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TtRATEGY and tactics of world COIMUNISM
THE SIGNIFICANCE OF THE MATUSOW CASE
HEARING
BEFORE THE nsTjr; ..
SUBCOMMITTEE TOJNVESTIGATE THE
ADMINISTEATION OF THE INTERNAL SECUBITY
ACT AND OTHER INTERNAL SECURITY LAWS
OF THE
COMMITTEE ON THE JUDICIARY
UNITED STATES SENATE
EIGHTY-FOURTH CONGRESS
FIRST SESSION
PURSUANT TO
S. Res. 58
APRIL 18, 1955
PART 9
Printed for the use of the Committee on the Judiciary
(
P*B.^
UNITED STATES ^ i±
< ^ 7
GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE
•°'-***^6 WASHINGTON : 1935
Boston I'ublic Library
superintendent of Documents
COMMITTEE ON THE JUDICIARY
HARLEY M. KILGORE,
JAMES O. EASTLAND, Mississippi
ESTES KEPAUVER, Tennessee
OLIN D. JOHNSTON, South Carolina
THOMAS C. HENNINGS, Je., Missouri
JOHN L. McCLELLAN, Arkansas
PRICE DANIEL, Texas
JOSEPH C. O'MAHONEY, Wyoming
West Virginia, Chairman
ALEXANDER WILEY, Wisconsin
WILLIAM LANGER, North Daliota
WILLIAM E. JENNER, Indiana
ARTHUR V. WATKINS, Utah
EVERETT Mckinley DIRKSEN, lUlnols
HERMAN WELKER, Idaho
JOHN MARSHALL BUTLER, Maryland
SXJBCOMMITTEE TO INVESTIGATE THE ADMINISTRATION OF THE INTERNAL SeCUBITT
Act and Other Internal Security Laws
JAMES O. EASTLAND, Mississippi, Chairman
OLIN D. JOHNSTON, South Carolina WILLIAM E. JENNER, Indiana
JOHN L. McCLELLAN, Arkansas ARTHUR V. WATKINS, Utah
THOMAS C. HENNINGS, JR., Missouri HERMAN WELKER, Idaho
PRICE DANIEL, Texas JOHN MARSHALL BUTLER, Maryland
J. G. SOUBWINE, Chief Counsel
BiCHABD Abens and Alva C. Carpenter, Associate Counsel
Benjamin Mandel, Director of Research
n
5ui
CONTENTS
Pase
Testimony of —
Ralph N. Shapiro 817
Mandel A. Terman 802
Nathan Witt 747
ni
STRATEGY AND TACTICS OF WORLD COMMUNISM
MONDAY, APRIL 18, 1955
United States Senate,
Subcommittee To Investigate the
Administration of the Internal Security Act and
Other Internal Security Laws, of the
Committee on the Judiciary,
Washington^ D. C.
The subcommittee met, pursuant to call, at 2 : 45 p. m., in room 457,
Senate Office Building, Senator James O, Eastland (chairman of the
subcommittee) presiding.
Present : Senators Eastland, McClellan, Daniel, and Jenner.
Also present: J. G. Sourwine, chief counsel; Alva C. Carpenter,
associate counsel; Benjamin Mandel, director of research; and Eob-
ert C. McManus, professional staff member.
The Chairman. Wlio is your first witness, Mr. Sourwine?
Mr. Sourwine. Mr. Nathan Witt.
The Chairman. Mr. Witt, do you have any objection to the tele-
vision camera?
Mr. Witt. Yes ; I do. Senator Eastland, while I am testifying. If
you please, I would just as soon get the picture taking out of the way
before I am sworn.
The Chairman. Do you solemnly swear the testimony you are about
to give the Internal Security Subcommittee of the Committee on the
Judiciary of the Senate of the United States is the truth, the whole
truth, and nothing but the truth, so help you God ?
Mr. Witt. I do.
The Chairman. Sit down. I want the photographers not to sit
between the witness and the committee.
Do you object to photos while you are testifying?
Mr. Witt. Yes; I do, sir. I have no objections to as many pictures
as they want to take before I testify, but I would rather not have them
while I am testifying.
TESTIMONY OF NATHAN WITT, ACCOMPANIED BY JOSEPH FORER,
HIS ATTORNEY
Mr. Sourwine. You are a lawyer, Mr. Witt ?
Mr. Witt. I am, Mr. Sourwine.
Mr. Sourwine. Where do you practice law ?
^Ir. Witt. Xew York City.
Mr. Sourwine. And your address, sir?
Mr. Witt. 9 East 40th Street, New York 16.
Mr. Sourwine. ^Vho are your partners, Mr. Witt ?
747
748 STRATEGY AND TACTICS OF WORLD COMMUNISM
Mr. Witt. I have no partners. I practice by myself.
Mr. SouRWiNE. Do you have any office associates ?
Mr. Witt. Only in the sense that there are other lawyers who share
the same suite as I do, Mr. Sourwine.
Mr. Sourwine. You do not, then, employ any lawyer?
Mr. Witt. No, I don't.
Mr. Sourwine. Mr, Witt, pursuant to a telephone discussion be-
tween us as to expediting the course of this hearing, you were fur-
nished earlier with a memorandum. Do you have that memorandum
with you ?
Mr. Witt. Yes, Mr. Sourwine. If you refer to the memorandum
I was furnished in the committee office downstairs earlier this aft-
ernoon ; yes, I have it.
Mr. Sourwine. It is a memorandum of your affiliation with organ-
izations cited as subversive by the Attorney General or by the House
Committee on Un-American Activities, with references for the cita-
tions, and it was indicated to you, at the time it was given to you, that
you would be asked to state in what specific instances you question its
accuracy.
Mr. Witt. This was given to me at approximately 1 : 30 this after-
noon in the committee office downstairs.
Mr. Sourwine. Have you had time to look it over ?
Mr. Witt. I have had some little time, Mr. Sourwine.
Mr. Sourwine. Are there items on there which you wish to question
with respect to accuracy or fact ?
Mr. Witt. Mr. Sourwine, and Mr. Chairman, may I ask the chair-
man a question before I answer Mr. Sourwine's question?
The Chairman. You can ask me the question ; yes.
Mr. Witt. Mr. Chairman, may the record show what the reason
is for my having been subpenaed in connection with this hearing ?
The Chairman. That is a matter for the determination of the Chair.
We are conducting an investigation. I don't think it is proper for
the Chair, the chairman of the committee, to refer to that in its
investigation.
Proceed, Mr. Sourwine. 4't
Mr. Witt. May I say a word on that, Mr. Chairman ? ^ i
The Chairman. No, sir ; I don't care to hear you on that, sir.
Proceed, Mr. Sourwine.
Mr. Sourwine. The question was, Mr. Witt, whether there are any
items on this memorandum with respect to which you want to make
a contrary statement, or items which you want to declare are inaccu-
rate or unf actual.
Mr. Witt. Yes. And your adjectives don't cover all the categories
of the comments I have to make, Mr. Sourwine, but anyway I will
go ahead and make my comments.
Mr. Sourwine. I am attempting to determine whether your com-
ments in regard to this are going to be lengthy. If they are, we
will defer it until a little later on in the testimony. This was an
effort to expedite things. If it is not going to expedite them, we had
better get into another subject here.
Mr. Witt. My comments won't be lengthy, Mr. Sourwme.
Mr. Sourwine. They will not be lengthy ?
Mr. Witt. Don't be alarmed ; no. I am anxious to get out as soon
as I can this afternoon, as you know, pursuant to our telephone dis-
STRATEGY AND TACTICS OF WORLD COMMUNISM 749
cussion. I have to get out to Chicago this afternoon, and I would
like to get out as soon as possible, so I will make my comments as
short as I can, but I do want to make my comments, if I may.
Mr. SouRwiNE. Yes. And would you, in commenting on this memo-
randum, please address yourself to items in order as they appear here,
picking up the ones that you want to challenge.
Mr. Witt. Well, that is a little difficult, but I will do the best
I can, Mr. Sourwine, to save time.
Mr. Sourwine. Very good.
Mr, Witt. Just let me say generally, since I was handed this only
about an hour and a half ago and had no opportunity to refer to
records in my possession, some of these items refer to alleged activ-
ities of mine or affiliations of mine which took place as much as 20
years ago. I have difficulty with some of them, but I will do the best
I can.
Taking them in order, as suggested by you, Mr. Sourwine, first
this item to the effect that I was a signer of the freedom crusade
petition issued by the Civil Eights Congress, January 17, 1949, at
the present moment I have no recollection of that.
I wouldn't be surprised if I did, if I get what it was about from
its title and the organization it was issued by. I probably wouldn't
have hesitated to sign it, but at the moment I have no recollection that
Tdid.
Second item refers to my being a member of the Citizens Committee
for Harry Bridges. Of course, I think it is unfortunate, since Mr.
Bridges has been involved in four cases in the past, he has been in-
volved, he is now involved in a fifth, that this doesn't refer to what
this committee was for or what case it had reference to, but in any
event I do have a recollection that I was at one time a member of
some citizens committee for Harry Bridges, and the many attempts
to persecute him.
The next item refers to me as being a signer of a statement for the
Council for Pan-American Democracy. I have no recollection of
that.
Shall I continue, Mr. Sourwine ?
Mr. Sourwine. Yes.
Mr. Witt. Oh, I thought you were busy up there.
Next item refers to my membership in the International Juridical
Association. I was a member of the International Juridical Associa-
tion.
The next item refers to my having been a member of the board of
trustees of the Jefferson School of Social Science. That is an item
on which I refuse to make any comment, Mr. Sourwine and Mr.
Chairman.
The next item refers to my having been counsel and a member of
the executive committee of the National Federation for Constitutional
Liberties. I was counsel, one of counsel of the NFCL, and a member
of its executive committee.
The next item refers to the fact that I have been a writer, or I was
a writer for Science and Society in 1945. That is an item on which
I refuse to make any comment.
The Chairman. For what reason ?
750 STRATEGY AND TACTICS OF WORLD COMMUNISM
Mr. Witt, The reason that T think it is an improper question to be
posed by this committee, as I think thase all are, Mr. Chairman, but
I am expediting proceedings and I am making a division in my mind.
The Chairman. I am instructing you and ordering you to answer
that question.
Mr. WiTF. I refuse to answer it, Mr. Chairman.
Senator Daniel. Mr. Chairman, in order that the question might
be specifically stated, the question with reference to this item would
be whether or not he was a writer for Science and Society in 1945,
a publication cited as subversive by the House Committee on Un-
American Activities, and I ask that question, Mr, Chairman, if I may.
Mr. Witt, This is Mr. Daniel addressing the question to me?
Senator Daniel. Yes.
Mr. Witt. First, Mr. Daniel, to the — my objection to it is on the
ground that such a question violates my rights under the first amend-
ment to the Constitution. As you know, Mr. Daniel, that amend-
ment guarantees the right of free speech and free press, generally free
thought ; and the fact that I wrote for Science and Society or for any
other publication in America is an improper question to be put to me
by a committee of the United States Senate.
Senator Daniel. Mr, Chairman, I ask that he be ordered to answer
the question. Certainly, it is no violation of free speech to ask a man
if he was a writer for a certain publication that claims the right of a
free press.
The Chairman. Yes ; you are ordered to answer the question.
Mr. Witt. Mr, Daniel, addressing another lawyer, I want to ex-
press my strongest disagreement with you. I think it is a violation
of my rights under the fifth amendment for a committee of the United
States Senate to ask me whether I ever wrote something, without even
telling me what I wrote, or without describing the publication, except
that some House committee once called it subversive — whatever that
may mean.
Senator Daniel, All I wanted to do was to know just exactly on
what basis you refuse to answer whether you were a writer for this
publication.
Do you now claim the fifth amendment ; that it might incriminate
you if you gave a truthful answer to the question ?
Mr, Witt, I would like a ruling from the Chair on my claim that
the question itself put to me violates my rights under the first
amendment.
The Chairman, The Chair overrules your objection and orders you
to answer the question, Mr, Witt, You are ordered and instructed to
answer the question.
Mr. Witt. All right. I disagree with that with greatest respect,
Senator Eastland, but in order to save time I won't argue it any fur-
ther, and you leave me no alternative except to refuse to answer on the
grounds that, under the fifth amendment, I have the right not to
answer any — I have the right not to be a witness against myself, even
though it pertains to something I may have written.
To continue
Mr. Sourwine, Mr, Witt, may it be clear you are not being asked
to comment upon every item here. You are only being asked to point
out and mention those items which you wish to challenge.
Mr. Witt, I understand.
STRATEGY AND TACTICS OF WORLD COMMUNISM 751
Senator Daniel. Mr. Cliairman, we passed up one other; member
of board of trustees, Jefferson School of Social Science, on which the
witness refused to comment. I would like to ask whether or not the
witness has been a member of the board of trustees, Jefferson School
of Social Science, which was cited as subversive by the Attorney
General.
Mr. Witt. I have the same objection to that, Mr. Daniel, as I had to
the question relating to Science and Society. I think the question or
the item violates my rights under the first amendment.
Senator Daniel. Do you decline to answer under the fifth amend-
ment ?
The Chairman. I order you to answer the question.
Mr. WiiT. Will you rule on my objection on the first amendment?
The Chairman. Yes. It is overruled, and you are ordered to an-
swer the question.
Mr. Witt. In order to save time, then, Mr. Chairman and Mr. Sour-
Avine. when I finally refuse to answer after you overrule any objec-
tion I may have under the first amendment, may it be understood that
I am exercising my privilege not to be a witness against myself under
the fifth amendment.
Do you want me to repeat it, or may that be understood ?
The Chairman. Proceed, Mr. Sourwine.
jNIr. Witt. I will follow^ your suggestion, Mr. Sourwine, and com-
ment on only those items which seem to me to require comment.
I liave no recollection of having been a lecturer at the School for
Democracy. I may have been, but at the moment I have no recol-
lection.
I have no recollection of having been a sponsor of a May Day
parade under the auspices of the National Council of Arts, Sciences,
and Professions.
I have no recollection of having signed a petition against the con-
tempt conviction of lawyers who defended the 11 Communist leaders,
but I would like to say for the record that if such a petition had been
presented to me at the time, I would have considered it my duty as a
lawyer to sign it. But as to the fact, I have no present recollection.
I do recall writing an article for Social Work Today, defending
loyalty cases and attacking investigating committees. I have con-
tinuecl taking this position at all times since 1941, when I wrote that
article. I do defend so-called loyalty cases. I do continue to attack
investigating committees, including this one.
Mr. Sourwine. Mr. Witt, to your knowledge, is the publication
Social Work Today a publication which has been cited as subversive
by the Attorney General or the House Committee on Un-American
Activities ?
Mr. Witt. I have no knowledge, Mr. Sourwine, and I made no par-
ticular investigation. I don't pay much attention to such citations.
Mr. Sourwine. Why do you make a distinction between this publi-
cation, your writing for which you are willing to admit, and the pub-
lication Science and Society, your writing for which you did not desire
to testify with regard to ?
Mr. Witt. Because this sheet of yours tells me that Science and
Society has been cited by the House Committee, while it doesn't say
anything about a citation against Social Work Today.
59886 — 55— pt. 9 2
752 STRATEGY AND TACTICS OF WORLD COMMUNISM
Mr. SouRwiNE. Thank you.
Now, will you go ahead, please.
Mr. Witt. I have no recollection of having been an attorney, or
the attorney in the case of Nancy Eeed, who 1^3 referred to here as a
Communist defendant before the New York State Labor Department
in 1941. Of course, that item, Mr. Chairman, is completely inexplic-
able to me. I am a member of the bar. I have the right to defend
Communists, non-Communists, murderers, rapists.
The Chairman. Just answer his question.
Mr. Witt. I just don't understand the question.
In any event, I have no recollection of it, nor do I have any recol-
lection of having been the attorney or an attorney for the Communist
Party in Binghamton, N. Y., in 1947.
Senator Daniel. Mr. Chairman, may I ask a question there?
The Chairman. Proceed, Senator.
Senator Daniel. Do you state to this committee under oath that
you were not attorney for the Communist Party in Binghamton. N. Y.,
in 1947? ^ fe . ,
Mr. Witt. Senator Daniel, I thought I made myself clear, and that
is not what I said. I said I had no recollection of it.
Senator Daniel. You have made yourself clear, but I am now ask-
ing you this question:
Do you say to the committee that you were not attorney for the
Communist Party in Binghamton, N. Y., in 1947 ?
Mr. Witt. Oh, no, I couldn't say that in view of the fact I have
already told you I have no recollection. Then how can I say to you
affirmatively that I didn't represent them?
Although, I will say again. Senator Daniel, that if in the course
of my professional work I felt called upon to represent the Communist
Party, I wouldn't hesitate to do so. Let there be no misunderstand-
ing about that. But just on the question of fact whether I did or
didn't, I have no recollection.
Senator Daniel. Have you ever represented the Communist Party
at any time?
Mr. Witt. I have no recollection that I did, officially.
Senator Daniel. Officially?
Mr.^ Witt. Officially, I mean, in the sense of having represented
them in any trial or hearing on any proceeding.
Senator Daniel. Have you represented them in any capacity, the
Communist Party?
Mr. Witt. I have no recollection that I have done so. I have ad-
vised individual Communists and individual Communist leaders from
time to time about problems, but I have no recollection of having rep-
resented the Communist Party, as such, in any kind of proceeding,
judicial, administrative.
Senator Daniel. Have you ever advised officials of the Communist
Party?
Mr. Witt. I have, with respect to problems of one kind or another,
and I will continue to do so. Senator Daniel.
Senator Daniel. With respect to problems of the party itself ?
Mr. Witt. No; I have no recollection of that. With respect to
individual problems. I was counsel — let me say this — I was counsel
for Irving Potash after his incarceration as a result of his conviction
STRATEGY AND TACTICS OF WORLD COMMUNISM 753
in the first Communist trial in New York. I represented him while
he was in Leavenworth Prison. That representation came about be-
cause I then represented the union of which he was an official.
Mr. Sourwine, do you want me to comment on this quotation from
the testimony by Whittaker Chambers?
Mr. Sourwine. Only if you wish to deny it, sir, or declare that it
is in some respect factually inaccurate.
Mr. Witt. Senator Eastland, would you bear with me a moment
on this?
The Chairman. I just want you to answer the question.
Mr. Witt. Yes ; I am going to try to answer it.
The Chairman. All right.
Mr. Witt. But it may take me more than a sentence or two in this
case. And the reason is, Senator Eastland, that my experience with
this committee, not under your chairmansliip ; understand. Senator
Eastland, but with this committee first under the chairmanship of
the late
The Chairman. Wait just a minute. I don't care to hear that.
Mr. Witt. Won't you hear the end of my sentence. Senator East-
land ? Will you bear with me just a moment ?
The Chairman. Do you desire to comment on that testimony of
Mr. Chambers?
Mr. Witt. Yes, I do.
The Chairman. All right, tlien comment.
Mr. Witt. I am not interested in criticizing this committee, Senator
Eastland. I am interested in protecting myself and protecting myself
against what this committee has already done to me, Senator East-
land, and you are compounding the improper procedure which this
coromittee has pursued since 1950.
The Chairman. Now if you desire to comment, you will be permitted
to do so.
Mr. Witt. If you will permit me, my comment on this. Senator East-
land, is, first, that since I wasn't given this until this afternoon, I
have no way of checking up on this quotation. But what I am trying to
say. Senator Eastland, if you will bear with me as one lawyer to
another for just 2 minutes
The Chairman. No, sir. You stated that you had no way of check-
ing the information. Your statement is that you don't know whether
that testimony is accurate or not ; is that correct ? _
Mr. Witt. No. I have no comment on it. It is a quotation.
The Chairman. Well, is it correct? Did Mr. Chambers tell the
truth there ?
Mr. Wrrr. Well, Senator Eastland, I must say something before I
answer that in this way. This statement has apparently been edited.
That is what I am trying to tell you, Senator Eastland. I think you
ought to be interested in that.
The Chairman. All right, are those statements there true or false ?
Now you can answer that in one word and then explain.
jMr. Win. All right, sir, thank you very much. I think that may
take care of my problem. Although, as I say, I can't recall this
specific testimony by Whittaker Chambers, given almost 7 years ago,
it has been edited in such a way as to give rise to the implication that
754 STRATEGY AND TACTICS OF WORLD COMMUNISM
Whittaker Chambers then testified that he knew me as a person who
had been engaged in espionage.^
Now first let me say, Senator Eastland, whether that implication
is contained in this quotation, Mr. AVhittaker Chambers' testimony as
a whole, or the testimony of anybody else in part or in whole, that
any testimony that I have ever engaged in espionage either when I
was a Government official or since is entirely false.
The Chairman. You stated "as a Government official." What
places have you held with the American Government?
Mr. Witt. Well, we are coming to that.
The Chaieman. I am asking you the question now, sir.
Mr. Witt. You want it now. I was an attorney in the Department
of Agriculture in 1933 until early 1934. Beginning early in 1934 I
was an attorney on the staff of what we referred to, as you recall.
Senator Eastland, as the old National Labor Relations Board, to
distinguish it from the NLEB which was set up under the Wagner
Act.
In 1934 that was the NLRB which was set up under Public Resolu-
tion No. 44 passed pursuant to the framework of the National Indus-
trial Recovery Act.
I was on the staff of the old NLRB until the Wagner Act was passed
in July 1935, July 5, 1935, when I became an attorney on the staff
of the new NLRB set up under the Wagner Act.
In December 1935 I became the Assistant General Counsel of the
NLRB.
In November 1937 I became the Secretary of the NLRB, and I re-
mained in that post — at least I remained on the payroll although I
severed my actual connections somewhat earlier — until the end of 1940.
That is my experience with the Government, Mr. Chairman.
The Chairman. Now at any time during that period were you at
the head of an underground Communist group whose original purpose
was Communist infiltration of the American Government ?
Mr. Witt. Senator Eastland, as I have already tried to tell you, at
no time in my life, either before I was in the Government, while I was
in the Government, since I have been in the Government, have I been
engaged in espionage, and I would deny that no matter if you brought
10 or 50 witnesses, and despite the dangers in America today of denying
such allegations.
Mr. SouRwiNE. Mr. Witt, you are a lawyer. Are you aware that
the question of whether you were engaged in espionage is a legal con-
clusion, and what the Senator is asking you are facts ?
Mr. Witt. Break it down, Mr. Sourwine. Break it down any way
you want. Now, Mr. Sourwine, that is why I refrained to tell Senator
Eastland
The Chairman. Wait just a minute.
Mr. Witt. Because he is unfamiliar with it, but you, Mr. Sourwine,
were in Salt Lake City when Senator McCarran conducted his hearings
in October 1952. You were there when J. B. Matthews testified be-
fore this committee that there had been testimony before a congres-
sional committee that I had engaged in espionage.
1 The full text of the paragraphs of Chambers' testimony which were referred to in the
committee document appears at p. 763.
STRATEGY AND TACTICS OF WORLD COMJVrUNISM 755
And when I appeared before Senator INIcCarran, neither you nor
Senator McCarran gave me an opportunity to deny it or to demand
that J. B. Matthews point out to the committee where there had been
suc]i testimony.
When I appeared before this committee in May of 1953, Mr. Sour-
wine, you weren't present, but Mr. Mandel was present and Robert
Morris was then counsel to this committee, and the same question was
raised and I asked Senator Jenner for a ruling on this question. He
said he would take it under advisement ; he would let me have a ruling.
I never got a ruling.
At tlie time I appeared, Senator Eastland — I will be done just with
this one comment. This committee issued a press release saying that
Elizabeth Bentley had accused me of having been engaged in espio-
nage, and when I took that up with the New York Herald Tribune,
the New York Herald Tribune secured a correction from this com-
mittee and I wrote Robert Morris, counsel for this committee, asking
him to make that part of the record of this committee, and that hasn't
been done. And I think you have gone far enough with this, Mr.
Sourwine, and Chairman Eastland. I have had enough of it.
The Chairman. I think we have gone far enough with this pro-
ceeding. Are you now a member of the Communist Party ?
Mr. Witt. First, Senator Eastland, I think the question is imma-
terial and improj^er because, from what I understand, I am here today
under subpena of this committee because of my professional work as
counsel for Clinton Jencks who is attempting to secure justice in the
Federal court in El Paso.
Tlie Cilvir:man. Answer the question.
Mr. Witt. I think the question is improper because it violates my
oath as a lawyer to represent my clients, and you are trying to make it
difficult. Senator Eastland, and I think you as a lawyer should appre-
ciate that.
The Chairman. You know very well, Mr. Witt, that whether you
are a member of the Communist Party or not has not anything to do
with obligation that you might owe clients, I ask you this question.
Are you now a member of the Communist Party ?
Mr. Witt. Oh, Senator Eastland, perhaps you could make that last
comment if I hadn't been in El Paso as counsel for Clinton Jencks.
The Chairman. Answer my question, please, sir.
Mr. Witt. You know. Senator Eastland, I am here today because I
am counsel for Clinton E. Jencks.
The Chairman. Answer my question, sir.
Mr. Witt. And I spent all these months
The Chairman. Answer my question.
Mr. Witt (continuing) . As a lawyer to secure justice for my client
pursuant to my oath as a lawyer. Senator Eastlancl.
The Cilvirman. Answer my question.
Mr. Witt. And I think 3^our question is improper as a violation of
the right which American lawyers have to practice their profession as
long as they don't violate the law.
The CiiAiiafAN. Answer the question. Are you now a member of
the Communist Party U. S. A.?
IMr. Witt. Will you give me a ruling on my first objection, Mr.
Chainnan ?
756 STRATEGY AND TACTICS OF WORLD COMMUNISM
The Chairman. Well, I overrule your objection.
Mr. Witt. All ri
