information, we communicated
with the Culver City Police Department, and received its
complete cooperation. It corroborated the fact that Bar-
bara Brittin, 31 years of age, 722 Adelaide Place, Los
Angeles 90042, attended the class in April 1969. It also
provided the information that Ed Medard, 27, 21 Thorn-
ton Avenue, Venice, attended the class in May 1969, and
stated he had been persuaded to take it by Barbara Brit-
tin. Information from the personnel of the Police De-
partment disclosed that Medard endeavored to draw the
instructor into volunteering statements concerning police
practice with regard to shooting incidents. It was also
revealed that after Mrs. Brittin and Medard had com-
pleted the course, the police department received a sud-
den increase in applications, many of whom were Negroes.
On June 28, 1969, the FOTP held another meeting at
the First Unitarian Church in Los Angeles, commenc-
ing at 10 in the morning and ending at 4 in the after-
noon. About 60 people were present, approximately 16 of
whom were members of the Black Panther Party, the
FOTP being almost wholly comprised with white mem-
bers. This meeting was preliminary to the very important
United Front Against Fascism gathering in Oakland,
scheduled for July 18-21, 1969. Among those present
UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA 237
were Raymond "Masai" Hewett, Elaine Brown, Dorothy
Healey, Nenimy Sparks, Robert Duggan, James Berland,
Ron Warren, Ed Pearl, Milton Zaslow, Mike Yueff, Ron
Ridenour, Bernard Hirsch, Donald Freed, Charles and
Barbara Brittin. The presence of Dorothy Healey, Nem-
my Sparks and Robert Duggan, heretofore mentioned
as prominent Communist functionaries, lends added sup-
port to the evidence of Communist manipulation and
control of the Black Panther organization, through one
of its characteristic front organizations. Friends of the
Panthers. At this function Mrs. Brittin handled the
registration desk, while her husband was busy photo-
graphing people both inside and outside the meeting
place.
Ron Warren introduced Donald Freed, who made his
usual fiery speech predicting violent action after July
19, and then yielded the platform to Raymond Hewett
who praised the Students for a Democratic Society for
cleaning house and ousting the Maoist Progressive Labor
Party element, and he upheld the distribution of the Pan-
ther coloring book with its savage pictures of the killing of
law enforcement officers. We have reproduced some pages
of this book as exhibits in connection with this section
of the report. Hewett specifically attacked the Progres-
sive Labor Party, and announced that Panther attorney
Charles R. Garry would be a member of the United
Front Against Facism, Steering Committee, that popular
Communist device for maintaining control of an or-
ganization.
United Front Against Fascism, Oakland, July 18-21, 1969
By July 1969 the Panthers had almost completed their
amazing switch of allegiance from Peking to Moscow.
The little red books on Maoism had all but vanished;
only rarely did the Panthers appear armed and uni-
formed in public. And now they even adopted Georgi
Dimitrov's classic united front tactic, that tried and
highly successful Communist strategy. In The Black
Panther as far back as May 31, pages 12 and 13, was a
reprint of Dimitrov's famous speech on this device,
printed in connection with the Call for the United Front
Against Fascism meeting at Oakland scheduled for July
18-21, 1969. Excerpts from the speech were also printed
238 UN-AMERICAN ACTIS'ITIES IN CALIFORNIA
and the official notices of the gathering called by the
Black Panther Party. On the last page of the Call, a
list of individual sponsors appeared. They were: David
Hilliard, Stu Albert, Kathleen Cleaver, Bobby Seale,
Tom Havden, SDS; Dr. Philip Shapiro, Dr. Carlton
Goodlett,* Ray "Masai" Hewett, Charles R. Garry, Bill
Kunstler, Roosevelt Hilliard, Emory Donglas, Bob Rush,
SDS leaders. Black Panther Party, and the Interna-
tional Liberation School.
It will be noted that the Socialist Workers' Party
(Trotskyists) and Progressive Labor Party (Maoists)
were not included as sponsors, nor were they permitted
to send delegates or take any active part in the confer-
ence. They did, however, have some "observers" at the
sessions who were treated most inhospitably.
Each delegate was assigned a code number for iden-
tification and security purposes, an information head-
quarters was established at 3106 Shattuck Avenue,
Berkeley, which is the national headquarters for the
Black Panther Party.
Tom Hayden, foimder of SDS, collaborated with
Bobby Seale in putting this United Front meeting to-
gether. But as matters turned out, it was far from united.
SDS had recently waged a political battle which split it
asunder and ousted the Maoist PLP element. The old
antagonism between the CPUSA and SWP Trotskyists
was becoming more heated, and the rivalries between
the many groups of the New Left soon became apparent
as the conference proceeded.
On Thursday July 17. the delegates registered at St.
Augustine's Episcopal Church in West Oakland, and the
first meeting was held in Oakland Auditorium at 7:00
p.m. on Friday July 18, with about 2,500 delegates, ob-
servers and others in attendance. The official agenda
scheduled a showing of a motion picture at Merritt Col-
lege, 59th and Grove Streets, Oakland, and meetings at
Oakland Auditorium and DeFremery Park, which the
Panthers renamed the Bobby Hutton Memorial Park,
Hutton having been killed in the same shooting con-
frontation with police at which Eldridge Cleaver was
wounded in April 1968.
After everyone had been thoroughly searched for con-
cealed weapons and tape recorders, Raymond "Masai"
UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA 239
Hewett opened the meeting on Friday and introduced
Edward Keating, founder of Ramparts Magazine. Bobby
Seale, Panther chairman, then spoke at length and with
considerable restraint as contrasted with his customary
emotional addresses, liberally sprinkled with vulgarities
and quotations from Mao Tse-tung. Dr. Carlton Goodlett
was the next speaker, and urged local control of law en^
forcement agencies. In previous reports we have referred
to Dr. Goodlett 's affiliation with a variety of Communist
Fronts and activities, including the CPUSA school in
San Francisco. Two years previously he went to the
Island of Cyprus World Peace Conference with Herbert
Aptheker, father of Bettina Aptheker and one of the
top CPUSA theoreticians, who has often spoken on Cali-
fornia campuses.
Aptheker was, perhaps, the most prestigious speaker
at the entire affair, although William Kunstler was cer-
tainly the most dynamic. Aptheker is not a particularly
stimulating speaker, tending to be academic and dry. His
attack against the FBI and its director was applauded,
but as he went on and on some sections of the audience
became impatient and intolerant during some of his more
pedantic passages and booed him loudly.
The first session concluded with a Womens' Panel.
Participants included Eoberta Alexander, former activist
in the Communist DuBois Club at the Berkeley campus
of the Universtiy of California, where she was arrested
during the invasion of Sproul Hall in December 1964.
At that time she resided at 2231 Grant Street, Berkeley
and since has moved to Los Angeles. (1965 California
Report, page 103.)
The afternoon session at the DeFremery Park was the
scene of fist fights between Panther security personnel
and PLP and Trotskyists who tried to circulate propa-
ganda leaflets. One of the most essential requirements for
the Dimitrov United Front is that it be united, and as
the program continued this element began to wane. At
the Park the controversy and ejection of dissidents di-
verted attention from the regular program where the
theme was "Students and Education v Fascism" and the
scheduled speakers were Nathan Hare and Eoger Alva-
rado, controversial figures during the disturbances at
San Francisco State College. The morning meeting at
240 UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA
the Auditorium was chiefly concerned with the panel on
organized labor, headed by Roscoe Proctor, California
member of the CPUSA National Committee. Other par-
ticipants were Archie Brown, Veteran California Com-
munist, Andy Chavez, from the United Farm Workers'
Organizing Committee; Robert Avakian, member of the
Weatherman faction of SDS and leader of the extremely
militant Revolutionary Union in the Bay area; Noel Ig-
natian, SDS National Committee member, and Kenny
Horston, Black Panther member.
In the Auditorium on Saturday evening, the topic was
Political Prisoners and was well-received. Participants
were Jeffrey Jones, SDS Organizational Secretary,
Elaine Brown, heretofore mentioned in connection with
the Friends of the Panthers in Los Angeles, Nan Cox, a
Panther Field Marshal, and Black Panther attorney
Charles R. Garry. The featured speaker for the confer-
ence, and by far the most fiery, was New York lawyer
William Kunstler, counsel for the Chicago Seven and
whose speech at Santa Barbara recently was followed by
a frenzied student demonstration that caused great dam-
age, many arrests and personal injuries. Kunstler spoke
of the theft of 40 M-1 rifles at Plainfield, New Jersey,
during the uprising there in 1967. He added that since
the theft only one white police officer had been seen on
the Plainfield streets. His meaning was plain and re-
ceived with enthusiasm.
On Sunday July 20 there were programs at the park
on Peoples' Health v. Fascism, Religion v. Fascism, and
American Servicemen v. Fascism; the showing of a film
at Merritt College and a final session at Oakland Audi-
torium on Decentralization and Community Control of
Police. Participants on the discussion on Religion and
Fascism were Reverend Earl Neil, of St. Augustine's
Church in Oakland, and Reverend Eugene Boyle from
Sacred Heart Church in San Francisco. There was also
a program on Peoples' Health v. Fascism, led by Dr.
Philip Shapiro, a founder of the Panther Medical Ad-
junct Group and a sponsor of the conference.
The Sunday session in the Auditorium featured a slide
film description of the mechanics of organizing commun-
ity petitions for the purpose of assuming control of local
police departments. Narration of this portion of the pro-.
UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA 241
gram was by Bobby Seale and Peter Franck, Franck be-
ing a well-known Bay area Civil Rights attorney.
After several unimportant speeches, Seale made the
address that closed the meeting. He called for unity of
all radical and militant organizations, which evoked calls
asking about the summary exclusion of the Maoist Pro-
gressive Labor and Trotskyist groups. By this time it had
become evident that the CPUS A was solidly in control
of the conference. The presence of so many high officials
from the Communist Party who participated actively
in proceedings, together with many others who did not,
was enough to establish this fact. There was also the
exclusion of the major groups that were ideologically
opposed to and rivals of the CPUS A, together with the
abrupt ideological swing by the Panthers from Maoism
to the Moscow line.
Seale was forced in a new role by following the CP
strategy which is more subtle than was the previous
Panther program. Consequently he urged circulating
petitions urging control of police, which drew incredulous
protests from the most militant delegates. He anticipated
the charge of Communist domination, and denied it, but
subsequent contacts with those who attended the con-
ference, both as delegates and observers, indicated that
his protests were not convincing.
At the Trotskyists' Militant Labor Forum in Los An-
geles on July 25 1969, Joel Britton (not to be confused
with Charles and Barbara Brittin), stated that the entire
affair was poorly organized and badly run. Britton, who
is SWP organizer for the Los Angeles region, said that
when Herbert Aptheker spoke he received a standing
ovation from his supporters, and estimated their number
at about 300, and that toward the end of the speech the
boos, according to Britton, came from observers and the
more aggressive elements among the delegates.
In the New Worher in July 1969, an article written
before the Oakland conference by M. I. Laski was headed
"Right Wing Communists Run Anti-Fascist Show." It
stated that : ' ' The call is out from one end of the country
to the other. There will be an Anti-Fascist Conference
called for in Oakland the weekend of July 18. The cat is
out of the bag, or more appropriately, the cat is in the
bag now. What cat ? The Black Panther, what else ! What
242 UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA
bag is it in? The Right- Wing Communists headed by Gus
Hall."
Four months after the Oakland meeting an article
praising the Black Panthers was published in Political
Affairs. Written by William L. Patterson, a top CP offi-
cer, it established the official Communist Party position.
"The Panther Leadership," wrote Patterson, "recognized
that it faced a Herculean task. But the task had to be
faced. It declared itself a Marxist-Leninist Political
Party, not realizing fully that so far-reaching a declara-
tion did not ipso facto bring the objection sought to frui-
tion. The Panther leaders grasped at and embraced the
doctrines of Mao Tse-tung and the present leadership of
the Chinese Communist Party. They failed to realize that
Mao and his supporters were all for the go-it-alone idea
which experience was forcing the Panthers to repudiate.
They did not recognize that Maoism was a denial of the
historic role the Panthers were beginning to attribute
to the working class."
Referring to the L^nited Front Against Fascism Con-
ference at Oakland, the article continued, stating that:
"While only three years in the libertarian struggle, the
Black Panther Party issued a call for a United Front
of Struggle Against Fascism — basing itself on the call
made by George Dimitrov in 1935 at the Seventh Con-
gress of the then existing Communist International."
Then the article concluded: "The Panthers now have
organized contingents in approximately 33 States. At
the present they are in the center of police attacks. J.
Edgar Hoover, the Fascist-minded head of the FBI, calls
the Panthers the most dangerous organization in the
New Left. That is some evidence of their importance.
The membership of the Comnmnist Party should stand
in the forefront in defense of the Black Panthers. While
conducting a dialogue with the Panthers on the differ-
ences that exist between us, this must not stand in the
way of solidly supporting the efforts of the Panthers
to defeat racism and bring about unity of the Black and
White working class. For we know that racism feeds
Fascism. The destruction of racism leads to a decisive
defeat of Fascism." (Political Affairs, November 1969,
page 7 at pages 11, 12, 13.)
UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA 243
Attorney William Kunstler stumps the country speak-
ing at campuses and preaching his creed of violent action
against the Establishment, and as he exhorts the
Black Panthers by telling them how police were intimi-
dated in the New Jersey community, and with the new
Panther campaign to gain control of local police agencies
and render them impotent by harassment, assassinations
and political pressure, the plan was clear. It would be use-
less for us to attempt any description of the psychotic
hatred for all law enforcement officers that exists in the
Panther organization. It simply defies description, but
some of the exhibits presented herewith will serve better
than words to convey that condition.
The Panthers are being controlled by the CPUSA to
serve as its shock troops on the front line of the revolution.
Since the Oakland meeting, new and more sophisticated
security measures have been adopted to prevent infiltra-
tion of the organization by counter-subversive agents. At
the same time a Mafia-like vengence threatens all members
who cooperate with law enforcement agencies.
Larry Powell and his wife Jean have disclosed to Fed-
eral authorities the life of horror they spent as Panthers
— the assassination plots against police and informers
alike, and the underground "Black Guard" originally
credited to Robert F. Williams three years before the
Panthers were organized. Powell himself was a member,
and described the assignments of killing and bombing as-
signed to members of this underground unit by the Black
Panther officials. (Senate Internal Security Subcommittee
transcripts on Riots, Civil and Criminal Disorders, Wash-
ington, D.C.)
Robert F. Williams and the Revolutionary Action Movement
The Revolutionary Action Movement was founded at
Detroit by Robert F. Williams in 1963. At first confined
to New York City and some of the Southern states, the
organization spread its inflammatory propaganda through-
out the country with deadly effect. A handbook on Guer-
rilla Warfare, written by Williams, has been widely used
by Black Activists, and his publications have been carried
by Communist bookstores including the Progressive Book-
store in Los Angeles.
244 UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFOENIA
Williams served in the Marine Corps, and was ousted
from his position as President of the NAACP chapter in
Monroe, North Carolina, when he found it too pallid for
his purposes and engaged on a program of violence. In
1960 he travelled to Cuba, and in August of the following
year was indicted on a charge of kidnapping. Without an
American passport, and a fugitive from justice, Williams
established his headquarters in Havana, where he pub-
lished his propaganda organ. The Crusader, a publication
which he had started in 1958, and he made radio broad-
casts over the Cuban short-wave radio facility and called
his program Radio Free Dixie. Having been active in the
Communist-dominated Fair Play for Cuba Committee in
this country Williams was well received in Cuba and met
with delegations of American student revolutionaries who
came to that country. He finally became disillusioned,
however, his popularity faded, and he left for Peking in
1966 where he continued publishing TJie Crusader. A
study of the language in this tract as published in Cuba
with the style seen in previous issues strongly indicates
that at least some of the contents were written by other
people. Several issues contained explicit instructions for
sabotage and guerrilla warfare. Thus the issue for Feb-
ruary 1964, stated :
''The weapons of defense employed by Afro- Ameri-
can Freedom Fighters must consist of a poor man's
aTsenal. Gasoline fire bombs, lye or acid bombs can be
used extensively. During the night hours such weap-
ons thrown from roof tops will make the streets im-
possible for racist cops to patrol. Hand grenades, ba-
zookas, light mortars, rocket launchers, machine gims
and ammunition can be bought clandestinely from
servicemen anxious to make a fast dollar. Freedom
Fighters in military camps can be contacted to give
instructions on usage."
In The Crusader, Vol. 10, No. 2, Summer, 1969, marked
''Robert F. Williams, 1 Tai Chi Chang, Peking, China,
this language appears on Page 17 :
"Recently, in many cities of the world we have
witnessed a limited application of urban guerrilla
warfare or street combat. In these mere skirmishes
we have been given some idea of the colossal poten-
UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA 245
tial of what could really happen, and how, in such a
conflict. Conventional military science and tactics can
be rendered ineffectual by massive peoples war. The
poor man's arsenal of light arms and home-devised
weapons can w^reak havoc on a nation. Extensive dis-
bursal of combatants makes it impossible for repres-
sive forces to concentrate the necessary power to
quell the resistance. When thousands of Freedom
Fighters fan out over a city in a campaign of ob-
struction and destruction, paralysis prevails. A sali-
ent feature of this type of conflict is that all of its
destructive action takes place on the enemy's own
premises. Both offensive and defensive combat ex-
tract a heavy toll from the Establishment. A govern-
ment no matter how tyrannic cannot wage an exten-
sive war of attrition against its own citizenry without
indulging in self-destruction. Less than 10% of a
given population can bring a highly mechanized and
industrialized tyranny to its knees in a surprisingly
short span of time. If the 10% is well organized and
devoutly committed to all-out urban guerrilla war-
fare. Urban guerrilla warfare does not mean that the
countryside is completely neglected; it means that
most mass activity w^ould be concentrated in urban
communities because most of the population is there.
It means the rural campaigns would be conducted on
the basis of targets being selected out of the dictates
of necessity, over-all strategy and diversionary tac-
tics."
We have an original copy of this publication, the front
cover if which is reproduced as an exhibit. In addition,
one of our covert agents entered into a correspondence
with Williams while he was in China and we reproduce a
letter from him in his handwriting dated April 23, 1968.
During his absence from the United States, Williams'
Revolutionary Action Movement was conducted by others,
and carried out the founders' precepts diligently. In Feb-
ruary 1965 RAM members were apprehended before
they could carry out a plan to blow up the Statue of
Liberty and the Washington Monument; in June 1967
sixteen RAM members were arrested for plotting the
assassination of Negro leaders Roy Wilkins and Whitney
Young, who have been steadfast representatives of the
246 UN^-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CAJilFORNIA
majority of Negroes and have counseled against the use
of violent methods; in September 1967 four RAM mem-
bers were arrested in a plot to poison police and govern-
ment officials in the event of widespread rioting.
In August 1969 it was announced that Williams would
shortly return to the United States, but there was some
difficulty in finding an airline company that would agree
to book his passage. Having been deprived of his Ameri-
can passport, travel was difficult and some surprise was
occasioned when it was learned that the State Depart-
ment had issued an American passport to him and a few
days later he boarded a TWA flight for the United States.
The only passengers were Robert F. Williams and his at-
torney.
Having returned to this country, Williams professed
a change of heart regarding the use of violence, stating
that he had determined after experiences in various Com-
munist countries that it was better to concentrate on edu-
cating the races to live harmoniously together and to work
to improve the plight of his people. There is excellent
authority to indicate that Williams has already been de-
hriefed by both the CIA and the FBI, and that he has
also given testimony in a closed session of the Senate
Internal Security Subcommittee.
Obviously, official agencies will regard Williams state-
ments with much suspicion, but if he has indeed disclosed
what he could tell about meetings with delegations to
Cuba, about activist groups and the flow of money and
propaganda from abroad to revolutionary activists here —
the story would not only be sensational but of immense
aid in the effort to stem the tide of guerrilla warfare
that now threatens our security.
Ron Karenga
Ron Karenga leads a group known simply as US, its
headquarters being located at 7228 South Broadway, Los
Angeles. Having attended the University of California in
Los Angeles, Karenga still has a following there in mem-
bers of his US group. During the past two years a bitter
factional struggle has arisen between Karenga 's follow-
ing and the Black Panthers at UCLA over control of the
Black Student Union, a loose coalition of Negro students
that varies greatly according to the conditions existing at
UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA 247
the institution where units of the organization are lo-
cated. It has no central control organization, and at some
institutions the membership is reasonable and moderate,
and members have volunteered to help suppress violent
demonstrations; other units are extremely violent, and
have been the leaders in some of the most violent rebel-
lions v^^e have yet seen. All are, of course, dedicated to
improving the status of the Black minority.
Although small in size, members of the Karenga US
have repeatedly demonstrated their militancy. On Friday,
January 17, 1969, two Black Panther members, John
Huggins and Alprentice Carter were in the Campbell
Hall cafeteria on the UCLA campus. Both men were
students, enrolled in a special ''high potential" program,
restricted to Black and Mexican- American students. In a
heated dispute with US members, the two Panthers were
killed by gun fire. One of the alleged assailants, George
Philip Steiner, was also enrolled in the "high potential"
program, and with his brother Larry and three other
US members was indicted on charges of murder and
conspiracy. Two of the five defendants were convicted,
and a third was recently sentenced for bank robbery.
Ron Karenga has expressed a desire for conciliation
with the Panthers — but negotiations between the two
Black organizations ceased after the wounding of Pan-
ther Ronald Freeman in Los Angeles on March 14, 1969,
an assault attributed by his fellow members to the
Karenga group, and which has served to widen the
breach.
Mike Laski and the CP-(M-L)
Michael Isaac Laski organized a Marxist study group
at UCLA when he was a student there in 1960. Before
leaving in 1962 he was on the editorial board of an inde-
pendent socialist journal called Inquiry, the first issue of
which appeared on September 17, 1962. Other members
of its editorial board were Arnold M. Hoffman, Robert A.
Manning, Ronald Ridenour and Doctor Councill S.
Taylor.
In 1964 Laski was organizing Negroes and indoctrinat-
ing them with Maoist Communism, particularly in the
Watts area of Los Angeles County. After the riots at
Watts in August 1965, his recruiting and indoctrination
248 UN-AMERICAN ACTRTnES IN CALIFORNIA
activities were greatly accelerated, accompanied by a
vicious propaganda attack against the Los Angeles Police
Department.
Like the Progressive Labor Party, Laski's group was
too radical and impatient for the CPUSA and conse-
quently formed its own organization in September 1965,
which they named the Communist Party, (Marxist-
Leninist). Headquarters were established at 1313 East
Firestone Boulevard, Los Angeles and thereafter Laski
became a familiar figure at rallies and demonstrations
throughout the state, especially on college campuses. He
possessed boundless energy, was an excellent organizer,
but was highly emotional both on and off the podium. He
incurred the enmity of many radical groups, and finally
it even included his o\sti, and he was ousted summarily
from the organization he founded and ran for several
years. But that didn't stop Laski. After he was expelled
in June 1968, he immediately started the United Front
(Marxist-Leninist) and opened a new headquarters at
11858 South Main Street, Los Angeles. He had edited two
papers for the old organization. Peoples Voice and Red
Flag. The new organization issued a paper called the
New Worlxer in 1969, which he also edited. The United
Front (M-L) offices consist of a main office, several
smaller offices, a g^Tunasium where karate and other
forms of self-defense are taught, a library, a kitchen and
sleeping quarters. The walls are covered with pictures of
Marx, Engels and Mao Tse-tung and large posters of life
in the Chinese People's Republic. There are ample sup-
plies of Red Chinese propaganda in the library, including
the ubiquitous little red books of Mao's thoughts. Ray-
mond "Masai" Hewett was a disciple of Laski's before
becoming an official in the Black Panther Party, which is
some indication of the fact that although small in niun-
bers, Laski's United Front (M-L) is nonetheless dili-
gently at work turning out a fanatically violent activist
cadre, mostly Negroes, schooled in the Maoist techniques
of guerrilla warfare and permanent revolution.
I
UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA 249
BLACK PANTHER PARTY
EXHIBIT I
STATEMENT BY
COMRADE MAO TSE-TUNG,
CHAIRMAN OF
THE CENTRAL COMMITTEE OF
THE COMMUNIST PARTY
OF CHINA,
IN SUPPORT OF
THE AFRO-AMERICAN STRUGGLE
AGAINST VIOLENT REPRESSION
250
UN-AMEEICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFOENIA
BLACK PANTHER PARTY
EXHIBIT II
UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA
BLACK PANTHER PARTY
EXHIBIT III
251
/
BLACK PANTHER
COLORING BOOK
■i
3
It
At
HUEY P. HEWTOH, LEAiuER Of THE BLACK. PANTHER PARTY, THIS
ORGAKIZED THE SLACK BROTHERS TO DEFEHD THEIR
KANILIES .
252
UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA
BLACK PANTHER PARTY
EXHIBIT III— Continued
\b
Si.
THE PIG TRYS TO PROTECT THE WHITE STORES IN BLACK BLACK BROTHERS PROTECT BLACK CHILDREN
COMMUNITIES THAT ROB BLACK PEOPLE.
THE PIG IS AFRAID OF BLACK CHILDREN BECAUSE BROTHERS AND SISTERS DEAL WITH THE WHITE STORE
THEY ARE BRAVE WARRIORS OWNER THAT ROBS BL/i.CK PEOPLE
THE JUNIOR PANTHER DEFENDS HIS MOTHER
5^.
THE ONLY GOOD PIG, IS A DEAD PIG
UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA
253
BLACK PANTHER PARTY
EXHIBIT IV
PEOPLE! ORGANIZATIONS! GROUPS! YIPPIES!
POLITICAL PARTIES! WORKERS! STUDENTS!
PEASANT-FARMERS! YOU THE LUMPEN! POOR
PEOPLE. BLACK PEOPLE. MEXICAN AMERICANS.
PUERTO RICANS. CHINESE. ETC. ETC.
WE MUST DEVELOP A
UNITED FRONT
AGAINST
FASCISM
BERKEUEY JAMES RECTOR MURDERED BY
FASCIST PIG
rA»CI«M, (.THE POWER OF FINANCE CAPITAU...') VI-
CIOUH.Y BRUTAl.tZE. GAS, SHOOT, AND tAUROEH PEOf>U£
WHO WAHT AND NEED l-ANO, BREAD, HOUSING, EDUCATIOr^
CLOTHING, JUSTICe AND PEACE FOR SURVIVAl.,
HOEY P, NEWTON, MINISTER OF DEFENSE.
POLITICAL PRISONER.
■ KCAUSe OP HIS GREAT REVO-UTIONAR Y UEAOERSHIP
PO« B1.ACK PeOn.E>S RIGHT TO SCL-F DETERMINATION,
HUCY IS IH PRISON IN A 9 X 10 CEUl. AND WITHOUT BAII..
MU«V AWAITS MISTRIAl. MOTION WHII.E WRETCHED PRI-
SONS INCARCERATE HIM* FASCISM, ('THE POWER OF
PIHANCE CAPITAJ- ITSEl-F«l
NEW YORK PANTHER 21 AND CONN. PANTHER
LEADERSHIP
EAST COAST PANTHERS OVER 40 MEMBERS OF THE MAIN
t-EADERSHIP CHARGED WITH ABSURD CONSPIRAC lES AND
■•MURDER". KEPT IN JAIL WITHOUT BA I U , NOT ALUOWEO
TO SEE FAMILIES AND LAWYERS MOST OF THE TIME.
FASCISM, (THE POWER OF FINANCE CAPITAL ITSELF) .
CONFERENCE REGISTRATION FORM ^back page)
U.FA.F. CONFERENCE HEADOUATERS B P P
(PM 945 0104)
3106 SHATTUCK AVE. BERK. CALIF. 94705
REVOLUTIONARY CONFERENCE
FOR A
UNITED FRONT
AGAINST FASCISM
IN AMERICA
FASCISM^ THE POWER OF FINANCC CAPITAL.
OAKLAND CALIFORNIA
JULY 18. 19, 20, AND 2Ut
THIS CONFERENCE IS CAI-L.ED AND OROANIZEO BY
THE BLACK PANTHER PARTV, THE IHT'L. t-IB -
EHATION SCHOOL. AND OTHER COMM. OROANI'
ZATION3 AND GROuPS.
SOME OBJECTIVES TO DEVEUOP A UNITED
FRONT AGAINST FASCISM
— COMHUNITV CONTROU OF POI-ICS ON NATIONAl.
SCALE.
— FREEDOM OF ALL. POLITICAL PRISONERS AND
POLITICAL FREEDOM.
— Pd-ITICAL PHOCAAM for ALL THE POOR,
BLACK, OPPRESSED WORKERS AND PEOPLE
OF AMERICA.
— MILITARY OFF CAMPUS,
— SELF DEFENSE.
254
UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA
BLACK PANTHER PARTY
EXHIBIT V
Black Panthers ''Free Breakfast''
and
Coloring Book
The Nevi York Post has examined
the Black Panther breakfast program at
Friendship Baptist Church in Harlem,
and has come away impressed. Tim
Findley of the San Francisco Chronicle
looked in on thai city's early morning
chow line for underprivileged Negro
children at Sacred Heart Catholic
Church (Fr. James Kennedy) and St.
Augustine Episcopal Church (Rev. Earl
Neil) and was plainly excited by the
sight. Reporters painstakingly list the
breakfast menu, and the children's
squeals of delight, but newsmen almost
universally fail to report that Black
Panther meals really promote a break-
fast food shot from guns - bullets.
On June 24 a San Francisco Police in-
telligence sergeant. Ben Lashkoff, told a
Senate committee in Washington that
one of the propaganda devices employed
at the breakfast programs was a Black
Panther Coloring Book, 22 pages of in-
doctrination in hatred and violence.
The book is heavy with encouragement
for children to distrust, to hate, and
even to kill police officers. (See
COMBAT exclusive June 15, 1969.)
After Lashkoffs revelations - which
shocked the nation - sympathizers of
the Panthers jumped to the defense.
None was so eager as Father Eugene J.
Boyle, assistant pastor at Sacred Heart,
who issued a press statement repeating
the Black Panther party line: only a few
copies were printed, and the identity of
those who distributed it at Sacred Heart
is unknown. Father Boyle engaged in
some propagandizing; the books were
printed "for evaluation" only: he hinted
darkly that Larry Powell, a Panther who
has defected and testified before Con-
gress (and now called an agent provoca-
teur by the Panthers), might have been
responsible because he had been work-
ing in the BPP mimeograph room, and
besides, says the priest, the author of
the coloring book "admits that the book
does not conform to the Party policy,
because of its racist overtones."
Father Boyle's excuses cannot wash
away what should be apparent: Printing
25-50 books for "evaluation" will earn
the Panthers a footnote in pubUshing
history - no other publisher engages ui
this waste practice. At the time Larry
Powell worked in the BPP print shop he
was a bona fide Black Panther and did
not defect until, according to his testi-
mony, he was told to commit armed
robberies to help out with BPP finances
(Father Boyle's casual attempt to blame
a defected Panther for Panther mischief
is, in short, scandalous and irresponsi-
ble.) The author of the coloring book,
.Mark Anthony Teemer, is cultural lieu-
tenant of the Sacramento chapter of the
BPP, is a Panther in good standing, and
his coloring book definitely conforms to
the Party policy. Similar drawings by
Teemer have been published in Black
Panther, official BPP newspaper, and
follow the kill-the-cops art style of
Emory Douglas. BPP Minister of Cul-
ture and frequent contributor to Black
Panther. (COMBAT reprinted some of
these illustrations in the Oct. 1, 1968
issue.) If the BPP and Father Boyle
wish to repudiate the BP Coloring Book
at this time they will also have to re-
pudiate the Black Panther newspaper,
which on April 20, 1969 published an-
other Teemer cartoon (see page 4), ob-
viously the approved BPP party line
Readers will note it is similar to the
"cartoons" of the coloring book. Simi-
lar Teemer drawings decorate the June
28 Black Panther.
The Coloring Book is an undistorted
reflection of the whole breakfast pro-
gram, which is nothing more than the
revolutionary indoctrination of children.
The Panthers claim to feed an astro-
nomical number of children every day
(10,000 ui Chicago, 2,000 in Oakland
and San Francisco). More accurately,
the Panthers feed 400-500 children dai-
ly, nationwide, according to a COMBAT
survey.
The wherewithal of Panther gener-
osity - the bacon, eggs, milk, cereal - is
extracted, under not too subtle pressure,
from businessmen. Panthers lounge into
a store - usually a small family-owned
shop - and inform the proprietor how
much he is expected to "donate." One
issue of Black Panther archly com-
mented that fire had destroyed one San
Francisco meat -processing plant that
had failed to contribute. Black Panther
explains another method: "Safeway
stores whose top lieutenant is also in
the drivers seat of Oakland's political
machinery; one fascist Hooper is loosing
anywhere from 15 to 20.000 dollars per
day as a result of the Black Panther
Party's boycotts. It is very insane for
these avaricious fools to refuse to con-
tribute $100 per week to the free
Breakfast for Children Program while
they are loosing so much per day."
Movement, a San Francisco paper close
to the new revolutionary Communist
group. Revolutionary Union, carried an
item in June: "At a lively meeting of
children and some mothers, the Panthers
explained to the children how the power
of the people makes merchants donate
food to the Program. They suggested a
boycott against Safeway .... One little
boy, about seven, shouted out: 'I'll
tell my mama, don't buy. Right on.'
He was clutching a Little Red Book (i.e.,
Quotations from Chairman Mao Tse-
Tung) in one hand. No doubt he did
tell his mother. And so did a lot of
other children. Two weeks later, the
Panthers announced that Safeway began
donating food to the Program."
Panthers record the names and ad-
dresses of the children who come to
their breakfasts, and contact the parents
to ensure that the Panthers are credited
with the largesse, and to propagandize
and recruit the parents.
While the children are fed they are
lectured on "civil rights" by Panthers
(many of whom have criminal records
unrelated to any civil rights activity),
are reminded of Panther philanthropy.
The Los Angeles BPP program began
April 29 at the University Seventh Day
Adventist Church (Rev. Lorenzo Payte,
associate pastor), and a Panther corre-
spondent writes, "The children we feed
now are beautiful and really relate to
the breakfast and to the Party. They
want to know all about Huey, Eldridge.
Bunchy, and John and the Party and its
programs. They wear our buttons and
ask about the paper daily." The Move-
ment quotes their httle chants: "I am
a revolutionary I am a revolutionary.
There's gonna be some barbecue if
Huey's not set free. Power to the
people." The Communist Party's Daily
World, which now devotes almost a page
daily to BPP activity, records the chants
at breakfast at Antioch Baptist Church
in Brooklyn: "All power to the people.
I'm a revolutionary. Who are we? The
little Black Panthers. What do we want?
Free Huey Right on! Free Huey Right
on!" (The reference is to Huey P.
Newton, Panther Minister of Defense,
now serving a prison term for killing a
policeman.)
The Black Panther Coloring Book is
not a police provocation - it is accurate
testimony of current Black Panther Par-
ty poUcies. It could be appropriately
subtitled A Child's Garden of Murder. -
Editors.
Combat, July IS, 1969
Vol. 1, No. 22
UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA
255
BLACK PANTHER PARTY
EXHIBIT V— Continued
THE PIG IS RUNNING AWAY FROM BLACK PEOPLE,
"RUN PIG RUN."
1 f.
1^* c . .
;^«
POUER COMES THROUGH THE BARREL OF A GUN
Giairman Mao Right On ! Last message to children is straight from
Quotations from Chairman Mao Tse-Tung: "Every Communist must
grasp the truth, 'PoIiticaJ power grows out of the barrel of a gun.' '*
The Excuse for This. Father Boyle? Illustration, by coloring book author Mark Anthony Teemer, appeared
in official Black Panther newspaper three weeks before distribution of coloring book in San Francisco. Paper
has circulation over 10,000, is not printed " for evaluation, " is also given to children.
256
UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA
BLACK PANTHER PARTY
EXHIBIT VI
NEWSLETTER
ROBERT F. WILLIAMS, Publisher - IN EXILE -
VOL. 10 - No. 2
SUMMER 1969
^idiA.
(rif «.).
MY BAGS UP TIGHT. COOL IT !
THE DEPRIVED: REBELLION IN THE STREETS
That nation which insists on a society of law and order without
giving prior attention to justice arbitrarily demands submission to
tyranny. Such a government, consequently, must be prepared to
enforce its demands with a precipitous brute force that ultimately
decays and errodes the very pillars on which its security rests. The
more coercion and repressive force a government is inclined to
unjustly use against a sector of its population the wider the area of
conflict will become, until finally it unwittingly succeeds in isolating
UN-AMEKICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA 257
BLACK PANTHER PARTY
EXHIBIT VII
1 Tai Chi Chang
Peking, China
April 25, 1968
California
USA
Dear Brother
Your letter of March 21 has been received, and aff
usual it was good hearing from you. Thanks a million for
the support, I will keep you informed. Things are not
clear enough yet. I am trying to get some other things
arranged so I will know where I stand.
I am glad to know that you are in touoh with Brother Green-
wood, I count him as one of my reliable friends.
The Martin Luther King affair should have really left
no doubt in our people's minds as to where its really "at",
as far as we are concerned. It is a certain thing that the
man is even opposed to moderate and non-violent struggle for
Black rights in the racist U.S.A. King's case offers a
strong arguement for seperation. The situation now calls
for unshakable unity and massive organizational work.
Yours for Black Liberation,
Rob
258 UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIEORNIA
The Brown Berets
The Brown Berets, a militant Mexican youth organi-
zation, was started in 1967 by David Sanchez, Carlos
Montez and Ralph Ramirez under the title of Young
Citizens for Community Action. The name was later
changed to Young Chicanos for Community Action, and
finally to the Brown Berets. For a while, during the early
stages of the organization, it was little more than a group
of young Mexican- Americans determined to improve the
lot of their people and to have some place where they
could meet and discuss their problems. For a short time
they had such a center at Father John Luci's Episcopal
Church of the Epiphany at 2808 Altura Street, Los An-
geles. As the organization attracted more members and
adopted a more militant stance, larger quarters became
necessary and a central office was established at 318 North
Soto Street. Thereafter it moved to 4715 East Olympic
Boulevard, 2641 East Fourth Street, and to 3045 East
Whittier Boulevard in Los Angeles.
While the organization was gathering momentum in
1968, it preferred to hold itself aloof from the other more
obvious Marxist radical groups. When invited to par-
ticipate in the Liberation University courses, David San-
chez stated that while some members might wish to do so,
the Brown Berets as an organization could not partici-
pate because it might alienate much of its broad-based
community support, which, among the Mexican-American
population of Los Angeles, was dominantly conservative.
The headquarters on Soto Street were distinguished by
a bright yellow front and the sign "BrowTi Beret Head-
quarters" prominently displayed. Across the street and
a few doors away was the headquarters of the Mexican-
American Social Service, headed by Delfino Varela, whom
we have heretofore described as the former head of the
Zapapa section of the CPUSA in Los Angeles and who
for many years has been an active figure on its Mexican
Commission. We should mention, also, another organiza-
tion that is now active in California and other Pacific
southwest states, the Southwest Council of La Raza (The
Cause), the jurisdiction of which comprises the states
of Arizona, California, Colorado, New Mexico and Texas.
It is administered by a Board of 26 and its president
is Maclovio Barraza. Mr. Barraza has been identified by
UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA 259
the Subversive Activities Control Board as a member of
the Communist Party, and presides over the Council
which recently received a grant of $1,300,000.00 from the
Ford Foundation. Funds channeled through the Council
for La Raza are intended to be used for the improvement
of the general conditions of the Mexican- American mi-
nority. According to an editorial in the Arizona Daily
Star, "Some Ford Foundation money has been spent in
staging marches designed to stir up Mexican- American
youth, and in financing campaigns against such persons
as Rep. Henry Gonzales of Texas, whose Mexican-Ameri-
can credentials are of the highest order. In other words,
troublemaking and devisiveness, plus efforts to grab eth-
nic-group power have been the aims of those using the
Ford Foundation money." Headquarters for the South-
west Council of La Raza is at Phoenix, Arizona, but its
principal activity is concentrated at Los Angeles, San
Francisco, and Austin, Texas. The operation of this large
and well-financed jDrivate concern, with a Communist at
its head, obviously exerts a powerful influence on the
Mexican-American minority throughout its domain in-
cluding the Brown Berets {Tucson Daily Citizen, March
23, 1960; Arizona Daily Star, March 23, 1970; Subversive
Activities Control Board Proceedings and Records, Doc-
ket No. 125-62.)
The Soto Street headquarters was much like that occu-
pied by La ski : front offices, library, a large meeting room
and gymnasium. But there was no lavish display of Mao-
ist propaganda, with the exception of posters lauding the
late Ernesto Che Guevara and Fidel Castro. The Soto
Street headquarters was occupied for approximately one
year after the creation of the Brown Berets, and about
the time that it commenced its collaboration with most of
the radical front organizations in Southern California,
accepting aid from the Los Angeles Committee for the
Defense of the Bill of Rights, which we have heretofore
described, and operating in particularly close cooperation
with the Black Panthers.
In addition to Che Guevara and Fidel Castro, another
militant Mexican figure has aroused widespread support
among the Berets. He is Reies Lopez Tijerina, who led a
guerrilla band in an assault on the village of Tierra Am-
arilla and the Courthouse in New Mexico in June, 1967.
260 UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA
He had been expelled from Mexico in 1964 because of his
radical activities in that country. Tijerina has made sev-
eral visits to California, and was a featured speaker at a
rally in East Los Angeles College Stadium at an affair
sponsored by the Peace Action Council on October 15,
1967. With him was another prominent Mexican activist,
Rudolf o "Corky" Gonzales, who also spoke.
On November 5, 1967, Gonzales was billed as the feat-
ured speaker at a fund-raising banquet for the Peoples^
World, but approached the rostrum in a somewhat antag-
onistic mood after being compelled to wait for almost
three hours "while other speakers and entertainers glori-
fied the Soviet Union's 50th Anniversary and begged end-
lessly for money to support the Old Left newspaper.'*
{Barraza, Nov. 15, 1967, page 6.)
The speaker declared that while financial support would
be welcomed from the other radical organizations, the
Mexican- American Revolutionary Movement must make
its own decisions and evolve its own ideology. But with
the passing months, and with the appearance of the
Brown Berets, more and more representatives of the
Mexican-American Left appeared at Comunist front
meetings.
On Wednesday evening, August 21, 1968, a special meet-
ing was held in Channing Hall, First Unitarian Church,
Los Angeles, to jDlan a demonstration against the Los
Angeles Police Department. Two members of the BrowTi
Berets attended this affair in uniform. There were 210
people present, and the chairman was Irving Sarnoff.
Among the others present were Rose Chernin, Mike Mc-
Cabe, William Hathaway, Harold Schultz, Nemmy
Sparks, Pierre Mandel, Mike Yueff, Jerry Palmer and
Ron Ridenour.
Two days later a meeting of the Committee on Latin-
American Solidarity was held at the office of the Peace
Action Council, 555 Northwestern Avenue, Los Angeles.
Chairman was Irving Sarnoff, and among those who at-
tended were Rauel Ruiz, Editor of La Baza, recently re-
turned from Cuba. A former priest, Blase Bonpane, who
had been expelled from Guatemala for radical activities,
acted as translator on this occasion.
UN-AJSIERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA 261
Demonstrations
In 1968 the Brown Beret headquarters moved to a new
location at 2641 East Fourth Street, Los Angeles, which
was adjacent to Roosevelt High School. This institution
has an unusually large proportion of Mexican- American
and Negro students, and for the past two years has been
beset with a series of violent demonstrations. The Chicano
Student Neivs, March 15, 1968, featured an account of
high school student walkouts and put the figures at 300
from Wilson High School on March 1, 1968 ; 2000 from
Garfield High School on March 5; 4,500 from Lincoln,
Roosevelt and Garfield High Schools on March 6; 2000
from Garfield and Belmont High Schools on March 7
and 5,000 from Lincoln, Roosevelt and Garfield High
Schools on March 8. Interviews with Principal Alfonso
Perez, at Roosevelt High School, disclosed that the lead-
ers of the demonstrations were members of the Brown
Berets and the Black Student Union.
La Baza for June 7, 1968, carried a statement to the
effect that Mr. Bert Corona, President of the Mexican-
American Political Association in California, announced
that his organization supported the Brov^Ti Berets and
their demands for civilian police review boards and a
guaranteed annual income of $5,000.00 for all Mexican-
American families. Mr. Corona, a former member of the
Board of Directors of the Los Angeles Communist School
with Mrs. LaRue McCormick, Eva Shafran and Leo Gal-
lagher, all identified Communists. He was also a member
of Mrs. McCormick 's Committee for the Defense of Mex-
ican-American Youth in 1942, on which Leo Gallagher
and PhilijD Connelly were also members. The latter, a
Communist, was then President of the California State
CIO, and later became the husband of Dorthy Healey. In
1966 Mr. Corona was a sponsor of the Statemde Con-
ference for New Politics, spearheaded by Robert Scheer.
Other sponsors were Bettina Aptheker, Irving Sarnoff,
James Berland, Farrell Broslawsky, Dale Gronemeier,
Dr. Carlton Goodlett, John Haag, Donald Kalish, Ter-
ence Hallinan and Delfino Varela. {Peoples' World, Octo-
ber 26, 1942; 1947 California Report, page 45; 1967 Cali-
fornia Report, page 111.)
On June 7, 1969, ten defendants were indicted for start-
ing fires in the Los Angeles Biltmore Hotel for the pur-
262 UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA
pose of disrupting Governor Reagan's speech. The inci-
dent had occurred the preceding April and a major dis-
aster was prevented only by the courageous work and
information provided by an undercover agent from the
Los Angeles Police Department,
The attitude of at least a portion of the young Mexican-
American radicals was expressed at a meeting of the
Chicano Youth Students Conference at Denver, Colorado,
which was held from March 27 to 31, 1969, and attended
by 1500 delegates, 143 of whom were from Los Angeles.
Machete, a Los Angeles City College publication issued
by Chicano students, April 15, 1969, quoted from a reso-
lution adopted at the Conference: "We wall have to do
away with our oppressor's entire system of exploitation.
In order to do this we must build a revolutionary organi--
zation which will fight on all levels to improve our condi-
tions here and now, while at the same time seeing the
longer range struggle, which will definitely end a racist
society, exploration, and guarantee our rights."
Trouble at Coacbella
On Sunday, April 5, 1970, the United Farm Workers
Organizing Committee, headed by Cesar Chavez, held a
rally at Coachella. The occasion naturally attracted a
large crowd of sympathizers, and in the evening a dance
was held in the City of Coachella. This community has a
population of approximately 9,000 people, 80% of whom
are of Mexican origin. The majority of them are model
citizens who have no sympathy with the violence and the
revolutionary tactics employed by a minority of young
activists. As the dance progressed, two young men at-
tempted to enter the premises without paying the admis-
sion charge, seized control of the public address system,
and disrupted the otherwise peaceful affair. Those in
charge of the dance asked for police assistance, and when
officers arrived to eject the troublemakers, they appealed
for help to the crowd and the police were attacked. A riot
ensued that involved 400 frenzied people who w^ere hurl-
ing rocks, bottles, fire bombs and breaking windows and
otherwise engaging in all the acts of violence and destruc-
tion that have now become familiar in many of our Cali-
fornia communities.
UN-AMEEICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA 263
Assistance was quickly summoned and officers arrived
from Banning, Indio, Palm Springs, the Highway Patrol
and the Border Patrol. The riot was quelled, but not until
several people were injured, an attempt was made to
burn the house of the Mayor of Coachella and a police
officer, and a sufficient force of officers was available to
prevent further eruptions of violence.
We should point out, in this connection, that Cesar
Chavez was not present at these violent demonstrations
and had no part in them. In our 1967 report we devoted
a large section to an analysis of the United Farm
Workers organization, and while we found it to be in-
filtrated with subversive elements, we did not find it to be
either a Communist front organization or under Com-
munist domination. An agent of the Subconomittee con-
ferred with police officials at Coachella on April 7, 1970,
and received complete assistance and cooperation. Copies
of official police reports were made available, and ad-
ditional corroboration of the foregoing account was ob-
tained from law enforcement officers from some of the
other participating communities.
Organization and Personnel
In 1969 there were 60 chapters of the Brown Berets in
California. Officers of the Los Angeles chapter are also
national officers of the organization, and their names
and official positions are as follows: David Sanchez,
Prime Minister ; Carlos Montez, Minister of Information ;
Ralph Ramirez, Minister of Defense; Eric Mangancilla,
Minister of Education; Gloria Arellanous, Minister of
Finance and Correspondence. The Minister of Security is
*' underground". About 45% of the membership of the
Brown Berets is female, no membership fee is charged,
and applicants have a probationary period of six weeks
during which they are investigated. At the end of that
time, after suitable training and indoctrination, they are
issued a Brown Beret and thereupon become full-fledged
members of the organization.
Until the emergency of militant and revolutionary
Mexican-American minority organizations, the Commu-
nist Party of California paid relatively little attention to
this minority group, but during the last two years has
become much more interested. In Party Affairs, a publi-
264 UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFOENIA
cation of the Communist Party of the United States, 23
West 26th Street, New York, October and November
1968, pages 26-27, we find the following language in the
form of a resolution to be presented to the special Na-
tional Convention, CPUSA, July 4-7, 1968:
*'Up to a few years ago, the national problem of the
conquered Mexican people was almost totally ignored by
the nation as a whole, and our Party shares in this
neglect. As the Mexican people began to develop economi-
cally and politically, however, they have become a strong
force in our national life, and more and more of the
various sections of American society are becoming con-
scious of the existence of this national minority and its
impact upon the American political and economic insti-
tutions.
Our Party has played a constructive role in many of
the important struggles of the Mexican people, but its
role has been extremely limited, as we have shared in
large measure the American ignorance and neglect of the
7J million conquered and colonized people within our
national borders. We must grapple with the problems
of these people in both long range and immediate goals."
An examination of Communist propaganda publications
that have been issued since the foregoing resolution was
adopted, indicates that the Party has moved diligently
to rectify this neglect.
Chinese Red Guards
The Red Guards, a Chinese youth organization operat-
ing out of San Francisco, has a history strikingly parallel
to that of the development of the Brown Berets in Los
Angeles. In 1967 a group of Chinese youths formed an
organization which they called Legitimate Ways and
opened a recreational facility on Jackson Street, in San
Francisco's Chinatown. Jobs were not forthcoming, the
members became dissatisfied with their condition, antici-
pated help from social agencies failed to materialize,
and the Center was subjected to visits from police offi-
cers searching for fugitive criminals. In the meantime
these young Chinese became increasingly militant and
came to admire the activities of the Black Panther or-
ganization with its program of militant and violent de-
fiance of the community. In March 1969, the organization
UN-AMERICA:?^ ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA 265
changed its name to the Red Guards, and opened a head-
quarters at 615 Jackson Street. Patterned after the Black
Panther Party, some of their tenets were taken verbatim
from Black Panther Party publications, and Mao's book
on "Peoples' War" became the ideological text. Members
pf the Red Guards were taught the tactics of violent
revolution, open guerrilla warfare, terrorist acts and the
necessity to overthrow the government of the United
States.
As the influx of young Chinese was vastly accelerated
with the enactment of a 1965 Federal law under which
the immigration quotas were increased, it was discovered
that conditions, at least in San Francisco, were completely
inadequate for the assimilation of this minority group.
As the influx grew, so did the tensions, creating a condi-
tion which is admirably suited to the rapid spread of
Maoist indoctrination, which has indeed been spreading
since the Red Guards opened its Jackson Street head-
quarters.
Red Guard officers in 1965 were as follows: Chairman,
Clifford Tom; Chief of Staff, Alan Fong; Minister of De-.
fense, Ted Kajiwara; Minister of Culture, Wing Quan;
Minister of Education, Alex Hing; Minister of Finance,
William Lew; Minister of Justice, Steve Tookas; Com^
munications Secretary, Christine Fong; Office Secretary,
Maren Mark ; Field Marshals, Marilyn Ng, Sheldon Lee,
Douglas Horn, Deanne Lee, William Lew, Sadie Woo;
Central Committee Members, Leland Woo, Clifford Tom,
Sheldon Lee, Alan Fong, Christine Fong, Alex Hing,
Deanne Lee and Maren Mark. (Conferences and Records,
San Francisco Police Department; Records, U. S. Immi-
gration and Naturalization Service, Washington, D.C.)
The Revolutionary Union
After the appearance of an article by Ed Montgomery
in the March 23, 1967 issue of The San Francisco Exam-
iner, we were deluged with inquiries from gravely con-
cerned citizens. Montgomery's article described a situa-
tion that developed from Maoist study groups in and
around Palo Alto. Originally knowTi as the Red Guards,
the same name subsequently adopted by the Chinese Com-
must group discussed previously, the name was changed
to the Revolutionary Union, and the central office moved
266 UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA
from Palo Alto to Grant Avenue in San Francisco. Its
declared goal was formation of a coalition of the most
radical revolutionary groups dedicated to the violent over-
throw of our government. The all-out date for an armed
uprising was set for 1973.
The Montgomery article, based on interviews with per-
sons who had attended some of the study sessions, asserted
that the organization planned an assassination of political
leaders, advised soldiers to murder their officers, coun-
selled the killing of policemen and their families, the-
release of all prisoners from penal institutions, the de-
liberate provoking of confrontations against law enforce-
ment agencies, and a widespread campaign of terror. The
article specifically mentioned H. Bruce Franklin, asso-
ciate professor of English at Stanford, as a source of
information and an outspoken advocate for the takeover
of Stanford and the University of California.
Some early members of these Maoist study groups were
so startled and disillusioned by the savage and brutal
plans for violence that they reported to the appropriate
state and federal agencies, and we can report that the
organization and its members have been under investiga-
tion ever since.
During the past year Robert Avakian of Berkeley has
spearheaded the Revolutionary Union. He has already
been mentioned as a member of the National Committee
of SDS, and in previous reports has been described as
having been active in Robert Scheer's Statewide Confer-
ence for New Politics and the Community for New Poli-
tics that developed from it. Avakian, one of those arrested
in the invasion of Sproul Hall in December 1964, was a
candidate for election to the Berkeley City Council three
years later. He ran on the Community for New Politics
ticket and received 10,490 votes. (1965 California Report,
page 103; 1967 California Report, pages 98, 111-115, 122;
Communique for New Politics, Oct. and Nov., 1966.)
UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA 267
BROWN BERETS
EXHIBIT I
u/g CALL oiyesctves
VENCEREMOS BRIGADE
SCNATC/e eA^TLANP CALLS t$
"HU/iAN MI55IIF5'
^Kal.^e me Mf^^Aoe we d^\t<A ncMt u^ith u,- is /^ cf\ii
rHe u'/ie ^^A:H/^£ a' Ol/j2 ccc/^'TCy' Z"? THE 5/?/4f.
''niK oeifihiN/vMi Ml RRaiK vkhmh.cim v NoiciKK ifNceetH^r
268 UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFOENIA
BROWN BERETS
EXHIBIT II
Peopli
To S
imes Iga
1
!U
AT
OBREGON PARK
mi 9lh 2:00 P.M.
c^ People's Injunetion s^sinst the POLICE
STOP IHt SHtRlffi »f ^*« ^'' '''«'' *'*"**
Bisf LA. Committee Pet The Oehnse of The Bill ef Kiihts
UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA
BROWN BERETS
EXHIBIT II— Continued
269
EL Tribunal de La Gente
Parar
LOS CRIMINES CONTRA LA RAZA
en
EL PARQUE de OBREGON
[L DOMliO Junio 9th 2:00 p.m.
Un M9ii(l9to de Ls Gente eontf9 LA POUCIA
AITO MH TfsTmeDTo
RIGHT EXTREMIST GROUPS
As the riots, mob demonstrations, destruction and open
declarations of revolution have swept across the state
and nation in recent months, they have provoked conse-
quent reactions. As the Extreme Left has fomented the
insurrections, so the Extreme Right has reacted with
comparable vehemence.
We were quoted in The Black Panther, July 19, 1969,
page 22, as having stated that the National States Rights
Party w^as "more potentially dangerous than any of the
American Nazi groups." This was an entirely accurate
quotation, not taken out of context, and originally ap-
peared in our 1963 Report on page 198. Subsequent events
have given us no reason to change our estimate, although
as shall be seen, the NSRP has considerable declined in
power since that time.
National States' Rights Party
In 1963 we reported on activities of the National States
Rights' Party in California, and gave some information
concerning its national organization and strength. Since
then an investigation of the movement was undertaken
by the Florida Legislature's Investigating Committee,
and its findings were published in July 1964. We were
provided with a copy of that report, and from it we find
that after NSRP was started early in 1958 at Birming-
ham, Alabama, it quickly developed into a racist group,
actively working to prevent integration in the southern
states. "It was created and has been managed," says the
Florida report, "by an amalgamation of leaders formerly
connected with organizations such as the United White
Party, Christian Anti-Jewish Party, Realpolitical Insti-
tutions, various Ku Klux Klans and the Columbians."
In 1965 the White American, a monthly newspaper
carrying vicious racist propaganda, appeared as the offi-
cial NSRP organ. Its address was given as Box 8399,
Ensley Station, Birmingham, and the March 1965 issue
carried an article on page 4 that disclosed the reason
for the split in the organization and its rapid disintegra-
(270)
UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA 271
tion. One of the leaders of the National States Eight
Party, almost from its inception, was a chiropractor.
Dr. Edward R. Fields. He edited the NSRP publications,
was entrusted with the funds, proved a capable organizer,
and on many occasions acted as a spokesman for the
organization. In 1965, however, he was accused of having
diverted funds from the treasury and used them for his
private benefit. The exposure dealt a severe blow to the
organization, emotionally as well as financially. State
Chairmen resigned in Ohio, Montana and Arkansas and
were followed by widespread defections that ravished
the entire membership. In 1965 the NSRP tried to renew
its strength by recruiting ex-members of defunct Klan
units, but the results were disappointing. Another reason
for the swift demise of the organization is due to efficient
FBI work that has resulted in the arrest of members
of the organization for the illegal possession of weapons.
At the present time the National States Right Party in
California is virtually inactive, although a handful of
members have continued their activities through other
and similar organizations.
The Minutemen
The Minutemen was founded in June 1960 by Robert
B. DePugh, who at the time was president of Biolab
Corporation, a pharmaceutical firm dealing largely in
supplies for veterinarians. Headquarters for the organi-
zation was at the home of Mr. DePugh, who resided in
Norborne, Missouri. He was a former member of the
John Birch Society, but as his views and advocacies
proved too militant for the Society, it dropped his name
from its membership rolls, and he thenceforth pursued
his activities through the new organization, which soon
established other chapters throughout the country. De-
Pugh has stated that: "The policy of our organization
is to form, in advance of the actual need, an underground
army to fight an aggressor. So, instead of wasting our
time and effort on something current, we are trying to
advance or look ahead ten years and be prepared to fight
the battles that will be needed then." (Minutemen Docu-
ments and Publication; St. Louis Post-Dispatch, June 22,
1964; St. Louis Glohe-Democrat, June 23, 1694).
There can be no question about the militancy of the
Minutemen. In August 1963, George Joseph King, Jr.,
272 UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA
of Long Beach was arrested after several months of
undercover work on the part of Baldwin Park Police
and Treasury Department Investigators. He was charged
with illegal possession of two automatic pistols, one 30-
caliber carbine, and several thousand rounds of ammu-
nition. He had been attempting to sell machine guns to
police officers, who he thought were prospects for the
Minutemen, an organization to which he was alleged
to have been affiliated. In May 1964 Treasury agents
seized a small arsenal of flame-throwers, machine guns,
a cannon, mortars, aerial bombs, automatic pistols and
ammunition on a farm near Springfield, Illinois. Two
men were arrested, and one of them, Richard Lauchli, a
former paratrooper and leader of the Minutemen, was
held on a $20,000.00 bond. In March 1965 a cache of
370 machine guns was found in a California warehouse
owned by Erquiage Arms Company, and evidence dis-
closed that they had been dealing with the Minutemen
organization. In December 1965 Keith D. Gilbert of
Glendale was charged with participating in the illegal
seizing of 1400 pounds of dynamite from the W. A.
Murphy Company at Sylmar, the police having found
explosives and weapons, together with ammunition and
Minutemen literature at his home. (See Los Angeles
Times, April 13, 1965; December 7, 1965.)
In 1961 Donald T. Alderman, San Diego, was regional
coordinator for the Minutemen in California. He was
succeeded by Troy Haughton who delivered speeches on
behalf of the organization throughout the state. He spoke
on August 14, 1964 under the auspices of an organiza-
tion, apparently ad hoc, called the Southern California
Freedom Councils at Knights of Columbus Hall, Van
Nuys. He also delivered an address at San Jose in April
1965, during which he boasted of armed underground
groups in San Jose, Santa Clara, Sunnyvale and Red-
wood City. He produced no evidence of the existence of
these organizations, however, and no trace of them could
be found despite diligent investigations on the part of
our own agents and law enforcement agencies in the area.
Robert DePugh has often declared that the organization
had approximately 25,000 members, but as yet he has
never offered any real evidence that they are anything
UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA 273
MINUTE MEN
EXHIBIT I
SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
FREEDOM COUNCILS
Proudly Present
A major address by:
TROY HAUGHTON
Western U.S. Coordinator, Minutemen
TOPIC:
WHY THE MINUTEMEN ?
Knights of Columbus Hail August 14, 1964
14450 Valerio Street 8:00 P.M.
Van Nuys, California Donation: $1 .00
For tickets: Poor Richards Bookshop
5403 Hollywood Blvd.
Los Angeles 27, Calif.
or tickets by mail from:
Southern California Freedom Councils
6685 Hollywood Boulevard
Hollywood 28, California
HO h.l'XAl
274
UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA
MINUTE MEN
EXHIBIT II
"MINUTEMEN"
p. O. BOX 68
NORBORNE, MISSOURI
February 25, 1964
Dear Friend:
I greatly appreciated your letters of Febraary 18th, 20th
and 2l8t. Also appreciated was the additional material and intelligence
data.
1 know that you realize from personal experience how difficult
it is to operate efficiently with a continuous shortage of help and
shortage of money.
Considering the difficulties we face, it would be a real
accomplishment if all the people that think the way we do could, by
close cooperation, develop a single headquarters that was really
well equipped and well staffed. For individual groups here and there
to do so is almost impossible.
It's my firm belief that we have made the greatest progress
toward this end of the many groups which are attempting to do so.
Its seems that the most efficient way of accon^lishing an efficient
central headquarters would be for other groups such as your own to
heip us succeed and thus receive the natural benefits of national
coordination and efficiency. Your offer to make AVAC a Minutemen front
is not only generous but sensible as well.
One of our biggest difficulties stems from the fact that we
are all individualists and we have difficulty subordinating our respective
schemes to an overall plan. Actually, it is not necessary to do this
entirely in order to achieve the benefits of really close coordination.
In California we do have a large organization and in this regard
Troy has done a good Job. The difficulty here is that his groups is a
constant drain on the national organization financially without contri-
buting in any tangible way. Whereas most of us earn our livings in some
other manner and use the total income from the organization to further
its goals, Troy works at it full time and must of necessity take out
enough money for he and his family to live on. He is so anxious to
build his local organization that he sends out more material to his
members than we can afford to nationally. Much of this material is
contributed by the national organization and we don't even get back
the cost of the paper.
WE WILL NEVER SURRENDER
UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA 275
more than essentially a paper organization with just
enough followers over the country that they can occa-
sionally make a headline somewhere, usually because of
their preoccupation with the weapons of war. {Los An-
geles Times, April 13, 1965.)
In 1967 Robert DePugh, Walter P. Peyson and Troy
Haughton were arrested and charged with violating the
Federal Firearms Act. DePugh was sentenced to serve
two years in Federal Prison, and was given five years
probation; Walter P. Peyson was sentenced to three
years with three years probation, and Troy Haughton
was sentenced to three years with no probation. All were
released after having received their sentences in the
United States District Court at Kansas City, Missouri,
on $5,000.00 bond each, which deprived the organization
of its leadership and dealt it a shattering blow from
which it has not yet recovered. The membership has
scattered and like members of the National States Right
Party, affiliated with other and similar organizations.
American Nazi Party
Formed by George Lincoln Rockwell and four aides in
1959, this racist, activist movement set up a headquarters
at Arlington, Virginia. Under Rockwell's guidance and
because of his driving energy, it attracted young men who
were drilled, armed, uniformed and sent out on parades
and assignments against Negroes, Jews and Conmiunists.
This, in essence, was the creed of the American Nazi
Party — hatred for racial minorities and an ambition to
foster a white racist society in the United States. The
magnetic personality of Rockwell lent itself well to his
position as Fuehrer of this Party. He usually smoked a
corncob pipe and his jut- jawed pictures inspired confi-
dence in his strength and determination.
In our 1963 report w^e described the minor disturbances
caused by some California members of the American Nazi
Party at various meetings. But on the whole there was
much more swaggering than action. The entire organiza-
tion never amounted to more than a few hundred through-
out the country, and no more than a hundred at the peak
•of its activity in California. The enrollment varied, of
course, from time to time as money and enthusiasm fluc-
tuated.
276 UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA
The publications and propaganda issued by the Ameri-
can Nazi Party carried, and still carry, the usual racist
propaganda presented in an extremely lurid fashion. In
1967 the movement issued a slick magazine, lavishly illu-
strated and called the Storm Trooper Magazine. Printed
on good paper, issued from Arlington, Virginia, this mag-
azine appeared monthly and sold for 50 cents a copy or
$2.00 a year. The lead piece in each issue was inevitably
headed: "From the desk of the Commander," under a
photograph of Rockwell in the upper right-hand corner
of the page. The issue for summer 1967 carried the ad-
dresses of local units called "Storm Troops," as follows:
Box 3980, Dallas, Texas; 4375 North Peck Road, El
Monte, California; Box 5066, San Francisco, California;
1314 West Ohio Street, Chicago ; 6150 Wilson Boulevard,
Arlington, Virginia ; Box 1363, Boston ; Box 986, Oakland
and Box 215^, Route 3, Spottsylvania, Virginia."
There were some exceptions to the usually peaceful ac-
tivities of the Nazi Party. During the 1967 Peace demon-
strations in Oakland and San Francisco, units of the
organization led by Rockwell, who made a special trip to
the West Coast for the purpose, snatched at Viet Cong
flags and engaged in trading punches with some of the
demonstrators.
In August 1967 Rockwell was assassinated. His mur-
derer, a former member of the organization named John
Patler, was arrested, convicted and is now serving 20
years in the penitentiary. After the leader's death there
was the inevitable rivalry for his position among several
officers. But the struggle was unsettled until great
breaches were driven through the group by cliques and
desertions. In the columns of the official club publications,
Action Magazine and the newspaper Attack, the power
plays were reported in some detail — but the truth lies in
reports from former members and from covert agents
who managed to penetrate the organization.
In January 1969 a temporary headquarters was set up
in California under the care of Allen Vincent at 227i
North Western Avenue, Los Angeles. Shortly before that
time it had been situated at 4375 North Peck Road, El
Monte. Even before Rockwell's murder there had been
some abortive efforts to replace him. William E. Pattison
of Van Nuys made the attempt in 1963, after having been
UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA 277
a member of the organization for three years. At that
time Pattison estimated the California enrollment as 700,
but 100 would have been nearer the mark. After Rock-
well's death and because of the leadership struggle, which
has not yet been settled, resignations and factionalism
have withered the ranks almost to the vanishing point.
Mattias Koehl, Jr., now about 35, was second in com-
mand, and naturally assumed the leadership position
after Rockwell's death. Ralph Forbes was in charge of
the California organization, and his position was also
coveted by others — and at the same time there was a drive
to unseat Koehl by Dr. James K. Warner of California,
who sent a form letter to the members and signed him-
self "White Power! Dr. James K. Warner, National
Leader." Warner declared on page 4 of his letter that
*4n view of the incompetent leadership of the National
Socialist White Peoples' Party, I, Dr. James K. Warner,
assumed by popular Nazi acclaim the leadership of the
American Nazi Party. ' ' He then preceeded to appoint the
following officers: Allen Vincent, Deputy Leader and
National Storm Troop Leader; George Carpenter, Storm
Troop Leader from Southern California and National
Secretary; Don Musgrove, Storm Troop Leader for
Northern California; Don Anderson, Leader of State
Security ; Dick Norris, Deputy Leader of State Security ;
Paul Tronvig, Assistant Deputy Leader of State Secu-
rity; Bart West, National Organizer; Bill Cummings,
Secretary of Labor; Don Sisco, Party Spokesman, and
Dave Lea, Party Treasurer.
As we shall shortly see, the preoccupation of security
was of little avail, due in part to the carelessness that at-
tended the operation of the California unit of the party,
and perhaps in greater measure to the resourcefulness of
the Subcommittee agent who visited the headquarters at
227J North Western Avenue after the Warner takeover.
He found the California office to be situated in a two
story white wooden structure, occupied by Mr. and Mrs.
George Carpenter. The walls of the combined dining and
living room were draped with Nazi flags, swastika ban-
ners and Nazi posters. There w^ere abundant supplies of
Nazi Party literature available, some which is repro-
duced heremth. Mrs. Carpenter bitterly attacked Ralph
Forbes and Koehl, stating that the main ''troop Bay," as
278 UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA
she termed it, was at James Warner's Glendale residence.
Four male members of the Party were living at the Car-
penter residence, Cummings, Vincent, Carpenter and an
anonymous young man who lay on the floor sleeping
throughout the entire interview and who was not, there-
fore, subject to recognition. On Tuesday, January 16,
1969 the Carpenters moved to a new address at the corner
of Effie and Bates Street, Los Angeles.
The American Nazi meetings are usually held on Fri-
day evenings at 8:00 P.M. at the Party headquarters or
at one of the members' residences. Dues are $3.00 per
month for adults, $2.00 for students and the membership
fee is $5.00 per year. The membership is still pursuing
its internal battles, which are as vigorous as its clashes
with the minority groups and Communists it detests.
UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA 279
AMERICAN NAZI PARTY
EXHIBIT I
GEORGE LINCOLN ROCKWELL
January 11, 1965
Brigade Commander
La Puente, California
Dear Mr. ■■■M
Thank you so much for your long and most interesting letter of
30 December.
I heartily agree with much of wimt you say. However, I must point
out that the biggest problem our country faces is LACK OF COURAGE!
Most people who are aware of the Jewish situation feel that they are
"just too powerful" and that any effort to oppose them in the open is doomed
to failure.
For this reason, it is my opinion that the most necessary thing is to
defy the bastards in the wide open, to spit in their eyes and generally to
make fools of them at every opportunity.
In combat, in World War II and Korea, I learned that people who will
fight and are brave, will still not get up and go by themselves. You have
to get up in front of them and give an heroic example to get them STARTED.
That, in my opinion, is our major problem.
The country is full of "patriots" who want to do everything else in the
world except get out there where they might get "shot".
Perhaps I am wrong, but I believe that I must spend every ounce of
my energy in heroic "charging" at the enemy, until the myth of Jewish
invincibility is smashed to pieces.
In my opinion, the proliferation of organizations and leaders who preach
"silent" and "secret" operations is a deadly danger, because it reinforces the
myth of Jewish invincibility.
OMMANDER AMERICAN NAZI PARTY 921 NORTH RANDOLPH STREET ARLINGTON VIRGIN!*
280 UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA
AMERICAN NAZI PARTY
EXHIBIT I— Continued
At the same time, I heartily agree that we need a sort of "under-
ground" party.
Perhaps you and/or your associates are the men to lead such a
movement.
There are several points in your letter with which I strongly disagree,
but it would be impractical, and impossible, under the pressure I face
here, to take them up in writing.
I suggest you visit me here, if possible, or I shall try to see you next
time I get out to the West Coast.
In the mean time, if you are as sincere and dedicated as your letter
would indicate, I suggest that you have somebody make secret contacts
with Captain Forbes out there, in spite of any faults you may see, and
help those poor bastards to the limit of your ability. They are really
suffering and hard-pressed. They need help, not advice or criticism at
this point.
If you know anyway to help them, for God's sake do so. When I get
out there, I look forward to meeting you.
Until then,
Foryt-ace
Lincoln Rockwell, Commander
American Nazi Party
LR/bvg
UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA 281
AMERICAN NAZI PARTY
EXHIBIT II
AMERICAN
NAZIPARIY
Phone: 462-0207
Tsaporary address: January 1968
c/o Major Allen Vincent
227% N. Western ATeoue
Los Angeles, Calif. 90004
Fellow National Socialist:
The question before us today is this: Is the American Nazi
Party going to win power in America, or is it just a game for a
gang of overgrown children and petty Napoleons?
For the last few years the leadership of the ANP on the West
Coast has been In the hands of incompetant individuals who have
found the Party a profitable venture for selfish gain, a means of
existing without working, and a way to express their illusions of
grandeur. Those who have tried to build the Party have run into in-
surmountable obstacles thrown up by those who enjoy and profit by
this miserable travesty on true National Socialism.
When the Party was launched in 1959, I was one of the five
original members, and have been credited by Commander Rockwell with
being the one Individual who gave the Commander the encouragement
to go ahead with organizing the American Nazi Party. In the Comman-
der's words:
"Just about as I regained 'consciousness', James Warner, the
young man who sent the Nazi flag, was discharged from the Airforce
for his Nazi sympathies, and appeared at Louis' house ready to do
what he could to advance Nazism.
"The fact that this young kid was ready to devote his life
to our cause and to my leadership was the shock I needed to snap
out of depression." (page 342, This Time the World).
I worked with Commander Rockwell through bad times and good,
sharing his hardships, and fighting along beside him in the street.
Later, because of political immaturity and lack of political know-
ledge, I broke with the Party, thinking that I had better ideas
than the Commander. I did a lot of stupid, irresponsible rotten
things that hurt the Party. However, the Commander and I came to
terms in 1965, and the Commander wrote: "I am in hopes that by show-
ing that Warner and I have been able to come to terms and, although
he is not in the Party. ..we stand together against the enemy, after
years of bitter sind brutal quarrelling." (Rockwell Report, Feb.,
1965).
In August, 1967, I was mainly responsible for organizing
transportation for the Nazi Motorcycle Corps for the famous street
action on August 6th, which made headlines nationwide.
The California "leader" (Ralph Forbes) was so engrossed with
"family considerations," or so he claimed, that he just couldn't
find the time, or the money in his treasury (his wife was his treas-
urer and wrote and kept all the records) to bring the men from Oak-
land to Los Angeles o Although not being a Party member, I did work
282 UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA
AMERICAN NAZI PARTY
EXHIBIT III
SMASH THE
REVOLUTION!
Issued 3^ The
NATIONALIST UNDERGROUND MOVS'Ei:
UNIVERSITIES
No useful purpose would be served by setting forth
here the sickening recital of incidents of violence, de-
struction and disruption that has befallen our schools
and colleges since the Berkeley rebellion of 1964. That
account has been unfolded by news outlets day by day.
With the rise of the New Left and the resurgence of
the Old Left, and the mass agitation and propaganda ac-
tivity among our racial minorities and students, the re-
bellion continues to grow. Years ago, shortly after the
Berkeley revolt, the late Lucius Beebe wrote that under
conditions then existing at Berkeley, the faculty con-
sidered it an unusual day unless students staged a demon-
stration with tanks and flame throw^ers. But there were
no buildings blown up in 1964, no violent attacks on ad-
ministrators, and it was not considered proper for pro-
fessors to indoctrinate their captive audiences with their
own radical concepts. It was considered that these state-
supported educational institutions were places for stu-
dents to get an education, not indoctrination; where
academic freedom was used as a protection against devia-
tions from objective teaching, and not as a thin excuse
for indoctrination. Before 1964 our schools were not al-
lowed the indulgence of extra-curricular programs of
on-campus harangues by the apostles of revolution, pro-
vided with public address systems and other facilities at
the expense of taxpayers whose government they were at-
tacking.
It would be difficult indeed to imagine organizations of
students more open in their advocacy of the violent de-
struction of our way of life than Students for a Demo-
cratic Society, Progressive Labor Party, or the Young
Socialist Alliance. Yet we witness the ridiculous spectacle
of timid administrators granting official campus recog-
nition to these defiant groups that surge out to wreak
incalculable injury to our society.
There should be no resistance to proper academic
changes. No doubt many are long overdue, but they are
not achieved through destruction and violence. If there
(283)
284 UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA
are serious defects in our educational system, they should
obviously be remedied, but in the meantime to tolerate a
continuation of this contempt for authority, this program
of studied violence and anarchy, is permitting it to do far
more than destroy our buildings and injuring our people.
It is also making us calloused to violence, tolerant of
defiance, of classroom indoctrination and apprehensive of
invading the sensitivity of radical elements in our schools.
The sordid story of professors teaching by parading
naked men and women before their classes, and of a stu-
dent completing his Masters Degree requirements by
making human statues engaging in acts of perversion
should require no comment on our part. It is, of course,
an indictment of our system of education and the people
to whom it has been entrusted.
Our agents leave many campuses in disgust at the
blatant revolutionary propaganda that has been allowed
to permeate the atmosphere. In their conferences with
security officers on campuses of State Colleges and our
State IJniversity, they have discovered that many of the
officers do not know one front organization from another,
are provided with no system of inter-communication with
facilities at other campuses, and are outrageously under-
staffed. The intimidation of administrators at many cam-
puses is obvious, with the result that a great majority of
students — unorganized and inarticulate — are being ham-
pered in their pursuit of an education and forced to suif er
continual disruptions that emanate from the highly orga-
nized and disciplined radical minority.
The Cleaver Course
An example of the dishonesty existing in some of our
institutions was found at the Berkeley campus where,
after considerable controversy, the Regents allowed El-
dridge Cleaver to teach a course designated as Social
Analysis 139-X, but without credit being given to the
students who took it. Professor Sampson, of the Psychol-
ogy Department, advised the 139-X students, however,
that by a subterfuge and with his cooperation, they could
evade the rule by enrolling in his class, 198, and receive
credit for work done in the Cleaver course. He then
molded and altered 198 to fit the situation by enrolling
lower division students in this upper division course, by
TJN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN" CALIFORNIA 285
admitting 34 students instead of a previous high of 6,
by assigning letter grades instead of pass-fail grades and
by conducting it as an independent study course.
After the 139-X students had followed this device, they
were denied credit for 198 and immediately brought an
action in the Alameda County Superior Court to force the
University to give them credits. One student received a B
plus and all the others received A's in the 198 course, but
the Recorder's Office, following the Regents Mandate,
refused to issue the credits officially. The petition was
denied by the Court who resolved the case in favor of the
Regents, and the decision declared that it had been Pro-
fessor Sampson's practice to give credit in his courses
for papers prepared for and credited in other courses.
Indeed, some of the papers written in connection with the
Cleaver course actually ante-dated the commencement
course of 198. Said the Court: "If this practice was in
fact limited to 139-X, vis-a-vis 198, the correctness of
respondent's (The Regents) position would need little or
no additional proof. On the other hand if such an incredi-
ble practice is on-going, it would seem to deserve close
scrutiny by the University administration." (Memoran-
dum of Decision, Case No. 391, 912, Superior Court,
Alameda County, January 7, 1970.)
Bettina Aptheker Article
Bettina Aptheker wrote an article entitled ''The
Student Rebellion" that appeared in the March and
April 1969 issues of Political Affairs. We have pre-
viously described this monthly magazine as the official
ideological publication of the National Committee of the
CPUSA, of which Bettina Aptheker is a member. Since
Part II of this article deals with campus rebellions since
1964 as seen through the eyes of the Communist Party,
and describes the leadership role to which it aspires,
we have quoted from the article as follows:
"There were two decisive events in 1964, which
marked the first watershed for the movement. The
first was at the Democratic Party National Conven-
tion in Atlantic City in the late summer of 1964.
The second was the Berkeley Free Speech Move-
ment in the Fall of 1964. This was the first mass
286 UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA
uprising on a college campus. It came as a direct
result of the Civil Rights activities of the students
the previous Spring. These two events exposed the
corruption and degeneracy of established institu-
tions to a very large niunber of people: the former,
the character of the Democratic Party; the latter,
the nature of the University and the class character
of its governing board. It is at this juncture that
many in the student movement concluded that radical
change is a necessity if American Society is to deal
with the crises it had apparently created."
*******
"The growing obsession wdth tactics leads to a
growing fascination with violence: an attempt to
create a revolutionary atmosphere in lieu of a revo-
lutionary situation. My first difference here is to
assume the identity of revolution and violence. The
second difference is that I think it romanticizes and
distorts the revolutionary process. This is clearly
illustrated by a series of demonstrations in Berkeley
in June, 1968. A street rally w^s called in support
of the French workers and students. The rally or-
ganizers deliberately refused to obtain a police per-
mit for the rally in expectation of creating a student-
police confrontation, in the attempt to transpose
Paris to Berkeley. Of course the police invaded
the rally. Barricades were set up and were set afire,
etc., etc. Superficially, the newspaper pictures from
Berkeley appeared identical with those from Paris,
but no one can seriously contend that Berkeley was
on the verge of revolution.
These kinds of tactics are extremely dangerous.
One cannot 'play' with revolution. It is a serious
business and the ruling class uses every mistake,
every adventurous act, every ultra-Left binge as a
whip to beat back the movement. Such acts play into
the hands of the ruling class. Their lack of rational
purpose isolates the Left from masses of people.'*
*******
"The Student Rebellion is a tremendously impor-
tant event in the historical development of a revolu-
tionary movement, both because of the contemporary
UN-AMEEICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA 287
character of American higher education, and because
of the astounding ideological advancements of the
students themselves. The New Left has shown a
rare astuteness in its ability to draw upon experience,
a fresh courage to break with clearly inadequate or
incorrect theory, a steady dedication to build a move-
ment capable of revolution.
At this moment there is an urgent need for ideo-
logical and political leadership in the Communist
Party and from a Marxist-Leninist Youth organi-
zation." (Political Affairs, April, 1969, "The Stu-
dent Rebellion, Part 2," by Bettina Aptheker. Page
12 at pages 13, 19, 23, 59.)
Dominant Role of Communist Party
With the rise of the New Left organizations there
was a tendency for this new crop of young revolutionaries
to ridicule the CPUSA as old, tired, and impotent. But
it was also patient, experienced, disciplined and a part
of a magnificently organized world movement. It had
an ideology, and the younger groups had very little
except a touch of Marxian philosophy, and a fanatic
dedication to a Maoist do-it-yourself destruction mania.
Then came the inevitable splits, with these young people
spending hours arguing about matters of approach, tech-
nique, united and popular fronts, all of which the Com-
munists had gone through years before. And while the
New Left groups were fragmenting, split with factions
and jealousies, power drives and competition with each
other, the CPUSA was quietly infiltrating each, and
either demolishing it from within through provocateur
action, or bending it to the will of the Party.
Thus it infiltrated and split SDS until the remaining
organization is actually playing the Communist game by
serving as shock troops. The Black Panther Party, deci-
mated by death and imprisonment, was barely afloat when
new life was pumped into it by the Friends of the
Panthers, a Communist front, new legal talent was drawn
from the familiar pool of lawyers specializing in such
cases, and bail money provided by other Communist
fronts. And the Black Panthers also played the Commu-
nist game by taking the gunfire while their sponsors
remained in the background giving advice. The Progres-
288 UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA
sive Labor Party, that little vicious group too radical
for the CPUS A, has been split and reduced to a position
of impotence in accord with the CPUSA line that we
have heretofore described.
As J. Edgar Hoover said, the Party would like nothing
better than to have us believe that it is both weak and
inactive, but a writer well-versed in Communist strate-
gies has written:
"Wherever there has been a vacuum in radical move-
ments in the 20th Century, Marxism has filled that vac-
uum ideologically, and the Conmiimist Party has filled it
organizationally." ("The Communist Party and the New
Left," by Frank S. Meyer. National Review, February
27, 1968, page 191.")
UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA 289
UNIVERSITIES
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INDEX
Abdurakhman, Antorkha-
nov, 125
Abele, Lester, 120
Abolition News, 94
Abt, John J., 103
Academy of Scientists of
Czechoslovakian Party,
154
Action Magazine, 276
Age of Treason, 22
Agitator, 49
Air France, 185
Alameda County Superior
Court, 285 '
Albert, Stu, 238
Alderman, Donald T., 272
Alexander, Franklin, 82
Alexander, Hursel, 49
Alexander, Kendra, 83, 136
Alexander, Roberta, 239
Allen, Charles R., 71
Allen, Donna, 95, 100, 102,
103, 106
Allen, Prof. Russell, 95
Alliance for Labor Action,
166
All-India Student and
Youth Federation, 126
Alvarado, Roger, 239
Amalgamated Meat Cutters
and Butcher Workman,
96, 104
American Civil Liberties
Union, 96, 97, 98. 99,
106, 108, 221
American Committee for
Protection of Foreign
Born, 67
American Communications
Association, 162
American Federation of La-
bor, 162, 163
American Federation of
State, County and Mu-
nicipal Employees, 222
American Federation of
Teachers, 95, 96, 101,
122
American Friends Service
Committee, 20, 34, 107
American Independent
Party, 57
American Mental Health
Professionals Acting
for Peace, 20
American Nazi Party, 11,
56, 72, 109, 110, 275,
276, 277, 278, 279, 280,
281, 282
American Newspaper Guild,
163
American Opinion, 33, 36
American Peace Crusade,
18, 22
American Peace Mobiliza-
tion, 18
American Socialist Party,
216
American University, 95,
108
American Youth for Democ-
racy, 19, 23
Amherst College, 118
Anastasia, Lynda, 105
Anderson, Don, 277
Anglin, Frank A., Jr., 95
Anti HUAC Committee, 99
Applehaus, Linda, 32
Approaching Crisis of the
Campus, 9
Aptheker, Bettina, 47, 79,
89, 131, 182, 183, 239,
261, 285
Aptheker, Herbert, 77, 78,
89, 148, 167, 239, 241
Arellanous, Gloria, 263
Arizona Daily Star, 259
Assembly of Men and
Women in the Arts
Concerned with Viet-
nam, 20
Associated Students, of So-
cial Welfare, Univer-
sity of California, 89
Atcheson, Dean, 123
Attack, 276
Avaklan, Robert, 43, 44, 46,
207, 240, 266
Ayres, William, 207, 211
B
Baefsky, Leo, 83
Baird, Rev. William, 95
Banco de Mexico, 184
Banks, Shermont, 220
Barnard, Harry, 93
Barraza, Maclovio, 257
Basmanor, A., 223
Bauers, Louise, 103
Beagle, Simon, 95
Bedacht, Max, 140, 141
Beebe, Lucius, 283
Bela, Rick, 106
Belton, Bernice, 95, 103
Beltram, Elsie, 100
Beltram, William, 100
Benedict, Corky, 207
Berendo Junior High School
15
Berkeley Barb, 48
Berkeley Campus Mobiliza-
tion Committee, 48
Berkeley City Council, 266
Berkeley Community
YWCA, 89
Berkeley Gazette, 221
Berland, James. 92, 237,
261
Berman, Prof. Daniel Sr.,
95
Berman, Jack, 89
Bernstein, Barbara, 95, 105
Barraza, 260
Bessie, Alvah, 71
Bessie, Daniel, 82, 84
Beverly Hills Peace and
Freedom Club, 54
Bishop, Cameron David
211
Black, Candie, 105
Black, Carolyn, 136
Black Guard, 243
Black Liberation Commis-
sion, 186
Black Panthers and Black
Panther Party. See
also Friends of the
Black Panthers, 9, 31,
,32, 33, 34, 35, 48. 49.
'50, 51, 53, 56, 132, 137,
172, 206, 207, 208, 220,
231, 232, 233, 234, 235,
236, 237, 238, 239, 240,
241, 242, 243, 246, 247,
248, 249, 250, 251, 252,
253, 254. 255. 256, 257,
259, 264. 265. 287
Black Panther, The, 9. 10,
237, 270
Black Students Union, 199,
246, 261
Bloice, Carl, 46
Bloomfield, Barbara, 95, 100
Boggio, James, 16
Bolivian University Federa-
tion, 126
Bond, James, 135
Bond, Yvonnje Marie, 182.
183." 184, 185
Bonpane, Fr. Blase. 32. 260
Bontelle, Paul, 220
Booker, H. H., 95
Borawies. John. 120
Borough, Reuben, 68. 70
Bouden, Kathy, 211
Boyer, Professor Raymond,
32
Boyle, Rev. Eugene, 240
Braden, Anne, 100, 102, 103.
Ill
Braden. Carl, 32, 93, 95,
100, 105, 111
Braden, Emily, 32
Brandt, Joe, 111
Brezhnev, Leonid, 130
Brezhnev Report to Central
Committee, 130
Brlttin, Barbara, 71, 235,
236, 237, 241
Brittin, Charles, 71, 83, 235.
237 241
Britton,' Joel, 36, 71. 220,
241
Broadhurst, Prof. Francis,
95
Bronstein, Lev Davidovich
(Leon Trotsky), 216
Browder, Earl, 119, 125
Brown, Archie, 148, 2 40
Brown Berets, 258, 259, 260,
261, 263, 264, 267. 268.
269
.Brown. Elaine. 236, 237-.
240
Brown. Gov. Edmund G..
101
Brown, H. Rap, 14, 43
Brown, Rep. George, Jr., 57
Broslawsky, Prof. Farrel,
43, 44, 46, 47, 50, 71.
83. 92, 261
Bryson, Hugh, 46
Buchanan, Chris, 105
Buchanan, Prof. Franklin,
105
Buchbinder, Prof. Howard,
96
Budapest Conference of
Communist Parties, 31
Buehrer, Rev. Edwin T., 96
Bundas, George, 120
Burford, James, 89
Burns, Senator Hugh M., 5
Burnstein, Malcolm, 44, 46
Bye, Michael, 83
Byrd, Joseph. 79. 82
Cadena. Galdino Guzman,
34
California Democratic
Council, 89
California Department of
Criminal Identification
and Investigation, 12
(291)
292
INDEX
California Joint Fact-Find-
ing Committee on Un-
American Activities.
See also California Re-
ports, 4
California Federation of
Young Democrats, 20
Californians for Liberal Re-
presentation, 20
California L.abor School, 77
California Reports Un-
American Activities
Subcommittee
1948 — 18, 19, 67
1953—81, 100, 101
1955—69
1957 — 216, 270
1963—30, 275
1965—26, 135, 177, 239,
267
1967 — 266
1970—4
California State Bar Asso-
ciation, 22
California State College at
Hay ward, 79
California State College at
Los Angeles, 220
California State Peace and
Freedom Club, 54
California State Polytech-
nic College, 140
California subcommittees
on Un-American Ac-
tivities, California Sen-
ate. See also California
Reports, 1, 4, 5, 6, 9,
94, 139, 185
Calvert, Greg, 200
Camejo, Antonio, 221, 222
Camejo, Peter, 221, 222, 223
Cannon, James P., 217
Canoga Park — Chatsworth
Peace and Freedom
Club, 54
Carey, Edward, 96
Carmichael, Stokeley, 43
Carpenter, George, 277, 278
Carrico, Jim, 181
Carver Junior High School,
199
Castro, Fidel, 168, 177, 218,
259
"Cause, The," 258
Center for the study of
Democratic Institutions,
52, 80, 84
Central Intelligence Agency,
124, 210, 246
Challenge, 181, 182, 185,
186, 189, 190
Chandra, Romesh, 31
Charous, Loren, 221
Chavez, Andy, 240
Chavez, Cesar, 27, 32, 142,
144, 145, 262, 263
Chechen Region Party
Committee, 126
Checkoss, Steve, 181
Chernin, Rose. See also
Kusnitz, Rose, Chernin,
29. 30, 53, 56, 68, 69,
70, 71, 83. 89, 92, 103,
108, 148, 235, 260
Chiang-Kai-shek, 169
Chicago Anti-Draft Resist-
ance, 16
Chicago Committee to De-
fend the Bill of Rights,
93, 95, 96, 97, 98, 99,
104, 105
Chicago Federal Grand
Jury, 19 8
Chicago Federation, Union
of American Hebrew
Congregations, 104
Chicago Peace Council, 97
Chicago Seven, 240
Chicago Tribune, 167
Chicano Student News, 261
Chicano Youth Students
Conference, 262
China News Service, 188
CIO, 162, 163, 261
Citizens Committee for
Constitutional Liberties,
71
Citizens Committee to Pre-
serve American Free-
doms, 11, 22, 83, 89, 90,
91, 92, 100, 139
Civil Rights Congress, 11,
111
Chrisman, Michael S., 96
Christian Anti-Jewish Par-
ty, 270
Claremont Courier, 47
Clark, Judy, 211
Clark, Tom, 67
Cleaver, Eldridge, 31, 51,
53, 71, 231, 232, 238,
284, 285
Cleaver, Kathleen, 238
Clergy and Layman, con-
cerned about Vietnam,
20
Clevelanders for Constitu-
tional Freedomr 96, 97,
98, 99
Coalition of Teachers and
Struggle Committees of
Mexico, 126
Coe, Lee, 184
Cogen, Charles, 96
Cogen, Tess, 96
Cohelan, Congressman Jef-
frey, 46
Cohen, Barry, 136
Cohen, Jerome, 132
Cohen, Milton, 96, 104
Cohn-Bendit, Danill, 201
College of Emporia Com-
mittee to Abolish HU-
AC, 95
Columbia University, 202,
207. 211
Columbians, 270
Columbus Committee to De-
fend the Bill of Rights,
105
Combat, 136, 207
Comfort, Mark, 43
Committee Council for Op-
position to the War in
Vietnam, 20
Committee for Defense of
American Youth, 261
Committee for Defense of
the Bill of Rights. See
also Los Angeles and
Chicago Listing, 66. 67,
68. 69, 72, 73, 74, 75,
76, 108
Committee for New Poli-
tics, 45
Committee for Sane Nuclear
Policy, 99
Committee on Latin Amer-
ican Solidarity, 260
Committee to Abolish HU-
AC. See National Com-
mittee to Abolish HU-
AC
Communique for New Poli-
tics, 266
Communism, and Christian-
ity, 160
Communist Controversy in
Washington, 118
Communist International, 34
Communist Manifesto, 10
Communist Party
Brazil, 191
Burma, 191
California, 9, 11, 15, IT",
23, 24, 29, 30, 44, 80,
82, 83, 110, 135. 136.
141, 142, 143, 144, 146.
149, 150, 151, 152, 153.
156, 157, 158, 161, 183,
185, 233, 242
Chile, 191
Chinese, 191
Cuban, 178, 183
Czech, 157
France, 159, 191, 216, 222,
223
Great Britain, 224
International, 14, 25, 29,
35, 67, 69, 81. 82, 117,
124, 125, 148, 149, 154,
155, 156, 157, 160, 180,
216 229
Maoist, 50, 81, 83, 121.
122, 135, 168, 171, 176,
177, 178, 182, 187, 188,
191, 208. 218, 224, 233,
234, 238, 241. 242. 247.
259, 265, 266
Mexico, 144, 145
National Committee. 45.
110, 157
New York, 157
North Korean, 18
North Vietnam, 18, 56
Soviet Union, 118, 119.
120, 130, 133, 149, 150.
151, 155, 160, 173, 178,
216, 218, 220. 222
Stalinist, 108, 180. 218
Trotskyist. 11, 13, 14, 20,
25, 27, 28, 32, 36, 50,
51, 69, 70, 79, 80, 81,
108, 172, 176, 179, 191,
195, 208. 217, 218. 220.
222, 223, 224, 238, 241
United States, 11, 13, 14,
17, 19, 20, 22, 23, 25,
27, 29, 30, 37, 43, 44,
46, 49, 52, 53, 55, 58,
67. 68, 69, 70, 71, 77,
83, 88, 86, 105, 110,
111, 116, 117, 118, 119,
120, 121, 122, 123, 124,
126, 128, 129, 131, 132,
134, 135, 136, 137, 138,
139, 140, 142, 144, 145,
148. 151, 152, 156, 157,
158, 160, 162, 163, 164,
165, 166, 167, 171, 173,
177, 178, 180, 181. 182,
184, 186, 188. 191, 195,
196, 203, 208, 216, 217,
218, 219, 221, 223, 225.
232, 233, 234. 238, 239,
240, 241, 243, 248, 259.
263, 285, 287, 288
Wisconsin, 29
Communist Labor Party of
California, 140
Communist Party Appara-
tus, 125
Communist Political Asso-
ciation. 29
Communist Secret Police,
218
Communist Viewpoint, 117
Community Council-Clare-
mont. 20
Community for New Poli-
tics, 43. 44, 45. 47, 266
Concentration Camps, U. S.
A.. 71
Confederation of Iranian
Students, 126
Congress for General Dis-
armament and Peace,
25
INDEX
293
Conference for New Poli-
tics, 266
Conference to Abolish In-
quisitorial Committees
and Oppose Repressive
Laws, 102
Congressional Record, May
3, 1961, 92. Ill
Connelly, Phillip, 18, 22,
141, 163, 261
Constitutional Challenges of
HUAC, 105
Constitutional Liberties In-
formation Center, 68,
70. 85, 89
Consultive Conference of
Communist Aid Work-
ers Parties, 127
Coordinating Council of
Community Organiza-
tions, 97, 99
Coover, Oscar, 13, 14, 17,
220
CORE, 80, 98, 99, 105
Cornell University, 103, 206
Corona, Bert, 261
Countryman, Prof. Verne,
96
Cox, Nan, 240
Crave, Sylvia E., 93, 96,
102
Critey, Richard, 96, 100,
102, 104, 110, 111
Critical History of New
Politics in Berkeley, 223
Crouch, Paul. 77, 133
Crowley, P., 96
Crusader, The, 244
Cubana Airlines, 185
Culardy, Lloyd, 183
Cummings, Bill, 277
Curt, Gerald W., 196
Cyprus World Peace Con-
ference, 239
Czech Airlines, 185
Czeczelnitzki, Schewe
(Chelnick), 23
Czermin, Rachmiel, 66
Daily Californian, 48, 101
Daily Gater, 130, 131
Daily News Release, 190
Daily Worker, 111, 163, 167
Daily World, 78, 203
Dann, Arley, 220
Dann. James, 83, 177
Davidson, Carl, 200
Davis, Angela, 27, 78, 79
Davis, Mike, 83
Davis, Prof. Stanton S., 95
Davis, Robert, 180
Dayton Committee for the
Bill of Rights, 95, 97,
105
Delano Grape Strike, 222
Dellinger, David. 71, 102,
103, 211
DeMaio, Ernest, 96
Democratic National Con-
vention, Chicago, 16
Democratic Party National
Convention, 285
DeMuth, Jerry, 96
Deppe, Rev. Martin, 104
DePugh, Robert B., 271,
272, 275
Deviange, Thelma, 106
Devlin, Kevin, 160
Dieckman, Annette, 96
Dimitroff, Georgi, 10, 26,
237, 239, 242
Dindman, Prof. Aaron, 105
Dinnerstein, Victor, 220
Discussion Bulletin, 153,
155, 156
Discussion Unlimited, 132
Diskin, Louis, 148
Djilas, Milovan, 151
Dobbs, Ben, 15, 32, 52, 71,
83, 148
Dohrn, Bernardine, 197, 198,
199, 202, 207, 211
Dow Action Committee, 13,
14, 15, 16, 17, 20, 25, 26,
50, 51, 53, 66, 81
Boycott Committ-ee Re-
port, 14
Education and Research
Committee Report, 14
Fund Raising Committee
Report, 14
Mass Action Committee
Report, 14
Report of Action, 1968, 14
Dow Chemical Company, 13
Dowd, Prof. Douglas, 103
Drader, Ruth, 69
Dreyfus, Benjamin, 233
Dr. Zhivago, 150, 151
Dubcek, Alexander, 157, 158
Dubois Clubs of America,
19, 33, 48, 50, 79, 80,
82, 83, 84, 96, 97, 98,
101, 132, 135, 136, 203,
239
Dudintsev, Author, 150
Duggan, Robert, 32. 83, 237
Dylan, Bob, 208
East Bay Community For-
um, 89
East Los Angeles Peace
and Freedom Club, 54
East Los Angeles Peace
Center, 19
East Los Angeles Peace
Committee and Peace
Action Council, 186
Eastman, Katie, 106
East San Gabriel Valley
Emergency Council, 20
East Side Information Cen-
ter, 20
East Valley Chapter Peace
and Freedom Club, 54
East-West Coordinative
Council, 100
Echo Park-Silver Lake
Neighbors for Peace,
20
Echo Park-Silver Lake
Peace and Freedom
Club, 54
Economic Commission, Mos-
cow Congress, 25
Edelman, Judith, 136
Edwards, Theodore, 80, 220
Egel, Arnie, 221
Eisencher, Mike, 32
Fibers, Dave, 139
Elconin, William, 89
Ellingston, Prof. John, 103
Emergency Civil Liberties
Committee, 92
Emerson, Prof. Thomas I.,
96, 103, 104
Emma Lazarus Jewish
Women's Club Assem-
bly for Peace, 21
Emma Lazarus Jewish
Women's Clubs, 19, 21
Emporia Committee to Abol-
ish HUAC, 97, 98
Encino Peace and Freedom
Club, 55
Encyclopedia of Russia and
the Soviet Union, 155
Endorse the Halstead-Bou-
telle Ticket, 221
Engels, Frederich, 133, 171,
248
Episcopal Church of the
Epiphany, 258
Epton, Bill, 190
Erquiage Arms Company,
272
Essex Community Church,
95
Evans, F. Bowen, 128
Evans, Linda, 207, 211
Fail-Safe, 80
Fair Play for Cuba Com-
mittee, 25, 45, 222, 244
Farrs, Carl F., 96
Fast, Howard, 151
Federal Bureau of Investi-
gation, 85, 91, 109, 116,
117, 124, 137, 139, 143,
146, 171, 177, 184, 185,
196, 209, 234, 239, 242.
246, 271
Federal Reserve Bank San
Antonio, 184
Federation of Uruguayian,
University Students,
126
Feinglass, Abe, 96, 104
Fellowships for Social Jus-
tice of the First Uni-
tarian Church (Los An-
geles), 20
Ferguson, Judge Warren J.,
84
Fields, Dr. Edward R, 271
Fighters for Peace, 125
First National Bank of San
Antonio, 184
First Unitarian Church of
Los Angeles, 20, 24, 25,
27, 29, 32, 69, 80, 83,
235, 236, 260
Fishman, Irvine, 168, 169
Fite, Jim, 32, 36, 196
Florida Legislative Investi-
gating Committee, 270
Florinsky, Michael, 155
Foothill Peace and Freedom,
Club, 54
Foner, Philip, 148, 167
Fong, Alan, 265
Fong, Christine, 265
Foote, Lowell, 105
Forbes. Ralph, 277
Ford Foundation, 52, 259
Fordham Law Review, 196,
197
Foreign Agents Registra-
tion Act, 167
Foreign Tours, Inc., 184
Forman, Patricia, 207
Formation of the California
Communist Labor
Party, 140
Forum Peace and Freedom
Club, 54
Foster. William Z., 119, 152
Foundation for Foreign Af-
fairs, 125
Fowler, Hugh, 96
Franck, Peter, 44, 241
Frankie, David, 80, 220
Franklin, H. Bruce, 266
Freed, Donald, 83, 234, 235,
236, 237
Freed, Emil, 148
Freedom Movement, 16
Freeman, James, 43
Freeman. Ronald, 247
Free Speech Movement, 26,
44, 46, 79, 285
Free Speech Rebellion, 33
Free Student, The, 196
294
INDEX
Freiden, Myer, 19
Freidman, Phil, 106
French UNEF, 201
Friends Committee on Leg-
islation, 89
Friends of the Black Pan-
thers, 70, 83, 232. 233,
234, 235, 236, 237, 240,
287
Fritchman, Rev. Stephen
H., 32, 68, 69, 80, 83,
89. 90
Frunze Military Academy,
77
Fund for the Republic, 52
Further on Labor Oppor-
tunism, 165
Gale, Peter L.. 96, 106
Gallagher, James, 80
Gallagher, Leo, 261
Galloway, Ed, 207
Garaudy. Roger, 159, 160
Garrett, Jim, 80
Garry. Charles R., 132, 233,
238, 240
Garson, Barbara, 44
Geldman, Max, 220
Geldman, Sherry, 220
General Union of Palestini-
an Students, 126
George Washington Univer-
sity, 202
German Students Federa-
tion, 201
German Students for a Dem-
ocratic Society, 201
Gilbert, Keith D., 272
Gitlow, Benjamin, 25, 140.
141
GI's Against War, 56
GI's and Vietnam Veterans
Against the War, 53
Gladstone, Charles. 68
Glendale Anti-War Com-
mittee. 20
Glide Memorial Methodist
Church, 104, 202
Golash, Mike, 207
Gold, Theodore. 211
Goldblatt, Lou, 148
Goldner, Sanford, 68
Gonzales. Rep. Henry, 259
Gonzales. Rudolfo "Corky,"
186. 260
Gooder. President LACC.
199. 200
Goodlett, Dr. Carlton. 43,
238, 239. 261
Gordan, Fred. 207
Gottfried. Prof. Alex, 106
Grapes of Wrath. 142
Granada Hills Peace and
Freedom Club, 54
Grassrooters Club, Demo-
cratic Party. 89
Gray, John. 221
Great Enterprise, The, 171
Greenblat, Professor Rob-
ert, 32
Green, Gilbert, 157
Gregory. Dick, 43
Grimes. Odis N., 234
Gronemeier, Dale, 97, 100,
101, 261
Groppi, Fr., 32
Gumaer, David E., 33. 34
Guerilla Warfare, 243
Guevara. Ernesto Che. 177.
178, 259
H
Haag, John, 48, 52, 57, 58,
80, 84, 261
Halberg, Arvo Kusta, 119
Hall. Gus, 44. 45. 47, 78,
117, 119, 120, 121. 122,
125. 127, 136, 140, 148,
152, 157, 158. 173, 174,
175, 176
Hall, Lorette, 97
Hall, Martin, 24, 25, 27, 28,
30, 36, 89
Halley, Wayne, 106
Hallinan, Conn, 101
Hallinan. Michael, 71
Hallinan, Terence, 132, 261
Hallinan. Vincent. 71
Halstead. Fred. 220
Handin, Sharon, 220
Hannon, Mike, 46
Hansen, Anita. 220
Hanson, Uda, 106
Hare, Nathan. 239
Harer. Kathie. 220
Harris, Freeda, 97
Harris, John. 84
Harris, Lement, 167
Harris, Mike, 103
Hartman, Fanny. 138
Harvard Universi^, 96. 118,
207
Hathaway, William, 69, 220,
260
Haughton. Troy, 272
Havighurst, Prof. Robert J.,
104
Hayden, Tom, 43, 195, 238
Hayes, John. 181
Healey, Don, 18, 22, 141
Healey, Dorothy, 15, 22, 31.
69, 70. 77. 78, 79. 80,
141, 142, 144, 148, 149,
150, 151, 153, 155, 156,
157, 158, 159, 162, 178,
237, 261
Healey. Phillip, 162
Health Sciences Peace and
Freedom Club, 54
Hegel, German Philosopher,
10
Hemispheric Conference to
End the U.S. War in
Vietnam, 31, 35
Henderson, Hazel, 97
Herendeen, Lee, 19
Hermosa Beach Peace and
Freedom Club, 54
Herzog, Edward J., 121
Hewett. Raymond Masai,
235, 237, 238, 239. 248
Higgins, Mrs. Ernest, 97
Highlander Research and
Education Center, 106
Highlands University, 221
High School Students for a
Democratic Society, 196
Hightower, Geraldine, 182
Hilliard, David, 238
Hilliard, Roosevelt, 238
Himmel, Robert, 179
Hing, Alex. 265
Hirsch, Bernard, 235, 237
Hirschkop, Phillip J., 102.
106
History of American Trot-
skyism, Report of a
Participant. 217
Hoffman, Arnold M., 247
Hoffman, Federal Judge,
102
Hollywood Hills Peace and
Freedom Club. 54
Hom, Douglas, 265
Hoover, J. Edgar, 85, 86,
117, 171, 177, 196, 197,
209, 210, 211. 242, 288
Hopkins, Arthur, 220
Horsten, Kenny, 240
Hospital and Drug Employ-
ees Union, 183
House Internal Security
Committee, 94, 102. 109
House Subcommittee on Ap-
propriations. 78, 85,
116, 171, 209
House Un-American Activ-
ities Committee, 88, 89,
91, 93, 94, 95, 96, 97.
98, 101, 102, 103, 110,
143, 185, 233
Committee Reports
April 3, 1959, 22, 29,
30, 66
May 3, 1961, 110
October 1962, 111, 140
November 2, 1962. 25
Hearings
April 26-27. 1962, 25
October 10. 1962. 91
July 12. 1964, 144, 147
April 27-28. 1966, 144,
147
National Committee to
Abolish House Commit-
tee on Un-American Ac-
tivities, 28, 68, 69, 90
Southern Californians to
Abolish the House Un-
American Activities
Committee, 90
Howard University, 84
Hsinhua News Agency, 188,
189, 190
Hughes Aircraft Peace and
Freedom Club, 54
Hughes, Rev. Hershel, 97
Hximan Events. 207
Humanist Association of
Los Angeles, 20
Humphrey, Vice President
Hubert, 28
Hutton, Bobby, 238
I
Ice, Solon, 97
/ Confess, 141
Ignatian, Noel, 240
Imbrie, James, 93
Independent High School
Students. SDS. 50
Independent Progressive
Party, 46. 47, 58, 193,
233
Independent Students Un-
ion, 83
Independent Voters of Illi-
nois, 97
Independent Young Demo-
crats of San Fernando
Valley, 20
Igniton. Knoll, 207
Inner Hollywood Peace and
Freedom Club. 54
Inquiry, 247
Institute of Red Professors,
126
Insurgent, 135
International Association of
Democratic Workers,
128
International Bookstore,
149, 151
International Juridicial As-
sociation. 126
International Labor De-
fense, 67, 108
International Liberation
School, 238
International Longshore-
men's and Warehouse-
men's Union, 107. 161
International Red Aid. 67
International Student Un-
ion. 84, 126, 127
International Trade Union
Congress, 29
INDEX
295
International Workers of
the World, 95
International Workers Or-
der, 141, 233
Iowa City Committee to
Abolish HUAC/HISC,
98, 105
Iron Cross Motorcycle Club,
56, 72
Ish-Kishor, Nehemiah, 29
Iskra, 182
Israel, Jarad, 207
7SJ7 News Service, 127
J
Jackson, Charles, 93
Jackson, James, 32
Jackson, L. H., 97
Jacobs, John, 197, 211
Jacobs, Karl Adolf Rudolf
Herman, 25
Jacobs, Paul, 46, 52
Japanese Zengakuren, 126,
201
Jenkins, David L., 131
Jerome, Fred, 181
Jeter, Howard, 44
Jeunesse/Communiste Rev-
olutionaire, 223
Johansen, Mr., 139
John Birch Society, 271
John Burroughs Junior
High School, 132
Johnson, Arnold, 30, 32,
43, 37
Jehnsen, David, 97, 104
Johnson, Dorothy, 106
Johnson, Eric, 189
Johnson, President L.. B.,
43, 45, 46
Johnson, Prof. Michael, 97
Joint Anti-Fascist Refugee
Committee, 11
Jones, Jeff, 197, 198, 207,
211, 240
K
Kaffke, Roberto, 130, 131
Kahn, Stephen J., 131
Kajiwara, Ted, 265
Kalish, Prof. Donald, 27,
28, 33, 71, 92, 261
Kamin, Chester, 97
Kaplan, Herman, 167
Karenga, Ron, 235, 246
Kaufman, Daniel, 104
Keating, Edward, 239
Kennedy, Attorney General
Robert F., 30, 123, 124
Kennedy, President John,
133
Kenny, Judge Robert W.,
68, 89, 90, 93, 101
Kerney, John, 97
Khruschev, Nikita, Chair-
man, 124, 129, 130, 150,
156, 157
Kight, Morris, 16, 71
King, George Joseph Jr.,
271
Kinoy, Prof. Arthur, 102
Kinsella, Marjorie, 97
Kissinger, C. Clark, 43
Klonsky, Mike, 28, 31, 102,
103, 200, 206, 207, 208
Klonsky, Robert, 28, 31
Koehl, Mattias, Jr., 277
Konigsberg, Raphael, 18,
22, 25, 27, 28, 37, 89,
90
Krieger, James, 104
Krieger, Rebecca, 103
Ku Klux Klan, 11, 109, 270,
271
Kunken, Art, 84
Kunstler, William, 102, 204,
238, 239, 240, 243
Kurzweil, Bettina Aptheker,
See also Aptheker, Bet-
tina, 79, 89
Kushner, Sam, 32
Kusnitz, Rose Chernin. See
also Chernin, Rose, 66,
67, 68
Labor Assembly for Peace,
21
Labors' Non-Partisan
League, 22
Labor Youth League, 19,
23, 134, 135
Lake Forest College, 96,
98, 99
La Liberie en Sursis, 159
Lambert, Rude, 148
Landau, Saul, 44
Landish, Vlcki, 18, 19
Lanea College, 220
Lapin, Nora B., 131
La Rasa, 259, 260, 261
Laski, Michael, Issac, 241,
247, 248, 259
Latham, Earl, 118
Laub, Levi, 176
Lancks, Irvine, 80
Lauchli, Richard, 272
Lawson, John Howard, 68,
80, 84, 89
Lea, Dave, 277
League, Arthur D., 23 4
Legitimate Ways, 264
League for Industrial
Democracy, 195, 196
Lee, Deanne, 265
Lee, Sheldon, 265
LeMau, David, 97
Lenin, 216
Lenin School, 120
Lenske, Rubin, 97, 105
Lens, Sidney, 97
Levin, John, 180, 187
Levine, Isaac Don, 216
Lew, Leland, 265
Lew, William, 265
Lewis, John, 93
Liberation News Service,
53
Liberation University, 258
Lichtman, Richard, 80, 84
Lima, Albert, 47, 135, 136,
141, 142, 143, 148, 149,
150, 165, 182, 183, 185
Lima, Helen Corbin, 183
Lima, Mike, 136
Lincoln,. Wesley, 207
Lippman, Stephen, 206
Liveright, Betty, 106
Liveright, Herman, 106
Lockshin, Arnold, 97, 100
Long Beach Citizens for
Peace, 20, 21, 50
Long Beach Peace and
Freedom Club, 5 4
Long Beach State College
Faculty Peace Com-
mittee, 50
Long Beach Womens Inter-
national Strike for
Peace, 50
Longiaru, Jo, 97
Lopez, Juan Carlos, 104
Los Angeles Art Theater,
83
Los Angeles City College,
37, 199, 202, 262
Los Angeles Committee for
Defense of Bill of
Rights. See also Com-
mittee for Defense of
Bill or Rights, 20, 29,
53, 68, 69, 70, 71, 72,
101, 103, 235, 259
Los Angeles Committee for
Protection .of Foreign
Born, 29, 66
Los Angeles Communist
School, 261
Los Angeles Federation of
Teachers, 162
Los Angeles Free Press, 84
Los Angeles Friends of the
Minority of One, 21
Los Angeles Herald Exam-
iner, 178
Los Angeles Jewish Culture
and Fraternal Order,
21
Los Angeles Police Depart-
ment, 30, 56, 202, 236,
248, 260, 262
Los Angeles Socialist
Party, 80
Los Angeles State College,
72, 84, 202
Los Angeles Times, 51, 56,
84, 92, 157, 158, 171,
197, 207, 212, 272, 275
Los Angeles Valley College,
78
Los Feliz Peace and Free-
dom Club, 54
Losovsky, Solomon, 14
Lozada, Froben, 221
Luce, Prof. David R., 97,
108
Luci, Fr. John, 258
Lysenko, Trofim Deniso-
vich, 155, 156
M
MacDougall, Prof. Curtis,
98
Machete, 262
Maiman, Richard J., 98
Mallbu Discussion and
Action Group, 21
Maltz, Albert, 89
Mandel, Pierre, 69, 181, 260
Mandel, Seymour, 69
Manes, Hugh, 52, 80
Mangancilla, Eric, 263
Manhattan Beach Peace
and Freedom Club, 54
Manning, Robert A., 247
Mao Tse-tung. See also
Sayings of Chairman
Mao and see -Commu-
nist Party, Maoist, 81,
83, 121, 122, 180, 187,
188, 190, 224, 242, 248,
265
Mao Tse-tung on Peoples
War, 188, 265
Marcuse, Herbert, 7 8, 79
Marine Cooks and Stew-
ards, 162
Mark, Maren, 265
Marshall, Daniel G., 91, 101
Marshall, Dorothy, 68, 70,
89, 90, 92, 93, 98, 100,
103
Marx, Karl, 133, 172, 173,
177, 248
Marxism Today, 224
Massachusetts Committee
to Abolish HUAC, 96,
97, 98
Matchinger, Howard, 207,
211
296
INDEX
Maynes, John, 220
Mazey, Ernest, 98
McCabe, Mike, 27, 28, 29,
36, 37, 69, 220, 260
McCormick, Mrs. LaRue,
McGill, Horace, 98
McGowan, James, 142
McGrath, Fr. F.J., 98, 104
McTernin, John, 132
McWllliams, Carey, 43
Medard, Edward, 235
Medical Committee for Hu-
man Rights, 105
Meiklejohn, Alexander, 93
Melton, James, 98
Mercader, Ramon, 218
Mercer, Ann, 98
Mercer, Lyle, 98, 100, 106
Merritt College, 220, 238,
240
Mexican -American Political
Association, 261
Mexican-American Social
Service, 257
Meyer, Sandy, 207
Meyers, Barrel, 80
Meyers, George, 105, 106
Michigan State University,
95, 202,' 206
Michelich, Francis, 98
Milburn, James, 99
Militant Labor Forum, 241
Militant, The, 219, 221, 222
Miller, Jay, 98
Miller, Jim, 220
Miller, Patti, 98
Miller, Susan, 98
Mind of An Assassin, 216
Mini, Norman, 108
Minnesota v. Halberg, 121
Minutemen, 11, 109, 271,
272, 273, 274
Mission Tenants Union, 179
Monjar, Elsie, 148
Montez, Carlos, 258, 263
Montgomery, Ed, 265, 266
Montreal Star, 31
Mooney, Tom, Labor
School, 77
MOPR, 67
Moreno, Al, 44
Morgan, Donna, 98
Moritz, Ed, 84
Morray, Prof. Joseph, 88
Morris, Robert S., 91, 101
Morrisroe, Fr. Richard, 98
Mosgofian, Dennis, 179
Movement to Abolish House
of Representatives
Committee on Internal
Security, 33
Muench, Ruth, 98
Mumma, Rev. Richard, 98
Munich Institute for Study
of USSR, 126
Murphy, Senator George,
57
Murphy, W. A. Company,
272
Musgrove, Don, 277
Myerson, Mike, 32
N
NACLA, 201
Nathan, Prof. Leonard, 101
National States Rights
Party, 270
Naked God, 151
National Association for
the Advancement of
Colored People, 97, 229,
230, 244
National Committee of the
Communist Party, 45
National Committee to
Abolish HUAC/HISC.
See also Southern/
Northern Californians
to abolish HUAC/HISC
and see Communist
Party, 92, 93, 94, 95,
96, 98, 99, 100, 101,
102, 103, 104, 105, 106,
107, 108, 110, 111, 112,
113, 114, 115
National Conference for
New Politics, 43, 44
National Council of Colum-
bian Youth, 126
National Defence Commit-
tee, 53
National Guardian, 79, 82
National High School
Newsletter, 205, 206
National Lawyers Guild,
71, 89, 95
National Liberation Front,
35, 36, 198, 207
National Mobilization Com-
mittee to End War in
Vietnam, 27, 32, 103
National Office Group, 208
National Revieio, 46, 288
National Socialist White
Peoples Party, 277
National Union of Students
of Brazil, 126
Native Daughters, the Story
of Anita Whityiey, 140
Neil, Rev. Earl, 240
New Class, The, 151
New Crises in European
Communism, 160
New Labor School, 80
New Left Notes, 198, 199
New Left School, 69, 77, 79,
80, 81, 82, 85, 87, 131
New Mobilization Commit-
tee, 31
New Program of the Com-
munist Party. U.S.A.,
164
News Agency, Hong Kong,
189
News and Views, 36
News Se7~vice Bulletins, 126
Newton-Cleaver Defense
Committee, 71, 233
Newton, Huey, 49, 71, 231,
232
Newton, Melvin, 71
Netv Worker, 241, 248
New York Council to Abol-
ish HUAC, 93
New York Times, 79, 92,
178
Ng, Marilyn, 265
Nicaraguan Liberation
Front, 131
Nielands, Professor J. B.,
43
Nineteenth Convention : a
Turning Point, 165
Nixon, Russ, 98
Non-Aggression Pact, 18
Non-Partisan Committee
for Defense, 111
Norbeck, Betty, 98
Norberg, Douglas, 198
Norris, Dick, 277
North California American
Jewish Congress, 89
Northern Californians to
Abolish HUAC/HISC,
97, 98, 99, 103, 104
Northeast Area Peace and
Freedom Club, 54
Northeast Peace Commit-
tee, 21
North Hollywood Peace and
Freedom Club, 54
North Vietnamese National
Liberation Front, 36
Northwestern University,
100
Not by Bread Alone, 150
Oakland High School, 220
Oakland Tribune, 46, 47, 48
Obenhaus, Prof. Victor, 98
Ocean Park Peace and
Freedom Club, 54
O'Connor, Jesse, 406
O'Connor, Harvey, 33, 93,
95, 99, 106. Ill
Office of Economic Oppor-
tunity, 96
Ohio State University, 105
Olympic-Fairfax Peace and
Freedom Club, 54
Operation Abolition, 88
Orange County Committee
to End the War, 21
Orange County Peace and
Freedom Club, 54
Orange County Peace and
Human Rights Council,
20, 21
Oregon Committee to Abol-
ish HUAC/HISC, 97,
105
Orlikoff, Richard, 99
Ostrofsky, Charles, 99
Our Lady of Angels Roman
Catholic Church, 98
Overstreet, Dr. H. A., 171
Pacific Historical Review,
140
Palmer, Jerry, 69, 84, 260
Pan American Airways, 184
Pancho Villa Peace and
Freedom Club, 55
Panther Medical Adjust-
ment Group, 240
Party Affairs, 83, 131, 135,
163, 263
Pasadena-Altadena Peace
and Freedom Club, 55
Pasadena Emergency Coun-
cil, 21
Pasternak, Boris, 150
Pastry Cooks and Kitchen
Employees Union, 108
Patler, John, 276
Patten, Dr. Jack, 233
Patterson, Leonard, 120,
121
Patterson, William L., 242
Pattison, William E., 276,
277
Peace Action Council, 13,
15, 16, 17, 19, 20, 22,
24, 25, 26, 27. 28, 29,
30, 32, 35, 36, 38. 39,
40, 41, 42, 50, 51, 53,
55, 66, 69, 70, 81, 128,
134, 186, 260
Peace Action Council By-
Laws, 24
Peace and Freedom Com-
munications Center, 55
Peace and Freedom Party,
21, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47,
48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53,
55, 56, 57,. 58, 60, 61,
62, 63, 64, 65, 66, 69,
143, 220, 222, 223, 233
Peace and Freedom Party
Clubs, 50, 54, 55, 59,
69, 70, 84, 232
INDEX
297
Peace Happenings, 17, 21
Peace Organization in Los
Angeles, 22
Pearl, Ed. 237
Pearl, Sherman, 52
Peck, Prof. Sidney, 103
Peet, Rev. Edward L.., 93,
99, 100, 103, 104
Peking Review, 122
Pennington, John, 207
Peoples, Reed, 99
Peoples Voice, 248
Peoples World, 25, 30, 44,
46, 47, 85, 100, 142,
157, 163, 167. 184, 219,
260, 261
Perez, Alfonso, 261
Pestana, Frank, 49. 69. 82,
84
Peterson, Bertha, 106
Peterson, Frank, 106
Petter, Dan R., 220
Peyson, Walter P., 275
Phelps, Larry, 178
Philbrick, Howard, 137
Physicians for Social Re-
sponsibility, 19, 21
Pickett, Clarence, 93
Pico-Crenshaw Peace and
Freedom Club, 55
Pilkey. Rev. Douglas, 35
Political Affairs, 37, 44, 45,
84, 122, 125, 127, 133,
151, 152, 160, 165, 166,
167, 203. 223, 242, 285,
287
Political Parties, 26
Pomona Valley Peace and
Freedom Club, 55
Ponomarev, Yuri, 126
Porter, Charles, 105
Porter, John, 69
Porto Rican University
Federation, 26
Powell, Jean, 243
Powell, Larry, 243
Proctor, Roscoe. 46, 47,
148, 240
Progressive Bookstore, 149,
150, 151. 152, 159, 243
Progressive Labor, 184, 187
Progressive Labor Forums,
188
Progressive Labor Move-
ment, 177
Progressive Labor Party,
11, 13, 50, 83, 84, 85,
127. 135, 172, 177, 178.
179. 180, 181. 182, 184,
185, 186, 188. 189. 190,
192, 193, 194, 195, 206,
207, 208, 217, 233, 234,
237. 238, 239, 241. 248,
283. 287, 288
Progressive Labor Society.
127
Progressive Youth Organiz-
ing Committee. 135
Prostein. Jesse, 99, 104
Q
Quan, Wing, 265
Raby, Albert A., 99
Radical Student Union, 202
Radio Free Dixie, 243
Raisner. Chris, 180
Ramirez, Ralph, 258, 263
Ramparts Magazine, 43,
239
Ray, Dorothy, 22
Readers Digest, 125
Reagan, Gov. Ronald, 57.
101, 262
Realpolitical Institutions,
270
Red Flag, 248
Red Guards, 180, 234, 264,
265
Red Trade Union Inter-
national, 141
Revolutionary Union, 265.
266
Revolutionary Youth Move-
ment I. 208
Revolutionary Youth Move-
ment II, 208, 217
Richards, Paul D., 131
Richmond, Al, 144, 148
Riley, Barbara, 207
Report to Central of Com-
munist Party of the
Soviet Union, 129
Republic Steel Corporation,
120
Reseda Peace and Freedom
Club, 55
Restorucci, Rogue, 136
Revis, Becky, 207
Revolutionary Action Move-
ment. 243. 245, 246
Revolutionary Process, The,
123
Richmond. Al, 140. 157. 158
Ricks, Ann, 108
Ridenour, Ron, 82, 84. 220.
237, 247, 260
Robbins, Terry, 211
Roberts, Dennis J., 103
Rockwell, George Lincoln,
275, 276, 277
Rodriquez, Manuel F., 182,
183. 185
Romines. Steve. 106
Ronstadt, Robert C, 91,
139
Roosevelt University, 99
Rosebury, Amy, 99
Rosebury, Prof. Theodore,
99
Rose, Don, 99
Rosenberg, Ethel, 234
Rosenberg, Julius, 234
Rosenberg, Rose. 69, 70
Rosen. Milton, 176
Rosenthal, Louis B., 99
Ross. John, 179, 181
ROTC, 210
Rother, Rev. Charlie, 108
Roth, Norman, 99
Rothenberg, Don, 43
Rothschild, Miriam, 100
Rottger, Betty. 28. 37, 68,
70. 89. 90, 91, 100
Rottger, Kenneth, 70, 72,
100
Rowan, James, 103, 105
Rubin, Daniel, 132, 133,
136, 165
Rubin, Jerry, 16, 46
Rudd. Mark, 207, 211
Rudnick, Judith, 99, 100
Ruiz, Ranel. 260
Rumford, William Byron,
229
Rush, Bob, 238
Rusk, Dean, 48
Russell. Ralph, 99. 108
Rus.sell. Bertrand, 219
Russell, David. 207
Russell, Margaret, 108
Rutgers University, 102
Sabotage, 211
Sacred Heart Church, S.F.,
240
Salazar, Antonio, 168
Sallese, Yves, 223
Salve. Jeanette. 19
Sampson, Professor. 284,
285
Samuelson, Fred. 108
Sanchez, David. 258, 263
SANE Trade Union
Committee, 19
San Fernando State
College, 43, 234
San Fernando Valley
Committee of Concern,
21
San Fernando Valley
State College, 79
San Francisco Chronicle,
45, 131, 179
San Francisco City College.
220
San Francisco Examiner,
46. 207. 265
San Francisco Police
Department. 265
San Francisco Polytechnic
High School. 220
San Francisco Socialist
Campaign Committee,
179, 181
San Francisco State
College, 130, 207. 220,
221. 223, 239
San Francisco State
University, 132
San Gabriel Valley
Emergency Council. 21
San Gabriel Valley
Veterans for Peace and
Liberation University,
15
San Luis Obispo
Convention. 44
Santa Anita Peace and
Freedom Club, 55
Santa Monica High School
Peace and Freedom
Club, 55
Sarnoff, Irving, 15, 16, 22,
23, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30,
31, 32. 35. 36, 37, 38,
56, 69, 92, 128, 148,
260, 261
Savio, Mario. 33. 49
Sawyer. Rev. Paul. 80
Sayer. Bob. 106
Saver, Irma, 106
Sayings of Chairman Mao,
188, 233, 237, 248
Sheer Campaign Docu-
m,ents. 46
Sheer, Robert, 43, 44,. 45,
56, 261. 266
Scherer, Mr., 139
Schneider, Anita, 91
Schneiderman, William, 141
Schoenman, Ralph, 219
Schon, Mike, 48
Schrieber, Dennis, 99
Schultz, Harold, 69, 260
Schurmann, Professor
Franz, 44
Schwartz, Robert, 99
Scott, Arthur, 120, 121
Scale, Bobby. 33. 231. 2S8;
239, 241
Seidman, Pete. 220
Selected Works, Karl and
Engel, 129
Selective Service System.
201. 209
Senate Internal Security
Subcommittee. See also
Committee to Abolish
HUAC/HISC, 102. 121,
137, 202, 203, 246
298
INDEX
Senate Internal Subcom-
mittee Report, 137
Senate Internal Subcommit-
tee Transcripts on
Biots, Civil and Crimi-.
nal Disorders, 243
Severeid, Eric, 123
Shaffer, Ralph E., 140
Shafran, Eva, 261
Shandler, Esther, 69
Shapiro, Dr. Philip, 238, 240
Shapiro, Vic, 90
Shasta Junior College, 79
Sherman Oaks Peace and
Freedom Club, 55
Shinoff, Paul, 200
Siegel, Henry, 99
Siegel, Loren, 105
Significant Labor Confer-
ence, 166
Silver, Sophie, 23
Silverstein, Marcia, 16
Sisco, Don, 277
Siskind, Michael, 210
SLATE, 45, 87, 89
Slater, Morton, 184
Smale, Professor Stephen,
44
Smith, Don, 80
Smith, Gerald L. K., 109
Snider, Terry, 105
Social Action Committee,
United Church of
Christ, 97
Social Alliance, 55
Socialist Party, 21, 58, 116,
140, 179, 181, 217
Socialist Workers for
Peace, 21, 56
Socialist Workers Party,
11, 13, 20, 21, 47, 50,
52. 53, 55, 56, 58, 80,
127, 171, 179, 180, 195,
216, 217, 171, 179, 180,
195, 216, 217, 218, 219,
220, 221, 222, 223, 224,
225, 226, 227, 228, 233,
234, 238, 241
Somlyo, Francois, 108
Sonoma State College, 220
Sophocles, Greek Philoso-
pher, 10
Soroka, Walter, 104
Southern California Free-
dom Council, 272
Southern California Peace
Crusade, 18
Southern Californians to
Abolish HUAC/HISC,
95, 98, 103
Southern Christian Leader-
ship Conference, 96, 97,
98, 99, 100
Southern Committee
Against Repression,
103, 105
Southern Conference Edu-
cational Fund, 15, 95,
100, 103, 105
South Bay Peace Council,
21
Southern Californians to
Abolish HUAC, 92
Southern Illinois Univer-
sity, 206
Southland Jewish Organiza-
tion, 21
South Pasadena-San
Marino Peace and
Freedom Club, 55
Southwest Council of La
Raza, 258
Southwest Junior College,
199, 200
Souvarine, Boris, 216
Sparks, Nemmy, 15, 29, 69,
148, 237, 260
Spark: Western Voice for
Revolution, 181, 182,
186
Sparticist League, 11, 172
Spector, Frank, 89, 149,
151, 159, 207
Speegle, Michael, 211
Speiser, Lawrence, 108
Spiegel, Jack, 99
Spock, Dr. Benjamin, 32
Stachel, Jack, 148
Stalin: A Critical Survey of
Bolshevism, 216
Stalin, Joseph, 14, 123, 148,
150, 155, 216, 217, 222
Standing Rules of the Sen-
ate, 6
Stanislaus State College, 79
Stanford University, 202,
266
State Department of Em-
ployment, 159
State Relief Administration,
162
State Rights Party, 11, 109,
270, 271, 275
Statewide Conference for
New Politics, 261
St. Augustine's Episcopal
Church, 238, 240
Stearns, Nancy, 105
Steel Workers Organizing
Committee. 120
Stein, Mike, 157
Steiner, Philip, 2 47
Sterns, Robbie, 210
Stewart, Bob, 199
St. Finbarr Roman Catholic
Church, 98
Stop the Draft Committee,
47
St. Louis Globe-Democrat,
271
St. Louis Post Dispatch, 271
Storm Trooper Magazine,
276
Stuart, Beatrice M., 105
Student Mobilization Com-
mittee, 13, 15, 19, 56,
220
Student Non Violent Coor-
dinating Committee, 15,
80
Students Civil Liberties
Union, 89
Students for a Democratic
Society, 14, 15, 16, 20,
21, 27, 28, 29, 36, 37,
43, 50, 69, 80, 83, 84,
85, 98, 99, 103, 107, 127,
128, 135, 171, 181, 187,
195, 196, 197, 198, 199.
200, 201, 202, 204, 206,
207, 208, 209, 210, 211,
212, 213, 214, 215, 217,
237, 238, 240, 266, 283,
287
Study in Marxist Revolu-
tionary Violence, 8DS,
196
Subversive Activities Con-
trol Board, 94, 104, 143,
259
Sukarno, Achmed, 169
Sutherland, Shirley Jean,
83 234
Sutter,' Irvin H., Jr., 220
Swanson, Edmonia, 105
Tabbert, Naomi, 99
Tackett, Marnesba, 99
Taylor, Dr. Counclll S., 247
Taylor, Philips, 85
Taylor, William, 148
Teachers for Peace in Viet-
nam, 21
Teaching Assistants Union,
101
Techniqxies of Soviet Prop-
aganda, 170
Third World Liberation
Front, 221, 222
Thirteen Days, A Memoir
of the Cuban Missile
Crisis, 124
Thomas Jefferson Club, 198
Thompson, Howard, 143,
144
Thompson, Mrs. Howarcl,
143, 146
Thorpe, Margaret, 80
Tigar, Michael, 202
Tijerina, Reies Lopez, 186,
259
Time Magazine, 160
Tocsin, 131
Tom, Clifford, 265
Tookas, Steve, 265
Topanga Peace and Free-
dom Club, 55
Tournour, Eugene, 32, 100
Trade Unionists for Peace,
19, 21
Trans World Airlines, 183,
185, 246
Travel Associates, 184
Travenner, Mr., 139
Travis, Helen Simon, 85
Travis, Robert C, 85
Treiger, Marvin, 84
Tribunal, The, 72
Tri-Continental Conference,
31
Trinity Methodist Church
Committee on Christian
Social Relations, 89
Trouvig, Paul, 277
Trotskyist Militant Labor
Forum, 69
Trotsky, Leon. See also
Communist Party-
Trotskyist, 14, 171, 173,
216, 217, 218, 222
Trotskyist Socialist Work-
ers Partv, 17
Tshombe, Moise, 169
Tucson Daily Citizen, 259
Tyner, Jarvis, 32, 135, 136
u
Uhrin, John, 72
UMAS, 199
Unitarian Fellowship for
Social Justice. See
also First Unitarian
Church, 24, 25, 89
United Auto Workers
Union, 99
United Church of Christ,
105
United Civil Rights Coun-
cil, 99
United Electrical Workers,
96, 162
United Farm Workers, 15,
132, 144, 145, 240, 262,
263
United Federal Workers,
162
United Front, 247. 248
United Front Movement, 9
United Methodist Church
Northern Illinois Confer-
ence, 104
United Mine, Mill and
Smelter Workers, 162
United Office and Profes-
sional Workers, 162
INDEX
299
United Packing House
Workers of America,
99, 110
United Service Employees
Union, 97
United Shoe Workers
Union, 99
Uiiiversity of Buffalo, 206
University of California,
Academic Senate, 124
University of California at
Berkeley, 9, 18, 33, 43,
46, 47, 79, 84. 88, 101,
110, 187, 202, 210, 221,
222, 234, 239, 266, 2«3,
284
University of California at
Los Angeles 27, 79, 84,
198, 202, 246, 247
University of California at
Santa Barbara, 203
University of Chicago, 16,
104, 206
University of Colorado, 202
University of Connecticut,
210
University of Delaware, 210
University of Detroit, 202
University of Michigan,
202, 207, 210
University of North
America, 178
University of Santa Clara,
78
University of Southern
Mississippi, 221
University of the Pacific,
79
University of Washington,
106, 210
University of Wisconsin,
206, 221
University Students Fed-
eration of Peru, 126
Unruh, Jesse, 57
"US", 246, 247
U.S. Army Combat Engi-
neers, 131
U.S. Army Institute for
Advanced Russian Re-
search, 126
U.S. Customs Service, 168,
169
U.S. Department of Labor,
144
U.S. Department of State,
131
U.S. Immigration Service,
81, 265
U.S. Post Office Depart-
ment, 171
U.S. Secret Service, 28
U.S. Senate Judiciary Com-
mittee, 169
U.S. Senate Subcommittee
on Internal Security,
94
U.S. State Department, 246
U.S. Supreme Court, 171
U.S. Treasury Department,
272
United Steel Workers of
America, 107
United White Party, 270
Universities, Commentary,
283, 189
University Committee on
Vietnam, 19, 21
Valley Peace Center, 20, 21
Valley Unitarian -Universa-
list Church, 80
Varela, Delfino, 148, 258,
261
Venice Peace and Freedom
Club, 55
Veterans for Peace in Viet-
nam, 13, 50, 53
Veterans of the Abraham
Lincoln Brigade, 21
Vietnam Courier, 37
Vietnam Day Committee,
84, 222
Vietnam Summers, 21
Vietnam Veterans against
the War, 53. 56
Vincent, Allen, 276, 277,
278
Vincent, Helen, 106
Vincent, Prof. Walter S.,
93, 100, 106
VISTA, 104
Vivian, Octavia, 99
Vivian, Rev. C. T., 93, 99,
103
w
Wallace, Gov. George C,
57
Wallace, Mike, 117. 121
Warner, Dr. James K., 277,
278
Warren, Earl, C. J.. 171
Warren, Ron. 237
War Resistors League. 21.
34, 237
Washington University, 210
Wayne University, 202
Weatherman Faction. See
also Revolutionary
Youth Movement I,
208, 211, 217, 240
Webber, Charles T., 56, 58
Weinberg, Jack, 44, 46, 52
Weisman, Steve, 46
Weiss, Lawrence, 211
Weisser, Ethel, 108
Weisser, Pulius. 108
West, Bart, 277
Western Reserve Univer-
sity, 103
Western Washington State
College, 201
West Los Angeles Peace
and Freedom Clubs, 55
West San Gabriel Valley
Emergency Council, 21
West Side Committee of
Concern, 20
West Side Committee of
Concern on Vietnam
Council, 21
Wheeldin, Don, 80
Wheeler, Fred, 235
Wheeler, Harvey, 80
White Aynerican, 272
Whitney, Anita, 140
Wilkerson, Catherine, 211
Wilkins, Roy, 245
Wilkinson, Frank, 22, 28,
32, 68, 70, 71, 89, 90,
91, 92, 93, 94, 100, 101,
102, 104, 108, 110, 111,
139
Williams, Aubrey, 88, 89,
93
Williams, Franklin H.. 229.
230
Williams, Robert F., 243,
244, 245
Wilshire-Westlake Peace
and Freedom Clubs, 55
Winter, Carl, 30
Wisconsin Civil Liberties
Union, 108
Wofsy. Leon. 32. 78
Wolf, Pat, 221, 222
Wolff, Karl. 37, 2Q1
Women for Legislative Ac-
tion, 19, 22, 103
Womens International
Democratic Federation,
128
Women's International
League for Peace and
Freedom, 19, 21, 89, 97,
107
Womens Strike for Peace,
19, 22, 107
Woo, Leland, 265
Woo, Sadie, 265
Wood, Michael, 43
Woods, Roberta, 136
Woolf, Bill, 108
Workers Liberation League,
135
Workers Monthly, 67
Workers Schools, 29, 77
Workers World Party, 171
Worker, The, 78, 219
World Conference of Com-
munist and Workers
Parties, 122
World Federation of Demo-
cratic Writers, 126
World Federation of Demo-
cratic Youth, 126
World Federation of Scien-
tific Workers, 128
World Federation of Trade
Unions, 126, 128
World Marxist Review, 129,
130
World Peace Assembly, 30
World Peace Council, 25,
31, 128
World Seminar on National
Liberation, 127
World-Wide Communist
Propaganda Activities,
128
World-Wide Communist
Trade Union Move-
ment, 125
World-Wide Communist
Youth Movement, 125
World Youth Festival, 201
Wyly, Laura, 100
Wyly, Prof. L. T., 100
Yale University, 96, 104
Young Citizens for Commu-
nity Action, 250
Young Communist Interna-
tional, 134
Young Communist League,
18, 83, 110, 119, 134,
141
Young, Quentin, M.D., 105
Young Socialist Alliance,
22, 27, 80, 135, 172,
179, 180, 218, 219, 220,
222, 223, 283
Young Socialist Organizer,
219
Young Socialist, The, 219,
222
Young, Whitney, 245
Young Workers Liberation
League, 136
Youth Educational Defense
Committee, 56
Youth Group, Socialist
Workers Party, 172
Yuba College, 221
Yueff, Mike, 237, 260
Zagerell, Mike, 136
Zaslow, Milt. 53, 71, 237
^1777— 100 5-70
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