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84th Congress!
1st Session /
COMMITTEE PRINT
THE COMMUNIST PARTY OF THE
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
What It Is
How It Works
A HANDBOOK FOR AMERICANS
SUBCOMMITTEE TO INVESTIGATE THE
ADMINISTRATION OF THE INTERNAL
SECURITY ACT AND OTHER INTERNAL
SECURITY LAWS OF THE COMMITTEE
ON THE JUDICIARY, UNITED STATES
SENATE
GOVERNMENT DOCUMENTS
DEPARTME \1
BOSTON PUBLIC JBRARV
DECEMBER 21, 1955
Printed for the use of the Committee on the Judiciary, 1955
J^
370894 <
UNITED STATES
GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE
WASHINGTON : 1955
COMMITTEE ON THE JUDICIARY
HARLEY M. KILQORE, West Virginia, Chairman
TAMES 0. EASTLAND, Mississippi ALEXANDER WILEY, Wisconsin
ESTES KEFAUVER, Tennesst?e WILLIAM LANGER, North Dakota
OLIN D. JOHNSTON, South Carolina WILLIAM E. JENNER, Indiana
THOMAS 0. HENNINQS, Jr., Missouri ARTHUR V. WATKINS, Utah
JOHN L. McCLELLAN, Arkansas EVERETT McKINLEY DIRKSEN, Illinoia
PRICE DANIEL, Texas HERMAN WELKER, Idaho
JOSEPH 0. O'MAHONEY, Wyoming JOHN MARSHALL BUTLER, Maryland
Subcommittee To Investigate the Administration of the Internal Security
Act and Other Internal Security Laws
JAMES 0. EASTLAND, Mississippi, Chairman
CLIN D. JOHNSTON, South Carolina • WILLIAM E. JENNER, Indiana
JOHN L. McCLELLAN, Arkansas ARTHUR V. WATKINS, Utah
THOMAS 0. HENNINQS, Jr., Missouri HERMAN WELKER, Idaho
PRICE DANIEL, Texas JOHN MARSHALL BUTLER, Maryland
J. Q. Sour WINE, Chief Counsel
EiCHAKD Arens and Alva 0. Carpenter, Associate Counsel
Benjamin Mandel, Director of Research
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CONTENTS
Page
Foreword v
Moscow inspired and dominated 1
Political party or conspiracy 8
Military aspect 8
Discipline 9
Authority at the top 9
Exclusive membership 10
Professional revolutionists.. - 10
Importance of theory 11
A full-time organization 12
Supersensitivity on organization matters 12
Desire to control or destroy other organizations 12
Deception as a method 13
Always on the offensive 13
Planning ahead 14
Red elite 14
Individual responsibility 15
Control by blackmail 15
Atmosphere of distrust 15
A divisive party 15
Attitude toward the Government and American institutions 16
The end justifies the means 16
Conformance to pattern 17
Revolutionary minority 17
Organization of the Communist Party, USA 18
Communist hierarchy 18
Conspiracy at work ^ 19
Moscow representative 20
Moscow, the seat of power 21
Communist Party membership 22
Official questionnaires 25
Dues 29
MaiUng lists 29
Evidence of party membership 30
Fellow travelers 32
How to judge a fellow traveler 33
Extent of Communist Party membership , 34
Communist Party membership by States 34
Changes in the volume of membership of CPUSA 35
Popular vote, 1948, for President 36
Presidential election returns by States for Communist Party candidates. _ 37
How to measure Communist influence 37
Resignations and ex-Communists 38
Recruiting 42
What makes a Communist tick? 43
Communist clubs 50
The shop clubs, Red spearhead 50
Community clubs 54
Section committee 57
District or State organizations 58
Communist chain of command 59
National committee 59
Disciplinary procedure 60
Leadership cult 61
Spirit of prevailing fear 62
Communist Party, USA as a puppet - 64
III
IV CONTENTS
Page
Soviet writers whose articles have appeared in the Communist, later known
as Political Affairs, theoretical monthly magazine of the Communist
Party, USA - 65
Articles published in Political Affairs (the Communist) by writers and
leaders of foreign Communist parties 68
Soviet Embassy and the Communist Party__i 73
Alexander Bittelman 73
Underground activity 77
Methods of evasion and deception 82
Trial and hearing technique 86
Communist front organizations 90
List of most typical sponsors of front organizations 94
Within the labor movement 96
List of unions with Communist leadership strongly entrenched 100
Conclusion 100
FOREWORD
The average American is unaware of the amount of misinformation
about the Communist Party, USA, which appears in the public press,
in books and in the utterances of public speakers. In part, this mis-
information is consciously planted by members of the party using ways
and means calculated to have the greatest effect in poisoning the
channels of American public opinion. In part, it is due to our ig-
norance of the problem — the problem of the existence in our midst of
a mass conspiratorial organization controlled by a foreign power. The
Communist problem is unique in our history.
The Senate Internal Security Subcommittee presents this study of
The Communist Party, USA — What It Is — How It Works as a con-
venient handbook for Americans in an effort to counteract current
misinformation regarding the Communist movement. This study
seeks only to touch the high spots without going into a detailed analy-
sis of Communist activity in the labor movement, among Negroes,
women, youth, foreign language groups, and in front organizations.
It endeavors to differentiate the Communist Party from bona fide
political parties in the United States. We earnestly believe that, given
a more accurate knowledge of the Communist conspiracy, fewer
Americans will fall victim to its wiles.
THE COMMUNIST PARTY OF THE UNITED STATES
OF AMERICA
What It Is— How It Works
Founded in September 1919, the Communist Party of the United
States of America is an organization unique in American history. It
is not a true poHtical party and differs fundamentally from all political
parties in this country. It is in fact a Russian-inspired, Moscow-
dominated anti-American, quasi-military conspiracy against our
Government, our ideals, and our freedoms.
MOSCOW INSPIRED AND DOMINATED
After testimony running over a period of more than 1 year, from
numerous qualified witnesses, the Subversive Activities Control Board
found, on April 20, 1953, that the Communist Party of the United
States is "substantially directed, dominated, and controlled by the
Soviet Union." This finding was based upon the evidence before the
Subversive Activities Control Board. It was undergirded by the
report of the House Committee on Un-American Activities on The
Communist Party of the United States as an agent of a Foreign
Power, published in 1947. The counts supporting this finding follow:
1. The Communist Party, USA, traces its origin to two conventions,
held simultaneously in Chicago from September 1 to 7, 1919, of the
Communist Party of America and the Communist Labor Party.
Both conventions were held in response to an invitation issued by
Gregory Zinoviev, then president of the executive committee of the
Communist International with headquarters in Moscow, and fu"st
published in this country on July 7, 1919, in the Novy Mir, a Russian
newspaper published in New York City. Zinoviev was, at that time,
a member of the executive body of the All-Russian Central Executive
Committee and Chairman of the Petrogi^ad Soviet. In obedience to
instructions from Zinoviev, the two parties he had called into con-
vention merged mto the United Communist Party of America in
May 1921.
2. Among the "twenty-one points" of admission to the Communist
International, adopted in 1920 and accepted by the American party,
was No. 14 to the effect that —
Each party desirous of affiliating with the Communist International should be
obliged to render every possible assistance to the Soviet Republics in their struggle
against all counterrevolutionary forces. The Communist parties should carry
on a precise and definite propaganda to induce the workers to refuse to transport
any kind of military equipment intended for fighting against the Soviet Republics,
and should also by legal and illegal means carry on a propaganda amongst the
troops sent against the workers republics. * * *
Since that time, paramount allegiance to the Soviet Union has been
a fundamental tenet of the Communist Party, USA, as shown by the
1
2 THE COMMUNIST PARTY OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
books recommended for party study such as: Problems of Leninism
and Foundations of Leninism, both by Joseph StaHn; History of the
Communist Party of the Soviet Union; Lenin's Works, and by party
oaths of loyalty such as the following of 1935 for new members:
"I pledge myself to rally the masses to defend the Soviet Union, the land of
victorious socialism. I pledge myself to remain at all times a vigilant and firm
defender of the Leninist line of the party, the only line that insures the triumph
of Soviet Power in the United States" (The Communist Party — A Manual on
Organization, by J. Peters).
At the Seventh World Congress of the Communist International
held in the summer of 1935, attended by Earl Browder, William Z.
Foster, Gil Green, John Williamson, Jack Stachel, William Schneider-
man, James W. Ford, Robert Minor, Samuel Darcy and Martha
Stone, all topflight American Communist leaders at the time, an oath
was taken by the assembled delegates assuring "Comrade Stalin,
leader, teacher, and friend of the proletariat and oppressed of the
whole world" that "the Communists will always and everywhere be
faithful to the end and to the great and invincible banner of Marx,
Engels, Lenin, and Stalin" and that "Under this banner. Communism
will triumph throughout the world."
The Daily Worker and Political Affairs (formerly the Communist),
both official publications of the Communist Party, USA, have, since
their inception, consistently defended the Soviet Union without a
single exception to date.
Article I, section 1, of the Constitution of the Communist Party of
America, adopted in 1921, reads as follows:
The name of this organization shall be the Communist Party of America, Section
of the Communist International.
In his History of the Communist Party of the United States,
William Z. Foster lists its conventions under the following designa-
tions: Communist Labor Party (1919); Communist Party of America
(1919, 1920, 1921, 1922); United Communist Party of America (1921);
American Labor Alliance (1921); Workers Party of America (1921,
1922, 1923, 1924); Workers (Communist) Party of America (1925.
1927, 1928, 1929); Communist Party, USA (1930, 1932, 1934, 1936,
1938, 1940, 1945, 1948, 1950); Communist Political Association (1944),
thus establishing the continuity of the organization under the titles
given.
At its convention in November 1940, the Communist Party, U. S. A.,
decided:
That the Communist Party of the U.S.A., in Convention assembled, does here-
by cancel and dissolve its organizational affiliation to the Communist Inter-
national * * * for the specific purpose of removing itself from the terms of the
Eo-called Voorhis Act. * * *
The Subversive Activities Control Board found,' however, that
the disaffiliation did not alter in any substantive way the relationship between
the Respondent (CPUSA) and the Communist International. * * *
In 1943 when the Soviet Union was our ally in World War II, the
Communist International was dissolved on the initiative of the Presi-
dium of its Executive Committee. The Communist Party, U. S. A.,
publicly approved this decision. In September 1947 a conference of
nine leading European Communist parties established the Information
Bureau of Communist and Workers' Parties (Cominform). The
> Eeport, p. 14.
THE COMMUNIST PARTY OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA 6
American party hailed the establishment of the Information Bureau
as a much-needed center of cooperation, but did not affiliate in view
of the Voorhis Act and other legislation (statement of national board,
CPUSA, in Political Affairs, December 1947). The Subversive Ac-
tivities Control Board found ^ that —
the Communist Information Bureau represents what the Communists consider
the best possible substitute at the present time for the Communist International
and that Respondent's support of the Information Bureau * * * and its non-
deviation from the line of the Bureau, are done for the purpose and with the aim
of advancing the objectives of the world Communist movement.
The main reports at the founding meeting of the Cominform were
presented by A. Zhdanov, then a member of the Politburo of the
Communist Party of the Soviet Union, secretary of its Central Com-
mittee and a colonel-general in the Red army, and by Georgi M.
Malenkov, then general secretary of the CPSU and Deputy Chairman
of the Council of Ministers of the Soviet Union.
3. The current constitution of the Communist Party, U. S. A., adopted
in 1945, amended in 1948 and reaffirmed in 1950, states in its preamble:
The Communist Party of the United States is a political party of the American
working class, basing itself upon the principles of scientific socialism, Marxism-
Leninism.
In his address to the Supreme Soviet of the U. S. S. R. on August 8,
1953, Mr. Malenkov indicated how closely Marxism-Leninism is
officially identified with the Communist Party of the Soviet Union and
the Soviet Government itseK, when he declared:
The Communist Party and the Soviet Government know where and how to lead
the people, because they are guided by the scientific theory of social development —
Marxism-Leninism * * * The Soviet state and the Communist Party equip the
people on the basis of the teaching of Marx-Engels-Lenin-Stalin with a profound
knowledge of the objective laws of the development of society, the laws of the
construction of communism, and thereby give them a clear prospect of the con-
structive activity of the Soviet people.
4. The Communist International with headquarters in Moscow sent
representatives to the American Communist Party who wielded un-
questioned authority. The Subversive Activities Control Board found
that —
A preponderance of the evidence clearly shows that representatives of the
CPSU were in the United States and that through them respondent [CPUSA]
received directives and instructions, (Report, p. 61).
These representatives included: G. Valetski (Valetsky), 1922; Joseph
Pogany, alias John Schwartz, ahas John Pepper, alias John Swift,
1922-29; Boris Remstein, 1922; S. Gussev, alias P. Green, alias
Drapkin, 1925; Y. Shola, alias Mdler, 1926, 1927; Arthur Ewert,
ahas Braun, aUas Brown, alias Berger, 1927' Harry Pollitt, 1929;
Philip Dengel, 1929; B. Mikhailov, ahas George Wilhams, 1929, 1930;
Gerhard Eisler, ahas Hans Berger, ahas Edwards, 1931, 1932 and 1940-
45; Carl E. Johnson, ahas Scott, ahas Jensen, alias Jenson, 1921, 1922;
Petersen, 1925, 1926; Marcus, alias M. Jenks, 1928; F. Marini, alias
Mario Alpi, alias Fred Brown, 1938-48; WQliam Rust, 1927;
Wihi Muenzenberg, 1934; Louis Gibarti, also known as Dobos, 1927,
1928 and 1934; Raymond Guyot, 1938; Yusefovich; Paul Merker,
alias Wagner.
5. From March 1, 1919, to August 21, 1935, the Communist Inter-
national held seven congresses in Moscow. From 40 to 50 leaders of
'Keport, p. 19.
4 THE COMMUNIST PARTY OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
the American Communist Party attended these meetings from time to
time. As a rule, one or more of these leaders were chosen to be
member of the executive committee of the Communist International.
In his appearance before the House Committee on Un-American
Activities, on September 29, 1939, William Z. Foster, present chairman
of the Communist Party, USA, testified that he had visited the Soviet
Union on official business at least 10 times between 1921 and 1937.
The Communist International maintained American representatives
in Moscow between congresses. Included among them were Benjamin
Gitlow, Israel Amter, Max Bedacht, Robert Minor, Louis J. Engdahl,
Earl Browder, Harrison George, H. M. Wicks, William W. Weinstone,
William F. Dunne, Clarence Hathaway, John J. Ballam, J, Peters,
Andrew Overgaard, John Little.
6. Members of the American Communist Party were assigned to
official posts in the Communist apparatus in Moscow, notably:
Leonard Emil Mins, editor for the Marx-Lenin Institute prior to
1936; Schachno Epstein, editor of the Emes until his death in 1945;
Williana Burroughs, English language announcer for the Anglo-
American department of the Moscow radio until October 1945; A. G.
Bosse, alias Alfred J. Brooks, informational specialist for the Com-
munist International; Joseph Kowalski, head of a Soviet penitentiary
from 1920 to 1923; Anna Louise Strong, editor of the Moscow Daily
News,
7. Leading members of the American party were assigned by the
Communist International to posts as CI representatives in other
countries. Included in this group were: Earl Browder, China, 1927,
Spain, 1936-39; Philip Aronberg, China; Harry M. Wicks, Germany
and Latin America, 1926; William F. Dunne, France and Germany;
Joseph Zack Kornfeder, Latin America, 1932; Harrison George, Mon-
tevideo, 1926; Charles Krumbein, Great Britain and China, 1930;
Robert Minor, Spain, 1936-39; Nicholas Dozenberg — Soviet Military
Intelligence, Rumania, etc., 1927-39.
8. Leading members of the Communist Party, USA, have pub-
lished articles in official organs of the Communist International and
later the Cominform, Among these publications have been the
International Press Correspondence, the Communist International,
For a Lasting Peace, For a People's Democracy. Among such con-
tributors have been A. B. Magil, Carl Reeve, William L. Patterson,
I. Amter, Max Bedacht, Earl Browder, William Z, Foster.
9. The Marx-Lenin Institute and other Communist schools in
Moscow have given special revolutionary training, with all expenses
paid, to American Communists who were later assigned to important
posts by the Communist Party, USA. Among those so trained were:
Carl Reeve, Charles Krumbein, Joseph Zack Kornfeder, Wiliam Odell
Nowell, Beatrice Siskind, Clarence Hathaway, Morris Childs, Harry
M. Wicks, Marcel Sherer, and Lovett Fort-Whiteman.
10. The Communist Party, USA, has, since its birth, recognized
the Communist Party of the Soviet Union as its model and leading
party. In his book. Toward Soviet America, published in 1932,
William Z. Foster, presently party chairman, has said:
The Communist Party of the United States * * * is the American section of
the Communist International * * * The Communist International is a disci-
plined world party * * * Its leading party, by virtue of its great revolutionary
experience, is the Russian Communist Party (pp. 258, 259).
THE COMMUNIST PARTY OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA 5
In his History of the Communist Party of the United States,
published in 1952, WilHam Z. Foster maintains his thesis:
Lenin was also the architect and chief organizer of the great Russian Commu-
nist Party * * * It is incomparably the most highly developed political organi-
zation in the history of mankind * * * (p. 151).
In the Daily Worker of March 5, 1939, the following cabled editorial
from the Moscow Pravda is reprinted:
The Communist Party of the Soviet Union always was and always will be
a model, an example for the Communist Parties of all countries.
At its meeting on December 3-5, 1938, the National Committee of
the Communist Party, USA, members were given the following
instructions in regard to the History of the Communist Party of the
Soviet Union:
It wil be the task and duty of the membership and organizations of the Com-
munist Party in the coming months to organize and carry through the distribution
of the minimum of 100,000 copies of this book.
Testifying before the House Committee on Un-American Activities
on September 8, 1939, Benjamin Gitlow, Communist candidate for
Vice President in 1924 and 1928, a former member of the Political
Committee of the Communist Party, USA, and of the executive
committee of the Communist International, described the relationship
between the Russian Communist Party and the Communist Inter-
national with which the CPUSA was affiliated, as follows:
Whereas the American party * * * had to carry out decisions of the Com-
munist International explicitly, the Russian party was given a privileged position.
The Russian party was permitted not only to review all decisions of the Com-
munist International, but, if necessary, to take it up in its political committee
and to change these decisions * * * and that decision [of the Russian party]
becomes binding upon the parties of the Communist International.
Another important fact to bear in mind is that * * * the rules governing
the Communist International provide that whenever a party sends representatives
to the Communist International, or delegates to the congresses of the Communist
International, those delegates cannot be instructed * * * The only party that
has the right to instruct its delegates to the Communist International and to
make these instructions binding on the delegates is the Russian Communist
Party * * * In other words, they have built the Communist International
organization in such a way that the Russians under no circumstances can lose
control of the Communist International.
The Subversive Activities Control Board has found, on the basis
of the evidence, that —
All of the heads of the Comintern that are identified in the record have been
leading members of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. (Report, p. 11.)
Alexander Bittelman, a founder and leading member of the national
board of the CPUSA, has stated, in his pamphlet Milestones in the
History of the Communist Party:
The Communist International and its model party — the Communist Party
of the Soviet Union — headed by Comrade Stalin, gave us the guidance that
helped the American Communists to find the way to the masses and to the posi-
tion of vanguard (p. 8). * * * The leading role of the Communist Party of the
Soviet Union needs neither explanation nor apology. A Party that has opened up
the epoch of the. world revolution, and that is successfully building a classless
society on one-sixth of the earth, is cheerfully recognized and followed as the
leading Party of the world (p. 21).
11. From its very inception, the Communist Party, USA, has re-
ceived instructions and directives from Moscow, the headquarters of
6 THE COMMUNIST PARTY OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
the Communist International, on such important matters as the
following:
(a) Merger of the Communist Party of America and the
Communist Labor Party (1920).
(b) Combining legal and illegal work (1922).
(c) Campaign in behalf of political prisoners (1923).
(d) Establishment of the Daily Worker (1923).
(e) Establishment of the Workers Party of America as the
legal branch of the Communist Party (1923).
(/) Merger of Proletarian Party of America with the Workers
Party of America (1923).
(g) Praising achievements of the party (1923, 1924).
(h) Attitude toward the LaFollette movement (1924).
(i) Fusing together the foreign language sections of the
party (1925). _
(j) Reorganization of the party on a shop nuclei basis (1925).
(k) Trade union activity (1925).
(I) Sending of an American trade union delegation to the
U. S. S. R. (1925).
(m) Removal of Daily Worker and party headquarters from
Chicago to New York (1926).
(n) Attitude of the American party toward the Nicaraguan
?5ituation (1928).
(o) Celebration of international holidays (1928).
(p) Permission to hold a national convention (1928).
(g) International Red Day campaign (1929).
(r) Trade Union Unity Convention (1929).
(s) Gastonia campaign (1929).
(t) Work among the miners (1929).
(u) All-America Anti-Imperialist League (1929).
(v) Liquidation of party factions (1929).
(w) Recall of the executive secretary of the CPUSA (1929).
(x) Changes in the party secretariat (1929).
(y) Address containing instructions from the Communist Inter-
national directly to the members of the CPUSA (1929).
(z) Cablegram of instructions from the Young Communist
International to the Young Communist League of the USA
(1929).
(aa) Criticism of issues of the Daily Worker (1933).
(bb) Formation of a third party (1935).
12. The official literature of the Communist Party, USA (Daily
Worker, Political Affairs, etc.), has paralleled the line of Soviet publi-
cations (Pravda, Izvestia, New Times, etc.) from the foundation of
the party to date. This parallelism has been maintained throughout
all fluctuations in Soviet policy: for and against the League of Na-
tions, for and against cooperation with the democracies against
Fascist aggression, for and against peaceful coexistence, etc. Ameri-
can Communist publications have even reprinted articles from these
Soviet publications for the guidance of their readers. The Subversive
Activities Control Board has held that:
7. Respondent has established a press in the United States patterned after that
in the Soviet Union which operates as a means of setting fortli for Respondent's
members the correct line as laid down by tlie Soviet Union;
8. The press in the Soviet Union and the journal of the Communist Information
Bureau are major communication means whereby directives and instructions of
the Soviet Union are issued to Respondent * * *
THE COMMUNIST PARTY OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA 7
The Attorney General, in his petition to the Subversive Activities
Control Board, has stated:
Throughout its existence the Communist Party never knowingly has deviated
from the views and policies of the government and Communist Party of the
Soviet Union, the Communist International, the Communist Information Bureau
and other leaders of the world Communist movement. Whenever such views
and policies have conflicted with the position taken by the Government of the
United States, the Communist Party has opposed the position of the United
States (Report, p. 79).
13. The Attorney General, in his petition to the Subversive Ac-
tivities Control Board, has further stated:
The Communist Party regularly reports and has reported to the government
and Communist Party of the Soviet Union and to the Communist International
and the Communist Information Bureau * * * (Report, p. 891.
Such reports were printed in official organs of the Communist Inter-
national and the Cominform such as the International Press Corre-
spondence, For a Lasting Peace, For a People's Democracy, etc.
CPUSA leaders William Z. Foster and Alexander Bittelman submitted
such reports in 1926, Benjamin Gitlow in 1927, 1928, and 1929, and
Earl Browder, in 1932.
14. The Communist Party, USA, has accepted the statutes set
down by the Communist International in Moscow. The Communist
Party — a Manual of Organization by J. Peters, formerly CPUSA rep-
resentative in that city and former head of the Communist under-
ground in the United States, states that he has depended, for the
material in the manual, upon the "resolutions and decisions on the
question of organization adopted by the Second Organizational Con-
ference of the Communist International." The Second Congress of
the Communist International held in 1920 decided that —
All the parties and organizations comprising the Communist International bear
the name of the Communist Party of the given country (section of the Communist
International) .
In line with this decision, the American party designated itself as a
"section of the Communist International" until the party's disaffilia-
tion to circumvent the Voorhis Act in 1940.
Article 3, section 1, of the constitution of the Workers (Commu-
nist) Party declared that a membership requirement is acceptance
of—
the program and statutes of the Communist International and of the Workers
(Communist) Party * * *
15. Point 15 of the Conditions of Admission to the Communist
International, adopted in 1920 and accepted by the American Com-
munist Party, was the provision that —
the program of each party belonging to the Communist International should be
confirmed by the next congress of the Communist International or its Executive
Committee.
16. At conventions of the CPUSA, fraternal greetings were ex-
changed between the American party and the Communist Party of
the Soviet Union. The Subversive Activities Control Board notes
such interchanges at CPUSA conventions in 1921, 1927, 1929, and
1950 (Report, pp. 95-98).
17. In his petition to the Subversive Activities Control Board the
Attorney General held as follows as to the disciplinax-y power to
which the CPUSA is subordinated:
8 THE COMMUNIST PARTY OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
From the inception of the organization to the date of the filing of this petition,
the principal leaders of the Communist Party have been and are subject to and
recognize the disciplinary power of the Soviet Government, the Communist
Party of the Soviet Union, the Communist International and the Communist
Information Bureau * * * (Report, p. 99).
This disciplinary power has been sufficiently strong to bring about
the expulsion of two executive secretaries of the CPUSA, namely
Jay Lovestone and Earl Browder, members of the party's executive
committee such as Ludwig Lore, James P. Cannon, Wilham F. Dunne,
Bertram D. Wolfe, Benjamin Gitlow, and Joseph Zack Kornfeder, as
well as entire sections of the organization.
POLITICAL PARTY OR CONSPIRACY
Since the Communist Party, USA, is in fact simply the American
branch of the Russian Communist Party, it follows faithfully the
conspiratorial pattern laid down by its parent body.
The Russian Communist Party, the focal point and radiating center
of the international Communist movement, owes its inception to
V. I. Lenin, its guiding genius on matters of organization. The
principles upon which the Communist movement was founded were
therefore based primarily upon his experience with the czarist regime
under which the labor and socialist movements were illegal and the
rights to freedom of speech, press and assembly were nonexistent.
Widespread discontent of the laboring classes and the peasantry could
find no legal outlet or remedy, with the result that attempted assas-
sinations of government officials and even of the Czar, were not un-
common. Lenin's own brother was executed as a result of one such
an attempted assassination. In this atmosphere it is understandable
that Lenin envisaged an organization adapted to the specific purpose
of violent overthrow of his own government. Necessarily, therefore,
this movement was conspiratorial. In his authoritative work What
Is To Be Done, pubhshed in February 1902, in reference to party
organization, Lenin laid down the principle that —
Conspiracy is so essential a condition of an organization of this kind that all other
conditions * * * must be made to conform with it.
Today the Communist movement is no longer an insignificant Rus-
sian sect fighting against czarism, but an international movement
seeking world conquest and more specifically the destruction of the
American Government as its chief obstacle. Hence the Communist
Party, USA, as an organic part of that movement dedicated to the
same destructive purpose, has necessarily assumed the same Leninist
conspiratorial guise. The other characteristics of the movement
flow logically from this basic conception.
By way of contrast, American political parties, despite criticisms
they may make of public policy, are fundamentally loyal to our form
of government and conform to its laws. They rely upon the duly
constituted agencies of our Government and the operation of our
democratic processes for the correction of grievances.
MILITARY ASPECT
American political parties carry on their activities by peaceful
means within the confines of our legal structure in which they have
full faith. The Communist Party looks upon our Government as its
THE COMMUNIST PARTY OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA 9
enemy which it seeks to overtlirow by forceful means. Hence, it is
organized along quasi-military lines. The program of the Com-
munist International adopted at its sixth congress in 1928, endorsed
by the CPUSA, and never since repudiated or superseded, has made
this plain by calling for —
a combination of strikes and armed demonstrations and finally, the general strike
co-jointly with armed insurrection against the state power of the bourgoisie
(1. e. capitalists). The latter form of struggle, which is the supreme form, must
be conducted according to rules of military science * * *.
Writing on Lenin's Conception of the Party, in the January 1934
issue of the Communist, official theoretical organ of the Communist
Party, USA, F. Brown, alias Alpi, a weU-known representative of the
Communist International, emphasizes this point. He holds up a
modern army as "a good example of organization" which "knows
how to impart a single will to millions of people."
DISCIPLINE
Our traditional political parties are loose organizations operating
under a very fluid and flexible discipline. Members and leaders will
differ sharply with each other and still remain within the same organ-
ization.
Lenin conceived the Communist Party, however, as an organiza-
tion which —
will be able to fulfill its duty only if it will be organized in the most centralized
manner, if it will be governed by an iron discipline, bordering on military dis-
cipline * * * (Conditions for Affiliation to the Comintern).
"Why do the Communists attach so much importance to discipline?"
asks J. Peters in his authoritative pamphlet The Communist Party —
A Manual on Organization, and he answers this question as follows:
Because without discipline there is no unity of will, no unity of action. * * *
The class war is bitter. The enemy is powerful. * * * In order to combat
and defeat this powerful enemy, the army of the proletariat must have a highly
skilled, trained General Staff [the Communist Party], which is united in action
and has one will.
Again Peters pointedly asks, "How can the Army fight against the
army of the enemy if every soldier in the Army is allowed to question
and even disobey orders of his superior officers?" The Communist
Party, USA, has therefore not hesitated to expel even its highest
officials for actual or suspected deviation from the official line of
Moscow. In Russia and other Communist countries such deviation-
ists have been shot. Communist leaders have frequently referred to
the party with pride as monolithic.
AUTHORITY AT THE TOP
Political parties as we know them are highly responsive to the
sentiment of their constituents and of the American people as a
whole. They encourage independence and initiative. They are
essentially democratic in their approach to the rank and file of party
membership. Initiative and pressure come from below.
In conformance with its military character and objectives, the
Communist Party is organized from the top down. It is essentially
undemocratic. The flow of its directives and strategy proceeds from
its highly centralized leadership in the Russian Communist Party by
10 THE COMMUNIST PARTY OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
way of the Cominform to the similarly centralized leadership within
the national board of the Communist Party, USA, and then on down
to the lower levels of the organization. As J. Peters has pointed out
to his fellow members of the Communist Party, USA, in his Manual
on Organization, "all lower Party organizations are subordinated to
the higher bodies,"
The Programme of the Communist International is quoted from
Petitioners Exhibit 125 by the Subversive Activities Control Board
to show that the Communist Parties are organized on the basis of
democratic centralism:
The Communist International and its Sections are built up on the basis of
democratic centralism, the fundamental principles of which are: (a) Election of
all leading committees of the Party * * *; (b) periodical reports by leading Party
committees to their constituents; (c) decisions of superior Party committees to
be obligatory for subordinate committees, strict Party discipline and prompt exe-
cution of the decisions of the Communist International, of its leading committees
and of the leading Party centres.
Party questions may be discussed by the members of the Party and by Party
organizations until such time as a decision is taken upon them by the competent
Party committees. After a decision has been taken by the Congress of the Com-
munist International, by the Congress of the respective Sections, or by leading
committees of the Comintern, and of its various Sections; these decisions must be
unreservedly carried out even if a Section of the Party membership or of the local
Party organizations are in disagreement with it. (p. 56).
In his work entitled "One Step Forward, Two Steps Back," pub-
lished in 1904 Lenin ridiculed political parties which "proceed from
the bottom upwards" and stressed the superiority of a party which
"strives to proceed from the top downwards, insisting on the exten-
sion of the rights and authority of the centre over the parts."
In a debate with Lenin as early as 1904 Leon Trotsky outlined with
remarkable foresight the type of organization which Lenin envisaged.
In Lenin's scheme the party takes the place of the working class.
The party organization displaces the party. The Central Committee
displaces the party organization, and finally the Dictator displaces
the Central Committee.
EXCLUSIVE MEMBEESHIP
Membership in our traditional political parties is easily obtainable
and comparatively unrestricted. This is not true of the Communist
Party, which is highly exclusive and restricted to those who pass its
rigid membership requirements.
In What Is To Be Done? Lenin outlined his conception of the
exclusiveness of the Communist Party, which has been a standard
guide for Communists throughout the world. He declared that —
the more narrow we make the membership of this organization, allowing only such
persons to be members who are engaged in revolution as a profession and who
have been professionally trained in the art of combatting the political police, the
more difficult it will be to "catch" the organization. * * *.
PROFESSIONAL REVOLUTIONISTS
A member of an American political party, as a rule, has many other
interests, including his club, his church, his work, his friends, and his
family. Communists, on the other hand, are expected to be profes-
sional revolutionists who, as Lenin announced in his paper, the Iskra
THE COMMUNIST PARTY OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA 11
(Spark) in December 1900, No. 1, "shall devote to the revolution not
only their spare evenings, but the whole of their lives."
Few Americans realize what this means since no bona fide political
party would dare to make such demands upon its members. Speaking
for the Communist Party, USA, in his Manual on Organization,
J. Peters explains:
A professional revolutionist is ready to go whenever and wherever the Party-
sends him. Today he may be working in a mine, organizing the Party, the trade
unions, leading struggles; tomorrow, if the Party so decides, he may be in a steel
mill; the day after tomorrow, he may be a leader and organizer of the unemployed
* * *. From these comrades the Party demands everything. They accept
Party assignments — the matter of family associations and other personal problems
are considered, but are not decisive. If the class struggle demands it, he will
leave his family for months, even years * * *. Our task is to make every
Party member a professional revolutionist in this sense.
IMPORTANCE OF THEORY
None of our American political parties is so fanatically bound by
dogma as is the Communist Party, which is devoted to the theories of
Marxism-Leninism-Stalinism. Briefly this dogma is based upon the
following false conceptions :
1. That all phases of American life, industry, education, reli-
gion, politics, the press, radio and films, even family life, are
dominated primarily by an irreconcilable class struggle between
the capitalists and the workers.
2. That our system of free capitalist enterprise (which has
produced for the American people the highest living standards in
the world), has actually outlived its usefulness and must be de-
stroyed.
3. That the sj^stem of communism (with its slave labor camps,
low living standards, and one-party dictatorship over every phase
of human life) is superior to and must take the place of our sys-
tem of free enterprise, thus abolishing the class struggle for all
time.
4. That American democracy is not a government of, by, and
for the American people but a capitalist dictatorship, which must
be destro3'ed.
5. That this change to communism and a classless society can be
brought about only by the violent overthrow of the capitalist
system and our form of government.
6. That the Communist Party is destined to carry out this
historic mission.
7. That Communists owe their highest and unreserved lo3^alty
to the Soviet Union, where the Communist system has been
finally established.
For tactical reasons these conceptions may be slightly modified by
the ruling hierarchy or disguised to avoid legal prosecution, but the
basic principles remain the same and are returned to when a temporary
emergency has passed. Thus, the Communist Party, USA, advocated
cooperation with the capitalists and with American democracy when
Russia faced destruction from Adolph Hitler, only to return to its
former hostility to capitalism when the war was over and Hitler was
destroyed.
870894»— 55 2
12 THE COMMUNIST PARTY OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
This chain of dogma is the frame of reference by which the Com-
munist interprets the world around him and maps out his behavior.
It provides him with a clear perspective of his present and future
battles. It indicates the goal toward which he is striving and
which justifies every means from treason to mm-der. It offers a
powerful political myth inspiring Communists with fanatical zeal.
A FULL-TIME ORGANIZATION
American political parties are usually active during election cam-
paigns. Their primary function is to elect this or that candidate
to office. Between campaigns activity is at a low ebb.
The Communist Party functions at all times of the year, every day
of the week, and at all hours of the day. It is a full-time organization
which is not restricted to election campaigns. It persistently seeks
to permeate every phase of American life for its own subversive
purpose. Communist agents may be found wherever and whenever
there is an opportunity for Communist propaganda or the promotion
of civil strife, whether it be the factory, the union, the church, the
school, or the neighborhood.
SUPERSENSITIVITY ON ORGANIZATION MATTERS
No political party in this country ever was so supremely conscious
of the mechanics of organization as is the Communist Party. This is
a demonstration of its quasi-military character. Like an army, it
pays marked attention to what makes the wheels go round and to
organizational techniques. The Communist International has pub-
lished considerable literature dealing specifically with party organiza-
tion. From time to time the party has published special organs,
known as the Party Organizer and later as Contact, as well as
pamphlets and articles, dealing with purely organizational problems
and intended only for the eyes of party members. Every convention
and meeting of the national committee of the Communist Party is
devoted in some part to organizational questions. Voluminous mate-
rial and du'ectives on such matters have been sent to this country
from Moscow for the use of the American Party. In 1935 the party
published its Manual on Organization by J. Peters, after he had spent
years of study in Moscow. Every Communist unit and front
organization has its organizational director, a post peculiar to this
type of organization.
DESIRE TO CONTROL OR DESTROY OTHER ORGANIZATIONS
Our political parties respect other organizations and, as a rule,
make little effort to interfere with their internal affairs or to control
them. Traditional political parties do not generally penetrate other
political parties. The reverse is true in the case of the Communist
Party.
Communists look upon all organizations not under their control as
instrumentalities of the enemy, of the ruling class. This holds true
for the Government, the unions, civic and professional organizations,
fraternal organizations, women's groups, youth groups, religious
groups, and even political parties. In warfare it is standard practice
THE COaiMUNIST PARTY OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA 13
to penetrate enemy territory and dislocate its machinery or capture
its strongholds. The Communist Party, while it safeguards its own
ranks against penetration, does not hesitate to infiltrate other
organizations.
In a letter to a comrade written in September 1902, dealing with
organizational problems, Lenin called for an organization which
"must be conspiratorial internally" and "ramified externally" with
"feelers" stretched far and widespread. As such an organization the
Communist Party alternates its strategy between a soft policy toward
those whom it considers currently useful and a policy of militant
opposition toward those whom it considers as current obstacles.
DECEPTION AS A METHOD
Fully aware that if it appeared openly in its true guise as a bridge-
head of a hostile, foreign dictatorship, the Communist Party, USA,
would attract httle support, its methods are based primarily upon
deception. This approach is inherent in the Communist movement
and was laid down by Lenin in his work "Left-Wing" Communism:
An Infantile Disorder, first printed in Russia in April 1920, in which
he declares:
It is necessary to agree to any and every sacrifice, and even — if need be — to
resort to all sorts of devices, manoeuvres, and illegal methods, to evasion and
subterfuge. * * *
Hence the Communist Party, pro-Soviet always, nevertheless calls
itself the party of Jefferson, Jackson, and Lincoln, It operates behind
the scenes of the Progressive Party and the American Labor Party.
Its members resort to aliases and deny their affiliation. It builds up
numerous front organizations with attractive labels to ensnare the
unwary in its various campaigns. Its leaders do not hesitate to
deceive their own members as to the party's real nature and purpose.
ALWAYS ON THE OFFENSIVE
Well-intentioned but naive individuals are constantly deploring the
fact that Communists rudely reject their amicable advances for good
will and cooperation. They are wont to blame themselves or our
own national policy for lack of response to their friendly overtures.
They do not understand that the Communist Party, USA, looks upon
itself as being in the nature of a reconnaissance and commando force
operating in enemy territory in behalf of the Soviet fatherland. In
accordance with this concept, just as in the case of an actual military
detachment of a hostile, foreign foe based upon American soil, correct
military strategy would call for a constant offensive against us, so the
Communist Party staj-s constantly on the offensive against all who
refuse to do its bidding. This approach is clearly outlined by Lenin
in his Works, volume VI, page 291:
The defensive is the death of every armed uprising; it is lost before it measures
itself with its enemies. Surprise your antagonists while their forces are scattering,
prepare new successes, however small, but daily; * * * in the words of Danton,
the greatest master of revolutionary policy yet known, de I'audace, de I'audace,
encore de I'audace! (audacity, audacity, more audacity).
Unaware of the philosophy behind Communist tactics, unsophisti-
cated and softhearted hberals are sometimes stunned by the barrage
14 THE COMMUNIST PARTY OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
of invective which greets their well-meant advances. They are un-
mindful of Lenin's effort to arouse among his followers a ''passion for
political denunciation," a field in which he was a rnaster. This will
explain why a Communist always seems to carry a chip on his shoulder.
This note of belligerence is echoed by J. Peters in the Communist
Party, USA, Manual on Organization where he indicates that the
party-
Unit as a whole and every individual member of the Unit should be known by the
workers in the street or town as fearless fighters * * *,
The party operates on the theory that "He who is not with us, is
against us."
PLANNING AHEAD
Within the Communist Party, USA, every step is planned in detail
from the smallest club or unit in the United States to the highest
echelons of the international Communist apparatus in Moscow — ■
sometimes months or years in advance. Nothing is left to whim or
circumstance. In part this is a reflection of the quasi-mihtary char-
acter of the party. In part it is a carryover from the Russians and
their passion for planning.
For example, a number of Communist leaders now in the forefront
of the revolutionary movement in the Far East were educated and
kept "on ice" for years in Moscow until the right moment. The pro-
gram of the Communist International adopted by its sixth congi-ess
in 1928 stands today as a definitive guide upon which present-day
activities of the Communist movement in all parts of the world are
based. In the current struggle of democracy against the Communist
menace, it would be suicidal to overlook this basic fact. Hence the
need for a diligent study of standard Communist literature by all its
opponents.
EED ELITE
Despite the fact that it has brought misery and slavery wherever it
has established its power, no American political party is as fervently
imbued with its mission as is the Communist Party. This conceit
extends down to its rank-and-file members, encouraged and stimu-
lated by Communist leaders throughout the world.
The Party-
said Lenin in his "Left-Wing" Communism: An Infantile Disorder-
is the highest form of the class organization of the proletariat; it should lead all
the other forms of proletarian organizations.
"We Communists," declared Joseph Stalin at Lenin's funeral in
1924, "are people of a special mould. We are made of special material.
We are those who comprise the army of the great proletarian strate-
gist, the army of Lenin. There is nothing higher than belonging to
this army."
Although the Communists have been repudiated by labor through-
out the world, Communist Party literature is replete with references
to itself as "the leader and organizer of the proletariat," "the van-
guard of the working class," even reaching the point where it is
characterized as "the most complete bearer of the great achievements
of tens of centuries of the rise of the human mind and its mastery of
the earth."
THE COMMUNIST PARTY OF THE UNITED STATES OF AIVIERICA 15
INDIVIDUAL RESPONSIBILITY
By and large American political parties are loose organizations in
which individual accountabihty is at a minimum. The Communist
Party member, on the other hand, is never a free agent. He is held
strictly responsible for his acts by his party superiors. This is a
continuing process which places every party member and leader on
the anxious seat at all times.
As Lenin pointed out in his work What Is To Be Done? in Feb-
ruary 1902, reprinted and accepted as mandatory by all Communist
Parties ever since, party members —
are keenly alive to their responsibility, knowing from experience that in order to
get rid of an undesirable member, an organization of true revolutionaries will
stop at nothing.
He stressed the fact that such an organization "punishes with merciless
severity every abuse of duty by a comrade. * * *" Penalties im-
posed have run all the way from censure or expulsion to murder.
CONTROL BY BLACKMAIL
Outside of the Communist movement, especially in naive liberal
circles, there is a prevailing illusion that Communist discipHne is
primarily based upon high idealism and conviction. However, the
chief conspirators in the Kremlin are not so impractical as to rely
upon such fortuitous and changing factors. They have too much at
stake. Therefore a much more reliable instrument is employed,
namely, blackmail. With the aid of extensive files continuously
augmented, showing every personal foible and misstep, every devi-
ation from the party hne, the threat of compromise or exposure
affords an alternative means of insuring obedience.
ATMOSPHERE OF DISTRICT
The Communist Party is permeated with an atmosphere of distrust
toward every individual party member. Hence members and leaders
are subject to a process of continuous checkup, totally at variance
with procedure in our political parties. This is done through annual
or more frequent registrations, internal purges and demands for
reports. Members are expected to attend classes regularly and to
keep abreast of official party literature in order to guard against any
possible defection from the cm-rent party line.
A DIVISIVE PARTY
Wherever the Communist Party makes its appearance, it serves as
a force for division and friction, following the theory of divide and
rule. Thus it seeks to alienate the United States from its potential
allies. Internally it tlirives upon promoting clashes: Between em-
ployer and employee, landlord and tenant, white and Negro, native-
born and foreigner, Catholic, Protestant and Jew; between the
American people and their Government, and within every non-
Communist organization.
16 THE COMMUNIST PARTY OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
ATTITUDE TOWARD THE GOVERNMENT AND AMERICAN INSTITUTIONS
Political parties as we know them in American life may differ
sharply with each other. The party not in office may criticize the
current administration unsparingly. But fundamentally both the
Democratic and Republican Parties are loyal to our form of Govern-
ment as it is presently constituted. Not so with the Communist
Party.
Running like a red thread through Communist teachings from the
very inception of the movement is the note of total hostility to our
form of government. For example, the following points are included
among the fundamental tasks of the Second Congress of the Com-
munist International delivered July 4, 1920:
the violent overthrow of the bourgeoisie [capitalist], the confiscation of its prop-
erty, the destruction of the whole of the bourgeois state apparatus from top to
bottom — parliamentary, judicial, military, bureaucratic, administrative, mu-
nicipal, etc.
In a similar vein, William Z. Foster, present chairman of the
CPUS A, has written in his book, Toward Soviet America:
Capitalist governments have nothing in common with proletarian govern-
ments * * *. In the revolutionary struggle they are smashed and Soviet govern-
ments established * * *" (p. 271).
M. J. Olgin, a former member of the central executive committee
of the CPUSA and an editor of the (Communist) Freiheit, stated
succinctly in his book, Why Communism, the exact purpose of the
Communists in entering legislative bodies. He said, "We go to the
law-making institutions, not to tinker them up for the benefit of the
capitalists, but to be a monkey wrench in their machinery * * *"
As shown by experience in countries which are under the heel of a
Communist dictatorship, the Communists display the same implacable
hostility toward all non-Communist parties and institutions. Thus,
William Z. Foster's pledge in regard to what he envisages under the
dictatorship of the proletariat in the United States cannot be lightly
dismissed. In this work, Toward Soviet America, he declared:
Under the dictatorship all the capitalist parties — Republican, Democratic,
Progressive, Socialist, etc. — will be liquidated, the Communist Party functioning
alone as the Party of the toiling masses. Likewise, will be dissolved all other
organizations, that are political props of the bourgeois rule, including chambers
of commerce, employers' associations, rotary clubs, American Legion, Y. M. C. A.,
and such fraternal orders as the Masons, Odd Fellows, Elks, Knights of Columbus,
etc, (p. 275).
THE END JUSTIFIES THE MEANS
Our American political parties may clash over issues or public office.
Nevertheless there is a certain code of ethics, of loyalty which is gen-
erally recognized and adhered to. The Communists have no such
scruples. They believe that ethics should be completely subordinated
to the class struggle, that is to say to the Communist movement.
According to the Soviet Short Philosophical Dictionary, " 'Moral' is
only that which facilitates the destruction of the old world," which
means out democratic world and particularly the United States.
"Moral", according to this conception, "is only that which strengthens
the new, Communist regime." Again, Lenin has said to Communist
youth, "Our morality is entirely subordinated to the interests of the
class struggle."
THE COMMUNIST PARTY OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA 17
Specifically this means that Communists consider themselves justi-
fied in violating any and every ethical code in the interest of what
they consider a "higher" cause. Having been defeated by a legiti-
mate major'ty vote they will refuse to recognize it and press their
original contention. Having been expelled from an organization,
they will try to penetrate through other channels. Solemn agree-
ments are, to them, merely scraps of paper.
CONFORMANCE TO PATTERN
Political parties as we know them vary in character from State to
State and from country to country. The Communist Party conforms
strictly to pattern wnth some slight variations for purposes of local
camouflage. Those who understand the main outline and underlying
principles of the party in one country or locality, who are familiar with
the party line from Communist publications, can readily understand
and follow the identical pattern of the party as it appears everywhere,
and even predict it.
REVOLUTIONARY MINORITY
It is impossible to understand the nature and activities of the
Communist Party, USA, without appreciating the fact that it is
primarily a revolutionary minority seeking to perpetrate the over-
throw of the Nation by insurrectionary means directed at the most
sensitive and strategic strongholds of our Government. In other
words the Communists do not accept as final or decisive the verdict
of the peaceful ballot based upon majorities and public persuasion.
They rely rather upon forceful means beyond the purview of our legal
election machinery. This has been dealt with in some detail in the
House Committee on Un-American Activities report on The Com-
munist Party of the United States as an Advocate of Overthrow of
Government by Force and Violence, and the report of the Senate
Internal Security Subcommittee giving "documentary proof that the
Communist Party, USA, teaches and advocates the overthrow and
destruction of the United States Government by force and violence."
In his collected works, Russian Edition, volume XIV, part 2, page
270, Lenin formulated this strategic approach in his thesis on insur-
rection, which has been emphasized by Joseph Stalin, which reads in
part as follows:
Accumulate a preponderance of forces at the decisive place, at the decisive
moment. * * * Try to take the enemy b}' surprise.
In his Foundations of Leninism, Stalin presented the same thought
from a somewhat different angle when he called upon the Commu-
nists —
to locate at any given moment that single link in the chain of events which if
seized upon will enable us to control the whole chain and prepare the ground for
the achievement of strategic success.
Given a highly interdependent civilization vulnerable to physical dis-
location at many points, given the tremendous power of modern science
at the disposal of subversive forces and given the numerous frictions
prevalent in any democratic society, one can readily conceive the
potentialities for the creation of chaos inherent in a group which is
constantly probing for our weak spots and endeavoring to capitalize
upon them with the maximurp destructive effect.
18 THE COMMUNIST PARTY OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
ORGANIZATION OF THE COMMUNIST PARTY, USA
COMMUNIST HIERARCHY
The basic organization of the Communist Party is the club or
branch. This may be based on a territorial limitation, for instance
embracing a community or rural area, or may be limited to employees
of a large industrial plant or of a single industry within a city or town.
Each club is controlled by an executive committee or bureau consist-
ing of the chief officers. A group of clubs or branches in a given area
is in turn controlled by a section committee. The next higher body
is the State committee or a district committee including two or more
States, above which is the national committee of the party. In recent
days the party organization has been subdivided into smaller con-
spiratorial groups.
A reading of the Communist Party constitution will not disclose the
structure of the party as it actually functions. Such documents are
drawn up for public consumption and disguise and not for real practice.
A conspiracy could not well be expected to publish its code of procedure
which has grown up and become ingrained in the organization as a
matter of usage rather than statute.
For example, the Communist Party constitution, in order to give the
party a semblance of democracy, declares that "The highest body of
the state organization is the State Convention." And further, "The
highest authority of the Party is the National Convention." Since
State and National conventions are held every 2 years or less often,
it is manifest that the party is not and cannot be run from day to
day by conventions. The conventions are merely rubber stamps for
decisions of a small core of policymakers including a Moscow repre-
sentative operating behind the scenes.
We shall present below the various stages in the structure of the
party as found in J. Peters' The Communist Party — a Manual on
Organization, published in July 1935, as compared with the present
streamlined version from the constitution of the Communist Party
of the United States of America, published in September 1945, both
of which are consciously misleading:
peters' manual, 1935 CONSTITUTION, 1945
Unit Bureau Club Executive Committee
Unit Membership Meeting Club Membership Meeting
Section Bureau Not mentioned
Section Committee Not mentioned
Section Convention Not "mentioned
District Bureau State or District Board
District Committee State or District Committee
District Convention State or District Convention
Political Bureau of Central Committee National Board
(Secretariat not mentioned) (Secretariat not mentioned)
Central Committee National Committee
National Convention National Convention
Political Secretariat of the Communist Not mentioned
International
Presidium of the Communist Inter- Not mentioned
national
Executive Committee of the Communist Not mentioned
International
World Congress of the Communist Not mentioned
International
THE COMMUNIST PARTY OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA 19
One must not be misled by the formal outward structure of the
party, behind which a publicly unacknowledged but nonetheless
actual network operates. For example, a section committee can send
its representative to any subordinate club with power to determine
decisions of the club or its executive committee. Similarly the
secretariat of the national committee can send its representative with
overriding powers to any unit of the party. In the same manner the
Moscow headquarters of the Communist movement sends representa-
tives like Gerhard Eisler who have undisputed say over the decisions
of the national committee and the staff of the national office in its
day-to-day activity. These practices are not even mentioned in the
party's constitution.
CONSPIRACY AT WORK
On October 13, 1952, the Senate Internal Security Subcommittee
heard the testimony of John Lautner, former member of the National
Review Commission of the Communist Party, U. S. A., and head of its
New York State Review Commission. This particular feature of the
Communist Party finds no parallel in political parties. According to
Mr. Lautner, this body's principal function was —
to safeguard party discipline, to vigilantly seek out and ferret out any anti-party
elements in the ranks of the party, to carry out investigations and to propose
for expulsion or any form of discipline party members who don't toe the line.
After the indictments of certain party leaders, the "three system"
of conspiratorial organization was adopted, which is described by
Lautner, who was assigned to carry out phases of this reorganization,
as follows:
The party leadership appointed the top coordinating committee. The top
coordi:iating committee consisted of three people. * * * Onewas head of the three.
He was the political person in the group. * * * The other was the organizational
person and the third one was the union mass-organization person.
Now, these three people were assigned, each one of them, to appoint three other
persons below him on the next level. * * * So he appoints his one, two, three P's.
* * * O does the same thing. * * * [Note. — O stands for organizer, P for polit-
ical organizer and T for trade union organizer.]
P does not know O or T on the lower levels. He knows only the three persons
that he appointed. O does not know the P's and T's on the lower levels. He
only knows his O's. So, here you have a situation where one party leader knows
his two associates in his triangle, and the three that he appointed below. All in
all, a party member wouldn't know more than six party members in the party,
up and down. * * *
To my own personal knowledge there was the top coordinating committee; that
3, the next level was 9, and the third level, 27; the fourth level, 81, and the fifth
level, 243. * * *
Speaking before the subcommittee of the House Comrnittee on
Appropriations on December 9, 1953, J. Edgar Hoover, Director of
the Federal Bureau of Investigation described the current organization ^
of the Communist Party in the following terms: /- ^ ^_ ^'^i/y^Jj /'
No longer are Communist Party membership cards issued; maintenance of
membership records are forbidden; contacts of rank and file members are limited
from 3 to 5 — the basic club unit. Most of the local headquarters have been dis-
continued and party records have been destroyed. No evening meetings are
permitted in headquarters without staff members present. Conventions and
large meetings are held to the absolute minimum. The use of the telephone and
telegraph is avoided.
No contact is had with families or friends; contacts between functionaries are
arranged through frequently changed intermediaries; false drivers Hcenses have
(i>
20 THE COMMUNIST PARTY OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
been obtained; assumed names have been adopted; modification of physical ap-
pearance has been effected, such as dyeing hair and eyebrows * * *.
They have removed conspicuous means of personal indentification such as moles;
they have effected a new manner of walking, have changed their dress standards,
have avoided old habits and even have avoided old vices, and have avoided appear-
ance in public places where their recognition would be probable.
They communicate through couriers and avoid the use of written communica-
tions. They have instituted loyalty tests for all prospective underground per-
sonnel. They rotate the underground personnel to avoid detection * * *,
They appear outside of hideouts only at night * * *,
They use different automobiles, and the cars frequently are registered in fictitious
names and not names of party members; the license plates are frequently changed.
They have used extreme precautions in regard to surveillance, making rapid
and frequent changes of conveyances, entering and leaving subways and buses
just before the doors close, and doubhng back on their course.
MOSCOW REPRESENTATIVE
The keystone of the Communist Party hierarchy within the United
States is the representative of the Communist International or its
present equivalent, the Information Bureau of the Communist and
Workers' Parties, otherwise known as the Cominform. The statutes
of the Communist International adopted at its sixth congress in the
summer of 1928 formally authorize the sending of such representatives
to affiliated Communist Parties. Although the Communist Inter-
national was allegedly dissolved in May 1943, witnesses before the
Committee on Un-American Activities have disclosed in terms of
their experience that these statutes are still fully operative in actual
fact although not openly acknowledged.
Article III, section 22 of these statutes declares that —
The E. C. C. I. (Executive Committee of the Communist International) and
its Presidium have the right to send their representatives to the various Sections
of the Communist International. Such representatives receive their instructions
from the E. C. C. I. or from its Presidium, and are responsible to them for their
activities. Representatives of the E. C. C. I. have the right to participate in
meetings of the central Party bodies as well as of the local organizations of the
Sections to which they are sent * * * They may * * * speak in opposition to
the Central Committee of the given Section * * * jf the hne of the Central
Committee in question diverges from the instructions of the E. C. C. I. * * *
The E. C. C. I. and its Presidium also have the right to send instructors to the
various Sections of the Communist International.
Appearing on September 8, 1939, before the Special Committee on
Un-American Activities, Benjamin Gitlow, former member of the
executive committee of the Communist International, former member
of the political committee of the Communist Party, USA, and one
time its candidate for Vice President of the United States, described
the powers of these representatives or "reps" as they are familiarly
called:
A representative of the Communist International to the United States during
his stay in the United States was the boss of the party. * * * He automatically
became a member of all the leading committees of the party in the United States
and participated in its deliberations and enjoyed a vote on matters that were
voted upon * * * all he had to do was to impose his power and mandate as a
C. I. representative, and then his view would prevail. Generally, American
Communists never would take a position in opposition to the representative of
the Communist International.
Seven years later on November 22, 1946, Louis F. Budenz, former
managing editor of the Daily Worker and a member of the national
committee of the Communist Party, USA, confirmed this picture
THE COIVIMUNIST PARTY OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA 21
when he described the activities of Gerhard Eisler, ahas Hans Berger,
aHas Edwards. The latter had been introduced to Budenz by Eugene
Dennis, former general secretary of the party, as the "equivalent to
a representative of the Communist International." Mr. Budenz de-
clared that —
the official representative of the Communist International is the chief communica-
tion officer who brings the hne of the party over, who knows it, and who, in
addition to that, is vested with a certain authority to intervene in party affairs
if he judges that necessary.
Mr. Budenz was notified by Dennis that he would "occasionally re-
ceive instructions and communications from this Hans Berger," alias
for Gerhard Eisler. Budenz described how Eisler (Berger) verbally
flayed Daily Worker Editor Clarence Hathaway "for almost half an
hour." In the Communis' of May 1944, leading theoretical organ
of the Communist Party, USA, Eisler (Berger) publicly castigated
William Z. Foster, then chairman of the party. In neither case did
these American Communist chieftains dare to reply.
In the November 1943 issue of the Communist, "Hans Berger"
wrote an article entitled "Remarks on the Discussion Concerning the
Dissolution of the Communist International," the purpose of which
was to inform American Communists that "internationalism still
lives." In The Communist of November 1942, Eisler, posing as an
American, explained the significance of "Twenty-five Years of Soviet
Power." He was for some time the brains behind Joseph Starobin,
foreign editor of the Daily Worker, whom he emploj^ed as his mouth-
piece. This wUl give some idea of the tremendous power wielded
over the American Communist Party by its Moscow-anointed com-
missar.
Others who have served in this capacity in the past include: G.
Valetsky ; Joseph Pogany, alias John Schwartz, alias John Pepper, alias
John Swift; Boris Reinstein; S. Gussev, alias P. Green, alias Drabkin;
Y. Sirola, alias Miller; Arthur Ewert, alias Braun, alias Brown, alias
Berger; Harry Pollitt; Philip Dengel; B. Alikhailov, alias George
WUliams; Carl E. Johnson, alias Scott, alias Jensen; Petersen;
Marcus, alias M. Jenks; F. Marini, alias Mario Alpi, alias Fred
Brown; William Rust; Willi Muenzenberg; Louis Gibarti; Raissa
Irene Browder; Raymond Guyot; Boris Isakov, alias Boris Williams.
At times two or more such commissars wiU be here simultaneously,
each being assigned to some special task or campaign.
There is method in AIoscow's designation of foreign commissars for
the American party as revealed by Jacob Golos, in charge of under-
ground activities, in an interview with Louis F. Budenz in his bio-
graphical work Men Without Faces; "An American might be a
Comintern man in such countries as China and the Philippines,"
declared Golos. "He will never yield to any homesickness for those
lands, nor will he think of his family there in a moment of weakness."
He added, however, that "for this country the C. I. (Comintern) man
and the C. I. agents under him will always be non-Americans — and
noncitizens if at all possible."
MOSCOW, THE SEAT OF POWER
In describing the Communist hierarchy from the lowest club to the
very pinnacle of power, we have endeavored to deal with the realities
22 THE COMMUNIST PARTY OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
of this farflung conspiracy as disclosed by individuals formerly
enmeshed therein, rather than to take seriously the current official
version of Communist organization which is foisted upon those gullible
and ignorant enough to give it credence.
Illuminating detail is found in the testimony of Joseph Zack
Kornfeder, former member of the central executive committee of the
Communist Party, USA, a former member of the Anglo-American
secretariat of the Communist International, later its representative
in Colombia and Venezuela.
He testified before the House Committee on Un-American Activi-
ties on August 9, 1949, in regard to a dispute in the American party
between the pro-Stalinist faction headed by William Z. Foster and
the anti-Stalinist faction headed by Jay Lovestone. This dispute
occurred long ago, in 1928. Nevertheless, the pattern of behavior
which it reveals is important in helping us understand a structure
which has not changed fundamentally since then. We quote from
Mr, Kornfeder's testimony:
The reason why Stalin, as well as Molotov and other leaders of the Russian
Communist Party, spent that much time on this faction fight in the United States,
was because Stalin, considering this country of utmost importance in the total
scheme of strategy, wanted to retain a reliable base by securing control, absolute
control, for his faction of the Communist Party of the United States * * *.
Stalin personally directed all the major phases of the fight against the then
majority of the American Communist Party, led by Jay Lovestone * * *. In
the windup of that fight, he and Molotov even participated as members of the
commission that tried Lovestone and other members of the central committee of
the American Communist Party siding with Lovestone * * *. The speech
was made at the Presidium on May 14, 1929.
In volume XI of the hearings of the Committee on Un-American
Activities (pp. 7112 to 7124) are printed two speeches made by Stalin
on May 6 and 14, 1929, and in which he actively intervened in the
affairs of the American Communist Party to the point of presenting
an ultimatum to the American delegation. He declared that —
If the comrades of the American delegation accept our terms — good and well; if
they don't, so much the worse for them.
Then Stalin recommended that Comrades Lovestone and Bittelman,
leaders of the American party, "must be recalled and placed at the
disposal of the Comintern." Subsequent to this meeting, Lovestone
was summarily expelled from his post as executive secretary of the
Communist Party, USA, and the rival faction was installed in the
leadership, despite the fact that his voting strength had represented
over 90 percent of the party membership in a previous convention.
Bittelman was shifted out of the United States to duties abroad.
Those who seek open statutory justification for Stalin's relationship
toward the Communist Party, USA, are chasing a will-o'-the-wisp.
In any conspiracy, the real source of power is not inherent in any
statutes. Since the elimination of the recalcitrant faction in 1929,
Stalin's power over the Communist Party in America was sufficiently
secure and unchallenged, as to make it unnecessary for him to openly
intervene. From that time on, his intervention has been more covert,
operating behind a screen of agents completely submissive to his
bidding.
THE COAIMUNIST PARTY OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA 23
It may well be asked how Jo?epb Stalin was in a position to keep
track of the activities of his Communist satellites in the United States.
According to Mr. Kornfeder, Stalin maintamed a personal secretariat,
each member of which was assigned to a specific area. At the time
Mr. Kornfeder was in Moscow, affairs in America were under the
supervision of one B. Mikhailov, the secretary on American affairs,
who visited the tjnited States in 1930 under the name of George
Williams, to take charge of the purge of Lovestoneites. In 1933
Helena Stasova was Stahn's secretary for German questions.
According to Mr. Kornfeder, this streamlined body of secretaries
outmoded the cumbersome machinery of the Communist International
and thus enabled Stalin to exercise more complete and direct control
over his international Red network.
The details of this mechanism will not be found in any public Com-
munist pronouncement either here or abroad. The subordination of
the CPUSA to Stalin personally is, however, implicit in the telegram
signed in behalf of its national committee by William Z. Foster as
chairman, and Eugene Dennis as general secretary of the Communist
Party, USA, on the occasion of the 70th birthday of Joseph Stalin and
published in the Daily Worker as recently as December 21, 1949, from
which we quote in part:
Dear Comrade Stalin: On your 70th birthday the National Committee of the
Communist Party, USA * * * sends you heartiest congratulations and warmest
greetings * * * Like the Communists * * * in all lands, we hail your more than 50
years of sterling leadership * * *.
According to this telegram, victory in World War II was ascribable not
to the joint efforts of the Allies and particularly the United States, but
rather to the guidance of the "Great Bolshevik Party, built by you
and Comrade Lenin, and, since Lenin's death, continuing under your
leadership to guide itself by the principles of Marxism-Leninism which
you have safeguarded and enriched." The telegram closes with the
wish "Long hfe to you, Comrade Stalin, and to your great and enduring
contributions to world peace, democracy, and Socialism."
COMMUNIST PARTY MEMBERSHIP
Accustomed as we are to the methods employed by our traditional
political parties with openly acknowledged membership, membership
records and books, we Americans rnight expect to find documentary
proof of such membership in the case of Communists. Naively
unaware of the conspiratorial nature of the Communist Party, we
might demand the production of a party membership card or other
documentary evidence before we will believe that an individual is a
Communist. Thus we might contribute to our own confusion,
accentuated by the consistent denial of party membership on the
part of those charged.
The Communist Party, USA, has progressively streamlined its
membership records to the point where no membership cards are
issued at tne present time. Dues records are maintained in code,
with each member assigned a number, in accordance with the following
form:
24 THE COMMUNIST PARTY OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
MONTH
Member's number
Jan.
Feb.
Mar.
Apr.
May
June
July
Aug.
Sept.
Oct.
Nov.
Dec.
1
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
2
3
4
6
6
7
8
9 -
10 -
On every occasion before congressional committees, in the courts
or before grand juries, Communist Party officials have refused to
disclose party membership lists. In fact they have claimed that no
such hsts exist. In June 1949 four officials of the Communist Party
of Los Angeles were sentenced to jail for refusal to disclose such lists
to a Federal grand jury. Nevertheless all signs point not only to the
existence of such lists, but to the fact that the Communist Party
maintains an extensive dossier on each of its members.
It stands to reason that the party could not maintain a sound book-
keeping system, including records of dues payments, without accurate
records for each individual party member. It must be remembered
that the party's accounts are regularly supervised by both its national
review commission and by Communist headquarters in Moscow.
On January 17, 1950, for example, the Daily Worker announced the
the expulsion of John Lautner, a member of the New York State
review commission of the Communist Party. Printing his photo-
graph, the announcement said that "Lautner himself is an enemy
agent of long standing."
In March 1950 Matthew Cvetic appeared as a witness before the
Committee on Un-American Activities, having served as undercover
agent for the FBI within the Communist Party in Pittsburgh for a
number of years. Immediately following his appearance before
the committee, the Daily Worker published, on Alarch 3, 1950, a
digest of three documents purporting to show that Cvetic had
assaulted his wife's sister "with force and violence." The documents
included (1) the indictment, (2) a court order directing him to make
financial restitution to the alleged victim in this case, and (3) the
decision to nolle pross the case.
Testifying on September 30, 1939, Joseph Zack Kornfeder, former
member of the central executive committee of the Communist Party
and at one time in charge of its trade-union activity, declared:
I was once asked to supply an engineer, a chemist, who would personally have
qualifications capable, and let us say, talk to other engineers higher in the pro-
fession than himself, in this instance, specifically, certain engineers of du Pont.
I was asked to do that by Max Bedacht, who was then in charge of this phase of
their secret activity. Well, I recommended a certain individual.
A former member of the Communist Party, a writer, has told in a
letter of his experience in checking on the record of a former Com-
munist Party member, in connection with a certain article he was
writing for a Communist magazine in 1939. The writer was called to
the New York office of Charles Dirba, then head of the control com-
mission or disciplinary board of the party. We publish a few signifi-
cant excerpts from this letter:
THE COMJMTJNIST PARTY OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA 25
I told him of this story about having been a Communist. He produced
a book of some kind — it looked, as I recall it, like a large ledger — and began
looking through it. Finally, he came on what was, apparently, a note about .
It said, as I remember it, that had been a Communist in some city in
Texas several years ago.
Thus it would appear that the national headquarters of the Com-
munist Party was in possession of membership lists for Texas. There
is every reason to believe that such records are still maintained, in
secret, of course, and that copies are forwarded to Communist head-
quarters in Moscow.
Since the Communist Party, USA, is part of a world organization
operating under central direction and everywhere in accordance with
a uniform pattern, the testimony of Igor Gouzenko, former civilian
employee at the Soviet Embassy in Ottawa, is significant. We quote
from page 38 of the report of the Canadian Royal Commission, pub-
lished June 27, 1946, referring to biographical data dealing with Sam
Carr, national organizer of the Communist (Labour-Progressive)
Party of Canada:
A. On every Communist there is a file at the Comintern in Moscow; for every
Communist in the whole world there is a file at the Comintern at Moscow. * * *
Q. The Comintern was supposed to have been abolished before 1945?
A. Supposed to be abolished in 1943. but it is not so. * * *
According to Gouzenko, the registration card kept in the 1945
dossier in the Soviet Embassy on Sam Carr, stated after the mimeo-
graphed heading "Biographical Data," the following typed entry, in
Russian: "Detailed biographical information is available in the Centre
in the Comintern."
In his biographical study. This Is My Story, Louis F. Budenz,
former managing editor of the Daily Worker and former member of
the national committee of the Communist Party, described in detail
the party's method of keeping individual records:
Records are kept of each member in any kind of key post, just as they would
be for those engaged by any other espionage system. When a member takes up
a new post, he must file a complete new biography. This is checked for new data
and also to observe if it differs from the ones previously filed. In his biography
he is required to list his relatives, where they were born and now live, their occu-
pation, and his relations with them. His entire personal and labor history must
be given — previous marriages if any, his children and his arrests * * * He
must also give a complete accounting of his financial resources, the average salary
he has received throughout his working life, any bonds or other property he ever
owned, and what he now owns, if anything. * * * His Party record must be
given in detail (p. 235).
With this information in its hands, the party is in a position to
blaclonail any possible recalcitrant and to exercise highly potent
means of personal pressure.
OFFICIAL QUESTIONNAIRES
Communists have been most vociferous in condemnation of what
they term Government prying in connection with loyalty investiga-
tions. Below we present a questionnaire which party functionaries
were required to fill out in 1946. If any Government agency in this
country would dare to infringe on the privacy of its citizens to such
a degree, it would be denounced from coast to coast by the leftwing
press as violative of civil liberties. But so far as we know no Com-
26 THE COMMUNIST PARTY OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
miinist, nor any civil liberities advocate, has ever protested against
this Communist questionnaire as an invasion of the privacy of an
American citizen. Through such methods as this compulsory ques-
tionnaire the party is in a position to know every possible use to
which each party member can be put by the Communist conspiracy.
New York State Review Commission
Communist Party, U. S. A.
Memhers of County Committees and County Functionaries, not members of County
Committees
Members of Section Committees and Section Functionaries, not members of Section
Committees
Dear Comrade: Below you will find a questionnaire to be used as a guide in
writing your biography. Please be advised that the Commission wants a detailed
and frank statement from you, one that will enable it to know you as well as you
know yourself. Please use as much paper as necessary (on one side only) and be
assvired that tK:s document will be treated in strict confidence and properly
safeguarded.
1. Personal Background —
Your name and all pseudonyms and nicknames ever used in the Party or other-
wise;
Date of birth; place of birth (city, county & State);
!> ames and dates of birthplace and occupation and political affiliation of your
parents; same for your brothers and sisters;
Your own trade or occupation; place of employment, all occupations and places
of employment for the past ten years.
Your wife's maiden name (or your husband's first name), the date and place of
his or her birth, occupation and place of employment;
Name your children and give information as to their ages and date and place
of present employment.
Are you a veteran of any wars, such as World War I, II, Spain and foreign wars.
2. Education —
Describe your formal education; public school, high school and college;
Name the schools and indicate the years of attendance and degrees received;
Describe your Party education; what schools attended and courses studied;
Give a summary of your self-study, naming the Marxist books you have
covered.
3. Communist Party —
Give the date and place (city, county, section, club) of your joining the Party;
By whom recruited; his present wliereabouts and political and social back-
ground;
Describe your Party activities, stating all functions held in branches, sections,
counties, etc., giving dates and locating the organizations by county, city, and
state.
Name all conventions and conferences you have attended as delegate or observer
(state which) and all subcommittees you have served on.
Name all your recruits into the Party, giving their present whereabouts and
functions, as well as their social and occupational background. State whether
they are at present in the Party and if they dropped out, why?
Name your relatives and close friends who are or were members of the Party;
give their whereabouts and present organizational functions and activities.
Describe your present function or post in the Party, how long held; discuss any
other assignments that you may feel better fitted for; what would you want to
do in the Party.
Have you ever had any personal or political difficulties in the Party? Were
you ever involved in disciplinary action — where, when and give the disposition
of the case.
4. Mass Organizations and Struggles —
Name all the mass organizations you are or have ever been a member of (trade
unions, other political parties, education, economic and social mass organizations);
Give dates, posts and activities in each;
Describe the struggles you have participated in (strikes, lockouts, mass and
Partv demonstrations, etc.)
THE COMMUNIST PARTY OF THE UNITED STATES OF A]VIERICA 27
Were 5'ou ever arrested; where, when, on what charges, give the disposition of
the case or cases.
If you are at present, a full time functionary in a mass organization, describe
your post and functions.
UOPWA/1
Rec'd. Nov. 16, 1946.
REGISTRATION GUIDE
1. Book No 2. Age 3. Occupation.
4. What kind of company or organization do you work for?
5. What kind of work do you want to do?
6. What kinds of work have you done in the past?
7. Do you work nights? 8. If so, what nights?..
9. Are there any peculiarities in connection with your work, such as long travel-
ing time or lots of overtime?
10. Marital status 11. If unemployed housewife, what free time
have you during the day?
12. Number of children 13. Ages 14. What schools
do they attend?
15. Do you belong to a parents' or a parent-teachers' organization?
16. Name of organization
17. If not a member, has your children's school such an organization?
18. If a member, are you active?.. 19. Have you any special
function?
20. Have you any personal problems which restrict activity, such as ill health, in-
valids in the family, etc?
21. What are your skills, hobbies, interests, etc.?
22. Can you type? 23. Have you a typewriter at home?
24. Can you drive a car? 25. Have you a driver's license?
26. Have you a car? 27. Can you operate a mimeograph machine?
28. Are you going to school at present? 29. If so, what schools or
school?
30. What are you studying?
31. If going to school at night, what nights?
32. How many nights a week do you need for study?
33. What formal education have you had in the past?
(High school, college, special courses.)
34. Is your apartment suitable and available for occasional parties?
35. Available for parties? 36. Available for meetings, classes?
37. Are you a veteran? 38. Service (branch of).
39. 40. Decorations, etc
41. Do you belong to a vet organization? 42. Name of organiza-
tion 43. Where and when does it meet?
44. Are you active? 45. Attend meetings regularly?
Occasionally ?
46. Have you any special function in the organization?
47. Are you interested in vet housing work?
48. How long in the service? 49. How long overseas?
50. When did you join the Party? 51. If a former member of the
Y. C. L., when? ..Where?
52. State activities in Y. C. L
53. Present work in the Party (rank-and-file activity, special functions or offices)
54. Past work in the Party:
Activity or function
Where
When
370894°— 55-
28 THE COMMUNIST PARTY OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
55. Are you willing and able to work as an open Communist in the neighbor-
hood?
66. If not, why not
67. Are you known as a Communist anywhere outside of the Party? (In your
union, on the job, among your friends, etc.)
Do you read the Daily Worker regularly? Sometimes?
Do you read the Worker regularly? Sometimes? 60. Have
you a subscription to either or both? 61. If not, where do you buy
the paper? (what newsstand)
If you don't subscribe, why not?
Do you read Political Affairs regularly? Sometimes?
Have you a sub to P. A.? 65. What other Communist periodicals do
you read regularly ?
Sometimes?
Do you read current C. P. pamphlets? Few or many?
What other papers and periodicals do you read?
68.
59.
62.
63.
64.
66
67
71.
72.
73.
74.
75.
68. What Marxist courses have you had?
Subject
Length of course
Where (Jeff.
School club or
county, etc.)
When
Teacher
69. Wh&i Marxist courses are you taking now? (Give full details)
70. What basic IMarxist literature have you read? (Marx, Engels, Lenin and
Stalin) State whether you've read all or part of the given work
Do you want to attend a club or section class or study circle?
What kind of course are you interested in?
What nights have j'ou free on which to attend a class?
Interested in daytime or weekend class?
What kind of branch or section work are you interested in doing?.
(Press, canvassing, education, literature, research, leaflets, etc.).
76. Do you think you can function better working as an open Communist in the
neighborhood or working in a mass organization?
77. If a new member, who recruited you? (First name only, and club)
78. Can you make a regular donation to the sustaining fund? (25^ a month and
up) __ 79. Amount?
Organization
Active
member?
Attend
meetings?
Function
(rank and file
specific func-
tion)
When
you
joined
Expect
to join
Known as
Commmiist
Union ... ... .
A. L. P. f American Labor Party).
Civil Riglits Congress •.
Consumer and Tenant Council .
Veterans Housing Conference
Good Neighbor Council..
American Youth for Democracy
(A. Y. D.)
NO PAC (National Citizens
Political Action Committee)
YC PAC (Young Citizens Politi-
cal Action Committee
Win the Peace . .
80. If you have been a member of any of these organizations for more than three
months, state past activity and function
THE COMMUNIST PARTY OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA 29
81. If you have belonged to any of these or other organizations in the past, state
when, where, activities and positions. Also why you dropped out _
82. How often do the organizations you belong to meet and usually what nights?
(List individuaUy)
83. Altogether, about how many nights a week or month do you spend on meet-
ings and activities in each of these organizations?
DUES
Beginning with its constitution adopted May 27-31, 1938, and
thereafter, the CPUSA no longer pubhshes a table of membership
dues. The 1945 constitution simply says "Initiation fees and dues
shall be paid according to rates fixed by the National Convention,"
while giving no figures. This is done in the interest of secrecy for
fear that a publicly announced table may give a clue from which an
accurate estimate of party membership may be calculated. The
Party Voice, volume 1, No. 5, August 1953, published by the New
York State Communist Party, shows that on July 1, 1953, the Na-
tional Committee of the Communist Party, USA, mstituted the fol-
lowing monthly dues schedule:
Unemployed and youth $0. 15
Housewives • ^0
Members earning up to $40 weekly . 50
Members earning $41-$60 weekly 1. 25
Members earning $61-$80 weekly.. _ 2. 50
Members earning $81-$100 weekly 3. 00
Members earring over $100 weekly 10. 00
MAILING LISTS
The extent and interlocking character of maihng lists maintained
by the Communist network is disclosed by the fact that those whose
names appear on maihng lists of one front organization, suddenly and
without solicitation receive mail from another. An envelope sent out
by the National Council of American-Soviet Friendship has used the
stencil of the Voice of Freedom Committee. The New York World
Telegram of January 17, 1946, described how a housewife from
Wyckoff, N. J., solicited hterature from the National Federation for
Constitutional Liberties and thereafter began receiving under the
same stenciUed address um-equested printed matter from the National
Citizens Political Action Committee, the National Council of Ameri-
can-Soviet Friendship, Inc., and the Committee for a Democratic
Pohcy Toward China. On August 9, 1949, Mr. Blair Seese, a mem-
ber of local 601 of the Communist-dominated United Electrical,
Radio, and Machine Workers of America, which has been expelled
from the CIO because of this domination, testified before the Commit-
tee on Un-American Activities on the party's access to mailing lists,
as follows:
Mr. Tavenner. What about the Communist Party literature; do you receive
it yourself through the mail?
Mr. Seese. I have and I still do at times.
Mr. Tavenner. Do other members of the union also receive it?
Mr. Seese. I know other members in the local who have Communist literature
mailed to their homes, * * *
Mr. Tavenner. Wliat explanation is there for members of the union who are
not members of the Communist Party receiving this literature?
Mr. Seese. I have no explanation for it other than the fact that it seems evi-
dent that by some means the membership lists of the stewards' council are avail-
30 THE COMMUNIST PARTY OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
able to the Communist Party, because if there are errors in the addresses of any
union members, the same errors are made in sending out the Communist
literature.
Under these circumstances it is inconceivable that the Communist
Party would not maintain a roster of its own members.
The Communist Party is most scrupulous in the way it checks upon
and husbands its forces to insure the maximum utilization of every
ounce of available cooperation and support and to guard against pos-
sible losses. For this purpose rigorous registrations of all party mem-
bers are conducted regularly. As J. Peters indicated in The Com-
munist Party — A Manual on Organization, "The party leadership
must know its forces, must be able to assign each one to the place
where he is most suitable and most needed." In this respect he cites
with approval Lenin's counsel to the party leadership:
Not only to advise * * * but really conduct the orchestra, one must know
exactly who is playing first or second fiddle, and where, what instrument he was
taught, where and how, wliere and why he plays out of tune (when the music
begins to be trying to the ear) , and what changes should be made in the orchestra
so as to remedy the dissonance * * *
EVIDENCE OF PARTY MEMBERSHIP
The simple evidentiary test of a Communist Party card will not
suffice for proof of membership. Nor will the legal fictions incor-
porated in the official Constitution of the Communist Party, USA,
serve as a fruitful guide.
An excellent guide to determine Communist Party membership is
to be found in section 5 of the Communist Control Act of 1954:
Sec. 5. In determining membership or participation in the Communist Party
or any other organization defined in this Act, or knowledge of the purpsoe or
objective of such party or organization, the jury, under instructions from the
court, shall consider evidence, if presented, as to whether the accused person:
(1) Has been listed to his knowledge as a member in any book or any of the
lists, records, correspondence, or any other document of the organization;
(2) Has made financial contribution to the organization in dues, assessments,
loans, or in any other form;
(3) Has made himself subject to the discipline of the organization in any form
whatsoever;
(4) Has executed orders, plans, or directives of any kind of the organization;
(5) Has acted as an agent, courier, messenger, correspondent, organizer, or in
any other capacity in behalf of the organization ;
(6) Has conferred with officers or other members of the organization in behalf
of any plan or enterprise of the organization;
(7) Has been accepted to his knowledge as an officer or member of the organi-
zation or as one to be called upon for services by other officers or members of the
organization;
(8) Has written, spoken or in any other way communicated by signal, sema-
phore, sign, or in any other form of communication orders, directives, or plans of
the organization;
(9) Has prepared documents, pamphlets, leaflets, books, or any other type of
publication in behalf of the objectives and purposes of the organization;
(10) Has mailed, shipped, circulated, distributed, dehvered, or in any other
way sent or delivered to others material or propaganda of any kind in behalf of
the organization;
(11) Has advised, counseled or in any other way imparted information, sug-
gestions, recommendations to officers or members of the organization or to any
one else in behalf of the objectives of the organization;
(12) Has indicated by word, action, conduct, writing, or in any other way a
willingness to carry out in any manner and to any degree the plans, designs,
objectives, or purposes of the organisation;
(13) Has in any other way participated in the activities, planning, actions,
objectives, or purposes of the organization;
THE COMMUNIST PARTY OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA 31
(14) The enumeration of the above subjects of evidence on membership or
participation in the Communist Party or any other organization as above de-
fined, shall not limit the inquiry into and consideration of any other subject of
evidence on membership and participation as herein stated.
For an intelligent appraisal of the forces at work in behalf of the
Communist movement in the United States, it is necessary to under-
stand the various categories involved, to appreciate the shade of differ-
ence between categories and to deal with them accordingly, recogniz-
ing, however, that each category constitutes a definite security risk
operating in the interests of a foreign power. It should also be re-
membered that these categories are not static, that party members are
shifted from one to another like pawns on the Red chessboard. The
following would constitute a rough classification of these categories:
1. Open party members. — This would include individuals whom the
party has found it expedient to designate publicly as party members,
such as party officials, candidates for public office, official representa-
tives and writers for the Communist press. The existence of this
group is essential to maintain the fiction that the Communist Party,
USA, is an open "pohtical party of the American working class."
The party has been compared to an iceberg with one-third above
the water and two-thirds submerged. Though these proportions are
not accurate, the open party members constitute its visible portion.
Since the submerged sector is considered more important, members
of the open party can be commandeered at any time in the service
of the underground. The testimony of Louis F. Budenz, Whittaker
Chambers, and Elizabeth Bentley has shown that men like Jack
Stachel, Max Bedacht, and J. Peters functioned simultaneously in
both the open and the underground apparatus. Well-known party
members will suddenly disappear from public view to be engulfed by
the underground, whose orders have distinct priority.
2. Semiconcealed party members. — Most party members are known
as such to their fellow members in the party club, union, front organ-
ization, or place of employment. Within the party they operate
under one or more aliases, making no avowal of party membership
publicly. This type of membership can be established by a member-
ship card of former days or record, evidence of payment of dues,
attendance at closed meetings, association with Communists in party
enterprises or campaigns, soliciting new members or appearing in any
other official capacity representing the party.
3. Members at large. — Party members who occupy important posi-
tions in government or organizations where knowledge of their aflili-
ation would be an obstacle to party purposes, are made members at
large. They do not attend Communist Party meetings and are
contacted solely by an emissary assigned to receive dues, distribute
literature and directives.
4. Members of the underground apparatus. — For reasons of secrecy
it may at times be necessary to withdraw an individual entirely from
any contact with the open Communist Party. Whittaker Chambers,
Elizabeth Bentley, and John Sherman, for example, were withdrawn
from the open party to work in the underground. Other members
of the Communist underground apparatus may never have been
members of the legal party. An individual assigned for this purpose
may even submit a public resignation under the direction of his
party superiors. On the other hand, a member of this apparatus
may be a purely technical assistant with no trace of party sympathy
32 THE COMMUNIST PARTY OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
or even knowledge of the true nature of the organization for which
he is working.
An operative active in the United States may have no direct
responsibility to the CPUSA, He may be linked with some special
arm of the Soviet Government and be directly responsible to it, such
as the Soviet Military Intelligence, the Soviet Foreign OfHce, or the
Supreme Economic Council. In each case his responsibilities to the
Soviet agency have complete priority over any consideration of the
domestic Communist Party.
5. Nonparty Cominunists. — Certain sympathetic persons find it
inadvisable or inexpedient to join the Communist Party. For ex-
ample, a person of great wealth or prominence may be in full sympathy
with the party, but he may be unwilling or unable to attend meetings
or carry out all Communist duties. But he agrees to abide by the
party's wishes and submit to its discipline. He may be a businessman
who depends upon the Soviet Government for commercial favors. He
may be a politician or a union official who could not be elected to office
. without the votes controlled by the Communist bloc. In some cases
compulsion may be employed to whip the individual into line.
6. Communist Party Supporters. — There are other individuals to be
distinguished from the above group who are in no sense under Com-
munist discipline, but who voluntarily and knowingly support the
Communists in one or more ways such as voting for Communist
candidates, signing of Communist election petitions, donating money
for the party or its press, supporting campaigns in behalf of the party
of individual known Communists, supportinc^ organizations openly
sponsored by the Communist Party, defense of Communist legal cases,
doing organizational and political favors for the party, or writing for
the Communist press. In each case the subject is fully aware that he
is supporting the Communist Party or one or more of its members or
one or more of its directly espoused activities. The usefulness of
such non-Communists is demonstrated by the example of Raymond
Boyer, a wealthy and noted Canadian chemist, who described himself
as having "worked in organizations in which there were Communists
and in which I knew there were Communists, and I have worked very
closely with Communists, but I have never held a party card nor paid
dues." A memorandum found in the Soviet Embassy cites his services
as follows:
Gives full information on explosives and chemical plants. * * * (Gave the
formula of RDX * * *).
KDX is an explosive perfected in England in 1942. He also fur-
nished information regarding the pilot plant at Grand Mere, Quebec,
for the production of uranium.
FELLOW TRAVELERS
1. Fellow travelers. — As differentiated from the above categories, a
feUow traveler may be defined as an individual who from time to time
supports one or more organizations or campaigns operating under the
indirect and usually unpublicized initiative and control of the Com-
munist Party or its representatives. Here we must point out three
distinct types.
t (a) Conscious fellow travelers. — A conscious fellow traveler is one
who affiliates with or supports one or more of these groups with full
knowledge of its character. For the moit part, such persons are
THE COMMUNIST PARTY OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA 33
motivated by a definite sympathy for the Soviet Union or the Com-
munist Party or both. Here again we must differentiate between
two groups under this heading:
(i) Consistent fellow travelers.— Among those who support or
affihate with such organizations or campaigns are those who on
no occasion take issue with the Communist Party or its auxiliary
organizations. They have a consistent record of such affihations
or sympathy throughout all changes of the party hne, and despite
the fact that such organizations have been publicly exposed as
communistic.
(ii) Unreliable fellow travelers. — Occasionally there is defection
among the fellow travelers who support the Communist Party
or its auxiliary organizations. This may be due to disillusion-
ment as to the real nature of the Soviet regime or antagonism
toward such actions as the Stalin-Hitler Pact or disgust with
Communist methods in a particular organization. The sincerity
and depth of the individual's conversion may be measured by the
individual's subsequent behavior. If he supports no pro-
Communist organizations or campaigns subsequent to his first
break, it may be assumed that this break is sincere and thorough.
If, however, his name is to be found supporting such organizations
or campaigns at a later date, it may be properly concluded that
his break was neither genuine nor substantial.
(6) Unwitting fellow travelers. — It would be only fair to indicate that
individuals have supported Communist-inspired organizations in the
belief that such organizations were accomplishing some meritorious,
social purpose. They may have had not the faintest notion as to the
organization's Communist character, they may even be anti-Commu-
nist. In other words, they may be outrigh dupes. Such nam s are
not usually found in organizations of an outi ight Communis! character.
Nevertheless, the Communis Is welcome their financial and moral
support.
The Communists are perfectly frank in admitting the usefulness
of the fellow traveler. F. Brown, an agent of the Communist In-
ternational who operated in the United States in the 1930's, who
was also known as Alpi and Marini, has testified to that fact in the
Daily Worker of August 25, 1937, page 2, where he declares:
It is no exaggeration to state that besides the 55,000 Communist members,
there are today tens of thousands of individuals who are active in every field
of the progressive movement, carrying out the line of the Party in practice.
They work shoulder to shoulder with the Party members, follow the Party line
through our press — Daily Worker, Sunday Worker, language press, through
the mass activities of the Party — mass meetings, lectures, and all struggles in
which the Communists are in the forefront. * * * We must point out: First,
that their actual work is appreciated by the Party; second, that we consider their
work Communist work and want them to continue it.
HOW TO JUDGE A FELLOW TRAVELEK
It is possible to set up definite standards for judging a fellow
traveler's devotion to the Communist Party and the Soviet Union,
which must be taken into consideration in judging his lo3^alty to the
United States. This scale is not hard and fast. It cannot be applied
mechanically. It must be utilized intelligently with an eye to the
history of the period, our current relations with the Soviet Union,
the age of the individual at the time of his affiliations, and pos ible
changes in his views. It should be recognized that an individual
who has passed through certain experiences with Communist organi-
34 THE COMMUNIST PARTY OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
zations and wlio has been thoroughly and completely disillusioned,
can be of considerable value in counteracting Communist machina-
tions. To adopt an attitude of "once a fellow traveler, always a
fdlow traveler," is to place an obstacle in the path of the reeducation
of such individuals and to make it undesirable for an individual to
desert their ranks. The following points should, therefore, be kept
in mind in judging a fellow traveler.
1. The number of his associations with Communist-controlled
organizations.
2. The importance of the post or posts he occupied in these
organizations, (The Communists commonly limit such posts oo
individuals who are either party members or who possess the
party's confidence, though sometimes "big names" are pushed
up front as protective coloration.)
3. The extent of his activity.
4. The importance of such organizations in the Communist
setup.
5. His adherence to these organizations despite public exposure
of their Communist character.
6. His standing in the Communist press, which operates under
strictest Moscow and party censorship,
7. His standing in Communist organizations,
8. His pubhc statements and writings regarding the Soviet
Union, the Communist Party, individual Communists and
Communist-initiated campaigns and organizations.
9. His personal associations with Communists or sympathizers.
EXTENT OF COMMUNIST PAETY MEMBERSHIP
The latest estimate of Communist Party membership by the Fed-
eral Bureau of Investigation is about 22,663. The most recent break-
down by States is based upon a membership of 31,608 in 1951, as
drawn up by the FBI.
Communist Parly membership by States 1951
New Jersey 1, 070
New Mexico 22
New York 15, 458
Alabama 96
Arizona 136
Arkansas 20
California 4, 295
Colorado 72
Connecticut 580
Delaware 22
Florida 135
Georgia 51
Idaho 60
Illinois 1, 596
Indiana.
Iowa
Kansas
Kentucky
Louisiana
Maine
Maryland
Massachusetts. _
Michigan
Minnesota
Mississippi
Missouri
Montana
Nebraska
Nevada
New Hampshire.
475
25
12
71
60
25
250
759
450
701
1
362
82
25
15
52
North Carolina.
North Dakota.
95
52
Ohio 1,290
Oklahoma. 83
Oregon 125
Pennsylvania 1, 441
Rhode Island
South Carolina
South Dakota
Tennessee
Texas
Utah...
Vermont
Virginia
Washington
West Virginia
Wisconsin
Wyoming
Puerto Rico
Washington, D, C
Hawaii
Alaska
54
15
38
21
196
67
25
53
350
96
420
2
96
60
36
25
Total 31,608
THE COIMMUNIST PARTY OF THE UNITED STATES OF AJVIERICA 35
To show the growth of the party, it is interesting to add here a
review of the total party membership over a period of years as given
by Earl Browder, its general secretary until 1945, in his pamphlet
Where Do We Go From Here? under the pseudonym Americus. His
references are undoubtedly to open party members. Mr. Browder's
figures would show that the party membership had increased over
6^ times from the depression year of 1932 to 1945.
Changes in the volume of membership of CPUS A
At beginnins^ of Total
the year of — membership
1930 7,500
1931.. 8,339
1932 12,936
1933 16,814
1934.. 24,500
' Including 13,000 in the Armed Forces.
At beginning of Total
the vear of — Con. membership
1935. 30,000
1936 40,000
1938 75,000
1944 1 66,000
1945 80,000
Election returns for 1928, 1932, 1936, and 1940 show how many-
voters actually supported the Communist Party presidential candi-
dates, except in the States where the party was not admitted on
the ballot. In 1932 this figure was approximately seven tirnes the
party membership figures as given by Browder. In 1940, during the
highly unpopular Stalin-Hitler pact, it closely approximated the party
membership figure, on a one-vote-per-party-member basis.
The Progressive Party backing Henry A. Wallace was publicly
supported by the Communist Party. In this connection the Senate
Internal Security Subcommittee received on October 7, 1954, the
testimony of Matthew Cvetic, a former FBI informant who had
worked his way into the Communist Party of western Pennsylvania,
becoming a member of its organizational, educational, and finance
committees as well as its nationality, political, and trade-union com-
missions. We quote him in part:
Now, we were directed, in a directive which was read to us in the Communist
Party headquarters, based on the Communist International of 1935, where all
Communist Parties in the world were ordered to set up in the various countries —
and this included the American Communist Party — a coalition party of Commu-
nists and Progressives * * * The primary steps which were taken during the
years after 1945 to consummate this objective — and this was as early as the last
part of 1945, in a report which was given by William Z. Faster, the then national
chairman of the Communist Party in which he stressed that one of the big objec-
tives of the Communist Party is the setting up of a coalition party in the United
States * * * And as a result of this report of William Z. Foster, subsequently
an organization known as the Progressive Party of the United States was organ-
ized on a national basis.
I was a member of the organizational committee of the Communist Party,
and as a member of this committee I was one of the eight ranking members of the
Communist Party for the western Pennsylvania district. The Progressive Party,
which later you Vill recall, in the 1948 campaign, had presidential candidates,
was set up by the organizational committee and also the political commission of
the Communist party. I myself sat in dozens of meetings where we set up the
Progressive Party * * * The personnel that moved around within the frame-
work of the Progressive Party in key positions were assigned out of the Communist
Party office * * * In other words,' it was controlled by planted, key Communist
agents, who had absolute control of the Progressive Party * * *
I attended meetings in Communist Party headquarters where we discussed
candidates who would be put up for office in the Progressive Party. _ And the
final determining factor of who the candidates would be was decided right in the
headquarters of the Communist Party * * *
36 THE COM]VrUNIST PARTY OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
I recall very vividly sitting in several meetings in Communist Party head-
quarters * * * and I recall why the decision to support Henry Wallace and Glen
Taylor was made. That was because they were two men who were willing to
work with the Communist Party in this coalition party * * *
And, too, when we had on 2 or 3 occasions meetings in Pittsburgh, Pennsyl-
vania, at which Henry Wallace and Glen Taylor spoke, the fund-raising ac-
tivities and the ticket-sales activities in connection with these meetings were
directed right out of the headquarters of the Communist Party * * *
On the same day, John Lautner, a former member of the review-
commission of the CPUSA, testified regarding the party's efforts to
"break out
