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UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES
IN CATONIA
1947
&EPO&T Of THE JOINT FACT-FINDING COMMITTEE
TO THE FIFTY-SEVENTH CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE
SACRAMENTO, 1047
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CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE
Report of Joint Fact-Finding Committee
on Un-American Activities
MEMBERS OF COMMITTEE
SENATORS ASSEMBLYMEN
JACK B. TENNEY, Chairman RANDAL F. DICKEY, Vice Chairman
NELSON S. DIL WORTH FRED H. KRAFT
HUGH M. BURNS HAROLD F. SAWALLISCH
FRANK L. GORDON JOHN F. THOMPSON
PUBLISHED BY THE SENATE
LIEUTENANT GOVERNOR GOODWIN J. KNIGHT
President of the Senate
SENATOR HAROLD J. POWERS JOSEPH A. BEEK
President pro Tempore of the Senate Secretary of the Senate
SENATOR r.
LETTER OF TRANSMITTAL
SENATE CHAMBER, STATE CAPITOL
SACRAMENTO, March 24, 1947
Honorable Goodwin J. Knight
President of the Senate
Senate Chamber, Sacramento, California
MR. PRESIDENT : Pursuant to Resolution Chapter 143 of the Statutes
of 1945 and Resolution Chapter 32 of the Statutes of 1947, the Joint
Fact-Finding Committee on Un-American Activities was continued in
existence with the following members :
Senator Jack B. Tenney, Chairman
Senator Hugh M. Burns
Senator Nelson S. Dilworth
Senator Frank L. Gordon
Assemblyman Randal F. Dickey
Assemblyman Harold F. Sawallisch
Assemblyman Fred H. Kraft
Assemblyman John F. Thompson
There is submitted herewith the repprt of the investigations of the
committee.
The committee gratefully acknowledges the cooperation of the many
citizens.
Respectfully submitted.
For SENATOR JACK B. TENNEY, Chairman
By SENATOR NELSON S. DILWORTH
iii
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Page
INTRODUCTION 4
Activities of the Committee 4
Communism and Fascism 5
What is Fascism? 5
Communism 6
Red Fascism 6
Capitalism 6
Communist Imperialism 6
Communist "Sharp-Turn" Tactic 8
What Can a Few Communists Do? 9
William Z. Foster 10
Foster on Force and Violence 11
Communist Party Underground 11
Does Stalin Plan World Conquest? 13
1. SEVENTH PERIOD OF COMMUNIST STRATEGY 17
End of Sixth Period 17
Teheran Conference 10
Schneiderman on the Kremlin Line 21
Dorothy Healy on * * Browderism " 23
Browder's Dilemma 29
The Comintern 30
"Browderites" Without Browder 30
Future Communist Activity 33
The FBI on Communism 33
The Trojan Horse Cavalry 34
The Communist Party in Los Angeles County 34
Communist Party in Alameda County 36
Communist Protection of S ecret Members 39
Every American Communist a Potential Traitor 44
2. MOBILIZATION FOR DEMOCRACY 45
Behind the F. E. P. C 46
Gerald L. K. Smith 48
The Los Angeles Central Labor Council Investigation 48
Shop-Worn Communist Window-Dressing 54
Communist Front Network 55
3. THE KU KLUX KLAN AND THE MOBILIZATION FOR
DEMOCRACY 57
4. COMMUNIST EDUCATIONAL PROGRAM IN CALI-
FORNIA 63
Communist Education 64
Los Angeles Communist Workers ' School 64
Communist Workers School Joins PE C 66
Communist League of American Writers 67
iv
Page
People's Educational Center 1944 69
Communist PEC 1945 70
Communist PEC Up-To-Date 72
Marxian Dialectic in Art 73
5. CALIFORNIA LABOR SCHOOL 77
Technique in ' * Window-Dressing ' ' Communist Fronts 79
11 Report of the California State Federation of Labor on
the California Labor School 7 ' 81
Trojan Horse Camouflage 88
Communist Courses at the California Labor School 92
California Labor School Up-To-Date 92
Federal Funds for Communism 94
6. UNIVERSITY PROFESSORS COMMUNIST SCHOOLS 95
American Youth for Democracy 96
Hoijer Represents Communist Hollywood Writers' Mobili-
zation 97
Activities at Berkeley 98
Communist Recruiting for California Labor School 100
Political Activities of the California Labor School 101
The Communist Press and the California Labor School 104
Federal Aid for Communism 104
Communism and the University Press 105
Origin of the Hollywood Quarterly 107
Improper Use of the State University 's Name 109
7. COMMUNISM IN CALIFORNIA'S PUBLIC SCHOOLS 113
National Education Association on ' ' Soviet Russia Today ' ' 114
Communism at Canoga Park High School 115
An American Teacher Testifies 119
A Father Testifies 121
The Principal of Canoga Park High School Testifies 122
School Journalism at Canoga Park High 124
Canoga Park High School Teachers Testify 128
The Los Angeles City Board of Education 132
Findings of the Los Angeles JBoard of Education on the
Canoga Park High School Teachers 134
Findings of the Committee 137
Communist "Counter-Attack" 139
California Communists on the Defensive 141
8. COMMUNISM ON THE WATERFRONT 145
Communism at Sea 145
Communists Capture a Seamen's Union 149
Communism at Union Meetings 153
Testimony of Alex Harris 158
Affidavit of William P. Brandhove__ . 161
Page
9. HERBERT K. SORREL AND THE MOTION PICTURE
STRIKE 169
Testimony of Hand- Writing Experts 171
Communist Strategy to Destroy A. F. of L. Unions 172
Left-Handed People 173
Communist Literature at Sorrell's Mass Meetings 173
A. F. of L. Stand on Sorrell's Attempt to Capture
Hollywood . 175
10. HOLLYWOOD COMMUNITY RADIO GROUP 179
Emergency Committee on KFI 180
The Plot Thickens 184
California Committee for Radio Freedom 186
Behind the Scene 186
Law Firm of Gallagher, Katz and Margolis 192
Pressure 192
Averill Berman 194
11. THE INTERNATIONAL FEDERATION OF ARCHITECTS,
ENGINEERS, CHEMISTS AND TECHNICIANS,
CIO 201
Background of FAECT 201
Communist Control of FAECT in 1939 202
FAECT Chapters in California 204
Atomic Research 205
Character of Chapter 25 205
Rose Segure 208
Soviet Firsters 209
Communist Efforts to Control Scientists 210
FAECT Conspiracy 211
Soviet Consulate in San Francisco 213
Facts Established by the Committee 213
FAECT a Potential Communist Espionage Ring 214
Royal Canadian Commission Report on Soviet Espionage 214
Communist Plans to Share Atom Secrets With Russia 216
American Communist Quislings 217
Communist Merger of Espionage Fronts 218
12. THE CURRENT COMMUNIST PARTY LINE 221
The Party Line 223
The Imperialist War! 223
Browder Establishes the "Line" 225
Communist Party Conventions 227
Present Communist Party Line 227
Communism in Veterans Organizations 231
Communist Third Party Movement 233
Communist Coalition Party Starts Organizing in California 234
First Meeting Progressive Citizens of America 236
Second Communist Inspired Legislative Conference 240
Communist Inspired March on the Capitol 242
Page
13. EXTRACTS FROM THE TESTIMONY OF WITNESSES 245
Jerry Pacht 245
Judge Stanley Moffatt 247
Charles J. Katz 250
Selma Mikels Bachelis 251
Mildred Raskin 253
Dr. Franklin Fearing 254
Ben Margolis 255
Frank De Long 256
Leonard Bloom 257
David Appleman 257
Ralph Leon Beals 258
Dr. Dean E. McHenry 258
Harry Hoijer 259
George Campbell 260
Clarence Addison Dykstra 263
Dr. Frank Davis 264
Red University in New York 266
Under Trachtenberg 266
Millionaire Backer 267
Official Organizers 267
Lloyd Leymann 267
George Edwards 268
Wayne Hultgren 269
Frank Walter Parsons 272
Wilhelmina Loughrey 274
Fred H. Williams '_ 277
Holland De Witte Roberts 277
Charlotte Phillips 278
Mildren Bowen 279
Emmet G. Lavery 281
Communist Thought Control 286
Paul Robeson 288
Edgar G. Brown 293
Ellenore Abowitz (Bogigian) 294
Annette Cimring 299
Ted Ellsworth 301
Norval Crutcher 301
Irving Seiger 303
Cleophas Brown 304
John Eli Hughes 305
Sylvain Schnaittacher 306
Roy Raymond Noftz 307
14. "LAND OF THE SOVIETS" 313
Record of Maxwell S. Stewart 313
Propaganda in California's Grade Schools 314
"Anna and Ivan" 316
The Soviet Slave System 317
Propaganda and the Record 320
Institute of Pacific Relations 321
Page
15. SEX BOOKS IN CHICO HIGH SCHOOL 323
Communist Party Line in Sex 323
Basic 12 323
Report of the Grand Jury of Butte County 350
Press Reaction on the Chico Affair 354
What Shall Teachers Teach? 356
16. ANTI-SEMITISM 359
Jewish Communism 360
Anti-Semitic Canards 362
Miscellaneous Anti-Semitic Libels 362
Jews in the Motion Picture and Radio Industries 364
Anti-Semitism is Un-American 364
17. SUMMARY OF FINDINGS 367
Recommendations _ 371
viil
REPORT OF THE JOINT FACT-FINDING COMMITTEE
ON UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA
Mr. President, Mr. Speaker, and Members of the 1947 Legislature
The Joint Fact-Finding Committee on Un-American Activities in
California of the Fifty-sixth Session of the Legislature was created by
Senate Concurrent Resolution 66, adopted in the Senate June 13, 1945,
in the Assembly June 15, 1945, and filed with the Secretary of State
June 16, 1945.
The committee was granted the sum of $20,000 by the Senate and the
Assembly in order to carry on its work. As of January 1, 1947, the
committee had a balance left in its appropriation of $771.60.
The resolution creating the committee is as follows :
WHEREAS, These are yet times of public danger. Subversive persons
and groups are endangering our domestic unity so as to leave us unpre-
pared to resist attack from without and within. Under color of the pro-
tection afforded by the Bill of Rights these persons and groups seek to
destroy our freedom by force, violence, threats, undermining and sab-
otage, and to subject us to the domination of foreign powers and
ideologies; and
WHEREAS, There is danger that the ordeal through which the coun-
try has suffered to keep the pursuit of its ideals free may be in vain ; and
WHEREAS, Persons and groups, motivated by hatred of American
ideals, our republican form of government and democratic processes,
some bound together by allegiance to foreign powers, are even now seeking
to achieve by subversion what we have so valiantly fought to sustain from
force ; and
WHEREAS, California, as one of the laboratories of this great Nation,
may profitably study the problem within its boundaries, and enact perti-
nent legislation therein, if facts are available therefor ; and
WHEREAS, State legislation to meet the problem and to assist law
enforcement officers can best be based on a thorough and impartial investi-
gation by a competent and active legislative committee, now, there-
fore, be it
Resolved by the Senate of the State of California, the Assembly
thereof concurring, as follows :
1. The Joint Fact-Finding Committee on Un-American Activities
is hereby created, authorized, appointed and directed to investigate,
ascertain, collate, appraise, study and analyze all facts directly or indi-
rectly relating to the foregoing, including any facts causing or consti-
tuting interference with the National defense program or the war effort
in California or rendering the people of the State, as a part of the Nation,
less fit physically, mentally, morally, economically or socially.
2. In addition to other duties imposed upon the committee, the
committee shall investigate and study the activities of groups and organ-
izations whose membership include persons who are members of organ-
2 UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA
izations who have as their objectives, or part of their objectives, the over-
throw of the governments of the State of California or of the United
States by force and violence or other unlawful means ; to investigate and
study all organizations known or suspected to be dominated or controlled
by a foreign power which activities affect the conduct of this State in
National defense or in its war effort, the functioning of any state agency,
unemployment relief and other forms of public assistance, educational
institutions of this State supported in whole or in part by public funds,
or any political program, or which may affect the conversion of the State
from a wartime economy to a peacetime economy or affect the economic
and social problems incidental thereto, including but not limited to the
operation, effect, administration, enforcement and needed revision of any
and all laws in any way bearing upon or relating to the subject of this
resolution, and to report thereon to the Legistature.
3. In addition to the foregoing, the Joint Fact-Finding Committee
on Un-American Activities is authorized and directed to ascertain, study
and analyze all facts relating to the activities of persons and groups
known or suspected to be dominated or controlled by a foreign power,
and who owe allegiance thereto because of religious, racial, political,
ideological, philosophical, or other ties, including but not limited to the
influence upon all such persons and groups of education, economic cir-
cumstances, social positions, fraternal and casual associations, living
standards, race, religion, political, ancestry and the activities of paid
provocation and any other factors which may account for their conduct
or condition their action, as well as the operation, effect, administration,
enforcement and needed revision of any and all laws in any way bearing
upon or relating to the subject of this resolution.
4. The committee consists of four Members of the Senate appointed
by the Senate Committee on Rules, and four Members of the Assembly
appointed by the Speaker. Vacancies occurring in the membership of the
committee shall be filled by the appointing power.
5. The committee is authorized to act during this session of the Legis-
lature, including any recess, and after final adjournment until final
adjournment of the next regular session, with authority to file its final
report not later than the last legislative day of the next regular session.
6. The committee and its members shall have and exercise all the
rights, duties and powers conferred upon investigating committees and
their members by the provisions of the Joint Rules of the Senate and
Assembly as they are adopted and amended from time to time, which
provisions are incorporated herein and made applicable to this committee
and its members.
7. The committee has the following additional powers and duties:
(a) To select a chairman and a vice chairman from its membership,
and to employ and fix the compensation of a secretary and such clerical,
investigative, expert and technical assistants as it may deem necessary.
(b) To create subcommittees from its membership, assigning to the
subcommittee any study, inquiry, investigation or hearing which the
committee itself has authority to undertake or hold, and the subcommittee
for the purposes of this assignment shall have and exercise all of the
powers conferred upon the committee limited by the express terms of the
UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA 3
resolution or resolutions of the latter defining the powers and duties of
the subcommittee, which powers may be withdrawn or terminated at any
time by the committee.
(c) To adopt and from time to time amend such rules governing
its procedure (including the fixing of its own quorum and the number
of votes necessary to take action on any matter) as may to it appear
appropriate.
(d) To contract with such other agencies, public or private, as it
deems necessary for the rendition and affording of such services, facili-
ties, studies and reports to the committee as will best assist it to carry
out the purposes for which it is created.
(e) To hold public hearings at any place in California at which
hearings the people are to have an opportunity to present their views
to the committee.
(f ) To summon and subpena witnesses, require the production of
papers, books, accounts, reports, documents, and records of every kind
and description, to issue subpenas and to take all necessary means to
compel the attendance of witnesses and procure testimony.
(g) To cooperate with and secure the cooperation of county, city,
city and county, and other local law enforcement agencies, and also civic
and private organizations, in investigating any matter within the scope of
this resolution, and to direct the sheriff of any county to serve subpenas,
orders and other process issued by .the committee.
(h) To report its findings and recommendations to the Legislature
and to the people from time to time and at any time, not later than herein
provided.
(i) To do any and all other things necessary or convenient to enable
it fully and adequately to exercise its powers, perform its duties, and
accomplish the objects and purposes of this resolution.
8. The committee, each of its members, and any representative of
the committee thereunto authorized by the committee or by its chairman,
is authorized and empowered to administer oaths.
9. Every department, commission, board, agency, officer and
employee of the State Government, including the Legislative Counsel,
the Attorney General and their subordinates, and of any political sub-
division, county, city, or public district of or in this State shall furnish
the committee and any subcommittee, upon request, any and all such
assistance, and information, records and documents as the committee or
subcommittee deems proper for the accomplishment of the purposes for
which the committee is created.
10. The sum of twenty thousand dollars ($20,000), or as much
thereof as may be necessary, is hereby made available from the contingent
funds of the Senate and Assembly for the expenses of the committee and
its members and for any charges, expenses or claims it may incur under
this resolution, to be paid from said contingent funds equally, and dis-
bursed, after certification by the chairman of the committee, upon
warrants drawn by the State Controller upon the State Treasurer.
4 UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA
INTRODUCTION
Pursuant to Senate Concurrent Resolution 66, the Senate Com-
mittee on Rules appointed Senator Hugh M. Burns of Fresno County,
Senator Frank L. Gordon of Napa and Yolo Counties, Senator Nelson S.
Dilworth of Riverside County and Senator Jack B. Tenney of Los
Angeles County, and the Speaker of the Assembly appointed Assembly-
men Randal F. Dickey of Alameda, John F. Thompson of San Jose,
Harold F. Sawallisch of Richmond and Fred H. Kraft of San Diego, as
members of the committee. Senator Jack B. Tenney was selected as
chairman.
The 1946 elections in California may properly be considered as
thoroughly testing public opinion on the value and importance of the
Joint Fact-Finding Committee on Un-American Activities in California.
Of the eight members constituting the committee only one member was
defeated for reelection. Senators Nelson S. Dilworth of Riverside County
and Frank L. Gordon of Napa and Yolo Counties, being hold-over Sena-
tors, did not stand for reelection in 1946. Assemblymen Randal F. Dickey
of Alameda and John F. Thompson of San Jose were reelected in the
Primaries. Assemblyman Fred H. Kraft of San Diego was a successful
candidate for the State Senate. Senator Hugh M. Burns of Fresno was
reelected.
The chairman of a committee investigating subversive activities is
usually the main target for subversive " smears " and vicious attacks.
Chairman Tenney, because of his long activity with this committee and
its predecessors, was selected for particular political oblivion in the 1946
elections by the Communist Party, its fellow-travelers, and front organi-
zations. In spite of a vigorous campaign, Chairman Tenney was endorsed
by the American Federation of Labor and received both major party
nominations in the primary election. It is significant to note that the
main issue in Senator Tenney 's campaign was the issue of Communism.
His reelection to the State Senate from the most populous county in
California is indicative of the fact that the majority of the people have
been awakened to the menace of Communism and that they have approved
the Legislature's wisdom in creating the committee he has headed
since 1941.
ACTIVITIES OF THE COMMITTEE
The accumulated testimony of witnesses, since the Joint Fact-
Finding Committee was first organized in 1941, now consists of 7,588
typewritten pages contained in 29 transcript volumes. Committee exhibits
have become voluminous.
R. E. Combs of Visalia was selected to continue as general counsel
for the committee. Linnie Terry was elected secretary of the committee.
One additional full-time investigator was employed and stenographers
were hired from time to time. Official court reporters have been employed
for all public hearings, and the committee's heaviest expenditures have
been in this field. The funds granted the committee have been woefully
inadequate to accomplish fully the goals desired. If the committee is con-
tinued, as recommended by this report it should be granted sufficient
funds to employ at least one additional investigator on a full-time basis
and at least two clerk-stenographers.
UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA 5
The American Legion, Veterans of Foreign Wars, Anti-Defamation
League and many other patriotic and fraternal organizations continued
to assist the committee, its counsel and investigators in every way possible.
Many individuals and organizations, who desire to be unnamed, were
of great service to the committee, its members and attaches.
The press of the State of California continued, for the greater part, to
report committee hearings with accuracy and fidelity. While special men-
tion should be made of such California periodicals as the Hollywood
Citizen News, the Oakland Tribune and the Los Angeles Times, particu-
lar commendation is extended to the Los Angeles Examiner and the
San Francisco Examiner and the Hearst papers in general for their out-
standing crusade against Communism in particular and subversive
groups in general. The effort of the Communist Party of the United
States of America in its well organized ' ' smear ' ' campaigns against Wil-
liam Randolph Hearst and his newspapers has been a formidable attack.
In spite of vicious, lying propaganda, the Hearst papers have stood as a
bulwark against the rising tide of Red Fascism in America. William
Randolph Hearst has rendered a great service to the people of the United
States in courageously exposing the traitorous agents of Stalin 's Russia
in their underhanded attempt to destroy American freedom.
For an outstanding journalistic example of news distortion, lying
propaganda, deliberate character assassination, intolerance and treason,
the committee strongly recommends the West Coast Communist paper,
the People's Daily World.
COMMUNISM AND FASCISM
The Communists continue their campaign of defamation and vilifi-
cation. Any one who disagrees with the Communist Party is currently
labeled a " Fascist." The dishonest and deceptive use of words such as
" Democracy, " "Progressive," etc., is an old trick of the Communist
propagandist.
The use of a term already associated with something hated and
despised, to describe that which the Communists desire to make hated
and despised, is a secret weapon in the hands of Stalin 's fifth column.
Fascism is such a term.
WHAT IS FASCISM?
Fascism may be said to be an economic system characterized by the
complete government control of production and marketing, within the
framework of private property, but under a type of socialized investment.
It is a police state, unrestrained and all powerful, under a ruthless dic-
tator. It is further distinguished by economic planning, wage and price-
fixing, deficit spending, militarism and imperialism. Hitler 's theories of
racial superiority and inferiority have nothing to do with Fascism.
Racial intolerance falls within the realm of sociology. The system that
developed in Italy under the regime of Benito Mussolini was purely an
economic system. Its advocates and supporters knew nothing of anti-
Semitism or racial superiority as the system developed. After Hitler 's
rise to power in Germany in 1933, Mussolini, by way of a friendly gesture
to his Axis partner, adopted some of the racial theories of Mein Kampf.
Fascism, like any other form of government, may or may not manifest
b UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA
racial intolerance. Austria, under the Dictator Engelbert Dollfuss,
Portugal, under the Dictator Antonio de Oliveira Salazar, and Greece,
under John Metaxas are examples of Fascist governments minus the
social aspects of racial intolerance.
COMMUNISM
Communism may be briefly resummarized as an economic system
characterized by government ownership of all property used in pro-
duction and marketing. The government is a police state, unrestrained
and all powerful, under a ruthless dictator. It is further distinguished by
economic planning, wage and price-fixing, forced labor, militarism and
imperialism.
RED FASCISM
Both Fascism and Communism are distinguished by complete gov-
ernment control over production ; the means, quantity, quality, the when
and where, of production and distribution. Both types of government are
totalitarian, one party systems, featuring planned economy under bureau-
cratic control. The single party constitutes a. preferred elite protected
against the regimented and enslaved masses by a brutal secret police.
Militarism and imperialism constitute the hard core of both systems of
government.
Hence, Communism may be properly termed Red-Fascism.
CAPITALISM
Capitalism may be briefly summarized as an economic system char-
acterized by the private ownership of property and the individual deter-
mination of production and distribution under only such government
regulation as may be necessary to protect the public welfare.
The complete loss of all individual freedom is the price the people
pay for Fascism or Communism.
COMMUNIST IMPERIALISM
Do the people of the United States have real reason to fear
Communism ?
Basing its conclusion on the accumulated evidence of more than six
years investigation, the committee finds that the people of California
and of the United States have real cause to fear Communism. It is a
foreign-controlled, totalitarian movement whose leaders have openly
declared that it advocates revolution and the destruction of the govern-
ment of the United States. The over-all strategy of the Communist Party
is the ultimate destruction of all capitalist states by force and violence.
The "target-for-today" is determined by expediency. The "day-to-day
struggle " constitutes basic Communist tactics the skirmishes and bat-
tles in the Communist war for world domination. Stalin has made this
so clear that a child should be able to understand it. "Strategy," the
Russian dictator declares, ' ' deals with the main forces of the revolution
and their reserves. It changes with the transition of the revolution from
one stage to another, but remains essentially unchanged throughout the
entire duration of a given stage. Tactics are the determination of the line
of the conduct of the proletariat for the comparatively short period of
UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA 7
the ebb or flow of the movement, of the rise or decline of the revolution,
the struggle to carry out this line by replacing old forms of struggle and
of organization by new ones, old slogans by new ones, by combining these
forms, etc. While the aim of strategy is to win the war * * * tactics con-
cern themselves with less important aims, as they strive, not to win the
war as a whole, but rather to win a particular engagement, or a particular
battle; to carry through successfully a particular campaign or action
corresponding to the concrete circumstances of the rise or decline of the
revolution. Tactics are a part of strategy, subordinate and subservient
to it."
The Committee, in previous reports, has attempted to trace the tac-
tics of the Communist Party of the United States through the "ebb and
flow," the "rise and decline" of the "revolution," and has pointed out
that Communist tactics in the United States conform meticulously to
Soviet foreign policy. Hence, on occasion, the Communist Party of the
United States of America brazenly calls for violent revolution and on
other occasions denies that it seeks to establish the dictatorship of the
proletariat in the United States by illegal means. In, brief, the Com-
munist Party attacks when it believes conditions warrant attack, and
retreats when retreat is deemed advisable. It must be thoroughly under-
stood that the Communist Party is merely following the directives of
Lenin and Stalin.
Again Dictator Stalin, quoting Lenin with devotion, has issued the
order-of-the-day : "It is necessary * * * to use any ruse, cunning,
unlawful methods, evasion, concealments of the truth * * *." So that
the comrades throughout the world will thoroughly understand, Stalin,
again quoting Lenin, declares : ' ' The revolutionary party must complete
their education. They have learned to attack. Now they must understand
that it is necessary to supplement this knowledge with the knowledge
of how to retreat properly. They must understand and the revolutionary
class by its own bitter experience learns to understand that victory
is impossible without having learned both how to attack and how to
retreat correctly. ' '
Thus, when the Communist Party of the United States of America
declares that it stands for the violent overthrow of the government of the
United States, its leaders believe that a revolutionary condition, plus a
governmental crisis, exists, and that attack is advisable. When Com-
munist Party leaders suddenly disavow any intention to destroy the
government of the United States by force and violence it should be
understood that the Party, for reasons of expediency, is merely employing
the tactic of retreat.
The committee, in a previous report, quoted former Supreme Court
Justice Charles Evans Hughes, speaking before the United States Senate
Committee on Foreign Relations in 1924, when Mr. Hughes was Secre-
tary of State. At that time Mr. Hughes stated :
"It will be seen that the question of whether Communist pro-
grams contemplate the use of force and violence has been passed
upon by every class of tribunal which would pass upon it, namely,
federal and state courts, administrative tribunals and legislative
committees of both Federal and State Governments and in every
case the result has been in support of the position that force and
violence are inseparable from Communist programs."
8 UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA
In the case of United States ex rel Martin Ahern v. Wallace, 268
Fed. 413, District Judge Knox said :
t (
: I am of the opinion that the manifesto and program of the
Communist Party, together with other exhibits in the case, are of
such character as to lead a reasonable man to conclude that the
purpose of the Communist Party is to accomplish its end, namely,
the capture and destruction of the State, as now constituted, by
force and violence * * *. If those who support the Communist
Party in its present declaration of principles hope for success and
I must assume that they have such hope I cannot do otherwise than
conclude that they must contemplate the employment of force and
violence. In other words, I am unable to perceive how the expropria-
tion of private property can be accomplished without the employ-
ment of forbidden instrumentalities. ' '
The evidence is overwhelming, and the committee is convinced that
the Communist Party can only accomplish its ultimate purpose through
the use of force and violence and that, although the party may retreat
from time to time, utilizing * ' cunning, " " evasion, ' ' and deceptive tactics
of retreat, the objective is the destruction of the government of the
United States.
COMMUNIST "SHARP-TURN" TACTIC
The committee found the Communist Party cooperating with Hit-
ler's Fifth Column in the United States during the Hitler-Stalin Pact.
When Hitler invaded Russia, the committee found the Communist Party
switching from isolationism to intervention over-night. For 22 months
World War II, according to the Communist Party, was a "British
Imperialist War. ' ' When Russia was attacked by Hitler on the 22d day
of June, 1941, the war suddenly became a "People's War." In order
to secure all possible aid to Soviet Russia the Communist Party of the
United States did everything possible to play down their former brazen
announcements for the destruction of the government. The Communist
Party, as a political entity, was deceptively " dissolved, " and the Com-
munist Political Association was created in its stead. The Communist
Third International (Comintern) was allegedly dissolved in 1943
for the same reason. When the shooting was over and Stalin's Russia
was saved, Jacques Duclos, French Communist leader, acting as the
Kremlin's mouthpiece, attacked Earl Browder, titular head of the
Communist Party of the United States, declaring that he had made a
gross ideological blunder in dissolving the party. It should be noted here
that the Duclos criticism of Browder and the American Communist Party
applies with equal force to the alleged dissolution of the Communist
Third International (Comintern). The ruse employed by Browder at
the instigation of his masters in the Kremlin had served its purpose, and
Browder was deposed, and the party resumed its original character by
liquidating the Communist Political Association. The alleged abolition
of the Comintern has not yet been repudiated. It is obvious that this
Communist tactic has not yet fully served its purpose. It will be con-
tinued for diplomatic reasons conformable to present Soviet foreign
policy. Very few informed persons are so gullible as to believe that the
UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA 9
Comintern was ever dissolved. Very few informed persons were deceived
by the alleged dissolution of the Communist Party of the United States
in its ruse of name-changing. While Earl Browder was compelled to read
the lines prepared for him and undergo the apparent humiliation of
being deposed as the head of the party in the United States, his sacrifice
was recognized by his masters in the Kremlin. He is now a book salesman
for the Comintern and registered as an agent of a foreign government
(Soviet Russia) with the Department of State in October of 1946.
WHAT CAN A FEW COMMUNISTS DO?
Many informed persons, thoroughly understanding the objectives
of the Communist Party, continue to parrot Comintern propaganda to
the effect that the Communists constitute a very small minority organ-
ization in the United States and are powerless to carry their objectives
into effect against an overwhelming patriotic majority. This is purely
Communist propaganda, unwittingly repeated by people who should
know better. This type of propaganda is designed to divert attention
from Communist machinations while the party members infiltrate every
phase of American life. About 30,000 Communists were able to overthrow
the Kerensky Government in Russia, and it always has been a funda-
mental Communist theory that the membership of the party be held to
a small, compact group of professional revolutionaries.
Mikhail Aleksandrovich Bakunin, who worked with Marx and
Engels until he was expelled from the First International in 1872,
declared :
"A hundred revolutionists, firmly bound together, would be
enough for the international organization of all Europe. "
William Z. Foster, who replaced Earl Browder as the chief spokes-
man for the Communist Party of the United States, in speaking of the
party on page 28 of his book, The Russian Revolution, says: "It is not
a mass organization. Mere numbers mean nothing to it * * *. The masses
would only clog up the organization machinery and prevent the smooth
working of these militants. The Communist Party is the distilled essence
of working class energy and revolutionary spirit. It is the little leaven
that leaveneth the whole lump. Its influence and power is enormously
greater than its small numbers would indicate. ' '
The movement of the masses toward revolution is part of the day-
to-day tactic of the Communist Party. This, they believe, is best accom-
plished by involving non-Communists in agitational programs. The non-
Communists are easily handled in "mass organizations " directed and
controlled by well placed Communist functionaries. Ruth McKenney,
a member of the Communist Party, boldly reveals this technique of the
party in the New Masses, May 31, 1938. She said :
"The Communist Party of America operates on almost every
conceivable battlefront of this country, in trade unions, in farm
organizations, in ladies clubs, in Harlem, in the deep South, among
the intellectuals. All this busy and effective scurrying around is
efficiently centralized. ' '
10 UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA
The Manifesto of the American Communist Party adopted in April
of 1934 reveals the methods by which America is to be brought to a
condition of chaos, at which time, the small, compact group of Com-
munist conspirators will be enabled to seize power. The aforesaid Mani-
festo makes the following declaration :
"The revolutionary way out of the crisis begins with the fight
for unemployment insurance, against wage-cuts, for wage increases,
for relief to the farmers through demonstrations, strikes, general
strikes, leading up to the seizure of power, to the destruction of
capitalism by a revolutionary workers ' government. ' '
WILLIAM Z. FOSTER
William Z. Foster replaced Earl Browder as Secretary of the Com-
munist Party of the United States. It is reasonable to conclude that the
selection of Foster was no mere accident, and that his selection was fore-
ordained by Stalin. It is very natural to speculate on Foster's leader-
ship of the party and the change in revolutionary tempo to be expected
under his guidance. A general idea of what to expect is contained in
Foster 's public statements. The committee, heretofore, has quoted Foster
at considerable length. As this question is of great importance, it will
not be out of place to again call attention to some of Foster 's statements.
In 1930 Foster declared under oath that ' ' The workers of this coun-
try and the workers of every country have only one flag and that is the
Red flag. That is the flag of the proletarian revolution. ' ' He emphatically
declared that the aims of the Communist Party of the United States are
the same as those of the Communists in Russia and throughout the world.
He explained that "the workers, the revolutionary workers, in all the
capitalist countries are an oppressed class who are held in subjection by
their respective capitalist governments and their attitude toward these
governments is the abolition of these governments and the establishment
of Soviet governments. ' ' He brazenly stated that :
' ' The conquest of power by the proletariat does not mean peace-
ful capturing of ready-made bourgeois state machinery by means
of a parliamentary majority. The bourgeois resorts to every means
of violence and terror to safeguard and strengthen its predatory
property and political domination. Like the feudal nobility of the
past, the bourgeoisie cannot abandon its historical position to the
new class without a desperate and frantic struggle ; hence the vio-
lence of the bourgeoisie can only be suppressed by the stern violence,
of the proletarist. ' '
In its 1943 report the committee quoted Foster, speaking as the
Communist Party nominee for President of the United States, as
follows :
"We must utilize this campaign to carry on a widespread and
energetic propaganda to teach the workers that the Capitalist class
would never allow the working class peaceably to take control of the
State. That is their strong right arm, and they will fight violently
to the end to retain it. We working class must shatter the capitalist
State. We must build a new State, a new government, a workers'
UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA 11
and farmers' government, the Soviet government of the United
States * * *. In all our agitation around these demands we must
emphasize the absolute necessity for the proletarian revolution. Our
strategy is to utilize these immediate demands to educate and
organize the masses in preparation for the final revolutionary strug-
gle, which will abolish capitalism altogether. Reliance upon imme-
diate demands would lead us merely to reformism. Our party is a
revolutionary party * * *."
FOSTER ON FORCE AND VIOLENCE
Does William Z. Foster believe that the Communist Party can come
to power in the United States by the election of its nominee for President
and a majority of Communists elected to the House of Representatives
and the United States Senate ? The following is Foster 's answer to this
important question :
"No Communist, no matter how many votes he should secure
in a national election, could, even if he would, become President of
the present government. When a Communist heads a government of
the United States (and that day will come just as surely as the sun
rises), the government will not be a capitalistic government, but a
Soviet government and behind this government will stand the Red
Army to enforce the dictatorship of the proletariat. * '
It should be quite obvious that William Z. Foster owes his first
allegiance to the Soviet Union; that the only flag recognized by him
and his party is the Red Flag and that he looks with scorn on demo-
cratic procedures and seeks power by revolutionary force and vio-
lence rather than through a parliamentary majority. He looks with con-
tempt upon the ballot and relies upon revolution and a Red Army for
the accomplishment of Communist objectives in the United States.
COMMUNIST PARTY UNDERGROUND
The committee heretofore has reported on the Communist under-
ground; the Lenin-Stalin theory of legal work and illegal work, legal
methods and illegal methods, their combinations and the technique to
be used in their application.
The following statement is from the monthly ideological publica-
tion, The Communist (July, 1922) :
"A truly revolutionary (i.e., Communist) party can never be
' legal' in the sense of having its purpose harmonize with the pur-
pose of the laws made by the capitalist state, or its acts conform
with the intent of capitalist law. Hence, to call a Communist Party
'legal' means that its existence is tolerated by the capitalist state
because of circumstances which embarrass the capitalist state's
efforts to suppress it. The revolutionary party can avoid suppression
into a completely secret existence only by one or both of two means.
"(a) By taking advantage of the pretense of 'democratic
forms' which the capitalist state is obliged to maintain. By this
12 UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA
means the Communists can maintain themselves in the open with
a restricted program while establishing themselves with mass
support.
' * ( b ) ( Later stage. ) By commanding such mass support among
wide masses of workers that enable them to proclaim publicly their
final object in the revolutionary struggle and maneuver openly to
attain this object regardless of the desire of the capitalist state
to suppress it * * *."
***,***
"As to whether a 'legal' Communist Party is possible, the test
is whether the full communist program (including the principle of
mass action and the violent overthrow of the capitalist state) together
with affiliation with Communist Internationale, can publicly be
maintained without the party being suppressed * * *."
"The underground machinery of the Communist Party is not
merely a temporary device to be liquidated as soon as the Communist
Party with its full program can be announced in the open. The
underground machinery is for permanent use." (Committee's
italics)
*******
"There is never a time, previous to the final overthrow of the
capitalist state, when a truly revolutionary party does not have to
perform a considerable amount of work free from police knowledge
and interference." (Committee's italics.)
The committee has found much evidence of the work of the Com-
munist underground in California. The use of aliases by Communist
Party members is strongly indicative of the underground technique used
by the party. Herbert K. Sorrell is a California example of a Communist
Party underground member. In its partial report submitted to the Legis-
lature February 19, 1946, the committee set forth the testimony of two
outstanding experts on questioned documents, Clark Sellers and John L.
Harris. These experts had examined the admitted handwriting of Her-
bert K. Sorrell and compared it with the Communist Party documents
containing similar writing by one Herbert Stewart. Both experts testi-
fied that the handwriting in both instances was the work of the same
man, namely, Herbert K. Sorrell. Thus in spite of the denials of Sorrell,
it was conclusively proved that he was known as Herbert Stewart in the
Communist Party underground in California.
The congressional committee on Un-American Activities reported
June 7, 1946, that the use of aliases extended to national leaders of the
Communist Party. William Z. Foster, Secretary of the Communist Party
of the United States, used the name "Comrade Borden," during the
Communist Party convention at Bridgman, Michigan, August 20, 1922.
Earl Browder, the committee states, used the name of "Ward" and
Jay Lovestone was known as "Wheat" at the same convention. "Com-
rade Carr" was L. E. Katterfield. Robert Minor has used the name of
"James Ballister" and Israel Amter has used the name of "Ford."
UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA 13
DOES STALIN PLAN WORLD CONQUEST?
Nikolai Bukharin, liquidated old Bolshevik, had the following to
say in Program of the Communists :
"A thoughtful survey of the position reveals to us that Russia
is the only country in which the proletariat has yet overthrown the
bourgeois state. The rest of the world is still possessed by the cap-
italist exploiters. Soviet Russia with her workers and peasants gov-
ernment is like a tiny island in the stormy ocean of capitalism.
Should the victory of the Russian workers be followed by the victory
of the German and Australian workers there would still remain the
great robber states of capitalism. Should the entire capitalism of
Europe give way under the hammer stroke of the working class, there
would still remain the capitalism of Asia, headed by the robbers of
Japan, and the capitalism of America, headed by the enormous
robbers league named the United States of America.
These capitalist states will not surrender their position without
a struggle. They will fight desperately in order to prevent the pro-
letariat from securing world power. The greater the onrush of the
proletariat the more precarious becomes the position of capitalism,
the more must it strain every muscle in its fight against the workers^
When the proletariat has been victorious in one, two, or three coun-
tries, it will come into unavoidable collision with the capitalist world
still remaining, which will endeavor to crush, with blood and iron,
the attempt of the workers to liberate themselves. Therefore, even
after the revolution we must understand that there will be, in some
countries, a transition period between Capitalism and Communism,
in which the workers will be faced by a hard struggle against their
enemies, both at home and abroad.*'
Hitler, in Mein Kampf, early published his blueprint for world
conquest. Comparatively few people read Mein Kampf, and those who
did shrugged their shoulders and promptly forgot about it. World War II
was the result. Stalin, with equal boldness, has published the Communist
blueprint for world conquest, and, judging from international con-
ferences on peace and the statements and actions of the representatives
of democratic nations, it would appear that Stalin 's brazen announcement
for world domination is being ignored as fully as was Hitler's warning
in Mein Kampf. If Soviet foreign policy is to be understood, Stalin 's plan
for world conquest must be studied.
The committee believes that the following quotations are of real
importance to California and the United States. Although Lenin is
reverently quoted it should be remembered that it is Dictator Stalin
speaking.
In Problems of Leninism, the dictator makes the following statement :
"What does the impossibility of the complete final victory of
Socialism in a single country without the victory of the revolution
in other countries mean?
' ' It means the impossibility of having a full guarantee against
intervention, and against the restoration of the bourgeois order,
14 UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA
without the victory of the revolution in at least a number of coun-
tries. To deny this indisputable fact is to abandon internationalism,
to abandon Leninism.
' * ' We are living ' Lenin writes ' not merely in a state, but in a
system of states: and it is inconceivable that the Soviet republic
should continue to exist for a long period side by side with imperi-
alistic states. Ultimately one or the other must conquer. Meanwhile
a number of terrible clashes between the Soviet republic and the
bourgeois states is inevitable. This means that if the proletariat, as
the ruling class, wants to and will rule, it must prove it also by
military organization '. ' ' (Committee's italics.)
*******
"Tactics deal with the forms of struggle and the forms of
organization of the proletariat, with their changes and correlations.
Tactics may have to be changed several times in a period of a given
stage of the revolution according to the flow and ebb, the rise and
fall of the revolution.
# * * maneuvering with the reserve calculated to effect a
correct retreat when the enemy is strong, when retreat is inevitable,
when the disadvantages of engaging in a battle forced upon us by the
enemy are obvious, when retreat is the only way under the given
alignment of forces to ward off a blow from the vanguard and keep
the reserves intact.
*******
"The object of this strategy is to gain time, to disintegrate the
enemy and to accumulate forces in order to assume the offensive
later."
It appears that the Russian dictator's words are carefully chosen
and that his intentions are clearly stated. So that no misunderstanding
be permitted to develop, Stalin elaborates upon the theme of world
revolution. Again quoting from Leninism:
1 ' If the postulate that the final victory of socialism in the first
country to emancipate itself is impossible without the combined
efforts of the proletarians of several countries is true, then it is
equally true that the more effective the assistance rendered by the
first socialist country to the workers and toiling masses of all other
countries, the more rapid and thorough will be the development of
the world revolution.
' l By what should this assistance be expressed ?
' ' It should be expressed, first, by the victorious country achiev-
ing the ' utmost possible in one country for the development, support
and stirring up of the revolution in all countries. '
"Second, it should be expressed in that the 'victorious prole-
tariat' of one country, 'having expropriated the capitalists and
organized its own socialist production, would rise * * * against
the rest of the capitalist world, attract to itself the oppressed classes
of other countries, raise revolts among them against the capitalists,
and in the event of necessity, come out even with armed force against
the exploiting classes and their states'." (Committee's italics.)
UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA 15
In these quotations Stalin is telling the world as clearly as he can
that it is his intention to build a gigantic arsenal within the Soviet
Union, plant fifth columns throughout the capitalist nations of the
world and, when the time is ripe, make his bid for world conquest and
domination. He intends to gain as much as possible by diplomatic maneu-
vers designed to create two centers upon the surface of the globe. He
foresees a Soviet center in Europe and a capitalist center in the United
States. He plans for conflict between these two centers and believes that
the Soviet Union will conquer. If the committee's summation in this
regard should appear fantastic or a distortion of Stalin's statement, the
following quotation from Stalin 's Leninism should remove every doubt.
"Thus, in the further progress of development of the inter-
national revolution, two world centres will be formed : the socialist
centre, attracting to itself all the countries gravitating toward
socialism, and the capitalist centre, attracting to itself all the coun-
tries gravitating toward capitalism. The fight between these two
centres for the conquest of world economy will decide the fate of
capitalism and communism throughout the whole world, for the final
defeat of world capitalism means the victory of socialism in the
arena of world economy."
Stalin believes that conflict between capitalism and Communism is
unavoidable. Lenin, whom he quotes with admiration and approval,
believed that such a conflict is inevitable, and he looked upon it as the
greatest difficulty in the Russian revolution. Because Stalin believes that
two diametrically opposed economic systems cannot exist peacefully in
the world together he must stir up world revolution or go down to
ignominious defeat at the hands of the oppressed Russian people them-
selves.
The committee finds that Communism is a world revolutionary move-
ment and that Stalin, as the head of the world Communist parties (for the
protection of the Soviet Union) must follow the course charted by Marx
and Engels blazed by Lenin and Trotsky, and now traveled inexorably
by Stalin the road to world conquest.
The seeds of "World War III have already been sown. Only a firm
government in Washington, a firm and sound foreign policy in the State
Department and a people united in American traditions and liberties,
can block the conflict that Lenin and Stalin have both declared to be
inevitable.
SEVENTH PERIOD OF COMMUNIST STRATEGY
In the committee 's first report, submitted to the Legislature in 1943,
six periods of Communist strategy in the United States were analyzed.
The First Period began with the creation of the Communist Party in 1919
and meticulously followed Soviet foreign policy through its needs and
ambitions until the curtain on the Sixth Period was dramatically raised
with the invasion of Soviet Russia by the Nazi armies on June 22, 1941.
A Seventh Period of Communist Strategy in the United States was
predicted by the committee in its 1945 Report.
END OF SIXTH PERIOD
The Sixth Period may be said to have ended with the final defeat of
Nazi Germany. It marked the end of Communist pretended collaboration
with capitalism.
The twistings and squirmings, the intellectual somersaults and
mental gymnastics of the American Communist since his appearance on
the American scene in 1919 should convince the most gullible American
that this phenomenon is merely a puppet show manipulated by the masters
in the Kremlin. It should now be clear to most people that these American
Quislings, driven onward by a psychological sense of guilt, incompetency,
inferiority and frustration, seek compensation by the destruction of the
extant order with the hope of ego-flating reward and recognition in the
new regime under the dictatorship of the proletariat.
The Communist revolutionaries never contemplated seizure of gov-
ernment power through thousands of members organized in military bat-
talions. Most Americans believe that something of this kind is meant when
the Communist revolution by force and violence is mentioned. This belief
is augmented by clever Communist propaganda to the effect that a small
Communist minority is incapable of violent revolution against an over-
whelming majority. The truth of the situation is that the Communists
expect to lead the non-Communist majority of the American people in
revolt against the government, to seize power when the government
totters, turn on the non-Communist majority, liquidate outstanding
opponents, abolish the Congress and state legislatures, and immediately
establish the dictatorship.
Armed with the principles of revolutionary Marxism plus the prac-
tical revolutionary experience of Lenin and Stalin, the American Com-
munist goes about his work of subversion and sabotage with a thorough-
ness that is a little short of amazing. The Communist Parties of the world
constitute an international network of espionage. The daily task of sub-
version and sabotage has been minutely sketched by Marx, Engels,
Lenin and Stalin, and the chief leaders and functionaries are thoroughly
acquainted with the techniques for the jobs assigned to them. The over-ail
Communist strategy for world revolution and conquest is charted in the
Kremlin from which headquarters important orders-of-the-day fre-
quently issue. Thus all major Communist activities are coordinated one
2 L-2T ( 17 )
18 UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA
with the other. A continuous stream of valuable and strategically impor-
tant information moves from the Communist Party of each country into
the secret archives of the Comintern in Moscow.
The committee in its 1945 Report pointed out on page 98 thereof that
the Communist, as early as November, 1935, had analyzed a future pos-
sible alliance between Soviet Russia and Capitalist nations in the event
of a Second World War. "The Soviet Union," said The Communist
(ideological party magazine), "will be forced, in case of war, to ally
herself with capitalist power. If the Soviet Government, even now, is
forced to adapt its diplomatic methods to those of Capitalist allies ; if the
Communist Party of the Soviet Union, even now, disapproves of the
Communist Parties of the countries allied to the Soviet Union in order to
please Capitalist allies and asks them to submit to the demands of their
Capitalist war ministers if this is happening now, there will certainly,
in the event of war, be a still greater danger that the war policy of the
Soviet Union may be influenced by the pressure of her Capitalist allies,
and that therefore her revolutionary working-class character may be
obscured or diluted. In view of this danger, International Socialism must
insist that the Soviet Government conduct the war as a revolutionary war,
a war of propaganda with a view to bringing about the working-class
revolution in Germany, and to facilitate in the other countries the use of
war for the overthrow of the Capitalist regime * * *. Socialism must
not forget that the aims of the Capitalist governments allied on the side
of the Soviet Union are entirely different from its own. It must therefore
maintain, with regard to these governments, its complete independence.
It must not accept political responsibility for their conduct of the war.
It must not enter into a 'civil peace' with them." (Committee italics.)
The committee in its 1945 Report (page 98) reproduced another quo-
tation from the same publication (The Communist, November, 1935)
which forecast the postwar plan of the Soviet Union to dominate and
communize European nations. The quotation is as follows :
1 ' The capitalist governments will go to war with the intention
of destroying Germany's power forever * * * Our aim can only be
to bring about the working-class revolution in Germany, and, as soon
as the revolution is victorious, immediately to make peace with the
new working-class Germany * * * and to bring about the union of
all the European nations and the federations of Socialist workers
and peasants States * * *.
1 ' The capitalist governments will at first try to defeat Germany
in alliance with the Soviet Union. Every victory of the Soviet Union
will add to her reputation in Europe and Asia, and thereby endanger
the Capitalist system. Soon the countries allied to the Soviet Union
will be more afraid of the victories of their ally than of the victories
of the common enemy. Having first tried to defeat Germany they
will, on the very day after the common victory, turn on the Soviet
Union in order to save the Capitalist system. Against this, our aim
must be first to defeat Fascism by a common effort, and then to
organize in common with the Soviet Union and the victorious German
revolution the Socialist economy of Europe.
UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA 19
" Therefore the Socialist parties of the democratic countries
allied to the Soviet Union, from the first day of the war, must make
the masses understand the difference between their own aims and
those of the Capitalist classes. ' ' ( Committee italics. )
As has been said before, there can be no better authority for the
actual aims and purposes of world-wide Communism than Joseph Stalin
himself. The following quotations from his own writings are of great
importance. They are taken from Problems of Leninism, by Joseph Stalin,
International Publishers, New York, 1935 (Second Printing) :
11 International imperialism, with all the might of its capital
and its highly organized military technique, which represents a real
force, a real fortress of international capital, could under no circum-
stances, under no possible conditions, live side by side with the Soviet
Republic, both because of its objective situation and because of the
economic interest of the Capitalist class which were incorporated in
it ; it could not do this because of commercial ties and of international
financial relationships. A conflict is inevitable. This is the greatest
difficulty in the Russian revolution, its greatest historical problem :
the necessity to solve international problems, the necessity to call
forth the world revolution. 77
*******
' * Such is the inner character in the basic ideal of the proletarian
revolution.
' ' Can such a radical transformation of the old bourgeois system
of society be achieved without a violent revolution, without the dicta-
torship of the proletariat?
' ' Obviously not. To think that such a revolution can be carried
out peacefully within the framework of bourgeois democracy, which
is adapted to the combination of the bourgeoisie, means one of two
things. It means either madness, and the loss of normal, human
understanding, or else an open and gross repudiation of the prole-
tarian revolution.
*******
' ' Then there is the question : can a country in which the dictator-
ship of the proletariat has been established, consider itself fully
guaranteed against foreign intervention, and consequently against
the restoration of the old order, without the victory of the revolution
in a number of other countries, a question which must be answered
in the negative."
*******
"For what else is our country, 'the country that is building
socialism ', if not the base of the world revolution 1 ' '
*******
The foregoing authoritative quotations from Stalin are set forth here
as a back-drop for an analysis of the Seventh Period of Communist
strategy in the United States the era in which this report is being pre-
pared. In many respects this period is the most interesting of all, not only
because it is current and therefore necessarily of interest, highlighted as
it is by the international situation, but because of an interesting develop-
ment in the small and compact official family of the American Communist
Party.
20 UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA
The committee, in former reports, presented voluminous documen-
tary evidence describing the attitude of the Communist Party of the
United States of America during the period of the Nonaggression Pact
between the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany. During this period Ameri-
can Communists called President Roosevelt a war-monger, opposed con-
scription, ridiculed the government 's effort in preparedness, created new
and potent front organizations such as the American Peace Mobilization,
fomented strikes in key defense industries, raised the slogan, "The Tanks
Are Not Coming/' and adopted generally an active program designed to
isolate the United States and to strengthen Stalin 's hand in his machiavel-
lian partnership with Hitler. The invasion of Soviet Russia by the armies
of Germany resulted in a breath-taking party line reversal on the part of
American Communists. The American Peace Mobilization was immedi-
ately liquidated, Roosevelt ceased to be a war-monger and became an
over-night hero, and, though the United States was not prepared for
its own defense, the "Second Front" slogan was raised by the Com-
munists immediately to relieve the Nazi pressure on the Soviet Union. The
British Imperialist War became a "People's War" within 24 hours after
the first Nazi Panzer Division had swept into the Ukraine. The epidemic
of strikes in defense industries ceased, and the Communist Party led the
' ' No Strike Pledge ' ' in the labor movement.
After the United States had been drawn into the European conflict,
and as the German armies swept from one Russian town to another, it
became increasingly evident that full collaboration between the Soviet
Union and its number one capitalist enemy, the United States, was
inevitable. For the sake of the Red Fatherland the Communist Party of
the United States embarked upon a gigantic appeasement program, care-
fully avoiding any act or statement that might irritate the capitalist
nation from which flowed an ever mounting supply of materials of war
to the crumbling Soviet Union.
In 1943 Moscow announced that the Comintern (the Third Com-
munist International), created by Lenin in 1919 as a high board of
strategy for world revolution and to which all Communist Parties
throughout the world were affiliated, had been completely liquidated.
This gesture on the part of Comintern strategists was designed to lull
Russia 's capitalist allies into the belief that the Soviet Union had aban-
doned its ideas of world conquest and domination. Stalin undoubtedly
believed that this deceptive act of appeasement would hurry the ' ' Second
Front " and accelerate the time for the allied invasion of the Continent
of Europe.
TEHERAN CONFERENCE
Earl Browder, for 14 years the leader of the American Communist
movement, wrote a book shortly after Stalin, Prime Minister Churchill
and President Roosevelt met in their historic conference at Teheran.
Stalin, had he acted in good faith in the alleged dissolution of the
Comintern, would have been guilty of the most heinous Bolshevik crime ;
in his own words he would have "abandoned Leninism and the revolu-
tion. ' ' The Red Fatherland, however, was in great difficulty and in such
case Lenin had counseled that "it is necessary * * * to use any ruse,
cunning * * * concealments of the truth * * *." Undoubtedly the
trusted leaders of the Communist Parties scattered throughout the world
UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA 21
had been advised of the contemplated ruse and thoroughly understood
the role they were expected to play in Stalin's brazen act of diplomatic
cunning. Browder was selected as the particular victim to be offered at the
altar of "Moribund Capitalism." It is to be believed that he entered into
the role with the same enthusiasm that a Bukharin exemplified in his
confessions in Stalin's blood Purge. Tehera Our Path in Peace and War
was his first step on the road to the sacrificial altar. This amazing book
by America 's leading Communist openly advocated the necessity of close
collaboration between Communism and Capitalism against the common
enemy! It foresaw a brilliant future for American capitalist develop-
ment and shoved the Communist world-wide revolution into the obscure
background. As a result the Communist Party of the United States of
America suddenly committed ' ' hari-kari ' ' and emerged as an innocuous
debating society, the Communist Political Association of the United States
of America. Contemporaneously with this appeasement gesture, the
Young Communist League met in convention, liquidated itself and came
forth as American Youth for Democracy. The same method of deception
and cunning was exercised everywhere the Communists had tainted the
American scene. Even the monthly ideological publication, The Com-
munist, was relaunched in a camouflaged format dubbed Political Affairs.
The spots of the leopard had been painted over, but, as subsequent events
revealed, the spots were there nevertheless. The traitorous stench
remained.
Every student of Communism was well aware that the apparent
change in philosophic attitude enunciated by Earl Browder was the
result of positive instructions from the Kremlin.
SCHNEIDERMAN ON THE KREMLIN LINE
William Schneiderman, Secretary of the Communist Party of Cali-
fornia, explained the substance of Communist theory for the Sixth Period
of strategy in the United States when he testified before the Committee
in San Francisco (Committee Transcript, Volume XXIV, pp. 285-288) :
Q. (By Mr. Combs) : Isn 't it a fact that the essence of the Com-
munist ideology is found in chapter four of the textbook that I have
just mentioned, the chapter being entitled Historical and Dialectical
Materialism?
A. That gives a basis for the philosophy of Marxism ; not neces-
sarily all of the Marxian ideology.
Q. What is meant from a Communist standpoint or a Marxist
standpoint by ' ' dialectical materialism ? ' '
A. It 's a scientific method of thought which describes the laws
of motion of society, and that 's about the limit that I could give you
verbally. If you want a more precise definition, I'll be glad to write
it and have it included in the record.
Q. No, it was a preliminary question. My next question: Do
they teach embryonic students historical and dialectic materialism T
A. I have never taught the subject, so I couldn't say. It's a
rather complicated subject.
Q. Yes, I know.
22 UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA
A. It's a subject for more advanced students. We in public
activities discuss philosophy, naturally. A small minority of the
people are interested in the philosophy.
Q. But the Communist ideology was essentially predicated on
philosophy?
A. Yes, materialistic philosophy.
Q. And still is?
A. Yes.
Q. Now, Mr. Schneiderman, you recall when the Comintern or
the Third International was dissolved, do you not ?
A. Yes.
Q. Was there any change in the essential attitude of the Com-
munist Party after the dissolution of the Comintern, so far as its
basic ideas and objects were concerned?
A. No.
Q. It remained the same afterwards as it did before ?
A. That's right.
Q. Has there been any change in the basic objectives and pur-
poses and ideology of the Communist movement in the United States
after the formation of the Communist Political Association f
A. Yes, there has. As a matter of fact, even before the forma-
tion of the Political Association.
Q. How long before ?
A. I would date it about January of this year.
Q. January 1st?
A. The month of January.
Q. And what event brought about that change?
A. The event which caused us to revise our estimates of what
is likely to happen was the Teheran Conference that took place
between the American, British and Soviet Governments.
Q. Now, Mr. Schneiderman
A. (Interrupting) Just another sentence or two we came to
the conclusion that this marked a basic and fundamental change
in the whole world situation by bringing about a world coalition, and
instead of fighting each other we saw a long and indefinite period
of peace and stable relations in all countries as a result of the victory
in this war, and we came to a conclusion as a result of this coalition
and cooperation on an international scale that resulted from the con-
ference at Teheran that American capitalism had a very bright
future of prosperity, strength and stability; for the first time it
found a world market which could take care of all the goods this
country could possibly produce.
Q. You have given an excellent example of the process of dia-
lectic materialism?
A. I suppose you could call it that.
Q. In other words, the attitude of the party in this country
changed because of the fact it views these events through the lenses
of Marxism or dialectical materialism, isn 't that true 1
UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA 23
A. That's right.
Q. Did the same change of attitude occur when the Germans
invaded the Soviet Union in June, 1941 ?
A. What do you mean, the same change of attitude ?
Q. Was it again the application of dialectical materialism that
resulted in that change of attitude ?
A. No. I believe that many people who are not Marxists devel-
oped a change of attitude on the world situation.
Q. Unquestionable we could
A. (Interrupting) We found the change of the history that
was marked by Munich, that is, appeasement appeasement of
Hitler, and that this had changed into an entirely different war
because of the attack by the Germans on the Soviet Union, and it
was recognized by the American Government, and they changed their
views and pronouncements very considerably after June, 1941.
Q. Getting back to the basic question, wouldn't you say that
was a change of attitude of the Communist working of dialectic
materialism again?
A. I suppose so.
DOROTHY HEALY ON "BROWDERISM"
The committee subpenaed Dorothy Healy (formerly Dorothy Ray)
at its Los Angeles hearing, January 2, 1946. Since Mrs. Healy was, at
the time of the hearing, Secretary of the Communist Party of Los Angeles
County, and had been a delegate to the National Convention of the Com-
munist Party of the United States in New York at which the Browder
changes were adopted, her testimony is most illuminating :
Q. (By Mr. Combs) : You are familiar, Mrs. Healy, are you
not, with a convention which was held in New York by the Com-
munist Party at which it was determined to change the name from
the Communist Party of the United States to the Communist
Political Association f
A. I am familiar only through reading about it.
Q. But you are familiar in a general way from your reading,
are you not?
A. That is correct.
Q. To what would you attribute that action?
A. Would you make the question a little clearer, Mr. Combs?
Q. Yes. Why, in your opinion, was that change in name made ?
A. I believe the change in the name was made to correspond at
that time with what was the approach in the thinking of the Ameri-
can Communist Party, that it was not functioning as a political party
but more as an educational association within a country.
Q. And you say that was the opinion of the membership of the
Communist Party as a whole?
A. Obviously.
Q. And the change was made, wasn *t it ?
A. That is correct.
24 UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA
Q. And about when was that ?
A. I believe it was 1943, but I am not positive. I don 't have any
records.
Q. Late in 1943 or early in '44 ?
A. Somewhere about that time. I am not certain of the exact
date.
Q. And since that time the organization has functioned as the
Communist Political Association f
A. Well, until July, 1945, it functioned as a political association.
Q. Are you familiar with a monthly magazine which has been
published for a number of years under the name, "The Com-
munist"?
A. That is correct.
Q. It changed its name to "Political Affairs," did it not?
A. Yes.
Q. About the same time or shortly thereafter?
A. I would presume so.
Q. And the Young Communist League met in a convention in
New York and changed its name to American Youth for Democracy,
did it not ?
A. That I can't answer. I don't remember.
Q. Do you know anything about it?
A. Only what I was reading in the Tenney Committee statement
in 1943.
Q. To the effect that that was what happened?
A. That was your statement, yes.
Q. We expect to prove it at this hearing.
A. I think you could probably call people in to discuss it. I
don 't know what you are going to prove.
Q. Did you read the book which was written by Mr. Earl
Browder, "Tehera Our Path in Peace and War"?
A. I did.
Q. You recall that he predicted that there was opportunity for
collaboration between American capitalism and Socialist ideology?
A. That is right.
Q. Do you think that had anything to do with the change in the
policy of the Communist Party of the United States insofar as it
met in a session in New York and changed its name to Communist
Political Association f
A. I don 't think there is any question of it.
Q. Do you think the idea was an original one with Mr. Browder ?
A. I think so.
Q. And concurred in by the rest of the membership of the Com-
munist Party as a whole throughout the United States ?
A. For a short time.
Q. For how long ?
UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA 25
A. Approximately 18 months.
Q. And then did they decide they had been pursuing the wrong
path?
A. That is correct.
Q. What brought that conclusion about, if you know?
A. Life itself, Mr. Combs, established that Mr. Browder 's
theory that the American capitalists were intelligent enough to
realize that they should voluntarily increase the wages of the work-
ers so that there would be no depression was not going to be borne
out. The attempts at wage cuts, drives against labor, sabotage of the
United Nations theory, the whole approach toward world collabora-
tion certainly proved that Mr. Browder was pipe-dreaming.
Q. Up to that time, how long had he been in charge of the
Communist Party ?
A. I don't remember the exact date when Mr. Browder was
elected general secretary of the Communist Party, but I would say
that certainly within some 18 to 20 years that he had been in the
leadership, probably more than that, of the American Communist
Party.
Q. Yes. Do you read the Daily Worker of New York from time
to time?
A. Regularly.
Q. That is the official publication of the Communist Party in
New York, isn't it?
A. Do you have one present? I think it is established by the
masthead.
Q. It says so, doesn't it?
A. I said the Masthead would establish the relationship to the
Communist Party.
Q. Did you read the issue of May 21, 1945 ?
A. I think so.
Q. That is the one in which the Duclos letter appeared?
A. I certainly did.
Q. Who was Jacques Duclos?
A. Jacques Duclos was one of the leaders of the French Com-
munist Party.
Q. Secretary, wasn't he, in 1945?
A. I can't state that as a fact. I don't know. I wouldn't be
surprised. I know he is one of the leaders.
Q. Did you ever hear of Maurice Thorez?
A. Yes/
Q. Who is he?
A. He is one of the leaders, outstanding leaders, of the French
Communist Party.
Q. Do you know where Jacques Duclos was during the German
occupation of France?
A. I certainly do not.
26 UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA
Q. Did you ever read anything about his whereabouts ?
A. No, I can 't say I have.
Q. Did you ever read anything to the effect that he was a mem-
ber of the Executive Committee of the Third International?
A. The Third International was dissolved before the war, so
I doubt whether that had anything to do with his whereabouts.
Q. I didn't imply it did, but did you ever read that he had ever
been a member of the Executive Committee of the Third Inter-
national ?
A. I can't say I remember his name identified with it, but I
will say it wouldn't surprise me if he was one of the members of
the Executive Committee of the Third International, inasmuch as he
is one of the world's outstanding Communists.
The Chairman : If I may correct you, Mrs. Healy, the Third
International (Comintern) was dissolved during the war, wasn't it?
^ The Witness : I doubt that. As I remember the Third Inter-
national was dissolved before that, but as I say, I don't have any
facts before me.
The Chairman: The date is a historical date and well estab-
lished.
Q. (By Mr. Combs) : You read the Duclos letter, did you not?
A. I did.
Q. The Duclos letter appeared in the May 24, 1945, issue of
The Daily Worker and it had theretofore been published in a Com-
munist magazine in France, had it not ?
A. That is right.
Q. And in the article which appeared in the Daily Worker
there was an introduction by Mr. Browder, wasn 't there :
A. That is right.
Q. And isn't it true that Mr. Browder stated in effect, and I am
quoting, ' l Unquestionably while this is a personal article by Jacques
Duclos it reflects the general trend of opinion of European Marxists
in relation to America and thus demands our most respectful atten-
tion"?
A. That is correct.
Q. The general tenor of the Duclos article was to take to task
the American Communist Party for having engaged in what
Mr. Duclos termed a notorioiis revisionism of Marxism?
A. That is right an opinion which was later concurred in by
the entire American Communist Party.
Q. I was coming to that. He went on to state, did he not, that
Mr. Browder had committed a Marxian sin in predicting that there
could be any collaboration between Socialism and American Cap-
italism ?
A. Well, he certainly didn 't use that terminology.
Q. I said, in effect?
A. Yes.
UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA 27
Q. Let me ask you if you recall this specific language : Duclos
criticized the American Communists because their purpose was, and
now I am quoting, ' ' To make democracy work within the framework
of the present system, which is a false concept of the ways of social
revolution in the United States. ' '
A. I would have to see that. I am sorry, I would have to see that.
But I would presume it is correct.
Q. And that he repudiated Browder 's policy of collaboration
with American Democracy because "it swerved dangerously from
the victorious Marxist-Leninist doctrine, ' ' and he continued to state,
' ' The concept of a long term class peace in the United States, of the
possibility of the suppression of the class-struggle in the postwar
world, and the establishment of harmony between capital and labor,
is a notorious revision of Marxism. " Do you recall that language ?
A. Yes.
Q. Now it was in January, 1944, to be exact, that the name of
the Communist Party changed to the Communist Political Associa-
tion, and at that time the record shows that Mr. Browder had been
the leader of the party for 15 years ; that five days before the Duclos
article appeared, Mr. Browder celebrated his fifty-fourth birthday
and the National Executive Board of the Communist Party in the
Daily Worker for May 20, 1945, had this to say about it : ' ' We express
what all of us feel so deeply about you, the beloved leader of our
movement/* and he was praised for "his bold, mature Marxist lead-
ership," and "we have the highest confidence that under your guid-
ance we shall continue to make an honorable and vital contribution. ' '
Five days thereafter the Duclos letter appeared. It is the same
national committee then accusing Browder of "a crassest form of
opportunism, of being an advocate of reactionary capitalism and
of dispensing intellectual trash in the name of Communism ' ' and so
forth, Daily Worker, May 25, 1945. What, in your opinion, occa-
sioned that abrupt and sudden change-over from lavish praise on
the occasion of Mr. Browder 's birthday and 15 years of leadership
to the castigation of him appearing simultaneously in the article five
days later?
A. I challenge your facts as to its appearing five days later,
because certainly all during the preconvention discussion which went
on nationally in our organization the discussion was primarily on
the Duclos article, but considered expression not only of the leader-
ship of the American Communist Party, but of the rest of the entire
membership participating in this discussion.
Q. May I interrupt I don't want to disturb your train of
thought, but I want to qualify you. You were elected a delegate
to the special convention in New York last year, were you not ?
A. I was.
Q. When the Communist Political Association changed its name
back again to the Communist Party ?
A. I was.
Q. And did you attend the convention?
A. I did.
28 UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA
Q. When did you leave here for New York ?
A. I haven 't the slightest memory of that, Mr. Combs.
Q. About when?
A. I would say about five or six days before the convention was
due to start.
Q. And you got there before the convention started ?
A. A day ahead of time, yes.
Q. How did you travel ?
A. By train.
Q. Did anyone go with you?
A. Yes, 10 delegates.
Q. Who were they?
A. Mr. Combs, I repeat again, I do not name other individuals.
Q. Weren't their names printed in the paper?
A. If they were you have that material. You don 't have to ask
me. You don't have to waste your time, my time, or the stenog-
rapher's time for that information.
Q. Do you remember who they were ?
A. Certainly I remember all of them.
Q. You refuse to testify ?
A. I will tell you. Bill Schneiderman was there. Mr. Sparks
was a delegate.
Q. Ned Sparks?
A. That is right. As a matter of fact, I don't really remember
all the other names of the delegates, but if I did remember them I
am not at all certain that I would tell you, anyway.
Dorothy Healy is an important member of the Communist Party in
California. She previously testified before the committee in San Fran-
cisco. She joined the Young Communist League when she was about 14
years of age, and thereafter affiliated with the Communist Party as an
adult member. She has been arrested and spent time in jail for partici-
pating in various agitations throughout the agricultural areas of the
State. At one time she was married to the brother of William Schneider-
man, for many years Secretary of the Communist Party of California.
She has taught in the Tom Mooney Labor School in San Francisco
(1942). She has been an effective and important member of the Com-
munist Party in this State for many years and as Secretary of the
Communist Party of Los Angeles County she fills a position of trust and
authority in county Communist activities. Her peculiar organizational
talents have recently been utilized by an alleged educational institution
in Los Angeles known as the People's Educational Center.
The record reveals, therefore, that Earl Browder, acting on specific
Kremlin instructions produced Tehera Our Path in Peace and War,
proclaimed collaboration with American capitalists, changed the name of
the Communist Party of the United States together with its revolutionary
policy and, in short, did everything possible to appease American capital
in return for aid to the Bed Fatherland.
UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA 29
BROWDER'S DILEMMA
The Sixth Period of Communist strategy came to an end with the
termination of the war. In conformance with the blueprints for world
domination and conquest carefully mapped by Lenin and Stalin, the
defeat of Hitler heralded the necessity for the revival of the old class
antagonisms between the Communists and capitalist governments, and
these antagonisms were resumed immediately with full vigor. An excuse
to restore the American Communist Party to its full prewar revolutionary
militancy had to be found. There were only two things that Earl Browder
could possibly do. He either had to voluntarily admit that he had ideo-
logically blundered in adopting his capitalist appeasement program, or
submit himself to a critical attack on that ground by someone else. It
would not have been expedient or convincing for the leader of the
American Communist Party to raise his own voice in self-criticism, par-
ticularly after having persevered in his ideological error for 18 months.
To suddenly have reversed himself would have thoroughly convinced the
American public of the deceptive role he had played during the period
of Soviet Russia 's frantic need for military supplies and assistance. The
ruse was shabby enough at best but Muskovite devotees and half-witted
Soviet-Firsters must be kept in line for future Communist window-
dressing. Browder was compelled to make the supreme sacrifice.
The Communist Party of France is probably the strongest arm of
the Comintern outside of the Soviet Union. Stalin could hardly assume
the responsibility in attacking Browder J s * l error ' ' as the Comintern was
still supposed to be nonexistent. Jacques Duclos, leader of the French
Communist Party and confidant of the Kremlin for many years, was
selected as the outstanding Marxist theologian to excoriate Browder for
his heresy, and thus reestablish militant, revolutionary, prewar Com-
munism in the United States. Consequently Duclos penned the critical
article revealing Browder as a blundering Marxist who, caught in the
toils of Capitalist luxury, had betrayed Saint Lenin, Uncle Joe, the
hierarchy of old Bolsheviks (except those liquidated in Stalin's Blood
Purges), and the "toiling masses. " For 18 months prior to the
Duclos epistle not a single American Communist voice had been raised
in criticism of Browder 's policy. For 18 long months every Com-
munist from 13th Street in New York City to Sixth Street in Los Angeles
beat their chests and their Marxist voodoo-drums in applause of Brow-
der 's brilliancy in outwitting Hearst, the Tenney Committee, and Capi-
talism in general. Five days before the appearance of the Duclos letter,
as has been seen, Comrade Browder was swamped with congratulatory
messages from all over the United States on the occasion of his birthday.
He was lavishly praised by the big Commissars and the little comrades
for his 15 years of "outstanding Marxist leadership." While Com-
munism itself is indicative of a neurotic condition, it is simply incon-
ceivable that its followers were such complete idiots as not to have sus-
pected that Comrade Browder was on the wrong track for 18 long months.
Certainly one or two of the comrades must have noticed that Comrade
Browder was "off the beam." If an American Communist mentioned
Comrade Browder J s alleged aberration during this period there certainly
is no record of the fact. It took the Duclos epistle to do the trick. Five
days after heaping praise and adulation on America's "outstanding
Marxist leader, ' ' a short letter from a Frenchman struck with lightning
30 tJN-AMEBICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA
force into the dormant minds of the American Communists. Most amaz-
ingly, it struck instantaneously, simultaneously and contemporaneously,
and extemporaneously brought every comrade to his feet with but a single
idea: Browder has been wrong! For 18 long months they had been his
dupes; they had been hypnotized, while Marx, Lenin, Stalin, and the
' ' toiling masses ' ' had been sold down the river to Hearst and Capitalism.
The lines had been read and the play was over.
It is significant to note that Browder has not shared the fate of
Jay Lovestone or Leon Trotsky. As yet there are no hated "Browder-
ites" to take their places with the Lovestoneites and Trotskyites. This
fact is the real tip-off on the ruse played by Joseph Stalin and his stooges
in the United States.
Browder dutifully made a new pilgrimage to Moscow and finally
emerged as a Soviet book-salesman, at last properly registered as the
agent of a foreign government with the State Department of the United
States.
The pressing need for Communist collaboration with American
capital had passed. Browder, the heroic scapegoat, had played his part.
He was removed from his high position of leadership and replaced by
militant William Z. Foster, who immediately restored the party to its
former blood and thunder role. The old revolutionary hymn of hate is
again being sung by the revived Communist Party of the United States
of America. The party's educational institutions are mushrooming
throughout the country; Communist front organizations and transmis-
sion belts are being created for every possible phase of American life
and the process of infiltrating Communists into strategic positions in
government, labor, American social and economic life is being revived
with fanatical zeal.
THE COMINTERN
In light of the foregoing it should be reiterated here that the Com-
munist Third International (Comintern) was not dissolved in 1943 as
announced by Moscow. Documentary proof was produced by Igor
Gouzenko consisting of official records of the Soviet Embassy in Ottawa.
These documents were turned over to Canadian officials, and they prove
conclusively that the Comintern continues to function with accelerated
activity; directing, correlating and coordinating the treasonable work
of every Communist Party in the world and, moreover, that it is being
utilized as a master instrument in Soviet espionage.
"BROWDERITES" WITHOUT BROWDER
There is every reason to believe that, during his 15 years as the Chief
Communist Commissar in the United States, Browder developed a per-
sonal following of party members. Many of these comrades, because of
their personal admiration for Browder, committed the unpardonable
sin of continuing to agree with his policies even after he was deprived of
his position and was succeeded by William Z. Foster in 1945. It was, of
course, manifestly impractical for the rank-and-file Communists of the
United States to be informed of the real reason for the Duclos attack on
Browder with the attendant "correction" of the "errors" that had
allegedly been committed by him. Consequently the party members who
UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA 31
unwittingly continued their support of Browder's appeasement policies
were summarily expelled when Foster replaced Browder. Announcement
of such expulsions was made public in some instances. Many of the
ordinary rank-and-file members, imbued, perhaps, with some degree of
instinctive intellectual honesty, have either resigned in protest or have
been expelled quietly because they continued to express bewilderment
for this sudden twist in the party line.
Most prominent among the individuals who have severed their con-
nections with the Communist Party is Louis Budenz, a charter member
of the party and one-time editor of the monthly ideological magazine,
The Communist. Budenz was a member of the editorial staff of the New
York Daily Worker, the national organ of the Communist Party of the
United States. When his resignation was made public the news created
a distinct upheaval in Communist Party circles, and, of course, Budenz
has been attacked by the Communist press and the "smear" squads with
the usual viciousness reserved for such cases. Since severing his connec-
tions with the party he has been teaching political science at Fordham
University and is doing a real public service in exposing the traitorous
activities of the Communist Party and its members in the United States.
In San Francisco, Vern Smith, a Communist of many years stand-
ing and former political and labor news editor of the People's Daily
World, was summarily dismissed from the staff of the Communist peri-
odical on August 28, 1946. On the following day, the same publication
carried the news of Smith's expulsion from the Communist Party.
It is not difficult to understand why the abrupt and inconsistent
changes of the Communist Party line throws the rank-and-file member-
ship of the party into a state of bewildered confusion. During the period
of the Hitler-Stalin Pact (August, 1939, to June, 1941), the members of
the party had been told that it was perfectly possible for the Soviet
Union and Nazi Germany to collaborate. When Germany invaded the
Soviet Union the American Communists were then told that the war had
assumed an entirely different character; that the imperialist war had
become a "people's war." The more honest Communists must have
believed that someone had committed a mistake by believing such col-
laboration possible in the first place. Every Communist had been indoc-
trinated with the idea that Capitalism and Communism were deadly
enemies and that it was a fight to the finish with no quarter asked or
given until one or the other conquered. Without warning Comrade
Browder announced that Capitalism and Communism could get on very
well together and apparently all the little comrades believed it. No one
appeared to challenge his statement for 18 months. A French Com-
munist, 3,000 miles away, suddenly awakened to the strange love-fest
going on in America between the Communists and the Capitalists and
started screaming that such collaboration is a Marxist sin and that Com-
rade Browder is a half-wit for ever bavins: conceived such an idea.
Obviously the Duclos denunciation carried the implication that the
American Communists had been as half-witted as their half-witted leader
in following him. Ignoring the contemptuous implication of the Duclos
criticism, the Communist sheep raced to New York, liquidated the
Communist Political Association, deposed poor old blundering Browder,
reestablished the Communist Party of the United States and applauded
the fine Marxism of Commissar Foster, who had followed right along
32 UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA
behind Comrade Browder during the Communist-Capitalist marriage,
now duly annulled. The delegates returned to their respective spheres
of influence, resumed their hostility toward American institutions,
intensified their technique of fomenting strikes, racial antagonism, con-
fusion and chaos; frantically renewed the distribution of the familiar
mimeographed propaganda sheets and now continue to do their level best
in creating upheaval for the purpose of ' l softening up ' ' our government
for the time when Comrade Stalin is ready for the kill.
The committee is aware of the repercussions and confusion that ran
up and down the State -of California as a result of the twists and turns
in the Communist Party line, together with the attendant resignations
and expulsions of dissident members from the Community Party. The
hard, militant, thoroughly indoctrinated and disciplined core of Com-
munist professional revolutionary cadres remain intact. The committee
finds, as a matter of fact, that the Communist Party in California has
emerged from its recent controversies stronger and more militant than
ever before.
The committee believes that the American public, long suffering and
tolerant of things Communistic, has been recently electrified into sud-
den appreciation of the real and imminent danger of Communist activity
in the State of California and in the United States. The committee is of
the opinion that the international situation is largely responsible for
altered public opinion on Communism in general and the Soviet Union
in particular.
The committee, in former reports, has emphasized a fundamental
aspect of Communist theory embodied in the " day-to-day struggle "
technique. The continuous application of the principles involved in this
technique constitutes an undermining erosion of capitalist institutions
and governments. The present period of Communist strategy will
intensify this technique, and every economic and social problem will be
magnified and ballooned out of all proportion to its real importance.
In discussing the Sixth Period of Communist strategy in the United
States, the committee, at page 102 of its 1945 Report made this prophetic
statement :
' ' The sixth period of Communist strategy in the United States
may have ended with the Teheran Conference and the frantic name-
changing in official Communist Party organizations. The committee
is entirely too close to the picture at this writing to definitely state
whether the sixth period closed with this event or whether it was
a logical development of the same period. Whether it was merely a
continuance of the sixth period or the ushering in of the seventh, the
committee states unequivocally that a new period in Communist
strategy in the United States will begin when the war is concluded.
The Communists of America have carefully laid the ground work
and are prepared for the events that are to come. They expect social
upheaval and economic disruption to follow in the wake of war.
They believe that there will be a bitter and discontented people
throughout this broad country of ours ; widespread unemployment,
rising prices and staggering public debts. Hundreds of thousands
of war veterans will be attempting to adjust themselves to civil life.
The ground-work for race riots is already laid. There will be con-
UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA 33
fusion and chaos. Hundreds of thousands of workers will be dis-
charged from closing wartime factories, swelling the army of the
unemployed. They believe they will be in a position to foment dis-
sension. The Communists of the United States and of the world have
a program. Although, as has been shown in this report, there is
nothing ' scientific ' about Marxism, it is, nevertheless a blueprint for
revolution."
FUTURE COMMUNIST ACTIVITY
The American people are now faced with the greatest agitational
activity in the history of American Communism. If our country is unfor-
tunately plunged into a new economic depression accompanied by wide-
spread unemployment, the Communists will take full advantage of the
situation, will foment strikes, strife and unrest on a scale that has never
before been experienced in the United States.
There is a ray of hope, however, shining through the dark clouds
of Communist intrigue the awakening of the American people to the
real character of international Communism. During its 27 years of activ-
ity in the United States the Communist Party has been able to make
progress, not because the American people were sympathetic to, or
understood, Communism, but merely because they were woefully
apathetic about it. The committee believes that this apathy is rapidly
diminishing. There is a growing alertness in the public mind. The Amer-
ican public is beginning to recognize the professional Communist revolu-
tionary for what he actually is the agent of a foreign government,
mouthing allegiance to the Constitution and the Government of the
United States, while working industriously for the destruction of both.
The people of California are becoming more and more familiar with
the transmission-belt front organization of Communist creation. As the
committee has gathered facts in public hearings in various parts of the
State, the people, through the press, have become familiar with the same
old Communist names that parade through the multitudinous network of
Communist fronts. It is not mere coincidence that the names of the same
individuals consistently appear on the letterheads and literature of a
long list of Communist front organizations. The public hearings and
reports of the committee have brought this indisputable fact to the atten-
tion of Calif ornians. There are few thoughtful people who are laboring
under any illusion as to the real character and nature of such organiza-
tions as the Hollywood Independent Citizens Committee of the Arts,
Sciences and Professions, the Political Action Committee of the C. I. 0.,
the National Lawyers 9 Guild, the People's Educational Center or the
California Labor School. The relatively ineffectual efforts of these organ-
izations in propagandizing the electorate during the 1946 election cam-
paigns in this State demonstrate that the Communists are finding it
more and more difficult to delude the voting public of California through
the media of such organizations.
THE FBI ON COMMUNISM
In spite of the progress made in exposing the Machiavellian activi-
ties of the Communist Party of the United States, the committee is con-
vinced that the real struggle for the preservation of American principles,
3 L-2T
34 UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA
the Constitution and the American way of life is just beginning. No less
authority than J. Edgar Hoover, Director of the Federal Bureau of
Investigation, in his address before the 1946 National Convention of the
American Legion in San Francisco, excoriated the Communist Party and
told the American people, through the veterans, in unmistakable terms,
that the Communist Party constitutes a real menace to the United States.
THE TROJAN HORSE CAVALRY
In view of the necessity of maintaining rigid disciplinary control
of innumerable front organizations, Communist leaders now find them-
selves faced with a dilemma. The committees of the California Legisla-
ture and the Congress of the United States have, for many years, exposed
key Communists and fellow-travelers in Stalin's solar system in the
United States and California. The continuous use of the names of the
same old familiar Communists and fellow-travelers as key figures in the
Trojan Horse cavalry has become a Communist liability rather than an
asset. Many have been used so many times that they are badly frayed
and shop-worn. Carey Me Williams and Paul Kobeson constitute a ham-
rner-and-sickle on letterheads or sponsor lists of any new front. The
general public has learned to recognize the Stalin trade-mark and com-
paratively few patriotic Americans are now being duped when the
Communist Party parades its Trojan Horse cavalry.
The Communist Party must control the activities of the organization
it creates, and, while new functionaries are being prepared yearly, it
takes time to develop box-office appeal. Mere fellow-travelers, innocents
and dim-wits of the Moskovite aberration, while valuable for ordinary
window-dressing, are not to be trusted with the destiny of a Communist
inspired front organization. An iron-disciplined professional revolu-
tionary is required for this sort of a job. The Communist Party has been
giving considerable study to this dilemma, but, at this writing, it has
little choice in the matter. Consequently, until new glamorized function-
aries are developed, the American public may expect to accurately spot
new Communist front organizations by the usual method of scrutinizing
letterheads containing the names of sponsors, endorsers, directors and
contributors.
During the six years in which the Committee on Un-American Activi-
ties in California has been active it has accumulated a mass of documen-
tary material on Communist front organizations. The committee has
found that, year after year, the same small group appears in one capacity
or another in the myriad of California fronts.
The Hollywood Writers Mobilization, the People's Educational
Center, the Hollywood Independent Citizens Committee of the Arts,
Science and Professions and the Mobilization for Democracy are
described with some detail in this report. It will be seen that many of
the same key individuals have been selected to appear on the sponsoring
list of each of these organizations, or are connected with each of them
in some capacity.
THE COMMUNIST PARTY IN LOS ANGELES COUNTY
The committee had endeavored for several years to subpena Eliza-
beth Leech Glenn, an allegedly important Communist Party functionary
in Los Angeles County. The committee had known for some time that
UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA 35
Mrs. Glenn was entrusted with the financial affairs of the party in Los
Angeles County. After considerable difficulty a process server for the
committee was successful in serving Mrs. Glenn while she was engaged in
conversation with the operator of the Lincoln Book Store in Hollywood.
The Lincoln Book Store, incidentally, is the Hollywood center for the
dissemination of Communist Party literature.
Mrs. Glenn duly appeared before the committee at its Los Angeles
public hearing in October, 1946. She testified that she was in full charge
of the financial affairs of the Communist Party of Los Angeles County.
She stated that she had been affiliated with the Northwest Section of the
Communist Party for several years and that, in addition, she was a
member of the Elizabeth Gurley Flynn Club, the Hollywood section of
the Communist Party. The Northwest Section was described as com-
prising the area including and surrounding Hollywood.
She testified that she received monthly dues from all of the Com-
munists in her jurisdiction and that these dues constituted a considerable
portion of the party's revenue. She stated that the party was largely
financed through collections and donations made at forums, lectures,
social affairs, etc. It was her duty to forward 50 percent of the member-
ship dues to the national office of the Communist Party in New York.
The state office of the party in San Francisco received 15 percent and
the county organization retained 15 percent while the sections of the
party within her jurisdiction retained 10 percent, and 10 percent went
to the clubs.
The committee learned that there are presently in Los Angeles
County eight Communist Party sections maintaining approximately 160
active clubs. It was learned from other witnesses that each club is com-
posed of the Communist Party members in a particular neighborhood.
Meetings of these organizations are held, for the greater part, in private
residences; the meeting places being changed frequently in order that
the activities of the club be kept secret.
Mrs. Glenn 's testimony, in part, follows :
Q. (By Mr. Combs) : Do you know George Sandy?
A. Yes.
Q. He is a member of the party, isn't he?
A. I don't know. He has been out of Los Angeles for several
months now so that I don't know what his present status is.
Q. But he was a member in 1944, was he not?
A. I don 't remember when Sandy came back to Los Angeles. It
was some time in the last couple of years when he came back. He was
a member of the party.
Q. Calling your attention to this incident. It might refresh
your memory. You and George Sandy ran the Communist Party
office here at the headquarters when the staff went to the national
convention in June of 1944, didn't you?
A. That is right.
Q. So he was a member then, was he not ?
A. Yes.
Q. You remember that incident, don't you?
36 UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA
A. Yes.
Q. How long did you and Mr. Sandy run the office?
A. For a couple of weeks while the delegation was in New York.
Mrs. Glenn further testified that she had been intimately acquainted
with John Howard Lawson for several years; that her mother and
Mr. Lawson 's wife came from the same town and that she was a frequent
visitor at the Lawson home.
COMMUNIST PARTY IN ALAMEDA COUNTY
John C. Taylor, a charter member of the Communist Party of the
United States, testified before the committee at its Oakland hearing.
Mr. Taylor 's testimony, in part, follows :
Q. (By Mr. Combs) : Now, then, at the time that you affiliated
in 1919, as you have testified, the Comintern or Third International
was formed at Moscow. What was the purpose of that organization ?
A. To coordinate the Communists or the ideologies of the dif-
ferent countries.
Q. In the countries in the world where a Communist Party
existed, isn't that true?
A. Yes.
Q. And each Communist Party in the various countries in the
world was known after the formation of the Comintern as a section
of the Comintern?
A. They affiliated I don't know whether you would call it a
section.
Q. Don't you remember in the constitution and the books and
the old masthead of the Western Worker before 1937 ; the legends
on the books and the constitution and the masthead of that paper
said, <( Communist Party of the United States of America, a section
of the Communist International"?
A. I guess that 's right.
Q. And I guess that's true of the parties throughout the world,
Canada, England and throughout the world, isn't that true?
(Witness nods head affirmatively.)
."-.."'.
Q. Did you ever meet Earl Browder ?
A. I 've met him occasionally at meetings.
Q. Have you read his writings on Marxism?
A. I have.
Q. He was editor of the Daily Worker in New York, wasn 't he,
the official Communist newspaper for New York?
A. Secretary-general of the Communist Party in the United
States.
Q. Yes, for 14 years, wasn't he?
A. Yes.
Q. And was considered an expert on dialectic materialism,
wasn't he?
UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA 37
A. Considered an expert? He was leader of the Communist
movement, yes.
Q. Yes. Do you recall the book that he wrote called "Tehera
Our Path in Peace and War"?
A. I read the book.
Q. Did you agree with its philosophy?
A. I did.
Q. Do you agree with the philosophy expressed in the book now ?
A. A great deal of it.
Q. Now, the book appeared late in '43 or early in '44, did it not ?
A. '43, 1 believe.
Q. I think so, but I'm not sure. And it was written after the
conference at Teheran between Marshall Stalin and the President
of the United States and the Premier of Great Britain, isn't that
true?
A. Right.
Q. And in the book the basic philosophy of it was the urging
of cooperation and collaboration between the capitalist nations of
the world, particularly in this country, and the socialist countries,
particularly the Soviet Union, against a common enemy, isn't that
true?
A. Yes, that's right.
Q. And Mr. Browder advocated that the Communist Party
dissolve itself as a political organization and thenceforth function
under another name as a Communist political association, isn 't that
true?
A. Right.
Q. And in conformity with the advocacy, the party did change
its name to the Political Association, didn 't it ?
A. Right.
Q. And the Young Communist League shortly thereafter
became known as the American Youth for Democracy ?
A. Yes.
Q. And the magazine became known as Political Affairs, isn't
that right ?
A. Right.
Q. And despite the fact that those proposals were agreed upon
and adopted and followed and there was collaboration and coopera-
tion, at least to a degree, between the two forces ; that is, capitalism
on the one hand and Communism on the other hand, during the
period of the war ; all those ideologies had always been considered
antagonistic to each other ; after the war a Frenchman by the name
of Jacques Duclos wrote a critical letter and called him (Browder) a
traitor to Marxism ; the letter was published in the newspaper, and
the functionary of the party (Browder) was expelled because he had
betrayed the Marxist dogma, and Mr. Foster was put in his place ?
A. He was expelled from the party.
Q. Why was he expelled?
38 UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA
A. For lack of cooperation.
Q. Wasn't any reason given for his expulsion other than just
lack of cooperation ?
A. Well, he refused to abide by the will of the majority, and,
therefore, he naturally was out.
Q. Mr. Taylor, do you recall he had a birthday five days before
he was expelled?
A. I don 't recall that.
Q. And he received congratulatory letters and wires from Com-
munist functionaries all over the United States congratulating him
on his brilliant 14 years of Marxist leadership, Duclos I presume
you know who he was?
A. I do.
Q. Secretary of the Communist
A. Yes.
Q. And the Executive Secretary of the Third International ?
A. Yes.
Q. The minute that letter hit, the same people that congratu-
lated Browder on his brilliant Marxist leadership turned on him in
a pack and expelled him from the party. Do you believe that this
sudden change in their attitude was prompted by their understand-
ing of dialectic materialism or Mr. Duclos' letter?
A. Well, it's a subject you can't answer yes or no.
Q. I'm asking your opinion, just your personal idea. You said
that you agreed with some of the philosophy that Mr. Browder
expressed in his book; that you still agreed with it, and I think a
great many people in the party, at least as far as I am able to dis-
cover, are in accord with many of them. Do you believe he was right ?
What I 'm trying to do : You are, Mr. Taylor, a charter member of
the party, and I would like your own opinion as to why Mr. Browder
was expelled. Was it because Duclos wrote his critical letter from
France or was it because that all of a sudden there came a realiza-
tion on the part of the Marxist leaders that Mr. Browder had indeed
been on the wrong track ?
A. The whole world situation was changing and needed revise-
ment after the war was over and the death of Roosevelt, primarily,
that it made these vast changes.
*******
Q. We're equally sure of this in any event : Prior to the Duclos
letter Browder had not received any criticism because of his stand.
On the contrary, he had received great congratulations from the
party members in this country, and we are positive it was not until
Mr. Duclos' letter hit the United States and appeared in the Com-
munist paper that the criticism of Mr. Browder 's policy originated ?
A. It came at that moment when things were in a state of flux
and brought the whole matter up for survey.
Q. That is, the Duclos letter brought the matter up for survey,
is that your testimony ?
A. Right.
UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA 39
COMMUNIST PROTECTION OF SECRET MEMBERS
Lloyd Lehmann, Chairman of the Communist Party of Alameda
County, stated that he had attended San Jose College and that he had
resided in Santa Clara County. He had joined the Young Communist
League and was the Secretary of the United Cannery, Packing and Allied
Workers of America, C. I. 0.
The committee believes that a portion of Lehmann 's testimony merits
space in this report as it clearly indicates the evasive technique utilized
by members of the Communist Party to protect the identity of other
members. Lehmann 's testimony also strongly indicates the conspiratorial
atmosphere which cloaks all Communist activities.
Q. (By Mr. Combs) : * * * Now, how long have you been
Chairman of the Communist Party of Alameda County f
A. About six months.
Q. By what body or bodies were you elected to that position?
A. By the county committee.
Q. How many members are on the county committee T
A. It fluctuates. Some people are out of town and some people
are gone. I don 't recollect how many people were involved in that.
Q. Give us your best approximation, will you please?
A. I 'm sorry, I can 't recollect the number that would be a very
good approximation.
Q. Did you ever attend a meeting of the council?
A. County committee?
Q. County committee, yes.
A. Yes, I attend meetings.
Q. Where do they meet?
A. Various places.
Q. Where was the last place they met when you were there ?
A. The last place they met was at my house.
Q. In what room of your house was the meeting held, the living
room or kitchen?
A. Living room.
Q. In the living room. And about what is the size of that room ?
A. I forget the dimensions.
Q. Well, approximately?
A. I 've even forgotten the approximate dimensions.
Q. Less than one foot long ?
A. Oh, yes, an ordinary sized living room.
Q. Say about 30 feet, somewhere along in there?
A. Yes smaller than that.
A. And not more than 20 feet wide ?
A. No.
Q. All right. Now, how many members of the committee were
absent on that occasion ?
A. I don't recollect.
40 UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA
Q. Give us your best recollection.
A. I don't recall.
Q. Was it a fair attendance or a good attendance or a bad
attendance, or an average attendance?
A. It wasn't a particularly good attendance.
Q. An average attendance?
A. Well, if you want to call it an average attendance you can
it 's up to you.
Q. I don 't want to call it anything. I 'm trying to get from you
about how many people were there. We've got it in a room which
is pretty close to the
A. I didn't count them.
Q. I 'm not going to ask you for their names. All I want to know
is if you can say 10, 15, 20, 40 or 50. I think we're close enough in
the record.
A. That's all right.
Q. Now, when the meeting was held
Chairman Tenney : Were there more than 20 ?
A. No, I doubt if there were more than 20.
Q. Were there more than 10 ?
A. I don't know for sure.
Q. Would you say there were less than 10 ?
A. I say I don't know for sure.
Q. You were there?
A. I was there.
Q. You are not trying to be evasive?
A. That's up to you to decide.
Q. I think it would appear you are being very evasive.
A. O.K.
Q. Would you say there were 15 ?
A. I have given the only answer I can give.
Vice Chairman Dickey : Then the chair will instruct you to give
to the best of your judgment the number of people who were present.
A. Uh huh (affirmative) you say the chair is directing me to
give it to the best of my recollection ?
Q. The chair is directing you to give the number of people that
were present to the best of your recollection and judgment.
A. Well, I would say some place between seven and twenty.
Lehmann further testified that the headquarters of the Communist
Party in Alameda County was located at 1723 Webster Street in the
City of Oakland. He identified his secretary as Bernice Kalman. He
admitted that the Communist Party of Alameda County assumed part
of the responsibility in raising funds for the People's Daily World. He
identified the Merriam Club as a Communist Party organization and
stated that it was located in Berkeley drawing its members mostly from
UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA 41
the students at the University of California. He also identified the Hal-
dane Club as a Communist Party unit in Berkeley similarly drawing
its membership from university students.
The committee had obtained an official statement of the quarterly
financial record of the Communist Party for Alameda County. The
document in question was signed by Eugene Toopekoff. A further sample
of Lehmann 's evasive technique is of interest :
Q. (By Mr. Combs) : What is the name of the individual, for
the record?
A. You read it if you want it in the record.
Q. Eugene Toopekoff, T-o-o-p-e-k-o-f-f. That individual was a
functionary in the party in this county, was he not ?
A. A functionary? What do you mean by a functionary, Mr.
Combs ?
Q. I mean he held an office.
A. Well, just offhand so that there won't be anything in the
record that shouldn't be there, I'm not sure exactly what basis he
worked with the party leadership in.
Q. You're not sure?
A. Exactly what basis his status was on.
Q. But he did work with the party leadership, didn't he? You
just said that you 're not sure on what basis he worked with the party
leadership.
A. Yes, I know what I said.
Q. Did he work with the party leadership ?
A. Well, Mr. Combs, I don't want to carry through this charge
that the press had against me of being evasive or make your job
particularly any tougher for you than I possibly can.
The witness utilized several pages of testimony in the committee's
transcript in his efforts to dodge the question. After many reprimands
by the chairman of the committee, the vice chairman and several mem-
bers, vice chairman Dickey, who was presiding, bluntly ordered the wit-
ness to answer. The result is as follows :
Q. (By Vice Chairman Dickey) : As I understand the record
now, Mr. Combs, in response to your questions, the reply so far is
that Mr. Lehmann is not sure what official capacity this Mr. Toope-
koff is that the way you pronounce that ? had.
Mr. Combs : The exact status of the record with regard to that
particular line of question, Mr. Chairman, is this : That the witness
testified, and it's on the record, that he was not sure of the exact
capacity that Eugene Toopekoff held when he worked with the lead-
ership of the Communist Party of Alameda County. Then I asked
him if it is true he worked with the leadership of Alameda County,
and he has not yet answered the question.
The Witness: That has to do with financial arrangements
doesn't it?
Vice Chairman Dickey: The question was propounded to you
with regard to the individual's name, whether he worked with the
party or not.
Mr. Combs : With the leadership of the party.
42 UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA
Vice Chairman Dickey : With the leadership of the party. You
stated in response to Mr. Combs ' question you didn 't know his exact
capacity.
Q: (By Mr. Combs) : My question now is whether he did work
with the leadership of the party in any capacity ?
A. Well, speaking of finances ?
Vice Chairman Dickey : That isn 't the question.
The Witness: I mean this whole document has to do with
finances.
Vice Chairman Dickey : We 're not speaking of the document.
The Witness : He showed me the document a few minutes ago,
and the name is appended to the document.
Vice Chairman Dickey : Mr. Lehmann, are you going to answer
the question or not ?
The Witness : My intention is to answer all the questions pro-
pounded to me in the best way I possibly can, but it seems to me when
you're speaking of finances here, that the appropriation for this
Tenney Committee ought to be listed as part of the Republican
campaign expenses.
Vice Chairman Dickey : I don 't want to get tough with you, but
the chair is going to direct you in about a minute to answer the ques-
tion. I don 't know if you think you 're a clown, or smart, or what,
but the chair is getting a little disgusted with your acts. Now answer
the question "Yes" or "No."
The Witness : You asked me if you think I'm a clown. I think
there are some clowns. around here and for politeness' sake I won't
identify them.
Q. (By Mr. Combs) : Will you answer the question?
A. Mr. Toopekoff, was he in any way connected with the leader-
ship of the Party ?
Q. Whether he ever worked with it.
A. Whether he ever worked with it? Well, if you use a very
broad definition of ' ' work with it, " I presume that you could include
him in that category.
Q. Did he work with the leadership of the party in Alameda
County in March, 1946 ?
A. My recollection isn't very good on that subject, Mr. Combs.
Q. All right. Did he work with the leadership of the party in
1946?
A. Well, I could better identify it in 1945 and '46.
Q. What part of '45 ?
A. The latter part.
Q. Where is he now?
A. I haven't seen the gentleman for months.
Q. How many months ?
A. My memory is vague. That 's the reason why I can 't answer
you these questions here.
Q. Where was he when you last saw him ?
UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA 43
A. Some place in Oakland, if that would help you any.
Q. Did he live in Alameda County at that time ?
A. Yeah, I presume he did. I never asked him.
Q. You've seen him within the last 12 months, have you not?
A. Yeah, within the last 12 months I 've seen him.
Q. Have you seen him at 1723 Webster Street?
A. Yeah, that could have been one of the places.
Q. That, of course, is the headquarters of the county for the
Communist Party?
A. Yeah, there's more rooms in that building than just the
headquarters.
Q. Yes, the Daily World is there, it was testified to here
yesterday.
The quarterly financial report of the Communist Party of Alameda
County showed a balance of $229.29 on hand as of February 28, 1946,
with a deficit shown for the quarter ending March 31, 1946, in the sum
of $2,466.01. Twenty-two new Communist Party members had been
admitted, each recruit paying 50 cents for the privilege. The report
showed 15 percent of the total county dues being retained by the party
in Alameda County amounting to $54.69. Contributions were listed at
$773.77 of which $95.05 had been received from meetings and Communist
affairs of various kinds. $180 had been loaned to the party. $237.07 was
purported to represent 65 percent of the dues collected from the mem-
bers in the county, to be turned over to the state organization in San
Francisco. In addition to this amount the document revealed that it paid
the sum of $200 per month to the state organization. Five regular office
employees were reported for the Oakland headquarters, receiving a total
weekly salary of $192.50.
The sections of the Communist Party in Alameda County were listed
as follows : Berkeley Section, Closed Section, West Oakland Section, East
Oakland Section, North Oakland Section and Individual Section. Each of
these subdivisions was broken up into clubs, as had been stated by both
Lehmann and Taylor when questioned before the committee. The clubs
were listed as follows : Berkeley, Bloor, Southwest Berkeley, Cordonices,
H. Boettcher, North Berkeley, Central Berkeley, Haldane, M. Smolen,
Abe Lincoln, Art Young, Bethune, J. Hill, J. Debs, West Oakland,
B. Davis, D. Muller, F. Brown, East Oakland, Alameda, Elmhurst,
Whitney, Hayward, Eastlake, Fairfax, North Oakland, Montclair, Ocean
View, B. Doyle, S. Nelson, and J. Taylor.
The document indicated that the Communist Party of Alameda
County owed the International Book Store, San Francisco, $125.45 for
the distribution of Communist literature. The People's Daily World was
down for $88.40.
Lehmann was undoubtedly thoroughly flabbergasted and concerned
when confronted with this very secret Communist Party document. He
examined it for fully 15 minutes while he sat in the witness stand, turn-
ing it over, page by page. It should be stated that such documents are
guarded by Communist Party functionaries with the utmost care and
that such reports are never kept at party headquarters.
44 UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA
The Alameda County Communist Party functionaries would give
a lot to know where the committee secured the document.
EVERY AMERICAN COMMUNIST A POTENTIAL TRAITOR
Immediately prior to, and during the war, the American public was
alerted to the danger of espionage and sabotage activities on the part of
German and Japanese agents. As a result of this real and imminent
danger both alien and American-born Japanese were excluded from the
Western Defense Command for the duration of the war, and such Ger-
man-controlled organizations as the German- American Bund were com-
pletely liquidated and their members, in many instances, deprived of
citizenship rights. These measures were deemed imperative for the safety
of the Nation, its strategic military bases, the movement of troops and
supplies, war industries and the American people in general.
Since the close of the war the committee has observed, not without
alarm, the gradual spread of the sphere of Russian influence throughout
the ravished countries of Europe. In Italy the Communist Party grows
stronger ; in France the government is in danger of control by Stalin 's
agents; George Dimitrov, former executive secretary of the Comintern
and author of the Communist Trojan Horse tactic, heads a 100 percent
Communist government in Bulgaria, while in Yugoslavia, under Com-
munist Tito, the Stalinites are firmly entrenched. The Red shadow is
rapidly creeping across prostrate Europe, carrying with it the dreaded
N. K. V. D., the secret police of Red Fascism. The world has never before
seen such an elaborate, highly disciplined and smoothly operating system
of espionage as the Communist Government has perfected during the
past 27 years. The activities of well trained agents in every country on
the face of the globe are directed and coordinated by the dictator in the
Kremlin. The Canadian experience with agents of the Soviet government
resulting in the conviction by Canadian courts of Canadian-born traitors
is an indication of the network of Soviet espionage.
We have seen from the writings of Lenin and Stalin that there can
never be any hope of reconciliation between the Communists and Demo-
cratic governments. The Canadian experience reveals the intense post-
war campaign of propaganda on the part of the Comintern. Through
the controlled channels of information in Russia the Soviet masters are
creating hatred in the minds and hearts of the Russian people for every-
thing foreign ; for Western Democracy, and particularly for the Govern-
ment of the United States.
The committee is firmly convinced that this current period the
Seventh Period of Communist strategy in the United States is the most
critical period of all. The American people must be awakened to the fact
that every member of the American Communist Party is a potential
espionage and sabotage agent for the Soviet Government. Our people must
realize, now more than ever before, that it is the admitted and avowed
purpose of Moscow to create and foster a Communist revolution in every
Capitalist Democracy in the world.
MOBILIZATION FOR DEMOCRACY
Fomenting racial prejudices and antagonisms is an important tactic
in the Communist Party * ' day-to-day struggle ' ' technique. In reporting
on this fiendish activity of the Communist Party, the committee stated
at page 209 of its 1945 Keport :
" Vicious agitation, subtle conspiratorial intrigue, adroit
manipulation of human relationships, skillful play upon prejudices
and antagonisms that is the devilish pattern woven by revolu-
tionary Marxists * * * Disrespect for law and order, and for the
economic system it protects, is interwoven carefully throughout.
Rearing its ugly head in sneering triumph over the havoc it has
wrought is the monster who prepared and spread the poison now
posing as the champion of those it victimized. ' '
The Communist Party has always maintained a considerable num-
ber of front organizations devoted to racial agitation. While always pur-
porting to stand as the champion of minority racial groups, the real
purpose of this type of organization is to intensify racial antagonisms,
thus creating ethnic class consciousness. By a clever process of amalgama-
tion the Communist Party directs this artificially created race-conscious-
ness toward the extant social order and its government, drawing the
several racial groups into its orbit of influence and thus preparing the
coals they intend to fan into revolutionary fire when the opportunity
presents itself. Among the Communist front organizations for racial
agitation may be mentioned the American Committee for the Protection
of Foreign-Born, American Committee of Jewish Writers, Artists, and
Scientists, American Committee to Save Refugees, Joint Anti-Fascist
Refugee Committee, American Friends of the Chinese People, Chicago
Conference on Race Relations, First Congress of the Mexican and
Spanish- American Peoples of the United States, Jewish People's Com-
mittee, League of Struggle for Negro Rights, National Committee to
Abolish Poll Tax, Negro Cultural Committee, National Negro Women's
Council, Sleepy Lagoon Defense Committee, and the Citizens Committee
for the Defense of Mexican- American Youth.
In addition to stirring up racial antagonisms these front organiza-
tions serve several other important Communist Party purposes. To begin
with they are splendid money collecting media, but more important,
they serve as special political organizing centers for the racial minority
they pretend to champion.
Communist front organizations for racial agitation must necessarily
find an excuse for their existence. Evidence of discrimination because
of race, color or creed must be found or invented. Hitler 's persecution of
the Jews in Central Europe and evidences of anti-Semitism in the United
States have been a bonanza for the Communists in the United States and
California. They have worked this terror for all it is worth and were
(45)
46 UN-AMEEICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA
going strong in anti-Nazi leagues until the Boss in the Kremlin put his
stamp of approval on the Nazi's bloody program in August of 1939.
Negro lynchings in the southern states have been the basis of a lucrative
field for Communists race-fronts. Alleged police brutality against Negro
citizens is always good for a small Communist front or two and every
such incident is featured in the Communist press as the rise of a new
" white supremacy" terror.
The committee is not here depreciating the evil of racial and religious
discrimination. It has consistently, in every report submitted to the Legis-
lature, condemned anti-Semitism and racial discrimination in all of its
forms as un-American. While intolerance in this respect exists in many
parts of our country the committee is convinced that it exists to a lesser
degree in California than in many other parts of the United States. The
majority of the people of California appears to be motivated by a high
sense of tolerance, and the committee finds that racial intolerance is the
exception rather than the rule. Very few vestiges of organized anti-
Semitism, racial or religious bigotry remain in California. It is not here
contended that ignorant racial prejudices cannot be utilized by a design-
ing racketeer or fanatical crusader to create organized intolerance. It
has been done, and it can be done again. The committee recognizes its
dangers and holds its advocates and purposes fully as despicable and
un-American as the Communist Party has proved itself to be in its
incessant interracial agitation.
BEHIND THE FEPC
Early in 1945 it became apparent to the Communist Party leaders
in California that a political organization capable of drawing ethnical
groups into its sphere of influence was necessary to supplement the work
of its other fronts. The Communist inspired Fair Employment Practices
Act (FEPC) was to be launched as a rallying point for racial minorities
and the Communist Party hoped to mobilize these groups at the polls in
the 1946 elections and thus carry their own candidates with an over-
whelming vote for the initiative measure.
Committee investigators made an exhaustive study of the tracts,
pamphlets, dodgers, handbills and miscellaneous literature issued by the
Southern California Committee for the Promotion of the Fair Employ-
ment Practices Act (FEPC), generally referred to in the 1946 elections
as Proposition Number 11. The committee learned that of the 63 sponsors
and officers of the Committee for Proposition Number 11 more than one-
half had been prominent in movements sponsored by the Communists
and left-wingers in California.
Augustus F. Hawkins, Assemblyman from the Sixty-second Assem-
bly District in Los Angeles County, was listed as the executive director of
the committee.
Hawkins has consistently followed the Communist Party line. In
1943 he endorsed a drive for funds for the West Coast organ of the Com-
munist Party, the People's Daily World. In 1942 he publicly urged the
release of Earl Browder, then National Secretary of the Communist Party
in the United States. (Browder, at that time, was serving a four-year
sentence in a federal penitentiary). Hawkins is one of a handful of
Assemblymen in the California Legislature who has consistently voted
UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA 47
against this committee investigating un-American activities in the State.
In 1943 he succeeded Oscar Fuss, former functionary in the Communist
dominated Workers' Alliance as Legislative Director for the Congress
for Industrial Organization. Since this appointment, Hawkins has been
active in the CIO Political Action Committee. His name has been linked
with American Youth for Democracy, formerly the Young Communist
League, the People's Educational Center, the California Labor School
and other organizations notoriously known as Communist fronts.
Dolph Winebrenner was listed as the Publicity Director of the
Southern California Committee for Proposition Number 11. Rena M.
Vale (See the Committee's 1943 Report), a former member of the Com-
munist Party and a witness before this committee, declared under oath
that Winebrenner was a member of the Professional Section of the
Political Commission of the Communist Party in the spring of 1938 and
that she served with him on that commission.
As might be expected, the notorious Marxist, John Howard Lawson,
is prominently listed as one of the sponsors of the FEPC proposition.
The committee has had occasion to list the Communist activities of Law-
son many times and the reader is referred to the committee's 1943 and
1945 Reports, as well as the index of this report, for details. While John
Howard Lawson is presently eking out a miserable proletarian existence
as a screenwriter at a fabulous salary in Hollywood, it must be remem-
bered that he was formerly an Associate Editor of the official organ of
the Communist Party of the United States, the New York Daily Worker.
Among other sponsors of the proposition, taken at random, are such
well known Party-liners as Fay Allen, Charlotta Bass, Reverend Clayton
Russell, Reuben Borough, Carey Me Williams, Leo Gallagher, Samuel
Ornitz and Albert Maltz. Fay Allen, Charlotta Bass and the Reverend
Russell enthusiastically sponsored and endorsed a call for a fund-
drive for the official voice of the Communist Party on the West Coast,
the People's Daily World, July 9, 1943. Submission to Moscow is chronic
with these individuals.
Carey Me Williams is particularly distinguished by both the con-
gressional and California legislative committees as an individual belong-
ing to an outstanding number of satellites in Stalin 's solar system. The
reader is referred to the committee 's 1943 and 1945 Reports for further
details on Carey Me Williams. (Also see index this report.)
Leo Gallagher 's Communist record in California is known to nearly
every person who has had occasion to interest himself in public affairs.
As in the case of Carey McWilliams and John Howard Lawson, the activi-
ties of Leo Gallagher are set forth in great detail in the pages of the
reports heretofore submitted to the California Legislature. Gallagher is
presently a member of the law firm of Katz, Gallagher and Margolis.
Both Ben Margolis and Charles Katz, of the said law firm, have been
active for many years in Communist Party activities in this State.
Albert Maltz, Communist dialectic writer, has been used for a num-
ber of years for Communist Party "window-dressing." He recently
caused a furore in Communist Party journalistic circles by daring to
state that a novel might be written outside of the Stalinist intellectual
straight-jacket. Although the incident might have been concocted for
ideological agitation for the benefit of back-sliding Marxist hack-writers,
the ' * Maltz sin ' ' was good for many issues in the Communist Party press.
48 UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA
Such Kremlin stalwarts as John Howard Lawson and Samuel Sillen
vigorously beat Maltz to his knees and after considerable fan-fare at the
Embassy Auditorium in Los Angeles, Maltz recanted and now declares
with Lawson and Sillen that * ' Art is a Weapon. ' '
Those who have read the committee 's previous reports will have little
difficulty in determining the character and purpose of the so-called Fair
Employment Practices Act. The Communist Party had inspired it and
the Communist Party was determined to find arguments, whether they
existed or not, in support of the proposition. The Communist steering
committee had to find terrorizing incidents in order to mobilize racial
minorities into a frenzied stampede at the polls in November of 1946.
If the needed incidents in question were not in existence, the Communist
Party was prepared to manufacture them.
It should be unnecessary to add that the proposition was deliberately
designed to create racial frictions and agitations, rather than to remedy
such discriminations between ethnical groups as actually existed.
GERALD L. K. SMITH
Out of this situation came one of the largest, and certainly one of the
most potentially potent, front organizations created by California Com-
munists since the committee last submitted its report to the Legislature.
In 1945 Gerald L. K. Smith came to Los Angeles for the purpose of
delivering a series of addresses. It was alleged by the Communist press,
and repeated in many quarters, that Smith is anti-Jewish, anti-Negro,
anti-labor, anti-Catholic; a former member of Pelley's Silver Shirts, a
rabble rouser and a Fascist. Smith vigorously denied these accusations
but admitted that he is vigorously anti-Communist. His appearance in
the City of Los Angeles might have gone unnoticed had it not been for
the organized efforts of many good citizens, unwittingly led by the Com-
munist Party, to block Smith's efforts to speak in the Philharmonic
Auditorium. This controversy reached such proportions that a Los
Angeles Councilman, who had defended Smith's right to speak, was
swept from office in a subsequent recall election. Smith spoke.
The controversy over Smith 's appearance in Los Angeles was imme-
diately seized upon by the Communist Party as an excuse for its new
front. Robert W. Kenny, President of the National Lawyers' Guild
(Communist front for attorneys), then Attorney General of the State
of California and a candidate for Governor on the Democratic ticket, was
selected to " window-dress " the new organization. The people of Los
Angeles were to be mobilized to resist the doctrines of Gerald L. K. Smith
and telegrams and letters were sent to labor unions and to hundreds of
individuals urging attendance at a mass meeting at the Olympic Audi-
torium in Los Angeles. The meeting was a great success and several
thousand dollars in cash was collected for the purpose of financing the
organization's program. Thus Mobilization for Democracy was born.
THE LOS ANGELES CENTRAL LABOR COUNCIL INVESTIGATION
Among the organizations invited to participate in the mass meeting
at the Olympic Auditorium was the Central Labor Council of Los Angeles.
In its investigation the committee subpenaed W. J. Bassett, secretary
of the council, to testify at its public meeting in Los Angeles in January,
UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA 49
1946. The committee wanted to know why the Central Labor Council had
first appeared to collaborate with Mobilization for Democracy and why it
had suddenly withdrawn its support. The testimony of W. J. Bassett,
in this connection, follows :
Q. (By Mr. Combs) : How was your interest in that organiza-
tion solicited?
A. When the Council for Civic Unity attempted to mobilize the
meeting at the Olympic Auditorium in opposition to Gerald L. K.
Smith, the Los Angeles Central Labor Council was invited to endorse
and to participate in that meeting. The communications that invited
the Central Labor Council to participate only stated that the meet-
ing was to acquaint the public with the activities of Gerald L. K.
Smith. We endorsed the meeting and I personally spoke at the
meeting. Subsequent to that time the parties who had, with the
Council of Civic Unity, formed the meeting, carried on and formed
what they called the Mobilization for Democracy. They had never
approached the council for an endorsement of the organization, nor
had they even advised us of it. They merely kept sending notices
that there would be meetings, using this council's and my own name,
and unbeknownst to myself published it in the daily newspapers. At
that time I communicated with Attorney General Bob Kenny, who
was supposed to be chairman, and protested the use of the name of
the American Federation of Labor or my name in connection with
it, or any of the activities of the council. I questioned their attitude
on Communism and asked him to make a statement as to their posi-
tion; whether they opposed Communism as well as Fascism. And
I also advised them before they could use our name any further
they would have to have the official endorsement of the council.
Q. Mr. Bassett, in connection with your suggestion as to whether
they were opposed to Communism ; the Mobilization for Democracy
was very definitely and vociferously opposed to Fascism, wasn 't it ?
A. It very definitely was.
Q. That was the basis upon which it was formed ?
A. That is correct.
Q. And did you detect any opposition to Communism?
A. Not one word.
Q. When the suggestion was made that the organization go on
record as being opposed to Communism of course all these ques-
tions refer to Communism only in this Country and not abroad
what was the attitude ?
A. I have never received a reply as to their position on Com-
munism to this date.
Q. They did not adopt any resolution?
A. They did not.
Q. Against Communism?
A. No.
It appears that the suspicions of the Central Labor Council were
aroused when it failed to have any response from Mobilization for
Democracy concerning its position on Communism. As a result of this
4 L-2T
50 UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA
suspicion a special committee was appointed by the Council and directed
to conduct a thorough investigation of Mobilization for Democracy to
ascertain whether or not it was controlled or dominated by the Com-
munist Party. Bassett 's testimony on this point follows :
Q. (By Mr. Combs) : Mr. Bassett, I show you what purports
to be a copy of a report which was rendered by the committee which
was to investigate the nature and purpose of the Mobilization for
Democracy for the American Federation of Labor, and ask you
whether or not you can identify it ?
A. The first part, the first report of the committee, and the
second is a supplemental report of factual information turned in by
the committee, both of which have been adopted by the council and
concurred in.
The report is as follows :
"Los Angeles, California, September 14, 1945. To the Los Angeles
Central Labor Council.
* ' Dear Sirs and Brothers :
' ' We present herewith the recommendations of the special
committee appointed by President Ranford to investigate the
activities of the Mobilization for Democracy headed by Attorney
General Robert W. Kenny.
"Your committee was appointed as the result of a motion
approved at the regular council meeting of August 20, 1945.
"President Ranford appointed to the committee J. J.
Morgan of the State, County and Municipal Employees, a mem-
ber of the executive board ; Jack Annand of the Bakery Drivers
Local 276 ; and Ed Gibbons of Advertising and Public Relations
Local 518. J. J. Morgan was elected chairman by the committee.
"The committee was instructed by President Ranford to
investigate the Mobilization for Democracy and to bring back
complete and accurate information and recommendations for the
guidance of the council.
"Your committee, therefore, attended the meeting of the
Mobilization for Democracy at Los Angeles City College on
Sunday, August 26, 1945. The committee also interviewed
George Stiller, the Mobilization 's acting secretary ; and the com-
mittee also obtained information for its guidance from repre-
sentatives of labor and civic organizations who had the same
interests as the APL has in the Mobilization's stated original
purpose of fighting Gerald L. K. Smith.
' ' Your committee noted at the outset that there had devel-
oped a public controversy between the secretary of your coun-
cil, W. J. Bassett, on the one hand, and Chairman Kenny of the
Mobilization and acting secretary Stiller of the Mobilization
over asserted unauthorized use of the AFL name in publicity,
and also over the question as to whether or not the Mobilization
intended to fight Communism as well as Fascism, which is the
publicly proclaimed policy of this council.
"Your committee must state in all frankness that neither
at the public meeting on August 26, 1945, nor in its conversa-
UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA 51
tions with Stiller and other civic and labor leaders has the com-
mittee received any satisfactory answer to the questions pro-
pounded by Secretary Bassett.
I * Your committee noted that President Ranf ord, Assistant
Secretary Liles, and other AFL leaders were present at the
Mobilization meeting at City College on August 26, 1945, but
that the only AFL official who took an active part in the pro-
ceedings was delegate George Campbell of Musicians Local 47,
who appeared on the platform, who was one of the speakers,
and who was listed on the program officially as an AFL repre-
sentative, and that the only other labor representative listed
on the program was Phillip M. Connelly, CIO, who also spoke.
I 1 Your committee feels that this incident was handled in
such a manner as to convey to all present that the AFL was offi-
cially represented and that George Campbell was the AFL
representative. This is directly contrary to the action of this
council at its last regular meeting.
' ' Your committee is informed that Delegate Campbell was
given an opportunity to serve on the committee of observers
making this report, but declined. The committee was further
informed by Acting Secretary of the Mobilization Stiller that
the listing of Delegate Campbell 's name in the manner described
was done so by Stiller personally at Delegate Campbell 's request.
1 l Your committee feels that this action by Delegate Camp-
bell was contrary to the principles of the AFL and was con-
trary to the direct action of this council on this matter and
should be investigated to determine whether or not Delegate
Campbell deliberately violated the rules and principles of this
/~i 'i j >
Council/'
*******
' ' The only person in the entire proceedings who mentioned
his public opposition to Communism was Mayor Bowron.
' ' The stated purpose of the meeting was to follow up what
Chairman Kenny described as a 'mandate of the people' given
at the Olympic Auditorium mass meeting of civic and labor
groups held on July 20th for the purpose of publicly proclaim-
ing opposition to Gerald L. ,K. Smith and to other promoters
of racial, religious and class intolerance.
*******
"Your committee desires to report that it is in absolute
accord with the stated purpose of the Mobilization in fighting
native Fascists, Gerald L. K. Smith and any other promoters of
racial, religious and class intolerance.
"Your committee, however, parted company with Chair-
man Kenny and the leadership that is running the Mobilization
on the manner, method and structure of an organization to
accomplish this worthy purpose and also on the Mobilization's
bold insistence that it is not opposed to Communism and that
it does not intend to oppose, condemn or fight Communism with
the same patriotic determination that it states it will devote
to fighting Fascism.
52 UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA
"Your committee is of the opinion, after a thorough study
of the Mobilization, and after interviews with Stiller and inter-
ested labor and civic leaders and having had access to steno-
graphic notes and reports from Mobilization meetings that :
"1. The Mobilization for Democracy has gone far beyond
the original purpose of combatting Gerald L. K. Smith and his
ilk, and that :
"2. The Mobilization for Democracy has now revealed
itself as having the intention of reaching into every organiza-
tion, union, club, association, and into the communities and
homes for the purpose of creating a new coalition that will be
led and dominated by the Communist Party, by minority radical
elements of the CIO and AFL, by the CIO Political Action
Committee and organizations with similar ideological beliefs
and objectives ; and that :
"3. The deliberate and unconcealed intention of the leaders
of the Mobilization is to use it as an instrument to smear any-
one who opposes Communism as a Fascist whether or not such
opponents of Communism are equally opposed to Fascism.
"Your committee notes that clear-cut opposition to both
Communism and Fascism is the official and constitutional policy
of this council and of the AFL and on this issue alone, the
committee would recommend unanimously against any alliance
or participation in the Mobilization.
"Based on its investigation and information received, your
committee submits herewith to the council for appropriate action
the following recommendation :
"1. That the Los Angeles Central Labor Council publicly
refuses to affiliate with the Mobilization for Democracy upon
the grounds that it is duplicative of existing functions of civic
and labor groups in this community and that it expressly refuses
to oppose Communism and upon the further grounds that the
manner of its organization, methods of representation and simi-
lar serious questions regarding an organization that seeks so
much power have not been answered satisfactorily to this
council. ' '
Mr. Bassett read excerpts from the supplemental report of the
Central Labor Council's committee, which report was also introduced
into the record as an exhibit. The committee deems these excerpts worthy
of reproduction in this report as they throw considerable light on the
ambitious propaganda program of Mobilization for Democracy:
' l There exists in the openly expressed attitude of the Mobiliza-
tion leadership a clear intention to promote a widespread propa-
ganda campaign to indiscriminately lump together all persons who
oppose both Communism and Fascism with the aim of smearing all
opponents of Communism, as Fascists, regardless of whether or not
they are equally against Fascism as they are against Communism.
UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA 53
"The leaders of the Mobilization take the public position that
anyone who opposes Communism is automatically a red-baiter and
a Fascist. The committee disagrees sharply with this point.
* ' The committee also notes that in informal discussions between
sessions at the City College meetings, a number of persons made
statements that ' the AFL are a bunch of Trotskyites who are trying
to wreck our CIO program. '
"Among the projects discussed and many put into resolutions
at the panel meetings were the following :
"a. An *F-M' Radio Station, to be owned by the Mobilization
and to be financed by the supporting organizations.
' ' b. A ' press book for Democracy, ' a tabloid publication of wide
circulation, to be put out by the Newspaper Guild and the Holly-
wood Writers Mobilization, which would fight Fascism, and would
smear all opponents of Communism as ' red-baiters ' and Fascists.
' ' c. All supporters of the program are to follow a certain local
daily press political writer for information on major political angles.
* ' d. All AFL supporters of the program are to engage in a pres-
sure campaign to make the 'Los Angeles Citizen' and other AFL
papers what speakers described as 'more liberal and progressive/
A local left-wing labor writer is to advise them on preparing stories
to be offered the Citizen and other papers under threats of with-
drawing union subscriptions.
"e. Committees in each neighborhood are to contact their
theater managers with pressures for free time for public meetings
and for or against certain films.
1 *f . A new Hollywood publication is to be the guide in projected
boycotting of films that do not suit the Mobilization.
"g. Certain local radio commentators are to be followed as
guides for those sympathetic to the program.
"h. A general program of boycott threats is to be developed
covering films, radio, press and other media.
"i. One small community in the county is to be selected as a
'test tube' community to try out all the projects and pressure
methods in a sort of preview demonstration of the ambitious
program.
"j. A scientific system of appealing to the particular interest
of each group and segment of the community is to be worked out and
followed to draw all groups in to follow the main program on the
belief that their particular interest is the main interest of the
Mobilization.
"k. A central speakers bureau is to be set up to send speakers
to labor unions, churches, clubs, veterans and other groups with the
propaganda program.
"I. A special program is to be developed to reach the youth
groups, including the Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, YMCA and neighbor-
hood youth organizations.
"m. A special committee is to cover the police and sheriffs situa-
tion with the purpose of publicizing law enforcement agencies as
practicing racial discrimination and a citizens advisory committee is
54 UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA
to issue public statements on the subject, also criticizing the organ-
ization of police and sheriff department employees and AFL unions.
"n. A special parallel citizens advisory committee is to be set
up to act on and publicize the program in connection with fair
employment practice issues and to gain for the Mobilization complete
credit for any fair employment gains by racial minorities.
"o. All participants in the program were instructed never to
refer to their activities as propaganda, but as educational.
"p. The Army orientation courses on Fascism are to be the
basis of the propaganda campaign in labor unions, clubs and the
neighborhood. These will be edited to emphasize the point that
Hitler attacked Communism for his own purposes and this will be
used to smear all opponents of Communism, whether or not they are
against both Communism and Fascism.
1 ' q. The committee is in possession of much additional informa-
tion on policies, programs and persons involved, but it feels that this
information herewith presented indicates the trend of the panel meet-
ings and other secret meetings.
' ' Your committee was frankly of the opinion that in its conduct
and its revealed program, the Mobilization for Democracy has gone
very far beyond the original purposes of the Olympic Auditorium
meeting to combat Gerald L. K. Smith ; and that the Mobilization
is if not Communist inspired and controlled at least influenced
and steered by Communists and fellow-travelers. ' '
SHOP-WORN COMMUNIST WINDOW-DRESSING
At its January, 1946, hearing in Los Angeles the committee intro-
duced into the record a photostatic copy of a Western Union telegram
dated October 27, 1945, signed by Robert W. Kenny, Carey Me Williams,
George Campbell, Pauline Lauber, Frank Pellett, Phillip M. Connelly,
Bllenore Abowitz, Fred Pollock and Leo Gallin, urging participation in
Mobilization for Democracy activity. The records of Carey McWilliams,
Pauline Lauber (whose true name is Pauline Lauber Finn) and Phil-
lip M. Connelly are set forth in the 1943 and 1945 Committee Reports.
The Mobilization for Democracy sponsored a mass meeting for
Monday, October 29, 1945, at 4 p.m. to protest the action of the Los
Angeles County Board of Education in granting the use of the Poly-
technic High School in Los Angeles to Gerald L. K. Smith. Polytechnic
High School was picketed by a mob of unorganized individuals on the
occasion of Smith's address. Several acts of violence occurred which
resulted in police action and arrests. As an outgrowth of these events,
some of these students who had been persuaded to participate in the
picketing were dismissed from school. Many good people who believed
that Gerald L. K. Smith was anti-Semitic and who had wished to protest
against him and what he reputedly stood for, came to the conclusion that
the activities of the Mobilization for Democracy were disgraceful and
withdrew from the organization.
The Los Angeles County Board of Education indicated that if the
law compelled the board to grant permission for the use of school build-
ings to such organizations as the Communist Party, it could hardly be
expected to have Authority- -to deny the use of the same buildings to
UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA 55
Gerald L. K. Smith, whether he was or was not, in fact, engaged in anti-
Semitic propaganda activities. It is rather interesting to note in this con-
nection that when the Communist Party holds meetings in the public
school buildings in Los Angeles County or in other parts of the State
that their meetings are not picketed by the anti-Communists in the
community. The demonstration at Polytechnic High School in Los
Angeles in November of 1945 was not the only time that the Smith meet-
ings were picketed.
On October 13, 1945, the Mobilization for Democracy urged its
members by telegram "to attend an emergency meeting at the Royal
Palms Hotel, 360 South Westlake," Monday, October 15th at 8 p.m. The
purpose of the meeting was ' ' to launch an organized program of action
to counteract Gerald L. K. Smith's return to Los Angeles. " The
announcement stated that ' * protests against Smith 's appearance at Poly-
technic High School will be presented to the Board of Education, 1151 S.
Broadway on Monday at 5 p.m. "
The telegram was signed by Robert W. Kenny, Carey Me Williams,
George Campbell, Pauline Lauber, Frank Pellett, Phillip M. Connelly,
Ellenore Abowitz, Mrs. Fred Pollock and Leo Gallin.
The individuals who signed the foregoing telegram constituted a
sort of steering or strategy committee (to say nothing of its "window-
dressing" character), for Mobilization for Democracy. The Committee
learned that Leo Gallin was acting for the Jeivish Community Council,
Frank Pellett for the Railroad Brotherhood, Ellenore Abowitz for the
Hollywood Independent Citizens Committee of the Arts, Science and
Professions and that Pauline Lauber represented the Hollywood Writers
Mobilization.
The People's Daily World enthusiastically publicized the activities
of Mobilization for Democracy while the program of the organization was
given significant instantaneous support by such other Communist fronts
as the People's Educational Center, the Hollywood Writers Mobilization
and the Civil Rights Congress.
COMMUNIST FRONT NETWORK
An under-cover agent of the committee was instructed to join both
the Mobilization for Democracy and the Hollywood Citizens Committee
of the Arts, Sciences and Professions, under fictitious names. He was soon
flooded with a torrent of literature and propaganda from innumerable
front organizations. It is quite obvious that he could not have been
reached through the mail under his fictitious names except through either
the Mobilization for Democracy or the Hollywood Citizens Committee of
the Arts, Sciences and Professions, the only organizations that were in
possession of his aliases and address. The organizations from whom the
agent received letters and literature under the names he had selected are
as follows : Los Angeles Emergency Committee to Aid the Strikers, 5851
S. Avalon Boulevard, Los Angeles ; Stop the Ku Klux Klan, Masked Rally
at Olympic Auditorium (Mobilization for Democracy), Los Angeles;
Citizens Committee for the Recall of Councilman McClanahan (Thir-
teenth Los Angeles District) ; Newsboys Local (Industrial Union No. 75,
CIO, 212 W. Third Street, Los Angeles) ; Elizalde Anti-Discrimination
Committee; Hold the Price Line Committee (signed by Robert W. Kenny
and Bartley B. Crum) ; Win the Peace Division of the Mobilization for
56 UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA
Democracy (urging immediate severance of diplomatic relations with
Fascist Spain) ; American Committee for a Free Indonesia (8706 Mar-
rows Street, Los Angeles) ; Citizens Committee for Better Education
(5855 Hollywood Boulevard, Los Angeles) ; Los Angeles Newspaper
Guild, Local No. 69 ; Jewish Blackbook Committee of Los Angeles (Room
1021, 458 S. Spring Street, Los Angeles) ; Citizens Committee to Aid the
Locked-Out Hearst Employees (1324 S. Figueroa Street, Los Angeles),
and a committee urging the election of Ellis E. Patterson to the office of
Congress by means of a write-in campaign, from 8783 Beverly Boulevard,
Los Angeles.
The interlocking network and over-all domination and control of
these Communist Party front organizations is clearly indicated by the
mass of literature mailed to the committee 's agent from apparently widely
separated and heterogeneous organizations and committees. The commit-
tee 's agent had joined the Mobilization for Democracy under a particular
alias and used an entirely different alias when he joined the Hollywood
Independent Citizens Committee of the Arts, Sciences and Professions.
It is quite clear that every new Communist front organization had imme-
diate access to the membership lists of both the Mobilization for
Democracy and the Hollywood Independent Citizens Committee of the
Arts, Sciences and Professions. When Communist Ruth McKenney,
heretofore quoted, declared that the busy and effective "scurrying
around" of Communist Party members in various organizations is
"efficiently centralized" she was making a factual statement that is
proved in the Communist front activities of California Communists.
The committee, therefore, finds that the network of Communist
front organizations in California are efficiently centraMzed by the Com-
munist Party and that the apparent divergent activities of these fronts
are thoroughly coordinated and directed.
It should be noted that George Anang is the Secretary of the Ameri-
can Committee for Indonesian Independence, the Los Angeles headquar-
ters of which is located at 8706 Melrose Avenue. Anang is also a co-direc-
tor with Allen Metcalf of the Communist front organization, The
Southern California Committee to Win the Peace.
3
THE KU KLUX KLAN AND THE MOBILIZATION
FOR DEMOCRACY
As Gerald L. K. Smith diminished in box office appeal Mobilization
for Democracy handlers scurried around to find an appropriate sub-
stitute to strike terror into the hearts of racial minorities. Although the
Ku Klux Klan had been dead as an organization since the committee
investigating un-American activities had subpenaed its leaders in 1941,
the Mobilization for Democracy seized upon its remnants like a drowning
man grasping a straw. With Hitler as a back-drop, the Mobilization for
Democracy launched upon another crusade against the Invisible Empire.
A group of leftwing motion picture figures was enlisted and a new
series of public meetings and radio programs informed the people of
Los Angeles County that hooded legions were marching down Broadway.
. The committee held several days of public hearings in Los Angeles
in October, 1946. Attorney General Robert W. Kenny, Mayor Fletcher
Bowron, Chief of Police C. B. Horrall, the Sheriff, the District Attorney
and many other officials and individuals were subpenaed. After a long
and detailed inquiry from these witnesses, the committee came to the
unanimous conclusion that the incidents attributed to the Ku Klux Klan
had been deliberately manufactured by the fertile brains behind the
Mobilization for Democracy. Every official in Los Angeles County had
independently arrived at this conclusion as had most newspaper men.
The committee found that every alleged incident dramatized by Mobiliza-
tion for Democracy as an act of "Ku Klux Klan terrorism" had been
thoroughly investigated by the law enforcing agencies of Los Angeles
County. The reports of the police department, the sheriff 's office and the
district attorney's office revealed that there was not one single incident
heralded as "Klan terrorism" by the Mobilization for Democracy in
which these agencies found any evidence whatsoever of Ku Klux Klan
activity.
Attorney General Robert W. Kenny testified that he had obtained
a superior court judgment outlawing the Ku Klux Klan as a corporation
in California. Although heading the Mobilization for Democracy, he did
not cite a single incident of Klan activity in Southern California. Part
of the Attorney General 's testimony follows :
Q. (By Mr. Combs) : Did the Mobilization for Democracy
specifically investigate any Klan activities ?
A. Well, I don't think so. I am the honorary president of it.
No. They are one of the civic groups that are fighting the Klan.
We had a large anti-Klan rally designed largely to wise people up to
this danger so that they don't try to laugh these things off when
they occur. I remember when I was a kid somebody solicited me
for membership in the Klan. I didn 't know what it was. But when
I went home my mother told me what it was. That is the way those
(57)
58 UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA
things go. So the Mobilization is doing all it can in fighting a hard,
honest fight to expose the thing. We have put on some radio pro-
grams that have touched on various forms of racial prejudice and
have touched in particular on the Klan since that is one of the more
dramatic incidents that occurred. Of course, that is one of the things
where we got a judgment in the superior court.
Mayor Fletcher Bowron of Los Angeles testified, in part, as follows :
Q. (By Mr. Combs) : Mayor Bowron, you were here when the
Attorney General testified, were you not?
A. I was.
Q. You heard his testimony ?
A. Yes.
Q. Are you familiar at all with an organization known as the
Mobilization for Democracy f
A. Yes. I have attended one or two of their meetings and I
have received a delegation that I assume represents the Mobilization
for Democracy in my office.
Q. Mayor Bowron, did they make available to you at any time
any specific evidence that you could transmit to the police depart-
ment ; did they make available to you any specific evidence that could
be used for the purpose of making an arrest ?
A. No, they never have. They have talked about a lot of inci-
dents, but when it comes to facts they have not produced them at
all, not one.
Q. Do you feel that an organization which publicizes widely
alleged acts of depredation or intimidation by the Klan and fails
to present to your office or to the police department concrete evidence
to support those allegations is doing a public good or a public harm ?
A. In this community it is very distinctly doing a public harm.
It is setting class against class. It is causing suspicion. However,
they are accomplishing the objective or the apparent objective of
criticizing public officials and those who try to represent organized
government.
Russell Camp, a police officer of the City of Los Angeles, played
an air-check (phonograph recording) of a radio program broadcast by
the Mobilization for Democracy. The program, allegedly prepared by
the Writers Mobilization, was a highly colored, inflammatory dramatiza-
tion, revealing ' ' 13 acts of terror and intimidation, acts of desecration
and destruction * * * including the fact of attempted murder.' 7 The
radio narrator, during the presentation, stated: "Yes, we know that
27 incidents within three months didn 't happen without cause, and here
is Robert W. Kenny, Attorney General of California, speaking for the
Mobilization for Democracy. ff
The Attorney General arose to the occasion. * ' The Klan is working
to destroy the democratic liberties of all the people/' he declared. "The
Mobilization for Democracy plans to bring you every week specific
instances of Klan activity in the United States so that you, the citizens,
will know what is going on and what to do about it. You won't find the
UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA 59
series amusing. Yon will find it interesting and perhaps frightening.
But it is not necessary to be afraid. The Klan and Klan-inspired acts
can be stopped by you."
Walter J. Sullivan, representing the District Attorney of Los
Angeles County, testified that the alleged cases of Klan activity in
Southern California had been thoroughly investigated by the district
attorney's office. He stated that he had been assigned to cooperate with
the Attorney General, Mr. Kenny, and his investigators, as well as with
the other law enforcement agencies in these investigations. Mr. Sul-
livan 's testimony concluded with the following :
Q. (By Mr. Combs) : In summarizing your testimony, Mr.
Sullivan, in no single instance did you find any evidence of organ-
ized Klan activity, nor in any single instance did you find any
specific evidence that any of the alleged acts were perpetrated by
members of the Klan ?
A. That is correct.
C. B. Horrall, Chief of Police of the City of Los Angeles, testified
that his department was ordered to investigate each and every incident
described in the radio broadcasts sponsored by the Mobilization for
Democracy. He testified that the police department had made thorough
investigations in every instance. ''We found no evidence," he stated,
''that any of these acts could be attributed to Klan activity. Some of
them were pranks, some of them had been distorted in the reports to
make them appear that they were Klan activities, but there was no
evidence that could be found that they were the result of Klan activity. ' '
The chief was then asked the following questions and gave the fol-
lowing answers :
Q. (By Mr. Combs) : Is it your opinion that broadcasts such as
those which were sponsored by the Mobilization for Democracy, one
of which was played in part here a few moments ago is it your opin-
ion that that type of publicity is beneficial or detrimental so far as
these alleged acts of Klan activity are concerned ?
A. I would say that it is very detrimental, that such a program
as that tends to incite riots, racial prejudice, and things of that type.
Q. ( Chairman "Tenney) : Chief, I think your feeling is probably
indicated in the record ; that if there were any Klan activity that you
could put your finger on and if you could get hold of the perpetrators
of such things as we have been discussing here, it would be the policy
of your office and of the Los Angeles Police Force, would it not, to
vigorously prosecute these matters and make arrests ?
A. Absolutely. Absolutely. We have tried in every way in the
world to get evidence of Klan activities. We believe that anyone who
makes the assertion that these cases are the result of Klan activity
should put that information in the proper place so the prosecutions
can be made and should not make the statement and then not be
able to back it up.
Assistant Chief of Police Joseph Reed of the Los Angeles Police
Department testified that he had personally been in charge of the investi-
gations in question, and stated that each and every one of the alleged
60 UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA
incidents attributed to Klan activity by the Mobilization for Democracy
were carefully and thoroughly investigated. He unequivocally stated that
the police department was unable to find any trace of Klan activity in
connection with the incidents dramatized by Mobilization radio broad-
casts. Referring to official police department records, Mr. Reed testified
that one of the incidents complained of by the Mobilization for Democ-
racy was the burning of a cross in front of a Jewish Fraternity House at
the University of Southern California in Los Angeles on May 20, 1946.
The police department 's investigation revealed that the sheet used in con-
nection with the burning of the cross was, in fact, the property of a rival
fraternity house and that the lumber used in making the cross was
obtained from the rear of this same rival fraternity house. Dean of Men
Carl Hencey stated that the University of Southern California was recov-
ering from a recent bitter interschool election between the fraternity and
nonfraternity groups. Further investigation, Chief Reed stated, revealed
that there was considerable activity at that time at the University of
Southern California by members of an organization known as American
Touth for Democracy, which has been thoroughly established in the
records of the committee as the Young Communist League.
Q. (By Mr. Combs) : So the net result of the investigation of
that particular incident mentioned in the Mobilization for Democ-
racy broadcast was that it originated from the American Touth for
Democracy as part of its organizational drive, as part of this drive
on the campus of the University of Southern California?
A. That is correct.
Mr. Reed concluded his testimony with the following statement : " I
might say that we have had a tremendous growth in the City of Los
Angeles. Into our section has come a great number of Negro folks and
folks from the South ; many groups from all over the country, but there
are a great number of Negroes from the South. This racial hatred has
not been official to any group. It is creating a police problem. And as law
enforcement officers we are charged with protecting life and property,
and in protecting life and property something must be done to stop this
kind of a broadcast being disseminated to the general public. ' '
George H. Weiner, of the Subversive Activities Detail of the Los
Angeles County Sheriff's office, testified that the- sheriff 's office had made
a complete and thorough investigation of alleged K u Klux Klan activities
in Southern California. He stated that there was not a single incident in
question in which there was any evidence of Ku Klux Klan participation
or where any offender had been a member of the Klan. Mr. Weiner stated :
' ' Speaking from my own opinion I feel that any incidents that have been
reported have been investigated by the law enforcement agencies and a
sincere effort has been made to run them down. We have found in the few
that have been reported in the county that the majority of them are per-
sonal issues or that there is some other additional background usually of
long standing and people have sought to gain their own purposes and
make it appear like it was organized Klan activity. I think our records
will support that."
William Bidner, Executive Director of the Mobilization for Democ-
racy, was subpenaed and testified. He stated that he had no personal
information of Klan activity in Southern California. Nevertheless, he
UN-AMERICAX ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA 61
was willing to declare that he did not believe the police department when
it stated that the cross burning at the University of Southern California
had been perpetrated by members of American Youth for Democracy.
He declared that he had attended functions sponsored by American
Youth for Democracy and believed that the organization was outstanding
as an anti-Pascist youth group, indicating his sympathy with the organ-
ization's objectives and activities.
Q. (Chairman Tenney) : You do know that it is a Communist
organization ?
A. I don't know it is a Communist organization and I don't
sling that word around loosely at all. I said it is an anti-Fascist
organization and I mean an anti-Fascist organization.
Q. It is not anti- Communist, is it, Mr. Bidner?
A. Anti-Communist!
Q. Yes.
A. What do you mean by anti-Communist 1
Q. Against the Communist.
A. No, and from the point of view of its activities I don't see
why it should be anti-Communist.
He testified that he didn 't believe it was possible that he could have
ever attended a Communist Party meeting without remembering it. He
was able to remember, however, that he was a subscriber to the Com-
munist Party newspaper, the People's Daily World and that he read
the New York Communist periodical, the Daily Worker, occasionally
as well as the Sunday Worker, a weekly Communist publication in New
York City.
In reference to the practice of passing around the mailing list of
the Mobilization for Democracy, Bidner was asked the following ques-
tions and gave the following answers :
Q. (By Mr. Combs) : Now, Mr. Bidner, getting back to the
Mobilization for Democracy, a moment, you have your own mailing
list, have you not ?
A. Yes, we do.
Q. Is it your custom to lend that mailing list to other organiza-
tions ?
A. It" depends who that organization is.
Q. Well, that of course doesn't answer the question.
A. Yes, we are.
Q. Is that frequently done or infrequently done ?
A. I would say infrequently.
Q. To what types of organizations is the mailing list made avail-
able ? You do not use it for political purposes, do you ?
A. No, not for political purposes. It is the type of organization
that usually supports the Mobilization, acts parallel with it, usually
in the broad sense of the term, nonpolitical organization.
Q. Who gives the authorization for the use of the mailing list ?
A. I do.
62 UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA
It should be noted, despite Bidner 's testimony to the contrary, that
one of the organizations using the mailing list of the Mobilization for
Democracy was the Committee for the Election of Ellis E. Patterson to
Congress in a write-in campaign. The use of the fictitious name given by
the committee's agent to the Mobilization for Democracy and used by
the committee for Ellis E. Patterson conclusively proves that the Patter-
son committee had access to the mailing list of the Mobilization for
Democracy.
Ray J. Schneider testified that he affiliated with the Ku Klux Klan
in 1923 or 1924 and that he had been a member of the organization con-
tinuously until about April of 1946. He stated there had been no Klan
activity in California of the type described by the Mobilization for
Democracy. Whether Schneider could be believed or not, the committee
was compelled to conclude that there was no connection between the
incidents highly dramatized by the Mobilization for Democracy and the
Ku Klux Klan.
The committee reiterates its findings, set forth in its 1943 Report,
that the Ku Klux Klan is a thoroughly un-American organization, fully
as reprehensible and evil as the many other fanatical crackpot organiza-
tions encountered by the Committee in its six years of investigation.
The committee finds that the Mobilization for Democracy is, in fact,
a Communist inspired and dominated organization, carefully window-
dressed and directed. The committee further finds that the organization
was engaged in inciting riots, racial hatred and disrespect for law and
order.
The committee finds that the Mobilization for Democracy was part
and parcel of the over-all Communist network in California and that
its mailing lists were used by many other Communist front satellites in
the Stalinist solar system. The commmittee finds that one of the uses
for the Writers Mobilization (heretofore found to be a Communist front
organization) is the preparation of inflammatory scripts for radio broad-
casts such as those sponsored by the Mobilization for Democracy.
COMMUNIST EDUCATIONAL PROGRAM IN CALIFORNIA
Communist Party workers' schools were created almost as soon as
the Communist Party of the United States of America came into being
in 1919. These schools were deemed of high importance by Communist
Party leaders and were intended to indoctrinate students with the
theories of revolutionary Marxism and Leninism. They were designed
to attract members of the labor movement as part of the * ' boring-f rom-
within" policy of the Prof intern in Moscow. The instructors were
originally required to be members of the Communist Party.
Since 1919 the -Red educational system has slowly crept across the
Nation. Until about 1943 the Communist Party made no particular
effort to conceal the true character of its educational institutions. The
doctrine of revolutionary socialism, the overthrow of capitalist govern-
ments by force and violence and Leninism-Stalinism was openly taught
by self-admitted members of the Communist Party. In San Francisco
the Tom Mooney Labor School functioned for years with Communist
Party functionaries as instructors, and those who read the school's
pamphlets and brochures had no difficulty in recognizing the nature
of the institution. The Los Angeles Workers School was organized on
the same pattern.
In its report to the Legislature in 1945 the Committee quoted J.
Edgar Hoover, Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, at
page 136, as follows :
"Over the years, the American Communists have developed
a propaganda machine and nefarious and elaborate school system
of their own. Their officials in secret and public meetings urge that
the propaganda phase of their work must be accelerated. Brazenly,
they have urged the development of courses, lectures, and assem-
blies as media to espouse the ideologies of Marxism and to establish
Marxism as a school of thought in the United States * * *."
The committee further reported at page 136 :
"For the first time, Earl Browder has assumed absolute and
direct control of the 'Workers Schools' of the United States. It is
reported that in New York City, V. J. Jerome and Elizabeth Lawson
are the key people in the Communists' 'elaborate school system.'
V. J. Jerome (alias Isaac Romaine) has been the secret educational
director of the Communist Party for many years. He was formerly
the editor of The Communist. Jerome is considered one of the out-
standing dialecticians in the United States and is considered by
many members as the 'brains' of the Communist Party. He was
one of the instructors in the New York Workers' School. It is
estimated that the Communist Party schools will graduate about
5,000 students a year."
(63 )
64 UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA
COMMUNIST EDUCATION
In 1943, pursuant to the impetus given the educational program by
the national heads of the Communist Party, the People's Educational
Center in Los Angeles and the California Labor School in San Francisco
were launched. These apparently new educational organizations under
new names were intended to conceal the Communist character of the
institutions, and, in this manner, exercise a -much broader field for
propagandization than was possible under the hammer-and-sickle. The
workers ' schools had been utilized most generally in recent years for the
purpose of indoctrinating new Communist Party members and prospects.
The field for general propagandization was therefore limited. Under the
rather innocuous appellations of the People's Educational Center and the
California Labor School many non-Communists were expected to enroll.
Courses offered in these camouflaged institutions would include such
innocent subjects as shorthand, body building and the dance, music as
communication, drawing for beginners, the modern novel, basic journal-
ism, languages, etc. Once the unsuspecting student was enrolled it would
be easy to sell him on Marxism and revolutionary Communism.
The usual window-dressing attendant upon the embarking of Com-
munist fronts was applied generously in the launching of these two Cali-
fornia Communist institutions. Professors on the faculty of the Univer-
sity of California at Los Angeles were induced to deliver lectures on one
subject or another at the People's Educational Center. The extension
division of the University of California at Berkeley was hoodwinked by
the California Labor School into jointly sponsoring a Labor and Peace
Institute on the campus of the University of California at Berkeley. Thus
Communist education in California was dignified by joining hands with
the State University.
LOS ANGELES COMMUNIST WORKERS' SCHOOL
The Los Angeles Workers' School was formerly contacted at the
office of the People's Daily World located at 323 W. Third Street in' Los
Angeles. The People's Daily World staff took applications for enrollment
in the school. The regular office of the school was maintained at 212 W.
Third Street, Room 207 in Los Angeles, where the courses were actually
taught. For the full semester of 1942, which commenced October 5th and
ended December 23d of that year, the Workers' School announced a
special course called Victory and After, based on the book of the same
name by Earl Browder. The instructors were Carl Winter, Eva Shafran,
Pettis Perry and Max Silver, all of whom were full time officers of the
Communist Party of Los Angeles County. By 1942 the People's Daily
World had replaced the old official Communist Party organ, the Western
Worker, and Ed Robbin, radio commentator for the People 's Daily World,
was also an instructor. Leo Gallagher, Charles Katz, and Estolv Ward,
always prominent in Communist Party affairs, and Lou Baron, whose
record in Communist activities is well known, were other instructors in
the school. Communist Party functionary Eva Shafran was the director
of the school. An announcement of courses for 1943, a copy of which is in
the possession of the committee, stated in the foreword that "the Los
Angeles Workers' School was established in 1939 to fulfill the need for
an educational institution which would provide systematic training in
UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA 65
the history, principles and program of the working class and people's
movement and prepare students for effective participation in the progres-
sive movements of labor and the people. ' '
The following paragraphs from the foreword in the announcement
of classes, above referred to, are of considerable interest :
"Beginning with a small group of students in 1939, the enroll-
ment has increased steadily. During the past year over 1,000 students
enrolled for workers school courses. The Los Angeles Workers'
School is now the largest labor school in the west.
* * The studies in the school are based on the principles of scien-
tific socialism ; and the courses, dealing primarily with social, polit-
ical and economic problems, are presented from an authoritative
Marxist-Leninist viewpoint.
"The classes are open to everyone interested in the study of
social sciences and current economic and political programs. The
students of the Workers ' School come from many trades and profes-
sions industrial workers, office workers, students, professionals
representing a cross section of the working population.
"The teaching staff of the Workers' School is composed of
instructors whose qualifications include both sound theoretical train-
ing and extensive and varied experience in the labor movement. A
basic principle underlying the teaching at the Workers' School is
unity of theory and practice.
"The Workers' School library has a large collection of Marxist
books, pamphlets and periodicals. Students are urged to make full
use of its facilities. ' '
Among the courses taught at the time (1942) were "Funda-
mentals of Marxism/ 9 "Marxism and the War/' "The Negro People
History, Problems and Caste/' and "History of the Communist Party
of the Soviet Union."
In 1943 the literature of the Los Angeles Workers' School announced
that its director was still Eva Shafran, and that the board of directors
was composed of the following persons : Leo Gallagher, well known Com-
munist attorney of Los Angeles, Estolv Ward, Bert Corona, Mrs. Mary
Troy, Lou Baron, LaRue McCormick, Pettis Perry, Judy Schmidt, Alan
Bryan and Jane Renaker. The Communist affiliations, activities and
sympathies of these individuals are well known. Among the teachers at
the Los Angeles Workers' School in 1943 were such prominent Com-
munists as John Howard Lawson, Albert Maltz, Elizabeth Leach, Carl
Winter, Max Silver, Ed Bobbin, Judy Schmidt and Pettis Perry.
Upon the death of Eva Shafran the duties of the director of the Los
Angeles Workers' School were assumed by Julia Sandy. Mrs. Sandy's
Communist record is interesting. Her husband, George Sandy, has been
prominent in Communist Party affairs since 1937. He was an organizer
for the Communist Party in Orange County in that year, attended the
Communist Party convention in San Francisco in 1942 and sponsored
many Communist candidates for public office. He was appointed a mem-
ber of the Communist State Central Committee on September 6, 1940,
registered as a member of the Communist Party in Los Angeles on
June 15, 1940, and in 1944 was an officer of the Communist Party of Los
5 L-2T
66 UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA
Angeles County. Mrs. Julia Sandy has never denied her Communist
Party affiliation, and her selection as the Director of the Los Angeles
Workers ' School to replace Eva Shaf ran is complete proof, if proof were
needed, of the continued Communist character of the institution.
In 1944, the Los Angeles Workers' School was located at 212 W.
Third Street in that city.
COMMUNIST WORKERS' SCHOOL JOINS PEC
In 1945, in the February 6th issue of the People's Daily World,
on page 3, column 3, there appears an announcement of profound signifi-
cance. It reads as follows :
"Workers' School Bows Out, Joins With PEC
"Los Angeles, February 5 The Los Angeles Workers School
has closed its doors and discontinued all its services, executive secre-
tary Julia Sandy announced. The school was founded six years ago
to give Marxist training to trade unionists and others.
"Reasons for closing the school are given in the following
statement by Mrs. Sandy for the board of directors :
" 'For six years the Workers School has devoted itself to
meeting the need of our community for a people 's anti-Fascist educa-
tion, utilizing the Marxist approach to promote a better under-
standing of the struggle for Democracy. The curriculum included
many subjects dealing with the science of Marxism as well as sub-
jects of more general interest American history, trade unionism,
the nature of Fascism.
" 'With our entry into the war in 1941, the Workers School
centered its attention on developing greater clarity on the problems
involved in the winning of the war and the building of postwar
peace and security.
" 'In 1944, with the opening of the People's Educational
Center, the Workers School was no longer alone in providing our
community with consistently anti-Fascist education. The People's
Educational Center, from its inception, has been providing the
community at large with a fine program of education for democracy.
This institution, being a coalition in the field of education of all
consistent anti-Fascists is serving a most valuable purpose in our
community. It is for this reason that the Los Angeles Workers'
School participated in the founding and development of the People 's
Educational Center.
11 'In the critical struggle in which our Nation is now engaged,
education for democracy is more than ever a burning need. Through
its broad educational program the People 's Educational Center has
a vital role to play in the building of national unity, and can make a
significant contribution as a great center of democratic education
in Los Angeles.
" 'In view of these developments, the board of directors has
decided to dissolve the Workers School. The school has played a
pioneer role in the educational field in Los Angeles. The policies
of collective security and national unity it struggled for are now
the policies of the great progressive organizations of the majority
of the American people. The special task of teaching scientific
UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA 67
socialism is now being served by the Marxist political-educational
organization, The Communist Political Association.
" 'The Workers School now leaves the field open for the
broadest anti-Fascist forces to carry forward on the educational
front the major struggle of the present moment of history the
struggle for the perspective of lasting peace and economic security
opened up at Teheran ; and it is confident that they will succeed. ' !
Here, then, out of the mouth of the Communist Director of the
Communist Los Angeles Workers ' School, is a positive statement to
the effect that the Communist Workers' School helped organize the
People's Educational Center as the organization which would carry
on its activities. What Mrs. Sandy was actually stating was that the
name of the Workers' School was being changed to the People's Educa-
tional Center and that the Communist Party's educational program to
spread the gospel of international Communism would be carried on in
a new and broader field and in a more determined and vigorous way
than ever before.
The "Provisional Committee" for the People's Educational Center
is listed at page 137 in the committee's 1945 Report. The members of
this committee were John Allard, Educational Director and a member of
the International Union of United Automobile Aircraft and Agricultural
Instrument Workers of America, CIO; Fay E. Allen, member of the
American Federation of Musicians, Los Angeles Local 767, A. F. of L. ;
R. S. A very; Charlotta A. Bass, editor and publisher of the California
Eagle; George Bradley, International Vice President of the Building
Service Employees International Union, A. F. of L. ; Phillip M. Connelly,
former State President of the California CIO ; 0. W. E. Cook, teacher,
adult education ; Frank C. Davis, former Assistant Professor, University
of California at Los Angeles; Reverend Martin S. Eidsath, Pastor of the
Southwest Presbyterian Church; Harry Hoijer, Assistant Professor
at the University of California at Los Angeles; John Howard Lawson,
National Vice President of the League of American Writers; Louis
Levy, Vice President and Pacific Coast Director of the International
Ladies Garment Workers Union; Arnold Manoff, author and lecturer,
School for Writers; Dean E. McHenry, Assistant Professor, University
of California at Los Angeles; Russell L. McKnight, President, Film
Technicians, Local 683, I.A.T.S.E., A. F. of L. ; Carey Me Williams;
Ruth S. Ryan ; M. William Pomerance, business agent, Screen Cartoon-
ists Local 852, A. F. of L. ; Eva Shafran, Director, Los Angeles Workers 1
School; Albee Slade, Editor and Commentator, CIO Newspaper o]
the Air; C. L. Vanderbie, consultant, Adult Education; Ralph D. Win-
stead, National Representative of the Industrial Union of Marine and
Shipbuilding Workers of America, CIO ; and William Wolff. The head-
quarters of the organization was originally located at 812 Broadway
Arcade Building, in the City of Los Angeles.
COMMUNIST LEAGUE OF AMERICAN WRITERS
The League of American Writers has been conducting a school ii
Hollywood in which John Howard Lawson was the dominant figure
Lawson 's record of Communist activities and affiliations is set fortl
in considerable detail in the committee's 1945 Report. He, among othe]
68 UN- AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA
Communists, spearheaded the formation of the People's Educational
Center. The League of American Writers' school went out of existence
after first having made a loan of $3,000 to the People's Educational
Center. In the event anyone should entertain a doubt concerning the
Communist character of John Howard Lawson and the League of Ameri-
can Writers Schools, that doubt should be completely removed by the
statement issued by former United States Attorney General, Francis
Biddle. The statement follows :
' ' The League of American Writers, founded under Communist
auspices in 1935, for some years attracted to its fold many of the
most prominent American writers, Communist and non-Communists.
In 1939 the league began openly to follow the Communist Party line
as dictated by the foreign policy of the Soviet Union, and at that
time most of the non-Communists disaffiliated themselves from it and
declared their opposition to its policy.
' ' The League of American Writers was founded at a congress of
American revolutionary writers held in New York April 26-27,
1935. The call for the congress was signed by members of the
John Reed Club, including such well-known Communists as Earl
Browder, Isidor Schneider, John L. Spivak, and Michel Gold. The
congress greeted Gold as the best loved American revolutionary
writer and Gold in turn told the gathering that, ' Our writers must
learn that the working class which has created a great civilization
in the Soviet Union is capable of creating a similar civilization
in this country/ The leading speakers at the congress were all
prominently identified with the Communist movement in the United
States and featured such men as M. J. Olgin, editor of the Communist
Yiddish Daily, Morning Freiheit, Alexander Trachtenberg, head
of the party's publishing house, International Publishers, Inc.,
and Clarence Hathaway, editor of the Daily Worker whose masthead
then proclaimed it the official organ of the Communist Party,
U. S. A., section of the Communist International. The league was
created, among other things, l to enlist writers in a national cultural
organization for peace and democracy and against fascism and
reaction, to support progressive trade-union organizations and
the people 's front in all countries, and to cooperate with the progres-
sive forces. '
"Soon after the league was established, the Seventh World
Congress of the Communist International in Moscow decided upon
the Trojan Horse policy for Communist parties everywhere. By
this policy Communists sought to infiltrate existing organizations
without revealing their identity. Accordingly, it became necessary
to conceal the Communist influence in the League of American
Writers. The revolutionary slogans and resolutions were discarded.
In the years from 1936 to 1939 the league made an effort to secure
as members the leaders of liberal thought among American writers.
Although its Communist control was deliberately obscured, it
sponsored a policy which accorded with the Communist Party line
in those years, including condemnation of the Franco revolution
in Spain and an interpretation of that revolution as presenting an
issue of Communism vs. Fascism. In its congresses held in these
UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA 69
years the league condemned Fascism and praised the 'Soviet peace
policy. ' It sought to make its program attractive by sponsoring the
Federal Arts Project and attacking those who were opposed to any
of the social legislation then being enacted in the United States.
"At the time of the Russo-German pact in August, 1939, the
League of American Writers began once more to follow the Com-
munist Party line openly and without much attempt at dissimula-
tion. It was in this period that most of the prominent non-Com-
munist writers resigned from the league. Thomas Mann stated that
the league ' thinks too much about politics and not enough about
literature. ' In 1940 and up until June 22, 1941, the league devoted
its efforts principally to keeping the United States out of the ' imper-
ialist war. ' Its activities were featured in the Daily Worker and it
in turn complimented the Daily Worker for the recognition it was
giving to the league 's antiwar program. Many leading Communists
were openly active in the league at this time.
"On June 6, 1941, the league held its Fourth Annual Writers'
Congress in New York City. It condemned the l imperialist war,'
which it called a war for world markets. Speakers charged that the
President was attempting to lead the country into war, and con-
demned the administration for its action in sending troops to quell
the North American Aviation Co. strike and for its prosecution of
Harry Bridges.
"The American Peace Mobilization and its picketing of the
White House was endorsed. Less than a month later the league
issued a call to all writers and writers ' organizations for ' all imme-
diate and necessary steps in support of Great Britain and the
Soviet Union.'
"Not only did the league follow the Communist Party line in
regard to foreign affairs, but its program since 1940 has shown a
close parallel to the leading domestic issues supported by the party,
including a campaign in behalf of Negro rights, opposition to what
is called political persecution in the United States, and praise of
the Soviet Union and its leaders.
1 ' The League of American Writers maintains an annual writers '
school in New York City, featuring courses in labor journalism and
pamphlet writing taught by Communists. Once each week it spon-
sors a * work in progress ' reading by some author. The Daily Worker,
in its regular reports of these readings, indicates that the majority
of invited readers are known Communists or fellow travelers.
' ' The overt activities of the League of American Writers in the
last two years leave little doubt of its Communist control. The
resignation of many writers who had affiliated themselves with it in
the era of the Trojan horse and their statements at the time of dis-
associating themselves from it largely remove all possible specula-
tions as to the facts. ' '
PEOPLE'S EDUCATIONAL CENTER 1944
Immediately upon making the loan of $1,000 to the People's Edu-
cational Center the League of American Writers' school in Hollywood
went out of business. The People's Educational Center was organized
to cover the same courses offered by both the Los Angeles Workers' School
70 UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA
and the American Writers' School presided over by John Howard
Lawson. The Workers' School, as well as the American League of
Writers' school, made its contribution to the new institution. The People's
Educational Center was presented with the Communist library of the
Workers' School.
The prospectus for the winter term of 1944 of the People's Educa-
tional Center states that the headquarters of the institution is located
at 524 South Spring Street in Los Angeles. For this term the faculty
members were as follows : Alvah Bessie, screen writer and critic ; Edward
Biberman, artist (brother of Herbert Biberman, who was prominent in
the Hollywood Anti-Nazi League, the League Against War and Fascism,
the League for Democratic Action, and many other Communist front
organizations) ; Kevel Cayton, Vice President of the California CIO
Council ; Dr. Frank C. Davis, formerly a professor of psychology at the
University of California at Los Angeles, (now educational director of
the People's Educational Center) ; Edward Dmytryk, motion picture
director ; Guy Endore, motion picture writer ; Charles J. Katz, member
of the firm of Katz, Gallagher and Margolis, and R. Lai Singh, editor
of the Communist India News. (The law firm of Katz, Gallagher and
Margolis has been vigorously condemned in a resolution passed by the
Central Labor Council of the American Federation of Labor in Los
Angeles).
The same prospectus for the 1944 winter term announced that the
school's instructors would include Leo Gallagher, well known Com-
munist Party member ; Augustus F. Hawkins, member of the California
State Assembly; Herbert Klein; Ernest Dawson, proprietor of a book
store on the corner of Wilshire and Grand Avenue in Los Angeles and
prominent in many Communist front organizations ; Carl Winter, former
chairman of the Communist Party of Los Angeles County ; Dr. Murray
Abowitz, member of the American-Soviet Medical Society and husband
of Ellenore Abowitz (formerly Ellenore Bogigian) ; Oscar Fuss, formerly
an officer of the Communist Workers' Alliance; Ned R. Healy, former
member of Congress; John Howard Lawson, former associate editor of
the New York Communist Daily Worker, and Albee Slade, (Albee Slot-
kinoff), prominent in the Mobilization for Democracy and the Civil
Rights Congress in the City of Los Angeles. Eva Shafran, the last
director of the Communist Party Workers' School in Los Angeles,
Wilma Shore, screen writer, and John P. McTernan (selected to sub-
stitute for Vito Marcantonio, radical member of Congress, at a Shrine
Auditorium meeting in Los Angeles) were also instructors at the
People's Educational Center at the 1944 summer term of the institution.
Other members of the faculty in 1944 were Annette Cimring,
member of the editorial staff of a Communist publication called The
Action Letter, and Kenneth McGowan, who, despite a warning from
this committee to President Sproul of the University of California, was
employed as a member of the faculty at the University of California at
Los Angeles. (McGowan is still teaching in that institution.)
COMMUNIST PEC 1945
It was announced that Bruce Minton, a screen writer, would be
an instructor at the People's Educational Center in its spring term of
1945. At the time of this announcement Bruce Minton was a prominent
UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA 71
member of the Communist Party of the United States of America. He
had been very close to Earl Browder. After Browder's "ideological
blunder" and his removal as the secretary of the Communist Party of
the United States, Bruce Minton, together with Communist Ruth McKen-
ney, because of so-called "factual factionism," were expelled from the
Communist Party. It should not be necessary to state that Bruce Minton,
since his expulsion from the Communist Party, is no longer an instructor
at the People's Educational Center.
Other members of the faculty of the People's Educational Center
during the spring of 1945 were Judith Schmidt, Circulation Manager of
the People's Daily World for Los Angeles County; Ruth McKenney;
Viola Spolin, screen writer ; Edward Eliscu, screen writer and Sanford
Goldner, research director in charge of the Los Angeles office of the Cali-
fornia CIO Council.
By December, 1945, the curriculum for the People's Educational
Center had been considerably broadened. The headquarters of the school
were now located at 1717 North Vine Street, Hollywood. The faculty now
included such individuals as Judge Leon Yankwich, of the United States
District Court in Los Angeles, Professor Harry Hoijer, Professor Leonard
Bloom, Professor Howard Gilhausen, Professor David Appleman, Pro-
fessor Dean McHenry, Professor Ralph Beals and Dr. Frank C. Davis,
all members of the faculty of the University of California at Los Angeles;
Leo Bigelman, former teacher at the Los Angeles Workers' School;
Jules Carson, former instructor at the Tom Mooney Labor School in
San Francisco; Peter De Lima, left-wing radio commentator; Meyer
Frieden, former U. C. L. A. student and one of the organizers of the
Young Communist League in Oakland, and currently the head of the
Young Communist League's successor, American Youth for Democracy;
John Howard Lawson; Katherine McTernan, former instructor at the
California Labor School in San Francisco ; Viola Brothers Shore, screen
writer ; Frank Tuttle, screen director, and Alvin Wilder, left-wing radio
commentator. Others connected with the People's Educational Center
were Willis J. Hill, Ralph Winstead, R. S. Avery, Fay E. Allen, Harry
Brown, Francis Eisenberg, Mrs. Gertrude Flatte, Tex Freeman, Frank
Green, Dorothy Healy, Kenneth W. Howard, Boyce Howard, Z. P.
Peterson, Louis J. Rosenkranz, and Howard Lambert.
When a trusted Communist functionary appears as the member of
the Board of Directors or an officer of an organization, the Communist
character and control of the group is firmly established. It must be
remembered that Communist functionaries never waste time. In the first
place, no self-respecting American organization would deliberately elect
a known Communist functionary to a position of importance and control
in its organization. When, therefore, Dorothy Healy (Dorothy Schneider-
man, Dorothy Ray), Secretary of the Communist Party of Los Angeles
County, is discovered as a member of the Board of Directors of the
People's Educational Center, the character of the institution is imme-
diately established. (See the committee's 1943 and 1945 reports for the
Communist record of Dorothy Healy) .
The committee found close coordination between the educational
programs of the Communist Party in San Francisco and the educational
policies of the Communist Party in Los Angeles. The over-all direction
of Communist Party indoctrination throughout the United States is still
72 UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA
ably directed by V. J. Jerome (Isaac Romaine), National Educational
Director for the Communist Party of the United States of America. The
singleness of purpose and uniformity of direction is clearly revealed in
an analysis of the activities, curricula and mechanics of the People's
Educational Center in Los Angeles and the California Lai) or School in
San Francisco.
COMMUNIST PEC UP-TO-DATE
So that the record be complete the committee lists the individuals
who have served, and for the greater part, are still serving, as members
of the faculty of the Communist People's Educational Center: Ralph
Beals, member of the faculty of the University of California at Los
Angeles; Alvah Bessie, novelist, screen writer and critic ; Herbert Biber-
man, screen director and student of the Soviet Theater ; Leo Bigelman,
formerly associated with the Communist Workers' School of Los Ange-
les ; Gerald Blankfort, a fellow of the American College of Physicians;
Leonard Bloom, a member of the faculty of the University of California
at Los Angeles; Abram Burroughs, author and coproducer of the radio
program, Duffy 's Tavern ; Jacobina Caro, dance director and member of
the Actor's Laboratory in Hollywood; Doris Shabot, puppeteer; Emma
Lu Davis, former instructor at Reed College; Frank C. Davis, Depart-
ment of Psychology, University of California at Los Angeles ; Eva Dick-
stein, illustrator; Howard Zimsdale, screen writer; Edward Dmytryk,
motion picture director; Guy Endore, screen writer; Neil Enochs,
Director of Research for the Chinese-American Bureau of Research of
Los Angeles ; Paul Erf er, Director of the Hollywood Folk Dance Center;
Franklin Fearing, Professor of Psychology at the University of Cali-
fornia at Los Angeles and Vice Chairman of the Hollywood Writers'
Mobilization; Sanford Goldner, Assistant Research Director of the Los
Angeles, California CIO Council; Howard Gilhausen, Associate Pro-
fessor of Psychology at the University of California, Los Angeles ; Sondra
Gorney, editor and film critic ; Shirley Grey, director of the drama group
of the American Youth for Democracy (Young Communist League);
Alexandra Groth, instructor in Russian; Ruth Halpert, teacher in the
secondary schools in Los Angeles ; Thomas L. Harris, formerly National
Secretary, Council of American-Soviet Friendship; Kenneth Artford,
Chairman of Local 57 of the American Communications Association,
CIO ; Harry Hoijer, Associate Professor of Anthropology at the Univer-
sity of California at Los Angeles; Alexander Knox, star of the motion
picture, <( Wilson"; John Howard Lawson, heretofore mentioned; Mar-
jorie R. Leonard, psychologist ; Eula Long, artist ; Marie McGinnis, dance
instructor ; Dean E. McHenry, Assistant Professor of Political Science at
the University of California at Los Angeles; Katherine McTernan, for-
mer instructor of the California Lai) or School in San Francisco; Leo
Mittler, stage and screen director; John Sanford, author; Maurice
Schoppe, art instructor and set designer ; Edward Joseph Shoben, prac-
ticing psychologist in the City of Los Angeles; Wilma Shore, author;
Michael Simmons, screen writer; Viola Spolin, teacher of dramatics at
Hull House, Chicago; Seymour Stern, motion picture director; Keith
Sward, consulting psychologist, Beverly Hills; Jacques Thery, screen
writer; Lory Titelman, former director of Child Care Nursery School,
UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA 73
Santa Monica; Frank Tuttle, motion picture director; Michael Uris,
motion picture writer and Alvin Wilder, left-wing radio commentator.
Among the instructors announced for the winter term, commencing
Monday, January 20, 1947, are the following: Sidney Davison, Milton
Tyre, Helmer Bergman, William B. Esterman, Charles Gladstone, FranlS
Pestana, Wallace Stark, George Beller, Ted Gilien, Herb Klynn, Mildred
Raskin, Neil Enochs, Marshall Ho'o, R. Lai Singh, Minna Agins, Dr.
Jack Agins, Leo Bigelman, Dr. Frank Davis, Mrs. Lory Titelman, Dr.
Fredrick Reynolds, Dr. Murray Abowitz, Hyman Engelberp, David Way,
Frank Thomas, Judith Schmidt, Rose N. Marshall, Marjorie Leonard,
Irving Pichel, Herbert Biberman, Edward Dmytryk, Hugo Friedhofer,
Kenneth Macgowan, Vincent Sherman, Robert Lees, Val Burton, Stanley
Rubin, Vocha Fiske, Louis Quinn, Hugh Campbell, Michael Simmons,
Helen Alcalay, Guy Endore, John Sanford, Wilma Shore, Charles B.
Millholland, Gladys Magy, Lillya Sabsay, Freda Minowitz, Moi Solo-
taroff, Emma Lou Davis, Leon Saulter, Joseph Chabot, Paquerette Pathe,
Alice Miles, Laurence Morton, Elliott Grennard, Ben Barzman, Karen
Morley and Arnold Manoff.
MARXIAN DIALECTIC IN ART
It will be noted from the foregoing that Jacobina Caro is listed as an
instructor or lecturer at the People's Educational Center. Rena Vale, a
former Communist Party member, testified under oath before the com-
mittee as follows (pp. 145-146, committee's 1943 Report) :
Not long after this merger the dancers formed a separate unit
with other Communist Party dancers in Los Angeles County, some
of whom were said to compose the Horton Dance Group, among
whom were Letitia Innes, wife of Sid Burke, whom I met as a Com-
munist comrade; also Jacobina Caro, wife of Sid Martin (David-
son), belonged to the Communist Party faction on the Federal
Theater Project but joined the Dancers' Unit instead of 130 ;
With respect to said Jacobina Caro, the Communist Party fac-
tion on the WPA cultural projects, aforementioned, conspired to
get said Jacobina Caro on WPA by faking qualifications ; she was
instructed to use the address of Ann Howe, aforementioned, 3224
Beverly Boulevard, to pretend to be destitute and thus to pass
through the State Relief Administration for WPA.
Later in her testimony, Rena Vale stated (p. 150, committee's 1943
Report) that Jacobina Caro met with a Communist group at the home of
Mary Virginia Farmer at 1350 Montana Street in the City of Los
Angeles, also attended by Leona McGenty and Howland Chamberlain, in
which plans were formulated to create another Communist Cultural
Commission in order to better coordinate the work of the Hollywood
Cultural Commission and other Communist Party cultural work in Los
Angeles County.
The committee ? s investigation reveals that Jacobina Caro is married
to Sidney Davison (sometimes spelled Davidson), a very active member
of the Communist Party under the name of Sidney Martin. In 1937 the
couple lived several blocks north of Sunset off of Alvarado in the City of
Los Angeles. Jacobina Caro is a dancing teacher and worked in the Com-
74 UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA
munist Party's Little Theater endeavors. After her work in the Federal
Theaters she was affiliated with the International Ladies Garment Work-
ers' Union (ILGWU), where she headed a theatrical group following the
Communist Party line.
In addition to her duties at the People's Educational Center, the
record shows that Jacobina Caro was connected with the Actors' Labora-
tory, another Communist venture, located at 1455 N. Laurel Avenue in
Los Angeles.
The office of the Registrar of Voters in Los Angeles reveals that
Jacobina Caro registered July 13, 1936, from 2238 Lakeshore, Los
Angeles, as a Communist. She gave her ocupation as ' ' dancer. ' ' She was
born in the State of New Jersey. On June 5, 1940, she changed her politi-
cal registration from Communist to Democrat.
Rena Vale, above mentioned, testified that she first met " Sidney
Davidson ' ' under his Communist Party name of ' ' Sidney Martin. ' ' She
stated that he was a member of the Los Angeles County Educational
Committee of the Communist Party and that said committee was seeking
to set up a Communist-controlled art center in Los Angeles. He was an
instructor in the New Members ' Class of the Communist Party and was
one of Rena Vale's first teachers in Communism. She stated that he
explained to the class that all capitalist governments must be overthrown
eventually before a world Soviet government could be established.
In 1936, under the name Sidney Davison, he registered from 2238
Lakeshore Avenue, in Los Angeles, and declined to state his party affilia-
tion. At that time he was listed as a ''correspondent" and gave his birth-
place as New York. On June 18, 1936, he changed his registration to
Communist. In 1944 he registered as a Democrat from 1791 North Syca-
more in Los Angeles and gave his occupation as a " woolen salesman."
In February of 1946 he again declined to state his party affiliation ; gave
his address as 8865 Wonderland Avenue, in Los Angeles, and his occu-
pation as that of ''educator." On April 25, 1946, he decided again to
become a Democrat and registered from 1022 Laguna Avenue in the City
of Los Angeles.
In 1936 he sponsored Cliff Leckrone for the Communist nomination
for Assemblyman from the Fifty-sixth Assembly District. In 1938 he
sponsored Lou Baron, Anita Whitney, Leo Gallagher and Emma Cutler,
all Communists, for Communist nominations in the 1938 elections.
The committee files reveal that he received a B.A. degree in 1929
from New York City College. From October, 1935, to June, 1940, he was
a collector for the National Correspondence Schools in Los Angeles. In
1941 he became a textile salesman for Leon Alexander. In 1940 and 1941
he was an instructor in the Los Angeles Communist Party's Workers
School. From 1942 to 1945 he served in the Navy. In December of 1946 he
became the Director of the People's Educational Center in Los Angeles.
The "Sidney Burke," above referred to by Rena Vale, recently was
found housed in a Veterans' Housing Project in Los Angeles. When it
was discovered that Burke was not a veteran and therefore not eligible to
occupy a unit in a Veterans' Housing Project, he was ordered to move.
Sidney Burke is prominently connected with the People's Daily World
and is a member of the Communist Party. It developed that he had served
in the Merchant Marine during the war and, basing its agitation on this
fact, a delegation called on the City Council of Los Angeles in protest.
UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA 75
The Communist character of the delegation is indicated by its personnel.
Among those who addressed the City Council are the following : John H.
Taylor of 16818 Dalton Avenue, Gardena ; Kenneth Ostheiner, represent-
ing the National Maritime Union; Merle Brodsky, Veteran Director of
the Communist Party of Los Angeles; Ruth Slade, representing the Civil
Rights Congress; Sidney Burke, representing the People's Daily World;
Howard Roe, representing American Youth for Democracy (Young Com-
munist League); Daniel L. Ladd, representing the Merchant Marine Vet-
erans of America; B. Joseph Zukas, representing the CIO Council ; Mrs.
Pearl Fagelson, representing the International Workers Order; L. V.
Thomas ; James W. Lynch ; Roland C. Hugo, representing the CIO, and
Dennie Hooper, representing the National Union of Marine Cooks and
Stewards.
5
CALIFORNIA LABOR SCHOOL
The San Francisco Workers' School opened in 1932 following the
same pattern of other Communist workers ' schools scattered throughout
populous centers in the United States. It was frankly and openly a school
for instruction in Communism.
The announcement of courses offered for the fall term of 1934 con-
tained the following quotation from the writings of Lenin on the cover of
the pamphlet : * ' Without revolutionary theory, there can be no revolu-
tionary practice. "
The school was located at 675 Minna Street in the City of San Fran-
cisco. Among the instructors were Leo Gallagher, Ida Rothstein, Carl
Hama and other prominent Communists. The officers of the school were as
follows : Executive Secretary, Emma Cutler ; Secretary, Fred Mitchell ;
Maria Morris, Leo Thompson, Dan Morgan, John Hunt, Hilds Silvers and
Ada Handler. Members of the Advisory Council were Langston Hughes,
Ella Winter, Lincoln Steffens, Emmett Kirby, Beatrice Kinkead, Anita
Whitney, Dr. M. H. Crawford, Sam Darcy (District Organizer of the
Communist Party at that time), Benjamin Ellisberg, Plasterers Union
of the American Federation of Labor; Ed Harris, Machinists Local 68
of the American Federation of Labor; Sam Diner, Harry Jackson, Coast
Organizer for the Marine Workers Industrial Union; and George Maurer,
Trade Union Director. Courses taught in the San Francisco Workers'
School were Marxian Economics, Short Wave Radio, Political Discussion
Groups for Young Workers, Self Defense in Courts, Russian Language,
History of the Three Internationals, Intermediate English, National
Minorities in California, Principles of Communism, Quack Economic
Plans and Trade Union Organization.
The foreword in the announcement of courses for the fall semester
of 1934 is as follows :
' { The San Francisco Workers ' School functions on the basis of
the economic, political and philosophic teachings of Marx, Engels
and Lenin, and has as its fundamental principles the inseparability
of revolutionary theory from revolutionary practice. The central
aim of the Workers' School is to equip workers with the knowledge
and understanding of Marxism-Leninism and its effective applica-
tion in their militant struggles against the capitalist class toward
the decisive proletarian victory. The revolutionary working class
movement is in constant need of trained new groups of active
workers and leaders. The school is not an academic institution. It
participates in all the current struggles of the working class.
"Pseudo Marxist and 'liberal' schools it is necessary to state
that the Workers ' School is the only school in San Francisco which
authoritatively bases its education on the theory of Marxism-Lenin-
(77)
78 UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA
ism under the official guidance of the leadership of the Communist
Party of the United States of America and the Communist Inter-
national. (Committee's italics.)
"Students seeking to obtain a true scientific Marxist-Leninist
education should not be confused by the appearance of unauthorized
schools pretending to the same purpose. Serious students of social
science will also beware of the so-called 'liberal' schools. Marxism,
the application of the principles of dialectical materialism, is a
science based 011 a thorough study of the process of social and physi-
cal life. This science should be distinguished from the shallow vapor-
ings of pedants who hide their bankruptcy and confusion under the
title ' liberalism '.
"School library the school asks for the assistance of all its
friends in establishing its library. We have no endowment and the
small tuition fee paid by the students is not sufficient to cover the
expenses connected with the school. Therefore, we ask that any work-
ing class, political, economic, or research literature that you can
contribute to the school library be sent to the school office. ' '
By 1936 the location of the school was 121 Haight Street in the City
of San Francisico which was also the headquarters for the Communist
Party of California, Arizona and Nevada. William Schneiderman, Secre-
tary of the Communist Party of California, Lawrence Ross, George
Maurer, and other well-known Communist figures had been added to the
school 's faculty staff.
By 1943 the school had been rechristened the Tom Mooney Labor
School and was located at 678 Turk Street. The officers of the school were
as follows: Board of Directors: John B. Mooney, Anna Mooney, Paul
Schnur, John A. St. Peter, Professor Arthur G. Brodeur, Warren K.
Billings, David Jenkins (Director), Hazel Grossman (Executive Secre-
tary), Julia C. George (Office Secretary) and Ellice Johnston (Librar-
ian). Among the members of the faculty of the institution in 1943 were
Paul Pinsky, CIO Research Director; Frances Moore, then employed
in the Division of Labor Statistics and wife of William Plunkert ; Sam
Kagel, War Manpower Commission; Assemblyman Augustus Hawkins
(later a member of the faculty of the People's Educational Center in Los
Angeles) ; Herbert Resner, attorney for the Communist Party ; Katherine
McTernan ; Jules Carson ; Professor Robert A. Brady of the University
of California; David Hedley (later to become associated with the CIO
Political Action Committee while still an alien) ; Professor Holland
Roberts of Stanford University; Dr. Sanford Goldner (later to teach
at the People's Educational Center) ; Sidney Roger, left-wing radio com-
mentator; and Hazel Grossman, whose husband, Aubrey, is now the
admitted Educational Director of the Communist Party for the City
and County of San Francisco.
During the winter and spring terms of 1944 the officers of the Tom
Mooney Labor School were as follows : George Hayward, President ; G. F.
Irvine, Vice President; Paul Schnur, Secretary; John A. St. Peter,
John B. Mooney, Victor Swanson, Professor Holland Roberts, Richard
Lynden, Frank Fitzgerald, Mervyn Rathborne, Hazel Grossman and
David Jenkins, Directors. Among the individuals listed as sponsors of
the school were : E. F. Burke, Secretary of the Marine Cooks and 1 Stewards
UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA 79
Association, CIO ; Paul Pinsky, CIO Research Director ; Mervyn Rath-
borne, Secretary of the California CIO Council; Mrs. Charlotta Bass,
Editor of the California Eagle; Henry Melnikow, National Labor
Bureau; Frederick Thompson; Anna Mooney; Professor Arthur G.
Brodeur, of the University of California; Warren K. Billings; Paul
Meyer, Industrial Division, YMCA; Professor Robert Brady of the
University of California and George R. Reilly.
A glance at the curriculum reveals that changing the name of the
San Francisco Workers' School to the Tom Mooney Labor School did not
result in any deviation from the Marxist character of the institution.
Among those added to the faculty we find Louis Fowlks, a member of the
War Production Board and prominent in the International Federation
of Architects , Engineers, Chemists and Technicians (FAECT). Kathe-
rine McTernan was still teaching Economic Theory and had now become
a teacher 's assistant at the University of California. Hazel Grossman
was still functioning as Executive Secretary. Dr. Sanford Goldner was
still teaching his specialty, " History of American Thought." David
Jenkins was still the director of the school. Professor Holland Roberts
was teaching a course called the ' ' People 's History of the United States. ' '
By the summer of 1944 the California Labor School had replaced
the Tom Mooney Labor School and had opened headquarters at 216
Market Street in the City of San Francisco. While the name was changed
the officer personnel virtually remained intact. George Hayward was
listed as president; George F. Irvine, as vice president; Paul Schnur,
as secretary and Frank Fitzgerald, George Hardy, David Jenkins,
Richard Lynden, Dewey Mead, Mervyn Rathborne, Holland Roberts,
John A. St. Peter and Victor Swanson, as directors. Hazel Grossman
was listed as being in charge of the Social Science Department and
David Jenkins was the school's director.
Sponsors of the California Labor School included Charlotta Bass,
Bartley C. Crum, United States Senator Sheridan Downey, Judge Syl-
vain J. Lazarus of the San Francisco Superior Court, Henry Melnikow,
National Labor Bureau ; Daniel C. Murphy, Sheriff of San Francisco ;
Francis McCarty, Hearing Commissioner for the OPA; Mrs. Robert
Me Williams, Bishop Edward L. Parsrms, Wendell Phillips, George R.
Reilly of the State Board of Equalization ; State Senator John F. Shelley,
Sol Silverman, Frederick Thompson of the Joint Anti-Fascist Refugee
Committee and Matthew Tobriner, attorney for the American Federa-
tion of Labor. This list of sponsors clearly reveals that a number of
good, patriotic American citizens had been fooled in lending their names
to the organization. The fact that non-Communists had been contacted
and persuaded to sponsor the institution under its new name also reveals
that the Communist Party was seeking to extend the influence of the
institution to unsuspecting prospective students. The committee is con-
vinced that such men as Sheriff Murphy, Senator Shelley, George R.
Reilly and Dewey Mead would never have permitted their names to be
used by the organization had they known its real character.
TECHNIQUE IN "WINDOW-DRESSING" COMMUNIST FRONTS
Dewey Mead is the president of the American Federation of Labor's
San Francisco Building and Construction Trades Council. He is highly
respected in labor circles and his name, in connection with a labor project,
80 UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA
carries considerable weight. A Communist transmission-belt is well
camouflaged when it can boast of such endorsers as Sheriff Dan Murphy
of San Francisco, Senator John F. Shelley, George R. Reilly of the State
Board of Equalization and Dewey Mead of the A. F. of L. Building and
Construction Trades Council.
Dewey Mead's letter to the chairman of the committee reveals the
technique used by the Communists in securing outstanding names for
window-dressing their ' ' front ' ' organizations. Mr. Mead 's letter follows :
"In reply to your letter of January 11, 1947, I wish to advise
you that several years ago when the California Labor School was
being organized, I was contacted by a representative of that group
and asked for permission to use my name, stating that the school
was strictly an A. F. of L. program.
"With this thought in mind, I gave them permission to use
my name. Later on however, I learned through the Press and certain
responsible labor leaders that the school was apparently dominated
by a communistic element. Upon receipt of this information, I
immediately instructed a Mr. Jenkins, manager of the school, by
letter, to withdraw my name as a sponsor, director or anything
else in connection with the school.
"This letter was written on January 17, 1946, a copy of which
is on file at the San Francisco Building and Construction Trades
Council, of which I am president. The use of my name in connection
with this school since January 17, 1946, is without my permission.
I might add that at no time have I attended the meetings of this
school/'
The committee is informed by the California State Federation of
Labor that Frank Fitzgerald, Hotel Service Workers, Local 283 ; Dewey
Mead, A. F. of L. Painters; John A. St. Peter, Local Joint Board of
Culinary Workers; Victor Swanson, Operating Engineers, Local 3, and
Larry Vail of the Retail Clerks have withdrawn as members of the
Board of Directors of the California Labor School.
The California State Federation of Labor has also informed the
committee that the Alameda Building Trades Council, Coppersmiths,
Local 438, Drydock, Marine Waysmen, Stageriggers and Helpers, Local
2116, Office Employees International Union, Local 3, Office Employees
International Union, Local 36, Retail Grocery Clerks, Local 648, Steam-
fitters and Helpers, Local 590, San Francisco Building Trades Council,
International Association of Cleaning and Dye House Workers, Local 7,
Web Pressmen, Local 4, and Office Employees International Union,
Local 29, have withdrawn their former endorsements of the school.
The Allied Printing Trades Council, Barbers Union, Local 48,
Jewelry Workers Union, Local 36, Lumber Clerks and Handlers, Local
2559, Operating Engineers, Local 3, Retail Shoe and Textile Salesmen,
Local 410, and Window Cleaners, Local 44, have all withdrawn their
former affiliation with the California Labor School.
In a report of the California State Federation of Labor on the
California Labor School by C. J. Haggerty, secretary, State Federation
of Labor, the federation found the school to be under the control of the
Communist Party. The committee considers the state federation report
of such importance that it is quoted in full, as follows :
UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA
"Report of the California State Federation of Labor
on the California Labor School
"The evidence on personnel is overwhelming. The director of
the school is David Jenkins. David Jenkins has a long history of
activities in organizations and causes initiated by the Communist
Party. His record in this instance goes as far back at least as 1934.
According to the Daily Worker of May 28, 1934, he was arrested
and charged with felonious assault and rioting in a riot in New
York initiated by the Communist Party. Further details of this are
found in issues of the Daily Worker of May 31, 1934 and June 2,
1934. As a result of this arrest, according to the Daily Worker of
June 15, 1934, he was indicted by the Grand Jury of New York
on a charge of misdemeanor and felonious assault, and according
to the October 17, 1934, issue of the Daily Worker, he was convicted
on the above charges.
"Jenkins' activities have conspicuously followed the party line.
He was the author of articles appearing in the Daily Worker of
April 21, 1940, he was a speaker before the National Maritime Union
at a Communist May Day Conference. In 1941, he was a sponsor of
the American Peace Mobilization of Northern California Peoples
Meeting Against War held in San Francisco. It should be noted that
at this time the Soviet Union was an ally of Nazi Germany and the
line of the Communist Party was to exert every means to prevent
the United States from aiding the Allies. One of the organizations
created by the Communist Party to foster this line was the American
Peace Mobilization.
"On May 13, 1941, the CIO Industrial Union Council in San
Francisco, in cooperation with the American Peace Mobilization,
called a mass meeting at Pier 42 in order to protest all convoy plans
which were designed to aid allied shipping in supplying materials
necessary for their successful prosecution of the war against Nazi
Germany. According to the People's World of May 10, 1941, David
Jenkins was to be one of the scheduled speakers.
1 ' Jenkins was the Port Agent for the National Maritime Union
at Norfolk, Virginia, in 1937, according to the testimony of a sea-
man, John M. Sweeney, before the Special Committee on Un-Ameri-
can Activities (Hearings, Vol. 2, Page 1032). Mr. Jenkins was part
of the apparatus of the Communist Party designed to facilitate the
transportation to Spain of people recruited by the Communist
Party to fight in the Civil War then being fought in that country.
Jenkins has admitted in the investigation conducted by the Tenney
Committee that in New York City he registered as a Communist.
This consistent pattern of activities for and in behalf of the Com-
munist Party, and in behalf of those supported by the Communist
Party, leaves no doubt that David Jenkins is an active participant
in furthering its ultimate ends.
1 1 The Education Director of this school is Dr. Holland Roberts.
Doctor Roberts has a long academic background and has not been
particularly conspicuous in Communist causes. In April, 1938,
however, he was among a group of people who signed a statement
approving the purges in the Soviet Union. This statement called
upon the American people 'to support the efforts of the Soviet
6 L-2T
82 UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA
Union to free itself from insidious internal dangers' (Special
Committee on Un-American Activities Hearings, pages 374-375).
This statement is in line with the propaganda issued by the Soviet
Government and its supporters all over the world to justify the
medieval murders designed to eliminate all forms of opposition.
' ' Various members of the staff of the California Labor School
whose names appear in the latest catalogue of that school (Spring
Term, 1947) have long records of affiliation with Communist causes.
1 i Celeste Strack teaches a course entitled ' What is Socialism ? '
On pages 1978-1979 of the hearings before the Special Committee
on Un-American Activities, the following statement appears : * Ce-
leste Strack. This young woman was a former member of the
Debating Team of the University of California and was suspended
on October 29, 1934 by the Provost of the University because of
her Communist activities * * * On August 17th, she was arrested
on a charge of disorderly conduct while picketing the office of the
American Mercury in New York City.' The American Mercury
was at that time, as it still is, the subject of attack by the Communist
Party because its editors sought to warn the American people of
the insidious character and aims of the Communist Party.
"According to the testimony of Joseph Lash, National Secre-
tary of the American Student Union, before the Special Committee
on Un-American Activities (page 7075), Celeste Strack was one
of the Communist members on the International Executive Com-
mittee of the American Student Union. Other testimony before this
committee (pages 5611-5612) indicates that she was a member of
the National Board of the Young Communist League. She was
assigned by the Communist Party to work in the 'Young Townsend'
movement. In that organization she was the leader of the Com-
munist faction. On page 587 of the above-mentioned investigation,
there is testimony and exhibits to show that Celeste Strack was one
of three signers of the Declaration of Principles of the Young
Communist League. On page 600 of this investigation, evidence is
presented to show that at the conference of the Young Communist
League held on May 2, 1937, Celeste Strack was a member of the
Presidium Committee.
"Anton Refregier teaches a course in Mural Painting at the
California Labor School. Anton Refregier has been identified with
Various Communist-sponsored, so-called cultural organizations. He
taught at the John Reed School of Art in New York which has been
identified by the Special Committee on Un-American Activities as
a creature of the Communist Party. His activities at that school are
described on page 560 of the hearings before this committee. He
was, according to this same committee (page 554), a signer of the
call for the American Artists Congress, which has been identified
by the committee as a Communist-sponsored organization.
"Irwin Elber has been identified before this committee (page
132) as a member of the Communist Party.
' ' George Hitchcock teaches a course in comparative philosophy.
Mr. Hitchcock comes prepared to teach this course as a member
of the Editorial Staff of the People's World (page 1981, Hearings
Before the Special Committee on Un-American Activities). Lest
UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA 83
there be any misapprehension concerning the status of the People's
World, we refer to the testimony of Earl Browder before the Special
Committee on Un-American Activities (page 4346), in which Mr.
Browder admitted that the People's World was initiated by the
Communists and that they have contributed to its financial support.
Similarly, on page 4797, Robert Weiner, then Financial Secretary
of the Communist Party, admitted that in the two years preceding
1939, the Communist Party loaned the People's World about six
or seven thousand dollars without any security.
1 ' Helen Miller is listed among the faculty of this school. Helen
Miller was actively engaged in furthering the cause of the American
Peace Mobilization previously identified, and at a meeting in New
York held on Sunday, April 6, 1941, was one of the principal speak-
ers. Following the Communist Party line, she referred, in her talk,
to the United States as a Fascist government, 'an imperialistic
nation which wants to engage in an imperialistic war for world
conquest' (Special Committee to Investigate Un-American Activi-
ties, page 8444) . Helen Miller at one time was engaged by the United
States Department of Labor, and was dismissed from the service of
the Federal Government because of her Communist activities.
* ' Al Richmond and Adam Lapin present a course at the school
entitled ' America as a World Power Today. ' Al Richmond, accord-
ing to the catalogue of the school, is the Editor-in-Chief of the
People's World, and Adam Lapin is a regular contributor to that
paper. Al Richmond was at one time Propaganda Director for the
Communist Party and has worked on its official organ, the Daily
Worker (Special Committee to Investigate Un-American Activities,*
pages 314, 321).
"Donald Thayer teaches a course in advanced economics. He
has been identified by William G. Ryan as being in charge for the
Communist Party of Communist recruits for the Spanish Civil
War (Special Committee to Investigate Un- American Activities,
pages 6815, 6818-19, 6916).
"Hazel Grossman teaches a course on 'Women and the Labor
Movement' and 'Advanced Economics.' She is the wife of Aubrey
Grossman, who at the present time is Educational Director for the
Communist Party in this area, and who has been prominent in
Communist activities in the State of California since at least 1934.
At that time Grossman achieved notoriety by taking part in Com-
munist activities at the University of California (Report of the
Joint Fact-Finding Committee to the Fifty-fifth California Legis-
lature on 'Un-American Activities in California,' page 99).
" It is interesting to note that in the Spring, 1946, catalog of the
California Labor School, Vern Smith of the People's World cooper-
ated in the teaching of a course entitled ' ' News Behind the News. ' '
Vern Smith has since been suspended from the Communist Party
and divested of his position on the People's World, and now no
longer teaches at the California Labor School.
' ' Certain other evidence at the Labor School indicates its orien-
tation. According to the People's World of November 30, 1946,
Kumor Goshal, an instructor of the Jefferson Labor School of New
York, spoke at the California Labor School. The Jefferson Labor
84 UN-AMEEICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA
School has been organized by the Communist Party. Its domination
by the Communist Party has been admitted by Lewis Merrill, Presi-
dent of the CIO United Office and Professional Workers of America,
when he resigned from the faculty of this school in order to divest
himself of all overt Communistic activities.
" According to People's World of December 12, 1946, Louis
Goldblatt addressed the Labor School. Louis Goldblatt is known in
labor circles as one who follows the line of the Communist Party in
the labor movement.
"In the September 5, 1946 issue of the People's World, it was
announced that there would be an ' l evening of Soviet music ' ' at the
California Labor School."
Courses
"An analysis of the courses at the California Labor School
reveals the orientation which this school seeks to implant in its stu-
dents. Course No. 20, entitled "Advanced Economics," is presented
by Hazel Grossman and Donald Thayer, both of whom have already
been identified for their Communist connections. The summarization
of the course in the catalog leaves no doubt as to what the students
are taught. It is stated that it "analyzes the reasons why we have
chronic unemployment, depressions and booms under capitalism.
The theories of Karl Marx on the inevitability of crises and unem-
ployment under capitalism are thoroughly examined, along with the
theories of John Maynard Keynes, the advocate of the idea that capi-
talism can be reformed. ' ' The juxtaposition of Marx and Keynes in
the context leaves no doubt as to what is taught in the course. The
course ' ' analyzes the reasons why we have chronic unemployment, ' '
etc. Marx 's theories on this matter are explained. On the other hand,
John Maynard Keynes is only an ' ' advocate ' ' of the idea that capi-
talism can be reformed. There can be no question that this course will
leave the student with the idea that it is impossible to reform capi-
talism, and that Marx had the only sound explanation of our eco-
nomic system and the only explanation of the inevitable end of
capitalism.
"Course No. 21, entitled "What Is Socialism f ", is taught by
Celeste Strack, already identified as a member of the Communist
Party. This course contrasts socialism with capitalism and socialism
in the Soviet Union with the labor government of Great Britain.
It discusses what socialism would mean in the United States. As
described in the catalog, "the purpose of this class is to make clear
the character of socialist society, to discuss and evaluate the various
socialist movements that have arisen, and to consider the practical
significance of socialism in the world today. ' ' The student in such a
course will be taught to consider the so-called socialism of the Soviet
Union as a preferred system of society and the form of government
for which we should strive.
' ' Course No. 22 is entitled ' * America as a World Power Today, ' '
and is given by Al Richmond and Adam Lapin of the People's
World. The course is described as follows: "The foundations of
American foreign policy. A survey and analysis of the rise of Amer-
ica as a world power. Special emphasis will be given to the half-
UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA 85
century since America emerged as an imperialist power. Our part in
World War I the isolationism of the 1920-30 period ; the Roosevelt
period America as part of the 'Big Three.' : This course is
designed to inculcate into the students the present Communist Party
line that America is now an imperialistic nation, and that the present
administration has deviated from the Roosevelt policies in foreign
affairs.
''Course No. 23 is entitled "National and Colonial Liberation
Movements," and is given by Hans Hoffman. It is described as fol-
lows: "The historical, economic, political and ideological back-
ground and struggles of the colonial peoples for emancipation from
imperialism: Indonesia, India, Africa, China, South America and
other parts of the Colonial World. The solution of the national ques-
tion in the Soviet Union. ' ' This course conforms to the present Com-
munist Party line on imperialism. It emphasizes struggles in those
countries in which the Communists have special interests and glori-
fies the so-called solution of the Soviet Union by coordinating dif-
ferent nationalities within one government.
* ' Course No. 28 is entitled ' ' Comparative Philosophy, ' ' and its
instructor is George Hitchcock of the editorial staff of the People's
World. The course is described thus : " A study of the historical con-
flict between idealism and materialism. The course will analyze the
contributions of Plato, Heraclitus, Spinoza, Bacon, Hume, Kant,
Hegel, Marx and En gels in the light of the social problems of their
day. Special attention will be given to the theory of dialectical mate-
rialism and the modern positivist school. ' ' Dialectical materialism is
one of the king-pins of Communist theory, and is used by them to
prove the inevitability of socialism. Hegel, Marx and Engels have
provided the philosophical and economic basis of Communist theory.
This course is designed to urge the student to think in the philosoph-
ical terms upon which the Communist Parties throughout the world
place much stress.
"Course No. 29, entitled "Social Thinking," is given by Leon
Alexander. It is described as follows : ' ' How to think about the prob-
lems of our postwar society. The course stresses the use of dialectical
and historical materialism for the understanding of our times."
Again the stress on dialectical and historical materialism is in close
conformity with the philosophical basis of Communist thinking.
"Course No. 73, given by the same Leon Alexander, bears the
innocuous title, "The Writer and His Tools," but the description
of the course clearly indicates that it is much more than a course in
techniques in writing. The description of the course in the catalog
emphasizes that it is " an analysis of how dialectic thinking and an
historical outlook can be a tool of the creative writer. ' ' Again, this is
an attempt to inculcate the philosophical concepts of the Communist
Party into the minds of the students.
' ' Some of the courses are not primarily propaganda courses, but
their value to the student can be doubted. For instance, Course No.
68, entitled ' * Speech Correction, ' ' is described as follows : ' ' Private
instruction for those who have personal speech problems. This train-
ing helps to correct foreign accent or stuttering, stammering and
lisping. " The value of such a course can be doubted when its instruc-
86 UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA
tor evidently does not know that, according to the best authorities on
speech, there is no difference between stuttering and stammering,
and in describing the course as correcting both stuttering and stam-
mering, the writer of this description displays colossal ignorance of
the subject."
Support
"The California Labor School should also be evaluated on the
basis of the support it receives. When David Jenkins, its director,
testified before the Tenney Committee of the California State Legis-
lature in the Fall of 1946, he admitted to this committee that he
received $3,000 from the People's Daily World to start this school.
This Communist paper is in continual financial difficulties and each
year conducts a campaign among its readers and sympathizers of
the Communist Party for funds to maintain the paper. That it
should loan David Jenkins the sum of $3,000 of its needed money
for the purpose of starting such a school, leaves no doubt in the
mind of any reasonable person that there could be but one purpose
for the founding of this school, and that is the furthering of the Com-
munist Party in this country. ' '
"The People's Daily World regularly reports activities of the
California Labor School. In the September 5, 1946, issue of the Peo-
ple's World, an editorial in praise of this school reveals that the
school directly follows the party line. This editorial states: "In
wartime, the California Labor School directed all -its efforts toward
the national unity necessary for victory over Fascism. Today, in
peacetime, it is still striving toward the unity of all willing forces
for victory over the monopoly and imperialist interests bent on
robbing the people of the world of the Four Freedoms for which they
fought."
' ' Lest the reader be unfamiliar with the various changes in the
Communist Party line, it should be pointed out that during the war
period, while this country was an ally of the Soviet Union, the
propaganda of the Communist Party was all in favor of "National
Unity ' ' and ' ' Victory over Fascism. ' ' Today, when in world affairs
this country does not find itself always in agreement with the foreign
policy of the Soviet Union, the Communist Party propaganda speaks
of the necessity to defeat monopolies and imperialistic interests and
accuses all countries but Russia of deviating from the Four
Freedoms.
"We have presented evidence to show that the faculty of the
California Labor School contains many teachers who have long rec-
ords of activities in causes of the Communist Party. We have shown
that the courses given at the school are designed to inculcate into the
student the propaganda of the Communist Party and teach to the
student the philosophical concepts advocated by the Communist
Party. The courses are designed to make students distrust American
foreign policy and to look with disdain on our present form of gov-
ernment and our American Democracy. The school was founded,
and is designed to be nothing more than a propaganda agent for
the Communist Party. ' '
UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA 87
Report of the Division of Readjustment Education
' l A few words must be said about the report of the Division of
Readjustment Education of the Department of Education, which
has put the stamp of approval on the school. The report indicates
that the division did not distinguish between Communist propaganda
as taught in this school and the method of operating a legitimate
school.
' ' We wish to first point out an error of fact. The report speaks
of the various endorsements which, the school claims, have been
given by A. F. of L. organizations. It has neglected to mention that
many of these organizations have withdrawn their endorsement and
support and that some of the names now carried in the catalogue by
the school are used without authorization. Further, it did not men-
tion that the school, since its very founding, has been repeatedly
repudiated by the California State Federation of Labor as not being
a bona fide labor school. In this connection it should be mentioned
that the school was originally organized under the name of the Tom
Mooney Labor School. Because of the unfavorable publicity that the
Tom Mooney School received as a result of criticism by the California
State Federation of Labor, the name was changed to the California
Labor School. Finally, Mr. William Green, President of the Ameri-
can Federation of Labor, has condemned the school and has requested
the affiliates of the A. F. of L. to have no connection of any kind with
this school.
"Of the course of study, the report states: "In general, the
courses are pointed to aspects of labor problems and cultural and
social growth of the Labor Movement. ' ' It forgot to add that all of
the courses are from the point of view of the Communist Party and
its philosophy, as is clearly indicated by the descriptions given in
the catalogue. The report spoke of the sincerity of the instructors
and pointed out that their names, together with their colleges and
degrees, were listed in the catalogue, but it admits the individual
instructors were not examined. A much greater fault on the part of
the report was its failure to examine the background of these instruc-
tors ; if the report had done this, it would have found, as we have
found, that a large number of these instructors are well-known
Communists.
"Nor has the report dealt with the background of the members
of the staff insofar as it affects their teaching experience or ability.
It should be pointed out that, except for Dr. Roberts and a few
others, none of the members of the staff are professional teachers, nor
have many of them ever received teaching credentials. Many give
courses without the proper experience or training necessary. A case
in point is the course given by David Jenkins, Course No. 27, entitled
' ' Negro History and Culture, ' ' which is devoted to the history of the
Negro people. Mr. Jenkins, according to his testimony before the
Tenney Committee, completed only the eighth grade of school and
has never had any further educational training. His experience has
been only that of an agitator in the radical wing of the labor move-
ment, and how this experience qualifies him to teach this subject is
beyond understanding.
88 UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA
"Finally, the report spoke of the investigation of the individual
classes through the investigator conducting the classes himself in
order to determine if there was any evidence of Communist lean-
ings on the part of the instructors, or if the school attempted to
present biased viewpoints. The division evidently made no allow-
ances for the fact that the students would be on their guard and
would be careful of what they said in order to make a favorable
impression on the Board of Education by misleading the investiga-
tor. No individuals, by conducting an isolated class here and there,
would have been able to determine what ideas were inculcated into
the students.
' 'From the facts presented here, the report of the division should
not be accepted as a true picture of the school, and the Department
of Education of the State of California must not, through any
endorsement of the report, lend aid or comfort to a so-called school,
whose sole purpose is to recruit members for the Communist Party
and to train them in the ideals and philosophy of this party. ' '
TROJAN HORSE CAMOUFLAGE
The success of the Trojan Horse camouflage of the California Labor
School is indicated by the school 's utterly amazing achievement in join-
ing with the sedate and dignified University of California in programs
on the campus of that institution at Berkeley in 1946. (As a matter of
fact, by this time, the committee finds the Dean of the Extension Divi-
sion of the University listed as one of the sponsors of the school) .
In 1944 the faculty of the California Lai or School was adorned with
writers for the Communist newspaper, the People's Daily World, left-
wing radio commentators, members of the Communist Party of San Fran-
cisco, expounders of Marxism, and a sprinkling of pink professors from
the University of California across the bay in Berkeley.
The curriculum announcement for fall, 1944, lists, for the first time,
an Educational Advisory Council. This interesting list includes Dr.
Thomas Addis, Stanford University; Professor Arthur G. Brodeur,
University of California; Dr. A. J. Cloud, San Francisco Junior College;
Professor William R. Dennes, Professor of Philosophy, University of
California; Professor Willard H. Durham, University of California;
E. W. Gifford, University of California; Professor Edward M. Hulme,
Stanford University; Professor A. M. Kidd, University of California;
Dr. Alexander C. Roberts, San Francisco State College; Holland D.
Roberts, Stanford University; Leo Rogin, University of California;
Dr. Curtis E. Warren, San Francisco Board of Education, and Dr. Bald-
win Woods, Director of the Extension Division of the University of
California.
The California Labor School for the spring term of 1945 listed among
others, a course entitled "The Soviet Union in World Affairs. " The
names of those who coordinated this particular course merit listing in
this report. Victor Arnautoff and Louise Barnsten are both of the
American-Russian Institute. The lecturers were as follows: Professor
J. W. McBain, Chemistry Department, Stanford University, and a lec-
turer in Moscow and Leningrad in 1937 ; Professor Harold H. Fischer,
of the Stanford University Hoover War Library; Captain Warwich
Tomkins, of the Soviet Purchasing Commission; Vern Smith, former
UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA 89
correspondent in the Soviet Union and recently expelled from the Com-
munist Party of California; Michael Shapovalov, formerly with the
United States Department of Agriculture and allegedly an expert on
Russian agriculture; George C. Eltenton, an English scientist and
formerly of the Leningrad Scientific Institute ; David Jenkins, Director
of the California Labor School; Holland Roberts, President of the Amer-
ican-Russian Institute, and Dorothea Eltenton of the American-Russian
Institute.
In the school 's course on community services, the committee finds the
course being coordinated by Rose Segure, former social worker and
active undercover California Communist functionary. Rose Segure 's
Communist activities date back to State Relief Administration days.
Her record is long and interesting and includes effective participation
in the Communist front organization designed for Soviet espionage, the
Federation of Architects, Engineers, Chemists and Technicians.
George Andersen, attorney for the Communist Party of California,
taught a course in American Citizenship at the California Labor School
during the spring term of 1945.
The instructors and lecturers for the summer and fall terms of
1946 are as follows : Leon Alexander, Mara Alexander, Eva La Gallienne,
Tempe Allison, Mimi Kagan, Cyril Atkinson, Eugene Bielawski, E.
Bogosian, Holbrook Bonney, Jessie Elliott Buck, Dudley A. Cameron,
Jules Carson, Edward Cerney, Isobel Cerney, Leo E. Christiansen, Susan
Clark, Adelyne Cross, Vivian Dahl, Warren D'Azevedo, Margaret De
Patta, Philip Eden, Irwin Elbert, Sylvia Evanson, Lincoln Fairley,
Claire Falkenstein, Gustave Friedman, Fannie Garfield, Louise Gilbert,
Robert Goff, Carleton Goodlet, Theodore Gorbacheff, Thelma Thurston
Gorham, Archie Green, Nick Gregoric, Hazel Grossman, Milton Halber-
stadt, Golda Hall, Gladys Hares, Thomas L. Harris, Gail Hazard, Edith
Kiertzner Heath, Eleanor Hesthal, Eli Hirsch, Marco Ignacio Infante,
David Jenkins, Tony Jue, William Kauffman, Freda Koblick, Ned
Kramer, Ramon Lavalle, Cecile Livette, Peter Macchiarini, Janet
Macharg, Helen Miller, Keith Monroe, Louisa Moreno, Philip Morton,
John Nunes, Ted Odza, Giacomo Patri, Joe Phillsbury, Paul Pinsky, Jan
Reiner, Holland Roberts, Charles F. B. Roeth, Mildred Rosenthal, Peggy
Sarasohn, Ann Service, Michael Shapavalov, Nathan Siegel, Julius
Stern, Celeste Strack, Juan Urriza, George Vurek, Henry Wachs, Tom
Weber, Eva S. Weil, Frederick Welch, Helen Wheeler, Reginald Louis
White and Ruth Witt-Diamant.
The list of sponsors as of December 14, 1946, included the following :
Charlotta Bass, Editor of the California Eagle; Clyde Cook ; Bartley C.
Crum, President of the San Francisco Chapter of the National Lawyer's
Guild; Sheridan Downey, United States Senator ; Edward J. Dreis ; Paul
Eliel, Professor of Industrial Relations and Director of the Division of
Industrial Relations, Stanford University; Martha Gerbode ; Frank R.
Havenner, Congressman ; Robert W. Kenny, Attorney General of Cali-
fornia; Joseph Koret, manufacturer; Daniel E. Koshland, Levi-Strauss
Company ; Frederick J. Koster, California Barrel Company ; Sylvain J.
Lazarus, Judge of the Superior Court; Cyril Magnin, merchant; Mrs.
Robert Me Williams, International Center; Henry Melnikow, National
Labor Bureau; Dr. Karl Meyer, Director of the Hooper Foundation;
90 UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA
J. K. Moffatt, Chairman of the Crocker Bank; Mr. and Mrs. Pierre
Monteux ; Daniel C. Murphy, Sheriff of San Francisco County ; Bishop
Edward L. Parsons ; Wendell Phillips, Bakery Wagon Drivers Salesmen,
Local 484; George R. Reilly, State Board of Equalization; John F.
Shelley, State Senator ; Sol Silverman, Public Relations Council ; Fred-
erick Thompson, Joint Anti-Fascist Refugee Committee, and Brayton
Wilbur.
The Educational Advisory Council of the California Labor School
has remained much the same. Only the name of Professor Warren D.
Allen of Stanford University seems to be missing from the 1946 pamphlet.
The 1947 announcement of courses lists Ed Reite as acting president.
Reite is a member of the International Longshoreman and Warehouse-
man's Union, Local 10. George F. Irvine is listed as vice president of
the school and is further designated as being a member of the Legislative
Board of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Firemen and Enginemen.
Paul Schnur is listed as Secretary and, further described, as a member
of the San Francisco CIO Council.
Members of the 1947 Board of Directors are as follows : Ed Barlo,
American Communications Association, Local 9 ; Jules Carson, Ethel
Cayton, Isobel Cerney, Leo Christiansen, all of the California Lai) or
School; James Drury, National Maritime Union; Irwin Elber, California
Labor School; Pat Fogarty, Shipwrights, Joiners, Boat Builders, Mill-
men and Loftsmen, Local 1149; Hazel Grossman, California Labor
School; Bjorne Hailing, International Longshoreman and Warehouse-
man's Union; Clara Hanchett, California Labor School; George Hardy,
Building Service Employees, Local 87 ; George Herman, Student Coun-
cil; David Jenkins, California Labor School; Mini Katz, California
Labor School; Armand Koesian, Student Council; Richard Lynden,
International Longshoreman and Warehouseman 's Union, Local 6 ; Jack
Maltester, Printing Specialties Union, Local 362 ; Randolph Meriwether,
Marine Engineers Beneficial Association; Giacomo Patri, California
Labor School; Norma Jean Ross, Student Council; Donald Thayer,
Student Council; and Gordon Williams, Oakland Labor School.
The staff is as follows : David Jenkins, Director ; Holland Roberts,
Educational Director; Irwin Elber, Trade Union Director; Sylvain
Schnaittacker, Associate Trade Union Director ; Gordon Williams, Direc-
tor, Oakland School ; George Hitchcock, Trade Union Extension ; Giacomo
Patri, Arts; Isobel Cerney, English; Leo Christiansen, Music; Jules
Carson, Social Science; Andrew Zirpoli, Director, Veterans Activities;
Mary O'Shea, Public Relations; Bill Turner, Publicity; Pele Edises,
Duncan Gallery, Clara Hanchett, Betty Sibbett and Donald Thayer,
Librarians ; Ethel Cayton, Registrar ; Libby Gratch, Student Guidance ;
Mini Katz, Financial Secretary; Frances Wallcave, Jean Werthimer
and Betty Levine, General Office; Clarence Davis, Elevator Operator,
and Louis Golla, Janitor.
The instructors and their subjects for the 1947 spring term are as
follows: Holland Roberts and Irwin Elber, American Labor History;
Isobel Cerney, Public Speaking and Parliamentary Law ; David Jenkins,
Recent Strike Struggles, Strategy and Tactics ; Hazel Grossman, Women
and the Labor Movement ; Irwin Elber, Union Building ; Jules Carson,
Economics and Labor; Tom Weber, Publicity Workshop for Trade
Unions; Hazel Grossman and Donald Thayer, Advanced Economics;
UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA 91
Celeste Strack, What Is Socialism; Al Richmond and Adam Lapin,
America as a World Power Today ; Hans Hoffman, National and Colonial
Liberation Movements; Leon Bick, Youth in Today's World; Robert
Goff, Citizenship ; Holland Roberts and Donald Thayer, United States
History I; David Jenkins, Negro History and Culture; George Hitch-
cock, Comparative Philosophy; Leon Alexander, Social Thinking; Dr.
Carlton B. Goodlett, Psychology and the Social Order; Evangeline
Powell, Family Relations; Jules Carson, How to Analyze the News;
Jack Patton, News Forum; Fred Koblick, Peter Macchiarini, Philip
Morton and George Yurek, Basic Workshop ; Adelyne Cross and Giacomo
Patri, Figure Drawing and Composition; Eugene Bielawski and Jack
Kirtley, Fundamentals of Color and Light; Anton Refregier, Mural
Painting; Victor Arnautoff, Painting; Milton Halberstadt and Ray
Oechsli, Photography ; Margaret De Patta and Keith Monroe, Sculpture ;
Frank Cerda, Silkscreen Workshop ; Joseph Stein, Architecture ; Mildred
Rosenthal, Coordinator, and Victor Arnautoff, Margaret De Patta, Hazel
Grossman, Giacomo Patri, Anton Refregier, Nora Lee Rohr, and Robert
Anshen, Speakers, Art and Society; Fannie Garfield, Reading and
Writing English I and II; William Kauffman, English I; Charlotte
Howard, Miriam Martius, Margo Westward and Jane Blackmer, Eng-
lish II ; Jessie Elliott Buck, English III ; Jack Patton, English IV and
Writing for Daily Use; Awan Scenario, English for Indonesians;
Frederick Welch, Voice Training and Speech ; Frederick Welch, Speech
Correction Individual Lessons ; Gail Hazard, Journalism I ; Tom Weber,
Publicity Workshop for Trade Union ; Leon Alexander, Holland Roberts
and Isobel Cerney Writers' Seminar A and B; Leon Alexander, The
Writer and His Tools A and B; Ruth Witt-Diamant, Writers' Work-
shop ; Michael Shapovalov, Russian ; Edwin W. Pope, Spanish ; Servando
Munoz, Marco Ignacio Infante, Spanish Club ; Leo Christiansen, Choral
Singing; Frederick Welch, Singing; Jo Pillsbury, Ballroom Dancing;
Julia and Earl Lund wall and Mr. Chang, Folk Dancing ; Mimi Kagan,
Modern Dance Workshop; Mara Alexander, Drama and the Union
Theater; Mimi Kagan, Recreational Dance; Gladys Hares, Shorthand;
Nathan Siegel, Bookkeeping Fundamentals; Benjamin Rosenbluth,
Arithmetic for Beginners ; Andrew Zirpoli, Introduction to Trade Union-
ism ; Jules Carson, Theory and Practice of Trade Unionism ; Irwin Elber
and Sylvain Schnaittacker, Organizing and Union Structure; Lincoln
Fairley, Paul Pinsky and Philip Eden, Collective Bargaining and
Research; Sylvain Schnaittacher, Advanced Union Organizing and
Research ; Irwin Elber and Isobel Cerney, Labor Education and Political
Action; Holland Roberts and Irwin Elber, American Labor History;
Leon Alexander, World Labor History; George Hitchcock and Sylvain
Schnaittacher, Economics and Labor I; Gordon Williams, Economics
and Labor II; Jules Carson, Economics and Labor III; Erwin Elber,
Labor Laboratory; Jules Carson, Labor Journalism; Holland Roberts,
United States History II ; Hazel Grossman and Donald Thayer, Advanced
Economics IV and Economic Theories of Marx and Keynes ; Isobel Cerney
and Eleanor Hesthal, English; Isobel Cerney, American Literature;
Theodore Gorbacheff, Elementary and Advanced Russian ; Nick Gregoric,
Ballroom Dancing; Mimi Kagan, Concert Dance Group; and Andrew
Zirpoli and Benjamin Rosenbluth, Arithmetic.
92 UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA
COMMUNIST COURSES AT THE CALIFORNIA LABOR SCHOOL
While the descriptive material concerning each course offered by
the California Labor School is of great interest to students of propaganda
methods the brief outline of the course What Is Socialism? is of impor-
tance in evaluating the character of this Communist institution. At page
16 of the pamphlet currently being distributed by the California Labor
School, we find the following : ' ' This class deals with such questions as :
How does Socialism differ from Capitalism? What is the history of
socialist movements in this country? What would Socialism mean in
the United States? How is Socialism working in the Soviet Union?
Is the labor government in Britain introducing Socialism ? The purpose
of this class is to make clear the character of socialist society, to discuss
and evaluate the various socialist movements that have arisen, and
to consider the practical significance of socialism in the world today. "
When it is known that the instructor of this class, Celeste Strack, is an
outstanding Communist Party functionary in the State of California, it
becomes exceedingly easy to anticipate the answers the students will
receive in their study of " Socialism " in the California Labor School.
On the same page of the pamphlet above referred to is a descrip-
tion of the course offered under the title of "Advanced Economics IV:
Economic Theories of Marx and Keynes." It reads as follows: "This
class is designed for those students who have taken our basic economics
courses at the school, or their equivalent elsewhere. It analyzes the
reasons why we have chronic unemployment, depressions and booms
under capitalism. The theories of Karl Marx on the inevitability of
crises and unemployment under capitalism are thoroughly examined,
along with the theories of John Maynard Keynes, the advocate of the
idea that capitalism can be reformed." When it is known that Hazel
Grossman is the instructor of this course and that she is the wife of
Aubrey Grossman, Educational Director of the Communist Party for
the City and County of San Francisco, little doubt is left in anyone's
mind as to the purpose of both the course and the school.
If anyone is so naive as to believe that the courses in art, journalism,
drama and dancing are innocent subjects and devoid of the possibilities
of Communist indoctrination, he knows nothing at all of the elementary
principles of Communist theory. The slogan "Art Is a Weapon" is
well known to the Communists and, fortunately, to the students of
Communism. The Communist Party insists on Marxian dialectic in all
forms of Communist art. Unless the theories of "class-struggle" and
"class-consciousness" are injected into every effort the result is not only
futile to the Stalinists but is subjected to vicious Communist criticism
and contempt.
CALIFORNIA LABOR SCHOOL UP-TO-DATE
So that this report on the California Labor School be complete,
the committee herewith presents the sponsoring organizations as listed
on page 40 of the 1947 pamphlet: Alameda CIO Council, Alaska Fisher-
men's Union, Amalgamated Clothing Workers, Local 42, Amalgamated
Lithographers of America, Local 17, American Communications Asso-
ciation, Local 3, American Communications Association, Local 9, Califor-
nia CIO Council, Contra Costa CIO Council, International Longshore-
UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA 93
man and Warehouseman's Union, Local 2 (Ship Sealers), International
Longshoreman and Warehouseman's Union, Local 6 (Warehousemen),
International Longshoreman and Warehouseman's Union, Local 10,
(Longshoremen), International Longshoreman and Warehouseman's
Union, Local 34 (Ship Clerks), International Fishermen & Allied Work-
ers of America, Local 34, International Fur & Leather Workers, Local
79, International Union of Mine, Mill & Smelter Workers, Golden Gate
Local 50, Marine Engineers Beneficial Association, National Maritime
Union, National Union of Marine Cooks and Stewards, Palo Alto Feder-
ation of Teachers, Local 689 (United Public Workers), San Francisco
CIO Council, Textile Workers Joint Council, Textile Workers, Local
223, Transport Workers Union of America, Local 250, United Automo-
bile Workers, Local 76, United Electrical, Radio Machine Workers of
America, United Furniture Workers, Local 262, United Office & Pro-
fessional Workers, Local 34, United Office and Professional Workers,
Local 225, United Public Workers, Local 223, United Public Workers,
Local 503, United Steelworkers of America, District No. 38, United
Steelworkers of America, Local 1440, United Steelworkers of America,
Local 1789, United Transport Service Employees, Local 905, Utility
Workers Joint Council, and the Utility Workers Organizing Committee,
Local 133.
The 1947 individual sponsors for the school are as follows : Charlotta
Bass, Editor, California Eagle; Clyde Cook, Businessman; Bartley C.
Crum, President, San Francisco Chapter, National Lawyers Guild;
Sheridan Downey, United States Senator; Edward J. Dreis, Business-
man ; Paul Eliel, Professor of Industrial Relations, and Director, Divi-
sion of Industrial Relations, Stanford University; Martha Gerbode,
Civic Leader; Franck R. Havenner, Congressman; Robert W. Kenny,
Attorney-General of California ; Joseph Koret, Manufacturer ; Daniel E.
Koshland, Levi-Strauss Company ; Sylvain J. Lazarus, Judge, Superior
Court ; Cyril Magnin, Merchant ; Mrs. Robert Me Williams, International
Center; Henry Melnikow, National Labor Bureau; Dr. Karl Meyer,
Director, Hooper Foundation; Mr. and Mrs. Pierre Monteux; Daniel
C. Murphy, Sheriff, San Francisco County ; Bishop L. Parsons ; Wendell
Phillips, Bakery Wagon Drivers and Salesmen, Local 484; George R.
Reilly, State Board of Equalization; John F. Shelley, State Senator;
Sol Silverman, Public Relations Council; Leon Strauss, American
Building Maintenance Company; Frederick Thompson, Joint Anti-
Fascist Refugee Committee, and Brayton Wilbur, Businessman.
It is obvious to the members of the committee that many of the
names here listed are without the knowledge and consent of the indi-
viduals concerned. The committee is convinced that John F. Shelley,
George R. Reilly and Daniel C. Murphy would not lend their name to an
organization of this character if they were aware of its true purpose.
The 1947 Educational Advisory Council is as follows : Dr. Thomas
Addis, School of Medicine, Stanford University; Professor Arthur G.
Brodeur, Department of English, University of California; Dr. A. J.
Cloud, President, San Francisco Junior College; Professor William R.
Dennes, Department of Philosophy, University of California; Professor
Willard H. Durham, Department of English, University of California;
Professor E. W. Gifford, Department of Anthropology, University of
California; Professor Edward M. Hulme, Emeritus, Department of
94 UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA
History, Stanford University; Professor A. M. Kidd, School of Juris-
prudence, University of California; Robert H.TJowie, Chairman, Depart-
ment of Anthropology, University of California; .Dr. Alexander C.
Roberts, President, San Francisco State College; Holland Roberts,
Educational Director, California Labor School; Leo Rogin, Associate
Professor of Economics, University of California; Dr. Curtis E. Warren,
Superintendent of Schools, San Francisco Board of Education, and Dr.
Baldwin Woods, Director, Extension Division, University of California.
The committee finds that the California Labor School has added
an Arts Advisory Council for its 1947 spring semester. The personnel
of the council is as follows: Robert Anshen, Eleanor Anshen, Harold
Dunlevy, Dorothy Erskine, Claire Falkenstein, John Funk, Ruth Gerth,
John G. Grace, Lilly Weil Jaff e, Walter Laiidor, Fred Langhorst, Dorothy
Wright Liebes, Robert McChesney, Emmy Lou Packard, Byron Ran-
dall, Anton Refreiger, Jan Reiner, Nora Lee Rohr, Rudolph Schaeffer,
Mary Shepardson, Jo Sinel, Hassel Smith, Joseph Stein, Harry A.
Steingart, Florence Swift, Francis Violich and Hamilton Wolf.
FEDERAL FUNDS FOR COMMUNISM
Since 1945 the California Labor School has been functioning
under the GI Bill of Rights and has been receiving money to assist
it in the education of the veterans of World War II. Thus the taxpayers
and the government of the United States finance a Stalin-directed
institution of propaganda to indoctrinate veterans with hatred for
both the people and the government of the United States.
The school maintains a branch in Oakland, located at 2030 Broad-
way, and branch extension courses are being taught in various towns
and communities throughout the northern section of the State.
6
UNIVERSITY PROFESSORS AND COMMUNIST SCHOOLS
Contemporaneously with the Communist Party 's extended educa-
tional program for the purpose of indoctrinating unsuspecting non-
Communists, vigorous efforts were made to attract as sponsors and mem-
bers of the faculties of both the California Labor School and the People's
Educational Center sincere individuals who were by no means indoctri-
nated with the Communist Party ideologies. Regardless of the particular
deception in each individual case, the fact remains that the Communist
Party was able to secure a certain degree of collaboration from faculty
members of both the University of California at Berkeley and at Los
Angeles. The committee, after having attempted to make the real facts
known to the officers of the university without effect, felt it necessary
to subpena a number of the professors who had lectured at the People's
Educational Center in Los Angeles. Franklin Fearing, Leonard Bloom,
David Appleman, Ralph Beals, Dean E. McHenry and Harry Hoijer,
were called and testified at the committee 's public hearing in Los Angeles
in January of 1946.
Dean McHenry, Instructor in Political Science at the University of
California at Los Angeles, testified that he had visited the Soviet Union,
was a member of the Board of Directors of the People's Educational
Center and was unalterably opposed to Communism in any form. All
of the faculty members examined by the committee appeared eager and
ready to offer definitions of Fascism, which they unhesitatingly and
vigorously condemned, but they all seemed in great doubt as to whether
or not Communism was a beneficial or detrimental theory of government.
Professor McHenry, however, took a bold, frank and clear-cut stand in
condemning Communism in unqualified terms.
Dr. Franklin Fearing testified that he was familiar with an organiza-
tion known as the League of American Writers and admitted that he
had attended a meeting sponsored by that organization at 1204 North
Vista Street, Hollywood, some time in June of 1942. He stated that he
had participated in functions sponsored by the Joint Anti-Fascist Refugee
Committee and had known John Howard Lawson, leading Southern Cali-
fornia Communist, for four or five years and that he usually saw him
once or twice a month. Dr. Fearing had participated in the Writers'
Congress held at the University of California at Los Angeles in October
of 1943 and was a member of the faculty committee which made arrange-
ments for the event with the Hollywood Writers' Mobilization and John
Howard Lawson. "When questioned concerning the People's Educational
Center, Dr. Fearing stated : ' * Well, it is my understanding that it grew out
of an organization called the Worker's School of some kind. ' ' He admitted
having spoken several times for American Youth for Democracy, the
current name for the Young Communist League of the United States, and,
so far as he could ascertain, he believed the organization was simply a
democratic youth movement.
(95)
96
UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA
AMERICAN YOUTH FOR DEMOCRACY
In connection with the testimony of Dr. Franklin Fearing a docu-
ment was produced containing the names of the California sponsors of
American Youth for Democracy (Young Communist League). The list
of sponsors are as follows :
Mrs. Fay E. Allen
John Cromwell
John B. Hughes
Artie Shaw
Joseph Szigetti
Isidore Armenta
Henry Armstrong
E. S. Avery
Dr. Dorothy Baruch
Charlotta A. Bass
Harry N. Beckerman
Edward Dmytryk
Pearl Fagelson
Lion Feuchtwanger
Franklin Fearing
Irving Fineman
William Gettings
Lieb Glantz
James Goldsmith
Sayde K. Goodman
Aaron Gordon
Mr. and Mrs. Imre Bekessy
Edward Biberman
Reuben W. Borough
Oliver Boutte
Amerigo Bozzani
Carl Brant
William H. Brodie
Gus 0. Brown
Val Burton
Bonnie Claire
N. Y. Choy
Dr. P. P. Cobbs
Mr. and Mrs. John Cohee
Phillip M. Connelly
Floyd C. Covington
James L. Dougherty
Dr. Frank Davis
Ernest Dawson
Rev. F. Martin Eidsath
Jeff Kibre
Walter Kolowski
Chaim Kotylansky
Mr. and Mrs. William Kozlenko
Ring Lardner, Jr.
Nathan Krupkin
Bill Lawrence
John Howard Lawson
Albert Maltz
Thomas Mann
A. Maymudes
Mrs. Lucy McCalLie
Mrs. Elizabeth McCanus
Hon. Lester McMillan
Thomas C. Gould
Thomas L. Griffith
Ken Hartford
Hon. Augustus F. Hawkins
Hon. Ned R. Healy
Dorothy Healy
Rev. J. Raymond Henderson
Dr. Charles W. Hill
Willis J. HiU
Peretz Hirschbein
Major Julius Hochf elder
Professor Harry Horjer
Rex Ingram
Harry S. Jung
Peter M. Kahn
Dr. Maurice J. Karpf
Hon. Robert W. Kenny
George Kerekes
Aaron Kertman
Pettis Perry
Professor Donald Piatt
Jerome Posner
Aaron Riche
Louis G. Reynolds
Earl Robinson
Barney Ross
Aaron Rothblatt
Raye Rubin
Rev. Clayton Russell
Frank Scully
Chaim Shapiro
Ben Solnit
Frances Millington
Sam Moore
Judge Stanley Moffatt
John Mradnick
Dr. Max Nussbaum
William 0. Oliver
UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA 97
Mr. and Mrs. Samuel Ornitz Mrs. Jessie L. Terry
Hon. Ellis E. Patterson Dr. Donald W. Tippett
Oscar Pappiz Matthew Torok
Frank G. Pellett Dalton Trumbo
Herbert K. Sorrell Gilbert W. Turner
Professor Harry C. Steinmet A. L. Waxman
Dr. Ruth Temple
Dr. Fearing stated that he was acquainted with Mrs. Fay Allen,
Reuben Borough, John Cohee, Phillip Connelly, Floyd Covington, Frank
Davis, Edward Dmytryk, Lion Feuchtwanger, Robert W. Kenny, John
Howard Lawson, Albert Maltz, Sam Ornitz, Ellis E. Patterson, Herbert
K. Sorrell and Dalton Trumbo. He also testified that he was acquainted
with Pauline Lauber Finn, the Executive Secretary of the Hollywood
Writers Mobilization, Carey Me Williams and William Oliver.
Dr. Harry Hoijer has been a guest lecturer at the People's Educa-
tional Center. He testified that he had no particular sympathy for Com-
munism but that he had no particular antipathy for it. He admitted that
he had worked with the Committee for the Defense of Mexican American
Youth, a Communist front for racial agitation that had functioned in
Los Angeles in 1943 during the so-called "Zoot-Suit" disturbances in
that city. (This organization was launched by Mrs. LaRue McCormick,
a self -avowed member of the Communist Party). Dr. Hoijer admitted
being one of the sponsors for American Youth for Democracy.
HOIJER REPRESENTS COMMUNIST HOLLYWOOD
WRITERS' MOBILIZATION
Dr. Harry Hoijer, Professor of Anthropology at the University of
California at Los Angeles, continues his activities with Communist front
organizations. The following news item from the Hollywood Citizens News
for January 28, 1947, fully substantiates this charge, and indicates the
type of activity current in Communist Party strategy :
Three speakers, presented last night by the leftist Hollywood
Writers Mobilization to discuss * ' The Book Burners, ' ' attacked cen-
sorship of novels as part of a reactionary plot to control American
thinking.
They were : Gordon Kahn, publisher of a magazine for screen
writers; Ted Strauss, a Paramount screen writer; and Betty
McCandless, a delegate to the last World Youth Conference in Lon-
don, representing the American Youth for Democracy, formerly the
Young Communist League.
A period of the program devoted to audience participation
brought forth declaration by one speaker that the American people
would not "get the truth" until Communist newspapers like the
People's World and Daily Worker are sold on every newsstand in
the country. The speaker listed the Hollywood Citizen-News among
the newspapers from which ' ' you can 't always get the truth. ' '
Kahn told of his years with a nation-wide newspaper chain and
said he finally quit because he refused to "color" the news as
required by his publisher.
Strauss said the novel was the sole free medium of expression,
since the radio, press and screen had already lost their freedom.
7 L-2T
98 UN- AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA
Miss McCandless attacked the Youth for Christ movement. She
said that young people who attended its meetings enjoyed "an emo-
tional jag" but no lasting benefits. She said the only purpose of
the movement was to give the impression that its sponsor ' * was a
good guy."
"Book burning/' said Miss McCandless, "is not limited to the
United States." She mentioned incidents of censorship in Egypt,
Greece, and Spain. She made no reference to the censorship in
Russia.
Dr. Harry Hoijer, Professor of Anthropology at the University
of California at Los Angeles, presided. He told the audience of 200
that he was there as a member of the Hollywood Writers Mobiliza-
tion and was not representing UCLA. In his opening remarks he
said that "teachers are subject to intimidation by so-called investi-
gators" and that the Truman administration is shifting from a for-
eign policy of cooperation with other powers to one of "big stick
atomic policy. "
(The California Legislative Investigating Committee on Sub-
versive Activities refers to the Hollywood Writers Mobilization as
an organization whose purpose is "the creation of a clearing house
for Communist propaganda.")
On each chair in the auditorium there had been placed a circular
announcing a meeting of "Progressive Citizens of America." The
circular contained names of many California leftists. Among them
were listed: Evans Carlson, Norman Corwin, John Cromwell, Jo
Davidson, Albert Dekker, Paul Robeson, Carey Me Williams, Edward
G. Robinson, Hartley Crum.
ACTIVITIES AT BERKELEY
Committee investigators learned early in 1946 that the Communist
California Labor School in San Francisco was sponsoring an institute on
the campus of the University of California at Berkeley in conjunction
with the extension of the university. A survey was made of advance pub-
licity, and the committee investigators discovered that pamphlets and
handbills announcing the affair were being prominently displayed in
the Communist Party book store a block and a half from the main gate
of the University of California at Berkeley. When it was learned that
John Howard Lawson was to be one of the participants in the program,
committee members had little doubt concerning the Communist inspira-
tion of the project.
The committee held public hearings at Oakland in September, 1946.
Hyman David Jenkins, Director of the California Labor School, was
subpenaed and testified. The committee learned that Jenkins had been
director of the old Tom Mooney Labor School and that his qualifications
as a teacher were based on reading in his spare time while employed as a
steward on a ship at sea. He stated that John Howard Lawson had been
invited to participate in the Institute on Labor, Education and World
Peace at the University of California at Berkeley and that his name
had been carried in the advance notices advertising the affair. He added
that Lawson had been unable to attend the institute.
Early in his testimony Jenkins declared that he had lived on Bethune
Street in New York City, and fixed the residence number as either 17 or
UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA 99
19. He stated that he believed that this was in 1936. He came to California
in 1939 aboard the S. S. Columbia and shortly thereafter assumed the
directorship of the Tom Mooney Labor School.
During his testimony Jenkins somewhat indignantly admitted that
J. Edgar Hoover, Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, had
made an inquiry of the Treasury Department as to whether or not the
California Labor School had participated in California's primary elec-
tions. Jenkins ' testimony, in part, follows :
Q. (By Mr. Combs) : Do you consider it would be an illogical
thing for an organization similar to the one Mr. Hoover heads to
make such inquiries ?
A. I would ; when we 're picked out against organizations, both
in California and nationally ; for instance, the dropping of the sedi-
tion trials in Washington. I have done my part, and every member
of the school has, in the winning of the war and the fighting of Fas-
cism and the winning of Democracy. Why am I chosen to appear
before you as a witness ? As a matter of fact, there isn 't a member
in Mr. Tenney 's union who he would question about his activity and
political activities.
Q. Let me point out : If a director of a California Labor School
has been registered as a Communist, naturally everything in his
jurisdiction and influence, of course, would invite suspicion. Have
you ever registered as a Communist ?
A. No, I don't recall.
Q. Let's see if this will refresh your memory. I show you a
photostat of a document entitled, ' ' Board of Elections in the City of
New York. No. 188. Borough Office. June 16, 1944.
* ' This is to certify that the following entry appears on the regis-
ter of voters of the Third Election District Third Assembly Dis-
trict in the City of New York for the year 1936.
1 ' Name David Jenkins.
"Residence 19 Bethune Street.
"Date of Registration October 5, 1936. Age 22."
Q. You were born in 1914 ?
A. January 25th.
Mr. Combs : (Reading) ' Length of Residence State 22 Years.
County 22 years. Election District 6 months.
' * Nativity Country United States.
' ' When last registering lived at State New York.
"City or Town New York. Street 555 Hudson Street. "
Q. Did you ever live there ?
A. I don 't know. I lived on Hudson Street and at a number of
places.
Mr. Combs : (Reading) "Year of last registration 1935.
"Purpose of transcript of record of registration, enrollment
Communist Party.
"Board of Elections in the City of New York. John G. Dallas,
Deputy Chief Clerk," and the seal in the lower lefthand corner.
100 UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA
Mr. Combs offered an exhibit in connection with Jenkins' testimony
consisting of a photostat of a document from the New York Police
Department certifying that Jenkins had served a jail term for rioting
in connection with his activities in that city.
COMMUNIST RECRUITING FOR CALIFORNIA LABOR SCHOOL
A letter on the official stationery of the Communist Party of San
Francisco addressed to a Communist in a veteran organization was intro-
duced into the record. The letterhead bore the following :
"The Communist Party of San Francisco, 701 Garfield Build-
ing, 942 Market Street, Telephone EXbrook 2997, San Francisco 2."
The letter is as follows :
"Dear Comrades : We enclose a copy of an announcement of the
California Labor School describing their veteran 's department. We
send this to you with the suggestion that you should give serious
consideration to registering as a student of the California Labor
School.
' ' Comradely,
" (Signed) Aubrey Grossman,
( ' Educational Director. ' '
Hazel Grossman is prominently connected with the California Labor
School. She was formerly Social Science Director at the old Communist
Party Tom Mooney Lai or School. She is the wife of Aubrey Grossman,
Educational Director of the Communist Party of San Francisco.
One of the courses taught by Mrs. Grossman is entitled " Capitalism
and Socialism." This particular course, according to one of the pamphlets
issued by the school, is described as ' ' An analysis and study of socialism,
including the evaluation of developments in the Union of Soviet Socialist
Republics. ' ' The description of the course further states that the follow-
ing questions are discussed : ' l Is Fascism a form of Capitalism ? Who are
the imperialists of today? Is there a necessary connection between the
nature of a nation 's economic system and its policy ? What is the status
of the trade union under capitalism and socialism ? How has the Soviet
Union solved the problem of jobs and security?"
It has already been pointed out in this Report that when the League
of American Writers disbanded its school in Hollywood, it loaned a
thousand dollars to the People's Educational Center, and the original
PEC library was obtained from the Communist Party Workers' School
in Los Angeles. Jenkins testified that the Communist Party west coast
publication, the People's Daily World, advanced $3,000 to the California
Labor School, and the Tom Mooney Labor School donated its entire
library to the new Communist institution. Jenkins also admitted that the
California Labor School maintains an account with the International
Book Store in San Francisco, the Communist Party book-center in the
Bay area for the distribution of its literature.
Jenkins testified that American Youth for Democracy (Young Com-
munist League) occupied space in the same building with the California
Labor School, at 216 Market Street in the City of San Francisco. As a
matter of fact, Jenkins admitted that the Communist youth organization
rented its space from the California Labor School.
UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA 101
POLITICAL ACTIVITIES OF THE CALIFORNIA LABOR SCHOOL
Jenkins flatly declared that the California Labor School did not
engage in political activity. He admitted, however, under examination,
that the California Labor School had participated vigorously in a ' ' School
for Political Action, ' ' sponsored by certain labor organizations at Asilo-
mar over the week-end of August 2-4, 1946. The literature for the ' ' School
for Political Action," in possession of the committee, announced that
1 ' Lecturers and discussion leaders include Jules Carson, instructor, Cali-
fornia Labor School; Oscar Fuss, Director, Northern California Division,
National Citizens Political Action Committee; David Hedley, Secretary,
California Political Action Committee; David Jenkins, Director, Cali-
fornia Labor School."
Advance notices on the Asilomar meeting announced, among other
things, that the list of invited speakers included Harry Bridges ; Albert
Dekker, former State Assemblyman ; Helen Gahagan Douglas, Congress-
woman from Southern California; Augustus Hawkins, Member of the
California Assembly; George Irvine, California Legislative Board,
Brotherhood of Locomotive Firemen and Engineers; Mervyn Kathborne,
Secretary-Treasurer, California CIO Council and Dr. Holland Roberts,
Educational Director of the California Labor School.
Jenkins ' California Labor School was so close to the political meet-
ing at Asilomar that it agreed to handle reservations for the meeting.
David Hedley, listed as one of those to appear at the Political Action
School at Asilomar, is Secretary of the California Political Action Com-
mittee. A subpena was issued for his appearance at the committee's
Oakland hearing. The subpena was served by a member of the San Fran-
cisco Police Department who reported that Hedley appeared to be in
good health at the time of service. After the committee's hearing was
under way in Oakland the chairman received a communication from a
San Francisco physician stating that Mr. Hedley would be unable to
obey the subpena because of ill health. Because Hedley assumed to direct
the political activities of members of the CIO and had set himself up
as the chief adviser on political candidates in California, the committee
was shocked and amazed to learn that he had not been admitted to Ameri-
can citizenship and, therefore, was unable to cast a vote himself in the
State's elections. Upon his failure to appear before the committee, his
alien registration number from the Department of Naturalization and
Immigration was read into the record. The committee later learned that
numerous newspaper reporters had managed to contact Hedley asking
for a statement as to his citizenship status, and, in all cases, the reporters
were told that he had no comment to make whatever.
It developed that Jenkins, as Director of the California Labor
School, was active in arranging the details and securing the personnel for
various panel discussions held on the campus of the University of Cali-
fornia at Berkeley in connection with the Institute for Labor Education
and World Peace, jointly sponsored by the school and the university.
Jenkins ' testimony concerning the selection of panel personnel is signifi-
cant, not only because of its connection with the Communist California
Labor School, but also because of its connection with the Communist front
organization formerly known as the Federation of Architects, Engineers,
Chemists and Technicians, an alleged CIO union.
102 UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA
Q. (By Mr. Combs) : How about assigning each of these in-
dividuals to a particular group ? Now, for example, take group 4,
"Scientific Progress. Chairman, Robert Cornog, Staff, Los Alamos
Project. " And then comes, "Speakers. A. C. Helmholz, Assistant
Professor of Physics; David Adelson, President, Federation of
Architects, Engineers, Chemists and Technicians, Local 25." On
the advisory council is Franklin Fearing, Professor of Psychology,
University of California, Los Angeles ; and Lloyd Luckman, Director
International Center; Professor of Labor Relations, University of
San Francisco.
How were those people, for example, selected to participate in
the discussions on scientific progress?
A. Well, almost in all cases of the panels we asked the univer-
sity to choose a number of people from the university, which they
are responsible for choosing, and we choose a couple of people.
A. Who did you choose on panel 4 ? That 's the one on scientific
progress.
A. We proposed Adelson, and he was acceptable, and I think
we proposed Lloyd Luckman.
Q. All right.
A. The reason we proposed Adelson, he was one of the few
scientists we knew. He was also a union man. And Lloyd Luckman
because of his connection with the international scene and his gen-
eral interest in the atomic bomb meeting, which I think was held
prior to the conference, where he sponsored his board sponsored
Major General Monroe Doidge's bureau. He sponsored a meeting
where Harold Urie spoke, a world famous physicist. Of my own
knowledge. I don't know much about him.
Q. This was connected primarily with the research, wasn't it?
A. Yes, a haze just went by my eyes here (indicating).
Q. It was connected primarily with the atomic research?
A. Yes.
Q. That is the reason you selected David Adelson, because of
his familiarity with that general project ?
A. We thought as well the project this section would cover
general use in science, both for peace as well as war.
Q. I see.
A. Our intention was to orientate this panel in the fashion so
that people would recognize the horrible implication of a war of
any kind with the new scientific weapons, and our intention was,
you know, to orientate the thing in such a fashion to say peace was
a vital and necessary thing for the continuation of civilization.
Q. I see.
A. And we wanted social scientists as well as just scientists
in the traditional sense to participate, men who combined the two.
Q. Adelson at that time was president of whatever local num-
ber it happened to be of the FAECT?
A. I really don't know.
UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA 103
Q. Well, he was because
A. I'll take your word for it.
Q. Yes. All right. Now, just one or two questions, and I'll be
through. Mr. Adelson is president of the Federation of Architects,
Engineers, Chemists and Technicians, Local 25, CIO.
A. I think you should know that was not the reason he was
called.
Q. I understand.
A. You seem to think I involved Adelson for some ulterior
motive. He realistically is the one scientist interested in the subjects
and involved in the labor movement.
Dr. Holland Roberts, Educational Director of the California Labor
School, was called to the witness stand when Jenkins had concluded his
testimony. Roberts stated that he had been a member of the Board of
Directors of the Tom Mooney Labor School in San Francisco and that
he had taught a course in that institution. It developed that Roberts'
"doctor" was purely an honorary title and that he had never received
an academic doctor 's degree from any educational institution.
The members of the committee had been amazed in learning that
David Jenkins had no educational background whatsoever qualifying
him for the position of "director" and had already concluded that his
$100 per week salary was more by way of compensation for his Com-
munistic education than for his scholarship. The committee, on the other
hand, was more or less astounded to learn that Holland Roberts, a pro-
fessional educator who had taught at Stanford University and other
institutions of higher learning, received but $75.
Roberts stated that he had been socially and professionally ac-
quainted with Dr. Thomas Addis while at Stanford University. The
Communist front organization activity of Dr. Thomas Addis is well
known in California.
Roberts had been a member of the Board of Directors of the Ameri-
can-Russian Institute in San Francisco for a number of years and, at
the time of testifying, he stated that he was the president of the board.
He had been a member of the Western Writers Congress in 1936.
Among other Communist transmission belts with which Roberts
was connected were the Model Youth Legislature of Northern California
(1939) , the Academic and Civil Eights Council of California, and Ameri-
can Youth for Democracy. He had visited the Soviet Union. He admitted
that he was acquainted with Aubrey Grossman. Educational Director
of the Communist Party of San Francisco County. His deep interest in
things Russian had led him to participate in a forum-series sponsored
by the Russian Relief and the American-Russian Institute in San Fran-
cisco. In company with Bartley Crum and Sidney Roger, a left-wing
radio commentator, he participated in a program entitled "What's on
Your Mind About Russia" on July 9, 1946, in San Francisco. (People's
Daily World).
104 UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA
THE COMMUNIST PRESS AND THE CALIFORNIA LABOR SCHOOL
The West Coast organ of the Communist Party, the People's Daily
World, has been lavish in its publicity boosting the California Labor
School. From time to time the periodical has carried a column entitled
11 Labor School Notebook. " In the issue of September 3, 1946, there
appears a three column article entitled ' ' Labor School Fall Term Begins
Faculty Enlarged ; 25 New Courses. ' ' This article announces that * * Vet-
erans at the California Labor School receive subsistence up to $90 per
month, as provided by the GI Bill. ' ' In the same issue, in the classified
advertisement section, are five items, which, reading vertically down the
column are as follows :
11 Communist Party Friday Forum every Friday at 228 Mc-
Allister Street, 8 p.m., admission free.'*
' ' Sunday symphonies at 8 ; recorded classical music. Hazel and
Aubrey Grossman's, 81 Lina Vista Terrace, 50-cent donation to
P.W."
' ' Si Stanley sings ! Saturday, September 7th. Dancing, games.
1433 Divisadero, 50 cents P.W. Brown-Fillmore Communist Clubs. ' '
"The California Labor School presents two lively and informa-
tive lectures by the author of 'Man's Worldy Goods,' 'The Truth
About Unions, ' and President-Editor of Pamphlet Press, Leo Huber-
man. Tuesday, September 3d, 7 p.m., ' The Economic Background of
Industrial Strife,' Wednesday, September 4th, 8.30 p.m., 'The
Truth About Unions,' 16 Market Street, Room 601, special fee 50
cents.
"School opens today, 102 classes afternoon and evening for
workers, housewives, veterans. Also accredited for veterans under
the GI Bill. Register for a 5-, 10- or 15-week course. California Labor
School, 216 Market Street, DOuglas 7494."
In the issue for September 4, 1946, the People's Daily World carries
an announcement of the appointment of several new members to the fac-
ulty of the California Labor School, including that of Sylvain Schneit-
tacher of Richmond, to succeed Gordon Williams as director of the
Oakland school. (Williams, incidentally, was a registered member of the
Communist Party) .
The Communist paper for September 12, 1946, announces new
courses for Berkeley at 2805 Ellsworth Street and in the Unitarian
Church at the corner of Bancroft and Dana Streets in the same city.
Other People's Daily World items concerning the California Labor
School appear in the issues of September 19, September 21, September 26,
and November 21, 1946. In the last issue referred to, the committee finds
an announcement for a class on "Youth and Its Problems."
FEDERAL AID FOR COMMUNISM
On October 20, 1946, the following article appeared in the Oakland
Tribune:
"AFL unions halt Labor School aid. Several Alameda County
AFL labor unions have informed the Alameda County Central
Labor Council that they have followed the council's suggestion to
withdraw all support from the Oakland branch of the California
UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA 105
Labor School, William Fee, Assistant Secretary of the Council,
announced yesterday.
1 ' The council voted to suggest such action to its member unions
at a recent meeting. The State Legislature's Joint Interim Commit-
tee on Un-American Activities has been investigating the charges of
Communist Party influence in the labor school."
Under the title "Labor School Periled Bradley may support move
to deny funds to veterans," the People's Daily World for November
24th, from the Daily People's World Washington Bureau, appears the
following :
"Attempts to deny Veterans Administration funds to ex-GI's
attending the California Labor School may receive the support of
Gen. Omar Bradley in the future, it is indicated here.
' ' Bradley, who heads VA, is known to disapprove of payments
to the labor school, but the GI Bill of Rights forbids him to do any-
thing about it.
"Approval of a school for benefits under the program is strictly
up to the individual states, the law stipulates.
"Bradley is reliably reported to have said on at least one occa-
sion he would like, to have power to interfere in determining pay-
ments, particularly in relation to the labor school.
"What he intends to do about it is difficult to say, but it is con-
ceivable that he will let state officials know his views on the matter.
And he may inform Congressmen that a change in the act would be
desirable.
"Only labor institution in the country that is receiving VA
funds, the San Francisco school, has been attacked by some Ameri-
can Legion and Amvet leaders as ' Communistic ' and * subversive. '
"Bradley recently told a group of George Washington stu-
dents there is a ' Communistic ' school from which VA would like to
withdraw its support, but can't because the school is approved by
the State.
"The local press was quick to identify the institution as the
California Labor School."
It should be needless to state, after the foregoing, that the committee
unanimously found the California Labor School to be a creature of the
Communist Party.
COMMUNISM AND THE UNIVERSITY PRESS
The committee has protested from time to time to the University of
California concerning the printing of a quarterly magazine, edited, among
others, by John Howard Lawson. As far as the committee has been able
to learn the university has done nothing about these protests. The maga-
zine is called the Hollywood Quarterly.
In this connection it is interesting to learn that the Communist
Party has launched a new quarterly under the bourgeois principles of
"private enterprise." John Howard Lawson, of course, is one of the
editors.
106 UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA
This new Communist venture into the intellectual field is to be called
Mainstream. Its editor is none other than Comrade Samuel Sillen, fore-
most exponent of Marxian dialectic and advocate of the slogan, ' ' Art Is
a Weapon/' The editorial board of the new quarterly is composed of
Gwendolyn Bennett, Alvah Bessie, Milton Blau, Arnaud D 'Usseau, How-
ard Fast, Michael Gold, V. J. Jerome, John Howard Lawson, Meridel
Le Sueur, W. L. River, Dalton Trumbo, Theodore Ward, and Don West.
In announcing the new quarterly, the editors outline the magazine 's
purposes, in part, as follows :
* * In launching a Marxist literary quarterly at this time, the edi-
tors of Mainstream aim to meet a serious need of American cultural
life."
*******
" Mainstream strives to stimulate Marxist thinking in literature
and the creative arts.
' ' The fundamental character of this magazine is determined by
its allegiance to the Marxist science of history, culture, and human
progress which in our age has inspired such writers as Gorky and
Sholokhov, Barbusse and Aragon, Nexo and 'Casey and Dreiser.
We believe that American writing will be immeasurably enriched
by the further advance of Marxist ideas and values. ' '
*******
"We call upon writers to fight anti-Negro, anti-Semitic, anti-
labor and anti-Communist influences in writing today. We oppose
all currents of mysticism, defeatism, and snobbism ; we combat such
degraded influences as Trotskyite nihilism in the literary field ; we
fight the literary anti-Soviteers who constitute an auxiliary legion of
the warmakers." (Committee's italics.)
The editors announce stories by Thomas Bell, Alvah Bessie, Millen
Brand, Howard Fast, Ben Field, Michael Gold, Arnold Manoff, Meridel
Le Sueur, Albert Maltz, Arthur Miller, Alexander Saxton, and Dalton
Trumbo.
Poems are announced by Milton Blau, Gwendolyn Brooks, Joy David-
man, Langston Hughes, Alfred Kreymborg, Thomas McGrath, Martha
Millet, Norman Rosten, John Sanford, Isidor Schneider, Melvin B.
Tolson and Don West.
The forthcoming issues of Mainstream, so the editors tell us, will
contain critical essays by Edwin Berry Burgum, Arnaud d 'Usseau,
James Gow, Louis Harap, Milton Howard, Charles Humboldt, Dan
James, V. J. Jerome, Millard Lampell, John Howard Lawson, W. L.
River, Samuel Sillen, Marion Summers and Theodore Ward.
Mainstream will also feature Letters From Abroad from such out-
standing comrades as Louis Aragon, Jean-Richard Bloch, Ilya Ehren-
burg, Roger Garaudy, Allen Hutt, Agon Erwin Kisch, Juan Marinello,
Martin Anderson Nexo, Sean 'Casey, Anna Seghers, Konstantin
Simonov, Elio Vittorini and Friedrich Wolf.
The magazine was scheduled to appear in January, 1947, and is to
be distributed nationally by the New Century Publishers, Inc., 832
Broadway, New York City. It will sell for 50 cents a single copy or $2
per year. Foreign comrades will have to pay 50 cents additional to cover
postage.
UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA 107
ORIGIN OF THE HOLLYWOOD QUARTERLY
Following the Communist-inspired Writers' Congress held at the
University o/ California at Los Angeles the University joined hands with
the Communist front organization, the Hollywood Writers' Mobilization,
in the publication of a magazine called the Hollywood Quarterly. A com-
mittee was created representing the University, and it met with a similar
committee of the Hollywood Writers' Mobilization, out of which came
perfected plans for the magazine.
Despite protests made by this committee and James H. Corley, the
Comptroller of the University of California, the periodical was launched
as a joint venture by the University of California and the Hollywood
Writers' Mobilization. It is published by the University of Cali-
fornia Press.
A pamphlet advertising the Hollywood Quarterly for the October,
1946, issue states the following :
' ' The Hollywood Quarterly is sponsored jointly by the Univer-
sity of California and the Hollywood Writers' Mobilization and is
published by the University of California Press. It is edited by
Franklin Fearing, professor of psychology, University of California
at Los Angeles; Franklin P. Rolfe, associate professor of English,
University of California at Los Angeles ; Samuel T. Farquhar, man-
ager of the University of California Press; Kenneth MacGowan,
motion picture producer ; and John Howard Lawson, screenwriter. ' '
Those familiar with the subtle language employed in Communist
propaganda for innocents will readily understand the following descrip-
tion of the Hollywood Quarterly:
' ' Thinking people are beginning to recognize the potentialities
of screen, radio, and television fields long monopolized for enter-
tainment alone. Motion pictures have been criticized for com-
mercialism, for providing celluloid day-dreams, for pandering to the
lowest tastes in entertainment for the sake of the box office. Radio
has been criticized for using the air to sell everything from soap to
automobiles. Television is already being used as an advertising
medium. The Hollywood Quarterly presents a new viewpoint.
"The editors recognize the basic importance of these media to
our society; they believe that a social and artistic evaluation will
result in higher cultural standards and a more general appreciation
of social responsibilities. The quarterly carries articles by writers,
technicians, educators, social scientists, and others concerned with
the techniques of screen and radio and their effect on the public.
It discusses writers ' techniques, technological changes, the ethics of
entertainment, censorship, training films, animated cartoons, educa-
tional radio, documentary motion pictures, and the use of music in
motion picture and radio production." (Committee's italics.)
Samuel T. Farquhar, manager of the University of California Press,
was subpenaed before the committee at its Oakland hearing. He stated
that the publication of the Hollywood Quarterly commenced in October
of 1944 and that the contents were copyrighted in the name of the Regents
108 UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA
of the University of California. He testified that the editorial board of
the periodical was composed of Franklin Fearing, Franklin P. Rolfe,
Kenneth MacGowan, John Howard Lawson and himself.
It is quite obvious that three of the editorial board of five can control
the publication 's policy. The Communist activities of John Howard Law-
son are now well known. The sympathies and activities of Franklin
Fearing are fairly well detailed in this report.
Kenneth MacGowan taught a course on Motion Picture Direction
at the People's Educational Center in Los Angeles and is a member of
the Hollywood Writers' Mobilization. He was formerly connected with
the Communist transmission belt, the Hollywood Democratic Committee,
Hollywood Independent Citizens Committee of the Arts, Sciences and
Professions and the Writers' Congress.
In spite of this information which was made known to the University
of California, Kenneth MacGowan was given a position on the faculty
of the university teaching the same course he had taught at the Communist
Party's People's Educational Center in Los Angeles.
Samuel T. Farquhar's attitude concerning the strange marriage
between the University of California and the Communist Hollywood
Writers' Mobilization, out of which issued the Hollywood Quarterly, is
revealed by the following excerpts from his testimony :
Q. (By Mr. Combs) : Would you be able to determine whether
the Communist Party has anything inserted in the magazine ?
A. Only by inference. I can 't see any place in these magazine
articles with such a line.
Q. Do you think you would recognize it if it was there ?
A. I think I would.
Q. You know they are very subtle in their dialectic insinuations
in all journalistic work?
A. I believe they are.
Q. (By Chairman Tenney) : I don't want to put you on the
spot, but do you believe it is a good policy for the University of
California to have anything whatsoever to do with a publication
' (edited by) a former editor associate-editor of the chief
organ of the Communist Party of America * * * at that time a sec-
tion of the Third International * * * do you think it is a good thing
for the University to be associated in such an enterprise ?
^A. Unfortunately, I think they appointed the wrong editor. I
don 't think his being on it if he writes purely technical material has
anything to do with his previous condition of 'servitude.
Q. (By Mr. Combs) : You think it was a mistake he (John
Howard Lawson) was appointed editor, do you?
A. Apparently it was. I would rather see somebody else.
Q. Wouldn't it be far better to have people on a magazine of
that kind who had no taint of any subversive background or activity ?
A. I quite agree with you. I did not appoint the editors.
Q. I understand. We're just getting your opinion. All you have
to do with the printing, of course, is on the board of editors?
UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA 109
A. I 'm on there, I think, to see nothing subversive is run in the
magazine.
Q. Mr. Farquhar, may I just make one observation, and this by
way of assumption ; this is merely a hypothetical case : Assume that
a front organization such as the Hollywood Writers Mobilization
was, as we have reason to believe it is, a Communist front organiza-
tion and they wish to divest themselves of suspicion and clothe them-
selves with dignity and respect, and they could persuade an institu-
tion like the University of California to join hands with them in a
joint publication of a magazine, even if it were a Sears-Roebuck
catalogue or something entirely without any subversive taint ; don 't
you think the mere fact that they were engaged jointly in an enter-
prise like that with an institution like the University of California
would add immeasurably to their prestige ?
A. I think it would, yes.
Q. That is one purpose they could gain ?
A. That 's correct. I see your point.
Q. Without printing one word of subversive material in it.
A. Yes.
The members of the committee are convinced that the Regents of the
University of California should take immediate steps to rid the Uni-
versity of its Moscow devotees and sever relations with such outstanding
Communists as John Howard Lawson and his Communist front group,
the Hollywood Writers' Mobilization. Those responsible at the university
should take immediate action in this direction. If this is not done during
the cur rent -session of the Legislature the committee strongly urges that
legislative action be undertaken that will effectually put a stop to the
improper use of the university's name and dignity by individuals and
groups that seek to destroy the form of government under which the
university flourishes.
IMPROPER USE OF THE STATE UNIVERSITY'S NAME
The University of California is not a sacred cow. It is supported
from taxes paid by the people of the State of California. The people are
proud of their great university and are jealous of its great reputation.
Every member of the faculty of the University of California is an
employee of the State of California. The people have a right to expect
its employees to safeguard the trust the employees have voluntarily
assumed.
When it is learned that the university, through some of its faculty
members, is actively collaborating with Communist front organizations ;
when university professors are actually lecturing at Communist con-
trolled schools ; when university officials appoint individuals to its faculty
knowing that such individuals have been connected with Communist
dominated organizations ; when responsible heads of a university permit
the joint sponsorship of a magazine with the Communist Hollywood
Writers' Mobilization and permit a known Communist and former asso-
ciate editor of the official Communist publication, the Daily Worker, to
coedit such a magazine ; when the Dean of the Extension Division is dis-
covered to be a sponsor of the Communist California Labor School
110 UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA
directed by a registered Communist it appears to be high time for the
Legislature to take action.
These charges are not imaginary. Each one is fully documented and
supported by overwhelming proof.
Anyone who has read this report or former reports of the committee
must have observed the enthusiasm with which Communists use the
dignity and prestige of the University of California. The committee has
observed that the efforts of the Communist Party to couple its front
organizations with the university has increased rapidly during the past
several years.
This technique is merely an extension of the window-dressing
principle.
The committee learned that the Young Men's Christian Association
in Berkeley refers to itself as the "University Y. M. C. A." as does the
Young Women's Christian Association. When the committee's investi-
gators learned that these organizations permitted known members of the
Communist Party to use its facilities, Harry L. Kingman of the
Y. M. C. A. and Lily Margaret Sherman of the Y. W. C. A. were
subpenaed.
Part of Harry L. Kingman 's testimony follows :
Q. (By Mr. Combs) : Now, I show you a letterhead which pur-
ports to be on the stationery of the Young Men's Christian Associa-
tion of the University of California, dated December 29, 1944, and
ask you whether or not this is an official letterhead of the Young
Men's Christian Association , Stiles Hall, on Union Street?
A. That's right.
Q. Now, Mr. Kingman, is the Y. M. C. A. in any wa'y connected
with the University of Calif orniaf
A. No, it's not connected in any way. The university has no
responsibility. May I say also that that would be true of the city
Y. M. C. A.
Q. Yes. I 'm only speaking of this particular one.
A. I mean the city Y. M. C. A. 's would have no specific responsi-
bilities or organic ties. We 're autonomous.
Q. Mr. Kingman, when the letterhead reads "Young Men's
Christian Association of the University of California," wouldn't
that imply some connection between the two organizations ?
A. Well, the organization was created back in 1884 and
apparently the board or whoever started it named it that probably
as a convenience. The Y. M. C. A. is called the Berkeley Y. M. C. A.
to differentiate it from the Oakland Y. M. C. A.
Q. Of course, if it were called even the University Y. M. C. A.,
it would be quite different wouldn 't it ? But it doesn 't read that way.
It reads, "Young Men's Christian Association of the University of
California," which is quite a different thing, isn't it!
A. That 's the name under which it was incorporated.
Q. Yes, you're not responsible for that, of course, are you?
A. No.
UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA 111
Lily Margaret Sherman testified as follows :
Q. (By Mr. Combs) : And on the inside of the folder at the top
is the title, "Y. W. C. A. of the University of California Program,
Spring Term, 1946." You're familiar with that, aren't you!
A. Yes.
Both Harry L. Kingman and Lily Margaret Sherman testified that
it was the policy of their respective organizations to permit known mem-
bers of the Communist Party to speak in their buildings. By coupling the
names of these organizations with the University of California the general
public is led to believe that Communist activities at the Berkeley Y. M.
C. A. and Y. W. C. A. are also sponsored by the university.
The committee recommends that the Legislature remedy this situa-
tion by the enactment of proper legislation providing a penalty for the
unauthorized use of the name of the University of California.
COMMUNISM IN CALIFORNIA'S PUBLIC SCHOOLS
The committee and the people of California have been aware for
a long time that many teachers in the Public School System of California
have been inoculated with the virus of Communism. While the com-
mittee is happy to report that the great majority of California school
teachers are loyal Americans, fully discharging their responsibilities to
both the youth of the State and the taxpayers, the handful of frustrated,
muddle-headed Stalinites within the system do inestimable harm to
California's coming generation.
The Soviet aberration among certain school teachers is strongly
indicated by the past activities of the A. F. of L. Teachers Union. Acting
under the guise of a labor union ' l prerogative, ' ' members of the teachers
unions have affiliated with and taken part in the tumultuous crusades
conducted by Communist front organizations. Indicative of the Soviet
orientation is a letter to the editor of Soviet Russia Today written by a
school teacher in California. Under the heading "The Most Important
Cause," the committee finds the following in the January, 1947, issue
of the Communist magazine:
"I am a teacher in the public schools here. Maybe I am not
very tactful, but all the teachers here and the townspeople, for the
most part, look upon Russia just as the newspapers and radio tell
them to. As yet, the only way I can help is to help financially. I am
enclosing my warrant for teaching during September. Will you
plainly endorse it with a 'Soviet Russia Today' stamp, as I would
like my superintendent to know that I am contributing to a cause
which I think is the most important cause in the world today.
Muriel Roberts Kemp
San Jacinto, California. ' '
Undoubtedly the first patriotic impulse of Muriel Roberts Kemp's
superintendent would be to rid California's school system of such a
teacher and her flagrant flaunting of pro- Communism. The laws of the
State in this regard, however, are unquestionably weak in such cases
and the Legislature, desiring to protect the great majority of splendid
American instructors in the California School System, do well to approach
the problem with caution. This situation, incidentally, is one of the
strongest bits of armour in the Communist attack on American insti-
tutions.
Indicative of the propaganda barrage on frustrated school teachers
who donate their warrants to Soviet Russia Today, is the following
from the same publication :
8 L-2T ( 113 )
114 UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA
A Book for Children
"The Land of the Russian People, by Alexander Nazaroff.
Photographs from Sovfoto and The National Council of American-
Soviet Friendship, Inc., J. B. Lippincott, Philadelphia, 160 pp. $2.00.
1944.
"Combining geography and history Alexander Nazaroff has
written a very readable book for school children of junior high and
high school age. The first four chapters of 'The Land of the Russian
People 7 takes us on a journey from Vladivostok by trans-Siberian
Railway across the immense stretch of the Soviet Union to Moscow
and Leningrad, thence by plane to Archangel for a glimpse at the
Arctic world, then from Kiev to Samarkand via the Ukraine, the
Caucasus and the Georgian Republic. The rest of the book is a
condensed history of Russia from the early Slav tribes of the eighth
and ninth centuries to the time of the overthrow of the tsar and the
establishment of the Soviet state, with a final page devoted to the
U. S. S. R. at war against Nazi Germany. The photographs are well
chosen and an integral part of the book. Recommended for school
study. "
So that the mental processes of neurotic school teachers will be
properly conditioned, we find the following in the January, 1947, issue
of Soviet Russia Today:
1 ' Soviet Children and Their Care, by Rose Maurer. Illustrated.
10 cents.
"Soviet Constitution.
"The complete text, with all amendments. Only American
edition in print. 10 cents.
"The Baltic Soviet Republics. With an introduction by Fred-
erick L. Schuman. Background and recent developments. 10 cents.
"Soviet Women, by Rose Maurer. Illustrated. 15 cents.
"Organized Labor in U. S. S. R., by Edwin S. Smith. A vast
amount of information is packed into these forty-odd pages. 10 cents.
"Bibliography on the Soviet Union. For Teachers and Students.
List of Sources and Supplementary Teaching Materials (Mimeo-
graphed). 10 cents.
"Bibliography on Women, Child Care and the Family in the
U. S. S. R. A Guide to Reading and Study (Mimeographed). 5 cents.
"20 percent discount on quantities of 10 or more on all pub-
lications listed here.
' ' From Soviet Russia Today, 114 E. 32d St., New York 16, N.Y. ' '
NATIONAL EDUCATION ASSOCIATION ON "SOVIET RUSSIA TODAY"
It should be needless for the Committee to point out that the publica-
tion "Soviet Russia Today" is a pro-Communist, pro-Soviet magazine.
Every official Committee investigating this periodical is unanimous in
placing it in the category of Communist-Soviet propaganda.
UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA 115
The following letter from the Director of the Research Division of
the National Education Association is of importance :
February 27, 1947
Mrs. Murial Roberts Kemp,
San Jacinto, California.
Dear Mrs. Kemp:
Your letter of Feb. 20 to the NEA staff has been referred to
the Research Division for comment. We do not have any facilities
whereby we can identify either the financial or administrative forces
behind the publication * Soviet Russia Today.' Whether or not it
has direct connections with the Soviet government is, of course,
something that probably is not known for certainty even by the
investigative agencies in the government service. In other words,
these contacts and relationships behind the scenes come and go and
change under the pressure of public opinion. However, I do not see
any objection to a teacher today subscribing to publications of this
character. If the government allows these publications to be printed
in the United States, distributed by the United States mails and the
American Railway Express in an open and above board manner, I
see no reason why teachers shouldn't include this type of thing in
their total reading program.
With respect to the fact that you had a letter printed in this
particular publication should, in my opinion, put you in the same
category of some of the recent contributors to the magazine which
I understand include Joseph E. Davies, Harold L. Ickes, Rt. Rsv.
Hewlitt Johnson, Senator James E. Murray, Bishop G. Bromley
Oxman and others whom I have never heard described as Com-
munists.
Cordially yours,
(S) Frank W. Hubbard
COMMUNISM AT CANOGA PARK HIGH SCHOOL
This report has heretofore pointed out in some detail that Mrs.
Dorothy Healy, Secretary of the Communist Party of Los Angeles
County, is a member of the Board of Directors of the Communist
People's Educational Center. Co-serving with the Secretary of the Com-
munist Party on the school's board is Mrs. Frances R. Eisenberg, a
teacher at Canoga Park High School, Los Angeles County.
The committee had been flooded with protests from parents of stu-
dents attending the Canoga Park High School protesting the alleged
Communist indoctrination injected into courses taught by Mrs. Eisen-
berg and another teacher by the name of Mrs. Blanche Bettington.
The committee and its investigators had no prior knowledge of the
situation at Canoga Park and the complaints were entirely unsolicited.
The committee's investigators reported that the Canoga Park situa-
tion merited the committee's attention and, consequently, a number of
students and parents, together with Mrs. Bettington and Mrs. Eisenberg,
were subpenaed to testify before the committee.
It should be noted here that the committee's investigators found
many parents and students in Canoga Park who, although deploring
116 UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA
the teaching activities of the instructors, were loath to put themselves
on record in opposition to the teachers because of fear of reprisals in
possible low marks for the children attending the classes in question.
Among the students who testified before the committee was Franklyn
Nof ziger. He testified that he had taken a course in * ' Senior Problems ' '
from Mrs. Bettington in the fall of 1941 and the spring of 1942. This
course was allegedly designed to prepare students for adult life. Frank-
lyn stated that the class was told by Mrs. Bettington that radio com-
mentators such as Fulton Lewis, Jr., were " reactionary " and should
never be listened to on the radio. He stated that the teacher emphatically
expressed herself as being in favor of a " controlled economy" and
vehemently argued from time to time with the students in justification
of the Soviet Union 's imperialistic aggression against Latvia, Lithuania
and Estonia. She warmly expressed complete and emphatic disapproval
of the Hearst publications and vigorously approved the picketing of
the White House by the American Student Union (Communist youth
organization), stating from time to time that the laboring classes of the
United States always got a "dirty deal" from the government. Young
Nofziger declared that the students were generally impressed with Mrs.
Bettington 's over-all opposition to a capitalist form of government. She
continually emphasized the position of alleged racial-minorities and
declared from time to time that such minorities were continually sub-
jected to unfair prejudice and discrimination under the American system
of government. The students were encouraged to read pro-Soviet books,
including Mission to Moscow. Her recommendation for ex- Ambassador
Davies' praise-of -things-Soviet was accompanied by the statement that
1 1 here is one of your capitalists who thinks Russia is all right. ' ' She also
placed her stamp of approval on the books written by Carey Me Williams.
(Me Williams' long record of affiliation and activity with Communist
transmission belts is detailed throughout the Reports of the Committee.)
Part of Franklyn Nofziger 's testimony follows :
Q. (By Mr. Combs) : When you took the course; when ypu
started to take the course, Mr. Nofziger, was it your impression
that you were taking a course that was training you to adjust your-
self to daily life ?
A. That was what the course was supposed to be.
Q. In your opinion was that the manner in which the course
was conducted?
A. Not exactly.
Q. What do you mean by that?
A. It dealt to a certain extent with buying. The greater part
of the time consisted of arguing politics.
Q. Was the political discussion that took place in class while
you were a member of it a free, open, objective and unbiased dis-
cussion, or was it slanted or pointed in any direction by your
instructor, in your opinion?
A. My instructor, Mrs. Bettington, was always on the side of
the Left. She argued one side with some of the kids, and some of
us argued the other side. There was no impartiality there on her
side."
UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA 117
Walter M. Ames, Jr., one of the students, testified that he was the
President of the Student Body of Canoga Park High School and that he
had taken a course from Mrs. Eisenberg. He stated that she had told the
members of the class that they should never read such publications as
Life, Time or the Reader's Digest, because these publications were ''re-
actionary" and "unreliable." She highly recommended, on the other
hand, the New Republic as being the proper "liberal" type of publi-
cation.
It should be noted in this connection that the Reader's Digest has
carried articles written by such noted anti-Communist authors as Eugene
Lyons, Max Eastman and Victor Kravchenko. Some time back the
Reader's Digest published a condensation of W. L. White's best-seller,
Report on the Russians, exposing life under Communism in the Soviet
Union. This condensation apparently did great harm to Communism in
the United States, and the comrades were screaming in unison from 13th
Street in New York to Sixth Street in Los Angeles. Communist Sender
Garlin, formerly a columnist for the Communist Daily Worker, immedi-
ately wrote a pamphlet excoriating the Reader's Digest as a "capitalist-
controlled publication" and the Communist book stores and literature
distribution centers did their level best in getting the pamphlet into the
hands of Communist and fellow-traveling teachers for distribution to
students.
Rosemary Nofziger, another student at Canoga Park High School,
testified that she had seen copies of the Communist Party east coast
publication, the Daily Worker, tacked on the walls of Mrs. Eisenberg 's
classroom ' ' more than once. ' ' She also declared that she had seen a sign
tacked on the inside of the door to the classroom bearing the statement
"A. F. of L. Teachers Union Unfair to Organized Labor."
Fern Geisinger testified that she had attended Canoga Park High
School until the summer of 1945 when she was graduated. She had taken
Mrs. Bettington 's courses for two semesters, one in ' ' Senior Problems ' '
and another in ' ' Student Government. ' ' Fern Geisinger 's testimony, in
part, is as follows :
Q. (By Mr. Combs) : I mean by that was there any apparent
effort to indoctrinate the student one way or another ?
A. Well, there were many free discussions and you might say
arguments with a great deal of commotion and disturbance. We were
allowed to give all of our opinions in any manner or form that we
wished to give them. I mean we could stand up and rant and rave
if we wanted to and most of us did, but by the time we had said
everything that we wanted to say there was an answer prepared, or
anyway it sounded very prepared, and everything we said just made
us look like we were so big (indicating). The more we talked the
more foolish it made us look. No matter how much information we
got from the outside and really worked to obtain it, when we pre-
sented it to the class it had no effect because what we said was either
twisted or we did not have sufficient facts to combat the line of talk
that we were confronted with.
Q. That was in whose class?
A. That was Mrs. Bettington 's. I didn't have Mrs. Eisenberg.
118 UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA
Q. Now, in Mrs. Bettington's class was there any consistent
criticism by her of the American form of government?
A. Well, what I think of as the American form of govern-
ment I mean what we mean by the American form of government ;
I don't know, but if capitalism has a lot to do with it, there was a
great deal of criticism about capitalism.
Q. Against it?
"A. Yes, against it, definitely, and a lot of discussion led to the
fact that this country was built by labor and that capitalism did
not enter into it at all and the more we argued about the fact that
money was needed in the form of capitalism well, we just didn 't
get anywhere, if you know what I mean.
Q. Was this form of capitalistic government compared with
any other government?
A. Well, mostly it was compared with Russia.
Q. Was the Russian form of government approved or dis-
approved ?
A. Oh, approved.
Q. Approved?
A. Yes.
Q. Did that have an effect upon the students, in your opinion?
A. Well, there- were only about six of us that rose up in arms
really and the rest just seemed to sit back, and if we had any dis-
cussions out of class they agreed completely with her, no matter
what was said. We couldn't put over our ideas at all because they
were so completely
Q. (By Chairman Tenney) : Ridiculed?
A. Well, no, but they just quoted word for word what she said
and we didn't have any way of approaching them in any manner,
you know. Really there were so many of them now, I wouldn 't say
that I knew what I was talking about when I was in high school
because I know many times I was in wrong, but all the time they
would say things and you knew they didn't have any more back-
ground that just what we talked about in class. They would talk
for hours on end, words, really, and just say what she said, not from
what they read or what we learned in class out of books or anything,
because we didn 't have any books. It was just what she said.
Q. (By Mr. Combs) : Was there any advice given to you to dis-
regard the opinions of your parents in the home ?
A. Well, not so much as direct advice, but I know many times I
would say, "Well, I have always learned to the effect that such and
such were true." When I said that she would say, "That is all
wrong. ' ' Naturally, where would I get it but at home ? If I said, ' ' My
father said this. He was listening last night and he said that," it
wouldn't mean anything. It was just as if he didn't know what he
was talking about. And I am sure a lot of the parents would not
appreciate that if they knew what their opinions were going through
in the classrooms. (Laughter.)
Q. I think that is all.
UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA 119
Q. (By Chairman Tenney) : I have just one or two questions.
Have you heard of an organization in Canoga Park called Youth
for Democracy f
A. No, I haven 't heard of it in Canoga Park. I didn't know any-
thing about that until I got to City College.
Q. Are you going to City College now?
A. Yes, I am.
Q. Have you heard of the organization there ?
A. Yes. I had a very fine teacher in Public Speaking that was
trying to combat a lot of the Communism in City College. He had us
read a lot of literature about different organizations like that and
told us to beware of the front that they put on, and that we were
liable to get in with the wrong organizations if we didn 't know more
about them. So he had us all read these different things. So that is
the way I learned about that. I wasn't acquainted with the organiza-
tion.
Q. Is it generally known among the students at City College
that American Youth for Democracy is the Young Communist
League f
A. Well, now, I don't know. The ones I come in contact with
are usually few on the political side of it. I couldn 't say what their
reaction was to it, but I know in his class he had an awful time mak-
ing the students realize that that was Communism.
Q. Do you find among the students out there any evidences of
Communistic indoctrination ?
A. Oh, definitely.
Q. Lots of it?
A. Yes, very definitely.
Q. Summarizing your testimony, I think you have said prac-
tically this : That the instructor you have mentioned by compari-
sons, innuendo, and subtle lectures and arguments has compared
the Russian Soviet Government to the American Government and
the economy of both countries always in the light where our govern-
ment and economy came off second best, is that about it ?
A. Yes, that is more or less what I said.
AN AMERICAN TEACHER TESTIFIES
Miss Grace V. Mottram taught at Canoga Park High School for
about 10 years and stated that she was familiar with the teaching
methods employed by Mrs. Bettington and Mrs. Eisenberg. Miss Mott-
ram 's testimony, in part, is as follows :
A. (By Miss Mottram) : * * * One case that seemed signifi-
cant at that time ; the young lad who took into class a review of an
article that he had found in "The Reader's Digest." This was to
Mrs. Bettington 's Senior Problems so-called Senior Problems
class. It had impressed him as being timely and well presented. I
have forgotten what the material was. When he stated that he had
found it in "The Reader's Digest," and I now quote the boy's own
120 UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA
words, "Mrs. Bettington shrieked at me and called out, 'It is noth-
ing but a pack of lies, a pack of lies, ' and in crescendo went on with
'a pack of lies'. " When she quieted down he said, ' 'No, Mrs. Betting-
ton, it is not a pack of lies. It is taken from the Christian Science
Monitor." Her answer reiterated the "pack of lies" and added,
"Even if it came from the Monitor, 'The Reader's Digest' would
have changed it around until it still would have been a pack of lies. "
She didn't know what every newspaper columnist and newspaper,
diplomat and informed reader knows, that no article is ever taken
from the Christian Science Monitor and rearranged by anyone other
than their own board of publishers, the publishing house.
One other instance that seemed so vital to me that from then
on I helped every student regain the poise that I felt they had the
right to when they came to me. It is very difficult for one well-
trained to talk about another teacher's work. This day a group of
students came into my room after school when I was working. They
were very much excited about something. Finally one boy, whose
name I didn't know then and I will not refer to now, came up to
me and said, "Well, Miss Mottram, I don't care what Mrs. Betting-
ton believes. That's her business. But I was taught at home and I
have always been taught that America was the grandest country
in the world ; it offered more opportunity and we had more privileges
and there was a lot of good in our country, and that was why I was
grateful to be an American. But," he said, "up there in that class
we hear everything in America is wrong; our systems are wrong.
Everything is wrong. But in Russia it is all good ; there is nothing but
good there, and no criticism of the Russian system. ' '
I think that typifies about all that those children brought to
me during that period of time. He wound up and said, "Now, I
know better than that stuff that they teach in Mrs. Bettington's,"
he said, "and I don't know why I have to listen to it."
Q. (By Mr. Combs) : Did you find that the students who came
to you after having attended one of those classes were in a state of
confusion and bewilderment?
A. Many times, so decidedly that if they were working on
problems they could not do it that day. Time after time they laid
them by until such time that they were ready and had particularly
peace of mind to attack it. You can't do the two things.
**
Q. (By Chairman Tenney) : Did you have any discussions with
the parents of these children or any of the parents .in that com-
munity?
A. At the time, no, but since, yes.
Q. What has been their reaction to such conduct on the part
of certain teachers ?
A. Very much as mine. It is a vicious situation and has no part
in American public schools.
UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA 121
A FATHER TESTIFIES
C. R. Prouty, Jr. is a resident of Canoga Park whose two daughters,
Jolene and Sally Bird, attended Canoga Park High School. Jolene
Prouty had taken a course under the tutelage of Mrs. Bettington in
1945. Mr. Prouty 's testimony, in part, follows:
Q. (By Mr. Combs) : Prior to the time that your daughter,
Jolene, enrolled in that particular course, did she evidence at home
any tendency toward a critical attitude of the American form of
government or a tolerant attitude of the American variety of Com-
munism or any radical tendencies of any kind ?
A. Very definitely not.
Q. Did that situation change after she commenced taking the
course from Mrs. Bettington ?
A. It certainly did.
Q. Will you explain what you mean by that statement?
A. She started to turn into a young Communist or what I
think is a young Communist. She was so thoroughly indoctrinated
with isms and ideals that are foreign which I consider un-Ameri-
can she started to become quite a problem in the home.
Q. Had she respected your opinions and your ideas and those
of your wife prior to the time she had enrolled in the Course ?
A. Yes, she had.
Q. Did that attitude change afterwards?
A. That attitude changed afterwards and we had many violent
arguments over our relative beliefs.
*****
Q. Did your daughter express admiration for the Soviet form
of government?
A. Yes, she did.
Q. Did she express a critical attitude toward the American form
of government ?
A. A very definite critical attitude.
Q. Did she express any opinion about American Communists?
A. Yes, she felt that this being a free country they were entitled
to free speech and an expression of their ideology as much as any
one else in the country.
Q. Do you feel, or is it your opinion, that she
A. It is definitely my opinion that she
Q. Let me finish that she was inculcated with that sort of
opinion and that sort of attitude as a result of taking the class ?
A. Yes.
Q. Did she ever express to you an opinion that all persons who
criticized Communism were reactionary?
A. Yes. I was a reactionary.
Q. Because you criticized Communism ?
A. That is correct.
122 UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA
Q. Now, Mr. Prouty, have you talked to other students besides
your daughter who took the same class ?
A. I have talked to a number of students from Canoga Park,
both among those who have graduated and those who are now
attending school.
Q. With what result?
A. They are either thoroughly indoctrinated with ideologies that
are un-American in my eyes or they are very much opposed to having
ideas and ideals thrust down their throats that are contrary to
those that they get at home.
Q. Is it your opinion that that situation resulted from the type
of instruction they received in the class ?
A. Yes.
Q. I think that is all unless you have something to add.
A. "Well, I think our Los Angeles Public School system should
eliminate ideas that are un-American, whether they are put in the
children 's minds by innuendo or how they are put there ; that the
courses should be so carefully outlined that that could not happen.
Q. As it has happened in your opinion in that particular school ?
A. That is correct.
THE PRINCIPAL OF CANOGA PARK HIGH SCHOOL TESTIFIES
Charles H. Nettles is the principal of the Canoga Park High School.
He testified that he was personally acquainted with both Mrs. Betting-
ton and Mrs. Eisenberg. He stated that he had listened to the testimony
of parents and students before the committee, and he stated unequivo-
cally that he did not believe more than half of what he had heard. He
was firm in his declaration that he did not believe either of the two
teachers had been engaged in the indoctrination of Canoga Park students.
Examination of the witness indicated that he would have had
little knowledge, in his capacity as principal, of the teaching methods
used by the instructors in the school. It was quite apparent that he
could have been easily deceived as to what was actually being taught
throughout the institution. Assemblyman Albert L. Stewart of Pasadena,
who had joined the committee as an observer, was interested in this phase
of Mr. Nettle's testimony, and his examination of Mr. Nettle on this
point is interesting :
Q. (By Mr. Stewart) : You just stated you didn't know who,
at the present time, was the teacher of civics in the eleventh grade ?
A. Well, I don 't have that right at my finger tips.
Q. Just a moment. I appreciate that. How many teachers
do you have?
A. We have 43 in school.
Q. You are the supervising principal ?
A. Yes, sir.
Q. You testified before this Committee you did not like any-
thing taught in the schools except things that were conducive to
the appreciation of American doctrines and the American principles
UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA 123
of life and that you did not know the People's World was hung up
on the wall. Now, you testify you don't know who the teacher of
this class is the teacher who is endeavoring to indoctrinate the
pupils with an appreciation of the American form of government.
What do you know about your school ?
A. I consider that an insult.
Q. That is all right. You may consider it as an insult. I am try-
ing to find out what you know about your school.
A. I know plenty about it, sir.
Q. Who is this teacher?
A. I said I don't happen to know who the teacher was. I did
not bring a schedule along.
Q. That is the point I was getting at.
A. Our teachers have all sworn to uphold the Constitution of
the United States.
Q. That is all right.
A. They are all adequately prepared to teach and have teacher 's
credentials.
Mr. Stewart : Yet you don 't know who is teaching the class in
civics, as principal of the school. Your own evidence is all I wanted
to get in the record.
Mr. Nettles ' testimony, in part, continues :
Q. (By Assemblyman John F. Thompson) : Do you investigate
any publications or newspapers used in connection with the school
work?
A. No. That is not my responsibility. That is done in the down-
town office.
Q. Do you know if the People's World is sanctioned by the
downtown office?
A. I don 't believe it is, no.
*******
Q. (By Senator Nelson S. Dilworth) : In your testimony a
moment ago you spoke about supporting our administration during
the war. Are you still supporting the administration ?
A. Indeed we are.
Q. (By Assemblyman Harold F. Sawallisch) : Do you think it
will support the administration when you permit teachers to tack
the People's World on walls?
A. I didn 't see it on the walls. I wouldn 't have it on there if I
knew about it.
Q. Do you have any reason to believe these students have per-
jured themselves before this committee ?
A. I would take Mrs. Eisenberg's word before Rosemary Nof-
ziger's word for it.
Q. You would.
A. Yes.
A voice from the audience : There are other students who have
seen this.
124 UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA
Mr. Nettles : I am not saying it wasn't there. I am saying what
I would take as a person 's word.
Q. (By Mr. Thompson) : Did you doubt the testimony of the
young veteran in here this morning ?
A. Yes, I did, very much.
Q. (By Mr. Sawallisch) : You doubt anybody's words that dis-
agree with you or your teachers, is that correct ?
A. No, sir, it is not true.
Q. It is apparent to me that this is true.
********
Q. (By Mr. Combs) : Mr. Nettles, if you knew there was a
teacher in the school where you were principal who was a member
of the board of directors of another institution and on the same board
was the Secretary of the Communist Party of Los Angeles County,
and evidence was produced thereafter that the same teacher had in
your school done these things that have been testified to here, would
you be inclined to believe it or disbelieve it ?
A. Well, sir, I don't think any of the testimony about Russia
has been against Mrs. Eisenberg particularly, as I remember it. I
didn 't know she was a member of the board of directors of the P. E. C.
I didn't know what the P. E. C. was actually. I knew there was
such a thing. I am taking your word.
Chairman Tenney : She testified to it.
Mr. Nettles : Yes, but I said I did not know that.
Mr. Sawallisch : Are you surprised ?
Mr. Nettles : I am surprised it was the kind of organization it is,
yes, sir, very much surprised.
Q. (By Chairman Tenney) : When it has the Secretary of the
Communist Party of Los Angeles County as a member of the board
of directors, together with one of your teachers, what is your
attitude ?
A. I don 't like it.
Q. What are you going to do about it?
A. I don 't know. It depends on what I can do about it.
SCHOOL JOURNALISM AT CANOGA PARK HIGH
Harry Edson Robinson had been a newspaper publisher in Canoga
Park for several years. He told the committee that he had published the
Canoga Park High School paper for some time and was acquainted with
many of the students who had attended classes under Mrs. Bettington
and Mrs. Eisenberg. Mr. Robinson's testimony, in part, follows:
Q. (By Mr. Combs) : How long have you resided in Canoga
Park?
A. Six years the 24th of June.
Q. Do you know a man by the name of Edgar Davis or Davies ?
A. Yes.
Q. Who was he?
A. He was a student at the Canoga Park High School and one
semester was editor of the high school paper, "The Hunter's Call."
UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA 125
Q. "The Hunter's Call" is the name of the high school paper?
A. That is the name of it.
Q. What is it, Davis or Davies?
A. Davies, D-a-v-i-e-s.
Q. Do you know anything about an organization called
' ' America for Americans ' ' ? Did you ever hear of it ?
A. Well, that was an organization that he and some other young
men wanted to organize. They talked it over with me and wanted to
combat what they called a Communist influence in our high school.
Q. When did those conversations first occur?
A. Well, they took place over several weeks as he would come
in and get the paper out and discuss things.
Q. About how long ago was that ?
A. That was about two years ago, in the second year back.
Q. He discussed the matter with you from time to time, did he ?
A. Yes.
Q. And other students at the school ?
A. Yes.
Q. In connection with their work on the paper?
A. That is right.
Q. Did your office print that paper?
A. It did.
Q. So they had occasion to come in and out of your place of
business regularly?
A. Yes.
Q. When was the last time you talked with him about this
matter ?
A. Well, he was only editor of the paper for one semester.
Q. It was during that period of time ?
A. During that period, yes.
Q. At that time did he take any courses from either Mrs. Eisen-
berg or Mrs. Bettington?
A. Naturally, he took journalism as editor of the paper.
Q. He took journalism at that time ?
A. Yes.
Q. What did he tell you in connection with his course in
journalism ?
A. He expressed himself as believing that the entire slant of
news was towards Communism and the rest had no say-so.
Q. Did he give you any reason for his coming to that conclusion ?
A. The things that he heard in the class.
Q. Which class?
A. Journalism class.
Q. Taught by whom?
A. Mrs. Frances Bettington.
126 UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA
Q. Mrs. Frances Bettington ?
A. Or Mrs. Frances Eisenberg.
Q. Did you ever have any similar conversation with any other
students besides him concerning the same matter ?
A. Yes, sir. I practically had the same conversations with all
of the editors. I have printed it for four years out of six.
Q. And they all told you the same thing?
A. They all felt they were being restricted, yes.
Q. And felt they were being subjected to radical propaganda ?
A. Right.
Q. Did they use that language?
A. Yes, I will say they did.
Q. They told you, did they, that they felt they were being
exposed to Communistic influence ?
A. They did.
Q. They did? You are sure about that?
A. Well, Socialistic; and they said it was under the guise of
liberalism and world friendship.
Q. Did they refer to this Friendship Group that the witnesses
have testified about ?
A. Yes, a number of times.
Q. That is the group which Carey Me Williams, Earl Robinson,
Bob Hope and other people came and spoke before or entertained ?
A. That is right.
Q. What was their opinion about that organization?
A. That the speakers were entirely on the one side.
Q. Did they say which side?
A. The Communistic side.
Q. Have you had any conversations with any other students
who took courses from either Mrs. Bettington or Mrs. Eisenberg
along the same lines ?
A. A number of them. At various times groups would come in
who really had no connection with the paper.
Q. Students who had taken one or both courses ?
A. That is right.
Q. From one or both of those teachers ?
A. Yes.
Q. They would come in and complain to you about the same
matter ?
A. Yes. They would talk it over.
Q. That was the purpose of it ; that Davies had for proposing
that they start an organization called " America for Americans "
in the Canoga Park High School?
A. That is right.
Q. Was the organization ever started?
A. I don 't believe it was merely discussed a time or two.
UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA 127
Q. What, if anything, did you do about the matter?
A. Well, I had nothing to do with it whatsoever ?
Q. Yes?
A. I merely listened to their stories and talked to them.
Q. Did you give them any advice or counsel about what to do?
A. No, not particularly.
Q. You thought it was their concern?
A. That is right.
* *******
Q. (By Senator Tenney) : * * * were (the people of Canoga
Park) aroused about the matter? Did they think it was all right,
or what was the situation ?
A. No. The situation had existed in all six years I have been
there.
Q. Is it generally known throughout by the citizenry there and
to the parents of the children ?
A. I think it is very widely known.
Q. These boys have talked to you, you say. Did they resent the
teaching of these doctrines ?
A. Very much so.
Q. What was the feeling of the parents?
A. Well, I never went to the parents with the story at all.
* *******
Q. (By Mr. Combs) : Do you know Guy Hills?
A. Yes. He was a sports editor last year.
Q. Did you ever have any conversation about these matters
with him ?
A. Quite frequently.
Q. Did he ever tell you that the reasons the students did not
oppose Communist teachings in the school was because those who
did found themselves in poor standing ?
A. That is right.
Q. He told you that?
A. He didn't say "poor standing/' but they found things
happening to them.
Q. What kind of things?
A. That I don't know. He took it for granted that I knew.
A. About how long ago was it you had that conversation ?
A. About a year ago. He was sports editor last year.
Q. At your office ?
A. Yes.
Q. (By Senator Tenney) : Would that mean the students going
there who objected to this sort of thing would get bad grades?
A. I took it for granted that is what he meant or they found
things that happened to them that were disagreeable.
128 UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA
Q. In other words, they did not have a very good time?
A. That is right.
Q. (By Mr. Combs) : Did you have any conversation with the
student editors of the paper as to the amount of editorial freedom
they were permitted to use ?
A. They had none.
Q. They had none? Why not?
A. It was all censored and purely operated by the journalism
instructor.
Q. Who was the journalism instructor?
A. Mrs. Eisenberg.
Q. The student-editors all told you that, did they ?
A. Not all of them; I wouldn't say all of them.
Q. Several?
A. Several.
Q. Those conversations took place at your office, did they ?
A. Right.
Q. Did the student-editors of the paper or any of them ever
express themselves as to the political trend of the paper?
A. Well, they felt that they had no right it wasn't expressing
their thoughts on Americanism that they were being trained toward
the socialistic or communistic angle.
Q. Did they express any opinion as to how that influence was
being exerted ?
A. Yes.
Q. By whom ?
A. Well, of course, the Journalism class through Frances
Eisenberg.
Q. She was the one who had the right to censor the articles that
went into the paper, was that it ?
A. Absolutely.
CANOGA PARK HIGH SCHOOL TEACHERS TESTIFY
Both Mrs. Frances R. Eisenberg and Mrs. Blanche Bettington were
subpenaed and testified.
Mrs. Eisenberg admitted that she was a member of the board of
directors of the People's Educational Center. The Communist character
of the Los Angeles local of the American Federation of Teachers is indi-
cated by Mrs. Eisenberg 's testimony. "As I recall it," she said, "the
establishment of the school (PEC) was discussed at a regular meeting
of the Teachers Union. The president of our union asked for volunteers
to assist him on the board of directors and I volunteered temporarily. ' '
She wanted the committee to believe that she had become affiliated with
the Communist People's Educational Center as a ' ' delegate ' ' of her union.
Her elevation to the board of directors, according to her testimony, came
about by some one merely putting her name ' ' down as a member of the
board." She admitted having attended board meetings five or six times.
She remembered that one meeting was held at 1717 N. Vine and another
UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA 129
at an office in a Spring Street building. She believed that she had attended
meetings in company with John Howard Lawson. She testified that she
was acquainted with Dr. Franklin Fearing, Dr. Frank Davis and Fay
Allen and other members of the board of directors of the People's Edu-
cational Center. She had attended meetings at which Albee Slade (Albee
Slotkinoff) had been the speaker.
Mrs. Eisenberg's evasiveness is well illustrated by the following:
Q. (By Senator Tenney) : You did not know or were not
aware that Mr. Winter, Secretary of the Communist Party, was
one of the lecturers at that school?
A. I don 't know Mr. Winter at all.
Q. Do you know that Mrs. Healey is Secretary of the Com-
munist Party in Los Angeles County now ?
A. No.
Q. You don't know that?
A. No.
Q. Would that make any difference to you?
A. Well, I am surprised. I mean, I just didn't know about it.
Q. Does it make any difference now with your participation
as a director in that school ?
A. Well, the school exists for the adults in the community,
and if they choose to go I guess it is their business.
Mrs. Blanche Bettington's testimony, in part, follows:
Q. (By Mr. Combs) : You teach senior problems; and the
other course was what, Mrs. Bettington ?
A. Student government.
Q. And the course in senior problems, I presume, is much the
same as the course taught by Mrs. Eisenberg, isn 't it ?
A. I follow a course of study.
Q. You heard her testimony, did you not ?
A. Yes.
Q. If the same questions were asked you that I asked her con-
cerning the method in which she conducted the class, would your
answers be substantially the same?
A. I presume.
Q. Now, what about the class in student politics ?
A. We don't have a class in student politics.
Q. What was it ?
A. We have a class in student guidance and government.
Q. Guidance and government?
A. Yes.
Q. What kind of government is student government?
A. Once each day the student body officers and their cabinet
meet with me for which the youngsters receive credit; at which
time the children consider school problems that they are permitted
to consider under the guidance of the school administration.
9L-2T
130 UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA
Q. How many students do you have in your class in senior
problems ?
A. I have three classes of senior problems. I have approximately,
oh, probably 100 students altogether in senior problems.
Q. About 100 students altogether?
A. Yes.
Q. How many do you have in the other classes ?
A. I think 21.
Q. Twenty-one students?
A. Yes.
Q. You don't know anything about the People's Educational
Center, do you ?
A. I know nothing about the People's Educational Center.
Q. You were never connected with it in any way, were you?
A. I know nothing about the People's Educational Center.
Q. You don't know any of the individuals whose names I have
mentioned in the record as being connected with it?
A. I don't. I have heard some of the names. I have heard of
Fearing at U. C. L. A. I believe he teaches there.
Q. No. I mean personal acquaintance ?
A. No.
Q. Are you acquainted with Mr. Carey Me Williams?
A. I don't know Carey Me Williams. He spoke at a meeting at
our school once, but I don't know him personally. I have read
his books.
Q. How did he happen to speak at that meeting ?
A. One of the World Friendship Club meetings at our school,
Carey Me Williams was invited to speak with the permission of our
school administration.
Q. What is the name of that organization ?
A. It is the World Friendship Club.
Q. The World Friendship Clubf
A. Yes, sir.
Q. Do you have anything to do with the organization?
A. Yes, sir. I happen to be one of the sponsors at the Canoga
Park High School.
Q. Who invited Mr. Me Williams to come there and speak, if
you know?
A. I don 't know who sent the letter to Mr. Me Williams. I just
simply have forgotten. That must have been two or three years ago
and I have forgotten
Q. Yes, I understand.
A. whether it was the club secretary or whether I did or
whether the office did. I just don't remember.
UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA 131
Q. Then it is your testimony, Mrs. Bettington, that the invita-
tion for Mr. Me Williams may have been made by you or somebody
else, but you don 't know who it was at this time ?
A. I don't remember, no.
Q. All right. Do you know a man by the name of Earl Robinson ?
A. Yes, I know an Earl Robinson.
Q. Yes?
A. I don 't know Earl Robinson personally, though. He wouldn 't
know me.
* * * *
Q. When was Mr. Robinson there?
A. I have forgotten. Probably a year or a year and a half ago,
something like that.
Q. Are the students urged to attend those functions?
A. It is entirely voluntary.
Q. I understand that ; but are they urged to go ?
A. That is up to them. I can't say that they were urged to go.
They can become a member of the club and attend the meetings if
they want to, and if they don't want to, they don't have to. It is
up to them.
Q. It is not part of the course of education?
A. No, definitely. But I think you should understand it is
approved by the downtown office and Mr. Blair, one of the assistant
superintendents of schools happens to be the president in charge of
all World Friendship Clubs in Los Angeles. He is there for Super-
intendent Kersey.
Q. Where are the meetings held ?
A. The meetings have to be held in schools since they were under
the supervision of the downtown office. We cannot hold them outside
of the schools.
* * *
Q. Now, you have testified in a general way that you conduct
your class in senior problems in approximately the same manner
that Mrs. Eisenberg conducts hers ?
A. Well, I don 't know just how she conducts her own.
Q. No, but I mean by that
A. I believe in the course of study.
Q. you do not attempt to influence the thinking processes
of your students, do you ?
A. We discuss all phases. We have complete freedom of speech
within the classroom.
Q. Do you try to do it objectively ?
A. I reserve the right to express my opinion.
Q. Of course. But you do not reserve the right to enforce your
opinion on students?
A. I certainly do not enforce my opinion.
Q. You do not attempt to do so?
132 UN-AMEEICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA
A. If I did the course I give wouldn't mean anything, so I
don't enforce my opinion.
Q. (By Senator Tenney) : The expression of your opinion
would influence the students, wouldn't it?
A. I think in a classroom any teacher expresses his or her
opinion and any teacher who says he does not, does not tell the
truth. You express your opinion by the views you have in the room ;
you express your opinion by the number of arguments and whatnot
presented on each side. I think every teacher expresses an opinion.
No person can live in a vacuum.
Q. And like journalism an opinion or a subject can be slanted
in any direction, can 't it ?
A. Opinion may be slanted, yes.
*******
By Mr. H. Sidney Laughlin, attorney for Mrs. Bettington and Mrs.
Eisenberg :
Q. On this question of opinion and in your teaching ; are you
careful always to distinguish between opinion and fact ?
A. I am. I always start every statement with, "This is my
opinion. ' ' Opinion is something quite different from fact.
Q. I did not hear very clearly your answers to the questions
about Carey Me Williams. Did you have anything to do with inviting
him to that meeting?
A. "Well, Carey Me Williams' books are in our high school
library.
Q. That is not my question, Mrs. Bettington. Did you ever
have anything to do with that ?
A. Yes. I approved of him coming after I had consulted the
school administration.
THE LOS ANGELES CITY BOARD OF EDUCATION
J. Paul Elliott, attorney-at-law and President of the Los Angeles
Board of Education, appeared as a voluntary witness before the com-
mittee and read into the committee's official transcript a prepared
statement submitted on behalf of the Board of Education with the
approval of the Superintendent of Schools, Vierling Kersey. The state-
ment follows:
"My attention has been called to the testimony developed
yesterday before the Joint Legislative Committee on Un-American
Activities, and particularly in relation to alleged activities at the
Canoga Park High School.
1 1 Any attempt to indoctrinate the students of our public schools
in foreign ideologies, communism, or un-American doctrines is in
strict defiance of the policy of the Los Angeles City Board of Edu-
cation. Our administrators have made it clear to our personnel
that the function of the public schools is to develop an appreciation
of American doctrines and a respect for the superiority of our form
of government and our democratic system of free enterprise over
UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA 133
any other conflicting ideology or any other form of government.
The Los Angeles City Board of Education will not tolerate a devia-
tion from this policy.
1 ' We are not prepared at the moment to pass judgment on the
situation at Canoga Park High School, but as President of the
Board of Education I have requested Mr. Vierling Kersey, Superin-
tendent of Schools, to make an immediate investigation, and if the
facts charged are found to be substantiated, to take immediate steps
to prevent a recurrence of such activities. On calling the superin-
tendent, I found that he had already set machinery in motion for
such purpose. I have also requested Senator Jack B. Tenney, Chair-
man of said Un-American Activities Committee, to furnish us with
a transcript of the evidence produced before his committee relating
to any activities of propaganda or un-American indoctrination in
our schools, and have assured him that we welcome such information
as will enable us to take the necessary steps to protect the public
against any such further activities. I am also making it clear that
we welcome evidence of any such activities in our schools, no matter
where they may occur.
"On September 30, 1946, J. Edgar Hoover, as head of the
FBI, in addressing the American Legion Convention at San Fran-
cisco, warned of the danger of encroachment of communistic propa-
ganda into American life, and in a statement made some months
ago, he called attention to information that had come to him indicat-
ing that there was a definite program to infiltrate communistic doc-
trines into the public schools of America.
1 1 It is high time that we eliminate any possibility of those who
would extol foreign ideologies as superior to our traditional Ameri-
can doctrines, and who would try to teach our children that our
American way of life is inferior to that of some other country. The
Los Angeles City Board of Education and our school authorities are
conscious of their responsibility to see that the youth of this com-
munity are not misled by the deceptive and false thinking and
propaganda of those who advocate foreign ideologies as superior to
those of the traditional principles of democratic freedom in which
all true citizens of this country take pride. ' '
Mr. Elliott later made the following statement :
The situation in general as it has been developed in this school
district has not come to a focal point yet, and the information that
has come to us from your committee in connection with the Canoga
Park situation, in which, as I have stated, we are not passing judg-
ment one way or the other until we have all the information before
us. It has been the policy of the Board of Education in the instances
that have been called to our attention during the past few months,
and they have been few where teachers have been attempting appar-
ently to indoctrinate students in the classroom in ideologies that
are contrary to our concept of American life, to the public schools
and as we all adhere to as loyal American citizens. In those few
instances those teachers have been called before the Board of
Education, the evidence submitted and disciplinary action taken.
We have made it very clear in those instances that we would not
134 UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA
tolerate that type of deviation from the school board policy. How-
ever, it is difficult many times to discover some of these activities
for the reason that though we require a principal of the school to
keep rather close surveillance of the classroom, it stands to reason
that any one knowing that they are violating the policy of the board
will not persist in those practices when there is some superior officer
present in the room. The way we ordinarily get these bits of in-
formation is, as you perhaps know, through reports of parents
whose children in the classroom have experienced that situation.
Therefore, it is tremendously helpful to all school boards of this
State to have evidence such as you are able to secure here made
available to us and to have parents of children in the schools report
to our superintendent when those situations exist, because I am sure
that there are many instances of this type that do not reach the
authorities in the schools, for that very reason, for lack of report
and for lack of bringing information to us as it exists.
FINDINGS OF THE LOS ANGELES BOARD OF EDUCATION
ON THE CANOGA PARK HIGH SCHOOL TEACHERS
The Los Angeles Board of Education undertook an inquiry into
the charges made before the Joint Fact-Finding Committee on Un-Amer-
ican Activities concerning the teaching activities of Mrs. Frances R.
Eisenberg and Mrs. Blanche Bettington. Because of the importance of
this particular case and the ease with which Marxist indoctrinated
instructors may utilize Marxian methods to avoid detection, most of the
Los Angeles Board of Education's report is included herewith. The intro-
duction of the report is as follows :
The current inquiry at Canoga Park High School was authorized
to secure facts concerning statements involving Mrs. Frances Eisen-
berg and Mrs. Blanche Bettington, made by witnesses on October 9,
1946, before the Joint Legislative Fact-Finding Committee on
Un-American Activities, more commonly known as the Tenney
Committee. These witnesses were reported to have given testimony
which if correct suggested possible violation of the Board 's Adminis-
trative Guide, the Education Code, and school law. The implied vio-
lation was of a character such that the board felt could not be
ignored. A committee appointed by the superintendent consisting
of two assistant superintendents and two high school principals, was
instructed to investigate the conduct described in this testimony and
particularly that alleged to have occurred in the classrooms of these
teachers, and to report any facts or evidence of violation of the pro-
visions of the Education Code or the Rules and Regulations of the
Board of Education.
The School Committee held hearings for a period of four days
at Canoga Park High School from October 15th to October 18th,
inclusive, followed by subsequent investigation of the matters testi-
fied to. This committee made every effort, including an open invita-
tion through the local press, to obtain testimony from all interested
parties, particularly those individuals who testified before the
Tenney Committee. Of the witnesses presenting evidence considered
material to the current issues a majority gave testimony favorable
UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA 135
to the teachers, and a substantial number gave testimony unfavor-
able to them. Much of the testimony on both sides consisted of expres-
sions of opinion rather than a recital of specific things said or done,
and it is obvious that such testimony is not of great assistance in
determining the merits of the complaints made. Witnesses, including
students and former students, favoring the teachers, testified that
they were allowed every opportunity to express their opinions in
class; that they were taught to differentiate opinions from facts;
that they were encouraged to dig out facts as a basis for formulating
and defending an opinion; that the students were encouraged to
read all sides of a question before coming to a decision ; and that
they did not believe any attempt had been made on the part of the
teachers to impose their opinions on the students. Some of these
favorable witnesses, in answer to questions of the School Commit-
tee, gave evidence which supports findings numbers two and three
of the board hereinafter made. Witnesses testifying in support of
the complaints stated that the discussions in the classes of these
teachers were " slanted" to the "left" or to the teachers' own
partisan political views; that those who opposed their views were
belittled and ' ' talked down ' ' ; that the teachers expressed their own
personal opinions on controversial matters ; that the teachers recom-
mended newspapers and commentators that the children or their
parents considered to be to the ' ' left ' ' ; and that the teachers com-
pared Russia to this country so that this country suffered by com-
parison.
The testimony indicated that the classrooms of these teachers
were scenes of many spirited discussions that sometimes carried
over into the next class period and frequently carried over into
discussions around the family dinner table. Three of the witnesses
who were or had been members of the faculty expressed the opinion
that these discussions were emotionally disturbing to the students
and were making them unsettled in their opinions and beliefs. A
larger number of the members of the faculty held to the contrary
view.
All who testified commended the excellence of the student body
government program at Canoga Park and the fine attitude and spirit
which the school had engendered in the students. Witnesses on both
sides testified that these teachers by virtue of their school assign-
ments took a prominent part in motivating and inspiring this stu-
dent body activity and school spirit.
The findings of the Los Angeles Board of Education on the activities
of Mrs. Frances Bisenberg and Mrs. Blanche Bettington are as follows :
From a careful study and analysis of all pertinent available
information regarding the complaints made before the Tenney Com-
mittee, the Board of Education finds as follows :
1. The evidence does not support the complaint that these
teachers imposed Communistic doctrines upon students in their
classes, or that they "slanted" or improperly influenced the policy
or articles of the school paper, ' ' The Hunter 's Call. ' ' Both teachers
emphatically denied sympathy with or approval of Communism.
136 UN- AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA
They also denied they lacked sympathy with, and on the contrary
asserted approval of, our capitalistic system of free enterprise.
2. Concerning the complaint that the teachers ' * slanted ' ' class
discussions of political and controversial issues to the "left" or to
their own view, the evidence is conflicting, though a majority of the
students or former students, testified and made statements favorable
to the teachers in this regard. However, the inquiry establishes prac-
tices engaged in by the teachers, which could reasonably be expected
to improperly influence or slant the thinking of some of the pupils
toward the opinions of the teachers ; and to such extent constitute
prejudiced and biased presentation of subject matter. These prac-
tices were established by the statements of witnesses, including those
appearing for the teachers, and in part by statements made by the
teachers, that these teachers : actively and conspicuously have taken
partisan positions in the community on highly controversial, politi-
cal, economic, or social issues; while expressing their personal
opinions and convictions in the classroom on controversial issues;
and while naming certain radio commentators in the classroom as
reliable or unreliable. Although they so expressed their personal
opinions these teachers granted the students the right to differ, to
express their own opinions, and to read source material of every
nature.
3. As to the complaint that copies of the Daily Worker and
alleged Communistic periodicals were displayed in the classrooms
of these teachers, the testimony is conflicting, and the teachers deny
the charge. However, there is sufficient evidence to indicate that
periodicals of almost every kind were permitted in the classrooms,
and were not limited to the literature approved by the Curriculum
Division ; and that the Daily Worker was on a few occasions present
in the classrooms. The testimony presented does not establish that
said paper was used for the purpose of indoctrination or was pre-
sented by the teachers as subject material for study.
4. As to the complaint that Mrs. Eisenberg was a member of
the board of the People 's Educational Center which the Legislative
Committee stated is a Communistic front organization, Mrs. Eisen-
berg admitted that she was a member of the People's Educational
Center, that she was assigned on said board by the president of
her teachers' union, Local No. 430, American Federation of Teach-
ers, and that said union is designated in the official literature of said
People's Educational Center as an affiliated organization. Mrs.
Eisenberg, however, stated that she did not know whether or not
the People's Educational Center was a Communistic front, that
she was not aware of the Communistic affiliations of any member
of said board, and that she was not active and attended only a
few meetings.
The foregoing findings and statements produced at the hearing
or volunteered by the teachers are not recited to imply that the
teacher's rights as a citizen are limited in the community so long
as they do not conflict with his obligations as a teacher. The recital
is made to indicate that the actions of these teachers in taking
prominent positions on controversial issues in the community and by
UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA 137
expressing opinions on controversial issues in the classroom, gave
reasonable rise to the question as to their qualifications to handle
controversial issues in the classroom.
The Senior Problems courses taught by those of these teachers
in the senior year are courses required in this school as a pre-
requisite to graduation. The evidence is to the effect that practically
all kinds of political and controversial issues were permitted and
encouraged to be spiritedly discussed in class ; that during political
campaigns students were encouraged to debate and discuss political
candidates and political issues, and that bills pending before Con-
gress or the Legislature were freely discussed in class, with the
teachers joining in expressing their personal opinions thereon.
FINDINGS OF THE COMMITTEE
The Committee must take sharp issue with the findings of the Los
Angeles Board of Education. The handling of the Canoga Park affair
indicates a serious lack of intelligence and realism in its attempt to cope
with the skilled propagandists for Communist totalitarianism.
It should be obvious that the task of investigation was one for pro-
fessional investigators trained in piercing smoke-screens. The employ-
ment of members of the teaching profession in such an investigation is
a waste of energy. The palpable " white-wash " of the affair might easily
have been anticipated.
This Committee is of the opinion that the Los Angeles Board of
Education failed miserably in its responsibility to the youth of Los
Angeles.
Acting within the letter of the law of the State of California on the
subject and holding ever in mind the great difficulty in ferreting out the
overt act that falls within a given statute, plus the very nature of sub-
versive indoctrination, it is understandable that the board, in its delibera-
tions, was thoroughly at the mercy of both Mrs. Eisenberg and Mrs.
Bettington, their vociferous supporters and friends.
The committee has thorough confidence in the courage and patriot-
ism of both Mr. J. Paul Elliott and Mr. Vierling Kersey. There are
probably few people in the State of California who thoroughly under-
stand the difficulty with which the board was confronted in its investi-
gation of Communist indoctrination of students at Canoga Park High
School. Only those who have made a long and intensive study of Com-
munism, its tactics and techniques, as the members of this committee
have been compelled to do, can thoroughly understand and appreciate
the subterfuges and evasions of those who have been trained in the
Communist fine art of deception.
The report of the Los Angeles Board of Education on the Canoga
Park inquiry actually corroborates the testimony given under oath before
the committee. It is quite obvious that the members of the Los Angeles
Board of Education became confused in the purpose of the inquiry and
were led far afield by the clever injection of "expression of opinions "
and the diverting question as to whether or not students had been per-
mitted to arrive at "independent decisions. "
It will be seen from the testimony of Charles H. Nettles, principal
of the school, that he was in no mental condition to accept the sworn
138 UN-AMEEICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA
testimony of students and parents under any circumstances. His atti-
tude before the committee was uncooperative and belligerent. He was
prepared to believe that everyone testifying against Mrs. Eisenberg
and Mrs. Bettington was disloyal to the Canoga Park High School. To
him the whole affair was one of loyalty to the school and not to the
United States. The entire hearing was a challenge to Mr. Nettles and it
was thoroughly apparent to the members of the committee that he
was either consciously or unconsciously willing to go to any lengths to
prove that the students appearing before the committee had perjured
themselves.
The case of Mrs. Eisenberg is crystal clear. She is a member of
Local 430 of the American Federation of Teachers, a thoroughly Com-
munist dominated trade union. She is a member of the Board of Directors
of the People's Educational Center, a Communist front educational
institution. Sitting with her on this alleged board of directors is an
outstanding Communist functionary, Dorothy Healy, Secretary of the
Communist Party of Los Angeles County. She is acquainted with and
associates with known Communists, such as John Howard Lawson. The
Communist books of Carey Me Williams are in the library of the Canoga
Park High School. Copies of the Daily Worker, the official organ of the
Communist Party of the United States, have been seen tacked on the
walls of her classroom in the school. She has followed the Communist
Party line in ranting at such publications as the Reader's Digest. She
has approved the imperialist aggression of Soviet Kussia in its unpro-
voked attack on helpless nations, such as Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.
This committee finds that Mrs. Eisenberg and Mrs. Bettington
slanted their teachings and discussions at the Canoga Park High School
for the purpose of indoctrinating its students with Communistic philos-
ophy, disrespect for the capitalist system of the government of the
United States and for the further purpose of building respect and rever-
ence for the cruel dictatorship of the Soviet Union.
The Hollywood Citizen News in its issue for Thursday, January 2,
1947, summarized the action of the Los Angeles Board of Education in
the following editorial :
Advocates of the Left
The Los Angeles Board of Education reports that it will take
no disciplinary action against two Canoga Park High School teachers
who, because of testimony given to the Tenney Committee on
Un-American Activities here, were investigated by the board.
Although some of the testimony sought to link the teachers with
communistic activities or beliefs, the board reports that its evidence
"does not support the complaint that these teachers imposed com-
munistic doctrines upon students in their classes * * *."
The board finds that the teachers argued in support of the leftist
viewpoint, recommended leftist radio commentators and news-
papers but also urged the students "to do their own thinking and
look for outside source material. ' '
The teachers, by making this additional gesture of impartiality
cleared themselves of the charge that they "imposed communistic
doctrines upon students." But the board's report points out that
UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA 139
this gesture "does not necessarily offset the persuasiveness and
influence of the teachers."
The proof of the ' ' persuasiveness and influence of the teachers, ' '
is that scores of pupils and former pupils testified in support of
the two teachers, Mrs. Frances Eisenberg and Mrs. Blanche Bet-
tington. Whether or not the teachers sought to "impose" their
opinions upon their pupils, the opinions of the pupils and former
pupils who testified in their defense seem to be similar to those of
the teachers.
Although admitting that she was a member of the Board of
Directors of the Hollywood People's Educational Center, Mrs. Eisen-
berg said she did not know whether the center was a communistic
front or whether any of her fellow board members had communistic
amliations.
Since most other people have satisfied themselves on these
points, it is amazing that Mrs. Eisenberg, a high school teacher with
close association with the Educational Center, was unable to come
to any conclusions.
However, that is not the gist of the controversy. The point is
whether or not the two teachers have directed study and discussion
of controversial issues in the classroom in a neutral, fair and
unbiased manner.
While the board finds no basis for penalizing the teachers, it
does take the opportunity to call the attention of all teachers to the
law governing their profession. ' ' The law, ' ' said the report, which
includes a summary of court rulings of interest to Los Angeles
teachers, "makes it clear that the public school is not a partisan
political forum, nor the classroom the place for advocating or
advancing a partisan viewpoint on controversial issues; and it is
also clear that the teacher may not bias or slant the instruction of
the class by expressions of personal opinions and convictions on
controversial matters, contrary to his obligation of teaching as set
forth by his oath, the laws and prescribed courses of instruction."
The report will serve a useful purpose in the school if it is
heeded. But parents are apt to wonder if it is forceful enough to
prevent a recurrence of the turmoil which upset one community.
The committee is in possession of considerable material concerning
the Communist complexion of Local 430 of the Los Angeles Federation of
Teachers, an American Federation of Labor affiliate. The activities of
this organization leave little doubt as to its Communist Party control. The
committee is aware that certain members of this local union of teachers
have attended Communist Party conventions and that one member of the
organization was elected to the County Committee of the Communist
Party.
COMMUNIST "COUNTER-ATTACK"
California's Communists, particularly since the 1946 elections, have
become somewhat hysterical in their frantic attempts to destroy those
who investigate them and their activities. The Joint Fact-Finding Com-
mittee on Un-American Activities in California has probably done more
140 UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA
harm to the cause of Communism than all other agencies put together.
The Communists, themselves, freely admit this.
The latest Communist front for the purpose of smearing investi-
gating bodies was launched early in December of 1946, under the auspices
of the Communist transmission-belt Hollywood Writers' Mobilization.
In defense of the alleged Communist right to work for the destruction
of American institutions and the government itself, the Hollywood
Writers' Mobilization announced a series of forums to be held at the
El Patio Theater in Hollywood beginning December 2, 1946, at 8.15 p.m.
The over-all title for the forums is " Counter- Attack Against the Plot
to Control America's Thinking" and the series are subtly designed to
convey the idea that William Randolph Hearst and Senator Jack B.
Tenney have gotten together for the purpose of suppressing the Bill of
Rights.
The Hollywood Writers' Mobilization pamphlet announcing the
series of forums under the slogan "The time has come for a counter-
attack/' makes the following announcement:
At the beginning of 1946 the Hollywood Writers' Mobilization
published a program for action which called attention to the
Hearst-Tenney-Rankin threat to free expression and free thought.
The statement went on to say :
" It is a challenge to every American when the Rankin-
Wood Committee proposes a radio censorship law gagging news
analysts, or questions the right of the theater to present a play
dealing honestly with race relations.
"It is a threat to our heritage of Democracy when the free-
dom of the press is distorted into the freedom to suppress vital
news, or when responsible educators are irresponsibly attacked."
Since that time the attacks have grown in intensity. The glint
of censorship in Hearst's eyes has kindled a threat of nation-wide
book-burnings. The Tenney fear-smear campaign has struck at the
roots of our school system. The Wood-Rankin Committee is poised
for an all-out attack against the radio and motion picture industries
in Hollywood.
Our right to speak and think as free Americans is at stake.
The Hollywood Writers Mobilization has organized this series
of forums to expose the plot against our democratic heritage.
The announced subjects for the proposed forums are :
"The Conspirators"
The plot against free expression in America.
"You Can't Teach That"
The threat against school teachers is a threat against your
children.
"The Attack on Hollywood"
What 's behind the Rankin-Wood-Tenney smear campaign ?
UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA 141
"Who Owns the Air f"
The story behind the "Blue Book" report of the Federal
Communications Commission.
"The Book-burners"
The Hearst-inspired campaign to control the freedom of
literary expression.
" You Can 't Hear That"
Thought-control via the air-waves.
"America's Iron Curtain"
The restrictions upon the freedom of international com-
munication.
"You Can't Print That"
The suppression of the news.
"The Writer Under Attack"
The drive to control the written word.
Anyone only slightly familiar with Communist pamphleteering
methods and terminology recognizes the true character of this announce-
ment by the Hollyivood Writers' Mobilization. The list of announced
speakers for the forums, however, leave no doubt whatsoever in the mind
of anyone familiar with Communist Party leaders in California. The
speakers are as follows :
Millen Brand W. E. Oliver
Peter De Lima Harold Orr
Frances R. Eisenberg William N. Robson
Franklin Fearing John B. Hughes
Lion Feuchtwanger Howard Koch
Harry Hoijer Emmet Lavery
John Howard Lawson Dore Schary
Kenneth Macgowan Paul Stewart
Arch Oboler Dalton Trumbo
It should be noted that Mrs. Frances R. Eisenberg is listed con-
spicuously with some of Hollywood 's veteran Communists.
CALIFORNIA COMMUNISTS ON THE DEFENSIVE
Indicative of the hysteria presently being manifested by leading
Communists in California is an item from the Hollywood Citizen News
for January 13, 1947. The newspaper report is as follows :
Hollywood Writers Mobilization, which has been labeled by a
state legislative committee as "a clearing house for communist
propaganda, ' ' today was on record for the creation of its own investi-
gating committee to "investigate the investigators" when the Con-
gressional Committee on Un-American Activities comes here to con-
tinue its probe of communistic influence in the film industry.
This plan was approved last night at a meeting of the organiza-
tion at El Patio Theater announced for the discussion of the sub-
142 UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA
ject, "The Attack on Hollywood. " The plan was proposed by John
Howard Lawson, film writer, who has been investigated by and men-
tioned in reports of the state legislative committee as one of the
leaders in communistic activities in Hollywood.
Lawson asked that all witnesses called before the congressional
committee also be summoned before a Writers Mobilization Com-
mittee for further questioning in order to bring out rebuttal testi-
mony.
Advice From Kenny
The plan was approved after a talk by former Attorney Gen-
eral Robert W. Kenny who questioned the legal right of investigating
committees to force witnesses to testify without the aid of counsel.
"You should," said Kenny, "insist upon the right to investi-
gate the investigators. ' '
Kenny said the committees on un-American activities are
empowered only to gather information and suggest new legislation.
He said that witnesses should be permitted to have counsel for cross-
examination of testimony and that the committees should be per-
mitted to hear only legal evidence.
He proposed that a test be made of the right of newspapers to
print testimony received by these committees. "Newspapers," he
said, "have discovered that this is one way they can smear with
impunity. ' '
Lawson is listed as an instructor at the Hollywood People's
Educational Center which is referred to by the Joint Fact-Finding
Committee of the State Legislature as a " Communist Party propa-
ganda school." He declared that the "aim of the people behind the
attack on Hollywood is to gain control of the free media of expression
like the radio and motion pictures and thus control American
thinking. ' '
Lauds Foreign Films
During the question period, Lawson contrasted American and
foreign motion pictures to indicate that the foreign films were
superior. He denounced a contract regulating the number of Ameri-
can pictures that were to be exhibited in France. ' ' The American
film industry," he said, "must not be permitted to reach out and
dominate the film industries of other countries. ' '
Irving Pichel, film writer and director, who is also listed as a
lecturer at the People's Educational Center, argued that more
American pictures should "inform and instruct." He said that such
problems as "racism, restrictive covenants and attacks on labor"
would make suitable themes for motion picture stories.
Pichel opined that the ' ' attack on Hollywood ' ' by the Rankin-
Wood-Tenney committees was to "keep the films from doing any-
thing effective." He suggested the production of independent films
to be shown through independent outlets but conceded that the cost
of production and other factors were great obstacles.
UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA 143
Objector in House
Another way to influence the industry, Pichel suggested, was
to "stay away from the theaters in millions and let the producers
know why. ' '
When Pichel opened the meeting to questions, an unidentified
woman protested. "All of you speakers," she shouted, "have
attacked the Fascists and Nazis and Bundists but have said not one
word against the Communists. ' ' Her protest was lost in a chorus of
jeers and boos.
8
COMMUNISM ON THE WATERFRONT
During the Oakland hearing in 1946 two colorful figures presented
themselves and requested permission to testify before the committee.
One was Martin Kaplan and the other was Al Harris, maritime stewards.
Both men were formerly affiliated with the National Maritime Union and
the Marine Cooks and Stewards Union of the CIO. They had read about
the committee's hearings in San Francisco newspapers and had decided
to ask permission to testify.
David Jenkins, Director of the California Labor School, was a mem-
ber of the National Maritime Union and is presently affiliated with the
Marine Cooks and Stewards Union of the CIO. Martin Kaplan knew
him in New York as well as in San Francisco. Jenkins had finally
admitted under examination by the committee, after he had been shown
a photostatic copy of his Communist Party registration in New York,
that he had, in fact, been a member of the party.
Kaplan testified that the Marine Cooks and Stewards Union was
thoroughly infested with Communists and completely dominated and
controlled by the party. Like most Communist dominated organizations,
the meetings of the Marine Cooks and Stewards were devoted to Com-
munist Party resolutions, and very little attention was ever paid to the
business of the union itself, which, under ordinary circumstances, is con-
cerned with adequate wages, hours and working conditions. Kaplan
pointed out that the Communist Steering Committee within the organiza-
tion continually directed the members' attention to political matters,
such as getting American troops out of China, glorifying Soviet Eussia
and Dictator Stalin, criticizing the ' ' imperialist ' ' policy of Great Britain
and the United States, and generally following the current Communist
Party line. Kaplan declared that whenever a member of the union pro-
tested against the injection of Communist Party propaganda into the
meetings he was immediately branded as a " stool pigeon," "labor-
baiter" and a ' ' Trotskyite. " '
COMMUNISM AT SEA
Kaplan told the committee that David Jenkins was the leader of the
political discussions in the Marine Cooks and Stewards Union and that
he always spearheaded the attacks against any member who criticized the
pro-Communist activities continually carried on by the comrades. Both
Kaplan and Harris had been expelled from the union because of their
anti-Communist attitude and particularly because of their participa-
tion in the publication of a circular criticizing the Communist control of
the organization. Both men have since carried on a vigorous campaign in
an attempt to expose the Communist control of the Marine Cooks and
Stewards Union and, at great cost and personal sacrifice to themselves,
have attempted to rescue the labor organization from the vicious control
of the Stalinites who run it.
(145)
10 L-2T
146 UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA
The expulsion of Kaplan and Harris from the Marine ^ooks and
Stewards Union has not only deprived these men of membership in the
organization but has, in addition, deprived them of their right and
opportunity to make a living. Both of them have been subjected to
inhuman persecution by the Stalinites on the waterfront.
Their Americanism and indignation exploded in the superior court-
room in Oakland as they gave their testimony to the committee. Kaplan
testified in part, as follows :
Q. (By Vice Chairman Dickey) : Will you be seated.
A. Mr. Chairman, to begin with, it has been mentioned in the
record * * *
Q. (By Mr. Combs) : Wait just a minute.
Vice Chairman Dickey: Wait just a minute, Mr. Kaplan.
Would you be seated, please ? What is your occupation, Mr. Kaplan ?
The witness: Chief Steward, seaman; American seaman.
Q. Mr. Kaplan, did you formerly reside in New York ?
A. I did.
Q. You saw Mr. Jenkins on the stand here yesterday?
A. I did.
Q. Did you know Mr. Jenkins in New York?
A. I did.
Q. At the time that you knew Mr. Jenkins in New York, were
you a member of the NMU ? (National Maritime Union.)
A. I was.
Q. And was Mr. Jenkins a member of the NMU ?
A. He was.
Q. Did you at any time have any conversation or was any state-
ment ever made by Mr. Jenkins to you with reference to Com-
munism ?
A. He did. He says, * ' What do you want to hang around with
these phonies for? Why don't you join the Communist Party and
make something of yourself ? ' '
Q. Did you join the Communist Party ?
A. I did not.
Q. Subsequent to that time you moved to the Pacific Coast, and
did you meet Mr. Jenkins on the Pacific Coast ?
A. I did.
Q. And calling your attention to on or about September 27,
1945, did you have occasion to be present at the Marine Cooks and
Stewards Union meeting?
A. It was a very famous meeting. It was my date of expulsion.
Q. At that time was Mr. Jenkins present at that meeting?
A. He was.
Q. And was any statement made by Mr. Jenkins in reference
to the Communist Party ?
A. Not only that meeting but other meetings. '
UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA 147
Q. Did he state he was a member of the Communist Party?
A. He didn 't exactly state he was a member of the Communist
Party, but he spoke and, in other words, he was the hatchet-man for
the Communist Party at that meeting and others.
Q. And he solicited, at the meeting, members?
A. Yes, he told the members that was a good place for them,
(the Communist Party) ; that's where every worker should belong.
Chairman Tenney: What is a hatchet-man?
The witness : I beg your pardon, sir ?
Chairman Tenney : What is a hatchet-man ?
The witness: A man who goes out and does the dirty work;
chops people 's heads off ; character assassin.
Vice Chairman Dickey: You don't mean * * *
A. He deprived me of my means of livelihood; ridiculed me
among my friends. If that wasn 't a hatchet-man, I don 't know what
he is. But I '11 fight while I 've got breath in me.
Q. Did Mr. Jenkins at other meetings identify himself with
the Communist Party?
A. Yes, definitely.
Q. And did he at those other meetings and among the mem-
bership of the Marine Cooks and Stewards Union solicit other mem-
bers of the union ?
A. Always supported the Communist Party. Always tells them
it 's a good place for them.
Q. Did the Marine Cooks and Stewards Union pay for and
publish a pamphlet which was taken to the South Pacific and cir-
culated among the members of the armed forces?
A. * * * they have a research department that's under the
guise of working for the union ; about 18 girls and up there various
other places they have mimeographed sheets and all sorts of propa-
ganda that they give to the comrades to take aboard a ship and take
it to the far-flung places of the Army, Navy, and what-not ; and I do
know of times that they distributed literature and even at the time
I was on a ship they've done that. Diversified activities all the way
down the line. I do know of those activities definitely.
Q. In fact the Army picked up a number of those publications
and stopped them from being circulated, did they not ?
A. Not only did they do that; they take these people, hold
them for investigation and don 't allow them on the Army ships and
a number of their comrades couldn't work on the ships for that
reason.
*******
Q. (By Mr. Combs) : Now, Mr. Kaplan, was the dissemination
of those circulars a part of the Communist program aboard ship ?
A. Yes, sir.
Q. How do you know that to be a fact?
A. Well, I 've read a lot of it and I know it 's a Commie line, and
it's against the principles of our Government especially when
we're at a time of war ; we have a big job on our hands; it's sort of
148 UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA
out of place. And if you would like to, I have also even a record of
a letter from a convoy commander written to the company, which
will substantiate the diversified activities that takes place on a ship.
You can't get them to do no work. They're not even qualified. All
they're interested in is propaganda.
*******
Q. Communist activities?
A. That's right. What they would do, when the troops would
come on a ship trying to get eats; they'll charge him a dollar or
two dollars, and they'll give him pamphlets. But they'll charge the
boys. Couldn't get them to load the ammunition at Guadalcanal.
But to charge them money is against my way of thinking. That's
what we have to contend with.
Q. Did you personally make any effort to stop the passing
around of this Communist literature?
A. I asked them not to, yes.
Q. With what result?
A. They laughed at me, and the fact they did bring me up
on charges in the union.
Q. What kind of charges ; anti-unionism ?
A. Anti-everything. Not only that but at Gavutu it's in the
Solomons, not far from Tulagi and Guadalcanal one night I think
it was around Washington's birthday, 1943 the Japs came over
and bombarded the place and hit us unawares, and everybody got
nervous, and they even asked for volunteers to go ashore and help
put out the fire that hit the ammunition dump, and they pleaded
for volunteers. Do you think they would even join? No, they
wouldn 't even get off. I was one of the volunteers. It 's in the records.
But our great Communists, they wouldn't even get off the ship,
and we had boys dying. We put the fire out, lifted their bodies,
some without heads it's all in the record. Wonderful seamen.
Q. Mr. Kaplan, how long have you been engaged in combatting
(Communist) activities in your union?
A. In my union ?
Q. Yes.
A. Well, I wouldn't say (I am) a definite professional anti-
Communist fighter, but I will say this, that as an American citizen,
(with) love of my Country and the principles it stands for, and
the standard of living it gives me, (that) that's what I fight for.
Being all over the world, I see what is going on all over the world.
I love my standard of living ; I love where I 'm coming from, and I
don 't want nobody putting anything over on me. A lot of this dirt
and rottenness coming up has nothing to do with unionism when
we have to fight such conditions, hours, wages and what-not. All
we hear (from the Communists in the union) is, "Take Byrnes off,"
"Roosevelt is a war-monger," all the way down the line, (when)
the union should be emancipating the workers' conditions, and
that's what I want (it) to do for me. Outside, (of union meetings)
if I want to argue and holler, that's anybody's privilege, but in the
UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA 149
union I come there to listen ; to find out about business pertaining
to my union conditions; my hours, whether they put an extra
shower-bath in for the boys ; extra steam tables where they can put
more men to do the work ; where they can have a recreation room
everything pertaining to the working conditions of the people in
my department. That's what I want. I have to make my way. I've
been in a trade union's honest fight fighting on picket lines; and
all for better conditions * * *.
Q. That's your explanation for (your) stand against Com-
munism in the trade union movement?
A. That's right.
COMMUNISTS CAPTURE A SEAMEN'S UNION
Kaplan's description of the method used by the Communist Party
in capturing his union while most of the anti-Communist seamen were at
sea, is best told in his own words :
A. * * * Well, going to sea, we haven't got the time to stay
ashore. The Communists are organized very much organized and
they have, their various tactics of working. They have their strategy
committees in the unions ; they have people they teach to be heck-
lers character assassins and what-not and each one (is) appointed
to various maneuvers and they stay ashore and go into various other
industries, and they pack meetings and what-not, and (in this way)
they take over organizations. Now, the seaman as a whole you all
know the wonderful job he's done in this war; he had no time to
quibble about no unions ; he had to go out and deliver the goods.
Prior to the war we used to have what you called " scheduled itiner-
aries." We all know where a certain company's ships go; 47 days,
8 days, 1 day, and what-not; it comes back. Since the war a ship
would go away for 2 years, 12 months, 8 months shuttling to vari-
ous parts where they (were) needed most. Come back in 6 months
and the seaman didn't know what's going on. So they (the Com-
munists) saw a chance of taking over the unions and, what they
did, was put their comrades on coastwise ships that was only away
for 10 days probably running to Alaska or down here far away
from the battle-fronts delivering the goods, and they (the Com-
munists) had them in the other unions, and what they did was
pack them into the meetings. Now, what happened ? The boys come
back from a trip ; they come up to the union to hear what's going
on, and listen to it, and are ready to ship out again. Well, there was
a man got up at one of the meetings I attended and exposed a
Communist conspiracy to take over the union lock, stock and barrel
by a proposed new constitution, and it was laying in the safe, he
said, at Gladstein's office.
Q. Richard Gladstein?
A. Gladstein, Andersen, Resner, Sawyer and Edises and that
they proposed to put that over. He didn't like the tactics that were
going on; he was against it and he was quitting the Communist
Party. Now, this man (who got up at one of the meetings) said he
was sponsored by Hugh Bryson, president of the union today ; and
150 UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA
by McCormick, the port agent. And lie told us all about the
workings, the scheme, and how it was supposed to be brought out,
and how he was at the caucus and he was at (Communist Party)
meetings.
(Kaplan was here referring to William P. M. Brandhove. See his
testimony in this report.)
Chairman Tenney : Was he a Communist himself ?
The Witness: Yes. I had to take his word for it. He exposed
them right on the floor. What happened : They immediately brought
him up on charges, and immediately branded him a "labor scab"
and he was expelled and whatnot ; * * * and the fellow was thrown
out of the organization ; * * * and the vote was not to expel him.
They turned it around. They wouldn't even give him an appeal;
recount and the fellow was out. They got together -
Mr. Combs : Who got together ?
A. Members in the Marine Cooks and Steward's Union got
together. It was high time for some seamen to stay ashore and fight
this red menace. And they came to the conclusion that they'd have
to put out a paper on the various propaganda along the lines of
the campaign to expose the tactics of the Communists ; and not to
put over this so-called proposed constitution. Well, that's the birth
of the paper that Jenkins says was antiunion ; and the caption says,
' ' Voice of the Rank and File ; ' ' and it says, ' ' For Sincere American
Trade Unionism and West Coast unity."
Mr. Combs : Let me identify that for the record so we '11 have
some reference to it. This was published by your group ?
A. That's right.
Q. And when did the publication commence August 27, 1945 ?
A. That's right.
Q. The date the paper bears?
A. That's right.
Q. Who edited it?
A. This fellow that was expelled from the Communist Party
and was thrown out of the union too.
Q. What's his name?
A. William Brandhove. It's there some place.
*******
The Witness: There might be a lot of people figure it's a rag.
We're not no publishers. We got to go to people and ask people to
make contributions to the paper to write some articles and to give
our side of the story and that 's what we did. And there 's various
articles in here pertaining to the methods that the Communists use ;
being a member of the Communist Party, Mr. Brandhove knew the
ranks and the policies the various commissars in the party, and he
states it here.
*******
And on that it says, * ' Vote No ! Constitution was conceived by
Communists is now Proposed by Communists * * *. They refer
UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA 151
to it as ' Great Instrument of Democracy. ' I refer to it as a document
that will impose 'Red Fascism ' on the Rank and File membership
* * Vote No!
"Calling convention in wartime was a plot by Richard Glad-
stein our or should I say, our Communist official's lawyer * * *
Hugh Bryson, County Committee, Communist Party * * * Nathan
Jacobsen, County Committee, Communist Party, New York * * *
Louis Pinson, Chairman and Organizer, Waterfront Section, Com-
munist Party * * * Dennis Hooper, Waterfront Section Organizer,
Communist Party * * * Joe Harris, Chairman and Organizer,
Waterfront Section, Communist Party, Seattle, Washington *
Irv Dvorin, Agent, Communist Party, Baltimore, Maryland *
Frank McCormick, San Francisco County Committee, Communist
Party and Waterfront Organizer * * * Eugene Burke, just a tool
of the Communist Party brain trust * * * he turned out to be a
good rubber-stamp for the boys of the Kremlin ! ' '
Now these boys have enough evidence to substantiate their
claims and then he goes on in the paper and shows ' ' Meet the com-
rades" * * * "Here, brothers, is a list of the hammer-n-sickle
clowns that made a farce out of your convention.
' ' Remember these names well ! They serve not you, nor the cause
of jobs and high pay. They serve only those who call for revolution
no true American wants. Those with appointee after their names
were appointed by Communist-controlled shore meetings * * not
membership referendum * * *
* ' Guess why.
"Louis Pinson, Educational Director, Delegate (not elected)
convention seated appointee. He wasn't even elected by the members ;
he sat himself down ; he was in and so were a lot of others.
"Nathan Jacobsen, New York Port Agent, Delegate.
"Hugh Bryson, Assistant Secretary, Delegate.
"Frank McCormick, San Francisco Port Agent, Delegate,
Appointee.
"Joseph O'Connor, San Pedro, Port Agent, Delegate.
"Dennis Hooper, San Pedro Patrolman, Delegate Appointee.
"Joe Harris, Seattle, Port Agent, Delegate.
"Scotty Sneddon, Portland, Port Agent, Delegate.
"Irv Dvorin, Baltimore Port Agent, Delegate, Appointee.
"Syd Kaufman, New York Patrolman, Delegate."
Incidentally, that's the Syd Kaufman who was supposed to be
the hero of the Lincoln Battalion at the time of the Spanish conflict.
"Don Griner, New York Patrolman, Delegate, Appointee.
"Eddie Lane, Acting Patrolman, Delegate, Appointee.
"Ralph Vosbrink, Honolulu Patrolman, Delegate, Appointee.
"Henry Fisher, San Francisco Patrolman, San Francisco Dele-
gate, Appointee.
"Duke Sexton, San Francisco Delegate."
His wife is Elaine Sexton, who is a member of the Communist
Party and who was appointee of the auxiliary, paid out of the union
funds. She 's on the pay roll and she spends all kinds of money form-
ing the women's auxiliary. What's that got to do with Communism?
152 UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA
"Harry Nehrbecki, Dispatcher, Appointee.
"Eddie Tangen, San Francisco, Delegate.
"Chester Baker, S. S. Lurline, Delegate.
"Aldon Clark, S. S. Kansas, Delegate.
"Sol Kaufman, S. S. Columbia, Delegate.
"James Kierman, S. S. Sea Partridge, Delegate/'
He was one of the fellows taken off of the "Canal" for sub-
versive activities and smuggled in at the last minute, and his right
name is Owen Stevens.
"Joseph Johnson, S. S. Monterey, Delegate.
"C. E. Johanson, S. S. Henry W. Longfellow, Delegate,
Appointee.
"Peter Mendelsohn, S. S. Abiel Foster, Delegate. "
He was also taken off various ships for subversive activities.
"Harold Holland (Pink).
"Morris Pinsky, S. S. J. N. Gushing, Delegate.
"Carl Spencer, S. S. John Owens, Delegate."
Incidentally, this fellow was a leader in the furniture workers,
and they got wise to him as a Communist and pitched him out and
he come in the Marine Cooks and Stewards.
"Wallace Ho, S. S. Matsonia, Delegate.
"George Gutkunst, S. S. Lurline, Delegate.
"Jack Akins, S. S. Monterey, Delegate.
"Earl Campbell, S. S. Matsonia, Delegate.
"Barney Franks, S. S. Yukon, Delegate.
' ' Al Jewett, New York Patrolman, Appointee.
"BennyMagedoff, San Francisco Patrolman, (Pink) Appointee.
"Jerry Tyler, S. S. Columbia.
" Arvid Johnson, S. S. Baranoff, Delegate.
"Stanley Tesch, S. S. Matsonia, Delegate.
"Clarence Ison, S. S. Norman Coleman, Delegate.
"Gladys Tangen, Women's Auxiliary, Delegate."
Nobody ever elected her. She's on the thing too.
"Margaret Tyler, Women's Auxiliary, Delegate.
"Elaine Sexton, Women's Auxiliary, Delegate.
"Geraldine Wily, Women's Auxiliary, Delegate.
"Note: Did you send these people to the convention to repre-
sent you? Be advised they did not! They represented the Com-
munist Party!"
Q. Excuse me, Mr. Kaplan, let's get this thing straightened
out for the record. How often is this publication issued?
A. Well, it was off and they chopped our heads off, and they
started fighting us, and we never issued another copy.
Q. One and only one.
Chairman Tenney: They call that union disruptionism. is
that it?
The Witness: That's right, antiunion. Now, there was over
1,200 ships sailed the sea. There was approximately 90 delegates.
Fifty of them there were appointees, which were the officials, and
the rest of them were from the ships. And who were they? Now,
UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA 153
in time of war they went on record time and again with a ' ' Do we
need a convention? We're getting along all right. We got a con-
stitution. We don't need no convention." But they foresaw a chance
to take everything over. Well, everybody was busy in a way, and
they proposed to put the thing over. They steam-rolled the thing
illegally ; put it over, and anybody who had anything to say against
it was expelled.
Now, I, as a member of the trade union, feel that I am a true
American trade unionist. I've got the right to get up and make
my complaints and, mind you, I'm sorry I didn't contribute an
article to that. I didn't write no article; I didn't write the paper,
but I admitted on the floor that I contributed the first $20 bill toward
the publication of the paper, and they brought me on charges that
I help finance this phonj^, disreputable paper, and that's what they
should do with me, expel me. Well, in the case of my expulsion,
they didn 't give me no fair trial. It finally came before the member-
ship. All the comrades were there, including Commissar Jenkins.
So he gets up and makes a big hullaballoo in his speech there on the
floor, and I had to fight to get to the floor to try to defend myself.
I succeeded in getting the floor and I told them on the floor it was
a Communist conspiracy. ' ' If you have evidence against me of being
a bad trade unionist ; if I violated anything in a strike or a condi-
tion, you're justified in throwing me out. Because I contributed to
a paper campaigning against the proposed constitution, it 's my right
as a citizen. "
COMMUNISM AT UNION MEETINGS
Kaplan offered a number of pamphlets and booklets issued by the
Communist Party of San Francisco County distributed at union meet-
ings at the headquarters of the Marine Cooks and Stewards Union in
San Francisco which were entered in the committee's transcript as
exhibits. This material included propaganda urging the election of a
man by the name of Nugent to the San Francisco County Board of Super-
visors sponsored by the Communist Party. One pamphlet announced
Benjamin J. Davis, Jr., New York City Councilman and a member of
the National Committee of the Communist Party as a speaker on the
subject " Hands Off China" at the Lenin Memorial Meeting in the CIO
Auditorium at 150 Golden Gate Avenue in San Francisco for Friday,
January 25, 1946. Kaplan's testimony continues:
Q. (By Mr. Combs) : Now, just a minute, let's take these up
one at a time. Let 's take this up first. This was disseminated in the
same place in the same manner you 've already testified to ?
A. That's right.
Q. All right. Now, this bears the statement on the back, ' ' Issued
by the Communist Party of San Francisco, 942 Market Street,
EXbrook 2996." * * * And it states on the back of the pamphlet
that he was director of the San Francisco Communist Party * * *
Let 's take the next one * * * It was circulated in the same manner
in the same place ?
A. Correct.
154 UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA
Q. And asks for the election of Benjamin J. Davis, Jr., to the
office of City Councilman, New York City, and states that Mr. Davis
is a member of the National Committee of the Communist Party?
A. Correct.
Q. Now this advertises a meeting in CIO Auditorium, 150
Golden Gate Avenue, San Francisco, under the auspices of the
Communist Party of San Francisco, Friday, January 25, at 8 p.m.
* * * * *
The Witness : Now, there 's hundreds more booklets and pam-
phlets. They make sure to get them in. Eight at the meetings they
bring them around the hall ; they distribute that stuff ; the People 's
World and all those publications. Now, I haven't the right to con-
tribute to a paper as an American; to say that I can't contribute
to a campaign. They told me that, and expelled me for it. Now, at
that meeting there, Jenkins got up and villified me ; called me every-
thing under the sun; I'm a red-baiter; I'm a Fascist, and I'm a
collaborator with Hitler and what he didn't call me there! And
when I mentioned about the conspiracy of the Communists there
trying to take away my liberties he came out with the statement
that they don't want fellows like me in that union and it's a
good thing. Then he mentioned also for the fellows that don 't know
me ; I mean being the director of the California Labor School. He
puts the emphasis on that, and he goes on to tell them of the won-
derful schools, and they all should belong to the Communist Party,
and they shouldn't be ashamed of it.
Q. You've heard Mr. Jenkins say that himself?
A. Yes.
Q. He told them they should belong to the Communist Party ?
A. Specifically at that meeting and other meetings. 86 Com-
mercial Street. And at that meeting I showed the members (my)
picket-cards and everything like that and said, "What have I
done?" And (I) explained it and asked them why should they expel
me for that stuff * * * and Jim Kern even got up and said he's
proud to be a Communist. Other fellows got up. They're all proud
to be Communists and these people have to be annihilated ; they 're
nothing but Fascists, and the answer was I got thrown out * * *
They purged everybody and everybody is afraid to get up and
oppose them so it's all under Communist control. So here they
come out with another letter, September 20th, at the time I was
expelled.
Q. Now, where did you get this letter ?
A. Right in the union office.
Q. All right, you got yours ?
A. Yes. They sent it to the ships and everywhere.
Q. This is entitled "Marine Cooks and Stewards Association
National Office, 86 Commercial Street, San Francisco 11, California,
September 20, 1945. To be read at membership meetings in all ports
and inserted in the official 'Voice.' "
A. That's right.
UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA 155
Q. "The San Francisco membership meeting of September 13,
1945, after hearing a thorough and detailed report of a rank-and-
file committee officially elected to investigate the disruption now
being carried on within and without our union, voted that, 'We
urge members of the MCS to take action and order every one to dis-
associate themselves immediately from the so-called Rank and File
Voice, or the necessary steps should be taken by the membership to
insure the Unity of the MCS-CIO, in their common fight for better
wages and conditions! Therefore, the following who submitted
articles to this sheet, as well as finances, and others, are hereby
ordered to write Secretary-Treasurer E. F. Burke, immediately
signifying their intention to disassociate themselves for the best
interest of the Union. If they do not choose to do this within the
coming period this fact will be reported to the membership, for
their appropriate and proper action. "
Then there is a list of names given here.
"Arthur A. Griffey, William Dillon, Walter Hesse, W. H.
Herman, George Walsh, A. J. Van Bebber, 'Wes' Owen, Charles
Schreiber, Joseph Almeida, James Brown, Grover Taylor, Henry
Krohn, Roy Lawyer. Adopted by membership meeting, San Fran-
cisco, September 20, 1945. "
Now, did these individuals, or any of them, disassociate them-
selves for the best interest of the union ?
A. Some of them who wanted to stay with the ship disassociated.
Those who didn 't were thrown out.
Q. They were then thrown out of the union ?
A. Yes.
Q. That was true of all of them?
A. Those who associated with us, in fact, were seen associating
with us on the corner, were thrown out too.
Kaplan introduced into the record a series of resolutions offered and
adopted by the Marine Cooks and Stewards Union clearly indicating the
Communist domination of the organization. These documents were
marked as exhibits and are included in the committee 's files. One resolu-
tion declared that "James F. Byrnes, U. S. Secretary of State, is using
his office to champion the designs of American imperialists," and called
for his removal. Another declared that the "Rampant, merciless,
imperialist machines of England and Holland in a frenzied attempt to
destroy the people's liberation movements of Indo China and Java are
using Japanese soldiers as hired mercenaries. " Another stated that
"American lives are today being placed in danger in North China in a
situation that has seen American soldiers projected into the middle of a
struggle that is liable to develop into a Chinese civil war." Kaplan
explained the adoption of these resolutions by the members of the Marine
Cooks and Stewards Union in the following language :
The witness : When a member gets up on the floor and wants
to discuss union business, he's heckled down and shouted down.
That's important there (the Communist resolutions) and we don't
get union business over there, never. Jenkins is one of the main
156 UN- AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA
speakers from the Labor School. The director of the Labor School
he 's one of the main speakers. Not once have I heard Mr. Jenkins
speak of conditions for the union, the seamen's plight the bonus
or anything like that. Always on these resolutions he comes up
there specially for these resolutions and then I'm not a good union
man.
Chairman Tenney : All right, Mr. Kaplan, do you recognize in
these resolutions anything that might be considered the Communist
Party line?
The witness : Everything is the Communist Party line.
Kaplan concluded his testimony with the following :
The witness : Mr. Jenkins visits various types of organizations,
among (them) the Jewish people. I happened to be a guest of one of
my friends (at one of these meetings). He (Jenkins) was there
taking up the Zionist movement, and arguing about that there
and hitting down the Commie line ; and I exposed him right there to
a lot of my friends and what-not and I 'm a renegade again. Now,
the Jewish people don't want them (the Communists) to fight for
them. They've got a stigma on them about every Jew (being) a
Communist. It is not so. There are Jews in this country who are 100
percent American. In fact, I think they're better than the 100 per-
cent Americans who came over in the Mayflower, because they know
what goes on around the world. They know what it means, and I 'm
one of them.
Chairman Tenney: As a matter of fact, they are the most
effective fighters against Communism in the United States are they
not?
The witness : I hope they should be.
*******
The witness: * * * The fact is they should take all these
(people) that are fighting for the so-called Communists (people
who) don't like this country and all that and there are a lot of
little ships; (we) ought to take them and load them up and they
got plenty of space all the way from Vladivostok to Moscow. Take
them there and let them go there and build. I'm satisfied for my
kids to have the privileges of this country. I've been an orphan
since I was eight years old and I had to fight with my own hands.
Where can people have a home, a bank-book, a car, a radio tell
everybody to go to hell if I don 't like them and all that stuff. You
don't get that nowhere else except (in) the United States and I'm
proud of that. I'm proud to be an American, and (for) my children
to be Americans and their children * * *.
I think the committee should really do something in behalf of
the people that were kicked around the way I am; and the other
boys in the union who have been thrown out. There's fellows who
have been in the union 45 years they were charter union members.
Other fellows have 30 years like Arthur Giffey and all those. I'm
still a young man. They take away their livelihood because they
contribute to a paper contribute to a campaign. Something should
be done for these people a law passed so they can 't be thrown out
of work. I think in a country like America these conditions should
UN- AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA 157
(not) prevail and (I told them in the meeting of (the) expulsion
(that) I'd go to Congress; the Senate I'd go in right where the
story was going on by God if it was the end of the world. Maybe a
lot of you people don't realize. Maybe a lot of your liberals don't
realize. What they should do is put on a pair of overalls and get into
these unions and see what is going on get a different slant on
liberalism. Those boys go out like Giffey ; like myself some of them
45 years in the union and they can 't voice their opinions.
They can't (be against Communism). They threw them out.
What are these fellows going to do? They studied chief stewards
study their craft for years; they get to the top and that's their
business. What are they going to do peddle newspapers? They get
as much as $500 a month and now they take away their source of
livelihood. Maybe the boys are going to apply for old age pensions
and charity. I don't know. Is that a real condition in America?
Should that thing happen ?
If fellows walk through a picket line or against a fellow when
he was striking tried to lower the standard of living the boys were
fighting for I'm one of the fellows who said they should suffer.
But not these fellows. For what? Because they want to disseminate
information which they think is right ? Even if it may be wrong
even if this paper might be the worst read they've got that right.
It's America. We're flying Old Glory yet.
When I was in Russia I Ve got the habit of snooping around ;
I've been all over the world eight different times I went to the
various places different times I happened to be there. They (the
Russians) lead you around there on a tour and so on and tell you
this and that. If I wanted to talk to people they tell me I'm out of
line * * *. I was in Moscow, Odessa, and those places. You can't talk
to those people. I tried to talk to those people through the Yiddish
language, but you can 't. They have factories there like a little village.
Apartment houses there ; they eat there ; do everything there. Every-
thing is regimented. Maybe it 's all right for the Russians. It may be
all right for them. Ask questions ? No ! And I want to talk to people
like people talk here. They shoved me around ; wouldn 't let me get
too close.
* * * Maybe (they were) all secret police. They called them
"guides." We weren't roaming around the city. (We) didn't have
the freedom of the city. Always somebody with us. They took our
money away and only allowed us a certain amount of rubles and
then gave us back our money. I remember the first time I went
in there; they even taxed us because they figure I'm getting into
the interior and I'll carry some extra socks and underwear and
they taxed me as a Bolshevik carrying extra stuff. All right. If that 's
their beautiful way of living, let them have it. Don't take my liberty
away. I 'm willing as an individual to lose a condition here because
I know you can fight and get it back; but they lose their liberty,
they're finished. I classify it as red Communist. The cause is totali-
tarianism. There's no standard of living in the world compared to
ours ; no standard of living anywhere you go. The kids are beggars.
158 UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA
It 's either (a) rich one or (a) poor one. Why here any ' ' shlemiel ! ' has
got a car; he's got a radio everything else. I'm proud of these
things.
TESTIMONY OF ALEX HARRIS
Alex Harris, a former member of the Communist Party, followed
Martin Kaplan to the witness stand. As stated heretofore, neither Kaplan
nor Harris were subpenaed by the committee. Both were voluntary
witnesses seeking assistance from the committee in their single-handed
fight against the Communist control of the Marine Cooks and Stewards
Union. Harris had been a member of the organization. By occupation
he was a chief steward, seaman. He fully corroborated everything that
Martin Kaplan had stated. Harris' testimony, in part, is as follows :
The witness : Well, it might sound like a joke to the committee,
but if you go down to that union hall and that would go for prac-
tically every union hall on the waterfront you would trip over all
kinds of Communist literature getting into the building people
selling the People's World and (the) Labor Herald whatever is
being put out at the time * * *.
Conditions got so bad we petitioned Congress * * * I 'd like to
state for the record I was not subpenaed. I came here on my own
volition and the committee didn't function any too soon to suit
me. It didn 't come here fast enough.
It's a sad state of affairs when I sat in (this) courtroom yes-
terday and the day before to see so many of these nice young kids
that (are) fooled with this Communist philosophy. Whether they
know better or why they don't know better, I'm not going to argue
that now. But I think the trouble lies in the professors these inno-
cent men when they get on the stand, they forget. They're very
evasive ; they 're afraid to talk and the only time they talk on any-
thing definite is when you talk about Communism or Russia "how
wonderful Communism is" ; "how wonderful Russia is" "I don't
know whether I'd fight for this country" it's an embarrassing
question (for these men). If you'd ask me whether I'd fight for this
country against Russia or any other country, I'd say yes. You
wouldn't have to qualify it. But with these professors, you have to
qualify what you mean.
* * * I made one bad mistake in my life when I joined the
Communist Party back in 1936 for about a year and at the time it
was just before the Maritime strike. Conditions were terrible on
the ships there's no question about it the wages, the food, 60 or
70 people sleeping (in) one little small room. And the food was
terrible and the wages was low and it was ripe for anybody in there
to sign. You can't fight these people; you can't fight the ship-
owners as an individual ; you 've got to get in with an organization
to compete with them and all that sort of stuff.
It was three or four months before they finally got me in. I
did it at one of the open forums as they call them. Didn't see any-
thing too bad. That was in 1936 when they didn't have the foreign
propaganda in the picture as they do today. I don't think I would
fall for it today or two or three years ago.
UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA 159
What I 'm driving at is this : I don 't like the set-up ; and I think
one of the main reasons I quit the party after I gave it a fair trial
was that they had a meeting on a Wednesday night preceding the
regular meeting of the Union, and at that meeting they bring up
anything that's going to come up at the following meeting. Now,
I'm on a ship. I've just come in ; I don't know anything that's com-
ing in I 've been away three months, four months, six months, nine
months. I happen to be in. I go to the meeting. I sit there and take
it for granted that the chairman and all the rest of them around
there are on the level ; that they took care of my interests while I
was gone ; worried about my condition when I was gone, and that
everything that they brought up, I was satisfied that they were
looking after me. But had they done that ? No. They bring up every-
thing and anything but the ships. Now, we get back to the Commu-
nist Party caucuses. If a man is to be brought up on charges for
putting out a paper or donating anything to something that's not
Communism and they want to prefer charges ; why, they'll try him
and convict him and sentence him all on that day, on a Wednesday
before he even comes up to a union meeting. Now, I happen to be
one of those people that was elected (by the Communist Party) as
a member of that trial committee.
* * * All they have to do is say he's a Trotskyite. (The anti-
Communist who is to be expelled). I don't know what a Trotskyite
is to this day, although I 've heard of Leon Trotsky, and I Ve heard
of him time and time again. I think in our union there are two or
three men who claim to be Trotskyites, but there is supposed to be
something bad about that, so we '11 let this go at the time. The mere
fact that the man was a Trotskyite was sufficient grounds to kick
the man out of the union and deprive the man of his means of liveli-
hood. I'm a dumb cluck but that's not right. I went up to see
(Frank) Spector, at 121 Haight Street. I took it up with (William)
Schneiderman * * * I opposed that on the grounds I went against
the best I don't know what the exact wording was. It (what they
said) went something like this; "the man is vicious; he's a Trot-
skyite, and he has to be exterminated. ' ' Who am I to speak to these
big high people and dispute their word ? I 'm nobody. I don 't know
anything about politics. So I went back and did that. But it didn't
take very long for me to catch on. And the funny part is, the man
was innocent. (Wasn't even a Trotskyite.) * * *
(In the event of difficulty between the United States and
Russia the Communists would) scuttle ships; tie up ships call all
kinds of phony strikes. No argument about that. If the Yanks Are
Not Coming program is in effect at that time, then they're not com-
ing. If they are coming, they're coming. We have to ask their per-
mission * * *.
The only thing is it 's a sad state of affairs that something isn 't
being done. I don't say burn the schools up, or burn up the Com-
munist books, but something should be done to let the people know
that the California Labor School is definitely a Communist
outfit * * *.
160 UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA
We got so disgusted that everybody wasn't doing anything
that we had our little group. That paper was put out in three days.
We went ahead and we seen we weren 't getting no satisfaction. We
got two or three lickings in the court where the money we had on
hand * * * and we lose (on) technicalities after techni-
calities * * *.
* * * We went ahead and picketed the Kussian Consul. Now,
the Communists, we don't believe in that. We believe pickets picket
lines belong down on the water front. But we have seen it (used)
indiscriminately. We've seen it (used) for every foolish, nonsensical
thing. They (the Communists) made a joke of it of the picket lines ;
and the ones who fought on picket lines are the traitors of labor, and
these (the Communists) are the heroes. When things were tough,
they (the Communists) were never there. * * * (We picketed
the Russian Consul) for the simple reason that we think that Mr.
Jenkins Dave Jenkins Commissar Jenkins, is a little more than
he 's putting out in this country. I know I can 't walk in and out of
the Russian Consul. I know people that went to Europe, to Rus-
sia that told the guys on the gang plank they were Russians, and
they couldn't get into Russia. You have to be in the upper council
to get into the Russian Consul. I've seen him go in three or four
times myself * * * and he knows it. So we put this picket line on
and we asked the Russian Consul this was on a Sunday we asked
the Russian Consul if Hugh Bryson, Louis Pinson, Frank Mc-
Cormick and Dave Jenkins, of the California Labor School, were
on the pay roll.
Now we don't go around beating the bush. We're not saying
nothing here we're not saying nothing here that we haven't said
on street corners ; in the union hall, and anywhere else and as far
as these people intimidating us that 's not the point. We resent the
fact that they get that low. That's the only reason we objected.
We're not worrying about their intimidating us, because we can
take care of ourselves.
We asked the Russian Consul, naturally, as the representative
of Russia here, to * * * take his propaganda off the waterfront;
to keep his propaganda away from 86 Commercial Street which is
the Marine Cooks and Stewards Union. We also asked for a fair
trial for Mikhailovitch who at that time was being tried. * * *
We asked the Democratic Party to get rid of their reds, pinks,
and bleeding hearts and we had 40 or 50 placards and we had a
couple of big trucks running around the streets. We had a written
statement released to all papers, and when they got through putting
it in the press, we got about that much space. * * *
We wanted to stir up a little more awareness ; not so much the
people who knew who the Communists were, but these people that 's
fooling around with these people that don 't know. * * * If you was
to ask some of these fellows like the professor and few more
doctors, which were giving testimony here how all of a sudden
their memories becomes loss of memory but if you was to ask
them anything about Communism; what do you think of Com-
munism they'd sit and talk to you for three or four hours, (about)
the wonderful stuff coming out of Russia and all that. Well, don't
UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA 161
forget those are brilliant minds. I know I can't compete with
them * * *. Of course, if I took them on a ship and I showed them
some of those conditions on a ship ; and I took them out to the South
Pacific and showed them some of them bodies that's laying around,
they might wake up. Because when Germany marched into Poland
from the west, Russia marched into Poland from the east, and we
have the same thing today.
I'd like to give you a little picture. On the West Coast you
have the Sailors Union of the Pacific; you have the Marine Cooks
and Stewards, you have the Firemen's Union and Radio, Mates and
Engineers. Now, on the East Coast, you have one union that practi-
cally takes in the three unlicensed groups, the Sailors, Cooks and
Firemen. Well, that was put up by the Communist Party as a catch-
all, and due to the fact that the National Maritime Union is so
dominated by the Communists ; that is, over a period of years a
long time ago they figured ' * how can we take over the firemen, the
sailors and the cooks"? Well, they figured every other way, and
it didn't work out. First thing was changed affiliation, AFL to
CIO. At that particular time I was one of the firm believers that
the CIO should come out and go out and organize the unorganized
in the basic industries. So, naturally, they rallied quite a few people
around them on that basis, but they didn 't tell us why they wanted
that. They didn't tell us why they couldn't control the A. F. of L.,
but if they came in and sponsored and endorsed the CIO right
from the start, that they'd have control of it. The next phase of
the program was for the NMU to gobble up the three unlicensed
groups. * * *
Well, the Communist Party one thing you can't take that
away from them. You defeat them today; they'll come back to-
morrow, or they will come back tonight. If they can't come in
through that door, they'll come in through the window. If they
can't get in through the window, they'll come in through the roof.
They get in. * * *
* * * We're out for winning a war. The average American is
out for winning a war. Along come the Communists, before that
they were only 2 per cent Americans; then they became super-
patriots and get on our band wagon, and push us out and shout
louder than we do to win the war. Who did they want to win the
war the United States? Never We won the war, but we lost
the peace and by God, / think Russia won the war.
AFFIDAVIT OF WILLIAM P. M. BRANDHOVE
December 9, 1946
State of California )
County of San Francisco )
William Patrick Maher Brandhove of 1831 21st Avenue, San Fran-
cisco, first being duly sworn, deposes and says :
I am presently employed by the United States Army Transport
Service as a chief steward. I have been employed in the United States
Merchant Marine during the past 15 years. During that period of time,
to the best of my knowledge, I have performed my duties ably and
11 L-2T
162 UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA
efficiently. My record of employment will show that I have never ter-
minated employment at the request of my employers. During the entire
period of World War II I sailed on ships in the interest of my country
because I sincerely desired to see our basic liberties protected and our
system of government perpetuated. I am an officer in the United States
Maritime Service (Lt. JG). I have received six decorations from my
government for war service. I have sailed into every theater of war.
During the year (that) I was employed as chief steward it became
increasingly apparent (to me) that there existed a conspiracy a COM-
MUNIST CONSPIRACY; a veiled attempt on the part of the Commu-
nist Party to achieve control of the American Merchant Marine through
the various CIO maritime labor unions. (On) trip after trip I perceived
an ever increasing tempo of communist-authored propaganda "Ash-
Can the M-Plan," "Roosevelt's a War-Monger,'' "The Tanks Are Not
Coming/' "No Lend-Lease to the Imperialists/' "Don't Arm Merchant
Ships."'
Then overnight the Communist Party line switched. Russia was
viciously attacked by her partner in aggression. The war became a
"Peoples War." Ship messrooms suddenly became meeting places of
' ' Democracy. ' ' The seamen would awaken one morning to find a poster
blaring out with such slogans as, "Keep 'em Sailing," "You Bet I'm
Going Back To Sea," "Now It's OK To Deliver the Goods."
I noted that at the meetings called by the ship's delegate weekly,
the Communist Party line was followed. Resolution after resolution
would pass condemning this, that or the other. The seamen, confused by
the Communist flip-flop and noting that the recent change in the party
line definitely looked and sounded American, consistently voted "Yes."
They sincerely believed that they were helping the war effort. For myself
I was not confused. I understood the over-all picture. I know that Com-
munists don't flip-flop in the interests of my country. So I determined to
become increasingly vigilant.
Never did there take place a meeting where issues were discussed
free from the political ideologies of the Communist-fronters.
I found that it became impossible to enforce proper discipline, due
to the strength and pressure that the Communist union officials had in
various government agencies. Almost every effort to discipline would
be destroyed because shipmasters knew that the Communist high-com-
mand would have a barrage of lawyers at the Coast Guard ready to
undermine, through pressure, the carrying out of discipline.
I retained within myself my reactions. I became ever increasingly
irritated by the activities of these so-called union delegates who made it
impossible for me to maintain my ships in a proper sanitary condition
a condition that of necessity must prevail if I was to be held responsible
for the comfort, health and safety of our soldiers soldiers who were
destined to sacrifice their lives for the preservation of the liberties that
the Communists and Communist-fronters were so violently and deliber-
ately seeking to undermine and destroy.
I complained vigorously in the Port of New York to Nathan Jacob-
sen, Port Agent of the Marine Cook's and Steward's Ass'n CIO, and to
Frank McCormick, Patrolman. They, in turn, made every effort to con-
vince me that the men were really interested in fighting a "peoples
war," but were ever on guard against the shipowners. I (finally) realized
UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA 163
the futility of arguing with these perverted gentlemen. I knew that I
could not (or would not be permitted) to sail unless I maintained mem-
bership in the union. The company or, for that matter, the government,
who owned most of the ships, could not hire me (if I were not a member
of the union) because of the existence of a closed-shop contract which
protected the Muscovites. I soft-pedaled in the interest of my country.
I then made up my mind to determine just what method of penetration
was used by these Communist Stooges, which enabled them to control
all the CIO Maritime Unions.
I cultivated the friendship of Frank McCormick, knowing that he
was one of the leading Communists in the Maritime Unions. I drank with
him, ate with him, and lived with him for four months, both in New York
and, later, in San Francisco. During those four months he devoted him-
self to making me, what he called, " ready for the so-called workers'
movement. ' '
He introduced me to such leading Communists as Harry Bridges
and Louis Goldblat of the ILWU ; David Jenkins, Director of the Cali-
fornia Labor School; John Wiley, Negro Race Agitator ; Oleta 'Connor,
high Communist Party functionary; Paul Schnur, Secretary of the
CIO Council; Estolv Ward, CIOPAC; Dick Linden, President of Local
6, Warehouseman's Union; David Hedley, noncitizen official of the Cali-
fornia CIO PAC ; Revels Cayton, Secretary of the National Negro Con-
gress and former member and race agitator in the Marine Cooks and
Stewards Union; Mervyn Rathborne, State President of the California
CIO and President of the American Communication Association; Walter
Stack, Marine Fireman, Oilers and Watertenders Union; Blacky
Quadros, Marine Fireman and Watertenders Union; Molly K. Spolmack,
member of the United Office and Professional Workers Union; Elaine
Sexton, organizer for the Communist Party and Mary Lake, Communist
Party organizer.
McCormick introduced me to all the communists that were officials
of the Marine Cooks and Steward's Union, such as, Hugh Bryson, Presi-
dent ; Nathan Jacobsen, Vice President ; Irving Dvorin, Baltimore Agent ;
Scotty Sneddon, Portland Agent ; Joseph Harris, Seattle Agent ; James
Kiernan, Political Action Committee Patrolman; Eddie Lane, New
Orleans Agent ; Syd Kaufman, New York Agent ; Ralph Vosbrink, Hono-
lulu Patrolman; Louis Pinson, Educational Director and editor of the
Voice, official organ of the union, and Chairman of the Waterfront Sec-
tion of the Communist Party; Dennis Hooper, San Pedro Patrolman;
Henry Fisher, San Francisco Patrolman; Harold Holland, San Fran-
cisco Patrolman ; George Gutekunst, ghost writer for the union officials ;
Harry Nehrebecki, San Francisco Dispatcher ; Duke Sexton, professional
committee member ; Joseph Johnson, race agitator and professional ships '
delegate; Eddie Tangen, Seattle Patrolman; Jerry Tyler, Seattle PAC
Patrolman; Wally Ho, professional ships' delegate; Peter Mendelsohn,
Communist Party foreign propaganda distributor and financial manipu-
lator; Clarence Ison, professional ships' delegate; Alden Clark, artist
and professional ships' delegate; C. E. Johansen, ex-Baltimore Agent;
Morris Pinsky, professional ships ' delegate ; Roney 'neal, Port Steward
of Luckenbach Steamship Company; Paul Boyles, leading Communist
Agitator and one-time official of the union; Sol Eidenoff, Baltimore
164 UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA
Patrolman ; Don Wollom, Portland Patrolman ; Percy Lawson, New York
Patrolman ; Varney Ferris, San Francisco janitor ; Paul Timlin, Wilm-
ington janitor and Chet Baker, professional delegate. McCormick told
me that Rudy Esovich, Honolulu Agent, Joseph O'Connor, San Pedro
Agent, and Eugene Burke, although not members of the Communist
Party, always followed the party line. I found that McCormick was quite
right subsequently for I witnessed their activities at the various union
committee meetings and at the convention of the union.
I felt that I should approach McCormick and Bryson and tell them
that I would like to become a member of the Communist Party. So dur-
ing the month of February, 1945, I signified my desire and made known
to them that I felt I was good material for the party. McCormick and
Bryson agreed to recommend me for membership. On the following
Wednesday, during the month of February, 1945, Frank McCormick
invited me to attend a dinner at the home of Henry Fisher. When I
arrived I was introduced to Mr. Walter Stack, Mrs. Stack, Mr. and Mrs.
Richard Gladstein, and several others whom I had met previously. After
dinner Mrs. Gladstein drove McCormick and me to 1410 Powell Street.
I discovered that this was the meeting place of the Communist Party,
Waterfront Section. McCormick secured a blank application for mem-
bership. (He) presented it to me (and) I filled it out and McCormick
and Bryson signed it. We listened to a lecture delivered by Richard
Gladstein, and then Louis Pinson, (the) chairman, introduced me to the
membership that (had) gathered there. I was unanimously accepted for
membership and congratulated by all present. The chairman then pre-
sented me with a membership-card which bears the signature of William
Schneiderman, State Secretary of the Communist Party.
Whenever I was in port I attended all Communist Party meetings.
I concluded that the Communists controlled the Marine Cooks and other
water-front unions by the simple expedient of controlling the Thursday
Union Meetings. This was possible because the officials of the union (all
Communists) had deferment from the Army as essential employees.
Therefore it was possible for them to attend all meetings. I also noted
that at all weekly Wednesday night meetings were attended by profes-
sional ships' delegates who never fail to follow the party line at the
regular Thursday meetings.
At the Communist Party meetings each individual was indoctrinated
with the party line policy. Invariably after the regular party meeting a
top-fraction meeting would take place at the home of George Gutekunst,
1422 Powell Street, or at the home of Bryson, Pinson, Fisher or Nehre-
becki. Somehow I was invariably invited to attend these meetings I
presume because of my ability to deliver a rather forceful public speech.
By this method of conveying through the top-fraction, only a chosen few-
were permitted to present the all important Communist Party line
instructions. The lesser communists were instructed to always go along
with the program. Failure to do so on their part would have meant disci-
pline within the party or with expulsion from the union. Expulsion from
the union would have meant that they would be denied the right to pursue
their occupation as seamen.
I determined that I would rise in the ranks of the Union by doing
all I could to further the Communist program, at the same time noting
those parts of the program that were truly dangerous to our country.
UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA 165
During the month of April, 1945, a top-fraction meeting was held at
the home of Hugh Bryson. Those attending were Bryson, Gladstein,
McCormick, Pinson, Gutekunst, Kierman and Nehrebecki. Dick Glad-
stein acted as chairman. He went on to explain the reason for calling
the convention which was to take place during the month of July. He
pointed out what he called the wrongs of the constitution of the Marine
Cooks and Stewards Union. He explained how the party, after it had
passed a constitution for the National Maritime Union, managed to get
complete control of the finances of the union and how they (the Com-
munists) were able to steer its policy. He pointed out how impossible it
was for the party to get funds for furthering its program under the
existing union constitution and stated that he had, on instructions from
the party membership, drawn up a constitution to be submitted to the
convention in July.
Hugh Bryson then took the floor and read the proposed constitution
which was prepared by Comrade Gladstein. He told the meeting that we
were all expected to get behind the convention program. He informed us
that we were expected on the following Wednesday meeting of the Com-
munist Party's waterfront section to take active leadership. I attended
the meeting as instructed and stated that I would ship and get myself
nominated as (a) delegate to the convention. Harry Nehrebecki slipped
me above the shipping-list as he had to follow party line policy.
It was agreed that the best method of controlling the convention
would be to have party members assigned through the dispatchers' office
to different ships, preferably coastwise, (so that) then the party would
be assured of a compact controlling force which would assure passage
of the "Gladstein Constitution. "
Bryson pointed out that he would notify only those ships where com-
rades were presently assigned that a convention was to take place and
that he would instruct them to be sure to attend.
Bryson was questioned as to how he was going to get permission to
hold a convention. He stated that he had prior assurance that if we did
not have over 100 delegates the Office of Defense Transportation would
grant the permission. I, to this day, have not been able to determine what
official of the Office of Defense Transportation granted the permission
and resultantly, violated a government regulation against conventions
being held during the war emergency. I realized that many organizations
whose motives were strictly in the interests of the welfare of the Ameri-
can people were denied permission to hold conventions. Yet Mr. Bryson
obtained permission from some Communist Party stooge in the employ of
our government.
Now that the top-fraction and regular meetings of the Communist
Party had decided on the party line, the Communist machine was put in
high-gear. The opposition (anti-communist) within the union were con-
stantly smeared. Seamen who were interested in true, sincere trade-
unionism voiced their complaints against calling a convention during
the war. But it was impossible to achieve any organized opposition due
to the fact that men in the draft age had to ship ; they did not have the
privilege, as (did) the Communist officials, of enjoying a secure berth
ashore, thanks to the government policy of salving the Communist Party
line favorites. Others, who put country above union politics for the dura^
tion of the war, merely said they would make no effort to attend a con-
166 UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA
vention that obviousiy would be nothing more than a packed Communist
caucus. They stated that they would wait until the war was over to fight
against the un-American, undemocratic tactics of the Stalinite stooges.
I decided that I would follow through and make it a point to oppose
the Communist-contrived constitution at the Convention. I joined the
S. S. Cape Newenham, American Mail Lines, during the month of June.
I was nominated unanimously as a delegate to the convention. On my
return to San Francisco I presented my credentials to Hugh Bryson. He
instructed me to be active around the hall in the interests of the party.
I was active on numerous committees during the month of June and early
July.
Ten days prior to the convention the agents and delegates from the
different ports and ships began to arrive in San Francisco. A preconven-
tion committee was made up of all delegates that were in the city at the
time. I was made Chairman of the Housing Committee. I knew that the
best spot for me would be on the Rules Committee and the Constitution
(committee), so I informed Assistant Secretary Hugh Bryson that I felt
I could best serve the interests of the party by being assigned on these
two committees. He informed me that there would be a meeting of all
party delegates the following Wednesday and (that) he would see to it
that all party members received their instructions.
The Wednesday prior to the opening of the convention a meeting
was held of all party members and fellow-travelers at 1410 Powell Street.
The meeting was called to order by Louis Pinson. He forthwith intro-
duced Richard 'Gladstein who told us the importance of having a well-
organized, harmonious convention. He stated that this could best be
achieved by arranging in advance all committees. He suggested that the
meeting arrange all committees and agree on strategy. All agents were
then named as chairman to the different committees. Then the Com-
munists at the meeting were assigned to the different committee chair-
man. I was assigned to the Constitution and Rules Committees. We deter-
mined that a majority of all Communists had control of the committees.
Bryson adjourned the caucus and Pinson then adjourned the general
meeting with the closing admonition to be on the alert against any indi-
viduals who might attempt to disrupt the Communist Party program.
The Communist Party definitely were in high gear. When the con-
vention opened July 23, 1945, there were in attendance 86 delegates out
of a total membership of 15,000. Of these delegates 65 were from ships.
(The Marine Cooks and Stewards Union had 1,250 ships under contract
on that date). Ten delegates were from the branches. Eight were agents
from the seaports where the Marine Cooks and Stewards Union main-
tain offices. Three were from the National Office. Fifty-two ships were
actually represented which proves beyond question or doubt that the
Communist Party-called convention was a farce.
Despite my continued opposition and expose of the Communist plot
to force an undemocratic constitution down the throats of our members,
I was unable to muster more than seven members who were delegates to
the convention in my fight against the Communist-packed convention.
In conclusion, I wish to state that I make this affidavit free from
duress or request from any individual. My sole intent in so doing is to
inform the people in government that there does exist a conspiracy not
UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA 167
so small and insignificant as many would have us believe. This conspiracy
does not exist solely within the organized structure of the Marine Cooks
and Stewards Union but in other maritime and allied unions. Further,
that I believe that the program of the Communist Party is international
in pattern, and definitely un-American un-American in the sense that
(its members) are seditionists who are just as dictatorial and ruthless as
the Nazis, Klu-Kluxers and Quislings. They are the Fifth Columnists.
They can and will do more damage than the atom-bomb if there is not
passed legislation outlawing the Communist Party.
I would be honored to be subpenaed by any committee that is investi-
gating the un-American activities of the Ked Fascist scourge in our
Country.
(Signed)
WILLIAM P. M. BBANDHOVE
Subscribed and sworn to before me this 9th day of December, 1946.
(Signed) ELLA COOK KELLY
Notary Public in and for the
City and County of San Francisco,
State of California.
My commission expires December 28, 1948.
HERBERT K. SORRELL AND THE MOTION PICTURE STRIKE
The committee conducted several days of public hearings in Los
Angeles early in January of 1946. Among others, Herbert K. Sorrell
was subpenaed but failed to appear. He has headed the jurisdictional
strike against American Federation of Labor locals in the Hollywood
motion picture industry. The committee was well aware of Sorrell's
activities in a multitude of Communist front organizations over a period
of years.
At page 162 of the Committee 's 1943 Report, Rena Vale, a former
member of the Communist Party of Los Angeles County, explaining the
methods of Communist penetration into American Federation of Labor
unions, stated the following in a sworn affidavit :
* * * we sent directives to Don R. Healy, Secretary of Labor's
Non-Partisan League of Los Angeles County, which, in turn, influ-
enced a large bloc of votes in the CIO ; and through Lou Baron and
the facilities of the Los Angeles County Trade Union Commission
of the Communist Party, we designated the best possible means
for Communist Party members within the A. F. of L. to present
Communist Party programs within their unions; Herb Sorrell,
Business Agent for the Studio Painters' Union, was regarded as
the only Communist Party comrade in an A. F. of L. Union in Los
Angeles who could put over the entire "Party Line" in his union.
* * * the Unemployed Conference of Studio Unions which
later became known as the "COMPAC" was referred to by our
said commission as an organization which could be "counted on"
to put over Communist Part}' programs ; said Herb Sorrell, as well
as the aforementioned Frank Tuttle were active in that organiza-
tion.
At page 167, Miss Vale states :
* * * at the Los Angeles County Convention of the Com-
munist Party, held at 121 West Eighteenth Street, Los Angeles,
I encountered a number of comrades who had been mentioned previ-
ously; I recall that Herb Sorrell was doorman at the session I
attended, and accepted my credentials *.
The committee found the following (1943 Report, p. 95) :
Indicative of collaboration with the Communist Party and the
faithful fellow-traveling of certain alleged labor leaders, is Herbert
K. Sorrell, who testified in Los Angeles July 31, 1941. (Volume II,
pp. 452-474). He testified that he was the business representative
of the Motion Picture Painters, Local 644, of the American Federa-
tion of Labor. The committee is in possession of a photostatic copy
of Sorrell's application to join the Communist Party in which he
used the name Stewart. Sorrell denied that he had ever used such
name, although under close examination, he admitted that his
(169)
170 UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA
mother 's maiden name was Daisy Frances Stewart. He denied that
he was a member of the Communist Party and stated that he knew
nothing of the Communist Party Convention held in Los Angeles
in April-May, 1938. He freely admitted that he followed the Com-
munist Party line when he thought it was ' ' all right, ' ' although he
stated that Paul Cline and Jack Moore came to him at a time when
he was trying to raise the per capita tax of his union and told him
that he was "going against the Communist Party line.' 7 (p.471.)
The activities of Sorrell over a period of years are well known to the
committee. He has served as A. F. of L. " window-dressing " for most
of Southern California Communist front organizations, such as Cali-
fornia Conference for Democratic Action, Labors' Nonpartisan League,
Motion Picture Democratic Committee and the American Peace Mobiliza-
tion. He has been a consistent subscriber to the People's Daily World.
His name is carried on the letterhead of the Harry Bridges' Defense
Committee. In 1940 he was the State President of Labors' Nonpartisan
League. The letterhead of the Schneider man-Darcy Defense Committee
contained his name in January of 1940. In July of 1940 he appeared
as an officer in the American Peace Crusade. On November 2, 1942, he
headed a committee of alleged Democrats endorsing and supporting
Mrs. La Rue McCormick, Communist Party candidate for State Senate
from the Thirty-eighth Senatorial District. There is no doubt in the minds
of the members of the committee of the close association and fellow-
traveler status in the Communist Party of Herbert K. Sorrell.
The committee report for 1945 found that Herbert K. Sorrell was
one of the endorsers for a "call" to a "Conference on behalf of the
People's Daily World" for Wednesday, August 4, 1943, at 8 p.m., at
the First Unitarian Church, located at the corner of Eighth Street and
Vermont Avenue in the City of Los Angeles.
The purpose of the conference was to raise funds for the continued
publication of the west coast Bed Fascist journal, the People's Daily
World. John Howard Lawson, former Associate Editor of the official
organ of the Communist Party of the United States, the Daily Worker;
Leo Gallagher, Los Angeles Communist attorney and law partner of
Charles Katz ; Assemblyman Augustus F. Hawkins of the Sixty-second
Assembly District; Carey Me Williams; Pettis Perry, former Secretary
of the Communist Party of Los Angeles County, and Max Silver,
admitted Communist functionary, were among the endorsers of the
"call" for the "conference" on behalf of California's Communist
propaganda sheet.
At page 142 of the Committee's 1945 Report, the committee made
the following statement :
Herbert Sorrell is an officer in the Studio Painters' Union,
A. F. of L. He has persistently followed the Communist Party line.
He subscribes to the Communist Party publication, the People's
Daily World. Leaflets distributed in July of 1940 listed Sorrell as
an officer in the American Peace Crusade, Communist organization.
He also appeared as an endorser for Mrs. La Rue McCormick,
Communist Party candidate for State Senator, in a paid political
advertisement in the Los Angeles Times, November 2, 1942.
UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA 171
TESTIMONY OF HAND-WRITING EXi-cRTS
The committee made every effort to secure the appearance of Sorrell
for its Los Angeles hearing, January 3-5, 1946. Although Sorrell was
properly served he refused to come before the committee on the ground
that he was engaged in the Superior Court of the County of Los Angeles.
Counsel for the committee then put in evidence a duly identified and
authenticated application for membership in the Communist Party
signed "Herbert Stewart. " Exemplars or samples of Sorrell's hand-
writing were produced. These documents were analyzed by J. Clark
Sellers and John L. Harris, experts on questioned documents. J. Clark
Sellers is considered one of the world's outstanding experts in this field.
He testified in the Lindbergh kidnapping case and in the Hickman case.
Both Mr. Sellers and Mr. Harris testified under oath that the person
who signed the application for membership in the Communist Party
as Herbert Stewart was the same person who wrote the exemplars sub-
mitted to them for comparison.
Mr. Sellers ' testimony, in part, is as follows :
Q. (By Mr. Combs) : Now, we will take the document, "Con-
trol Card, First Half of 1937. " What was your conclusion with
regard to that ?
A. My conclusion with regard to that is that the person who
wrote the exemplars which were submitted to me as being the
genuine handwriting of Herbert K. Sorrell wrote the name "Herb
Stewart" on this card which begins "Control Card, First Half
1937, Book No. 74282." Also, the same writer, in my opinion, wrote
the word "Calif." following the word "State," and wrote the let-
ters " L. A. " following the word ' ' City. ' ' I could not identify him
as having written the numeral "13" following the word "District"
and the person who wrote the exemplars wrote the word ' ' Indus-
trial ' ' following the word ' l Section, ' ' and wrote the word * ' painter ' '
following the word "occupation," and wrote the word "Painter's
644" following the word "Union," and the word "yes" following
the word "male" and the numeral "41" following the word "age"
and the word "yes" following the word "white."
Q. Now, will you take the other questioned document which
bears the number 60622, membership book ; what was your conclu-
sion with regard to that ?
A. It is my conclusion that the person who wrote the exemplars
submitted to me as being the genuine handwriting of Herbert K.
Sorrell wrote the name "Herb Stewart." Immediately above the
printed word ' ' signature ' ' on this document is the number in print-
ing "60622," and below that number are the words, "I have
received membership book. ' ' Then below the signature i ' Herb Stew-
art" there is some other handwriting that I was not able to identify
as having been written by writer of the exemplars. It is my opinion
that that writing was written by the same writer who wrote the
handwriting on the card which begins in printing, ' ' 1938 Registra-
tion Blank."
172 UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA
Mr. Harris concluded his testimony with the following :
Q. (By Mr. Combs) : Did you examine each and all of the
exemplars to which I have directed your attention ?
A. Yes, I did.
Q. For the purpose of determining whether or not the person
who wrote the material on the exemplars was the same person who
wrote the material which appears on the two questioned documents ?
A. Yes, that was the purpose of my examination.
Q. What was your conclusion?
A. My conclusion was that the signature "Herbert Stew-
art Is this Exhibit 3?
Q. That is right.
A. - on Exhibit 3, and all of the pencil writing this docu-
ment doesn't have a number.
Q. All of the pencil writing on the document, which states
"Control Card, First Half 1937"?
A. Yes, with the possible exception of the "1" and the "3"
opposite the printed word "District." It is my conclusion and my
opinion that all of that writing was written by the same person who
wrote these exemplars identified to me as the genuine handwriting
of Herbert Sorrell * * *.
Thus the secret Communist Party affiliation of Herbert K. Sorrell
is thoroughly established.
COMMUNIST STRATEGY TO DESTROY A. F. OF L. UNIONS
It should be noted that the activities of Herbert K. Sorrell continue
the Communist strategy for the destruction of American Federation of
Labor unions in the motion picture industry. This Communist threat
was effectively blocked several years ago when the Communist inspired
and dominated United Studio Technicians Guild went down to defeat
in an election before the National Labor Relations Board. The activities
of the Communists in the futile attempt of the United Studio Technicians
Guild to capture Hollywood and its labor organizations is detailed in
reports by Jeff Kibre, Communist functionary in labor matters, to his
Commissar-in-Chief Roy Hudson of New York.
The Sorrell jurisdictional strike is now well into its second year.
The strike has received considerable publicity because of its attendant
bloodshed, riots and the complete disregard for law and order on the
part of Sorrell and his followers. Sorrell 's attack has been directed
generally against the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Em-
ployees' locals in Hollywood, and the battlefield has mostly been at the en-
trance of Warner Brothers Studio in Burbank. Committee observers vis-
ited the studios on many occasions and watched the so-called ' ' strikers ' '
defiantly violate court orders and brazenly resist the efforts of law-
enforcing agents to protect life and property. On many occasions the
alleged "picket-line" consists of hundreds of men and women milling
back and forth before studio entrances. Automobiles were over-turned
and damaged and highways blocked. During the rioting more than 50
UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA 173
people a day were hospitalized on studio lots. Herb Sorrell, in open
defiance of the police and sheriffs and the orders of the superior court,
vigorously directed the ' ' revolutionary training ' ' of the members of his
Conference of Studio Unions.
The committee should point out here that Sorrell had formerly
testified under oath before the committee that he was not, and never had
been, a member of the Communist Party. A Communist, as has hereto-
fore been pointed out on many occasions, must necessarily be an atheist.
He is fully convinced that ' ' the means justifies the end ' ' and that lying,
even under oath, is a Communist virtue if it advances the cause of Joe
Stalin and moves the world just a little closer to the dictatorship of the
proletariat. During more than six years' experience in this field, the
committee has rarely found a person, known to the committee to be a
Communist, who freely admitted his affiliation with the party, unless
the individual happened to be a full-time functionary.
The records of Communist Party membership are never kept at
Communist Party headquarters. They are usually hidden in the residence
of a trusted member and are frequently moved from place to place for
the purpose of protection. Dues are always paid in cash and are rarely
deposited in a bank. The more prominent a Communist Party member
happens to be the more certain it is that there is no record whatever of
his affiliation.
LEFT-HANDED PEOPLE
When it is discovered that an individual is an habitual subscriber
to the Communist Party periodical, the People 's Daily World, is a mem-
ber of several Communist front organizations, follows the Communist
Party line and generally associates with known members of the Com-
munist Party, is willing to condemn Fascism while vehemently refusing
to condemn Communism, it may be properly assumed that such an indi-
vidual is something more than a mere fellow-traveler.
When it is found that a man writes with his left hand, brushes his
teeth with his left hand and eats with his left hand, it is idiotic to con-
clude that such an individual is right handed.
Herb K. Sorrell, under ordinary circumstances, would be a very
unimportant individual. He probably might have developed into a very
good house painter. He is, personally, a likable fellow. He probably
doesn't like journeyman painting, and his frustration and sense of guilt
is compensated by the hearty back-slapping bestowed upon him by the
Communist hierarchy. He is inclined to grow more arrogant as his defi-
ance for law and order goes unpunished. He pictures himself as a pro-
fessional revolutionist leading the down-trodden proletariat (in this case
the highest paid workers in the world) on the barricades, resisting the
oppression and tyranny of the industrial barons.
COMMUNIST LITERATURE AT SORRELL'S MASS MEETINGS
Sorrell has called the members of his striking Conference of Studio
Unions into mass ' ' pep ' ' meetings about once a week during the current
jurisdictional strike. The committee's agents have covered most of these
meetings and have observed the Communist steering committees at work
on the non-Communist members. Communist literature is freely distrib-
uted at all of these meetings. At a meeting of January 19, 1947, an agent
174 UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA
of the committee was Banded a pamphlet entitled ' * What Is the xtole of
Communists in the Hollywood Unions ? ' '
This pamphlet was issued, according to the notation on the last
page, by the Morris Smolan Club, Communist Party (124 W. Sixth
Street, Los Angeles, TR. 7913). A commercial post-card addressed to the
People's Daily World, 590 Folsom Street, San Francisco 5, California,
accompanied the Communist pamphlet. The back of the post-card reads
as follows :
GREETINGS :
Special Hollywood Edition of People's Daily World
I understand the special issue of the Daily People's World of
January 29, 1947, will cover the following subjects: "Who Owns
Hollywood," "Labor History of Motion Picture Industry," "What
Unity Means to Studio Workers/' "Job Reading," "Injunction
Menace."
Please mail me without charge a copy of this special edition.
The figures "24," made by a rubber-stamp, are superimposed over
the figures " 29, " correcting the special issue of the People's Daily World
in question to January 24, 1947.
The Communist pamphlet asks the question : * ' Are there Communists
in Hollywood unions ? ' ' The answer given is as follows :
Yes. Communists are working people ; Communism is a working
class movement. So it is natural to find them in trade unions. They
know the importance of unions in workers' economic advancement
and in the development of American Democracy.
In answer to the question: "Do Communists want to dominate the
film industry for propaganda purposes ? " we find the following :
No. The producers try to evade the real issue of signed con-
tracts for their workers by raising the phoney issue of "Red Con-
trol." You know and we know film policy and content is deter-
mined by those who own the studios not by those who work in them.
Few pictures treat the lives and problems of the ordinary American
worker in an honest, constructive way. The banks and their pro-
ducer stooges continue their long tradition of "cheesecake" and
( ' escapism, ' ' hoping to divert the attention of the common man from
the real problems of housing, peace, health, jobs, and high prices.
In answer to the question: "Just what is a Communist?" is the
following :
A Communist trade unionist understands it is not enough to be
militant and progressive. He knows the working class must know
where it is headed if it is to avoid blind alleys. The fight of the labor
movement for its just demands important as it is, can but partially
solve the problems of the working class.
The Marxist theory of Scientific Socialism provides the answer.
Marxism proves no economic system is eternal. Slavery gave way to
UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA 175
feudalism, feudalism to capitalism. Each change raised man's living
standard and increased his freedom. The colossus, Capitalism, long
unable to use its full productive power except for war, is a millstone
around the neck of human progress. Our gigantic industry, agricul-
ture, science, and new atomic sources of power cannot be used for
the people 's benefit until Socialism gives the American people con-
trol of its own destiny. Peace or war, jobs or hunger, the path of
our lives must no longer depend upon the interests and profits of
the economic royalists.
The Communist trade unionist accepts Socialism as the ultimate
goal, while working to improve the living conditions of the people
and helping to raise the political consciousness of the working class.
A. F. OF L. STAND ON SORRELL'S ATTEMPT TO CAPTURE HOLLYWOOD
An open letter signed by 25 A. F. of L. Unions, representing 25,000
workers in the Hollywood motion picture industry, was recently pub-
lished in the trade papers in Hollywood. The committee believes this
letter of such importance that it is hereafter set forth in full.
HOLLYWOOD, CALIF., February 5, 1947
DEAR SIRS AND BROTHERS : The undersigned American Federa-
tion of Labor Unions, representing more than 75 percent of the
workers in the Hollywood motion picture studios, wish to give you
the facts of the current labor situation in Hollywood.
The finest trade union agreements in America exist in the pic-
ture studios and we are working under them today. With very few
exceptions, these agreements are with bona fide A. F. of L. Unions,
long established and long recognized as the bulwark of the American
labor movement. From the actors and stars, who are united in the
A. F. of L. Screen Actors Guild, through the scale of human
endeavor to the laborers who work on the back lots and the janitors
who clean the ofiBces all are members of their appropriate A. F.
of L. Union. All in all, the Hollywood motion picture producers rec-
ognize and deal with the independent talent guilds, such as directors,
writers, etc. With one or two exceptions even these guilds have a 100
percent union shop.
Typical of the prevailing wage scales our unions have been able
to establish in the studios are the following: $1.25 an hour for
janitors: $1.50 an hour and up for laborers; $1.75 an hour for
drivers; $2.25 an hour for journeymen; $2.56 an hour for gang
bosses ; and $165 a week for flat salaried foremen, all of whom are
members of their respective unions. Minimum wage rates for the
highly skilled crafts, such as the A. F. of L. cameramen, run as high
as $375 weekly. These are minimum rates and many work over scale,
yet all of these workers are members of their A. F. of L. unions. In
no place else in America do workers in this kind of wage bracket
maintain an active membership in labor unions.
In addition to these wage rates, outstanding conditions have
been obtained, such as double time for Sundays, eight-hour minimum
176 UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA
calls, 10 percent night premium for all work after 6 p.m., time and
one-half for all workers called after 8 p.m., and vacations with pay.
Unique in labor contracts is our so-called ' * golden hours ' ' provision
which provides that any worker having worked over 14 hours receives
2J times his regular rate ; or if such a worker is called back after
his full shift without a full eight hours rest, such worker also receives
' ' golden hours " or 2 J times his rate.
Despite these outstanding wages and working conditions, the
motion picture industry has been cursed by ever-recurring strikes
called by a small group of unions whose disruptive leadership casts
discredit on the entire American Federation of Labor and trade
union movement generally. This disruptive leadership of a small
minority of the Hollywood unions is the real reason for the labor
strife here.
This very small group of striking unions are now trying to gain
sympathy for themselves by circulating throughout America, par-
ticularly in the labor press, statements which seek to place us the
majority of the A. F. of L. unions in Hollywood in the position of
collaborating with the Motion Picture Producers Association in an
alleged attempt to break other unions. The facts do not support any
part of this unfounded propaganda and we, the undersigned
A. F. of L. unions representing the very great majority of the
workers in the studios, feel it is imperative that you should know
the facts.
Of the approximately 30,000 A. F. of L. union workers in the
motion picture industry, less than 7,000 are represented by the
disruptive leadership of a few unions which call themselves the
Conference of Studio Unions. The Conference of Studio Unions is
a rump organization without standing in the American Federation
of Labor and is a dual organization, conflicting with our duly con-
stituted A. F. of L. Central Labor Council of Los Angeles. For
some years now, the CSU leadership has been attempting to capture
or destroy other A. F. of L. unions in the industry.
The existing Hollywood strike is strictly jurisdictional, and has
been so labeled by the American Federation of Labor. The strike was
called by CSU to support CSU's defiance of an arbitration award
setting jurisdictional lines in the studios, said award being made by
three impartial arbitrators chosen by the A. F. of L. Executive
Council. Any support given to the current CSU strike is support
for a program of destruction of A. F. of L. unions in the studios.
The undersigned bona fide A. F. of L. unions, representing a
great majority of the A. F. of L. workers in Hollywood, urge you
to help us keep the motion picture studios under the banner of the
UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA 177
American Federation of Labor and to keep our unions an American
institution. Please bring this important matter to the attention of
your members.
Sincerely and fraternally,
(Signed)
International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees and
Motion Picture Machine Operators of the United States and
Canada,
Affiliated Property Craftsmen, Local 44,
Studio Grips, Local 80,
Studio Projectionists, Local 165,
Studio Mechanics, Local 468,
International Photographers, Local 659,
International Sound Technicians, Local 695,
Motion Picture Laborers and Utility Workers, Local 727,
Motion Picture Electricians, Local 728,
First Aid Employees, Local 767,
Film Editors, Local 776,
Hotel and Kestaurant Employees International, Locals 17, 284,
440, 468, and 639,
Screen Actors Guild,
Screen Extras Guild,
American Federation of Musicians,
International Brotherhood of Teamsters, Local 399,
International Hod Carriers, Building and Common Laborers'
Union, Local 724,
IATSE Film Technicians, Local 683,
Costumers, Local 705,
Make-up Artists and Hair Stylists, Local 706,
Operative Plasterers' and Cement Finishers' International
Association, Local 755,
Studio Cinetechnicians, Local 23968.
(Comments on this matter directed to any or all of the unions signing
this letter may be addressed to P. 0. Box 2091, Hollywood, Calif.)
12 L-2T
10
HOLLYWOOD COMMUNITY RADIO GROUP
In 1946 the Hollywood Community Radio Group was incorporated
in California. The board of directors is composed of the following :
Alvin Wilder,
Calvin Cuhl (orKuhl),
Paul Stewart,
Pauline Lauber,
John T. McTernan,
H. S. Kraft,
Sam Moore,
George Campbell,
Dr. Franklin Fearing,
Emil Corwin,
William Pomerance,
Philip M. Connelly,
Abraham Polonsky.
An advisory council to the corporation was set up composed of the
following :
Simon Eisner,
Dr. Linus Carl Pauling,
Dr. Edward A. Cykler,
Dr. Chauncey A. Alexander,
Max Silverstein,
John D. Entenza,
Harry Hoijer,
Mrs. Sybil K. Richardson,
Carey Me Williams,
Oscar Pattiz.
The list of stockholders and prospective stockholders is as follows
John McTernan,
Charles Katz,
Ray S. Avery,
ElickMoll, *
Theodore Saidenberg,
Reginald Johnson,
E. D. MitcheU,
Seniel Ostrow,
Peter Kahn, Jr.,
Kenneth Macgowan,
Lisl Henreid,
Albert Hackett,
Robert Shaw,
Howard Koch,
Owen Vinson,
George Coulouris,
Leo Goldberg,
John Garfield,
R. B. Roberts,
Allan Scott,
Alvin Wilder,
Samuel Moore,
Peg LaCentra Stewart,
Paul Stewart,
Larry Adler,
Robert W. Kenny,
Frances Hackett,
Agnes 'Malley Marx,
Ben Margolis,
Emil Corwin,
M. A. Halprin,
Anna Halprin,
Alice Cohee,
Dan A. West,
Charles Brown,
0. S. Pattiz,
Lillian Tausig,
Vera Caspery,
John Cromwell,
David Hertz,
Samuel Rosen,
Leahn J. Halprin,
Jean Sieroty,
Jack Y. Berman,
Robert Triest,
Franklin Fearing,
M. W. Pomerance,
Pauline Lauber,
(179)
180 UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA
Abraham Polonsky, George Seller,
E. E. Kotkin, Ranald MacDougall,
George Campbell, Paul Jarrico,
Paul Henreid, Jack L. Brostoff.
Anne Revere,
This group, through the Hollywood Community Group, Inc., filed
applications with the Federal Communications Commission for a stand-
ard broadcasting station and a frequency modulation station to be located
in the County of Los Angeles.
EMERGENCY COMMITTEE ON KFI
For many months prior to February 10, 1945, radio listeners in
Los Angeles County (when they did not tune the station out) were
bombarded with pro-Soviet, red-slanted propaganda emanating from Los
Angeles Radio Station KFI through the media of several news-analysts
and commentators. The commentators in question were Alvin Wilder,
William Blackiston, Peter De Lima, Rodriguez & Sutherland and Sam
Baiter. Committee investigators had followed the broadcasts of these
self -alleged "news analysts'' and were aware of the red propaganda
character of the programs. The committee had received many letters
protesting against the pro-Communist and pro-Soviet slant consistently
coloring the programs in the news casts of these men.
Alvin Wilder became active in Los Angeles County some time
in 1943. He was present in August, 1943, at a forum-discussion spon-
sored by the Communist League of American Writers together with John
Howard Lawson, Fred Rinaldo and John Cohee. (People's Daily World,
August 13, 1943, page 5, columns 7-8). He was advertised to speak with
Jack Burke and the nationally known Communist, Max Bedacht, in the
People's Daily World, January 28, 1944, page 3, columns 5-6. The Peo-
ple's Daily World in its issue for March 23, 1944 (page 3, column 3)
reported that Alvin Wilder would preside as Moderator at a meeting
of the West Side District of the International Workers Order, well
known Communist fraternal organization. In July of 1944 he became
a member of the Executive Committee of the Communist Hollywood
Democratic Committee. The People's Daily World for March 30, 1945
(page 4, column 8) listed Wilder as a judge in a debate given under
American Youth for Democracy (Young Communist League] sponsorship
together with Judge Stanley Moffatt and Morris Cohen, President of
the Los Angeles Chapter of the National Lawyers Guild (Communist
front for attorneys). He became affiliated with the Communist Party
school, the People's Educational Center in Los Angeles in the summer
of 1945. He appeared as a sponsor of the Citizens Committee to Aid
Locked Out Hearst Employees, a Communist inspired and dominated
group, in October of 1946.
In the early summer of 1945 at a meeting of the Hollywood Demo-
cratic Committee (now the Hollywood Independent Citizens Committee
of the Arts, Sciences and Professions) it was announced that a mass
meeting would be held at the Hollywood Women's Club at Hollywood
Avenue and La Brea in the City of Los Angeles under the auspices
UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA 181
of the Emergency Committee on KFI in order to perfect plans for a
"People's Protest" against Kadio Station KFI in discharging the six
commentators in question.
A typical Communist pamphlet immediately appeared and was
widely distributed. On the front page appeared the following :
You have a problem Mr. Anthony . . .
The people want to know why
You fired
Six commentators
From Station KFI
The pamphlet read as follows :
THE FACTS
On February 10 :
Station KFI sent a telegram to the sponsors of these six commen-
tators dismissing them as of March 1st.
Alvin "Wilder
William Blackiston
Peter De Lima
Rodriguez & Sutherland
Sam Baiter
The Sponsors Objected
The people protested
From February 10 to March 30:
Station KFI and Earl C. Anthony refused to say anything.
The station would not permit the commentators to say " good-
bye ' ' to their audiences or to explain the reason for their sudden
removal from KFI 's frequency.
On March 30:
KFI issued in answer to thousands of indignant letters, the
following :
"To be impartial, sponsorship of local commentators
will be discontinued"
' ' Commentators stir up controversy to make audiences
for themselves"
"KFI's listeners will get the facts impartially
analyzed ' '
1 ' The issue of free speech is not involved ' '
The emergency committee on KFI
Formed as a protest against the station ? s action claimed a
"Violation of free speech has been perpetrated."
The committee answered KFI's statement immediately
182 UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES IN CALIFORNIA
"Earl C. Anthony has deprived you, the listener, of the right
which you have always had, to decide for yourself what news
program, analyst and commentator you prefer. We do not
intend to sit back and allow a station owner to usurp this simple
American right. "
KFI's statement does NOT explain
Why KFI insists all newscasters be in the employ of the
station
Why the sponsors were not allowed to retain the six
commentators
Why KFI refused to broadcast their decision
Why opinions expressed by station employed analysts are
more impartial than those of the dismissed men
This committee is going to act
Does this station -which preempts free speech violate public
rights in other respects ? Is it contributing to the best inter-
ests of the community ? The emergency committee is making
a thorough investigation, one that will give the Federal
Communications Commission the facts it must have to hand
down a decision.
Now here is what you can do . . .
You as a firm believer in free speech
Must write five (5)
immediate letters
of protest!
To Earl C. Anthony, whd heads the corporation owning KFI,
and is Los Angeles distributor for Packard Automobiles, at 1000 S.
Hope Street, Los Angeles.
To P 
