HI
COLLEGE
LIBRARY
US Doc 2.791
Committee on Un-American Activities
House
87th Congress
Table of Contents
1. Testimony By and Concerning Paiil Corbin '^i^*/
2, The Commimist Party's Cold War Against
Congressional. Investigation of Subversion ^^j
5. Communist and Trotskyist Activity Within ^,-^,
the Greater Los Angeles Chapter of the
Fair Play for Cuba Committee
4-5« Communist Outlets for the Distribution of y^j
Soviet Propaganda in the United States.
pt.1-2
6. Communist Youth Activities '%\^l
7-8, U.S. Communist Party Assistance to Foreign --^^z^
C ommimi st Gove mment s . pt . 1-2 ■ ^sP^-
9. Communist Activities in the Peace Movement ^"^
3
COMMUNIST AND TROTSKYIST ACTIVITY
WITHIN THE GREATER LOS ANGELES
CHAPTER OF THE FAIR PLAY
FOR CUBA COMMITTEE
REPORT
AND
TESTIMONY OF ALBERT J. LEWIS AND
STEVE ROBERTS
(APRIL 26 AND 27, 1962)
COMMITTEE ON UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
EIGHTY-SEVENTH CONGRESS
SECOND SESSION
INCLUDING INDEX
FOR RELEASE NOVEMBER 2, 1962
Printed for the use of the Committee on Un-American Activities
U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE
88952 0 WASHINGTON : 1962
COMMITTEE ON UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES
United States House of Representatives
FRANCIS E. WALTER, Pennsylvania, Chairman
MORGAN M. MOULDER, Missouri GORDON H. SCHERER, Ohio
CLYDE DOYLE, California AUGUST E. JOHANSEN, Michigan
EDWIN E. WILLIS, Louisiana DONALD C. BRUCE, Indiana
WILLIAM M. TUCK, Virginia HENRY C. SCHADEBERO, Wisconsin
Franos J. McNamara, Director
Frank S. Tavenneb, Jr., General Counsel
Alfred M. Nittle, Counsel
11
CONTENTS
Report on Communist and Trotskyist Activity within the Greater Los Page
Angeles Chapter of the Fair Play for Cuba Committee 1515
Testimony of Albert J. Lewis 1543
Testimony of Steve Roberts 1561
Appendix 1 569
Exhibits :
Lewis Exhibit I. News release of the Greater Los Angeles Chapter of
the Fair Play for Cuba Committee 1569
Lewis Exhibit IL Letter of the LAFPCC, Dec. 3, 1961 1571
Lewis Exhibit III. Flier announcing an eyewitness report on "Castro's
Cuba, As It Looks Now," by Dr. A. J. Lewis 1572
Lewis Exhibit IV-B. Article from New York Times, December 3,
1961, entitled "Castro Is Setting Up Party in the Communist
Pattern " 1 573
Lewis Exhibit V. LAFPCC letter issued in April 1962 1576
Lewis Exhibit VI. Photograph of Dr. A. J. Lewis and Leo Gallagher
at LAFPCC demonstration 1520
Lewis Exhibit VII. Photograph of Paul Perlin 1584
Lewis Exhibit VIII. Photograph of Charles Mosley 1 1583
Lewis Exhibit IX. Photograph of Beverly RadclifFe 1585
Lewis Exhibit X. Photograph of William Hathaway and Steve
Roberts 1521
Lewis Exhibit XI. Photograph of Don Matsuda 1583
Lewis Exhibit XII. Photograph of Vincent Fraga 1582
Lewis Exhibit XIII. Photograph of Rose Chernin Kusnitz and Martin
Hall 1521
Lewis Exhibit XIV. Photograph of Harriet Blair and Robert Large.- 1580
Lewis Exhibit XV. Photograph of Rose Rosenberg 1584
Lewis Exhibit XVI. Photograph of Paul Rosenstein 1584
Lewis Exhibit XVII. Photograph of Lillian Carlson 1585
Lewis Exhibit XVIII. Photograph of Dorothy Healey 1582
Lewis Exhibit XIX. Photograph of Dan Bessie 1580
Lewis Exhibit XX. Photograph of Rosalind Lindesmith 1582
Lewis Exhibit XXI. Photograph of Abraham Maymudes 1583
Lewis Exhibit XXII. Photograph of Ben Dobbs and Diamond Kim. 1581
Lewis Exhibit XXIII. Photograph of Sarah Dorner 1581
Lewis Exhibit XXIV. Photograph of Sophie Silver 1584
Lewis Exhibit XXV. Photograph of Celeste Strack 1 585
Lewis Exhibit XX VI . Photograph of Shirley Taylor 1 585
Lewis Exhibit XXVII. Photograph of Irving GofF 1581
Lewis Exhibit XXVIII. Photograph of J. C. Coleman 1580
Lewis Exhibit XXIX. Letter dated June 30, 1957, regarding sessions
of the West Coast Vacation School, signed by Ann Snipper 1578
Roberts Exhibit I. FUer announcing a Socialist Workers Party
rally; also contains photograph of Steve Roberts, candidate for
Governor of California and Cynthia Rogalin, candidate for State
senator 1579
Index ^ I
(This is the second of a series of reports based, in whole or in part, on executive hearings held by the com-
mittee in Los Angeles April 24-27, 1%2. The other reports will be published in the near future.)
in
Public Law 601, 79th Congress
The legislation under which the House Committee on Un-American
Activities operates is Public Law 601, 79th Congress [1946]; 60 Stat.
812, which provides:
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States
of America in Congress assembled, * * *
PART 2— RULES OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
Rule X
SEC. 121. STANDING COMMITTEES
:f: :{( % :f: :{( 3f: :{;
17. Committee on Un-American Activities, to consist of nine Members.
Rule XI
POWERS AND DUTIES OF COMMITTEES
:): 4: % 4< 4: 4= 4'
(q)(l) Committee on Un-American Activities.
(A) Un-American activities.
(2) The Committee on Un-American Activities, as a whole or by subcommit-
tee, is authorized to make from time to time investigations of (i) the extent,
character, and objects of un-American propaganda activities in the United States,
(ii) the diffusion within the United States of subversive and un-American propa-
ganda that is instigated from foreign countries or of a domestic origin and attacks
the principle of the form of government as guaranteed by our Constitution, and
(iii) all other questions in relation thereto that would aid Congress in any necessary
remedial legislation.
The Committee on Un-American Activities shall report to the House (or to the
Clerk of the House if the House is not in session) the results of any such investi-
gation, together with such recommendations as it deems advisable.
For the purpose of any such investigation, the Committee on Un-American
Activities, or any subcommittee thereof, is authorized to sit and act at such
times and places within the United States, whether or not the House is sitting,
has recessed, or has adjourned, to hold such hearings, to require the attendance
of such witnesses and the production of such books, papers, and documents, and
to take such testimony, as it deems necessary. Subpenas may be issued under
the signature of the chairman of the committee or any subcommittee, or by any
member designated by any such chairman, and may be served by any person
designated by any such chairman or member.
H: * 4: ^ % 4: iic
Rule XII
LEGISLATIVE OVERSIGHT BY STANDING COMMITTEES
Sec 136. To assist the Congress in appraising the administration of the laws
and in developing such amendments or related legislation as it may deem neces-
sary, each standing committee of the Senate and the House of Representatives
shall exercise continuous watchfulness of the execution by the administrative
agencies concerned of any laws, the subject matter of which is within the jurisdic-
tion of such committee; and, for that purpose, shall study all pertinent reports
and data submitted to the Congress by the agencies in the executive branch of
the Government.
RULES ADOPTED BY THE 87TH CONGRESS
House Resolution 8, January 3, 1961
*******
Rule X
STANDING COMMITTEES
1. There shall be elected by the House, at the commencement of each Congress,
(r) Committee on Un-American Activities, to consist of nine Members.
Rule XI
POWERS AND DUTIES OF COMMITTEES
*******
18. Committee on Un-American Activities.
(a) Un-American activities.
(b) The Committee on Un-American Activities, as a whole or by subcommittee,
is authorized to make from time to time investigations of (1) the extent, char-
acter, and objects of un-American propaganda activities in the United States,
(2) the diffusion within the United States of subversive and un-American prop-
aganda that is instigated from foreign countries or of a domestic origin and
attacks the principle of the form of gov'ernraent as guaranteed by our Constitu-
tion, and (3) all other questions in relation thereto that would aid Congress in
any necessary remedial legislation.
The Committee on Un-American Activities shall report to the House (or to the
Clerk of the House if the House is not in session) the results of any such investi-
gation, together with such recommendations as it deems advisable.
For the purpose of any such investigation, the Committee on Un-American
Activities, or any subcommittee thereof, is authorized to sit and act at such times
and places within the United States, whether or not the House is sitting, has
recessed, or has adjourned, to hold such hearings, to require the attendance
of such witnesses and the production of such books, papers, and documents, and
to take such testimony, as it deems necessary. Subpenas may be issued under
the signature of the chairman of the committee or' any subcommittee, or by any
member designated by any such chairman, and may be served by any person
designated by any such chairman or member.
*******
27. To assist the House in appraising the administration of the laws and in
developing such amendments or related legislation as it may deem necessary,
each standing committee of the House shall exercise continuous watchfulness
of the execution by the administrative agencies concerned of any laws, the subject
matter of which is within the jurisdiction of such committee ; and, for that purpose ,
shall study all pertinent reports and data submitted to the House by the agencies
in the executive branch of the Government.
COMMUNIST AND TROTSKYIST ACTIVITY WITHIN THE
GREATER LOS ANGELES CHAPTER OF THE FAIR PLAY
FOR CUBA COMMITTEE
REPORT
Recent committee investigations and hearings in the Los Angeles,
Cahfornia, area have disclosed a significant increase in the power
and influence of a revolutionary Communist organization which
both competes and cooperates with the Communist Party, USA.
This is the Socialist Workers Party, largest and oldest Trotskyist
organization in the United States. So-called Trotskyist groups vow
allegiance to the principles of Marx, Engels, and Lenin as interpreted
by the famous Russian revolutionist, Leon Trotsky. The Socialist
Workers Party agrees with the Communist Party, USA, that the
Soviet Union should be "defended" from "imperialist," capitalist
"aggressors" such as the United States. The Socialist Workers Party
likewise looks forward to the eventual imposition of a world Com-
munist system.
On the means for achieving total Communist victory, however, the
Socialist Workers Party takes sharp issue with the Communist Party.
The Communist Party of the United States, in the Trotskyist view.
is "incapable of revolutionary action." The blame for this is placed
upon Soviet dictators Joseph Stalin and Nikita Khrushchev, whose
policies, Trotskyists claim, have "scuttled" Lenin's concept of a
"revolutionary road to power." ^
In spite of the arguments between Trotskyists and "orthodox"
Communists over the degree of their revolutionary fervor, national
leaders of both the Communist Party and the Socialist Workers Party
have been tried, convicted, and imprisoned for violating the Smith
Act by advocating violent overthrow of our form of government.^
Trotskyists gained considerable attention in the 1930's by their
success in infiltrating and controlling various union locals and organi-
zations for the unemployed, and by their leadership of a teamsters'
strike in Minneapolis in 1934. After the conviction of Socialist
Workers Party leaders under the Smith Act in the early 1940's, the
organization continued to function through small nuclei in large
cities.^
In no period does it appear that Trotskyist organizations ever
attained the size and influence of their arch rival — the official, Stalin-
led Communist Party, USA. However, various developments in
1 See International Socialist Rerieiv, Socialist Workers Party theoretical organ, Fall 1960, p. 108.
2 Eighteen leaders of the Socialist Workers Party, during the years 1941-1943, were tried, convicted,
and imprisoned for violating Smith Act prohibitions against advocating insubordination In the Armed
Forces and conspiracy to advocate forceful overthrow of the United States Qpvernment. In 1949, 11
national officers of the Communist Party were convicted under the Smith Act of conspiracy to teach and
advocate violent overthrow of the United States Government; they also subsequently served prison
sentences.
5 Socialism and American Lije, eds: Donald Egbert and Stow Persons (Princeton, N.J.: Princeton Uni-
versity Press, 1952), vol. II.
1515
1516 GREATER LOS ANGELES FAIR PLAY FOR CUBA COMMITTEE
the international Communist movement, beginning with the death
of Stalin in 1953, have proved advantageous to the ultra-revolutionary
Trotskyists. The Socialist Workers Party has publicly boasted of a
growing membership, as well as expanding agitation and propaganda
activities. Evidence received in the course ot committee investi-
gations and hearings in the Los Angeles area leads to the disquieting
conclusion that the covert activities of the Socialist Workers Party
have become increasingly effective in recent years.
Socialist Workers JParty members infiltrated a southern Calif-
fornia industrial plant which has classified defense contracts, and
last year captured key offices in the trade union which holds bar-
gaining rights for the plant's employees. Further elaboration is
deferred until the completion of additional committee investigations
into this critical aspect of Trotskyist activity.
Socialist Workers Party members were the concealed master-
minds behind a new front organization which emerged in Los Angeles
early in 196L The Trotskyist front is known as the Greater Los
Angeles Chapter of the Fair Play for Cuba Committee.
This report presents the results of committee investigation into
Trotskyist activity behind the facade of the Los Angeles Fair Play
for Cuba Committee. Concurrently released and printed herewith is
pertinent testimony received by a subcommittee of the Committee on
Un-American Activities, sitting in executive session in Los Angeles on
April 26 and 27, 1962.
This committee is of the opinion that preeminent problems created
by the operations of the Moscow-backed Communist Party on
American soil should not blind the Congress to the subversive poten-
tials of smaller, dissident Communist groups having the common
objective of supplanting our constitutional government with a Soviet-
style dictatorship. As the record will show, the improved fortunes
of the revolutionary Trotskyists are in great measure attributab e
to witting and unfitting assistance from their traditional rival, the
Communist Party, USA.
The Fair Play for Cuba Committee (FPCC)
A national Fair Play for Cuba Committee made what it termed its
"public debut" on April 6, 1960, with the appearance of a full-page
advertisement in the New York Times, announcing that the organiza-
tion would provide Americans with "the truth about revolutionary
Cuba." The committee's advertisement charged that the "profound
social and economic revolution" in progress in Cuba was being mis-
represented by various United States news media. The Fair Play
organization quoted an alleged declaration by Cuban revolutionary
leader Fidel Castro that: "Our Revolution is not Communist but
humanist." The organization insisted in its initial statement that
only those "who equate Communism with all forces that threaten
the status quo of property interests will find the Cuban Revolution
'Communistic' "
It has been said that Fidel Castro established a Communist-style
state in Cuba in less time than it took the Bolsheviks in Soviet Russia.*
After Castro seized power in Cuba in January 1959, he failed to
implement his many earlier promises to institute a government based
on free elections and constitutional and democratic procedures. He
* Tbeodore Draper Castro's Revolviion, Myths and Realities (New York: Frederick A. Praeger. 1962), p. 90.
GREATER LOS ANGELES FAIR PLAY FOR CUBA COMMITTEE 1517
maintained a system of personal, autocratic rule, marked by increasing
collaboration with, and reliance upon, the Cuban Communist Party
and gradual elimination of the influence of Cubans who had assisted
in the overthrow of the Batista dictatorship but who were adverse to
any transfer of power to adherents of Soviet-st3^1e dictatorship.
While Castro was referring to the Cuban revolution as non-Communist
or humanist and making occasional derogatory references to Com-
munists during the first half of 1959, Communists were being installed
without fanfare in key posts in the Cuban Army and secret police.
By the end of the year, a noted leader of Castro's rebel army was
imprisoned for "treason" because he had protested Communist
encroachments in the army and local government posts.^
The New York-based national Fair Play for Cuba Committee com-
menced agitation in behalf of Castro despite the fact that "with
increasing momentum in 1960, Communists [in Cuba] * * * took
over government department after department, factory after fac-
tory * * *," and the steadily mounting exodus of refugees from Cuba
began to include many who had occupied high political or militar}'
office in the early days of the Castro regime.^
Fidel Castro himself has since openly proclaimed Cuba to be a
"Socialist state" (May 1961). He has "also announced that he is a
"Marxist-Leninist" who is convinced "The world is on the road toward
communism" (December 1961). At the same time, he made clear
his intent to accept the Soviet Union as a model in building a one-
party Communist dictatorship in Cuba. The U.S. Government
had "also oflficially warned, by April 1961, that members of the
Cuban Communist Party and. those responsive to its influence "domi-
nate the government of Cuba, the commissions of economic planning,
the labor front, the press, the educational system, and all the agencies
of national power." Internationally, Cuba became a member of the
Soviet bloc of nations, which involved not only Cuban economic
dependence on Communist countries, but also important military,
political, and cultural relationships.''
By May of 1961, when Cuban Communists were in unquestioned
dominance in Cuban national life and the country was closely allied
with the Soviet bloc, the acting executive secretary of the Fair Play
for Cuba Committee claimed that his organization had at least 23
local chapters for adults and 37 "student" or college campus chapters
scattered throughout the United States, with a total membership of
approximately 7,000.
The committee is not here concerned with the motives, activities,
or objectives of the national Fair Play for Cuba Committee beyond
certain publicly recorded facts believed essential to any discussion
of the Los Angeles chapter of the organization. Nor can the brief
allusions to the Cuban situation in this report adequately reflect
the complex and multifaceted Cuban journev toward communism.
Oflficials of the national Fair Play for Cuba Committee (FPCC) have
been interrogated by the Internal Securit}" Subcommittee of the Senate
Judiciarv Committee in a scries of hea,rings which began April 29,
5 Ibid., pp. 65-6S. 160.
« Ibid., pp. 194, 61, 61.
' Washinotnn Evening Star, December 2, 1961, pn. Al, 2; New York Times, December 3, 1961, pp. 1, 4;
and Text of U.S. State Department document on Cuba, Aprils, 1961, printed in New York Times, April 4,
1961, pp. 14, 15.
88952 O— 62 2
1518 GREATER LOS ANGELES FAIR PLAY FOR CUBA COMMITTEE
1960. Although- they have refused to disclose Fair Play for Cuba
Committee members and financial contributors, the national officials
have insisted that they and their organization have no connection
with the Communist Party, USA. The Senate subcommittee's
inquiry into the organization's relationship with the Castro govern-
ment in Cuba and the good faith of the organization in refusing to
register under the Foreign Agents Registration Act produced contra-
dictory testimony from Fair Play for Cuba Committee organizers.
Robert Taber, a founder and the first executive secretary of the
Fair Play for Cuba Committee, testified before the Senate subcommit-
tee on May 5, 1960, that neither he nor the organization he headed had
ever received funds, directly or indirectly, from the Cuban Govern-
ment. On January 10, 1961, Dr. Charles A. Santos Buch, a Cuban
resident of New York City, appeared before the same Senate subcom-
mittee and identified himself as one of the organizers of FPCC who
had subsequently become disillusioned with the Castro regime during
a ^^sit to Cuba. He testified that he and Robert Taber in April of
1960 had obtained $3,500 from Rauhto Roa, a member of the Cuban
mission to the United Nations — a sum which was used to defray most
of the expense of the newspaper advertisement heralding the forma-
tion of the Fair Play for Cuba Committee.^
Richard Gibson, president of the New York chapter of FPCC from
the time of its chartering in September 1960, has been "acting"
executive secretary of the national organization since January 1961.
Like Taber, Gibson has disavowed anv affiliation with the Communist
Party, USA.
The FPCC pubHcation, Fair Play, for October 7, 1960, announced
that both adult chapters and college campus chapters must be "char-
tered" by the national organization and that all membership applica-
tions and dues payments have to be submitted directly to national
headquarters in New York. Individuals granted membership by the
national FPCC are then "automatically" entitled to participate in
chapter activities in their locality. In response to a Senate Internal
Security Subcommittee request for a list of FPCC chapters, Richard
Gibson on May 16, 1961, supphed an admittedly incomplete list
compiled by himself and Miss Berta Green, salaried secretary in the
national Fair Play for Cuba Committee office. Mr. Gibson testified
that he had no "firsthand knowledge" of most of the 23 adult and
37 student chapters on the list and kept no separate records on
chapters and their officers. He insisted that he very rarely had any
reason to get in touch with local Fair Play for Cuba Committee
officials, most of whom he had never met.
One of the nine adult chapters about which Mr. Gibson admitted
having personal knowledge was the Fair Plav for Cuba Committee,
P. O. Pox 26251, Los Angeles, California. He also identified Steve
8 "Fair Plav for Cuba," Pts. I and II, Hearin''s befirp Intprnal Spfiiritv Rubrommittpo of tbp Senate
Judiciary Committee, which includes executive testimonv taken on April 29, Mav 5, and October 10, 1960,
made public on February 27, 1961, and testimony in public sessions on January 10, April 25, and May 16,
1961.
In December 1960, Robert Taber went to Cuba, where he remained for approximately a vear. He denied
the allesations of Dr. Santos Buch in an article published in the FPCC publication, f^air Pla'i. on February
4, 1961. lie returned to the Ignited States in the sprini of 1902 and reappeared before the Senate Internal
Security Subcommittee on April 10, 1962: the testimonv has not been made public.
Prior to Taber's return to the I'nited States, the FPCC announced on Februarv 21, 196?, that his resig-
nation as national executive secretary had been accepted. The FPCC declared that Taber had been per-
suaded to delay a rcsi-'nation ori"inallv proffered in a letter from Havana in January 1961. Taber attributed
his departure from FPCC to personal problems and professional commitments, involving no loss of sym-
pathy for the "noble purpose of FPCC." (The Militant, Mar. 5, 1962, p. 2.)
GREATER LOS ANGELES FAIR PLAY FOR CUBA COMMITTEE 1519
Roberts as the organization's West Coast representative and said his
"expenses" were reimbursed by the New York headquarters.
Greater Los Angeles Chapter of the Fair Play for Cuba
Committee
The Greater Los Angeles Chapter of the Fair Play for Cuba Com-
mittee made its public bow in January 1961, with the issuance of a
statement opposing the breakoff of United States diplomatic relations
with Cuba on the first day of that year and calling upon the incom-
ing Kennedy administration to reestablish "the traditionally friendly
relations between the U.S. and Cuba." The statement was adopted
unanimously at a meeting of "over 125 members" of the Greater Los
Angeles Chapter on January 6, 1961, a news release from the organi-
zation declared.^
The chapter held its first public meeting in Los Angeles on January
22, 1961, and on the following day opened an account at a Compton,
California, bank with an initial deposit of $721.75.
The first news release of the Greater Los Angeles Chapter of the
Fair Play for Cuba Committee, hereinafter referred to as LAFPCC,
listed the following chapter officers:
Chairman, Martin Hall; honorary cochairman, Rev. Stephen H.
Fritchman; executive secretary, Dr. A. J. Lewis; recording secretary,
Gabriela Huesca; treasurer, George Davis. Also named in the news
release, as a signer of the initial LAFPCC statement, was Steve
Roberts, "West Coast Representative of the National Fair Play for
Cuba Committee."
The letterheads used by the LAFPCC during 1961 and 1962 carried
the names of the following "executive committee" members, in addi-
tion to the chapter officers identified above: Leo Frumpkin, Rosalie
Rodriguez, and Del Varela.^°
Dr. A. J. (Albert Jorgenson) Lewis and Steve Roberts ^°^ had, in
fact, been active in the area in behalf of the national Fair Play for
Cuba Committee since at least November 1960. The national FPCC
publication, Fair Play, of November 15, 1960, announced that
applications were being accepted for a low-cost, 11-day tour of Cuba
under FPCC auspices beginning December 23, 1960:
Local F-P [Fair Play] and Student Council chapters across
the country are planning special bus or plane charters to
Miami and New York. * * * it is expected that West Coast
residents will be able to go to Havana via Mexico * * *.
Individuals seeking information regarding such special arrange-
ments were advised to contact certain persons in San Francisco,
Los Angeles, Detroit, Chicago, and Cleveland. Steve Roberts was
named as the Los Angeles contact. A statement to the press on the
scope of FPCC activity as of November 1960, identified Dr. A. J.
Lewis as "temporary chairman" of a Los Angeles chapter."
» SeeApp. p. 1560, Lewis Exhibit No. 1.
>o See App. p. 1571, Lewis Exhibit No. 2.
'»» Photographs of A. .T. Lewis and Steve Roberts appear on pp. 1520-1521, respectively.
" This summary of FPCC activities, provided by Mrs. Berta Oreen, appenred in the New York Times
of November 20, I9fil, p. 3 )-L; the article was reproduced and distributed by the Fair Play for Cuba Com-
mittee. Mrs. Green was identified in the article as the secretary of the New York chapter of FPCC "who
is currently running the organization's office."
1 520 GREATER LOS AXGELES FAIR PLAY FOR CUBA COMMITTEE
W
u
u
GREATER LOS ANGELES FAIR PLAY FOR CUBA COMMITTEE 1521
Lewis Exhibit No. 10
■/>as#^;
Steve Roberts and William Hathaway,' Fair Play for Cuba Committee Demonstra-
tion, April 19. 1961.
Lewis Exhibit No. 13
Rose Chernin Kusnitz and Martin Hall, Fair Play for Cuba Committee Demonstra-
tion, April 19, 1961.
' Staff investigation shows that William Ilalhavsay is a member of the Sociali.st Workers Party
who was a candidate for the Los Angeles Board of Education on the Socialist Workers Party ticket
in local elections held April 4. 1961.
1522 GREATER LOS ANGELES FAIR PLAY FOR CUBA COMMITTEE
Trotskyist Control of Los Angeles Fair Play for Cuba
Committee
Members of the Trotskyist Socialist Workers Party dominated the
Greater Los Angeles Chapter of the Fair Play for Cuba Committee
from its inception.
Dr. A. J. Lewis-, who directed the activities of the organization by
virtue of liis key position as executive secretary, concurrently held
membership in the Socialist Workers Party, committee investigation
has disclosed. Born July 17, 1917, in Los Angeles, Dr. Lewis studied
at Tufts Theological College, Riverside College, Starr-King School
for the Ministry, and the University of Paris. He holds a doctorate
from the last-named institution. Dr. Lewis has been emploved at
various times as a teacher, Government worker, salesman, and
personnel supervisor. He is presently a self-employed family relations
counsel in Los Angeles.
Dr. Lewis boasted during a public lecture in Los Angeles on Sep-
tember 22, 1961, that he "became a journalist" for the purpose of
obtaining a passport to visit Cuba. He made a trip to Cuba in
August 1961, he declared, as a representative of the Los Angeles
Herald-Dispatch. Since January 19, 1961, the U.S. Government has
banned travel to Cuba by American citizens, with the exception of
newsmen and a few other categories. In introductory remarks at the
Lewis lecture, LAFPCC Chairman Martin Hall made much of the
fact that the family relations counsel, by becoming a newspaperman,
had forced the State Department to issue him a passport.
A subcommittee of the Committee on Un-American Activities inter-
rogated Dr. Lewis in executive session in Los Angeles on April 26,
1962. He invoked the fifth amendment in response to all questions
relating to the LAFPCC and the participation therein of members of
the Socialist Workers Party or the Communist Party. He similarly
refused to affirm or den}" committee evidence of his own membership
in the Socialist Workers Party. ^^
Steve Roberts, the national FPCC's official "West Coast Representa-
tive," played a prominent role in LAFPCC meetings and mass
demonstrations held in 1961 and 1962. Committee investigation
reveals that Steve Roberts has also been a leader in the local Socialist
Workers Party for many years.
In 1960 — the year in which he was designated by the national
FPCC as the "contact" for FPCC information in Los Angeles — Steve
Roberts served as California State campaign manager for Farrell
Dobbs and Myra Tanner Weiss, Socialist Workers Part}^ candidates
for President and Vice President of the United State's. In 1946,
Steve Roberts was himself the Socialist Workers Party candidate for
Governor of the State of California.'^ The committee has also learned
that Mr. Roberts, as of 1956, was a member of the Executive Com-
mittee and the Trade Union Connnittee of the Los Angeles branch
of the Socialist Workers Party.
Mr. Roberts was born in New York City in 1898 but has resided in
Los Angeles since 1934. A subcommittee of the Committee on Un-
American Activities, sitting in executive session in Los Angeles,
questioned Mr. Roberts on April 27, 1962. Invoking his privileges
" The committee authorized the testimony of Dr. Lewis to be made public and printed with this report-
See pp. 1543-1559.
" See app. p. 1579, Roberts Exhibit No. 1.
GREATER LOS ANGELES FAIR PLAY FOR CUBA COMMITTEE 1523
under the fifth amendment, he refused to respond to all questions
regarding his participation in activities of the Socialist Workers
Party and the Los Angeles Fair Play for Cuba Committee.^*
Theodore Edwards, publicized as one of the "sponsors" of the
LAFPCC on its official letterheads, is the acknowledo-ed Southern
California chairman of the Socialist Workers Party. The National
Guardian of August 7, 1961, so identified Mr. Edwards in publicity
regarding his scheduled debate on August 19, 1961, with former
Communist Party leader Earl Browder on the subject, "America's
Road to Socialism — Revolution or Reform." The Militant, weekly
organ of the Socialist Workers Party published in New York, identi-
fied Air. Edwards as the party's Southern California chairman in its
issue dated April 30, 1962 (p. 2). Theodore Edwards has also taught
at the West Coast Vacation School, which is held annually during
Labor Day week in resort areas in the vicinity of Los Angeles and
offers a combination of instruction and recreation under the guidance
of the Los Angeles Socialist Workers Party. ^^
Ann Snipper served as office secretary for Dr. A. J. Lewis in his
capacity as executive secretary of LAFPCC. She was also author-
ized to collect mail addressed to Post Office Box 26251, which belonged
to the Los Angeles Fair Play organization. Letters sent out by the
West Coast Vacation School regarding its sessions for 1957 and 1959
were signed by "Ann Snipper, Director."
"Nationally renowned speakers will present Alarxist analyses of
national and world problems," Ann Snipper promised in her letter
advertising the 1957 program of the Trotskyist school. ^^ Her letter
regarding the 1959 program listed many prominent Trotskyists as
lecturers, including James P. Cannon, national chairman of the
Socialist Workers Party. In the late 1940's, Mrs. Snipper had been
active in support of the Independent Progressive Party and the Civil
Rights Congress, cited as Communist Party fronts by official Govern-
ment agencies.
Propaganda Techniques of the LAFPCC
Following the issuance of its initial press release, along with a series
of telegrams to public officials, the Los Angeles Fair Play for Cuba
Committee began exploiting every available medium for attracting
public attention. LAFPCC staged public meetings featuring "promi-
nent" speakers; distributed leaflets and other literature printed by the
local chapter or the national office; and provided speakers, often
equipped with slides or movies on Cuba, for any interested community
organization or group of citizens willing to hold a meeting in a private
home. An integral part of the LAFPCC's public activities was the
solicitation of funds. Admission fees and donations were justified by
the organization as necessary to help spread the "truth" about Cuba,
but collections also often liad the alleged humanitarian purpose of
providing medicines for the Cuban people or "needed" Christmas
gifts to Cuban children.
•* The testimony of Steve Roberts, which the committee has ordered released and printed with this report
appears on pp. 1.561-1568.
'5 Bulletins issued by the West Coast Vacation School on its 1959 and 1960 sessions listed Theodore
Edwards as a member of the teaching staff. The MiUtnnt, official publication of the SWP, acknowledged
in its issue of Feb. 12, 1962 (p. 4), that "the Los Angeles headquarters of the Socialist Workers Party * • •
organizes the annual vacation school."
19 See app. p. 1578, Lewis Exhibit No. 29.
1524 GREATER LOS ANGELES FAIR PLAY FOR CUBA COMMITTEE
The Trotskyist-con trolled organization obtained most publicity,
however, as a result of its frequent resort to public demonstrations.
Members and supporters of the LAFPCC, carrying picket signs, would
march for hours in front of some public building in downtown Los
Angeles. Their signs carried messages such as: "Hands off Cuba,"
"Cuba Si, U.S. Imperialists, No! " and "End Yanqui Fascism."
Chanting pickets also invariably utilized such demonstrations to
distribute the organization's printed literature.
One such picketing demonstration was held on February 25, 1961,
in front of the U.S. State Department's passport offices in Los Angeles.
The pickets, on this occasion, were protesting the Government's recent
general ban on American travel to Cuba and took advantage of the
occasion to distribute handbills advertising an LAFPCC mass rally
on March 4.
Although the LAFPCC constantly asserted its dedication to telling
the "truth" about Cuba, its pro-Castro bias was unmistakable.
Speakers at LAFPCC affairs were so effusive in their praise of the
Castro regime and so vitriolic in their opposition to United States
Government policies with respect to Cuba that their propagandist
function was immediatelv apparent.
At the LAFPCC rally of March 4, 1961, a reported audience of 1,000
persons heard speakers eulogize Fidel Castro as "a magnificent per-
sonage, one of the great leaders of the world of all times." Extrava-
gant claims were made regarding the elimination of poverty, illiteracy,
and discrimination in Cuba under the Castro regime. United States
foreign policy toward Cuba, on the other hand, was completely mis-
represented as being motivated by an imperialist effort to regain
American-owned enterprises confiscated by Castro. Questions from
members of the audience regarding Communist dominance in Cuban
national life were consistently evaded by the speakers. Soviet
economic and military relationships with Cuba were described as
humanitarian gestures involving no loss of independence for Cuba.
"Ever}^ time people tiy to bring themselves out of misery and poverty,
the Russians have given them a helping hand," the assembly was
informed by one speaker who also quite serioush' insisted that, since
the Cuban people were freer than they had ever been, elections in
Cuba would be a "foolish waste of time."
A resolution addressed to President Kennedy and Secretary of State
Rusk, read to the mass meeting by LAFPCC Executive Secretary
Lewis, was adopted by voice vote. The resolution proclaimed that
"A mass meeting of citizens assembled on March 4, 1961, at the
Embassy Auditorium for a meeting of the Fair Play for Cuba Com-
mittee" urged reestablishment of normal diplomatic relations with
Cuba; lifting of the travel ban for American citizens, as well as the
U.S. embargo; and an end to au}^ support for a Cuban "counter-
revolution." The LAFPCC statement also asserted:
Only on the basis of these steps and by true recognition
of the sovereignty of the true Cuban Government and the
rights of its people to decide their own destiny without inter-
ference from any outside power, can peaceful negotiations be
started to iron out the many difficulties that exist between
our country and the Republic of Cuba.
GREATER LOS ANGELES FAIR PLAY FOR CUBA COMMITTEE 1525
Speeches of the dynamic executive secretary of LAFPCC demon-
strated the same propaganda technique. A lengthy and exaggerated
account of so-called "social" improvements in Cuba under Castro,
coupled with denunciation of American policy as an effort to enslave
and impoverish the Cuban people, was the standard line of Dr. A. J.
Lewis. In his aforementioned lecture on September 22, 1961, follow-
ing his brief visit to Cuba, Dr. Lewis talked, for example, of "the most
beautiful social changes eyes have ever seen," of a "fine type of
democracy" in Cuba, which "dirty American bankers" sought to
"destroy" and which was nevertheless surviving with the help of
Soviet-bloc countries. When pressed by someone in his audience to
discuss the role of Communists in Cuba, Dr. Lewis asserted he knew
of no high offices held by Communists, although they were in minor
posts because they had "helped" in the revolution.
Such statements could not be interpreted as anything but an attempt
to hoodwink the public, inasmuch as by that date Castro himself had
publicly announced his commitment to the idea of a one-party state;
preliminary organizational work for the future "United Party of the
Socialist Revolution" in Cuba was being led by members of the Cuban
Communist Party; and a Cuban official had openl}^ declared the new
party would be "built on Marxist-Leninist principles," including
Lenin's organizational principle of "democratic centrahsm." [Com-
munist parties which exercise supreme, dictatorial authority in Soviet-
bloc nations also state adherence to these principles.] As for the
Cuban economy, in the course of efforts to build a collective society in
Cuba, serious problems had already arisen, including severe shortages
in essential foods and goods. These were publicly admitted by
Cuban officials, who, even while shifting a large share of the blame to
the LTnited States embargo, conceded their own errors had played a
role in Cuba's mounting economic difficulties.^^
The Role of Orthodox Communists in LAFPCC
LAFPCC propaganda misinforming the public on the complex
Cuban situation and the organization's accompanying agitation for
a "hands off" foreign policy toward Cuba were greatly intensified
following the unsuccessful Cuban invasion of April 1961. In their
effort to generate public sentiment against U.S. foreign policy, the
Trotskyists running the LAFPCC had the benefit of energetic support
from the much more powerful Communist Party.
Delfino (Del) Varela represented the Southern California District
of the Communist Party, USA, on the executive committee of
LAFPCC. According to the committee's investigation, he served
on the Alexican Commission for that Communist Party district.
Born in New Mexico in 1926, Mr. Varela became a resident of Los
Angeles in 1955. His work for the Communist Party has centered
around Americans of Mexican extraction in Los Angeles. On
February 25, 1959, when he was interrogated at hearings of the Com-
mittee on Un-American Activities, committee investigation s^^owed he
was an active member of the Zapata Section of the Southern California
District of the Communist Party. Mr. Varela invoked the fifth
amendment, however, in response to all committee questions relating
to his activities in the Communist Party.
" Draper, op. cit., pp. 123, 124, 131-134.
88952 O— 62 3
1526 GREATER LOS ANGELES FAIR PLAY FOR CUBA COMMITTEE
Martin Hall,^'^^ the chairman of LAFPCC, has been a continuous
supporter of front organizations of the orthodox Communist Party,
USA, ever since his arrival in the United States from Germany 25
years ago. Benjamin Gitlow, a leader in the Communist Party, USA,
in the 1920's, testified before the committee on July 7, 1953, that
Martin Hall had been a well-known figure in the Communist Party
of German3\ Mr. Hall himself was interrogated by the committee on
December 8, 1956, at which time he invoked his privileges under the
fifth amendment, rather than respond to questions concerning activi-
ties in behaK of the Communist Party.
In 1936 and 1937, Martin Hall contributed articles to International
Press Correspondence, official organ of the Communist International.
He took up residence in the United States in 1937 and eventually
became a naturalized American citizen. Since his arrival in this
country, Mr. Hall has received publicity for activities in behalf of the
following organizations and publications cited as Communist fronts
by official Government agencies: New Masses, contributor of articles,
1937; League of American Writers and American Student Union,
scheduled speaker, 1937; Joint Anti-Fascist Refugee Committee,
scheduled speaker, 1944; World Federation of Democratic Youth and
International Union of Students, attended their World Youth Festival
held behind the Iron Curtain in 1947; Civil Rights Congress, signer
of public statement, 1948; Conference for Peaceful Alternatives to
the Atlantic Pact, signer of public statement, 1949; Southern
California Chapter of the National Council of the Arts, Sciences, and
Professions, executive board member, 1949, subdivision chairman,
1951; National Council of American-Soviet Friendship, panel leader
at conference, 1950; Independent Progressive Party, scheduled
speeches, 1950, 1951, and 1954; Jewish Peoples Fraternal Order,
speaker, 1951; Los Angeles Committee To Secure Justice in the
Rosenberg Case, scheduled speaker and sponsor, 1952; California
Labor School, scheduled speaker, 1952; American-Russian Institute,
scheduled speaker, 1954; Citizens Committee To Preserve American
Freedoms, speaker, 1954; Los Angeles Committee for Protection of
Foreign Born, scheduled lecturer, 1955; People's World Forum,
scheduled speaker, 1959 and 1961; A^ew World Review, author of
article, 1961; National Guardian, author of article, 1962.
Hall, a writer and lecturer by occupation, visited Cuba in August
1960 (People's World, August 6, 1960). His most recent trip abroad
was as a delegate from the United States to the World Congress for
General Disarmament and Peace, held in Moscow July 9-14, 1962,
under the auspices of the international Communist front, the World
Peace Council. His speech at a meeting of the Economic Commission
of the Moscow Congress, in which he attacked the European Common
Market as a cold-war weapon, was publicized in Moscow radio broad-
casts, as well as in The Worker, the Communist Party's official news-
paper in the United States.
The committee has obtained information that, within a month after
the public appearance of the Los Angeles Fair Play for Cuba Com-
mittee, members of the Southern California District of the Com-
munist Party received instructions to turn out in force at LAFPCC
meetings and to move into dominating positions in the pro-Castro
"» A photograph of Martin Hall appears on p. 1521.
GREATER LOS ANGELES FAIR PLAY FOR CUBA COMMITTEE 1527
propaganda organization. However, the Trotskyists refused to
relinquish the leadership they had obtained during the formation of
the LAFPCC. In spite of such jockeying for control, Communist
Party policy , throughout 1961 and early 1962 was one of vigorous
'support for LAFPCC on the basis of immediate common objectives.
William Guillermo Martinez was one of the speakers at an LAFPCC
public meeting in East Los Angeles on February 19, 1962. Mr. Mar-
tinez provided commentary for a pro-Castro film shown to the gather-
ing, in the course of which Martinez charged "Yankee imperialists"
with being so inhumanitarian that they do not allow food and medical
supplies to be sent to Cuba. [The United States embargo on trade
with Cuba specifically exempts certain medicines, medical equipment,
and food items.] Committee investigation has disclosed that William
Martinez attended Marxist classes in the Echo Park Section of the
Communist Party's Southern California District in 1959 and subse-
quently became a member of that party section. Mr. Martinez was
interrogated by the committee in executive session on April 26, 1962,
and invoked the fifth amendment in response to questions on Com-
munist activity. His testimony will be released in conjunction with
a forthcoming committee report on the Southern California District
of the Communist Party, USA.
Collaboration on the Picket Line
Communist Party collaboration with the Trotskyists in the LAFPCC
was most strikingly illustrated by the large turnout ol orthodox Com-
munists and their supporters for picket duty in the organization's
many public demonstrations in downtown Los Angeles. On these
occasions, the pickets carried signs which appealed for a "Hands Off
Cuba" policy, urged x\mericans to "Join & ^Support the Fair Play for
Cuba Committee," and declared "Cuba Denies Unjust Commie Label."
Not only rank-and-file Communists, but also top officials such as
Chairman Dorothy Healey and Executive Secretary Ben Dobbs of
the Southern California District of the Communist Party, marched
under the banners of the Trotskyist-con trolled organization.
Photographs taken on the occasion and reproduced in the appendix
to this report reveal that persons with records of activity in the Com-
munist Party participated in the LAFPCC demonstrations staged in
front of the Federal Building in Los Angeles on April 15, 19, and 22,
1961. Among them were: ^*
Daniel Bessie: A delegate to the Second Convention of the South-
ern California District of the Communist Party which was held in
two sessions in November 1959 and January 1960. He has also
attended meetings of the Youth Commission for that party district.
He appeared before the Committee on Un-American Activities as a
witness on October 20, 1959, and invoked the fifth amendment in
answer to questions pertaining to membership in the Communist
Party.
Harriet Blair: Attended the Second Convention of the Southern
California District of the Communist Party. At the January 1960
convention session, she was elected to the party's 30-member District
Committee. Mrs. Blair was a witness before this committee on Sep-
tember 4, 1958, at which time she invoked the fifth amendment in
■8 Photographs of these individuals appear on pp. 1580-1585 of appendix to this report.
1 528 GREATER LOS ANGELES FAIR PLAY FOR CUBA COMMITTEE
response to questions on Communist Party membership and activity.
J. C. Coleman: Identified as a member of the Communist Party
by a witness who appeared before this committee in executive session.
Ben Dobbs: Executive secretary of the Southern Cahfornia District
of the Communist Party at the time of his appearance in LAFPCC
picket Unes. Mr. Dobbs was interrogated by the committee in ex-
ecutive session on April 24, 1962, regarding his activities as No. 2
man in the party organization in Southern California. He invoked
the fifth amendment in response to all questions relating to party
activity. His testimony will be released with a forthcoming com-
mittee report on the party's district organization.
Sarah Dorner: Identified as a member of the Communist Party h\
a witness who appeared before the committee in executive session.
Vincent Fraga: Member of the District Committee of the Com-
munist Party's Southern California District; attended the Second
District Convention, which selected him as an alternate delegate to
the Communist Party's 17tli National Convention in New York City
in December 1959. Mr. Fraga was born in Cuba but has been a
resident of the United States since at least 1930 and is a naturalized
citizen of this country. When the committee attempted to interrogate
Mr. Fi'aga, it learned that he had departed for Cuba in March 1962,
with the declared intention of not returning to the U.S.
Irving Gof: Communist Party functionary who attended sessions
of the party's Southern California District Executive Board in the
period 1959-1961. He was identified as a member of the Communist
Party by five former party members in testimony before the com-
mittee. This published testimony shows that Mr. Goff' s party func-
tions prior to his residence in California included chairmanship of the
New York State Veterans Committee of the Communist Party and
chairmanship of the Louisiana State organization of the party.
Dorothy Healey: Chairman of the Southern California District of
the Communist Party when she joined in the LAFPCC demonstra-
tions. Mrs. Healey was a witness before the committee on September
2, 1958, but refused to answer committee questions on Communist
Party activities on grounds of possible self-incrimination.
Rose Chernin Kusnitz: Identified as a Communist Party functionary
by two witnesses in public testimony before the Committee on Un-
American Activities. She was among local. Communist leaders con-
victed under the Smith Act in 1952, a conviction which was sub-
sequently reversed on appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court. Mrs.
Kusnitz invoked the fifth amendment in response to questions on
Communist activity when she appeared before the committee on
December 7 and 8, 1956.
Robert Large: Delegate from the San Gabriel Section of the Com-
munist Party to the Second Convention of the Southern California
District of the party. In an appearance before the committee in
executive session on April 26, 1962, Mr. Large relied on the fifth
amendment and refused to answer questions regarding his Communist
Party membership and activity. The testimony will be made public
with a committee report on the party's Southern California District.
Rosalind Lindesmith: Identified as a member of the Communist
Party hj a former FBI undercover operative within tlie party who
testified at a public hearing of the committee on October 20, 1959.
Don Matsuda: Attended the Second Convention of the Southern
California District of the Communist Party, which elected him to the
GREATER LOS ANGELES FAIR PLAY FOR CUBA COMMITTEE 1529
District Committee at the closing session in January 1960. Mr.
Matsiida, who has also served on the Minorities Commission for that
party district, invoked the fifth amendment when questioned by the
committee in executive session on April 25, 1962. The testimony will
be released with a committee report on the Southern California District
of the party.
Abraham Maymudes: Identified as a long-time Communist Party
member in Los x^ngeles County by two witnesses in executive session
before the committee.
Charles Mosley: Delegate to the founding convention of the South-
ern California District of the Communist Party in April 1957. He was
interrogated by the committee on September 4, 1958, but invoked
the fifth amendment in response to all questions concerning Com-
munist Party membership and activity.
Paul Perlin: Identified as a member of the Communist Party by
four witnesses testifying at public hearings of the Committee on
Un-American .Activities. When questioned by the committee on
October 6, 1952, regarding his Communist Party activities, he re-
sponded by invoking his privileges under the fifth amendment.
Rose S. Rosenberg: An attorney, identified as a member of the
lawyers' group of the Communist Party in Los Angeles by two former
associates in the party who testified at public hearings of the com-
mittee in 1951 and 1952. Mrs. Rosenberg appeared as a witness
before the committee on October 1, 1952, and refused to answer
questions regarding Communist Party membership on the grounds
that it violated her rights under the first amendment.
Paid Roi<enstein: A member of the Youth Commission of the
Southern California District of the Communist Party. When he
was interrogated by the committee in executive session on April 25,
1962, regarding his work in behalf of the party's Youth Commission,
he responded to committee questions by invoking the fifth amendment.
His testimony will be made public in connection with another report
which will be issued by the committee in the near future.
Sophie Silver: A member of the Communist Party's Southern
Cahfornia District Council in 1957-1958 and delegate to both the
Southern California District Convention in 1959-1960 and the Com-
munist Party National Convention in 1959. Mrs. Silver invoked
the first amendment in refusing to answer questions as a witness before
the committee on September 4, 1958.
Shirley Taylor: Identified as having been active in previous years
in the Communist Party in Washington, D.C., by two former party
associates who testified before the committee in 1951 and 1953.
LAFPCC picket lines were also swelled by the participation of
individuals who were former members of the Communist Party or
who had close ties to the Communist Party. ^^ Examples:
Lillian Carlson was at one time a member of the California State
Central Committee of the Communist Party and had been extremely
active in the party's front organizations. On March 26, 1958, Mrs.
Carlson and a number of other California Communists "reluctantly"
signed a letter of resignation from the Communist Party. The signers
declared they had no quarrel with the Communist Party's "solidarity
with the socialist sector of the world, its aspirations for a socialist
'• Photographs of the individuals subsequently named appear on p. 1585 of appendix to this report.
1530 GREATER LOS ANGELES FAIR PLAY FOR CUBA COMMITTEE
America and its study of scientific socialism, Marxism-Leninism."
Their disagreement was with tactics adopted by the national Com-
munist Party leadership, which liad provoked them into leaving the
party and seek "fresh avenues of approach" to the common goal of a
socialist America.
Celeste Kaplan, better knouTi as Celeste Strack, was also a high-
ranking official of the California State organization of the Communist
Party in earlier years. She signed the same letter of resignation from
the Communist Party to which Mrs. Carlson had subscribed.
Beverly Radclirffe, a 24-3^ear-old Canadian citizen, has been an ener-
getic supporter of various Communist Party front organizations and
projects specifically designed to attract young people in the Los
Angeles community. Committee investigation shows that her activity
in Los Angeles in the period 1960-1962 also included attendance at a
number of meetings of the Youth Commission of the Southern Cali-
fornia District of the Communist Party. Mrs. Radcliffe appeared
before the committee in executive session on April 26, 1962, at which
time she refused to answer questions on her activity in behalf of the
Communist Party on grounds of possible self-incrimination. Her
testimony will be released with a forthcoming committee report on
the Southern California District of the Communist Party.
Diamond Kim is a Korean-born alien who was interrogated by the
committee on June 28, 1955, regarding his role as editor of the Korean
Independence, a Korean -English language newspaper in Los Angeles.
Committee investigation found that his newspaper was exclusively a
vehicle of Communist propaganda and that his newspaper's address
had been used as a mail drop for communications between the North
Korean Communist Government and West Coast Communists.
Communist Party documents showed that Mr. Kim himself had been
in communication with the North Korean Government. Mr. Kim
responded to committee questions by invoking his privileges under the
fifth amendment. After Mr. Kim's challenge of a deportation order
against him failed in the courts, he voluntarily departed from the
United States early in 1962 and took up residence in Communist
Czechoslovakia .
Recent Developments Affecting LAFPCC
The Los Angeles Fair Play for Cuba Committee in September 1961
claimed to have recruited more than 1,000 members in 9 months of
operation. It also boasted that, as a result of its activities, it had
succeeded in reaching "tens of thousands" of persons with "the truth
about the Cuban struggle."
By March 1962, however, LAFPCC Chairman Martin Hall had
publicly expressed -concern over a gradual "shrinking" of the organ-
ization. As a matter of fact, the bank account of the propaganda
group had been closed on February 5, 1962, for reason of overdraft.
(That hard times had also set in for the national Fair Play for Cuba
Committee was admitted in a letter mailed out by acting Executive
Secretary Richard Gibson on September 4, 1962. He confessed the
organization was "so poor in October 1961 that we couldn't even
afford a mailing to let all our subscribers know that we couldn't
afford to continue publishing our Fair Play bulletin.")^"
2" The Gibson letter stated that "things are a bit better financially" as of September 1962 and the national
organization was making plans to publish a magazine with a scope broadened to include "all of Latin Amer-
ica as well as Cuba."
. GREATER LOS ANGELES FAIR PLAY FOR CUBA COMMITTEE 1531
The Committee on Un-American Activities on January 17, 1962,
authorized a subcommittee to hold executive hearings in Los Angeles
on various aspects of Communist Party activity in Southern Cali-
fornia, including the role of Trotsk3'ists and Communists in the
Los Angeles Fair Play for Cuba Committee. When a subcommittee
met to receive testimony from key LAFPCC officers on April 26 and
27, 1962, it learned that earlier in the same month Executive Secretary
A. J. Lewis had resigned from both the LAFPCC and the Socialist
Workers Party for reasons not pertinent to this report. Since the
committee's interrogation of A. J. Lewis and Steve Roberts, as well
as various functionaries of the Southern California District of the
Communist Party who were also active in LAFPCC affairs, no further
public meetings or demonstrations by the Los Angeles Fair Play for
Cuba Committee were observed by the committee until this month
(October 1962).
The occasion for the revival of LAFPCC activity at this time was
the announcement that President Kennedy would speak at the
Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles on October 26, 1962. A letter
circulated by LAFPCC Chairman Martin Hall under date of October
13, 1962, solicited support for a mass demonstration which would
"qoincide" with the President's scheduled appearance in that city.
The letter stated in part:
Dear Friends:
All of us are undoubtedly aware of the recent statements
of many congressmen calling for an invasion of Cuba, the
enlistment of Cuban "exiles" into the U.S. armed forces,
the military aid to the counter-revolutionary attacks on
Cuba, and now the U.S. plan to blockade Cuban shipping.
We consider these actions to be an unmistakable threat to
world peace.
We are firm in the belief that all organizations and indi-
viduals interested in peace will realize the necessity of
alerting the American people to this immediate danger of
war and will join in a single public action, the success of
which will depend on the widest possible support.
As you are aware. President Kennedy is scheduled to arrive
in Los Angeles on Friday, October 26. We are planning a
demonstration to coincide with his address at the Dodger
stadium on the evening of the same day.
Martin Hall also announced in this letter that a general planning
conference for the demonstration would be held on October 20, 1962,
in the Starr King Room of the First Unitarian Church of Los Angeles
"in order to gain the most effective co-operation around the planning
of this action."
The committee has learned that both orthodox Communists and
Trotskyists attended this planning conference, which was presided
over by Martin Hall. Arrangements were made for the preparation
of picket signs and recruitment of demonstrators. The fact that the
site for the President's speech had been changed to the Los Angeles
Sports Arena was brought out, and demonstrators were instructed to
assemble at the arena well in advance of the time the President was
expected to arrive.
President Kennedy's speaking appearance was subsequently can-
celled because of the increasing gravity of the very Cuban situation on
1 532 GREATER LOS ANGELES FAIR PLAY FOR CUBA COMMITTEE
which the LAFPCC intended to agitate in the Communists' interests.
As the President informed the Nation on October 22, 1962, the Soviet
Union was instalHng a series of offensive nuclear missile bases in Cuba,
and the United States was preparing to blockade any offensive military
equipment delivered to Cuba in the future. The LAFPCC neverthe-
less proceeded with its plans, and on October 26 its pickets, carrying
signs and chanting "Hands Off Cuba", paraded in front of the Los
Angeles Sports Arena. Chairman Hall announced that the demon-
stration was only one in a series which would protest United States
policy with respect to Cuba.
As committee investigation has clearly shown, the Los Angeles
Fair Play for Cuba Committee has provided the mechanism for a
united-front effort by Trotskvists and orthodox Communists to sell
a false bill of goods to the public. But well-publicized statements such
as Fidel Castro's announcement on December 2, 1961, that he was a
confirmed "Marxist-Leninist" with confidence in the future world
victory of communism contradicts the organization's propaganda line
that communism is a false issue in Cuban-American relations, con-
jured up as a smokescreen by predatory imperialists in the United
States. These "friends" of Castro must, therefore, thank the Cuban
dictator himself for the present condition of their propaganda organi-
zation. The LAFPCC is today only sporadically active, emerging
into public view onlj^ when there are possibilities of capitalizing on
some unusual development, such as the President's projected visit
to California.
Open Bickering By Rival Marxist Groups
The committee observes with interest that, as Fair Plaj^ for Cuba
Committee supporters were graduallj^ being reduced to individuals
willing to support an avowed Communist-style government in Cuba,
members of various competing Marxist groups began bickering in
public over their roles in the Fair Play organization.
The former treasurer of the New York chapter of the Fair Play for
Cuba Committee publicW stated in December 1961 that "Socialist
Workers Party people" had been "running the national office" from
early 1961 until Executive Secretary Richard Gibson decided to get
rid of them in the summer of 1961.^' Beginning in November 1961,
an ultra -left, dissident Communist group, known as the Provisional
Organizing Committee for a Marxist-Leninist Communist Party
(POC), also publicly protested against "Trotskyist wreckers" who, it
claimed, were entrenched in the Fair Play for Cuba organization in
every area of the country where it existed. ^^
Such complaints brought forth a letter from Richard Gibson to the
POC, stating that to claim the Fair Play for Cuba Committee was a
front group for the Trotskyists was just as wTong as the charge that
Trotskvists were being purged from the organization. The Gibson
21 The Independent, December 1961. This individual said he had resigned as treasurer of the N. Y. chapter
of FPCC in Jan. 1961, because his opinions were either not solicited or were ignored in the formation of
chapter policy.
22 Vanoitard, oTicial POC publication, October-November 1961 and February-March 1962. The
committee, in its Annual Report for 1959, rf ported on the formation of the POC in August 1958 by a number
of persons with oxlreme left-wing views who had been recently expelled from the Communist Party for
opposing certain prevailing party tactics.,
POC memlx'rs refer to themselves as the "true Marxist-Leninists" and "the genuine communists."
They attack Soviet and Yugoslav Communist leaders for lacking the militancy of Chinese and Albanian
Communist leaders (Vanguard, February-March 1962).
GREATER LOS ANGELES FAIR PLAY FOR CUBA COMMITTEE 1533
letter, dated December 29, 1961, insisted that the FFCC welcomed
support from "all progressive Americans without distinction" in order
to "tell as many Americans as possible the truth about Cuba's Socialist
Revolution." '^
This controversy may have provoked the following "opinion" de-
livered by Bias Roca, Cuba's "top communist," ^* to a correspondent
of the National Guardian and printed in the issue of that newspaper
dated April 16, 1962 (p. 6):
Correspondent's question: "Do you welcome to the ranks
of Cuba's friends and partisans in the U.S. people of any
orientation, for example Trotskyists? How can Cuba's U.S.
friends best help Cuba?"
Bias Roca's answer: "I am not well acquainted \vith those
who call themselves Trotskyists in the U.S. We are sepa-
rated from Trotskyists in general by fundamental points of
view, and from some in particular by their actions as enemies.
But I think that all in the U.S. who sincerely defend and
support the Cuban revolution, and the right of self-determi-
nation of the Cuban and other Latin American peoples, do a
worthy revolutionary job and we value them whatever their
ideological concepts may be. * * *
"Thus the defense of Cuba in the U.S. should be carried
forward without any kind of sectarianism, with the greatest
open-mindedness, with an objective spirit of judgment on the
basis not of what people say but of what they do."
Who Are the Trotskyists?
James F. Cannon, national chairman of the Socialist Workers
Fart}^, explained his party's views in a speech in Los Angeles, Calif.,
on June 15, 1956, as follows: ^^
We Trotskyists regard the Russian Revolution of 1917 as
the great dividing line in human history. Ascending world
capitalism came to a halt there, met with its first defeat, and
entered into its decline. * * *
We Trotskyists * * * have always regarded the Russian
Revolution not as an end in itself, but as the starting point
of the worldwide socialist revolution. For that reason, from
that socialist internationalist standpoint, we have been par-
tisans and defenders of the Soviet Union and the Russian
Revolution which brought it into existence, ever since 1917.
* * * Everything we have said and done, either in praise
or in criticism, in all the intervening time, has been governed
by the single criterion: What is good for the Revolution, for
the defence of the Soviet Union, for the extension of the
revolution throughout the world?
In its support of the Soviet Union, which the party has always
insisted is "unconditional support," and in its promotion of an
eventual worldwide Soviet system, the Socialist Workers Farty's
23 Vanguard, February-March 1962.
2< Roca was also identified in this printed interview as the former general secretary of the Cuban Com-
munist Party who was now serving as editor of the Cuban newspaper HOY. This publication was for
several decades the official organ of the Cuban Communist Party, which operated \n Cuba under the name
Partido Socialista Popular (Popular Socialist Party).
"James P. Cannon's speech was printed in the pamphlet, The 20th Congress (C.P.S.U.) and World
Trotskyism (London: New Park Publications Ltd., February 1957), pp. 37, 38.
88952 O— 62 i
1534 GREATER LOS ANGELES FAIR PLAY FOR CUBA COMMITTEE
aims appear to be identical with those of the Communist Party of the
United States. From the standpoint of Americans who have no desire
to see their representative government replaced by a Soviet-style
"dictatorship of the proletariat," the differences between the two
organizations are not appreciable. Yet Trotskyists and Communists
have been unable to reconcile their differences in 34 years of rival
activity in the United States. ^^
Socialist Workers Party members are "disciples" of Leon Trotsky,
National Chairman Cannon has also declared." This identification
with the views of the famous Russian revolutionary leader indicates
the basis for Trotskyist differences with the Communist Party,
despite the similarity of their goals. Whereas the theorj^ and program
of the Communist Party have been based on the teachings of Marx,
Engels, and Lenin as interpreted by Stalin and his successor, Nikita
Khrushchev, the Socialist Workers Party declares itself bound by the
ideas of Marx, Engels, and Lenin as subsequentlv expounded by
Trotsky.28
Leon Trotsky (1879-1940) has been described as ranking second
only to Lenin in organizing and leading the Bolshevik seizure of
power in Russia in November 1917. Trotsky was the first Secretary
of State in the new Communist government. (The post was actually
known as People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs.) In March 1918,
he was named People's Commissar of War, from which position he
organized the Red Army and fought to a successful conclusion a long-
drawn-out civil war which had erupted in Russia. Following the
revolution, the Executive Committee of the all powerful Bolshevik
(later Communist) Party in Russia included Stalin as well as Lenin
and Trotsky. Lenin had to mediate numerous conflicts between
Trotsky and Stalin in the early post-revolutionary period.
Lenin became ill in 1923 and died on Januar}^ 21, 1924. Many
persons shared Leon Trotsky's view that he was the logical successor
to Lenin. However, Joseph Stalin had been maneuvering for power
from the key position he had received in 1922, that of general secretary
of the Communist Party's Central Committee. Bitter power struggles
wracked the Soviet Communist Party until 1929, as Stalin gradually
succeeded in eliminating Trotsky, as well as other leading Communists
opposed to his personal rule over the Soviet LTnion. Trotsky had
already been ousted from his post as Commissar of War by January
1925. He was expelled from the Soviet Conmiunist Party's top
Executive Committee (Politburo) in October 1926 and from the
party itself in November 1927. The following month, Trotsky was
banished to Turkistan. He was deported to Turkey in February
1929, when he would not promise to halt his political activity. He
subsequently lived in Turkey, France, Norway, and Mexico, remain-
ing in Mexico from January 1937 until August 1940, when he was
assassinated by an agent of the Soviet secret police.
28 1'his report uses tlie torm Trotskyist to refer to the Sociilist Workers Party and predecessor orsaniza-
tions in which James P. Cannon plaved a leadership role after his expulsion from the Communist Party in
1928. It does not attempt to deal with the many groups formed over the years by Trotskyists who disagreed
with Cannon's leadership or policies.
2' Speech of March <), 1956, in Los Angeles, Calif., printed in The 20th Congress (C.P.S.U.) and World
TrotshuUm, p. 23.
28 Previous committee rcFJOrts describing the character of the Socialist Workers Party include House
Peport 1920 on "The Communist Party of the United States as an Advocate of Overthrow of Government
by Force and Violence," May 11, 1948, and House Pejiort 1604 on "Organized Communism in the United
States," May 2S, 1954. The U.S. Attorney (Jeneral identified the Socialist Workers Party as a subversive,
Communist organization which seeks to alter the form of government of the United States by unconstitu-
tional means (Letters to Loyalty Review Board released December 4, 1947 and September 21, 1948).
GREATER LOS ANGELES FAIR PLAY FOR CUBA COMMITTEE 1535
In the course of the Stalin-Trotsky conflict following Lenin's death,
"personal animosity took on ideological attire" and Trotsky's views,
in particular where they difl^ered from Stalin's, became an opposing
Communist philosophy and strategy known as "Trotskyism." ^^ The
first Soviet leaders had expected successful revolutions to occur in other
countries as well as in Russia and believed they were essential for the
creation of a "socialist society" in Russia. When these revolutions
failed to materialize, Stalin announced "socialism" would be built
in Russia, despite the delay in inevitable revolutions in the rest of the
world. Trotsky derided this "socialism in one country" idea as being
too nationalist and amounting to a betrayal of the worldwide revolu-
tion which Trotsky still maintained was essential for building socialism
in Russia. (This report does not attempt to provide a full exposition
of Trotsky's so-called theory of "permanent revolution," also defined
as "continuous" revolution, which includes the proposition that a
socialist revolution to endure must be worldwide.) Trotsky had also
denounced as treason Stalin's instructions that Chinese Communists
collaborate with the Kuomintang in China in the 1920's. To Trotsky,
Stalin's dictatorship was not a true "dictatorship of the proletariat"
but a degenerate kind of bureaucracy more barbaric in the abuse of
power than the Czarist regimes.^"
Founding of American Trotskyist Movement
Leon Trotsky's continued fulminations against Stalin as a betrayer
of Lenin's principles and perverter of world socialist revolution led
to the formation of pro-Trotsky factions within many Communist
parties throughout the world and, eventually, separate Communist
parties loyal to Trotsky.
James P. Cannon, present national chairman of the Socialist
Workers Party, is considered the founder of the American Trotskyist
movement. Cannon became acquainted with Trotsky's views when
as a leader of the Communist Party, USA, Cannon traveled to Moscow
in the summer of 1928 as a delegate to the Sixth World Congress of
the Communist International. Cannon served on the Comintern's
Program Commission, the only body permitted to see copies of a
document Trotsky had sent to the Congress to support what proved
to be an unsuccessful appeal for reinstatement in the Communist
Party. Cannon was converted to Trotsky's views, smuggled a copy
of the Trotsky document back to the United States, and soon created
a pro-Trotsky faction within the Communist Party, USA. When the
Stalinist-oriented leaders of the CPUSA discovered this activity,
Cannon and his handful of followers were expelled from the party on
October 27, 1928. These Trotskyists brought out the first issue of
their organ, The Militant, on November 15, 1928, and on May 17-19,
1929, convened to organize the Communist League of America
(Opposition), first in a series of organizational efforts which culminated
in the formation of the present-day Socialist Workers Party on
January 1, 1938.^'
29 "Facts on Communism, Vol. II: The Soviet Union, from Lenin to Khrushchev," Committee on Un-
American Activities, December 1960, p. 144.
3" Ibid., pp. 149, 150. See also Theodore Draper, American Communism and Soviet Russia (New York:
Viking Press, lOtiO), pp. 130-1.32, and Leon Trotsky, Their Morals and Ours (New York: Pioneer Publishers,
1942), pp. 22. 23.
" Draper, American Communism and Soviet Russia, pp. 364-371.
1536 GREATER LOS ANGELES FAIR PLAY FOR CUBA COMMITTEE
In 1934, Trotskyists gave up their efforts to effect a change of poHcy
by the Communist International and supported a movement for the
formation of a new international which would lead the "world working
class" to the ultimate victory of "socialism." Under Trotsky's guid-
ance, the so-called IV International was formed in Switzerland
in September 1938 by factions from 11 countries. The Socialist
Workers Party of the United States has stated that it played a "key
role" in founding the IV International and that it remained a
member until passage of the Voorhis Act in October 1940, which
regulated organizations subject to foreign control. The SWP there-
after described itself as being "completely sympathetic" to the aims
of the IV International. (The SWP has conceded, however, that
the International secretariat and various sections are wracked with
strife over how Trotsky would have run the organization and reacted
to post-Stalin Soviet policies, had he not met an untimely death
in 1940.) 32
After passage of the Smith Act in June 1940, the Socialist Workers
Party also played down references to force and violence in its agitation
for the overthrow of our present system of government. In appealing
their convictions under the Smith Act, SWP leaders called attention
to their special convention in December 1940, at which the party's
founding "Declaration of Principles" had been suspended and with-
dra^vn. The appellate court, in sustaining the convictions, declared
that the main purpose of that action was to escape registration under
the Voorhis Act and:
This record shows convincingly that neither the enactment
of this Act [Smith Act] nor the "suspension and withdrawal"
resolution had the slightest effect upon the doctrines, pur-
poses or methods of the Party. There was no break, much
less abandonment, of the conspiracy to use force to overthrow
the Government and to advocate insubordination, etc., in
the armed forces. (138 F. 2d 137, at 152)
The testimony of Foster Williams, Jr., before the Committee on
Un-American Activities on June 17, 1954, is also pertinent. Mr.
Williams testified that he was a member of the Communist Party in
Seattle from 1947 to 1950 and was subsequently active in the Seattle
Socialist Workers Party between 1950 and the fall of 1952. The
witness found that the "wSocialist Workers Party condemns the Com-
munist Party as being willing to make deals with the so-called
capitalists class on a basis to preserve the gains of the Soviet Union.
They take issue with this and say there should be an all-out struggle
against capitalism on a worldwide scale." Asked by the committee
about the SWP view on the use of force and violence, as compared
with the view of the Communist Party, Mr. Williams testified:
I would say, sir, it is more extreme, although they employ
the same euphemisms. They say force and violence will not
be perpetuated [perpetrated] by the workers, but by the
capitalists and the workers, after they take part [power], will
have to defend themselves against the capitalists. The}^
'2 Socialism and American Life, pp. 55, 56, 154; International Socialist Periew, Fall 1958, p. 146; Summer 1961,
p. 97. The SWP pamphlet. The Socialist Workers Party, What It Is— What It Stands For (New York:
Pioneer Publishers, May 1958) referred to The Militant as "our newspaper" and the International Socialist
Remew as "our theoretical magazine."
GREATER LOS ANGELES FAIR PLAY FOR CUBA COMMITTEE 1537
consider that force and violence will be necessary for the
workers to defend their gains. ^^
Organizationally, the Socialist Workers Party, like the Communist
Party, professes to adhere to Lenin's concept of a party — which actu-
ally provides for a paramilitary, conspiratorial organization with a
virtual absence of democratic procedures. National Chairman
Cannon in 1947 referred to the Trotskyists' "long struggle to build a
homogeneous combat party" and their "stubborn and irreconcilable
fight for a single program uniting the party as a whole; for a democratic
and centralized and disciplined party with a professional leadership
* * *." He also pointed up the party's concentration on "trade
union work" and declared:
In short, we have worked and struggled to build a party
fit to lead a revolution in the United States. At the bottom
of all our conceptions was the basic conception that the pro-
letarian revolution is a realistic proposition in this country,
and not merely a far-off "ultimate goal," to be referred to
on ceremonial occasions.^*
Recent Changes in Relations Between Trotskyists and
Communists
For 25 years, the relationship between the Communist Party,
USA, and organized Trotskyist movements was one of intense hatred
and violent opposition. In the Soviet Union, between 1934 and 1938,
a series of in camera and public "treason" trials were held, and
thousands of Communists and non-Communists were executed as the
paranoiac Stalin sought to crush any possibility of dissent from his
policies. Trotsky's sympathizers had been disposed of in the earliest
trials, but heinous conspiracies instigated by Trotsky were routine
charges at later trials of Communists who actually held views opposite
to those of Trotsky. Historians have observed that the exiled Trotsky
appeared to be the chief accused during the infamous Soviet purges
of the 1930's.
Although leaders of the Communist Party, USA, had obediently
sent cables to Moscow denouncing Trotsky as early as December
1924, Communists ^^ in the early 1930's were so aroused against the
Trotskyists that they used violence to break up Trotskyist meetings
and assemblies. After one such incident in New York City in August
1932, some 20,000 Communists marched through the streets shouting
"Death to the Trotskyites. Death to all Renegades." ^^ Former
Comnmnist functionary Barbara Hartle told the committee that, dur-
ing the 1930's, the Communist Party taught its members that their
worst enemies, outside of law-enforcement authorities, were the
Trotskyists in the Socialist Workers Party."
""Investigation of Communist Activities in the Pacific Northwest Area — Part 6", Committee on
Un-American Activities, Hearings, June 17, 19.54, pp. 6436, 6437.
3* James P. Cannon, The Coming American Rerolution, (New York: Pioneer Publishers, April 1947), p. 18.
35 "Communists" will be used hereafter to refer to members of the Communist Party, USA, although
Socialist Workers Party members consider themselves to be the "genuine" Communists.
The SWP stated it is "the sole legitimate heir and continuator of pioneer American Communism" in
theses adopted at its 12th National Convention, Nov. 15-18, 1946, in Chicago (The Coming American Revo-
lution, p. 16).
»9 Benjamin Qitlow, The Whole of Their Lives (New York: Charles Scribrer's Sons, 1948), pp. 234, 235.
37 "Investigation of Communist Activities in the Pacific Northwest Area — Part 2," Committee on Un-
American Activities, Hearings June 14, 1954, p. 6076.
1538 GREATER LOS ANGELES FAIR PLAY FOR CUBA COMMITTEE
The death of Joseph Stalin on March 5, 1953, paved the way to re-
vised relations between the Communists and Trotskyists. Khrushchev's
speech in February 1956, denouncing Stalin as a ruthless tyrant
who unjustifiably sent thousands of Communists to their death or
prisons during the purges of the 1930's, was another important step
toward an alteration in traditional Communist-Trotskyist relations.
The pattern of the revised relationship was set by Khrushchev's
announcement that same month of the necessity for Communists to
form a "united front" (i.e., cooperative action in behalf of immediate
goals) with all forces willing to enter into such a relationship. After
explaining that the main effort of such cooperative activity would be
directed against the "war danger" emanating from such "imperialist"
centers as the United States and directed toward support of the Soviet
Union's allegedly "peaceful" policies, Khrushchev referred to Com-
munist unity with other left-wing elements as follows:
Unity of the working class, of its trade unions, unity of action
of its political parties, the Communists, the Socialists, and
other workers' parties, is acquiring exceptional importance.
Not a few of the misfortunes harassing the world today re-
sult from the fact that in many countries the working class
has been split for many years and its various detachments
do not present a united front * * *. Life has placed on the
order of the day many questions which not only demand
rapprochement and cooperation among all workers' parties,
but also create real possibilities for this cooperation. * * *
The interests of the struggle for peace make it imperative to
sweep aside mutual recriminations, find points of contact,
and, on these grounds, lay the foundations for cooperation.
Cooperation is possible and essential with those circles of
the socialist movement which have different views from ours
on the forms of transition to socialism. Among them are
many who are honestly mistaken on this question, but this
is no obstacle to cooperation.^*
Resolutions adopted at the subsequent 16th National Convention
of the Communist Party, USA in February 1957 admitted the party's
past mistake in seeking to fight against and liquidate other "socialist-
oriented" groups in the United States and promised that henceforth
"cooperation" and "united action" would be sought. In August 1961 .
Communist Part}" General SecretarA^ Gus Hall reiterated that the
party's policy involved "widest united front activity" by "Left and
progressive forces" in order to build up "pressures upon the [Kennedy]
administration for a change of policy in the direction of peaceful
co-existence." The party boss observed that "This requires dis-
cussion among all forces of the Left, in which past differences are
subordinated to the need to find common ground to meet the onslaught
of reaction." ^^
3' "Repf^rt of the Central Comirittee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union," delivered by N. S
Khrushchev to 20th Conpross of Communist Party, Soviet Union, February 14, 1956, printed in Current
Soviet 'Policies II, ed. Leo Oriiliow (New York: Fredcrirk A. Prae^er, 1957), p. 33.
29 Proceedings, 16th National Connentinti Comm'inist Parly, U.S.A., (New York: New Century Pub-
lishers Inc., May 1957) pp. 329-334; Political A fairs, August 1981, pp. 18, 19.
GREATER LOS ANGELES FAIR PLAY FOR CUBA CX)MMITTEE 1539
Continuing Communist-Trotskyist Differences No Bar to
United Front
While the main efforts of the Communists were directed toward
obtaining cooperation from the more numerous democratic sociahsts,*"
Sociahst Workers Party leaders were quick to take advantage of the
Communists' offer of a united front. The Trotskyists summarized
their position as follows:
There are many other matters of common interest on
which we believe there can and should be united action, in-
cluding the fight for civil rights, opposing the cold war and
meeting the attacks of the ultra right. * * *
Organizational unity, however, is a more difficult mat-
ter. * * *
But the question about the desirability of all socialists
getting together is a valid one, and the answer is: "On the
many points where they agree, they can and should work
together." ^^
Possibilities of organizational unity, explored by various "socialists"
beginning in 1957, had ended in failure. (Representatives of both the
Socialist Workers Party and Communist Party had attended con-
ferences called for such a purpose.) Complete rapprochement be-
tween the two parties has never been achieved. Wliile the Socialist
Workers Party hailed Khrushchev's speeches against Stalin as "the
biggest news and the best news since the death of Stalin himself," it
noted that the new Soviet dictator still "praises" Stalin's purge of the
Trotskyists and "has no intention of rehabilitating Trotsky." ^^ The
puppet Communist Party, USA, had also continued to denounce
Trotskyist ideas and even described the crushing of Trotskyism in
the Soviet Union in the period 1924-1936 as one of Stalin's "valuable
contributions." *^
For its part, the Socialist Workers Party continued to refer to the
present leadership of the USSR, China, and other Communist nations
as "Stalinist bureaucrats," who would eventually be overtlirown by
internal revolution. The Socialist Workers Party expressed pref-
erence for Chinese Communist militancy over Khrushchev's excessive
emphasis on "peaceful coexistence" propaganda. The Socialist
W^orkers Party said the Khrushchev line tended to undermine the
continued "development of the class struggle," discourage the exten-
sion of the Soviet system into capitalist areas of the world, and
rendered orthodox Communist parties (including the CPUSA)
"utterly incapable of revolutionary action." Newest "proof" offered
by the Trotskyists for these charges was the Cuban Communist
Party's acknowledged mistake in refusing to support the Castro
insurgency until months before Castro's final victory.*'^ The SWP
*o Ous Hall made a public appeal to the June 1%2 convention of the Socialist Party-Social Democratic
Federation for a "united front" with the Communist Party; it was rejected by the organization (New
America, June 29, 1962, p. 6).
" The Militant, September 17, 1962, p. 4.
« Themh Congress {C.P.S.U.) and World Trotskyism, pp. 13, 30.
« Political Affairs, Mav 1962, pp. 58, 59.
** The SWP's own publications, however, had been critical of the "nationalist" Castro throughout most
of his first year in power, and it was not until January 1960 that The Militant announced an all-out "Hands
Off Cuba" propaganda campaign. At this time. The Militant expressed enthusiasm over the "leftward
turn" of the Cuban revolutionary regime and began finding in Cuban events a confirmation of Trotsky's
theory of "permanent" (i.e., continuous) revolution. Farrell Dobbs, national secretary and actual leader
of the SWP, and Joseph Hansen, editor of The Militant, made a Cuban tour in April 1960. (TAe Militant
Jan. 11, 1960, pp. 1, 4; April 11, 1960, p. 1.)
1540 GREATER LOS ANGELES FAIR PLAY FOR CUBA COMMITTEE
also adamanth' opposed the Communists' tactic in the United States
of working within existing pohtical parties.*^
The Trotskyist organization agreed with the Communists that con-
quests of the Sino-Soviet bloc must be defended against "the predatory
foreign aims of Wall Street and Washington." As a result of its
agreement to defend the Soviet Union (albeit not the Soviet leaders),
the Socialist Workers Party propaganda line coincides with that of
the Communist Party in calling for withdrawal of all American troops
from foreign soil, removal of American military bases abroad, a halt
to nuclear weapons testing, recognition of the Chinese Communist
government, support of the Cuban revolution, etc.^^ Observing that
the Communists now admit they made a mistake in failing to defend
Trotskyist leaders prosecuted under the Smith Act in the 1940's, the
Socialist Workers Party has also pledged support for Communist
Party officials currently the subject of court proceedings for violation
of the Internal Security Act. *^
In addition to working together in organizations such as the Los
Angeles Fair Play for Cuba Committee, Socialist Workers Party and
Communist Party representatives in recent years have also shared
the same speakers, platform on a considerable number of occasions to
agitate against other aspects of U.S. Government policy on which they
see eye to eye.
Growth of Trotskyist Influence
That the united-front activity of the Communist Party and Socialist
Workers Party has served to increase the influence of the relatively
small group of Trotskyists in the United States was cause for complaint
from the POC, the Communist splinter organization which opposes
Communist-Trotskyist collaboration. The POC charged that as a
result of "this new era — wherein Trotskyites and leaders of the CP
speak from the same platform" —
the revisionist policy of the CPUSA leaders has opened the
door to Trotskyite influence lar beyond their numerical
significance. * * *
Taking advantage of the lack of experience of youth, the
Trotskyites peddle their poisoned fruit among them. In the
absence of a militant Communist Pfirty, young radicals
occasionally fall for demogogic Trotskyite slogans * * *.*^
The Socialist Workers Party, however, credits its increased following
to the desire of many Communists and former Communists for a more
militant line and more independent electoral activity than the
Communist Party offered.
The Trotskyist organization has stated that the 1956 Khrushchev
revelations regarding Stalin and other developments, which resulted
in the defection of a great many Communist Party members in the
late 1950's, served to boost the membership of the Socialist Workers
Party :
A significant number of former members and sjnnpathizers
of the CP joined the SWP. * * * It is of considerable
« For concise statements on SWP policy see Regronpment, A Proqrammatic Basic for Discussion of Socialist
Unity, SWP pamphlet (New York: Pioneer Pul)lishers, Feb. 1957); The Militant, Nov. 13, 1961, pp. 1, 2;
International Socialist Reriew, Winter 1958, pp. 8-15; Fall 1960, pp. 106-110.
*« Socialist Workers Party Election Platform, printed in leaflet distributed during 1960 electoral campaign .
" The Militant, Sept. 17 1962, p. 4.
« Vanguard, October-November 1961, p. 4.
GREATER LOS ANGELES FAIR PLAY FOR CUBA COMMITTEE 1541
symptomatic importance, for example, that the regroupment
pohcy of the SWP played an important role in encouraging
the formation of a national revolutionary socialist youth
cadre for the first time in a generation.
Thus in the overall change in the relationship of forces
within the radical movement over the past three years, the
SWP emerges as the only political tendency that has gained
new ground and strengthened its relative position. * * * "
Success of its work among youth is a constant Socialist Workers
Party boast:
The capacity of a Marxist movement to inspire a new
generation of radical youth is a decisive measure of its
freshness, vigor and determination. Beginning with 1956
it was the SWP alone of all the radical groups that attracted
a dynamic youth movement genuinely interested in revolu-
tionary socialist politics * * *.^*'
The Young Socialist Alliance held a founding convention in Phila-
delphia in April 1960, at which it dedicated itself to bringing "Marxian
socialism to American youth." The organization's Founding Declara-
tion also stated the convention was "the result of a political process
which began in 1956" and of a growth in supporters to the point
where "a national organization of a revolutionary youth movement"
could be formed. The Young Socialist Alliance declared it would
operate as an "independent organization" but would have "political
solidarity" with the Socialist Workers Party. The youth group
referred to the SWP as follows:
The Young Socialist Alliance and the Socialist Workers
Party are the only revolutionary sociahst groups in the
United States today. The YSA recognizes that only the
SWP of all existing political parties is capable of providing the
working class with pohtical leadership on class struggle
principles. As a result of its three-year development the
supporters of the Young Socialist have come into basic
political solidarity, on the principles of revolutionary
socialism, with the SWP.*^
When its Second National Convention was held during New Year's
weekend of 1962, the Young Socialist Alliance claimed delegates from
more than 20 college campuses and announced that the regular
circulation of the Young Socialist Alliance's monthly paper, The
Young Socialist, had reached 5,000.^^ (The SWP newspaper. The
Militant, reported its own average circulation at 4,776 for 1961.)
This committee report has provided a cursory review of the Socialist
Workers Party's history, program, and activities in the hope that the
information will assist the Congress in evaluating problems posed by
the recent resurgence of the Trotskyist movement in the United
States.
As this report has shown, these dissident Commimists, with all-out
support from the orthodox Communist movement, manipulated the
most active front operation in the Los Angeles community during the
<9 International Socialist Renew, Fall 1959, p. 100.
5" International Socialist Review, Spring 1960, p. 52.
" The Young Socialist. May 1960. p. 6.
M The Militant, January 22, 1962, p. 2.
88952 O— 62 5
1542 GREATER LOS ANGELES FAIR PLAY FOR CUBA COMMITTEE
years 1960-61. Recent diminution of activity by the Los Angeles
Fair Play for Cuba Conunittee has been due, not so much to lack of
efTective effort by Communist elements, as to developments beyond
their control. Castro's blatantly pro-Communist actions and pro-
nouncements of the last year or so have made it virtually impossible
for any group, no matter how skilled in propaganda and agitation, to
continue selling the American public the line that communism is not
an issue in Cuban-American relations.
The new united-front relationship between the Trotskyists and ortho-
dox Commimists in the United States — demonstrated bj^ other ac-
tivities as well as by their collaboration within the Los Angeles Fair
Play for Cuba Committee — has produced dividends for both groups
and adds to the overall strength of subversive forces in this country.
The Committee on Un-American Activities will continue to be alert
to such activities which increase our Nation's internal security
problems.
The testimony of Albert J. Lewis and Steve Roberts taken in
executive session before this committee on April 26 and 27, 1962,
respectively, in Los Angeles, Calif., is printed in full on the following
pages.
COMMUNIST AND TROTSKYIST ACTIVITY WITHIN THE
GREATER LOS ANGELES CHAPTER OF THE FAIR PLAY
FOR CUBA COMMITTEE
thursday, april 26, 1962
United States House of Representatives,
Subcommittee of the
Committee on Un-American Activities,
Los Angeles, California.
executive session ^
The subcommittee of the Committee on Un-American Activities met
at 8:15 a.m., pursuant to recess, in Room 519, United States Federal
Building, Honorable Clyde Doyle (chairman of the subcommittee)
presiding.
Subcommittee members: Representatives Clyde Doyle, of Cali-
fornia; Edwin E. Willis, of Louisiana; William M. Tuck, of Virginia;
Gordon H. Scherer, of Ohio; and August E. Johansen, of Michigan.
Subcommittee members present: Representatives Doyle, Tuck,
Scherer, and Johansen.
Staff members present: Frank S. Tavenner, Jr., director, and
William A. Wheeler, investigator.
*******
Mr. Doyle. Dr. Lewis, do you solemnly swear you will tell the
truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth, so help you God?
Dr. Lewis. [Indicating.]
Mr. Doyle. What is your answer?
Dr. Lewis. I do.
TESTIMONY OF ALBERT JORGENSON LEWIS, ACCOMPANIED BY
COUNSEL, ROBERT W. KENNY
Mr. Tavenner. Will you state your full name for us, please?
Dr. Lewis. A. J. Lewis.
Mr. Tavenner. Will you state your first and middle name, and spell
it?
Dr. Lewis. Albert Jorgenson. Spell my first name or my middle
name?
Mr. Tavenner. Jorgenson.
Dr. Lewis. Well, you know, there has been a big dispute in my
family.
Mr. Tavenner. How do you spell it?
Dr. Lewis. J-o-r-g-e-n-s-o-n L-e-w-i-s.
1 Released by the committee and ordered to be printed.
1543
1544 GREATER LOS ANGELES FAIR PLAY FOR CUBA COMMITTEE
Mr. Tavenner. Will counsel accompanying the witness please
identify himself for the record?
Mr. Kenny. Robert W. Kenny, Los Angeles.
Mr. Tavenner. When and where were you born, Doctor?
Dr. Lewis. I was born in Los Angeles.
Mr. Tavenner. When?
Dr. Lewis. When? 1917.
Mr. Tavenner. Will you give us, please, briefly, your formal edu-
cational training and any degrees, honorary or otherwise, which you
have received?
Dr. Lewis. I am a graduate of Tufts College, bachelor's degree;
Tufts Theological College; Starr-King School for the Ministry; Uni-
versity of Paris and a number of other universities where I took courses.
Graduated from Paris with highest honors.
Mr. Tavenner. And what degrees have been awarded you?
Dr. Lewis. B.A. and Doctorate of the University of Paris.
Mr. Tavenner. What is your present professional occupation?
Dr. Lewis. I am a family relations counsel.
Mr, Tavenner. In Los Angeles?
Dr. Lewis. [Indicating.]
Mr. Kenny, You have to speak audibly because the reporter
can't
Dr. Lewis. I am sorry. Yes.
Mr. Tavenner. How long have you engaged in that profession?
Dr. Lewis. Well, I have been doing^ — actually started doing some
counseling when I was head student, churches, in, oh, about 20 years
ago. But I did other things in the meantime like teaching in the
university and
Mr. Tavenner. You were employed by Field Enterprises, Incor-
porated, in 1958, were you not, at 6404 Hollywood Boulevard?
Dr. Lewis. Well, I decline to answer this on the grounds of the
fifth amendment.
Mr. Tavenner. You were employed by Kaiser Steel Corporation
at Fontana, California, as a salesman in 1957; were you not?
Dr. Lewis. Decline to answer, same grounds.
Mr. Tavenner. During part of World War II were you employed
by the National Labor Relations Board?
Dr. Lewis. I decline to answer, same grounds.
Mr. Tavenner. During part of the war period you were personnel
supervisor at Kaiser Shipyards in Richmond, California, at Plant
No. 1 of that company, were you not?
Dr. Lewis. Decline to answer. Same grounds.
Is that right?
Mr. Kenny. Yes, that's right.
Mr. Tavenner. Were you also employed by the Institute of Pacific
Relations, and if so, when?
Dr. Lewis. Decline to answer.
Mr. Tavenner. How is that?
Dr. Lewis. Decline to answer on the same grounds.
Mr. Tavenner. Did you serve in the Armed Forces of the United
States?
Dr. Lewis, Decline to answer on the same grounds.
Mr. Doyle. I direct you to answer that question. Certainly it
couldn't submit you to possibility of criminal prosecution because
you served in the military forces of the United States, could it?
GREATER LOS ANGELES FAIR PLAY FOR CUBA COMMITTEE 1545
Mr. Kenny. I think if the witness answered the question, in his
judgment it might incriminate him regarding what it might lead to,
I suppose.
Mr. Doyle. Well, I would like to have the answer to the question.
Do you really believe — do you honestly believe if you answered
that "Yes," truthfully, that it would subject you to a probability of
criminal prosecution?
Dr. Lewis. I would like to consult my counsel here.
Mr. Doyle. Certainly, do that. We would be glad to have you
do so.
Dr. Lewis. My understanding is that to be consistent, I decline
to answer that on the same grounds as previously mentioned.
Mr. Doyle. You realize I directed you to answer that question
and now are you answering it by declining to answer on the same
grounds you previously stated?
Dr. Lewis. Yes.
Mr. DoYLE. All right.
Mr. Tavenner. Do you appear here in response to a subpena
served upon you?
Dr. Lewis. Yes, sir.
Mr. Tavenner. Is your present address 1559 Altivo Way, Los
Angeles, California?
Dr. Lewis. Yes, sir.
Mr. Tavenner. Dr. Lewis, were you the executive secretary for
the Fair Play for Cuba Committee?
Dr. Lewis. Decline on the same grounds as previously mentioned.
Mr. Tavenner. Mr. Chairman, I offer in evidence and ask that it
be marked Lewis Exhibit No. 1, a news release of the Fair Play
for Cuba Committee.
Mr. Doyle. It may be received in evidence.
Mr. Tavenner. In the caption of this news release appears the
name of the executive secretary. The release says: "Fair Play for
Cuba Committee, Greater Los Angeles Chapter, 1559 Altivo Way,
Los Angeles 26, California, Dr. A. J. Lewis, Executive Secretary,
Telephone NO 2-5462."
You are the Dr. A. J. Lewis referred to in this document, are
you not?
Dr. Lewis. Decline to answer.
(For "Lewis Exhibit No. 1," see p. 1569.)
Mr. Tavenner. The address given of the headquarters of Fair
Play for Cuba Committee is the address which you just gave us as
being that of your residence, 1559 Altivo Way, is it not?
Dr. Lewis. Decline to answer.
Mr. Tavenner. All right.
Mr. Doyle. All you answered to that question is that you decline
to answer. You didn't give any grounds for declining.
Dr. Lewis. Well, same grounds. Your Honor, as previously stated.
Mr. Tavenner. Doctor, does a local chapter of the Fair Play for
Cuba Committee have an affiliation with a national organization by
the same name?
Dr. Lewis. Decline to answer on the grounds previously stated.
Mr. Tavenner. I note in further reading of the news release,
which is Exhibit No. 1
Mr. Doyle. It is under what date, Mr. Tavenner, if there is a date
on it?
1546 GREATER LOS ANGELES FAIR PLAY FOR CUBA COMMITTEE
Mr. Tavenner. It has no date, although there is a reference in
the document which says: "adopted unanimously at Fair Play for
Cuba meeting, January 6th, 1961," so the news release is some date
subsequent to that.
Now, referring again to this document, I read the following from it:
"The Fair Play for Cuba Committee is a national organization that
came into existence last April with the object of improving relations
between the United States and Cuba." That would be in April 1960;
would it not?
Dr. Lewis. Decline to state on the grounds previously stated.
Mr. Tavenner. This meeting at which action was taken on Janu-
ary 6, 1961, which is mentioned in this news release, was the initial
meeting of this local organization; isn't that true?
Dr. Lewis. Decline to state on the grounds previously stated.
Mr. Tavenner. I would like to call your attention to one of the
names of other persons appearing in this news release, Lewis Exhibit
No. 1. It is stated here the officers of the Fair Play for Cuba Com-
mittee are, among others, Martin Hall, chairman. HaU appeared
as a witness before the California Senate Fact-Finding Committee on
Un-American Activities in 1954; he invoked the fifth amendment when
that committee asked him whether or not he was a member of the
Young Communist League in Germany in 1924. He was the subject
of testimony by Benjamin Gitlow, who was active in Communist
Party affairs in this country. HaU also appeared before this committee
and refused to answer any questions relating to his own Communist
Party activities and relied on the fifth amendment in refusing to do so.
Do you know whether it is the same man?
Dr. Lewis. Decline to answer on the grounds previously stated.
Mr. Scherer. He was identified by Gitlow as a member of the
Communist Party?
Mr. Tavenner. Yes, sir. Benjamin Gitlow testified on July 7,
1953, in New York that Martin Hall, who is also known by the name
of Herman Jacobs, was a Communist of long standing, a well-known
figure in the Communist Party of Germany. Gitlow stated Hall has
sponsored Commimist-front movements in the country which gave
him asylum and citizenship, and served as vice president of the
German -American League for Culture, described by Gitlow as a
Communist organization.
Mr. Scherer. Now, he is one of the prime movers of the Fair Play
for Cuba Committee, as I understand it?
Mr. Tavenner. This news release reports him to be the chairman.
Mr. Scherer. Of the national association or the local association?
Mr. Tavenner. Of the local association.
Dr. Lewis, did you know Martin Hall to be a member of the Com-
munist Party?
Dr. Lewis. Decline to state on grounds previously mentioned.
Mr. Scherer. You knew Martin Hall, did you not. Witness?
Dr. Lewis. Decline to state on the grounds previously stated.
Mr. Tavenner. Gabriela Huesca is listed here on the news release,
Lewis Exhibit No. 1, as the recording secretary. Do you know where
she is now?
Dr. Lewis. Decline to state on the grounds previously mentioned.
Mr. Tavenner. Has she resigned from her position?
Dr. Lewis. Decline to state on the grounds previously mentioned.
GREATER LOS ANGELES FAIR PLAY FOR CUBA COMMITTEE 1547
Mr. Tavenner. She defected from the United States to Cuba,
didn't she?
Dr. Lewis. Decline to state on the grounds previously mentioned.
Mr. Tavenner. Are you a member of the Socialist Workers Party?
Dr. Lewis. Decline to state on the grounds previously mentioned.
Mr. Tavenner. This document shows that Rev. Stephen H.
Fritchman is the honorary co-chairman of the Fair Play for Cuba
Committee.
Dr. Lewis. I decline to state on the grounds previously mentioned.
Mr. ScHERER. I sort of expect that.
Mr. Tavenner. And that Mr. A. L. Wirin, attorney, supported a
resolution adopted by the Fair Play for Cuba Committee. You are
acquainted with Mr. Wirin?
Dr. Lewis. Decline to state on the grounds previously mentioned.
Mr. Tavenner. Mr. Wirin is a lawyer for the American Civil
Liberties Union.
I notice that the news release refers to Philip Kerby, publisher, as
also concurring in the Fair Play for Cuba Committee resolution. Do
you know what he is a publisher of?
Dr. Lewis. Decline to answer on the grounds previously men-
tioned.
Mr. Tavenner. I believe he is publisher of Frontier magazine,
isn't he?
Dr. Lewis. Decline to state on the grounds previously mentioned.
Mr. Tavenner. The next person named is Steve Roberts, West
Coast representative of the national Fair Play for Cuba Committee.
The West Coast representative of the national organization.
Mr. Roberts is a long-time member of the Socialist Workers Party,
is he not?
Dr. Lewis. Decline to answer on the grounds previously stated.
Mr. Tavenner. He ran for Governor of the State of California on
the Socialist Workers Party ticket in 1946, didn't he?
Dr. Lewis. Decline to answer on the grounds previously mentioned.
Mr. Kenny. Mr. Chairman, 1946 was a bad year, wasn't it?
Mr. Tavenner. Dr. Lewis, I want to ask you a few questions
regarding the national organization. The Fair Play for Cuba Com-
mittee has national headquarters at 799 Broadway, New York City;
does it not?
Dr. Lewis. Decline to state on the grounds previously mentioned.
Mr. Tavenner. After preliminary, unpublicized organizational
work, the organization appeared in the public view on April 6, 1960,
with the publication of a huge advertisement in the New York Times;
is that not correct?
Dr. Lewis. Decline to answer on the grounds previously stated.
Mr. Tavenner. The organization presents itself to the American
public as a strictly American organization, independent of any foreign
government, with an aim of telling "the truth about revolutionary
Cuba"; is that correct?
Dr. Lewis. I decline to state on the grounds previously mentioned.
Mr. Tavenner. Investigations begun by the Internal Security Sub-
committee of the Senate Judiciary Committee revealed that officials
of the Fair Play for Cuba Committee received most of the money to
pay for its New York Times advertisement — more than $3,000 —
directly from a representative of the Castro government in Cuba.
Can you enlighten this committee on that subject?
1548 GREATER LOS ANGELES FAIR PLAY FOR CUBA COMMITTEE
Dr. Lewis. Decline to state on the grounds previously mentioned.
Mr. Tavenner. Doesn't the organization which you served as the
local executive secretary have for its purpose the building up of sup-
port within the United States for the present Communist dictatorship
in Cuba?
Dr. Lewis. Decline to answer on the grounds previously mentioned.
Mr. JoHANSEN. Mr. Chairman, I faU to see anything particularly
humorous about this line of questioning or the answers that we are
getting. We are talking about a murderous regime that poses a threat
to this country, and I think it ill becomes a witness to see it in that light.
Mr. Tavenner. Does not the Fair Play for Cuba Committee
attempt to mobilize American public opinion in favor of the Castro
regime in the hope of weakening the United States Government's
official ejfforts against the introduction of a Commimist system in
this hemisphere?
Dr. Lewis. Decline to answer on the grounds previously stated.
Mr. Tavenner. As of October 1960 the national Fair Play for
Cuba Committee claimed over 3,000 members with chapters in
principal cities.
Another advertisement by the Fair Play for Cuba Committee which
appeared in the New York Times on April 21, 1961, signed by Richard
Gibson, acting national executive secretary, stated the Fair Play for
Cuba Committee on that date had more than 6,000 members with 21
chapters in U.S. cities and four Canadian chapters.
Is the Los Angeles Fair Play for Cuba Committee a chapter of the
national Fair Play for Cuba Committee?
Dr. Lewis. Decline to answer on the grounds previously stated.
Mr. Scherer. I think it is obvious that it is.
Mr. Tavenner. A mimeograph letter appealing for funds was
issued by the Fair Play for Cuba Committee, 799 Broadway, New
York, and signed by the aforementioned Richard Gibson. The
letter included the following in a partial list of FPCC chapters — I
am quoting one of the entries: "Los Angeles Chapter, Post Office Box
26251, Los Angeles 26, California."
Was Mr. Gibson referring to your organization?
Dr. Lewis. Decline to answer on the grounds previously stated.
Mr. Tavenner. Mr. Chairman, I would like to introduce in evi-
dence a photostatic copy of a letter on the stationery of the Fair Play
for Cuba Committee, Greater Los Angeles Chapter, bearing date of
December 3, 1961, and ask it be marked Lewis Exhibit No. 2.
And the purpose is to show the names of the committee officers and
sponsors.
Mr. Doyle. It will be received and marked.
(For "Lewis Exhibit No. 2" see p. 1571).
Mr. Tavenner. Now, Dr. Lewis, why is it that you have told the
committee of earlier occupations of yourself in connection with church
endeavors but when I began to ask you about recent employments
you refused to answer? What could be your reason for doing that?
Dr. Lewis. I decline on the same grounds.
Mr. Tavenner. Have you ever been engaged in the publishing
business?
Dr. Lewis. I decline on the same grounds.
Mr. Tavenner. Why are you smiling?
Dr. Lewis. Because you smiled at me, sir.
GREATER LOS ANGELES FAIR PLAY FOR CUBA COMMITTEE 1549
Mr. Tavenner. No, not until I returned your smile.
Dr. Lewis. I can't exactly explain it, but you
Mr. Tavenner. Well, let us put
Dr. Lewis. I don't mean any dishonor to the committee.
Mr. Tavenner. I didn't attribute it to that.
Dr. Lewis. Or any
Mr. Tavenner. I didn't attribute it as that. I attribute it as an
anticipation on your part of my next question.
Dr. Lewis. Thank you.
Mr. Scherer. Let us not disappoint him or the committee and
ask him the question.
Mr. Tavenner. All right. You went on a recent trip to Cuba,
did you not?
Dr. Lewis. Decline to answer on the grounds previously stated.
Mr. Tavenner. How did you get permission to go to Cuba?
Dr. Lewis. Decline to state on the grounds previously mentioned.
Mr. JoHANSEN. How recently was that?
Mr. Tavenner. I believe it was in August 1961, and I wonder
where the report is of that broadcast?
I trust the committee will bear with me. I think I have enough
reference to it here.
The staff has procured a transcript of a TV interview on the program
of Tom Duggan in which you were the guest. That occurred on
March 1, 1961, did it not?
Mr. Scherer. Where?
Mr. Tavenner. In Los Angeles.
Dr. Lewis. Decline to answer on the grounds previously stated.
Mr. Tavenner. You appeared at a later date at Channing Hall in
Los Angeles to make a report of your experiences in Cuba; did you not?
Dr. Lewis. Decline to answer on the grounds previously stated.
Mr. Tavenner. I desire to introduce in evidence a copy of a flier,
and ask it be marked Lewis Exhibit No. 3, entitled ''Castro's Cuba,
As It Looks Now\ An Eyewitness Report by Dr. A. J. Lewis, Execu-
tive Secretary, Greater Los Angeles Chapter, Fair Play for Cuba
Committee, just returned from Cuba, Friday, September 22."
Mr. Doyle. It will be so received and so marked.
Mr. Tavenner. You did appear and make the speech that was
advertised in this flier, did you not?
Dr. Lewis. I decline to answer on the grounds previously stated.
(For "Lewis Exliibit No. 3" see p. 1572.)
Mr. Tavenner. In the course of the question and answer period
which followed your report you were asked the question: "How did
you get permission to go to Cuba?"
Dr. Lewis. Decline to answer on the grounds previously stated.
Mr. Tavenner. Did you not make this statement: "Well, since
only journahsts are permitted to go I became a journalist"
Dr. Lewis. I decline to answer
Mr. Tavenner. — "and went for the Los Angeles Herald-Dispatch."
That is the Negro newspaper with a total circulation of about 45,000,
isn't it?
Dr. Lewis. Decline to answer.
Mr. Tavenner. Now, my first question is, didn't you use the
subterfuge of being a journalist in order to get permission to go to
Cuba?
88952 0—62 6
1550 GREATER LOS ANGELES FAIR PLAY FOR CUBA COMMITTEE
Dr. Lewis. Decline to answer on the gEounds previously stated.
Mr. Tavenner. At this very meeting, on September 22, 1961,
you were introduced by Mr. Martin Hall, the chairman, were you not?
Dr. Lewis. Decline to answer on the grounds previously stated.
Mr. ScHERER. That's the fellow with the long Communist record,
isn't it?
Mr. Tavenner. Yes,
Mr. ScHERER. From Germany.
Mr. Tavenner. Did not Mr. Hall, in the introduction, say:
Thanks to the State Department of the United States, Americans who wanted to
go to Cuba couldn't go to see what it was like unless they gave you a stamp show-
ing you represented the best interests of the United States.
They made an exception to reporters and Dr. Lewis became a newspaper man
and the State Department had to O.K. his passport.
That's the way you got to Cuba, is it not?
Dr. Lewis. Decline to answer on the grounds previously stated.
Mr. ScHERER. Through deceit, treachery, and subterfuge.
Mr. Doyle. And Hall boasted about it.
Mr. Tavenner. Now, at this meeting at which you addressed the
public, the committee from its investigation has learned that you
extolled Castro's Cuba as being the first free country in Latin
America.
Are you correctly quoted?
Dr. Lewis. Decline to answer on the grounds previously stated.
Mr. Tavenner. And in answer to questions from the audience,
did you declare that you didn't believe that Castro or any of his
officials in high places were ever Communists?
Dr. Lewis. Decline on the grounds previously stated.
Mr. Tavenner. Did the Los Angeles Fair Play for Cuba Com-
mittee continue to support Castro and the Cuban Government after
December 2, 1961, when Castro publicly announced that he was a
"Marxist-Leninist" and would establish a one-party government with
a Marxist-Leninist program?
Dr. Lewis. Decline to answer on the grounds previously stated.
Mr. Johansen. Mr. Chairman, off the record.
(Discussion off the record.)
Mr. Tavenner. I desire, at this point, to introduce in evidence a
copy of an article from the Evening Star, Washington, D.C., De-
cember 2, 1961, entitled "Castro Affirms Goal of Communist Cuba";
an article from the December 3, 1961, issue of the New York Times
entitled "Castro Is Setting Up Party In the Communist Pattern";
and another from the New York Times of December 23, 1961, en-
titled "Castro Affirms He Concealed Marxism-Leninism in Revolt."
Mr. Doyle. They will be so received and marked.
(Documents marked "Lewis Exhibits Nos. 4A, 4B, and 4C." For
"Lewis Exhibit 4B", see p. 1573; "Lewis Exhibits 4A and 4C" re-
tained in committee files.)
Mr. Tavenner. In the course of your report on September 22, 1961 , '
we are informed that you said: "There will be other free countries
like Cuba in Latin America in the near future." Did you make that
statement?
Dr. Lewis. Decline to answer on the grounds previously stated.
Mr. Tavenner. Did you also state that:
The American blockade has made development more difficult, but the Soviet
Government has helped to alleviate the problem.
GREATER LOS ANGELES FAIR PLAY FOR CUBA COMMITTEE 1551
Cuba has solved her petroleum problem due to the help of the Soviet Union.
* * * * * *»*
Cuba will get 100 factories from the Soviet Union and are negotiating for
100 more.
Did you make those statements?
Dr. Lewis. Decline on the grounds previously stated.
Mr. Tavenner. Did you also make this statement:
This is a democracy that we are not acquainted with in the U.S. In Cuba you
can directly voice your opinions against higherups. This isn't like our country
where you vote once in a while, but never get to criticize an official to his face.
This is a fine type of democracy! Cuba is the only country in the world where
this exists. We need more democracies like this. The Cuban Government wants
the people to know everything that is going on. This is one aspect of democracy
in Cuba.
Are you correctly quoted?
Dr. Lewis. Decline to answer on the grounds previously stated.
Mr. ScHERER. A prostitution of high educational attainments.
Mr. JoHANSEN. I certainly never heard anything like it.
Mr. ScHERER. I wonder what motivates a person with an educa-
tional attainment of this witness to say something like that to the
American people. It must be something more.
Mr. Chairman, what is the definition of treason? Aid and comfort
to the enemy? That must be in time of a shooting' war, though,
isn't it? We haven't yet applied that definition to the cold war,
have we?
Mr, Doyle. No. But we are surely in a cold war. It gets pretty
hot sometimes.
Mr. JoHANSEN. Mr. Chairman, the date of this lecture was Sep-
tember, I believe?
Mr. Tavenner. September 22.
Mr. Johansen. Has the pronouncement of Mr. Castro of his own
dedication to Marxism-Leninism, and to communism and to the
development of Cuba as a Communist state, in any way altered your
finding and judgment that he is not and has never been a Communist?
Dr. Lewis. Decline on the grounds previously stated.
Mr. Tavenner. Dr. Lewis, did you conclude your remarks on
September 22, 1961, with this statement:
It made me sick to think of the dirty American bankers who would destroy
what the Cuban People now have. I made up my mind that I would do every-
thing to prevent the destruction of this fine, new democracy.
Did you make that statement?
Dr. Lewis. Dechne to answer on the grounds previously stated.
Mr. Doyle. Does it show, Mr. Tavenner, on any of these docu-
ments where any of these lectures were allegedly given or was that
in the flier that was introduced? Is that one and the same?
Mr. Tavenner. Yes, sir. This was the meeting that was held at
Channing Hall, 2936 West Eighth Street, Los Angeles, on Friday,
September 22, at 8 p.m.
Mr. Doyle. West Eighth Street? .
Mr. Tavenner. West Eighth Street.
Mr. Doyle. Isn't that the auditorium of the First Unitarian
Church?
Mr. Tavenner. Yes.
Mr. Doyle. May I inquire. Dr. Lewis, the flier address — 218 West
Eighth?
1552 GREATER LOS ANGELES FAIR PLAY FOR CUBA COMMITTEE
Mr. Wheeler. 2936 West Eighth.
Mr. Doyle. That building is a part of the First Unitarian Church,
of which the Reverend Stephen Fritchman is pastor, is it not?
Although on the flier it doesn't say it is part of the church. But isn't
that the address that this flier relates to?
Dr. Lewis. Decline to answer on the grounds previously stated.
Mr. ScHERER. May I ask our investigator, Mr. Chairman, what is
at that address?
Mr. Wheeler. The First Unitarian Church is located at 2936
West Eighth Street.
Mr. ScHERER. Is that the address given on the flier?
Mr. Wheeler. That is the address given on the flier.
Mr. Scherer. The same as Stephen Fritchman's church?
Mr. Wheeler. Yes, sir.
Mr. Scher'er. He is well known as a supporter of Communist
enterprises, is he not?
Mr. Wheeler. He is quite well known, yes, sir.
Mr. Tavenner. Dr. Lewis, does the Socialist Workers Party
continue to disagree with the Soviet Communist leadership and the
Communist Party of the United States on ideological matters and
practical policies for achieving a world Communist system?
Dr. Lewis. Decline to answer on the grounds previously stated.
Mr. Tavenner. In addition to lectures what other activities does
the Fair Play for Cuba Committee engage in to assist the Cuban
Government?
Dr. Lewis. Decline to answer on the grounds previously stated.
Mr. Tavenner. Does it not sponsor tours to Cuba with a special
emphasis on attracting college students?
Dr. Lewis. Decline to answer on the grounds previously stated.
Mr. Tavenner. Does it not distribute pro-Castro literature and
films, engage in fund-raising appeals, conduct rallies, street demon-
strations and picket lines?
Dr. Lewis. Decline to answer on the grounds previously stated.
Mr. Tavenner. In April, 1961, the Los Angeles Fair Play for
Cuba Committee organized picket Hues before the Federal Building
in Los Angeles as its part in a nationwide protest against the Cuban
invasion, did it not?
Dr. Lewis. Decline to answer on the grounds previously stated.
Mr. Tavenner. Did you participate in those demonstrations?
Dr. Lewis. Decline to state on the — or, the answer on the grounds
previously stated.
Mr. Scherer. Didn't Mr. Tavenner say the Fair Play for Cuba
Committee has been participating in the picketing of this Federal
Building and these very hearings?
Mr. Tavenner. Oh, yes.
Mr. Scherer. Maybe the witness could tell us something about
his part in the picketing of these hearings.
Mr. Tavenner. Yes.
Dr. Lewis. Is that a question?
Mr. Tavenner. Yes. Will you tell the committee what part you
played in the picketing now being conducted outside of this building
by the Fair Play for Cuba Committee?
Dr. Lewis. Decline to answer on the groimds previously stated.
GREATER LOS ANGELES FAIR PLAY FOR CUBA COMMITTEE 1553
Mr. Tavenner. I offer in evidence and ask it be marked as Lewis
Exhibit No. 5 a letter on the stationery of Fair Play for Cuba Com-
mittee bearing date as late as April 1962, signed by Martin Hall,
chairman of the Fair Play for Cuba Committee, outlining the action
that is to be taken in connection with the picketing of these hearings.
May it be admitted in evidence?
Mr. Doyle. It may be, and marked as an exhibit,
(For "Lewis Exhibit No. 5" see p. 1576.)
Mr. Tavenner. I would like to offer in evidence a photograph
taken of the demonstration before the Federal Building by the Fair
Play for Cuba Committee on April 22, 1961, and ask that it be marked
"Lewis Exhibit No. 6."
(For "Lewis Exhibit No. 6" see p. 1520.)
Mr. Tavenner. Will'you examine the photograph, Dr. Lewis, and
state whether the person in the center of the photograph wearing a
cap is you?
Mr. Doyle. Let the record show that counsel and the witness are
examining the photograph, the exhibit handed to them for examination.
Dr. Lewis. Decline to answer on the grounds previously stated.
Mr. Tavenner. Will you look at the photograph again, please, and
state what you were doing?
Dr. Lewis. Decline to answer on the grounds previously stated.
Mr. Tavenner. Isn't it a fact that you were remonstrating with
an officer because you wanted to make a speech on Federal property
and they wouldn't let you?
Dr. Lewis. Decline to answer on the grounds previously stated.
Mr. Tavenner. And didn't you go and get the person who appears
to be accompanying you, Mr. Leo Gallagher, an attorney, to come
and assist you in asserting a right to speak on the Federal property?
Dr. Lewis. Decline to answer on the grounds previously stated.
Mr. ScHERER. Mr. Chairman, may I make this observation: I have
just finished reading this letter, which has been marked and admitted
in evidence from the Fair Play for Cuba Committee, with reference
to participating in the demonstrations against this committee at these
very hearings; and it certainly borders on incitement to riots.
Mr. Doyle. Is that the letter dated April 1962?
Mr. ScHERER. It is.
Mr. Doyle. With reference to Exhibit No. 6 in which the gentleman
in the center of the picture wearing a cap standing in the presence of
an officer as described by counsel, holding up three fingers of his left
hand, I submit it is my opinion that the witness and this man in
the photograph are one and the same.
Mr. ScHERER. No question about it.
Mr. Johansen. I concur.
Mr. Tavenner. I would like to return to consideration of Exhibit
No. 5. I note, Doctor, that in this letter by Martin Hall, obviously
issued in April 1962, this language appears: "At this date, a number
of Fair Play members have been subpenaed including: Steve Roberts,
West Coast director; Dr. A. J. Lewis, former Executive Secretary of
the Los Angeles chapter."
Mr. ScHERER. And on the letterhead it shows this witness as the
executive secretary.
Mr. Tavenner. Yes, sir.
1554 GREATER LOS ANGELES FAIR PLAY FOR CUBA CX)MMITTEE
Were you removed from the position of executive secretary shortly
before you were served with a subpena in this hearing;?
Dr. Lewis. DecUne to answer on the grounds previously stated.
Mr. Tavenner. You were no longer the executive secretary of this
organization at the date the subpena was served, which was the 12th
day of April 1962? ^
Dr. Lewis. Decline to state on the grounds previously mentioned.
Mr. Doyle. May I ask, Dr. Lewis, have j'ou resigned from the
position of executive secretar\^?
Dr. Lewis. I decline to state on the grounds previously mentioned.
Mr. Tavenner. Dr. Lewis, a meeting of the National Advisory
Council of the Fair Play for Cuba Committee, representing chapters
from all over the country, met in Cleveland, Ohio, on October 14 and
15, 1961; did it not?
Dr. Lewis. Decline to answer on the grounds previously stated.
Mr. Tavenner. Did not this National Advisory Council issue an
appeal to the American people to "wire or write the President," "your
representatives in Congress," "your newspapers and your radio and
television stations" to protest any effort by the United States Govern-
ment in the future which would "crush the independence of Cuba"?
Dr. Lewis. Decline to answer on the grounds previously stated.
Mr. Tavenner. The Student Council of the national Fair Play for
Cuba Committee declared in October 1960 that it was "urgent" that
student chapters of the Fair Play for Cuba Committee be established
"on every college campus in the United States" to rally Americans
behind a "firm policy of Hands Off Cuba."
Dr. Lewis. DecUne to answer on the grounds previously stated.
Mr. Tavenner. How many college chapters have been set up in
southern California?
Dr. Lewis. Decline to answer on the grounds previously stated.
Mr. Tavenner. The committee has observed from the annual re-
port of the Federal Bureau of Investigation for the fiscal year 1961
that "FBI investigations also have shown that the Fair Play for Cuba
Committee has been heavily infiltrated by the Communist Party and
the Socialist Workers Party and these parties have actually organized
some chapters of the committee."
Members of the Socialist Workers Party controlled the Los Angeles
Fair Play for Cuba Committee; did they not?
Dr. Lewis. Decline to answer on the grounds previously stated.
Mr. Scherer. With a good sprinkling of Communists involved, it
is obvious from looking at the letterhead.
Mr. Tavenner. The Soviet Union has recognized Cuba as a mem-
ber 01 the Communist family of nations and even ranks Cuba ahead
of Yugoslavia, is that not correct? ^
• Shortly after interrogating Dr. Lewis, the committee learned that Dr. Lewis had also resigned from
the Socialist Workers Party at about the same time that he left his position as executive secretary of the
Los Angeles Fair Play for Cuba Committee.
2 Each year the Soviet Union issues a series of propaganda slogans for use in the celebration of May Day.
It also employs the occasion to convey its "fraternal greetings" to other Communist-dominated nations
within the so-called Soviet bloc. The Soviet Union's proclamations for May Day 1962, printed in the
Soviet newspaper Pravda of April 15, 1962, carried fraternal greetings to the following nations in this order:
Communist China, Albania, Bulgaria, Hungary, North Vietnam, East Germany, North Korea, Mon-
golia, Poland, Rumania, Czechoslovakia, Cuba, and Yugoslavia.
The nations appeared in Russian alphabetical order with the exceptions of China and Cuba. In view
of her preeminent power, China has understandably been elevated to the head of the list, although she
rates sixth place in any strict alphabetical listing. Cuba, however, would have been eighth if the alphabet
were followed, and thirteenth and last if her position had been determined by the fact that she is the newest
member of the Soviet bloc. The ranking of Cuba in twelfth place, ahead of Yugoslavia, must therefore
be interpreted as a calculated decision by the Soviet Communist leadership.
GREATER LOS ANGELES FAIR PLAY FOR CUBA COMMITTEE 1555
Dr. Lewis. Decline to answer — —
Mr. Tavenner. The Communist Party of the United States and
the SociaHst Workers Party have united on the issue of supporting
the foreign poKcy of the Soviet Union with reference to Cuba; has
it not?
Dr. Lewis. Decline to answer on the grounds previously stated.
Mr. Tavenner. Mr. Chairman, I had a great deal to put in evi-
dence at this point with regard to the history of the Socialist Workers
Party, the united front line adopted by the Soviet Communist Party
at its 20th Congress, and also the latest statements of Farrell Dobbs,
the national secretary of the Socialist Workers Party, all of which
show combined activity on this issue by those two organizations — the
Communist Party and the Socialist Workers Party — ^but if I go into
these matters we will not have time for many other witnesses that
have been subpenaed.
However, I would like to offer in evidence as Lewis Exhibit No. 7
a photograph of Dr. Lewis taking part in the April 22, 1961, Fair Play
for Cuba picketing demonstrations, and also Paul Perlin, who is carry-
ing a banner of some description. May it be received in evidence?
Mr. Doyle. May the record show that the witness is observing the
photograph, and counsel also, and the exhibit is authorized to be
marked and received in evidence.
Mr. Tavenner. Is the picture appearing in the left of tlie photo-
graph a picture of you, Doctor
Dr. Lewis. Decline to answer
Mr. Tavenner. Just a moment
Dr. Lewis. Previously stated.
Mr. Tavenner. — and is the picture of the other individual to
your right carrying a placard, a photograph of Paul Perlin?
Dr. Lewis. Decline to answer on the grounds previously stated.
(For "Lewis Exhibit No. 7" see p. 1584.)
Mr. Tavenner. Mr. Chairman, Paul Perlin has been identified by
witnesses as a member of the Communist Party. He appeared before
this committee on October 6, 1952, refused to answer questions,
relying upon the fifth amendment as the reason for his refusal.
Mr. Doyle. Let us view it. Committee members, view this exhibit
with me, please.
Mr. Scherer, what is your opinion as to this picture in the front?
Mr. Scherer. The picture on the photograph is that of the witness
before us.
Mr. Doyle. Mr. Johansen?
Mr. Johansen. And I concur.
Mr. Doyle. So do I.
Mr. Tavenner. Now, I have a series of photographs, designed to
show participation in Fair Play for Cuba Committee picket demonstra-
tions" by recognized members or close associates of the Communist
Party in this area, as well as by members of the Socialist Workers
Party.
As Lewis Exhibit No. 8, a picture showing a demonstration on April
15, 1961, showing Charles Mosley in the right front of the picture.
Charles Mosley was active in the Labor Youth League, American-
Russian Institute, and the Civil Rights Congress. He was a delegate
to the First Convention of the Communist Party, Southern California
District, in 1957, according to the committee's investigation.
1556 GREATER LOS ANGELES FAIR PLAY FOR CUBA COMMITTEE
On September 4, 1958, he refused to answer questions before this
committee and gave the fifth amendment as his reason for refusal.
I have a photograph, which I would like to introduce as Lewis
Exhibit No. 9, of the April 19, 1961 demonstration, showing the wit-
ness, Beverly Radcliffe, who testified today.
As Lewis Exhibit No. 10, a photograph of the April 19, 1961
demonstration, showing in the right-hand corner, the picture of William
Hathaway who, according to investigation by our staff, is a member
of the Socialist Workers Party. Hathaway was a candidate for the
Board of Education on the Socialist Workers Party ticket in April 1961 .
Mr. JoHANSEN. In Los Angeles?
Mr. Tavenner. Yes. The individual on the left of the photograph
is Steve Roberts, who is subpenaed and will be heard as the next
witness, and who is an official of the Fair Play for Cuba Committee.
A photograph of Don Matsuda, who appeared yesterday as a
witness, and who was a delegate to the Communist Party Southern
California District Conventions in 1957 and 1959-1960, is Lewis
Exhibit No. 11.
Lewis Exhibit No. 12 is a photograph of Vincent Fraga in the
demonstration on April 19, 1961; he is the person with glasses.
May I ask the witness, do you know whether Vincent Fraga was a
member of the District Committee of the Communist Party for the
Southern California District?
Dr. Lewis. I decline to answer on the grounds previously men-
tioned.
(For "Lewis Exhibits Nos. 8-12" see pp. 1583, 1585, 1521, 1583 and
1582 respectively.)
Mr. Tavenner. We have evidence, Mr. Chairman, that he was,
and that he was elected as alternate delegate to the Communist Party
National Convention in December 1959.
Was Mr. Fraga active in the Fair Play for Cuba Committee?
Dr. Lewis. Decline to answer on the grounds previously stated.
Mr. Tavenner. When attempting to make service upon this man,
committee investigators learned that he, Fraga, had defected to Cuba.
The next photograph, which is Lewis Exhibit No. 13, was also taken
at the demonstration of April 19, 1961 ; on the left of the photograph
is a picture of Martin Hall, and in the center. Rose Chernin Kusnitz.
Testimony received by the committee describes activity by both of
these individuals.
Rose Chernin Kusnitz also was a Smith Act defendant, convicted
in 1952 and acquitted by reversal of the conviction by the Supreme
Court of the United States.
Lewis Exhibit No. 14 is a photograph taken at the April 19, 1961,
demonstration; it also was introduced as Large Exhibit No. 1. Har-
riet Blair, who appears on the right of the photograph wearing a
sweater, was in attendance at the Second Convention of the Com-
munist Party's Southern California District where she was named to
the District Committee of the party. To the left of the photograph
appears Robert Large, who invoked the fifth amendment this after-
noon and is carrying a placard in this parade.
Mr. Doyle. Does this give the residence of Harriet Blair? Where
does she live?
Mr. Wheeler. I believe, Mr. Chairman, she lives in the city of
Commerce.
Mr. Doyle. Los Angeles County?
Mr. Wheeler. Yes, sir.
GREATER LOS ANGELES FAIR PLAY FOR CUBA COMMITTEE 1557
Mr. Tavennek. Lewis Exhibit No. 15 is a photograph of Rose
Rosenberg, wearing dark glasses, at the demonstration of April 22,
1961. She has been identified as a member of the Communist Party.
Lewis Exhibit No. 16 is a picture of Paul Rosenstein, who was a
witness before the committee yesterday; he is pictured at the demon-
stration conducted on April 19, 1961.
Lewis Exhibit No. 17 is a photograph of Lillian Carlson in the left-
hand corner of the picture. Lillian Carlson was one of the persons
who, according to the record introduced before this committee in 1958,
resigned from the Communist Party on March 26, 1958. Although —
I do not recall accurately from memory- — ^there was something in the
letter of resignation indicating a continued intention to work for a
Communist system in the United States.
The next photograph, which is Lewis Exhibit No. 18, is a picture of
a demonstration on April 15, 1961. It is a photograph of Dorothy
Healey.
The next exhibit is a photograph of the demonstration of April 19,
1961, showing Dan Bessie at the left of the photograph. He was
a delegate to the Second District Convention, first session, of the
Southern California Communist Party. He appeared before the
committee on October 20, 1959, and refused to answer questions.
He has been very active in Communist Party youth movements.
This is Lewis Exhibit No. 19.
Lewis Exhibit No. 20 is a photograph of Rosalind Lindesmith,
wearing glasses, who has been identified as a member of the Com-
munist Party before this committee.
Lewis Exhibit No. 21 is a photograph made at the demonstration
of April 19, 1961, of Abraham Maymudes who has been identified as
a member of the Communist Party.
Lewis Exhibit No. 22 is a photograph showing in the right-hand
corner Diamond Kim, and in the left, Ben Dobbs. Ben Dobbs testi-
fied before the committee on April 24, 1962, and evidence has been
received showing he is executive secretary of the Communist Party
in Southern California.
Diamond Kim is a Korean-born alien. After an unsuccessful court
challenge of a deportation order against him, he voluntarily left the
United States early in 1962 and took up residence in Communist Czech-
oslovakia. He had appeared as a witness before the committee on
June 28, 1955, at which time he was interrogated regarding his role
as editor of the Korean Independence, a Korean-English newspaper in
Los Angeles, which was exclusively a vehicle of Communist propa-
ganda. Communist Party documents indicated Mr. Kim had been
in communication with the North Korean Communist government
and that his newspaper address was used as a mail drop for communi-
cations between the North Korean government and west coast Com-
munists. He refused to answer questions concerning such activities
on grounds of possible self-incrimination.
The next photograph, Lewis Exhibit No. 23, has a picture of Sarah
Dorner participating in the demonstration of April 19, 1961. Sarah
Dorner, who is in the extreme right-hand corner, is the lady wearing
a light coat. She has been identified as a member of the Communist
Party in an executive session of this committee.
The next photograph of the demonstration on April 19, 1961, Lewis
Exhibit No. 24, shows Sophie Silver, the person on the extreme left
1558 GREATER LOS ANGELES FAIR PLAY FOR CUBA COMMITTEE
with a checkered blouse. She appeared before this committee on
September 4, 1958, and refused to testify, relying on the fifth amend-
ment. She was a delegate to the Second District Convention of the
Communist Party in Southern California.
Lewis Exhibit No. 25 is a photograph of the demonstration on
April 19, 1961. The lady on the right is Celeste Strack, one-time
official of the California State organization of the Communist Party,
who has resigned from the party because of a factional dispute, but
who has stated she will still strive to bring "socialism" to the United
States.
Lewas Exhibit No. 26 is a photograph of the demonstration of
April 19, 1961, showing, in the left-hand corner, Shirley Taylor, who
has been identified as being active in past years in the Communist
Party in the District of Columbia.
Lewis Exhibit No. 27 is a photograph of the demonstration of
April 19, 1961, showing Irving Goff, Communist Party functionary,
who has been identified before this committee as having been previ-
ously active in the party in New York and New Orleans.
Lewis Exhibit No. 28 is a photograph of the demonstration of
April 19, 1961, showing, in the left-hand part of the picture, J. C.
Coleman, who has been identified in executive testimony before this
committee as a member of the Communist Party.
Mr. Chairman, may those exhibits be received in evidence?
Mr. Doyle. They may all be accepted in evidence and marked as
exhibits.
(For "Lewis Exhibits Nos. 13 through 28," inclusive, see pp. 1521
and 1580-1585.)
Mr. Tavenner. Dr. Lewis, was Ann Snipper your secretary while
you were executive secretary of the Fair Play for Cuba Committee?
Dr. Lewis. Decline to answer on the grounds previously stated.
Mr. Tavenner. Ann Snipper is also the director of the West Coast
Vacation School, is she not?
Dr. Lewis. Decline to answer on the grounds previously stated.
Mr. Tavenner. Or, at least, she was on June 30, 1957; isn't that
correct?
Dr. Lewis. Decline to answer on the grounds previously stated.
Mr. Tavenner. At the time she was secretary for you she was a
director of this school which was the school of the Socialist Workers
Party; is that correct?
Dr. Lewis. I decline to answer on the grounds previously stated.
Mr. Tavenner. I desire to offer in evidence, and have it marked
as Lewis Exhibit No. 29, a letter of Ann Snipper bearing date of June
30, 1957, and I desire to point out that the address given for the West
Coast Vacation School is the address of the Socialist Workers Party.
Mr. Doyle. It will be marked and received.
CFor "Lewis Exhibit No. 29" see p. 1578.)
Mr. Tavenner. Mr. Chairman, that concludes my interrogation.
Mr. Doyle. Any questions, Mr. Scherer?
Mr. Scherer. No.
Mr. JoHANSEN. Mr. Chairman, I have just two or three questions.
Mr. Tavenner, do you have a copy of that public address at Chan-
ning Hall? I would like the portions referred to, the language
Mr. Tavenner. What portion, Mr. Congressman?
Mr. Johansen. The portion in which he expressed his determina-
tion, as I recall it, to do everything within his power to prevent the
"dirty bankers" from destroying this great "democracy" in Cuba.
GREATER LOS ANGELES FAIR PLAY FOR CUBA COMMITTEE 1559
Well, let us skip that. Mr. Witness, these statements which have
been quoted indicated that you are very much dedicated and devoted
to the cause of the regime now in control of Cuba to the point of
saying that:
It makes me sick to think of the dirty American bankers who would destroy
what the Cuban People now have. I made up my mind that I would do every-
thing to prevent the destruction of this fine, new democracy.
Could that go to the point of defection?
Dr. Lewis. Decline to answer on the grounds of the fifth amend-
ment.
Mr. JoHANSEN. In the event that it developed that this country
became engaged in a military action in Cuba, would you, in any way,
shape, or manner, seek to obstruct such action and its successful
prosecution?
Dr. Lewis. Decline to answer on the grounds of the fifth amend-
ment.
Mr. JoHANSEN. I have no further questions.
Mr. Doyle. Doctor, I can't quickly refer to your exact words or the
language which is alleged to have been yours in this, but I do remember
with considerable shock to myseK that as it was read it alleged to be a
quote of yours — reference to criticisms of the functioning of our
manner of government in the United States — that you couldn't criti-
cize the public ofiicials, couldn't get to them, and so forth, and couldn't
vote, and it occurred to me that by your side, your own legal counsel,
when he was an officer in State office in California, it wasn't hard to
meet and to know, to approach and to criticize. I thought I would
say that to you. I think your own legal counsel, many years ago,
was a direct contradiction to the statement that you made, if you
made it.
Now, I just want to register my vigorous opinion that if you made
that condemnation of our form of government, I am not only shocked,
but as a public official, I can't help but say that I think your appraise-
ment is radically in error and imtrue.
I have no questions of the witness.
Mr. Tavenner. I have an exhibit I omitted.
Mr. Doyle. All right.
Mr. Tavenner. I desire to introduce into evidence and have
marked as Lewis Exhibit No. 30, the transcript of the interview on the
Tom Duggan Show on March 1, 1961, in which the witness took part.
Mr. Doyle. It will be received and so marked.
(Document marked "Lewis Exhibit No. 30" and retained in com-
mittee files.)
Mr. Tavenner. That is all.
Mr. Doyle. I have no further questions. Counsel, and Witness.
Mr. Kenney. May the witness be excused?
Mr. Doyle. The witness is excused.
(Witness excused.)
Mr. Doyle. May the record show that the committee recessed at
6:10 p.m. to convene at 8 a.m. tomorrow.
(Whereupon, at 6:10 p.m. Thursday, April 26, 1962, the subcom-
mittee recessed, to reconvene Friday, April 27, 1962, at 8 a.m.)
COMMUNIST AND TROTSKYIST ACTIVITY WITHIN THE
GREATER LOS ANGELES CHAPTER OF THE FAIR PLAY
FOR CUBA COMMITTEE
FRIDAY, APRIL 27, 1962
United States House of Representatives,
Subcommittee of the
Committee on Un-American Activities,
Los Angeles, California.
executive session *
The subcommittee of the Committee on Un-American Activities
met at 8 a.m., pursuant to recess, in Room 519, United States
Federal Building, Honorable Clyde Doyle (chairman of the subcom-
mittee), presiding.
Subcommittee members: Representatives Clyde Doyle, of Cali-
fornia; Edwin E. Wilhs, of Louisiana; William M. Tuck, of Virginia;
Gordon H. Scherer, of Ohio; and August E. Johansen, of Michigan.
Subcommittee members present: Representatives Doyle, Tuck, and
Johansen.
Staff members present: Frank S. Tavenner, Jr., director, and
William A. Wheeler, investigator.
Mr. Doyle. Mr. Roberts, will you be sworn?
Do you solemnly swear that the testimony you are about to give
before this committee shall be the truth, the whole truth, and nothing
but the truth, so help you God?
Mr. Roberts. I do.
Mr. Doyle. Please be seated.
Let the record show that the committee convened this morning
at 8:15, with Congressmen Tuck, of Virginia; Johansen, of Michigan;
and Doyle, of California, three of the five members of the subcom-
mittee; therefore, a quorum is present.
TESTIMONY OF STEVE ROBERTS, ACCOMPANIED BY COUNSEL,
ROBERT W. KENNY
Mr. Tavenner. Will you state your name, please, sir?
Mr. Roberts. My name is Steve Roberts.
Mr. Tavenner. Will counsel accompanying the witness please
identify himself for the record?
Mr. Kenny. Yes. Robert W. Kenny, Los Angeles.
Mr. Tavenner. When and where were you born, Mr. Roberts?
Mr. Roberts. I was born in New York City in 1898.
' Released by the committee and ordered to be printed.
1561
1562 GREATER LOS ANGELES FAIR PLAY FOR CUBA C30MMITTEE
Mr. Tavenner. Where do you now reside?
Mr. Roberts. At 2233 Scott Avenue, Los Angeles.
Mr. Tavenner. How long have you been a resident of Los Angeles?
Mr. Roberts. Since 1934.
Mr. Tavenner. Will you give the committee, please, a brief
statement of your formal educational training?
Mr. Roberts. I should like to decline to answer that question on
the basis of my rights under the fifth amendment.
Mr. Tavenner. Mr. Roberts, it appears from a newsletter, signed
by Martin Hall, that you were and are the west coast representative of
the national Fair Play for Cuba Committee. Is that correct?
Mr. Roberts. I should like to decline that on the same basis, going
to answer that.
Mr. Tavenner. Do you have that position today in the Fair Play
for Cuba Committee?
Mr. Roberts. I should like to decline to answer that, the same basis.
Mr. Doyle. May I suggest, if counsel has no objection, that
instead of saying you should like to, that you do refuse, or do decline?
Mr. Kenny. Yes, just omit the words "should like."
Mr. Roberts. I do.
I thought it had the same meaning.
Mr. Doyle. True.
Mr. Tavenner. In 1956 were you a member of the Executive
Committee of the Socialist Workers Party in Los Angeles?
Mr. Roberts. I decline to answer on the same grounds.
Mr. Tavenner. Are you a member of its Executive Committee
now?
Mr. Roberts. I decline to answer on the same grounds.
Mr. Tavenner. In 1956, were you a member of the Trade Union
Committee of the Socialist Workers Party in Los Angeles?
Mr. Roberts. I decline to answer on the same grounds.
Mr. Tavenner. Are you on that committee at this time?
Mr. Roberts. I decline to answer on the same grounds.
Mr. Tavenner. Do you hold any position at this time as a func-
tionary of the Socialist Workers Party, that is, in the Los Angeles
branch?
Mr. Roberts. I decline to answer for the same reason.
Mr. Tavenner. Are you the same Steve Roberts who was a
candidate for Governor of California on the Socialist Workers Party
ticket in 1946?
Mr. Roberts. I decline to answer for the same reason.
Mr. Tavenner. Mr. Chairman, I offer in evidence a flier, ad-
vertising an election rally, and ask it be marked Roberts Exhibit
No. 1.
Mr. Doyle. It will be so received and marked.
(For "Roberts Exhibit No. 1" see p. 1579.)
Mr. Roberts. May I, Mr. Chairman, see that, please?
Mr. Doyle. Yes, certainly.
Let the record show that the counsel and witness are examining the
flier that was offered in evidence, inspection of which was requested
by the witness.
Mr. Roberts. Thank you.
Mr. Tavenner. Were you the campaign manager for Farrell Dobbs,
who was running on the Socialist Workers Party ticket for a national
oflice in 1960?
GREATER LOS ANGELES FAIR PLAY FOR CUBA COMMITTEE 1563
Mr. Roberts. I decline to answer for the same reason.
Mr. Tavenner. Mr. Roberts, what is the interest of the Socialist
Workers Party in the Fair Play for Cuba Committee?
Mr. Roberts. I decline to answer for the same reason.
Mr. Tavenner. Has there been any agreement between the Social-
ist Workers Party in Los Angeles and the Communist Party in Los
Angeles, regarding activities of the Fair Play for Cuba Committee?
Mr. Roberts. Will you kindly repeat that?
Mr. Tavenner. Has there been any agreement for cooperation
between the Socialist Workers Party in Los Angeles and the Com-
munist Party in Los Angeles for carrying on the work of the Fair
Play for Cuba Committee?
Mr. Roberts. I decline to answer for the same reason.
Mr. Tavenner. Did you, on April 22, 1961, participate in a picket
linp. in T;os Angeles, sponsored by the Fair Play for Cuba Committee?
Mr. Roberts. I am sorry, I don't quite place the date. Can you
tell me what the circumstances were?
Mr. Tavenner. On April 22, 1961, there was a picket line in front of
the Federal Building here in Los Angeles, sponsored by the Fair
Play for Cuba Committee.
Did you participate in that demonstration?
Mr. Roberts. I don't recall the date. Is there anything else?
Mr. Tavenner. April 22?
Mr. Roberts. I mean, I don't quite get the occasion. Do you
have anything to clarify my mind in that regard?
Mr. Tavenner. Mr. Chairman, the committee has information
that Mr. Roberts participated in a demonstration on April 22 and
also picketed in another Fair Play for Cuba demonstration on April
19. A photograph depicting Mr. Roberts' participation in the demon-
stration on April 19 was offered in evidence as Lewis Exhibit No. 10,
and I hand the exhibit to the witness to see if it will in any way refresh
his recollection regarding either of these Fair Play for Cuba demonstra-
tions to which I have referred.
Mr. Roberts. I decline to answer on the same reason.
Mr. Tavenner. In other words, the photograph does refresh your
recollection?
Mr. Roberts. I decUne to answer on the same grounds.
Mr. Doyle. I will ask the other members of the subcommittee to
join me in inspecting this exhibit.
Mr. JoHANSEN. No question he is the person on the left, the witness.
Mr. Tuck. I concur in that.
Mr. Doyle. The photograph on the left is clearly Mr. Witness in
the chair, and the other person, the other man in the picture our
counsel says is William Hathaway, is carrying a sign on which only the
word "Revolution!" is visible. A portion of someone else's sign
appearing in the picture contains the words "are pro-Castro," and
someone behind Mr. Roberts, the witness, is carrying a sign that says
in part, "The Cuban people support Castro."
It has been marked as an exhibit.
Mr. Tavenner. Does the photograph, Lewis Exhibit 10 handed to
you, contain a picture of you?
Mr. Roberts. I decUne to answer for the same reason.
Mr. Tavenner. I have no further questions.
Mr. Doyle. Governor Tuck?
1564 GREATER LOS ANGELES FAIR PLAY FOR CUBA COMMITTEE
Mr. Tuck. I have no questions.
Mr. JoHANSEN. No questions.
Mr. Doyle. I have one question.
Mr. Roberts, our counsel asked you whether or not there was an
agreement between the Communist Party in Los Angeles and the
Socialist Workers Party in Los Angeles, with reference to operating
together in support of the Fair Play for Cuba Committee, or its
program.
Do you remember that question, and you declined to answer?
Mr. Roberts. Well, I declined to answer the question there. I am
not too sure that it was the same question.
Mr. Doyle. 1 want to direct one question to joxi after you sign
that voucher.
Mr. Tavenner. I want to ask several other questions.
Mr. Roberts. I beg your pardon, Mr. Chairman.
Mr. DoYLE, That's all right.
That, some day will get you good U.S. ciUTency [indicating witness'
travel voucher].
Mr. Roberts. What day is that?
Mr. Doyle. Well, takes a week or two or three.
Mr. Roberts. Is that set down?
Mr. Doyle. For your witness fees.
May I conclude this one question while I have it in my mind?
Even though there may not be an express agreement of any sort
between the two parties officially, is there an operating cooperation
between the two groups, just by mutual understanding of your leaders
and your respective groups?
Mr. Roberts. I decline to answer for the same reason.
Mr. Tavenner. Mr. Roberts, the official organ of the Socialist
Workers Party is The Militant, is it not?
Mr. Roberts. I decline to answer for the same reason.
Mr. Tavenner. Since Khrushchev's rise to power and his denuncia-
tion of Stalin, and call for a united front of all Socialists, there has
been a drastic change, has there not, in the relationship between the
orthodox Communist Party and the Trotskyite Communist organiza-
tion, the Socialist Workers Party, isn't that correct?
Mr. Roberts. I decline to answer on the same basis.
Mr. Tavenner. Writing in The Militant, the official publication of
the Socialist Workers Party, in the issue of April 20, 1959, the leader
of the Socialist Workers Party, Farrell Dobbs, stated:
The great advances that have been made in China, the Soviet Union and
Eastern Europe should inspire every American socialist.
Are your familiar with that statement by Mr. Dobbs?
Mr. Roberts. I decline to answer on the same grounds. ^
Mr. Tavenner. The 1960 election platform of the Socialist Workers
Party contained the following statements:
* * * more and more people in the world today feel that they must oppose
America's belligerent foreign aims and support the Soviet bloc * * *.
Does the local branch of the Socialist Workers Party in Los Angeles
adhere to that statement?
Mr. Roberts. I decline to answer for the same reason.
GREATER LOS ANGELES FAIR PLAY FOR CUBA COMMITTEE 1565
Mr. Tavenner. It is further stated in the SociaUst Workers* Party
platform of I960:
The sputniks orbiting overhead are daily reminders of what a daring, energetic
and forward-looking people can accomplish through revolution and a planned
economy.
You supported that platform, did you not?
Mr. Roberts. I decline to answer for the same reason.
Mr. Tavenner. You were actually the State manager for Mr.
Dobbs when he was running for national office on that very platform,
weren't you?
Mr. Roberts. I must decline to answer for the same reason.
Mr. Tavenner. Another statement from the 1960 platform:
* * * the Soviet Union appears as a living example of how to achieve industriali-
zation without waiting for aid that may never arrive from the cruel North Ameri-
can power.
Are you familiar with that?
Mr. Roberts. I beg your pardon?
Mr. Tavenner. I say, do you recall that as a statement contained
in the platform?
Mr. Roberts. I decline to answer for the same reason.
Mr. Tavenner. Returning now to the article that' I first men-
tioned, by Mr. Dobbs, appearing in The Militant, we find this stated:
Since the Khrushchev revelations about Stalin, critical thought has experienced
an upsurge among former supporters of Communist Party policy. Fraternal dis-
cussion among socialists has led to joint actions on points of common agreement.
Cooperation has led to united socialist election campaigns in opposition to both
Democrats and Republicans.
Now, is one of those joint actions being taken now in Los Angeles
by the Communist Party of the United States and the Socialist
Workers Party, support for the extension of Soviet power to this
hemisphere, particularly by supporting the establishment of a dic-
tatorship of the proletariat in this hemisphere?
Mr. Roberts. Are you quoting, sir?
Mr. Tavenner. No, sir, I was asking you if, in addition to what I
have read to you from the party platform on which Dobbs was run-
ning, and for which you were the State campaign manager, there is a
common agreement for joint action between the Socialist Workers
Party and the Communist Party of the United States in Los Angeles,
to advocate and promote the establishment of a dictatorship of the
proletariat in this hemisphere, namely, Cuba?
Mr. Roberts. I decline to answer on the same grounds.
Mr. Tavenner. Another indication of the changing relationship
between Trotskyites and orthodox Communists in recent years is
their willingness to appear on the same public platform. Is it not
true that in 1957, Myra Tanner Weiss, who had been vice presidential
candidate on the Socialist Workers Party ticket, spoke at a rally at
the City College of New York, and at the same time, on the same plat-
form, appeared: Joseph Clark, the foreign editor of the Daily Worker,
a Communist; Eric Haas, representative of the Socialist Labor Party;
and Michael Harrington, the national chairman of the Young Socialist
League; you are aware that that took place, are you not?
Mr. Roberts. I decline to answer for the same reason.
Mr. Tavenner. Do you not agree that that is an indication of the
existence of a common agreement of these two branches of the Com-
mimist movement to cooperate with each other?
1566 GREATER LOS ANGELES FAIR PLAY FOR CUBA COMMITTEE
Mr. Roberts. I decline to answer for the same reason.
Mr. Tavenner. During the course of this hearing the committee
has learned of the great emphasis placed by the Communist Party,
both the national and local organization, on support of the People's
World policy of a united-front approach to matters in which the
Communist Party is interested.
That was a great issue before the Second Convention of the Southern
California District of the Communist Party. There was some differ-
ence of opinion expressed, but finally there was a resolution adopted,
supporting and affirming the position of the National Committee of
the Communist Party, approving the united-front line that was being
taken by the People's World.
Now, with that introductory statement to you, I want to call your
attention to this fact: the Spring 1958 issue of the Trotskyite Inter-
national Socialist Review outlined plans for uniting Socialists of various
kinds behind certain candidates in the 1958 elections.
The article contained the following statement, and I quote:
In Seattle, Jack Wright, a well-known figure in local radical labor circles'
recently finished a vigorous campaign on the Socialist Workers platform. His
supporters included Vincent Hallinan, Terry Pettus and Local 158 of the Inter-
national Molders and Foundry Workers.
Now, the significant thing that I want j'ou to consider is this further
statement:
"The People's World," which ordinarily reflects the views of the Communist
Party, broke a thirty-year tradition of that party by joining in the campaign and
offering editorial support to a "Trotskyist" candidate.
Is that not further indication of the common understanding existing
between the two branches of the Communist movement, namely:
The Communist Party of the United States and the Trotskjdte
Socialist Workers Party?
Mr. Roberts. I must decline to answer for the same reason.
Mr. Tavenner. The December 8, 1958 issue of The Militant,
weekly organ of the Socialist Workers Party, reported on a Cleveland
conference held for the purpose of uniting various "socialist" elements
against Republicans and Democrats in the 1960 elections.
According to this article appearing in The Militant, the Socialist
Workers Party, the orthodox Communist Party, the SociaHst Labor
Party, the Socialist Party-Social Democratic Federation, and various
other Socialists took part in this conference.
Does that not also indicate a common intent between the two
branches of the Communist movement we have been discussing to
cooperate on certain issues?
Mr. Roberts. I decline to answer for the same reason.
Mr. Tavenner. Now, since we are on this subject, I'd like to call
to the witness' attention some facts from the Communist side of the
picture, of which I believe this witness, because of his important
position, would likely have some knowledge.
Do you not agree that in order to launch a united front movement
by the Communist Party in the United States, and elsewhere in the
world, it was necessary to heal the breach that existed between the
old StaUnists and the Trotskyites? The old Stalinists in the United
States being the orthodox Communist Party, USA, and the Trotskyites
being, of course, the Socialist Workers Party. Do you not agree?
Mr. Roberts. I decline to answer for the same reason.
GREATER LOS ANGELES FAIR PLAY FOR CUBA COMMITTEE 1567
Mr. Tavenner. I am going to read you an excerpt from a report
by N. S. Khrushchev to the 20th Congress of the Communist Party
of the Soviet Union, which is as follows:
* * * Unity of the working class, of its trade unions, unity of action of its
political parties, the Communists, the Socialists and otlaer workers' parties, is
acquiring exceptional importance.
Not a few of the misfortunes harassing the world today result from the fact
that in many countries the working class has been split for many years and its
various detachments do not present a united front — which only plays into the
hands of the reactionary forces. * * * Life has placed on the order of the day
many questions which not only demand rapprochement and cooperation among
all workers' parties, but also create real possibilities for this cooperation. * * *
* * * The interests of the struggle for peace make it imperative to sweep
aside mutual recriminations, find points of contact, and, on these grounds, lay
the foundations for cooperation. Cooperation is possible and essential with
those circles of the socialist movement which have different views from ours on
the forms of transition to socialism. Among them are many who are honestly
mistaken on this question, but this is no obstacle to cooperation. Today many
Social Democrats stand for active struggle against the war danger and militarism,
for rapprochement with the socialist countries, for unity of the workers' move-
ment. We sincerely greet these Social Democrats and are willing to do every-
thing necessary to unite our efforts in the struggle for the noble cause of champion-
ing peace and the interests of the working people.
You are familiar with this pronouncement, are you not?
Mr. Roberts. I decline to answer for the same reason.
Mr. Tavenner. Gus HaU, the general secretary of the Communist
Party of the United States, reported to the National Committee of
the Communist Party at a meeting in New York on January 20, 1961,
the title of the report being "The United States in Today's World."
At pages 54 and 55 of that report, we find this language:
In essence, united front relations are political. It is a process of joining hands,
of uniting forces in struggle around specific issues. That means unity with trade
unionists, liberals, socialists. Catholics, people of diverse political opinions or
none at all.
Now, aren't you. piersonally, by reason of your membership in the
Fair Play for Cuba Committee and your activity in that group,
aren't you. joining hands with the Communist Party of the United
States on the issues presented by that group?
Mr. Roberts. I decline to answer for the same reason.
Mr. Tavenner. I have no further questions.
Mr. Doyle. Governor Tuck?
Mr. Tuck. I have no questions.
Mr. JoHANSEN. No questions.
Mr. DoYLE. I think, in view of our distinguished counsel's line of
questioning of this witness, it is especially appropriate at this point
that I call attention to certain statements by the United States
Supreme Court in its decision of June 5, 1961, commonly known as
the Registration Decision, the case of the Communist Party of the
United States of America, Petitioner, v. Subversive Activities Control
Board, 367 U.S. 1. At page 112 of that decision the Supreme Court
declared :
First, We have held, supra, that the congressional findings that there exists a
world Communist movement, that is directed by the Communist dictatorship of
a foreign country, and that it has certain designated objectives, inter alia, the
establishment of a Communist totalitarian dictatorship throughout the world
through the medium of a world-wide Communist organization, § 2(1), (4), are
not open to re-examination by the Board. We find that nothing in this violates
due process.
1568 GREATER LOS ANGELES FAIR PLAY FOR CUBA C50MMITTEE
Then, skipping part of that page for the pufpose of brevity, referring
to the Subversive Activities Control Board, the Court said:
The Board, construing the statute, concluded that that foreign government was
the Soviet Union. We affirm that construction. The statute, then, defines a
Communist-action organization in terms of substantial direction, domination,
or control by the Soviet Union. The Government offered evidence to show that
the Soviet Union substantially directed, dominated, or controlled the Communist
Party. The Party had an opportunity to rebut this showing, and it attempted
to do so. The Board found that the Government's showing was persuasive.
I submit that in view of our counsel's line of questioning of this
witness, the insertion of this part of the Supreme Court decision at
this point in the record is illuminating and appropriate.
Mr. JoHANSEN. It is highly apropos.
Mr. Doyle. The committee will stand in recess for a minute or
two, while Mr. Tavenner is conferring.
Mr. Kenny. Will you need this witness further?
Mr. Doyle. Wait a minute.
I beg your pardon then, the witness is excused, Counsel.
(Witness excused.)
Mr. Doyle. The subcommittee is in recess.
(Whereupon at 4:30 p.m., Friday, April 27, 1962, the subcommittee
adjourned the Los Angeles hearings.)
GREATER LOS ANGELES FAIR PLAY FOR CUBA COMMITTEE 1569
APPENDIX
Lewis Exmibh' No. 1
NEUIS RELEnSE WEUiS RELEASE.
FAIR PLAY FOR CUBA COMMITTEE
GREATER LOS ANGELES CHAPTER
1559 Altivo Way
Los Angeles 26, California
Dr. A J. Lewis, Executive Secretary Telephone: NO 2-5<»62
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
A •piritBd naating of 125 membars of the Greater Loa
Angeles Chapter of the Fair Play for Cuba Committee adopted by acclama-
tion a statement protesting the rupture of diplomatic relations uith
Cuba and urging the ney administration of Preaident-Elect Kennedy to
restore diplomatic and friendly ties with Cuba, immediately after the
inauguration. Telegrams to this effect were sent to President Eisen-
hower and Presldent-Elect Kennedy. The officers of the committee are:
Martin Jjglli^ Chairman; Or. A.J. Lewi^Sj Executive Secretary; GabjJ^lla
Huesca, Recording Secretary; and Georae^Oayis, Treasurer. Concurring
in the statement arc Rev. Stephen H, Frltrhman, honorary Co-Chairman
of the Committer; A.L^ UJirin, attorney; Philip Kirby, publisher;
and Steve Roberts, Ulest Coast Representative of the National Fair
Play for Cuba Committee. /"See enclo3ure8._7
The Fair Play meeting further called upon Congress to
investigate immediately the wide-spread reports indicating that the
Central Intelligence Agency is implicated in the training of armed
forces for an invasion of Cube. Persistent reports from Guatemala,
Nicaragua, and Florida of invasion forces in these areas being tied
to the CIA raise into question U.8. obseraance of the principle of non-
intervention into the domestic affaire of other countries, telegrams to
Senate Majority Leader Mike Mansfield and Speaker of the House Sam Ray-
burn stated In calling for the probe. ^ See enclosures. _7
The Fair Play for Cuba Committee ie a national organiza-
tion that came into existence last April with the object of improving
relations between the United Statas and Cuba. The meeting laat night
completed plans for the public meeting on Sundey, Januqry 22nd, 8:15 PM,
at Channlng Hall, 2936 U. 8tt Street. Ph^^ Subbzv. visiting profeaaor
of economics at Stanford University and recently returned from Cuba,
■ ill speak on "The Truth About Cuba, What Raelly 1 3 Mappenins."
1570 GREATER LOS ANGELES FAIR PLAY FOR CUBA COMMITTEE
Lewis Exhibit No. 1 (Continued)
.STArgWryr -• adopt«>d unanlrjously at Fatr Play tar Cuba
meeting, January 6th, 1961
Over 125 raonbers of the Greater Los Angelea
Chairter of the Fair Play for Cuba Cotnmlttoe, meeting on January
6, 1961, protest the sudden deoislon by the outgoing administra-
tion of President Eisenhower to break off diplomatic relations
with Cuba, This rash and unprecedented action, taken by an
administration which has only two more weeks in office, creates
an extremely difficult situation for the incoming administration
of PreBldont-Elect Kennedy and tends to intensify the emti-U.S,
In Latin America,
The Eisenhower policy towards the Cuban government
of Dr. Fidel Castro has from the beginning been characterized
by a refusal to give the new regime even a minimum of cooperation,
long before Cuba, as a result of this attitude on our part, was
forced to turn to the Soviet bloc for aid. Not only in much
of Latin America, but even in Canada has this policy of ours
been rejected.
The decision to break off diplomatic relations
with Castro, when we had no objections but, on the oontreiry,
were eager to have close and intimate relations with the brutal,
corrupt, and predatory dictatorship of Batista, tends to morally
isolate the U.S. even more in the eyes of the world,
'..'e firmly urge and hope that the incoming admini-
stration of Kresident-Eleot Kennedy, promptly upon taking office,
will repudiate this policy of its predecessor and establish anew
the traditionally friendly relations between the U.S. and Cuba
in the interests of peace and the welfare of the peoples of this
hemisphere .
SIGNED;
L.A. Chapter Officers; REV. STEPHEN H. FRITCKJAN,
, Honorary Co-Chairman
liARTIN HALL, Chairman
ro. A. J. IZ\/IS, Eie6. Sec'y.
GABniELA HUE3CA , Ree, Seo'y.
GEORGE DAVIS , Treaaurar
A. L. '.TRIN, attorney
PHILIP KIRBY, publisher
STEVE ROBERTS , V/est Coast "
ReproBentatlve of Nat'l.
Fair Play for Cuba Commltt««
GREATER LOS ANGELES FAIR PLAY FOR CUBA COMMITTEE 1571
Lewis Exhibit No. 2
FAIR PLAY FOR CUBA COMMITTEE
CREATIR LOS AMMtIt CMAPTf*
f 0 BOX Mist
LOt ANOfLIt Ik. CALIPO«MIA
L A. CHAPTER OrPICERt
fxecuTivf oowMirree
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NATKMAL VOMMMS
(Pmmm LiM)
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ALAM SAONER
mOBtMT F WILUAMS
The. 3, 1961
The chapter maotlng will be ThuTidiiT, Deo.
7th at Emeraon 1«11, 50S6 W, Bl^tll Bt.. 9td
Floor at 8:00 P.M. aharp.
"la a New Invasion of Cuba Inatlnent and V.'hat
Can .9 To About It?" will be the trend of an In-
formitlve report by Chairman Martin Ha]]. A
leaf.et incorporating these ideaa and prrti^atlng
U.S. continued armlnjj of oomiter-revolutlonarles
is be^r.g printed. We need to distribute them
InrneJlatflly and widely. Oet aome at the p».-tlng
ard holp orf-anize a cl ty-wld« demona tration lor
Snturoay, Dec. 9 at noon, kobllltatfon pointa
are: 3rd and Broadway; 5th and broadway; 7th and
Hill; The Broadway atora at Hollywood and Vine;
1st and nowon; and Jeffsraon and Ctntral. Moro
detTlla at the chapter meeting. Or oall Rcs»llo
Rodrlgues PA 2 -4920 for asai^nmenta. Or "Juat
show up"Dec.9 at noon at one of the pointa.
CHRISnWS PARTY FOR CUBAN CHTLrREN - - Sond
needed ^Ifts to Cuban children by bringing mivoy
donations and/or dlapora to tha Christjna parfty
on Deca-^ber 15 at 3:G0 pi. Money donations will
buy raed'.clne to senc*. DetUla at swetlnB,
A new approach for the financing of our
orgnnlza^-lon will be outlined by Oel Varela
of the Finance Com-ilttee. Chrpter dlaausaion
will dotermine w'.iat pollclea we will follow In
this matter for the next period. Your views
are aollcited.
Fraternally,
Executive Coanlttee
Or*ater Loa Angolea
1572 GREATER LOS ANGELES FAIR PLAY FOR CUBA COMMITTEE
Lewis Exniiui" No. 15
CASTRO'S CUBA,
AS IT LOOKS NOW
An Eyewitness Report by
DR. A. J. LEWIS
Executive Secretary,
Greater Los Angeles Chapter
Fair Play for Cuba Committee
just returned from Cuba
FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 22 at 8:00 P.M.
CHANNING HALL -2936 West EIGHTH ST.
Los Angeles
DONATION $1.00 QUESTION PERIOD
GREATER LOS ANGELES FAIR PLAY FOR CUBA COMMITTEE 1573
Lewis Exhibit No. 4-B
[New York Times, December 3, 1961]
Castro Is Setting Up Party
In the Communist Pattern
By The Associated Press.
HAVANA, Dec. 2— Premier Fidel Castro said today
that he was forming a "united party of Cuba's Socialist
revolution," a monolithic organization like the Soviet Com-
as an all-powerful political body
to lead Cuba through socialism
to "a people's democracy, or the
dictatorship of the proletariat."
The new party, he said, "will
be a qualitative and not a quan-
titative organization."
Members will be drawn from
workers, students, intellectuals,
peasants and even the petty
bourgeoisie, Dr. Castro said.
The party program "will be
Marxist-Leninist but adapted to
conditions existing in our coun-
try," he added.
"I am a Marxist-Leninist and
will be one until the day I die,"
Dr. Castro declared in a nation-
wide television speech that be-
gan about midnight.
The speech marked the fifth
anniversary of his landing in
jCuba to begin his revolt.
Few of the eiphty men who!
came ashore with him Dec. 2,|
1956, to begin the fight against
Gen. Fulgencio Batista's dicta-:
torship still survive. But theyj
Include such key men as his
brother Maj. Raul Castro,
Armed Forces Minister, and
Maj. Ernesto Guevara, his
powerful Minister of Industries.
Six months after he seized
united party was being createdjpowcr from General Batista j
munist party with restricted
membership.
The Premier made this an-
nouncement in a five-hour tele-
vision speech in which he also
acknowledged that he was a
Marxist-Leninist and said that
he was taking Cuba down the
path to communism. He main-
tained that the world, too, "is
on the road toward commu-
nism."
[In Washington, the Council
♦of the Organization of Amer-
ican States is expected to
decide Monday that there is a
pressing need for a conference
of foreign ministers on Cuba.]
As to the party, Dr. Castro
said that only true revolution-
aries would be selected for
membership.
Never before had Dr. Castro
so frankly placed his island na-
tion in the Communist camp,
nor given his own political
views .so strongly on Marxism.
He gave a hint of what was
to come, however, last May Day,
when he ruled out elections and
called Cuba a Socialist state.
'People'.s Democracy' Is Aim
Premier Castro said that the
1574
GREATER LOS AXGELES FAIR PLAY FOR CUBA COMMITTEE
Lewis Exhibit No. 4-B (Continued)
Jan. 1, J 959, Premier Castro
declared that "ours is not a
Communist revolution."
In his latest address, Dr. Cas-
tro said that during his years
j!s a student at Havana Univer-
Bity he was not a Marxist be-
cause he was "influenced by im-
perialist and reactionary propa-
ganda against the Communist."
By 1953, three years before
his invasion of Cuba, his politi-
cal thinking "was more or less
like what it is now," he added.
However, he said that it was
only after he came to power
that he developed into a Marx-
ist-Leninist.
Dr. Castro declared that Cuba
must learn from the Soviet
Union.
Rejecting neutralism, he said
that "there is no half way be-
tween socialism and imperial-
ism." "Anyone maintaining a
third [neutralist] position is, in
fact, helping imperialism," he
said.
The Cuban revolution has
taken "the only honest road,
the road of a Socialist and anti-
imperialist revolution," he said.
At one point. Dr. Castro
seemed to be talking to anti-
Communists who actively
backed his revolution, saying
jestingly:
"If there is an anti-Commun-
ist listening he does not need to
worry because there will be no
communism I in Cuba] before
thirty years."
Dr. Castro joined Premier
Khru.shchev in denouncing the
personality cult or Stalinism,
declaring that "it would be
absurd for a single man to
make government decisions."
The Premier said; "I firmly
believe in collective leadership.
I have never wanted to be a
Cae.sar."
In a reference to one of his
favorite targets. Dr. Castro as-
serted that the United States
was training guerrilla forces to
prevent revolutions similar to
Cuba's in other nations of Latin
America.
"But in the face of the rev-
olutionary fight of the people,"
Dr. Castro said, "there are no
remedies except the disappear-
ance of the conditions of ex-
ploitation."
Castro Says He Hid Belief
HAVANA, Dec. 2 UPI) —
Premier Castro explained in his
speech today that he had hidden
his belief in communism from
the Cuban people and from his
American friends for years "be-
cause otherwise we might have
alienated the bourgeosie and
other forces which we knew
we would eventually have to
fight."
Dr. Castro traced the proce.ss
of the Cuban revolution and
encouraged other Latin-Ameri-
(■■ATx nations to follow his ex-
ample.
He said that the Cuban ex-
perience proved that "just a
handful of men can be launched
into a fight wherever there are
objectives to be reached * ♦ *
and that movement, we are
sure, will be the spark that
will set afire the whole hay-
stack."
Dr. Castro outlined those
aims of the revolutionary Marx-
ist movement- — the seizure of
power by the masses and the
destruction of the miltary ap-
paratus of those who would
exploit the workers.
In this connection he attacked
President Romulo Betancourt
of Venezuela as a man who had
adopted "terrorist measures."
which included closing Commu-
nist clubs and those of the Rev-
olutionary Left Wing and
shutting down their newspapers.
He praised Admiral Wolfgang
Larrazabal, who held power in
Venezuela after the dictator.
GREATER LOS ANGELES FAIR PLAY FOR CUBA COMMITTEE 1575
Lewis ExiiiBir No. 4-B (Continued)
Marcos Perez Jimenez, was oust-
ed and was replaced by Seftor
Betancourt.
Referring" to his policy of
keeping" secret his belief in
Marxism during the early days
of the revolution, he said:
"If it were known then that
the men who led the g:uerrilla
fighting had radical ideas, well,
all those who are making war
against us now would have
started it right then."
He said that the "first thing
for revolutionaries to do, right
after winning out, Is to smash
the machinery of the old regime
as I learned by reading Lenin's
book, 'State and Revolution.' "
Plan Announced In July
Premier Castro announced in
Havana last July 26 that Cuba
would eventually have a single
political party to construct a
Socialist state.
In discussing his plans for the
new party, he said that the pro-
cess of unifying existing politi-
cal organizations would be a
gradual one. He declined to set
a date for the formation of the
new party.
An Integrated Revolutionary
Organization was set up to pre-
pare for the merger of the prin-
cipal revolutionary bodies. In-
volved in the merger would be
the 26th of July Movement, the
Popular Socialist (Communist)
party and several smaller Left-
wing groups.
Premier Castro's description
yesterday of the monolithic and
restricted nature of the pro-
posed party appeared to go be-
yond his earlier statements.
Moreover, his statement that
Cuba would be taken down the
road to communism apparently
went beyond any of his prev-j
ious declarations on the Leftish
nature of the Cuban revolution.
It has been the practice in Cuba
to refer to the revolution as
Socialist but to avoid openlyi
calling it Communist. '
1576 GREATER LOS ANGELES FAIR PLAY FOR CUBA COMMITTEE
Lewis Exhibit No. 5
I /\ I R PLAY FOR CUBA COMM rTTEE
GREATER LOS ANGELES CHAPTER
P 0 BOX 26251
LOS ANGELES 26 CALIFORNIA
FAIR PL/Y in'TER ATTAClv BY HOU?K UlI-Ar^hlC.r AC*7*f^^i^i COM;:,
JIASS FICICET LIKE TUES., APRIL 24, 9 A" at FEDSRAL BTPILDTNG
LA CHAPTER OFFICERS
MARTIN HALL
Or A J LEWIS
Executive Secreta
GEORGE DAVIS
EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE
LEO FRUMPKIN
ROSALIE RODRIGUEZ
DEL VARELA
SPONSORS, L A CHAPTER
(Partial List)
ROaERT W KE/V.VK
REy STEPHEN H FRITCHIHAN
Honorary Co Chairmen
GEORGE COWELL
ODESSA COX
THEODORE EDUARDS
LEO GALLAGHER
REt' OR STUART INNERST
PHIL KERBY
SIMON LAZARUS
SARAJO LORD
AL WIRIN
NATIONAL OFFICERS
I
ROBERT TABER
Executive Secretary
RICHARD GIBSON
Acting Ex Secfy
NATIONAL SPONSORS
iParlial List)
WALDO FRANK
CARLETON 3EAI.S
Honorary Co Chairmen
i)r PAUL HARAN
CARL IRADHN
Dr H /•: ,'l nUHOIS
SIDNEY LF.NS
NORMAN MAILER
JULIAN MAYFIELD
LINUS PAULINl.
ALAN SA(.,yFR
ROIIFRT y ttn.LIAMS
Dear Friend,
If you have noticoo a bad odor drifting in from the
east. It ia orly the apT)roach of the House Un-Ameri-
can Activities Gomnittee inquisitors who 'vill open
a new .Teries of "hearin,^s" on Tues., April PA, 9:00
a.;n. at tbe Kederal Euildin."-. Thi Fair Flay ior
Cuba Cormittee haa been selected ea one of ti::
victims for this round, along v.'ith a nur.:ber of civil
liberties, student iaod "'abor or,3anization3 ^nd some
individuals. Apprcxi -lately 'IB subpenas have been
served ?nd this f j r i:ro may rise to GO, A.t this
date, a number of Fair ?lay members h^vp been sub-
penaed includin3; Steve Roberts, iVest Coast dircc;tcr:
Dr. A.J, Lewis, forriur Ex ecntive Secretary of the
Los Angelrs chf. pter.
All organizations directly corcerned are, of covrse,
TiakinT preparations to defend themselves. Hovi^evcr,
very encorra -in T r.e.v^ is tnat the Intended victims
■d 11 not bo .'-.b':indoncd to fend for themselves. Fii'st,
the Southern California chapter of tho American
Civil Liberties Hnion has adopted the fight as its
ov/n and has offered to provide leg^l counsel for all
suhDonaed individuals.
Second, a stv.dent pr
ad hoc coimnittee, is
ponss. V'hat v/as int
snov.'ballcd into a rs
presenting colleges
ern California area,
they decided to ciill
9 a.-^, at the Feder?
openin- of the heari
conti'^ents of studer
Building fro!"^ San tV
otcst movement, initiated by o.n
meetin/; v;3 th an astonishing res-
ended :,s a sm' 11 planning meeting
llv of more than ."^00 3t-.:dents re-
and schools from the entire South-
In a spirit of great enthusiasm
■-'or a massive picket line l^jcs.,
1 Building coincidin,'^ •■'1 th the
n-j' ''•ord has been received that
ts v.lll converge on the Federal
anclsco and San Diego,
Num.erous other organizations are also planning to
picket and all signs indicate that a broad move-
ment is gathering wliich could"culmlnate in the most
3i -nificant demonstration of pi'bllc protest against
r'- ction \.hich this city has seen in r-.ny years.
Our or^:;nizatior., the Fair flay for Cuba Committee,
will of course throv our full weight into the contest
both to defend our own rights v;hich are directly un-
der f tt-ick, and as part of the general united fight-
back a';:ain3t the HHAC and similar thouglit control in-
stitutions.
The executive coi^'mittoe of thf^ FPCC, meeting in e-ier-
goncy session, decided on the follov.dng measures:
1- Is-^ue a press release nrrsontlng our public
response to this Inv'sion of our i^i^hts,
C- Conduct the v"dest c^mprign of public education
coiTiiiienaiirate y'lt''. our resources.
GREATER LOS ANGELES FAIR PLAY FOR CUBA COMMITTEE 1577
Lewis Exhibit No. 5 (Continued)
3- ?-'.rtici pate ^a '\n ir^'c pendent orr_'Mni zation In
trie gonerfil picket line-cemons trition outside
the Fc-ricr"! B'lildlng for the entire djratlon
of the he\rit.C3 ■■a th appropriate banners,
leaflets, etc.
4- Raise a fund to enable tl-.e ■inxirrim ir-plemer: tr tion
of the f.bovo 'r',':-iavrcs, end to dc^rr.y possible
local costs. We I'c^r-.t to i^oport that we anve
virtually no funds ^vailiblo at tb.ia tine. The
extent of our efforts vri.ll be datcr^lned entirely
by the rosponao rcceivoc from this urgent appeal.
Flense rush I'rtuv contributions inmcdiatcly I J
Fraternally,
Martin Holl, Chairman
7-^lr Play for Cuba Co:::;.
nh/-;.'5
1578 GREATER LOS ANGELES FAIR PLAY FOR CUBA COMMITTEE
Lewis Exhibit No. 29
\A/ESI_COAST V
A u
crtj
JuNc 30, 1957
Dear Friend:
wt are happy to announce that plans are underway tor the '957
SESSION Of THE West Coast Vacation School, held each year dur-
ing THE Labor Day Week.
The Vacation School, conducted on a cooperative interracial
BASIS, WILL continue THE TRADITION Of" PREVIOUS YEARS BY PRO-
VIDING A PERIOD OF RELAXATION, EDUCATION AND COMRADESHIP, AS
WELL AS AIDING THE PROCESS Or* SOCIALIST REGROUPHENT.
A COMPLETE EDUCATIONAL PROGRAM IS NOW IN PREPARATION. NATION-
ALLY RENOWNED SPEAKERS WILL PRESENT MARXIST ANALYSES OF NATIONAL
AND WCRlO problems.
The Vacation School has something for everyone; rxcELLCNT food,
SWIMMING, hiking, MUSIC, DANCING, BARBECUES, GROIP SINGING,
SKITS AND JUST PLAIN LOAFING. 1t IS HELD AT THE WORKMEN'S
Circle Camp in Carbon Canyon, only 30 miles from Los Angeles.
The week opens with the evening meal on Saturday, August 3^/ *no
ENDS with lunch ON SuNOAY, SEPTEMBER 8, EIGHT DAYS IN ALL. tF
YOU ARE UNABLE TO STAY FOR THE WEEK, PLAN TO SPEND ONE OR BOTH
WEEK-ENDS AT THE CAMP.
The RATES ARE LOW--FOR A TOTAL OF 8 DAYS AND 2'+ MEALS! AOULTS
(from 16), $^2.50; Juniors (12-15), $30.00; children (5-11),
$20.00; small fry (1-U), $10.00. Daily rates are also low:
Adults, $6.50; juniors, $U.00; children $3.00 and small fry,
$1.50.
For RESERVATIONS write to the West Coast Vacation School, I702
East Fourth Street, Los Angeles 33> California or telephone,
ANgELUS 9-'»953 OR NORMANDY 3-O387 .
Fraternally yours,
U/rx.-rJ'^/y
Ann Snipper,
Director.
GREATER LOS ANGELES FAIR PLAY FOR CUBA COMMITTEE 1579
Roberts Exhibit No. 1
ELECTIOn RALLV
Steve Roberts and Cynthia Rogalin, Socialist Workers Party write in candidate for
' of California and State Senator from Los Angeles County.
STOP G. L K. Smith In California!
California is a testing ground in the fight of the American capitalist class against the workers. It is
to ^California that they have sent their arch race -baiter, anti- labor Gerald L. K. Smith, to spearhead
their fight against Proposition No. 11, the proposed Fair Employment Practice act, and the union closed
shop which the chambers of commerce, manufacturers' associations and real estate boards are determined
to defeat and destroy regardless of cost.
Hear:
STEVE ROBERTS, Socialist Workers Party candidate for GOVERNOR
CYNTHIA ROGALIN, Socialist Workers Party candidate for STATE SENATOR
from Los Angeles County^
SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 29th 8:00 P. M.
EMBASSY SOUTH HALL - 517 West 9th Street, Los Angeles.
1 580 GREATER LOS ANGELES FAIR PLAY FOR CUBA COMMITTEE
The following photographs were taken at Los Angeles Fair Play for Cuba Com-
mittee demonstrations staged in front of the Federal Building in Los Aneeles on Anril 15
19 and 22, 1961. s H <
Lkuis Exhibit \o. 14
\
.7<^^
r-.J^QX"^^
Robert Large and Harriet Blair
Lewis Exhibit No. 19 Lewis Exhibit No. 28
Dan Bessie
J. C. Coleman
GREATER LOS ANGELES FAIR PLAY FOR CUBA COAIMITTEE 1581
Ltwis Exhibit No. 22
Ben Dobbs and Diamond Kim
Lewis Exhibit \o. 23
Lewis Exhibit \o. 27
Sarah Dorner
Irvintr Goli'
1582 GREATER LOS ANGELES FAIR PLAY FOR CUBA COMIMITTEE
Lewis Exhibit No. 12
Vincent Fraga
Lewis Exhibit No. 18 Lewis Exhibit No. 20
^ JL]
Dorothy Healcy
Rosalind Lindcsniith
GREATER LOS ANGELES FAIR PLAY FOR CUBA COMMITTEE 1583
Lewis Exhibit No. 1
^c?«l SUPPORT
MURt>ER
in CuhcL
Don Matsuda
Lewis Exhibit No.
Lewis Exhibii No. 21
Charles Mosley
Abraham Maymudes
1584 GREATER LOS ANGELES FAIR PLAY FOR CUBA COMMITTEE
Lewis Exhibit No.
Lewis Exhibit No. lb
Paul Perlin
Lewis Exhibit No. 16
Rose Rosenberg
Lewis Exhibit No. 24
Paul Rosenstein
Sophie Silver
GREATER LOS ANGELES FAIR PLAY FOR CUBA COMMITTEE 1585
Lewis Exhibit No. 26
IH CUBA/ I
1
Lewis Exhibit No. 17
Shirley Taylor
Lewis Exhibit No. 9
Lillian Carlson
Lewis ExuiBir No. 25
Beverly RadclifVe
Celeste Strack
INDEX
Individuals
B Page
Baran, Paul 1571, 1576
Batista y Zaldivar (Fulgencio) 1517, 1573
Beals, Carleton 1571, 1576
Bessie, Daniel 1527, 1557, 1580
Betancourt, Rolumo 1574, 1575
Blair, Harriet (Mrs. John Clarence Blair nee Lewis) 1527, 1556, 1580
Braden, Carl 1571, 1576
Browder, Earl (aliases: Dixon; Ward; George Morris) 1523
C
Cannon, James (P) 1523, 1533-1535, 1537
Carlson, Lillian (Mrs. Frank Carlson nee Lillian Dinkin)_ 1529, 1530, 1557, 1585
Castro, Fidel 1516-1518,
1524, 1525, 1532, 1539, 1542, 1550, 1551, 1570, 1573-1575
Castro, Raul 1573
Chernin, Rose. (See Kusnitz, Rose Chernin.)
Clark, Joseph 1565
Coleman, J. C 1528, 1558, 1580
Cowell, George 1571, 1576
Cox, Odessa 1571, 1576
D
Davis, George 1519, 1569-1571, 1576
Dobbs, Ben .-. 1527, 1528, 1557, 1581
Dobbs, Farrell 1522, 1539, 1555, 1562, 1564, 1565
Dorner, Sarah 1528, 1557, 1581
Draper, Theodore 1516, 1525, 1535
DuBois, W. E. B 1571, 1576
Duggan, Tom J 1549, 1559
E
Edwards, Theodore 1523, 1571, 1576
Egbert, Donald 1515
Eisenhower, Dwight D 1569, 1570
Engels, Friedrich (Frederick) 1534
F
Fraga, Vincent 1528, 1556, 1582
Frank, Waldo 1571, 1576
Fritchman, Stephen H 1519, 1547, 1552, 1569-1571, 1576
Frumpkin, Leo Taney 1519, 1571, 1576
G
Gallagher, Leo 1520, 1553, 1571, 1576
Gibson, Richard 1518, 1530, 1532, 1548, 1571, 1576
Gitlow, Benjamin 1526, 1538, 1546
Goff, Irving 1528, 1558, 1581
Green, Berta 1518, 1519
Gruliow, Leo 1538
Guevara, Ernesto "Che" 1573
i
ii INDEX
H Page
Haas, Eric 1565
Hall, Gus (alias for Arva Halberg) 1538, 1539, 1567
Hall, Martin (also known as Herman Jacobs) 1519, 1521, 1522, 1526,
1530-1532, 1546, 1550, 1553, 1556, 1562, 1569-1571, 1576, 1577
Hallinan, Vincent 1 566
Hansen, Joseph 1539
Harrington Michael 1565
Hartle, Barbara (alias Margaret S. Johnson) 1537
Hathaway, William 1521, 1556, 1563
Healey, Dorothy Ray (Mrs. Philip Marshal Connelly nee Rosenblum; also
known as Dorothy Ray; 1527, 1528, 1557, 1582
Huesca, Gabriela . 1519, 1546, 1569,» 1570
I
Innerst, J. Stuart 1571, 1576
J
Jimenez, Marcos P^rez 1575
K
Kaplan, Celeste (Mrs. Leonard Kaplan nee Strack) 1530, 1558, 1585
Kennedy (John F.) 1519, 1524, 1531, 1532, 1538, 1569, 1570
Kenny, Robert W l 1543, 1561, 1571, 1576
Kerby, Philip 1547, 1569 2-1571, 1576
Khrushchev, Nikita Sergeevich 1515,
1534, 1535, 1538-1540, 1564, 1565, 1567, 1574
Kim (or Kimm), Diamond. (See Kimm, Kang.)
Kimm, Kang (also known as Diamond Kim or Kimm) 1530, 1557, 1581
Kusnitz, Rose Chernin (Mrs. Paul Kusnitz nee Chernin; born Rachmiel
Czernin) 1521, 1528, 1556
L
Large, Robert 1528, 1556, 1580
Larrazabal, Wolfgang 1574
Lazarus, Simon 1571, 1576
Lenin, V. I. (alias for Vladimir Il'ich Ul'ianov; also known as Nikolai
Lenin) 1515, 1525, 1534, 1535, 1537
Lens, Sidney 1571, 1576, 1580
Lewis, Albert Jorgenson 1519, 1520, 1522-1525, 1531, 1542,
1543-1559 (testimony), 1569-1572, 1576
Lindesmith, Rosalind 1528, 1557, 1582
Lord, Sarajo 1571, 1576
M
Mailer, Norman 1571, 1576
Mansfield (Michael J.) 1569
Martinez, William Guillermo 1527
Marx, Karl 1534
Matsuda, Don 1528, 1529, 1556, 1583
Mayfield, JuHan 1571, 1576
Maymudes, Abraham j 1529, 1557, 1583
Mosley, Charles H., Jr. (Chuck) 1529, 1555, 1583
1 Appears as Gabriella.
2 Appears as Kirby.
INDEX iii
p Page
Pauling, Linus (Carl) 1571, 1576
Perlin, Paul 1529, 1555, 1584
Persons, Stow 1515
Pettus, Terry 1566
R
Radcliffe, Beverly Dell (Mrs. David Louis Radcliffe nee Blades).. 1530, 1556, 1585
Rayburn, Sam 1569
Roa, Raulito 1518
Roberts, Steve 1518, 1519, 1521-1523, 1531, 1542,
1547, 1553, 1556, 1561-1568 (testimony), 1569, 1570, 1579
Roca, Bias 1533
Rodriguez, Rosalie 1519, 1571, 1576
Rogalin, Cynthia 1 579
Rosenberg, Rose S. (Mrs. Sol Rosenberg) 1529, 1557, 1584
Rosenstein, Paul 1529, 1557, 1584
Rusk, Dean 1524
S
Sagner, Alan 1571, 1576
Santos Buch, Charles A 1518
Silver, Sophie (nee Chelnick; born Schewe Czeczelnitzki) 1529, 1557, 1584
Smith, Gerald L. K 1579
Snipper, Ann 1523, 1558, 1578
Stalin, Josef (losif Vissarionovich Dzhugashvili) 1515,
1534-1536, 1538-1540, 1564, 1565
Strack, Celeste. (See Kaplan, Celeste.)
Sweezy, Paul M 1569
T
Taber, Robert 1518, 1571, 1576
Taylor, Shirley 1529, 1558, 1585
Trotsky, Lev (Leon) (born Lev Davidovich Bronstein) . . 1515, 1534-1537, 1539
V
Varela, Delfino (Del) 1519, 1525, 1571, 1576
W
Weiss, Myra Tanner 1522, 1565
Williams, Foster, Jr 1536
Williams, Robert F 1571, 1576
Wirin, A. L. (Al) 1547, 1569-1571, 1576
Wright, Jack 1566
Organizations
A
American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) 1547
Southern California 1576
American Russian Institute (for Cultural Relations With the Soviet
Union) : San Francisco 1526, 1555
American Student Union 1526
C
California Labor School 1526
Citizens Committee To Preserve American Freedoms (CCPAF) 1526
Civil Rights Congress 1523, 1526, 1555
Communist International. {See International III.)
Communist League of America (Opposition) 1535
Communist Partv, Cuba. (See Popular SociaUst (Communist) Party,
Cuba.)
iv INDEX
Page
Communist Party of the United States of America 1537, 1539, 1565, 1566
National Structure: National Committee 1566, 1567
National Conventions and Conferences:
16th Convention, February 9-12, 1957 (New York City) 1538
17th Convention, December 10-13, 1959 (New York City) 1528,
1529, 1556
Districts:
Southern California District 1525, 1526, 1528, 1531
District Committee 1528, 1529, 1556
District Council 1529
Executive Board i 1528
District Commissions:
Mexican Commission 1525
Minorities Commission ■ 1529
Youth Commission 1529
District Conventions and Conferences:
First Convention, April 13-14, 1957 (Los Angeles) 1529,
1555, 1556
Second Convention, November 20-22, 1959, January
29-31, 1960 (Los Angeles) 1527-1529, 1556-1558, 1566
Echo Park Section (within the city of Los Angeles) 1527
San Gabriel Section 1528
Zapata Section (eastern section of the city of Los Angeles) 1525
States and Territories:
California:
Central Committee 1529
Louisiana 1 528
New York State: Veterans Committee 1528
Communist Party, Soviet Union: 20th Congress, February 1956 (Moscow). 1567
Conference for Peaceful Alternatives to the Atlantic Pact 1526
F
Fair Play for Cuba Committee.. 1516, 1519, 1530, 1546-1548, 1562, 1563, 1567
National Advisory Council 1554
Student Council 1554
Greater Los Angeles Chapter 1515-1585
New York chapter 1518, 1519, 1532
Field Enterprises Educational Corp. (Los Angeles, Calif.) 1544
First Unitarian Church (Los Angeles, Calif.). {See Unitarian Church,
First.)
Fourth International. {See International, IV, Trotskyist.)
G
German-American League for Culture 1546
I
Independent Progressive Party (California). {See Progressive Party,
California.)
Institute of Pacific Relations 1544
International, III (Communist) (also known as Comintern and Inter-
national Workers' Association): Sixth World Congress, July 17 to Sep-
tember 1, 1928, Moscow 1535
International, IV (Trotskyist) 1536
International Union of Students (lUS) {see also World Youth Festivals) 1526
J
Jewish Peoples Fraternal Order (I WO) 1526
Joint Anti-Fascist Refugee Cortimittee 1526
K
Kaiser Shipyards (Richmond, Calif.) 1544
Kaiser Steel Corp. (Fontana, Calif.) . 1544
J
J
INDEX V
L Page
Labor Youth League 1555
League of American Writers 1526
Los Angeles Committee To Secure Jvistice in the Rosenberg Case. (See
entry under National Committee To Secure Justice in the Rosenberg
Case.)
N
National Committee To Secure Justice in the Rosenberg Case: Los Angeles
Committee To Secure Justice in the Rosenberg Case 1526
National Council of American-Soviet Friendship 1526
National Council of the Arts, Sciences, and Professions: Southern California
Chapter (also known as Hollywood Council of the Arts, Sciences, and
Professions) 1 526
P
People's World Forum 1526
Popular Socialist (Communist) Party, Cuba (Partido Socialista Popular
(PSP)) - 1517, 1533
Progressive Party: California (Independent Progressive Party) 1523, 1526
Provisional Organizing Committee for a Marxist-Leninist Communist
Party (also known as POC) 1532
R
Riverside College (Riverside, Calif.) 1522
S
Socialist Labor Party 1566
Socialist Partv-Social Democratic Federation 1539, 1566
Socialist Workers Party 1515, 1516, 1521-1523,
1531-1542, 1547, 1552, 1554-1556, 1558, 1562-1566, 1579
National Conventions and Conferences:
12th National Convention, November 15-18, 1946 (Chicago,
111.) 1537
Los Angeles branch 1523
Executive Committee . 1522, 1562
Trade Union Committee 1522, 1562
Stanford University (California) 1569
Starr-King Schooffor the Ministry (Berkeley, Calif.) 1522, 1544
T
Tufts College (Medford, Mass.) 1544
Tufts Theological College 1522, 1544
U
Unitarian Church, First (Los Angeles, Calif.) 1531, 1552
United Party of the Sociahst Revolution (Cuba) 1525
U.S. Government:
Justice, Department of:
Federal Bureau of Investigation 1554
National Labor Relations Board 1544
Senate, U.S.:
Internal Security Subcommittee of the Judiciary Committee
(Subcommittee To Investigate the Administration of the
Internal Security Act and Other Internal Security Laws) 1517,
1518, 1547
Subcommittee To Investigate the Administration of the Internal
Security Act and Other Internal Security Laws of the Com-
mittee of the Judiciary. (.See Internal Security Su> committee
of the Judiciary Committee.)
Subversive Activities Control Board (SACB) 1568
Supreme Court 1 567
University of Paris (Paris, France) 1522, 1544
vi INDEX
W
Page
West Coast Vacation School (vicinity of Los An<j:eles) 1523, 1558, 1578
Workmen's Circle Camp (Carbon Canyon, Calif.) 1578
World Congress for General Disarmament and Peace, July 9-14, 1962,
Moscow. {See entry under World Peace Council.)
World Federation of Democratic Youth (WFD Y) 1526
World Peace Council 1526
World Congress for General Disarmament and Peace, July 9-14, 1962,
Moscow 1526
World Youth Festivals:
First Youth Festival, July 20-August 17, 1947 (Prague) (see also
International Union of Students) 1526
Y
Young Communist League, Germany 1546
Young Socialist Alliance:
Founding Convention, April 1960 (Philadelphia, Pa.) 1541
Second Convention, January 1962 1541
Young Socialist League 1565
Publications
A
American Communism and Soviet Russia (book) 1535
C
Castro's Revolution, Myths and Realities (book) 1516
Coming American Revolution, The (book) 1537
Current Soviet Policies II (book) 1538
F
Fair Play (bulletin) 1518, 1519, 1530
Frontier (magazine) 1547
H
Hoy (Cuban Communist Party newspaper) 1533
I
International Press Correspondence (Inprecorr) 1526
International Socialist Review 1515, 1536, 1566
K
Korean Independence (newspaper, Los Angeles, Calif.) 1530, 1557
L
Los Angeles Herald-Dispatch 1522, 1549
M
Militant, The 1523, 1535, 1539, 1541, 1564, 1566
N
New America 1539
P
People's World 1526, 1566
Proceedings, 16th National Convention, Communist Party, U.S.A. (book)_ 1538
R
Regroupment, A Programmatic Basis for Discussion of Socialist Unity
(pamphlet) 1540
INDEX vii
S Pa^e
Socialism and American Life (book) 1515, 1536
Socialist Workers Party, What It Is^What It Stands For, The (book)___ 1536
T
Their Morals and Ours (book) 1535
Tom Du'j:p;an Show (television show) 1549, 1559
20th Congress (C.P.S.U.) and World Trotskyism, The (book)__ 1533, 1534, 1539
V
Vanguard 1 532
W
Whole of Their Lives, The (book) 1538
Worker, The 1565
Y
Young Socialist, The 1541
o
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