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GIFT OF THE
GOVERNMENT
OF THE UNITED STATES
Committee on Un-American Activities
House
90th Congress
Contents
1. Subversive Influences in Riots,
Looting and Burning, Part 1.
2. Subversive Influences in Riots,
Looting and Burning, Part 2,
5. Subversive Influences in Riots,
Looting and Burning, Part 5.
k. Subversive Influences in Riots,
Looting and Burning, Part h,
5. Subversive Influences in Riots,
Looting and Burning, Part 5»
6, Subversive Influences in Riots,
Looting and Burning, Part 6,
SUBVERSIVE INRUENCES IN RIOTS, LOOTING,
AND BURNING
PART 1
HEARINGS
BEFORE THE
COMMITTEE ON UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
NINETIETH CONGRESS
FIRST SESSION
OCTOBER 25, 26, 31, and NOVEMBER 28, 1967
(INCLUDING INDEX)
Printed for the use of the
Committee on Un-American Activities
V
\
32-955 O
U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE
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For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office
Washington, D.C. 20402 - Price 65 cents
COMMITTEE ON UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES
United States House of Repbesentattves
(EDWIN E. WILLIS, Louisiana, Chairman
WILLIAM M. TUCK, Virginia JOHN M. ASHBROOK, Ohio
JOB B. POOL, Texas DEL CLAWSON, California
RICHARD H. ICHOBD, Missouri RICHARD L. ROUDEBUSH, Indiana
JOHN C. CULVER, Iowa ALBERT W. WATSON, South Carolina
Francis J. McNamaba, Director
Cbbstbr D. Smith, General Oounael
Alfred M. Nittle, Counsel
U
CONTENTS
Page
Synopsis 715
October 25, 1967: Testimony of—
Archie Moore 735
Clarence Mitchell 751
Asa T. Spaulding 763
Whitney M. Young, Jr., for National Urban League, Inc.
(statement) 767
Afternoon session :
Evelle J. Younger 769
Adrian H. Jones 790
October 26, 1967 : Testimony of—
Herman D. Lerner 803
November 28, 1967 : Testimony of —
Hon. Sam Yorty 833
October 31, 1967 : Testimony of —
Robert H. Mehaflfey 863
Committee Exhibit No. 1 (International Communist Statements on Racial
Agitation and Riots in the U.S.) 863
Committee Exhibit No. 2 (FBI Statements on Communist Racial Agita-
tion) 878
Committee Exhibit No. 3 (Data on Organizations Involved in Racial
Agitation) 884
Index i
The House Committee on Un-American Activities is a standing
committee of the House of Representatives, constituted as such by the
rules of the House, adopted pursuant to Article I, section 5, o± the
€onstitution of the United States which authorizes the House to de-
termine the rules of its proceedings.
RULES ADOPTED BY THE 90TH CONGRESS
House Resolution 7, January 10, 1967
RESOLUTION
Resolved, That the Rules of the House of Representatives of the Eighty-ninth
Congress, together with all appUcable provisions of the Legislative Reorganiza-
tion Act of 1946, as amended, be, and they are hereby, adopted as the Rules of
the House of Representatives of the Ninetieth Congress * * *
* * ♦ • ♦ ♦ •
Rule X
STANDING COMMITTEES
1. There shall be elected by the House, at the commencement of each Con-
gress,
* •••♦♦*
(r) Committee on Un-American Activities, to consist of nine Members.
* ♦ ♦ ♦ • • •
Rule XI
POWERS AND DUTIES OP COMMITTEES
*******
18. Committee on Un-American Activities.
(a) Un-American activities.
(b) The Committee on Un-American Activities, as a whole or by subcommittee,
is authorized to make from time to time investigations of (1) the extent, charac-
ter, and objects of un-American propaganda activities in the United States, (2)
the diffusion within the United States of subversive, and un-American propa-
ganda that is instigated from foreign countries or of a domestic origin and at-
tacks the principle of the form of government as guaranteed by our Constitution,
and (3) all other questions in relation thereto that would aid Congress in any
necessary remedial legislation.
The Committee on Un-American Activities shall report to the House (or to the
Clerk of the House if the House is not in session ) the results of any such investi-
gation, together with such recommendations as it deems advisable.
For the purpose of any such investigation, the Committee on Un-American
Activities, or any subcommittee thereof, is authorized to sit and act at such times
and places within the United States, whether or not the House is sitting, has
recessed, or has adjourned, to hold such hearings, to require the attendance of
such witnesses and the production of such books, papers, and dociuments, and
to take such testimony, as it deems necessary. Subpenas may be issued under
the signature of the chairman of the committee or any subcommittee, or by any
member designated by any such chairman, and may be served by any person
designated by any such chairman or member.
27. To assist the House in appraising the administration of the laws and in
developing such amendments or related legislation as it may deem necessary,
each standing committee of the House shall exercise continuous watchfulness
of the execution by the administrative agencies concerned of any laws, the sub-
ject matter of which is within the jurisdiction of such committee ; and, for that
purpose, shall study all pertinent reports and data submitted to the House by the
agencies in the executive branch of the Government
• •*•♦••
rv
SYNOPSIS
On October 25, 26, 31, and November 28, 1967, a subcommittee of
the Committee on Un-American Activities held public hearings in
Room 311, Cannon House Office Building, on the subject of subversive
influences in riots, looting, and burning.
The subcommittee was composed or: Hon. Edwin E. Willis, chair-
man ; Hon. William M. Tuck, of Virginia ; Hon. Richard H. Ichord, of
Missouri; Hon. John M. Ashbrook, of Ohio; and Hon. Albert W.
Watson, of South Carolina. Hon. John C. Culver, of Iowa, was ap-
pointed October 25, 1967, as an associate member of the subcommittee
to serve at such times as Chairman Willis was unable to be present.
The purpose of the hearings was to determine "the extent to which,
and the manner in which" acts of rioting, looting, and burning in
various cities in the United States had been "planned, instigated,
incited, or supported by Communist and other subversive organiza-
tions and individuals, and all other questions in relation thereto
that would aid Congress in any necessary remedial legislation."
On October 3, 1966, Chairman Willis had directed the committee
staff to undertake a preliminary inquiry into the rioting, burning,
looting, and other tragic acts of violence which have afflicted a number
of principal cities in the United States. The chairman appointed
Representatives Tuck and Watson to oversee the general conduct of
the preliminary inquiry. Mr. Tuck rendered a report to the full com-
mittee on August 2, 1967, which clearly indicated that Communist
and/or other subversive elements have been involved in acts of rioting,
looting, and burning in the United States to a significant degree.
In his opening statement, Mr. Tuck stated that there had been
"well over 100 riots" in the past few years, several dozen of which
can be classified as "major disturbances." Property damage estimates
were staggering, as were the cost — in the millions of dollars — of over-
time for police and fire departments, mobilization of National Guard
and Federal troops, in addition to millions of dollars in lost business
in the riot-torn areas.
Congressman Tuck stated that while poverty, unemployment, dis-
crimination, and lack of educational opportunity may be factors con-
tributive to riots, these factors have existed b<5th in this country and
abroad in years past — and to a greater degree than in recent years —
without rioting.
Mr. Tuck said:
It is not the view of this oommittee that Communists or other subversive
elements are the sole cause of the recent riots; that without these elements
there would have been no riots at all. * * *
*******
It is my personal view that those persons who have gone about counseling,
urging, and advising so-called civil disobedience — which is no more than calcu-
lated violation of any law you do not like, the root of anarchy — have created
disresipect and contempt for law and order which has contributed to the mob
violence!
715
716 SUBVERSIVE INFLUENCES IN RIOTS, LOOTING, AND BURNING
Congressman Tuck stressed that only 2 to 5 percent of the Negro
population had taken part in the riots, and these figures represented a
small minority of the total Negro population in America. He added
that even this small minority was comprised, in significant part, by
youths, teenage gangs, and persons with criminal records.
In his opening statement, Mr. Tuck also noted that other inquiries
have been undertaken for the purpose of judging the factors contribut-
ing to the riots, but that the jurisdiction of the hearings of the House
Committee on Un-American Activities was limited to subversive ac-
tivities (in the perspective of the riots) and would "not embrace so-
cial problems as such."
Commenting on the historical aspects of riotSj the Virginia Congress-
man said :
Throughout history riots have been used for political purposes. They can be,
and have been, deliberately instigated to v^^eaken and undermine existing govern-
ments and pave the way for the establishment of a new and different type of
governmental system.
In 1960 the Annual Report of the House Committee on Un-Ameri-
can Activities stated :
There is considerable evidence that, in the United States, as well as on a world
scale, the Communists feel that the present tactical situation calls for increased
utilization of rioting and mob violence. * ♦ *
Mr. Tuck regretted that the committee analysis had proved to be
accurate.
TESTIMONY OF ARCHIE MOORE
Former professional light heavyweight boxing champion, Archie
Moore, now a resident of San Diego, was the lead-off witness, in the
committee's hearings.
Mr. INIoore, recipient of the 1968 outstanding citizen of San Diego
award, stated that he did not see any sense in rioting and submitted
a statement he had earlier delivered to the San Diego Union. The article
by the boxing champion, published as a page-one feature, was reprinted
by many other newspapers. It stated in part :
Granted, the Negro still has a long way to go to gain a fair shake with the
white man in this country. But believe this : If we resort to lawlessness, the only
thing we can hope for is civil war, untold bloodshed, and the end of our dreams.
We have to have a meeting of qualified men of both races. Mind you, I said
qualified men, not some punk kid, ranting the catch phrases put in his mouth
by some paid hate-monger. There are forces in the world today, forces bent upon
the destruction of America, your America and mine. And while we're on the
subject, do you doubt for a minute that communism, world communism, isn't
waiting with bated breath for the black and white Americans to turn on each
other full force? Do you want a chance for life, liberty and the pursuit of hap-
piness in the land of your birth, or do you want no chance at all under the
Red heel?
Mr, Moore stated that he had devised a program — called ABC, Any
Boy Can — based on "truth, honesty, respect for self and for other peo-
ple, their rights and property." The ABC program teaches young Ne-
groes and whites in the ghettos the basics of moral, physical, and
spiritual self-defense.
Pie added:
A good student in the ABC class does not lie, steal, cheat, smoke, gamble, re-
fu.se to go to church, play hooky from school, get into trouble, participate in riots,
SUBVERSIVE INFLUENCES IN RIOTS, LOOTING, AND BURNING 717
throw bombs, smoke dope, smoke weeds, use narcotics of any kind, use LSD * * *.
We do teach them this is wrong.
TESTIMONY OF CLARENCE MITCHELL
Clarence IVIitchell, director of the Washington Bureau of the Na-
tional Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) ,
was sworn in and stated that he had been director of the Washington
Bureau since 1950 and began his work with the well-known civil rights
organization in 1945.
Mr. Mitchell read a prepared statement into the record in which he
praised committee chairman Edwin E. Willis for his courageous chal-
lenge of the Ku Klux Klan.
In his statement, Mr. Mitchell said : "It is my opinion that it is an
insult to the millions of law-abiding colored people to align them with
the terrible destruction and violence that we have witnessed in some of
our cities." He added: "It is my opinion that the vast majority of
colored people in this countiy seek to settle their grievances and to
achieve their objectives just as all other Americans, through the law-
ful channels of the land."
Mr. Mitchell noted that his impression was that "Communists have
never made any gi-eat headway in recruiting colored followers and
they do not have any substantial following at this point."
The NAACP bureau director not^d that long befoi-e many other
groups were conscious of Communist infiltration his organization had
avoided contacts with Communists. The NAACP had "an ironclad
rule that we didn't want anybody who was Communist affiliated or an
out-and-out Communist."
Further, Mr. Mitchell stated that the NAACP had initiated a con-
certed campaign at the local level during the summer of 1967 in hopes
of heading off violence in communities. Demonstrating just one facet
of this campaign, Mr. Mitchell offered for exhibit several printed
cards and bumper stickers which had been printed and distributed by
the NAACP. The cards and bumper stickers read :
KEEP COOL, liet the Other Guy BLOW HIS TOP
THE OTHER SIDE WINS IF WE LOSE OUR COOL
BRICKS THROUGH WINDOWS DOr^'T OPEN DOORS
The NAACP director said that it was his opinion that a "great deal
of the turmoil in this country is fomented by the playing up of those
who are willing to say anything that is irresponsible for the purpose of
getting on television or getting into the papers." He recalled getting a
call from a lady who represented a very reputable lady's magazine.
She asked Mr. Mitchell to "help her find a Negro who was a college
graduate, who was disillusioned by the war in Vietnam, disillusioned
about our domestic policy, and therefore had decided to become a
sniper." The woman had been assigned to "keep looking for that partic-
ular kind of Negro" for a "Christmas story."
, TESTIMONY OF ASA T. SPAULDING
Mr. Asa T. Spaulding, resident of Durham, N.C., and president of
North Carolina Mutual Life Insurance Company, was the next wit-
ness. Mr. Spaulding had started with the insurance company in 1932
718 SUBVERSIVE INFLUENCES IN RIOTS, LOOflNG, AND BURNlNa
and worked his 'way up from assistant secretary to comptroller to
vice president in 1948 and finally to president in 1959.
The witness is a member of the board of directors of a number of
large financial institutions and a trustee of Howard University and
Shaw University. Mr. Spaulding is a receipient of a Presidential
citation in 1946 for his work in helping to stabilize the economy
of the United States Government during World War II. The witness
had recently returned from a trip to Africa as a member of a trade
mission for the U.S. Department of Commerce and had recently com-
pleted a tour of military installations in this country under the auspices
of the Department of Defense.
After reading his personal statement to the committee, Mr. Spauld-
ing read a statement on his company's position in the current civil
rights struggle.
In conclusion, Asa T. Spaulding, himself a Negro, stated :
I am of the opinion that C!ommunists never miss an opportunity to capitalize on
dissatisfaction, strife, and turmoil no matter what the cause. * * * their alliances
are more or less "marriages of convenience," subject to being dissolved when it
will serve their interest to do so.
I, therefore, doubt that Communists "sincerely have the interests of the Negro
at Ixeart," or that they will work with the Negro in his efforts to achieve full
equality * ♦ *.
TESTIMONY OF WHITNEY M. YOTJNG, JR., ON BEHALF OF THE NATIONAL
URBAN LEAGUE, INC.
Mr. Young was unable to appear before the committee on October
25, 1967. However, he submitted a statement which the chairman au-
thorized to be inserted in the record. The statement read in part :
In the light of the deaths, injuries, arrests, and destruction of Negro-owned prop-
erty this past summer, it is obvious that the interests of Negro citizens are not
advanced by riots. * * *
In answer to the question concerning whether or not Communists
sincerely have the interests of the Negro at heart, the statement pointed
out that the "Communist Party has spent much time and eJffort in
wooing the Negro population, all to no avail" and that there "is little
evidence that Communists have any significant influence on the civil
rights movement. * * *"
TESTIMONY OF EVELLE J. YOUNGER
At the start of the afternoon session of the committee hearings on
Wednesday, October 25, 1967, the first witness to be called knd sworn
in was Evelle J. Younger, district attorney for Los Angeles County,
Calif. Mr. Younger told the committee that he grew up in Nebraska
and received his A.B. and LL.B. degrees from the University of
Nebraska. He then went on to graduate studies in criminology at
Northwestern University.
After Northwestern, Mr. Younger joined the FBI as a special agent.
He served with the Army Counterintelligence Corps.
He has been deputy city attorney in Los Angeles, in the Criminal
Division: prosecuting attorney in the city of Pasadena; and on the
municipal and superior court in Los Angeles for 11 years before be-
coming district attorney in 1964.
SUBVERSIVE INFLUENCES IN RIOTS, LOOTING, AND BURNING 719
Mr. Younger stated that his first major involvement with rioters and
rioting was in 1965 during the Watts riot, where approximately 2,500
felony cases were prosecuted. The district attorney defined a riot as
"thousands of people engaged in burning, looting, assault, and mur-
der." A riot, he said, "mvolves a complete breakdown of law and
order. * * * it most certainly is one tremendous crime spree."
Commenting on his own experiences with rioters, he said :
We have been experiencing a number of actions by persons who resort to physi-
cally coercive methods to effect change which, in effect, amount to a repudiation
of the orderly governmental process — professors and clergymen urging young
men to resist military service ; the editor of the UCLA student newspaper urging
students to violate the laws against the use of marijuana ; public figures advocat-
ing a refusal to pay taxes because the Government finances programs with which
they disagree.
*******
When police are called upon to perform their duty to preserve order and protect
life and property, they are often jeered, insulted, and spat upon by the very peo-
ple they are paid to protect.
Screams of "police brutality" drown out those who urge higher standards of
training and better pay and a higher degree of professionalization to produce
better law enforcement. * * *
Concerning technical developments in our society which affect a riot
situation, Mr. Younger said :
Unquestionably, the television medium can be a major factor in contributing
to or sustaining a riot. A newspaper can also do much to mold and influence public
opinion over a period of time.
However, he noted :
Only TV can inspire immediate action — good or bad. TV can be the monster or
the Jolly Green Giant, depending on how its power is used.
Mr. Younger said that the TV stations in the United States are li-
censed to be operated "in the public interest, necessity, and conven-
ience." He added that —
if Rap Brown is making an inflammatory speech before 20 people? * * * should
TV come along and give him an audience of several million ♦ * * is it in the public
interest?
*******
When does TV stop reporting news and start creating news? At a recent Ku
Klux Klan convention in southern California, there were literally more TV cam-
eras present than delegates.
* * * * * * *
iShould rioters be able to use TV as a means of publishing battle orders?
He stated that the "riot-prone group" comprises only about 5 to 10
percent, and most of this extremist fragment of the Negro race are
"yoimg and they are psychotic. Each is a potential killer."
Mr. Younger opined that :
These racists, haters, political extremists, and agitators and the confirmed
criminals are the real villains [in any riotous situation]. * * * They comprise at
most 20 percent of the participants in any modern American riot. * * *
The IjOS Angeles district attorney continued :
Certainly, after a riot starts, this group moves in fast and pours fuel on the
flames and tries to make the riot as bloody, as damaging, and as extensive as
possible. The fact is, though, that while this 20 percent could probably start a
riot, they caimot sustain it. Only the remaining 80 percent of the 5 to 10 percent
can sustain a riot, make It last anywhere from 24 hours to a week.
720 SUBVERSIVE INFLUENCES IN RIOTS, LOOTING, AND BURNING
Mr. Younger was asked if he had any suggestions toward eliminat-
ing or reducing the possibility of riots in the future. He replied :
First, we must insist that all Americans obey all our laws at all times,
period. Not just the laws they like, but all laws, period. * * *
_* ♦ ♦_„ _ * *._^ . 4.- - *- -
Step II : Free the slaves. * * * And we must be honest with the Negro and
say we are not talking about equal cars or equal homes or equal salary, but equal
opportunity.
In concluding his testimony, the Los Angeles district attorney said :
While we are working out our problems, let us get rid of our national inferiority
complex. Government should cease its preoccupation with introspection and feel-
ings of guilt and should stop espousing the idea that society is at fault for riots.
This self-pity syndrome is extremely dangerous. * * *
Mr. Younger was thanked for his contribution by Mr. Tuck and
was questioned on certain points of his testimony by various members
of the subcommittee.
The district attorney noted that his statement was not a criticism of
television, but rather "a concern that television is so powerful that
the potential for doing great damage during the riot is there."
The district attorney restated an earlier point made in his testi-
mony— that the Communists and other extremist elements are quick
to move in once the riot starts in order to exploit the disruption to
their own ends.
TESTIMONY OF ADRIAN H. JONES
The next witness, Adrian H. Jones, was sworn in and gave his
address as 8365 East Beach Drive NW., Washington, D.C. The wit-
ness attended public schools in Roslyn and Spokane, Wash. He
received a master of arts degree in psychology from the University of
Kansas in 1963. The witness had been studying for the past 414 years
in the sociology department of the American University. At the time
of the hearings he had completed all the course work and qualifying
examinations for a Ph. D. and was writing his dissertation on civu
disturbances.
The witness served two tours of duty in Europe and participated
in the occupation of Japan from 1946 to 1949. He is former command-
ing officer of the Harlem Military Police detachment and former
provost marshal of Fort Ijeaven worth, Kans.
For 4i/'2 years prior to the hearings, he had been engaged in research
and study in the area of internal security. He is employed by the Cen-
ter for Research in Social Systems of the American ITniversity.
Mr. Jones is the coauthor of a study entitled "Combating Subver-
sively Manipulated Civil Disturbances" and is guest lecturer at the
International Police Academy. He is also a guest lecturer for the
International Association of Chiefs of Police.
The witness noted that "law enforcement has not been extensively
researched." Due to the controversial nature of investigations
into riots, his studie,s were systematically approached from three sep-
arate areas: (1) political subvei-sion, (2) community conflict, and
(3) the control of mobs and crowds. His study encompassed historical,
social science, police operational, and news media references.
Addressing the question of salient basic elements necessary for any
riot, the witness noted that group hostility or antagonism, latent or
SUBVERSIVE INFLUENCES IN RIOTS, LOOTING, AND BURNING 721
.active, "must be aroused to a high emotional stage in order to trigger
a crowd to violent action,"
Mr. Jones gave "dissident groups with real or imaginary griev-
ances" as the number one basic component element in a riot situation.
He added that dissident groups may be subversive or nonsubversive.
Another essential element for a riot is a physiological crowd. These
crowds may be "spontaneous, casual, or planned and intentional."
Other important components essential to riots are: the agitator, who
may or may not intend to trigger a riot ; the precipitating incident,
either accidental, spontaneous, natural, or developed; internal secu-
rity forces brought in to trj^ to control civil disturbances; and the
general population of the community.
In determining the "character of a riot" it must be considered that
"the subversive is interested in a riot for a political purpose." Nor-
mally, subversives do not hope to overthrow a government through
one riot, "but they do see in a riot a means of weakening the existing
power structure and of turning people against it."
The witness spoke of the evidence which indicates a riot is subver-
sively manipulated and noted that an analytical device or system had
been developed in order to eliminate speculation. The riot must be
broken down into four phases and each phase analyzed separately.
The four riot phases are: (1) the precrowd phase, (2) the crowd
phase, (3) the civil disturbance phase, and (4) the post-civil distur-
bance phase.
The precrowd phase is defined as a "preparatory period which is
characterized by the development of antagonisms within a community
between groups which have a different position on some economic,
social, political, or other issue."
In a subversively manipulated riot, the precrowd phase is marked
by: (a) the existence of a subversive organization used to create con-
flict; (h) selection of target groups "on the basis of the conflict i)oten-
tial in the community"; (e) preconditioning measures to influence
the attitudes of target groups; (d) the acquisition and storage of
weapons and explosives and the planning of escape routes for key
individual leaders.
In the crowd phase, the crowd is "turned into a mob M-hicli throws
aside all restraint and engages in collective social violence."
Subversive elements bent on starting a riot "may themseh'es insure
that a crowd will be present" by planning a meeting or rally or "stag-
ing an incident" which will draw a crowd,
"Once the crowd is assembled, the subversives deploy their person-
nel in the crowd to agitate and excite it" by shouting slogans, circulat-
ing rumors, or making speeches.
The most vulnerable crowd is one which has been preconditioned in
the aforementioned precrowd stage to react emotionally to certain
slogans, phrases, and accusations.
In the civil disturbance, or actual riot phase, the witness noted, the
highly excited crowd becomes a "mob which through a kind of emo-
tional contagion engages in large-scale, collective social violence."
In a riot which is manipulated by subversives, a "booster incident
Avill be initiated — rocks will be thrown, windows broken, a fire or fight
started" and "sniping or looting" may also occur. "A martyr will be
exploited or perhaps even created — someone who has been arrested.
722 SUBVERSIVE ESTFLUENCES IN RIOTS, LOOTING, AND BURNING
wounded, or killed by the riot-control forces or intentionally injured
or killed by the subversives."
Mr. Jones, in answer to a question at this point in the testimony,
stated "that there is a formal organization that attempts to protect the
very important subversive manipulators in order to preclude their
being arrested."
The witness then went into the fourth stage or "post-civil disturb-
ance phase" of the riot which is characterized as that "period when the
violence is ended and social order has been restored."
If subversives are involved, evidence of efforts to further violence
will be noted in a continuance of propaganda and agitation. "Demands
which the Government cannot possibly meet will be made."
The witness then directed his testimony to the question of counter-
measures to the rioting and said :
The basic objective of internal security forces is to restore order, the corrollary
is to reestablish respect for law and order and public safety. * * *
One of the techniques of controlling crowds is very solidly based upon the
specific panic response vphich is expressed by individuals in the desire to escape
or take flight from an immediate threatening area. * * *
He noted that chemical munitions (i.e., tear gas) or streams of water
cause individuals to start thinking of themselves. Usually this has the
effect of dispersing the crowd.
Clues which signify the plotting of a riot may include : "the obser-
vation of known subversives moving into an area, the discovery of
arms caches, the circulation of propaganda, attempts to hire demon-
trators, attempts to tram and orient agitators, arrangements for safe
houses and escape routes."
Countermeasures suggested by the witness to an apparent plot to
create a riot include "either to disperse the crowd or to bring the
crowd under control, to maintain contact with the leaders, and pos-
sibly to give the dissidents some sort of outlet."
Mr. Jones commented on countermeasures in the actual riot or civil
disturbance phase and said :
The procedure of the United States Army is to first use a show of force ; then to
use riot-control formation ; then to consider the use of streams of water ; then
the use of chemical agents : then fire by selected marksmen ; and finally, under
very extreme conditions, full fire power.
Ill the postdisturbance period, countermeasures include the use of
intelligence in identifying the subversive agitators. During this period
the authorities involved should listen to the complaints of members of
dissident groups. It is equally important "to get information to the
public to imderciit tjie lies, half-truths, and rumors of_S]ibversives_."_
The witness was apprised of current investigation and research of
the committee which indicated that certain groups in the United States
were actually advocating guerrilla warfare and insurgency in this
country. He was asked if he saw a relationship between subversively
manipulated riots and insurgency or guerrilla warfare. He answered
that he felt that subversively manipulated riots are definitely a part
of the political weapon system of the international Communist move-
ment.
At the, close of his testimony, Mr. Jones indicated that his research
spanned a length of time dating prior to the rash of riots in the sum-
mer of 1964.
SUBVERSIVE ZNTLUENCES IN RIOTS, LOOTING, AND BURNING 723
The witness made a passing reference to the October 21, 1967,
demonstrations at the Pentagon, stating :
I think there is certainly some evidence based upon my analytical scheme to
support the contention that someone was trying to incite riotous violence in this
particular instance.
TESTIMONY OF HERMAN D. LERNER
On Thursday, October 26, 1967, the subcommittee convened at 10 :25
a.m., and the next witness, Herman D. Lemer, was sworn in. Mr.
Lerner, who resides at 6825 Laverock Court, Bethesda, Md., stated
that he was born in Baltimore, Md., in 1923. He attended public
schools in Baltimore and studied the physical and social sciences at
the University of Maryland. His studies were interrupted in 1943-46
for a term of military service, after which he resumed college and
graduated with an A.B. degree in 1948.
Mr. Lemer did graduate work at Harvard University, where he was
a teaching fellow in social change. Since that period he has done addi-
tional periodic graduate work at the American University.
For the past 14 years, the witness had been conducting many studies
of military systems, research planning and utilization, social and
economic issues, and political trends.
Mr. Lerner is a member of various professional associations in opera-
tions research, sociology, management, and general science.
Concerning fields of study related to organized rioting, the witness
stated that over the past 10 years he had studied "national cohesion,
military strategy, general and limited warfare, political rioting, crime,
and internal security, with special reference to military-civilian rela-
tions, force, propaganda, and strategy."
Commenting particularly on an Office of Naval Research study into
riots, during his tenure with them, the witness said :
As for the possibility of rioting as a tactic in general warfare, this was a
problem which the study team looked into since it was believed that there would
be enormous destruction during a thermonuclear war and that military units
might be required to cope with many emergencies, including threats to naval
installations and internal security which might arise from political rioting
and insurgencies.
The witness listed five headings under which an analysis of recent
urban rioting in the United States could be classified: (1) "urban
disorganization and poverty"; (2) "community conflict (social, reli-
gious, economic, ethnic, racial, et cetera)"; (3) "criminality and de-
linquency"; (4) "domestic subversion"; (5) "foreign subversion."
The witness defines subversion as "any activity which has as its
objective the illegal displacement of power from one group to an-
other; * * * the weakening or destruction of national cohesion
through propaganda, military and industrial sabotage, or other eco-
nomic or political measures."
He added : "Subversion is political criminality."
Drawing a distinction between domestic and foreign subversives,
Mr. Lemer said :
A domestic, or "benign" subversive is a person whose disloyalty, alienation,
and illegal activity are directed against our national institutions, including
our political structure and the incumbents of power, but whose loyalty and
allegiance to the Nation — ^as a people — ^are still intact.
724 SUBVERSIVE INFLUENCES IN RIOTS, LOOTING, AND BURNING
A foreign or "malignant" subversive, on the other hand, is a person who is
uncommitted to the Nation and who may in fact be an agent of a foreign power
with primary allegiance to that power.
Turning to the circumstances under which political rioting occurs,
the witness explained that three subjects must be considered here: (1)
"the functions of government"; (2) "how those functions are defined
or interpreted by the persons governed"; and (3) "organized exploita-
tion of real or alleged governmental inadequacies and injustices."
In answer to the query of how "people react to organized exploita-
tion of the failure of governmental authority and power, either real
or alleged," the witness replied :
The most important determinant of this reaction is the set of basic attitudes
and sentiments which people already have concerning the Government.
4c * ♦ * * 4: *
_ An urban Negro is a low-income group in the U.S. is unlil^ely to compare
' himself with an urban Russian or an urban Chinese or * * * a man in Harlem
ordinarily will not compare himself with one in Watts, and vice versa.
* * * But he is more likely to view himself with other nearby Negroes who
have more than he or with nearby whites * * *.
This sense of comparative or relative deprivation which results from con-
sistently unfavorable comparisons causes frustration, which in turn may lead
to aggressive tendencies * * *.
The witness observed that authorities in the field of crowds, mobs,
and riots had denoted certain "features of aggressive group action
which are noteworthy for an understanding of recent urban rioting in
the United States."
These include :
(c) weakening of customary restraints or inhibitions which ordinarily block
illegal behavior and overtly aggressive action against authorities ;
(b) moral support for aggressive action from other participants in the
group ;
(c) reinforced or increased power of the individual ;
(d) intensification of the influence of what might be called negative or
antisocial norms ; and so forth.
The witness reviewed the steps or stages in the development from
a psychological point of view. These stages are : the preconditioning
or propaganda stage, a feeling of resentment over unjust deprivation
stage, the assembly or crowd-forming stage, the "riot-inciting idea or
incident," and finally the riot.
The riot will have several kinds of significance to the participants,
including: "physical and symbolic redress, or righting, of injustice"
through damage, looting, or burning, which "symbolizes the punish-
ment of the guilty," the "power holders and others identified with
the established order."
Following the riot, the political goal of the rioter — ordinarily
an increase in legitimate power (actual or symbolic) — either is
achieved or not achieved.
Mr. Lerner then stated :
These stages should be understood as general concepts which help describe
much of the recent political rioting. They do not necessarily apply to all cases.
* ♦ ♦ Also, guerrilla units — one person or small groups — may take advantage
of the riot by sniping and by other specialized acts or theft, destruction, and
terror.
SUBVERSIVE INFLUENCES IN RIOTS, LOOTING, AND BURNING 725
Mr. Lerner was asked if he found evidence of subversion in political
rioting. He replied, "Yes. There is no question about it." He cited
examples from the testimony of J. Edgar Hoover, FBI Director,
regarding subversion in certain riots in the United States. He said
it was also amiounced and documented by congressional committees
(that evidence of subversion in riots exists) and added :
But even if we were to cast aside the oflScial information such as that which
I have just quoted * * * there would be no question about the existence of
subversion in recent urban rioting because the acts of many of the rioters —
individually and collectively — are themselves subversive.
Mr. Lerner stated that there "are definite patterns which are re-
peated over and over again in subversively manipulated riots and in
their development," and cited as examples the "frequent, systematic
repetition of * * * standardized events, styles, and sequences in widely
dispersed areas" such as Watts and Harlem.
Mr. Lerner pointed out the involvement of teenage gangs in riots
and added:
Youths are more suggestible and impressionable * * * are more readily disposed
to physical responses to frustration * * * more idealistic, more highly sympa-
thetic to the underdog, and more highly displeased over apparent deficiencies in
the social structure than adults.
All of these characteristics make youths a good target for propaganda by those
who may wish to represent themselves as sincere, legitimate reformers or idealis-
tic revolutionaries.
Mr. Lerner presented his suggestions for dealing with riot situa-
tions. He divided his recommendations into (a) "emergency steps"
and (b) "long-term programs," stating that: "Emergency steps are
those which should be taken immediately at the threat or outbreak
of a riot."
"Among the long-<term recommendations," he suggested:
( 1 ) Make ethnic "hate" activities a Federal offense * * *
(2) Impose limited weapons control [on subversives and criminals] * * *
(3) Formulate a set of civil duties which corresponds to civil rights * * ♦
(4) * * * selectively and temporarily reducing rights to speech and assembly
of subversives * * *
(5) * ♦ ♦ devise specific, workable programs for bringing the quality of Negro
life in this coimtry to an acceptable level * ♦ *
(6) Provide a program for rehabilitation of subversives and insurgents * * *
(7) Consider the advisability of broadening the mandate of this committee
[House Committee on Un-American Activities] * * ♦ to encompass increased
constructive action toward dealing with the conditions which create subversives
in this country and toward rehabilitation of subversives.
Mr. Tuck thanked the witness for his testimony and discussed fur-
ther the definition and classification of subversives.
TESTIMONY OF HON. SAM YORTY, MAYOR OF LOS ANGELES, CALIF.
On Tuesday, November 28, 1967, the subcommittee of the Ck)mmittee
on Un-American Activities met in the committee hearing room in the
continuation of public hearings into "subversive influences in riots,
looting, and burning."
The witness, Hon. Sam Yorty, mayor of Los Angeles, Calif., was
sworn in and stated that he was, by profession, an attorney at law.
726 SUBVERSIVE INFLUENCES IN RIOTS, LOOTING, AND BURNING
Mayor Yorty was a Member of Congress in 1950 to 1954 and mayor
of Los Angeles since 1961.
His tenure in the California Legislature in the mid-1930's gave him
an opportunity to studj the subject of communism. Since that time,
the witness has maintamed an interest in Communist activities.
In answer to a question concerning his opinion of underlying factors
which caused the riots in the last few years, Mayor Yorty replied :
I would certainly say that one of the factors is the constant repetition of
subversive propaganda, the agitation, and propaganda conducted by the Com-
munist Party within the framework of their historic objective to break down
the resi)ect for government, certainly for law and order, and to personalize, as
they always do, this objective mainly in the police oflScer.
Asked if he believed these riots have been spontaneous or planned,
the mayor said, "I think that tliere are some of both." He added :
I think that the propaganda over the years has been so eonstanrt; and at time®
very effective * * *,
I also think there are some riots where subversive forces have actually
planned * * * incidents that they would hope would spark a riot.
Mayor Yorty introduced an exhibit into the record, a pamphlet en-
titled "The Big Lie." The pamphlet, produced by the Los Angeles
city government, contained a short history of the charge of police
brutality over a period of 21 years — ^or since 1946, by the Communist
Party.
The witness stated that law enforcement has been handicapped "by
the reinterpretation, really the rewriting of the Constitution by the
United States Supreme Court * * *." He cited examples of the ex-
clusionary rule of evidence, the rules of search and seizure, and the
registration of known criminals.
Mayor Yorty recalled that Lenin, in his writings, as early as 1902,
had made reference to police brutality and noted that he knew of
no period in history where the "campaign against the police has been
quite as effective as it is today."
The mayor was asked if police brutality charges were made in his
city during the "Watts riot. He replied that an attempt was made "to
blame the police for the rioting," and added: "This led to my un-
pleasant confrontation witli Dr. Martin Luther King," who —
persisted in arguing that the police were to blame for the rioting. Then he went
out and got before the cameras and newspapers and made that same charge.
I felt it necessary to answer that charge and to tell him that it was very unfair
for him to come out to Los Angeles and try to blame the police for the rioting.
Mayor Yorty then stated that he did not "know of any case where
an officer has had to be dismissed for brutality." ^
The mayor noted that there were many people who made charges of
police brutality whose motive was to discredit the police department
and to carry on the so-called Communist struggle campaign to "break
down respect for the law enforcement officials and * * * eventually
* * * break down the ability of our Government to operate."
The Los Angeles mayor said that :
Unfortunately, the nature of news is * * * usually negative. The bizarre makes
more news than the everyday hard work of law enforcement
Mayor Yorty saw a need for people to understand the Communist
Party and its apparatus. He said :
SUBVERSIVE ENTLUENCES EST RIOTS, LOOTING, AND BURNING 727
The public has been conditioned to feel that the charge of communism is some
kind of smear on innocent people. * * •
He cited several examples of "conditioning" of the American public
"until they have lost their understanding of the true effectiveness of
Communist agitation and propaganda."
The witness submitted that he "wouldn't want to go so far as to
say that no policeman has ever been guilty of brutality," but that "the
major problem is brutality to police on the part of citizen groups."
In considering a question propounded by staff director McNamara
on whether riot legislation ^ould be levied at the State or Federal
level, the mayor said :
I think you have to take whatever action you can at every level. I don't think
trying to maintain law and order is just a matter for any one level of govern-
ment. * * *
The Los Angeles mayor commented on the Communist-manipulated
demonstration against the President on June 23, 1967, in his city. He
noted that the "police permit for the so-called parade was issued to
a person who has been identified as a Commumst." The parade was
slated as a demonstration against the war in Vietnam, but, as the mayor
noted, the "war in Vietnam just happens to be the current issue that
the Communists use to try to cause citizens to confront policemen and
to defy them."
The mayor also noted that the demonstration reached riot or near-
riot proportions.
Don Healey, former husband of one of the leaders of the Communist
Party in California, Dorothy Healey, was the identified Communist
who had obtained the parade permit for the riotous demonstration on
June 23, 1967, in Los Angeles.
Prior to the clashes with the police on June 23, about 10,000 had
turned out to parade past the hotel where President Johnson was
speaking. As the parade reached the hotel, elements in the front
stopped short. Police were ordered to disperse the crowd, as the parade
permit stated that the parade was to continue its movement. Hard-core
agitators at the rear of the crowd got behind the crowd and pressed
the people in front onto the ranks of police. This led to clashes.
The mayor said that the people in America did not understand the
Communist theory of the struggle. He added :
We have a constant series of struggles in this country, all the time conducted,
of course, in most cases by legitimate and sincere people who will never under-
stand that they have become part of the struggle.
The June 23 demonstrations in Los Angeles were organized and
sponsored by the Peace Action Council. The chairman of this Peace
Action Council is Irving Sarnoff, a fifth amendment witness before
the Committee on Un-American Activities on September 5, 1958.
Sarnoff is identified in a committee report as a member of the district
council, Communist Party, Southern California District.
The mayor quoted from a Communist Party Manual on Organiza-
tion. The manual was demonstrated to be a good example of where the
Communists try to take advantage of a movement in the country, such
as the current civil rights movement.
32-955 O— e9— pt. 1-
728 SUBVERSIVE INFLUENCES IN RIOTS, LOOTING, AND BURNING
Mayor Yorty stated :
I think it is rather apparent that over the long years the Negro people did
not prove very susceptible to Communist propaganda and agitation * * ♦.
But I do think that in the civil rights movement today there is a growing
success on the part of the Communist apparatus to manipulate some of the or-
ganizations. * * *
The Los Angeles mayor was asked if he had any recommendation, in
addition to antiriot legislation, which might help solve the problem
of rioting and looting.
He indicated that some action in the nature of a reversal of recent
U.S. Supreme Court decisions which have restricted "the ability of law
enforcement agencies to do their job"' might be in order.
The chairman, Mr. Willis, and members of the committee expressed
their gratitude to Mayor Yorty for his excellent contribution to the
subject under investigation.
TESTIMONY OF ROBERT H. MEHAFFEY
On Tuesday, October 31, 1967, at 10 a.m., the subcommittee of the
Committee on Un-American Activities met in the continuation of
hearings into "subversive influences in riots, looting, and burning."
Mr. Mehaffey was sworn in and stated that he was employed with the
House (^ommittee on Un-American Activities as a research consultant.
Mr. Mehaffey read excerpts from Committee Exhibit No. 3, the
staff papers on various organizations in this country whose activities
have included racial agitation.
Prior to Mr. Mehaffey's testimony on the investigation and research
carried out by the committee staff in conjunction with the present
inquiry, Mr. Smith, general counsel of the committee, stated :
Because some of these organizations are relatively new and others are small
and little known, the subcommittee has agreed that staff documents containing
basic data about these organizations and also statements which they or their
recognized leaders have made concerning riots, the use of violence, and related
issues should be made a part of the record.
General Counsel Smith stated that the purpose for inserting the
staff papers at this point in the chronicle of testimony "is to make the
record clear." Mr. Smith added :
When facts are presented about these organizations and individuals in these
hearings, the general nature of the groups will be known and understood. * * *
Mr. Smith emphasized that the documents to be presented "are not
intended to convey any more than they actually say." He noted that
some of the organizations are openly Communist and subversive.
"Others have been cited as Communist and/or subversive by official
agencies." Other organizations, not cited, should not be interpreted as
a committee finding or implication that the organization is Communist
or subversive.
Committee Exhibit No. 1 is headed: "International Communist
Statements on Racial Agitation and Riots in the United States."
Committee Exhibit No. 2 is headed : "FBI Statements on Commu-
nist Racial Agitation."
SUBVERSIVE INFLUENCES IN RIOTS, LOOTING, AND BURNING 729
Committee Exhibit No. 3 contains the following organizational
reports :
Communist Party of the United States of America (CPUS A)
W. E. B. DuBois Clubs of America (DCA).
FreedomAvays (magazine).
Progressive Labor Party (PLP) .
Socialist Workers Party (SWP) .
Workers World Party (WWP) .
Youth Against War and Fascism ( YAWF) .
Spartacist League.
Revolutionary Action Movement (RAM) .
Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (also known as
SNCC, SNICK).
Southern Student Organizing Committee (SSOC) .
Southern Conference Educational Fund, Inc. (SCEF) .
Liberator (magazine).
ACT.
Organization for Black Power.
Freedom Now Party.
Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) .
Nation of Islam (NOI).
SUBVERSIVE INFLUENCES IN RIOTS, LOOTING, AND
BURNING
Part 1
WEDNESDAY, OCTOBEB 25, 1967
United States House of Representatives,
SUBCOMMnTEE OF THE
Committee on Un-American Activities,
Washington, D.C.
public hearings
A subcommittee of the Committee on Un-American Activities met,
pursuant to call, at 10 a.m., in Eoom 311, Cannon House Office Build-
ing, Washington, D.C, Hon. William M. Tuckpresiding.
(Subcommittee members: Representatives Edwin E. Willis, of Lou-
isiana, chairman ; William M. Tuck, of Virginia ; Richard H. Ichord,
of Missouri ; John M. Ashbrook, of Ohio ; and Albert W. Watson, oi
South Carolina; also John C. Culver, of Iowa, in absence of Mr.
Willis.)
Subcommittee members present : Representatives Tuck, Culver, and
Ashbrook.
Staff members present : Francis J. McNamara, director ; Chester D.
Smith, general counsel ; and Alfred M. Nittle, counsel.
Mr. Tuck. The committee will please come to order.
This hearing is being held pursuant to a resolution adopted by the
full committee August 2, 1967. That resolution reads as follows :
WHEREAS, on October 3, 1966, pursuant to the Rules of the Ck)mmittee, the
Chairman directed the Committee staff to undertake a preliminary inquiry into
the rioting, burning, looting, and other tragic acts of violence which have afllicted
a number of principal cities in the United States, for the purpose of determining
whether these acts of mass violence have been planned and instigated by sub-
versive elements or to what extent, if any, such elements have succeeded in broad-
ening and prolonging them after they have broken out ; and
WHEREAS, the Chairman appointed Representatives Tuck (D-Va.) and Wat-
son (R-S.C.) to oversee the general conduct of the preliminary inquiry; and
WHEREAS, Mr. Tuck has today made a report to the Committee on the results
of this preliminary inquiry ; and
WHEREAS, the report rendered by Mr. Tuck clearly indicates that Communist
organizations and individuals, and also other subversive organizations and indi-
viduals— ^that is, organizations and individuals advocating, inciting, or partici-
pating in activities to effect by force and violence, or other unlawful means, politi-
cal, economic, or social changes in our form or system of government as guaran-
teed by the Constitution of the United States — have been involved to a significant
degree in the activities of violence aforesaid ; and
WHEREAS, there is presently pending before the House and the Congress
proposals for remedial legislation concerning these activities, and niunerous
requests have been made on the Floor of the House for investigation of the
circumstances underlying these activities ; and
731
732 SUBVERSIVE INFLUENCES IN RIOTS, LOOTING, AND BURNING
WHEREAS, by the Rules of the House this Committee is authorized and
directed as a whole, or by subcommittee, to make from time to time investiga-
tions of (1) the extent, character, and objects of un-American propaganda
activities in the United States, (2) the diffusion within the United States of
subversive and Tin-American propaganda that is instigated from foreign coun-
tries or of a domestic origin and attacks the principle of the form of government
as guaranteed by our Constitution, and (3) all other questions in relation thereto
that would aid Congress in any necessary remedial legislation ; and
WHERE3AS, the Committee on Un-American Activities is directed to report
to the House the results of any such investigation, together with such recom-
mendations as it deems advisable ;
NOW, THEREFORE, for the purposes and pursuant to the authority above-
mentioned :
BE IT RESOLVED, that investigation be made, and hearings by the Com-
mittee on Un-American Activities, or a subcommittee thereof, be held in Wash-
ington, D.C., or at such other place or places as the Chairman of the said Com-
mittee or subcommittee may determine, on such date or dates as the Chairman
may designate, relating to the incidents of rioting, burning, looting, and other
acts of violence in principal cities of the United States for the purpose of deter-
mining the extent to which, and the manner in which, these acts of force and
violence have been planned, instigated, incited, or supported by Communist and
other subversive organizations and individuals, and all other questions in rela-
tion thereto that would aid Congress in any necessary remedial legislation.
During the past few years, there have been well OAer 100 riots in
this country. Several dozen of them at least can be classified as major
disturbances. The damage they have done to the country is truly stag-
gering. It is estimated that the riots which have taken place this year
alone have cost the Nation over $100 million in property damage, plus
millions more for overtime for police and fire departments, for the use
of National Guard and Federal troops, and in addition still more mil-
lions in lost business.
Over 16,000 people have been arrested during the riots. For months
to come the courts in many cities will be tied up in disposing of their
cases. Over 3,200 persons have been injured ; 85 have been killed.
The suffering, the physical and mental anguish, the riots have
brought to many people cannot be measured in dollars and cents. No
standard of measurement has yet been devised for such trouble.
These facts alone make it clear beyond all question that everything
possible must be done to prevent similar disturbances in the future.
Yet they spell out only part of the damage that has been done. The
riots have also caused internal tension and dissension. They have
threatened our national unity.
Beyond that, they have caused tremendous damage to the United
States abroad and, in so doing, have given great aid and comfort to
our enemies, thus impairing our national security. Moscow, Peking,
Hanoi, and Havana have rejoiced at these disturbances and have taken
full propaganda advantage of them to undermine the standing and
prestige of the United States among other nations and peoples.
We cannot measure precisely the damage done to our country in
this area, but in real value it is surely greater than our material losses.
It is easier to rebuild a city than a nation "s image.
Riots are not new. Practically every nation has suffered from them
at some time in its history. We have had them before — but never on
the scale of the la.st few years.
It is not the view of this committee that Communists or other sub-
versive elements are the sole cause of the recent riots; that without
these elements there would have been no riots at all. It is generally
SUBVERSIVE INFLUENCES IN RIOTS, LOOTING, AND BURNING 733
acknowledged that a variety of factors and conditions are usually in-
volved in outbreaks of mass violence. It is also true, however, that these
elements alone fall short of adequately explaining the disturbances
that have wracked our country in recent years.
Poverty may be a factor — but people here and in other countries
have suffered much greater poverty in the past, and still suffer it,
without rioting.
Unemployment may be a factor — but at times in the past unemploy-
ment in the riot areas has been greater than it is today and people
have not rioted.
Discrimination may be a factor — but in this area, too, there have
been decided improvements in recent years, and many doors are now
open that were not open before.
Lack of educational opportunity may be involved — but there are
now 320,000 Negroes attending our colleges and universities, and today
the Negro in America has more than twice the opportunity of attending
college than the white European has.
We know that the weather is involved. Riots generally occur in
hot, humid weather. They do not take place during blizzards. But
there is certainly nothing the Government can do about the weather.
Some sociologists say that boredom arising out of too much free time
is a factor ; that antipathy to work on the part of some persons is an-
other. Many other factors have been suggested.
It is my personal view that those persons who have gone about coun-
seling, urging, and advising so-called civil disobedience — which is no
more than calculated violation of any law you do not like, the root of
anarchy — have created disrespect and contempt for law and order
which has contributed to the mob violence.
There is another point about the riots which I believe it is important
to stress. Estimates as to the proportion of the Negro population taking
part in them have generally varied between 2 percent and 5 percent.
Even the larger figure represents a small minority. In addition, it has
generally been recognized that a significant part of this minority lias
been made up of youths, teenage gangs, and persons with criminal
records. This indicates that the rioters have not been representative of
the adult Negro population.
Another important — and tragic — fact is that the principal victims
of the riots, the persons who have suffered most from them, have been
the law-abiding citizens, the majority, in the riot-torn Negro areas.
Obviously, judging accurately and in perspective all the factors con-
tributing to the riots and coming up with a satisfactory answer to them
is a most difficult and complicated task. Other inquiries have been un-
dertaken for this purpose and to propose both short- and long-term
solutions. This committee's jurisdiction is limited to subversive activ-
ities. It does not embrace social problems as such.
Throughout history riots have been used for political purposes. They
can be, and have been, deliberately instigated to weaken and undermine
existing governments and pave the way for the establishment of a new
and different type of governmental system.
The Congress and the public have a right to know if elements in this
comitry who are opposed to our form of government, who want to tear
it down and replace it with another, have been involved in instigating
the violence that has done so much damage to our Nation.
734 SUBVERSIVE INFLUENCES IN RIOTS, LOOTING, AND BURNING
At this time in history, there are few things that pose a greater
danger to our overall security than the deliberate instigation of mass
violence which is designed to destroy our national unity, set citizen
against citizen, groups and classes of citizens against their Govern-
ment, and undermine the power, the prestige, and the good name of our
country in all parts of the world.
This committee has explicit and unquestioned authority to investi-
gate such activities.
Investigations conducted by this committee over a period of almost
30 years have revealed that individuals and organizations with these
aims exist in this country. Have they been involved in any way in these
riots or in instigating them ?
This question must be answered. If we are going to find a solution
to the causes of these riots, then this as well as other factors must be
explored thoroughly. If only a partial investigation is made, if certain
factors are ignored, then only a partial, incomplete, and unsatisfactory
answer will be found.
A preliminary inquiry into this matter was made by the committee
over a period of 10 months. It was on the basis of that inquiry — an
inquiry which clearly revealed subversive involvement in the riots —
that the committee determined to conduct a full-scale investigation.
As usual, there has been opposition to our investigation. Moscow
radio started out the new year — on last January 2 — with an attack on
the committee's preliminary inquiry. It said, "the progressive forces of
America demand that the witch hunters cease the shameful
investigation."
Various Communist and fellow-traveler groups in the United States
and certain self-proclaimed civil rights leaders have taken the same
position. This is par for the course. It does not disturb the committee,
which is confident that the American public is completely capable of
judging the motivation behind these protests.
An explanation for Moscow's concern on this matter, perhaps, is
found in the committee's Annual Eeport for 1960, which included a
chapter on "Mob Violence as a Communist Weapon." In that chapter
the committee stated :
There is considerable evidence that, in the United States, as well as on a world
scale, the Communists feel that the present tactical situation calls for increased
utilization of rioting and mob violence. * * ♦
That same chapter also said :
The U.S. Communist Party, the committee believes, will follow the orders of
Moscow, which has told it, in effect : "^
"Internal violence is the order of the day. Riots are one of the weapons you are
to use in the present situation to assist our grand strategy for victory."
I regret to say that the above-quoted committee analysis, or predic-
tion, whichever you may call it, has proved to be accurate.
Finally, I believe the last para^rapn in that chapter of our Annual
Report for 1960 deserves rej^etition because it spells out clearly the
issue we face in this inquiry into the role of the Communists and the
subversives in rioting :
It is not merely the committee that will be the target of Communist force and
violence. Whether future Communist-inspired mob violence has the committee
or some other agency or group as its target, it will be freedom and the United
States form of representative government which, in the final analysis, are under
SUBVERSIVE INFLUENCES EST RIOTS, LOOTING, AND BURNING 735
assault. The violence will be part of an over-all plan of battle, engaged in by the
Communists to promote the coming of the day when Khrushchev's dream will
come true and the Unitied States of America, like all other nations, will have its
effective government in Moscow.
I regret the chairman of the committee, the distinguished gentle-
man from Louisiana, is not here due to illness in his family, but he
appointed a subcommittee on October 19, 1967, by memorandum as
f oUows :
To: Mk. Feancis J. MoNamara,
Director, Committee on Un-American Activities.
Pursuant to the provisions of the law and the Rules of this Committee, I
hereby appoint a subcommittee of the Committee on Un-American Activities,
consisting of Honorable William M. Tuck, Honorable Richard Ichord, Honorable
John M. Ashbrook and Honorable Albert W. Watson, as associate members, and
myself, as Chairman, to conduct hearings in Washington, D.C., commencing on or
about Wednesday, October 25, 1967, and/or at such other times thereafter and
places as said subcommittee shall determine, as contemplated by the resolution
adopted by the Committee on the 2nd day of August, 1967, authorizing hearings
concerning subversive influences in the riots, the looting and burning which
have besieged various cities in the Nation, and other matters under investigation
by the Committee.
Please make this action a matter of Committee record.
If any member indicates his inability to serve, please notify me.
Given under my hand this 19th day of October 1967.
/s/ Edwin E. Willis,
Edwin E. Willis,
Chairman, Committee on Un-American Activities.
Since then Mr. John C. Culver, of Iowa, has been also appointed.^
Are you ready, Mr. McNamara ?
Mr. McNamara, Yes, Mr. Chairman.
Mr. Tuck. Will you proceed.
Mr. McNamara. Will Mr. Archie Moore come forward, please.
Mr. Tuck. Will you stand and be sworn.
Do you solemnly swear the testimony you will give before this
subconmiittee will be the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the
truth, so help you God ?
Mr. MooRE. I do.
Mr. Tuck. You may be seated.
(At tliis point Mr. Ichord entered the hearing room.)
TESTIMONY OF ARCHIE MOOEE
Mr. McNamara. Mr. Moore, state your full name and address for
the record.
Mr. Moore. My name is Archie Moore. I live at 3517 E Street, San
Diego, California.
Mr. McNamara. What is your business or profession, Mr. Moore?
Mr. MooRE. My business now is youth guidance. My former profes-
sion was the professional light heavyweight boxing champion of the
world for 11 years.
Mr. McNamara. As I recall, Mr. Moore, your boxing career spanned
approximately 30 years, and during that time you engaged in 228 ring
appearances and set an all-time record of 136 knockouts; is that cor-
rect?
1 By Order dated Oct. 25, 196.7, Mr. Culver was appointed as an associate member of the
subcommittee to serve at sucb times as Chairman Willis is unable to be present.
736 SUBVERSIVE INFLUENCES IN RIOTS, LOOTING, AND BURNING
Mr. Moore. That is correct, Mr. McNamara.
Mr. IcHORD. Mr. Chairman, at this point, if the director will yield,
I want to take the opportunity of welcoming Mr. Moore to this com-
mittee. I think all of the committee know who Archie Moore is. As a
matter of fact, he has been one of my favorite sports figures since I
was just a small figure.
Mr. Moore, I have followed your work since you were light heavy-
weight champion of the world. I have noticed that in your work as a
good Samaritan you have excelled just as much as you did in the ring.
It is a pleasure to have you with us today, Mr. Moore.
Mr. Moore. Thank you, Mr. Ichord.
Mr. Tuck. Let the record show that the other members of the com-
mittee share those views and
Mr. Culver. Mr. Chairman, could I say also at this point, Mr.
Moore, that I think your fight against Yvon Durelle in Nova Scotia in
1958 was the most inspiring and courageous demonstration I have
ever seen in competitive athletics. I want to commend you at this time.
Mr. Moore. Thank you, Mr. Culver.
Mr. Tuck. You may proceed.
Mr. McNamara. Mr. Moore, are you appearing today in response to
an invitation and request of the chairman that you testify m these
hearings ?
Mr. Moore. Yes, sir.
Mr. McNamara. Is it not a fact, Mr. Moore, that in addition to being
the former light heavyweight boxing champion of the world vou are
also "Mr. San Diego"?
Mr. Moore. A title that was given me this year for 1968, "Mr. San
Diego."
Mr. AsHBRooK. Will you repeat that? The acoustics are very bad.
Mr. McNamara. "Mr. San Diego." It is an annual award presented
to an outstanding citizen of San Diego, or the outstanding citizen, I
should say.
Mr. Moore, the instances of rioting, looting, and burning which
have taken place in this country during the past few years have been
a matter of deep concern to all Americans, no matter what their race,
religion, or national origin.
Will you tell the committee your reaction to these riots ?
Mr. Moore. My reactions to the rioting are that it does not make
sense for people to riot in this sense. It does not make sense to loot and
burn and destroy people's property or do any kind of things that are
wrong, morally or physically wrong; to harm other people, to shoot
at people whom you don't even know, and this sort of malicious
disturbance.
Mr. McNaimara. As indicated in the chairman's opening statement,
Mr. Moore, and in a committee release of August 2, there is evidence
of Communist and other subversive involvement in these riots. That
e^'idenre will be presented for the record in later hearings of the
committee.
Will you state for the committee your belief concerning the Com-
munists' professed interests in civil rights for Negroes and other
minorities? Are they sincere in this? Can minorities accept them and
work with them in their efforts to win full equality ?
Mr. Moore. This is only my opinion.
SUBVERSIVE D^FLUENCES IN RIOTS, LOOTING, AND BURNING 737
I do not believe in the Communist doctrine. I have been to an anti-
Communist meeting, at which Senator Dodd was present, in San Diego
to hear a speaker who was also a writer of a book on communism,
Dr. Fred Schwarz.
What Dr. Fred Schwarz relayed to the public at this meeting thor-
oughly convinced me that the communistic area was not one I wanted
to be m and that they would seek to destroy a nation the way, mostly,
worms destroy fruit, from the inside.
(At this point Mr. Watson entered the hearing room.)
Mr. McNamara. Mr. Moore, a few months ago you wrote a state-
ment about rioting which you submitted to the San Diego Union,
which published it as a page-one feature. This statement has won
national acclaim. It has been circulated abroad by the USIA, the
United States Information Agency.
Will you be good enough at this point to read that statement for the
record, please ?
Mr. Moore. I will.
The devil is at work in America, aud it is up to us to drive him out. Snipers
and looters, white or black, deserve no mercy. Those who would profit from their
brother's misfortunes deserve no mercy, and those who would set fellow Ameri-
cans upon each other deserve no mercy.
I'll fight the man who calls me an Uncle Tom. I have broken bread with heads
of state, chatted with presidents and traveled all over the world. I was born in a
ghetto, but I refused to stay there. I am a Negro, and proud to be one. I am also
an American, and am proud of that.
The young people of today think they have a hard lot. They should have been
around in the '30s when I was coming up in St. Louis. We had no way to go, but
a lot of us made it. I became light heavyweight champion of the world. A neigh-
bor kid down the block, Clark Terry, became one of the most famous jazz musi-
cians in the world. There were doctors, lawyers and chiefs who came out of that
ghetto. One of the top policemen in St. Louis came from our neighborhood.
BAIT FOB SIMPLE-MINDED
We made it because we had a goal, and we were willing to work for it. Don't talk
to me of your "guaranteed national income." Any fool knows that this is insanity.
Do we bring those who worked to get ahead down to the level of those who never
gave a damn? The world owes nobody — black or white — a living. God helps the
man who helps himself !
Now then, don't get the idea that I didn't grow up hating the injustices of this
world. I am a staunch advocate of the Negro revolution for the good of mankind.
I've seen almost unbelievable progress made in the last handful of years. Do we
want to become wild beasts bent only on revenge, looting and killing and laying
America bare? Hate is bait, bait for the .simple-minded.
Sure, I despised the whites who cheated me, but I used that feeling to make me
push on. If you listen to the professional rabble-rousers, adhere to this idea of
giving up everything you've gained in order to revenge yourself for the wrongs
that were done to you in the past — then you'd better watch your neighbor, because
he'll be looting your house next. Law and order is the only edge we have. No man
is an island.
Granted, the Negro still has a long way to go to gain a fair shake with the
white man in this coimtry. But believe this : If we resort to lawlessness, the only
thing we can hope for is civil war, untold bloodshed, and the end of our dreams.
We have to have a meeting of qualified men of both races. Mind you, I said
qualified men, not some punk kid, ranting the catch phrases put in his mouth by
some paid hate-monger. There are forces in the world today, forces bent upon the
destruction of America, your America and mine. And while we're on the subject,
do you doubt for a minute that communism, world communism, isn't waiting with
bated breath for the black and white Americans to turn on each other full force?
Do you want a chance for life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness in the land
of your birth, or do you want no chance at all under the Red heel?
738 SUBVERSIVE INFLUENCES IN RIOTS, LOOTING, AND BURNING
NOT ONE SQUABE INCH
There are members of the black community who call for a separate nation
within America. Well, I do not intend to give up one square inch of America.
I'm not going to be told I must live in a restricted area. Isn't that what we've all
been fighting to overcome? And then there is the element that calls for a return
to Africa.
For my part, Africa is a great place to visit, but I wouldn't want to live there.
If the Irishmen want to go back to the Emerald Isle, let them. If the Slavs want
to return to the Iron Curtain area, OK by me. But I'm not going to go any part
of Africa to live. I'm proud of ancestry, and of the country that spawned my
forefathers, but I'm not giving up my country. I fought all my life to give my
children what I'm able to give them today ; a chance for development as citizens
in the greatest coimtry in the world.
I do not for a moment think that any truly responsible Negro wants anarchy.
I don't think you'll find intelligent — no, let's rephrase that — mature Negroes
running wild in the streets or sniping at total strangers. God made the white
man as well as the black. True, we haven't acted as brothers in the past, but we
are brothers. If we're to be so many Cains and Abels, that's our choice. We can't
blame God for it.
Something must be done to reach the Negroes and the whites in the ghettos of
this country, and I propose to do something.
'any boy can'
As a matter of plain fact, I have been doing something for the past several
years. I have been running a program which I call the ABC — Any Boy Can. By
teaching our youth, black, white, yellow and red, what dignity is, what self
respect is, what honor is, I have been able to obliterate juvenile delinquency in
several areas.
I would now expand my program, change scope. If any boy can, surely any man
can. I want to take teams of qualified people, top men in their fields, to the
troubled areas of our cities. I know that the people who participated in the
recent riots, who are participating and who will participate, are misguided rather
than mad.
If some bigot can misguide, then I can guide. I've spent too much of my life
building what I've got to put it to torch just to satisfy some ancient hatred of a
man who beat my grandfather. Those men are long dead. Do we have to choke
what could be a beautiful garden with weeds of hate? I say NO ! Ajid I stand
ready to start "Operation Gardener." I invite the respected Negro leaders of our
country to join me.
Mr. McNamara. Mr. Moore, you referred in your statement to your
youth guidance program, ABC, Any Boy Can.
Will you outline the program for the committee, telling when and
why and how it was started, what its purposes are and its principles
and accomplishments?
Mr. MooRE. Yes, sir. ABC is a program that I devised years ago and
I wanted to work on this program. However, being champion of the
world occupied most of my time.
But having a fine memory, I memorized parts of this program. I
memorized very vividly many parts of this program, feeling that it
would help young people step off in life with their best foot forward
because this program was based on truth, honesty, respect for self and
for other people, their rights and property. With this program, a
youngster in 2 short months would show some signs of dignity.
We all know and feel that when a youngster is fearful of things
that might happen to him his potential is down real low. So, in order
to bring this potential up he must be motivated. How can I motivate
this youngster who is in the neighborhood, who is going to school and
is having his lunch taken away from him by the bigger boys and being
SUBVERSIVE INFLUENCES IN RIOTS, LOOTING, AND BURNING 739
pushed around, made to get into trouble? I feel that teaching them the
basics, only the outline of physical self-defense, coupled with this
moral and spiritual self-defense with which to guide him, will serve
as a guideline for him because, surely, when all the youngsters know
that a boy has taken physical education or boxing instruction, they do
not pick on him very much.
Sometimes there will be a fight in order to prove certain things, but
generally the boy who has taken self-defense lessons wins out, and he
can go his way down life's trail, down life's hard road, pursuing the
trade or profession or career he wants to pursue in life.
So, in teaching this program, first in Vallejo, California, and now in
San Diego, we have wiped away a lot of troubles and we have the
youngsters interested more in their school work, in their homework,
in church work, and things in the neighborhood — clean up, paint up,
and be clean inside and outside.
They are not in trouble in school. Why? Youngsters are rewarded
for their efforts. We may take them to a fish fry. We may take them to
a father-and-son banquet. Many of these children have never been to
these seemingly insignificant things such as a businessmen's luncheon
in order to perform their little ritual before the men.
Doing this is a type of reward because the ABC litany is based on
truth, honesty, respect and dignity. It is based on that triangle, that
triangle that is the strongest form of support ever devised by men. It
can hold as much as you place upon it as long as it is the truth for the
rest of your life.
A good student in the ABC class does not lie, steal, cheat, smoke,
gamble, refuse to go to church, play hooky from school, get into trou-
ble, participate in riots, throw bombs, smoke dope, smoke weeds, use
narcotics oi any kind, use LSD — use all the drugs I don't know any-
thing about. We do teach them this is wron^,
Also we teach them that what is right is to go to church, be a good
American, be a good citizen; go to school, go to high school, get a
high school education, go to college ; get a degree as doctor, teacher ;
become a Congressman, Speaker of the House, any of these things —
even Vice President or the President. And I am waiting %ith bated
breath for one of my ABC boys to be a President of the United States.
This is my belief . .'■.' ri '•.•;■; ' ;.:.;'
Mr. McNamara. I think, Mr. Moore, that dream' nlay weU come true.
You have stressed physical defense, based on yotir career in the box-
ing ring, in your youth program, but you have also brought out very
clearly, I thmk, a very vital fact— that this is used only as a Supple-
ment to, or instrument for, building character in the youth of
America. ,
Mr. MooRE. That is right. '!.
Mr. McNamara. Can you tell us in how many cities the program is
now in operation ?
Mr. MooRE. The program is in the city of Vallejo, California, 36
miles northeast of San Francisco. It is in San Diego.
Mr. Walter E. Washington, Commissioner of this city, has asked
me if I would be interested in bringing it to this city. I informed him
I would be willing, well, after my commitment in San Diego, to come
to Washington and show how we can curb vandalism in a hurry.
740 SUBVERSIVE INFLUENCES IN RIOTS, LOOTING, AND BURNING
Mr. McNamara. Can you state a few facts or statistics which illus-
trate the impact, the beneficial effect, which your ABC program has
had on youth ?
Mr. Moore. Yes, sir.
In 1965 there was vandalism damage in Vallejo to a housing proj-
ect where I was called upon to promote the sale of 350 homes. The
vandalism damage, according to the figures set by the managers of the
branches who ran the housing project, was $7,500 per month. It had
been running in that area for 5 years.
The ABC program was put into this housing project, 850 homes,
350 vacant. Within 3 months' time the battle damage dropped from
$7,500 to less than $70, all within the space of 3 months because the
youngsters were bent on cleaning up their homes, keeping their lawns
mowed, staying out of trouble.
The whole thing caught on like wildfire. In the ensuing 18 months
all of the houses were sold. There are no houses vacant in this particu-
lar tract now. With this job well done, then I was out of a job. I went
to another place to work. I went to San Diego to begin it there.
Now the school papers that I have must be about 8 inches thick of
straight A's or B-plus averages of the youngsters who are partici-
pating in the ABC program. The principals of the schools have been
writing very fine reports about the ABC program, the effect it has
had upon the students of the schools.
The antisocial activities have actually been really curbed and things
bettered by the presence of ABC.
Mr. McNamara. Could you tell us, Mr". Moore, if there has ever been
an instance in which any member of ABC has been involved in a riot
or civil disturbance?
Mr. MooRE. No, there has been none because, since my boys have been
in ABC, there has been very little absence from school. There has been
no participation in any semblance of a riot or disturbance among the
youngsters. They do not even have fights any more. The only fights
they nave are the fights that we provide for them with gloves on in
the little intercommunity bouts.
Mr. McNamara. Mr. Chairman, that completes the staff interroga-
tion of the witness.
Mr. IcHORD. Mr. Chairman.
Mr. Tuck. Mr. lohord.
Mr. IcHORD. Mr. Moore, is your organization wholly privately sup-
ported, or do you receive any Government funds ?
Mr. MooRE. I do not receive any Government funds. I would like to
have funds available to me, because I feel that if a city like Washing-
ton or New York is suffering from vandalism and damage, which they
all are, I can curb vandalism damage by 50 percent in the first year.
In the next 2 years we can cut it another 25 percent. Then pretty
soon vandalism damage will end, be actualli^ choked out of the juvenile
delinquency factor. And the source, the main source of juvenile delin-
quency, is the vandal factor. Vandalism comes from a little tiny seed
called disrespect.
Your little boy, my little boy 5 years old, we can take him to some-
one's home and if we don't tell him to "be quiet he might push a glass
of water off the table and break it arid think it is cute. His mother
might say, "Johnny is a little boy, lie does not mean any liarm," but
SUBVERSIVE INFLUENCES IN RIOTS, LOOTING, AND BURNING 741
unless she does that [indicating spanking] and lets him know that
that is wrong, his appetite will ^ow.
As he grows without restraint, his appetite grows the same way.
Soon he is 16 years old and he is bigger than his father. He will tell his
father he wants tires on his car, slicks
Mr. IcHORD. Are you organized as a charitable corporation ?
Mr. Moore. I am a charitable, nonprofit corporation. I am sup-
ported partly by the city recreation funds, by the mayor in San
Diego, and private sponsorship under Lucky Stores in California.
Mr. IcHORD. Have you made any application for Government funds
imder perhaps the poverty program ?
Mr. MooRE. No, I have not. But I have been talking and talking
my head off to a lot of Government people. Everybody who sees the
program says this is a beautiful program and this is a program that
can help these youngsters step off in life with their best foot forward,
I guarantee you that none of my yoimgsters will ever be caught in a
riot.
Mr. IcHORD, To your knowledge, have there been any poverty pro-
grams organized along the line of your program ?
Mr. MooRE. No, sir. We have a very unique way of communicating
with the youngster through a ritual. If we are in this room and we
belong to ABC, a person can walk into this room and he would not
understand what we are talking about, because we teach in signs and
symbols.
I know you men who belong to fraternal organizations know exactly
what I am talking about. This ritual is a very unique way of communi-
cating and keeps other boys from going into the different clubs and
taking over, because one student will know the other.
Mr. IcHORD, Mr. Chairman, I would point out to the members of the
committee that Mr. Moore is a fellow Missourian and I want to express
my appreciation for all of the good things he has done. Again, I wel-
come you to this committee as a truly great American, Archie Moore.
Mr. MooRE. Thank you, Mr. Ichora.
Mr. Tuck. The gentleman from Iowa.
Mr. Culver. No questions, Mr. Chairman.
Mr. Tuck. Mr. Ashbrook.
Mr. Ashbrook. I would like to ask Mr. Moore a couple of questions.
There is obviously a tugging and pulling of different ideas in the
country, people trying to give direction of one sort, and you are work-
ing on another side.
Working with youth as you have been doing for years, you should be
in a position to appraise the effect of what might be called the other
ideas that are abounding in the country, those who would incite to
disobedience, those who would preach the opposite of what you preach,
trying to stimulate hatred.
As I read your wonderful letter that you put in the San Diego paper,
the heading as a matter of fact is, "Archie Moore Speaks Against
Hate." There are others in the country who have not been doing this,
some for what might be called political reasons, Communists, others
because they might happen to be misguided.
You converse and communicate and have fellowship with these
young people in ABC. Can you feel, in any way, the effect on them of
this other idea that is being preached in the country — whether it be
742 SUBVERSIVE INFLUENCES IN RIOTS, LOOTING, AND BURNING
from Commuiiists or from misguided people — the hatred. Do you come
into contact with this daily, and what force and effect does it have on
the young people with whom you deal ?
Mr. MooRE. It does not have any force on the young people with
whom I deal because, when they come to me, they come to me because
ABC means "Any boy can — if he wants to."
Mr. AsHBROOK. He has already made a commitment?
Mr. Moore. He has made a commitment that he wants to come to me.
and he does not want anything else. I teach him not to be ashamed or
who he is or what he is, whether he is red, black, white, or brown.
Don't be ashamed, come in and we will teach you.
Then he walks out with pride after 8 weeks of indoctrination of
ABC. He is proud because he has then earned a uniform. This is his
identification. He has earned a uniform symoblizing America.
Mr. AsHBROOK. On the adult level people like yourself might be
called "Uncle Tom" and people who are not revolutionary or radical
enough. I am sure the young people must come under the same kind of
persuasive effort by some people — don't go with Archie Moore, there
is another way of doing this.
I wonder if you see this pressure being exerted anyway on any of
your young people or those you would like to influence?
Mr. Moore. Mr. Ashbrook, I have taken my students to Berkeley
university, to the young people there who were 19, 20, and 18 years of
age, and put them on the stage. I have gotten standing ovations in
many schools from the youngsters who are older than my youngsters,
who say and express a desire to help me teach them ; they want me to
teach them so they can help teach, because they feel they are missing
something in their lives. They would like to be able to teach this to
their brothers and sisters and friends in their neighborhoods.
Mr. Ashbrook. I think we are probably missing something in the
country, a little bit of what you are teaching and a little bit of what
you have been giving these people. I think it has been missing in other
parts of the country. ':
Mr. MooRE. I would like to say that this idea was formed over 30
years ago. I did not get the final answer until a few months ago. I
asked a minister to help me put this thing together.
He said put God in front of it and make it like E, G, B, D, and F,
every good bov does fine — white, black, yellow, and brown — and make
it a youth club, no separation, because if you take out one of the five
faces of man you cannot have harmony. You must have harmony
amongst mankind. If you take out the brown face, you miss a very re-
soundmg chord. If you take out a black one, the same thing. If you
take out a white man, the same thing. You must have the E, G, 'B, D, F,
every good boy does fine, in order to have that good harmony pitch.
Mr. Ashbrook, Thank you.
Mr. Tuck. Mr. Watson.
Mr. Watson. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Champ, I want to commend you, with the others, for the position
you have taken publicly and for the testimony you have given here
this morning. Certainly, no one would, in his right mind, call you an
Uncle Tom. But we know this accusation is going around here.
Are you aware of who is fomenting this laj&el or Uncle Tom simply
because you dare not to engage in violence and radicalism?
SUBVERSWE INFLUENCES IN RIOTS, LOOTING, AND BURNING 743
Mr. Moore. No, I do not.
Mr. Watson. It has come back to you, Champ, that you are an Uncle
Tom or you are a sympathizer or what-have-you. Have you been able
to trace it back to any particular source ?
Mr. MooRE. I don't care, I don't care. "Sticks and stones may break
my bones, but words will never hurt me."
Mr. Watson. I commend you for the wonderful job you are doing
now.
Concerning this ABC program, am I correct in understanding that
that is wrapped around you, the man, Archie Moore ?
Mr. MooRE. It is wrapped around my theory, my ideas. It can be
taught by people other than me, people who have a type of following,
maybe an image, you see. Maybe, who knows, a basketball playeT can
teach it, a football player can teach it. A good physical education in-
structor can teach it. You can teach it in your neighborhood.
Mr. Watson. Have you brought these other leading figures into
your program, or is it just virtually your program now?
Mr. MooRE. I am now bringing men into the program, but I have
to screen out the applicants because I want them to be morally sound
and physically able and to have a decent background.
When you teach ABC your teaching will rub off on the student be-
cause he will like many things that you do. That is why I say a teacher
must not lie, cheat, steal, smoke, drink, or gamble. He must not. We
do not want our youngsters to smoke, drink, or gamble.. We don't want
them to lie or cheat. These are the six basic things we don't want them
to do.
Doing one of those things will get him put out of the club.
Mr. Watson. Do you actually have a staff or an organization to
carry on your ABC work ?
Mr. Moore. Yes, sir ; in San Diego.
Mr. Watson. What size staff ?
Mr. Moore. I have a 12-man staff.
Mr. Watson. Twelve men who are actively out in the community
working with your boys, both prospects and members of ABC ?
Mr. Moore. We have some men who will take applications. We have
members of the board of directors, and we have three student instruc-
tors. The thing about ABC is that after 8 weeks the youngster is a
teacher of a sort himself, a minor teacher himself. The longer he stays
with us, the better he can teach us.
Mr. Watson. I like this idea. Approximately how many boys do you
have presently in the membership ?
Mr. MooRE. In the membership I have worked with over a hundred
boys in Vallejo; that group up there is under the direction of one
youngster, Dwight Calloway, who is about 14 years of ag:e. I have to
send a man up there to take care of the administrative business.
The group I have in San Diego, I have 85 now and there are about 85
more that want to enroll, but I want to take them in certain periods be-
cause I don't want to retard one group in order to break another
group in.
Mr. Watson. With the obvious success you have in that program,
Champ, you mean to tell me that no official of the Office of Economic
Opportunity or any other agency has beaten a path to your door and
asked your help ?
32-955 O — 69 — pt. 1 3
744 SUBVERSIVE INFLUENCES IN RIOTS, LOOTING, AND BURNING
Mr. Moore. I would like very much to have an audience with Mr.
Shriver. I met him yesterday for the first time in my life in the dining
roonl somewhere, across the street.
Mr. Watson. My question is : Up until this time has no official come
to you and asked for your help and how he might assist you financially
in broadening your program ?
Mr. Moore. No, sir.
Mr. Watson. That is a sad commentary on the whole thing. Perhaps
the trouble is that you don't have enough big jobs to dispense and
give out.
Mr. Moore, let us look at your background.
How much education have you had ?
Mr. MooRE. My education has been limited in school, but I have
picked up a lot of knowledge ; maybe it is not education, but it is a lot
of knowledge.
Mr. Watbon. It is real education, and I have been impressed with it
this morning by your testimony and your eloquence. If we can pin it
down, Champ, to encourage other people, how much fbrmal education
have you had? '
Mr. Moore. I finished the ninth ^ade in school.
Mr. Watson. You finished the nmth ?
Mr. Moore. Yes, sir.
Mr. Watson. That is commendable. And yet here you are, having
achieved what you have achieved here today. Let me ask you a couple
more questions.
Are you familiar with the organization RAM, Revolutionary
Action Movement ?
Mr. Moore. No, sir ; I am not.
Mr. Watson. You have heard of it before ?
Mr. Moore. I have read about it, in sketches, but I have not paid
any attention to it.
Mr. Watson. You are not familiar with RAM, or any of the people
who are members of RAM ?
Mr. Moore. No, sir.
Mr. Watson. You know of no members ?
Mr. Moore. No, sir.
Mr. Watson. So far as you know, you have never talked with
any members of RAM?
Mr. Moore. I don't know of any. My time is 100 percent ABC, be-
cause I feel that this is the revolutionary step to close the gap of
communication with people between youth.
Mr. Watson. Your time is spent in constructive endeavors rather
than destructive endeavors ? '
Mr. Moore. Yes, sir.
Mr. Watson. Are you familiar with any of the members or leader-
ship of the so-called Muslim movement, the black power movement,
and what-have-you ?
Mr. MooRE. I know Cassius Clay, who likes to be called Muhammad
Ali. I know him because I taught him as a fighter.
Mr. Watson. I think you did a good job m teaching him as a fighter.
I have some misgivings in other respects.
Champ, you have never gone to some of these people individually
and tried to talk with them ? I assume you would know some of the
leaders of these groups that foment the disorder and distrust and hate.
SUBVERSIVE INFLUENCES IN RIOTS, LOOTING, AND BURNING 745
Have you ever gone to them individually or attempted to talk with
them and reason with them ?
Mr. Moore. I don't personally associate with people who would
foment any kind of trouble or disturbances, because I am not about to
sacrifice any youngster in my cause, because I have youngsters of my
own.
Before I would foment a thing and push a youngster out to bear the
brunt of what I did not accomplish in my lifetime, I would be guilty
of these things. I have tried to keep my youngsters out of trouble, out
of areas of trouble, trying to show them the right way to go so that
they can then become these fine people that they want to become.
Mr. Watson. So far as you are concerned your advice to anyone,
regardless of his race or creed or color, is to stay away from such
reactionary groups as RAM and the others and try to devote his
efforts to more constructive endeavors, rather than destructive en-
deavors ?
Mr. Moore. I don't know what RAM represents. I do not really
known what the Black Muslims really represent.
The only thing I have heard about the Black Muslims is that they
have a very good health habit. They don't eat pork and they keep
clean, you see. This is the only thing that I have heard about them.
They may do some talking about other things, but these thin£;s don't
interest me, what they talk about, because I know that ABC would
be the best solution to many problems.
Mr. Watson. Of course, you are aware that RAM's objectives aren't
laudable at all ?
Mr. MooRE. I don't even know RAM.
Mr. Watson. Do you not recall reading recently that some of the
RAM membership plotted to assassinate Roy Wilkins and some of the
other leaders ?
Mr. MooRE. No. I must have glanced at it in the paper, but I did not
pay it any attention.
Mr. Watson. They often say that to do a good job you have to be
aware of what the enemy is doing, too. I applaud you for your efforts.
Obviously, you have been so busy in the constructive field you have not
paid any attention to these other people, but we are disturbed about it.
I applaud you for your efforts. I hope, as a result of your presence
here today, that some of those Government officials who are so vitally
concerned with the matter of helping the less fortunate will come to
see you and get some ideas as to how you have been so successful.
Mr. MooRE. Mr. Watson, I could not see anybody harming Mr.
Wilkins.
Mr. Watson. I couldn't either, but you had some birds up there
that planned to do it, and they are under indictment now. Champ. That
is the problem with which we are trying to wrestle. I think you are
doing an outstanding service. You are a good American, and I applaud
your efforts.
Mr. IcHORD. Mr. Chairman, Mr. Moore still looks like he is in top
physical condition. Are you still working out in the ring?
Mr. MooRE. No ; I only go through the motions with the youngsters.
I couldn't go one round.
Mr. IcHORD. You look like you have stayed in pretty good shape. I
know it was always a mystery as to how old you were before you
stopped fighting. I am not going to ask you to tell your age
746 SUBVERSIVE INFLUENCES IN RIOTS, LOOTING, AND BURNING
Mr. Moore. The next question, please ? [Laughter.]
Mr. I'ucK. Mr. Culver.
Mr. Culver. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Mr. Moore, the purpose of these hearings is to determine whether
the acts of mass violence we have experienced in our cities this sum-
mer have been planned and instigated by subversive elements. Do you
have any information that you might be able to provide the committee
which would indicate to the extent that subversive elements have either
planned or instigated the riots that we have had this summer ?
Mr. Moore. No, I don't. I read sometimes a lot of things. A recent
article I thought so much of that I clipped it out and put it in a
brochure that I have. It was on the decline of civilizations. Of 21 great
civilizations, 19 died from moral decay and they all progressed in
this .sequence.
Mr. Culver. But you don't have any firsthand information that
you could provide the committee based on your own personal experi-
ence that the riots this summer were either planned or instigated by
subversive elements ?
Mr. Moore. No.
Mr. Culver. The other purpose of the hearings is to determine if
such elements have succeeded in either broadening or prolonging these
riots after they have broken out.
Do you have any personal firsthand information that you can make
available to the committee to substantiate that particular inquiry ?
Mr. Moore. No, I don't, Mr. Culver.
Mr. Culver, I wonder if you, in your own personal experience in
the Negro community, have had the opportunity to discuss personally
with those elements within the American Negro community who are
generally considered to be either radical or subversive or Communist
in their objectives in the ghetto?
Have you ever had an opportunity to visit with any people that in
your judgment you would personally classify as properly falling into
that categorization ?
Mr. Moore. I stay as far away from these elements that would de-
stroy America as I can.
Mr. Culver. You have not had a personal firsthand opportunity
even to discuss with them their objectives or their tactics ?
Mr. Moore. I suppose by them referring to me as Uncle Tom they
do not even care to discuss these things with me. They know that I
would not take it anyway.
Mr. Culver. I would just like to indulge in a selfish inquiry, Mr.
Chairman, if I may at this point.
As I said at the outset, I think, Mr. Moore, that your successful de-
fense of your championship in Nova Scotia in December 1958
Mr. Moore. In Montreal.
Mr. Culver. — in Montreal, was the most inspiring and courageous
demonstration I have ever witnessed, I think, in athletic competition.
I wonder if you considered that to be your most difficult fight.
I know you fought all over the world for many, many years. I
would be anxious to learn whether you thought that was your most
challenging fight.
Mr. Moore. No. I am fighting now in the last round of the greatest
fight of them all. This is the fight to help young people. I need all
SUBVERSIVE INFLUENCES IN RIOTS, LOOTING, AND BURNING 747
the help that anybody and everybody can give me, because basically
this is your fight, this is your brother's fight, this is my fight, my
brother's fight, because we are all involved in youth work.
You have some youths in your family, so does everybody else. We are
all directly involved in this fight.
Mr. Culver. I certainly wish to commend you, as the other members
have, Mr. Moore, for your remarkable personal contribution in this
area and in this effort. I personally feel that this is the kind of deter-
mination and program which certainly will avoid the serious kind of
subversive consequences ultimately that might well arise from the
problems that we face in urban America.
I also think that if you demonstrate the same courage that you did
in that particular fight in this effort I would like to bet on you. I don't
think you have many disciplinary problems in the ABC program.
Mr. MooRE. No, we don't.
Mr. Culver. I also would like to ask you one^last question.
What, Mr. Moore, do you consider to be the causes of these riots in
cities that we have experienced this summer ?
Mr. MooRE. I would feel that there has been a lack of understand-
ing of the Negroes' so-called problem, which actually is the white
man's problem, was caused by the white man. This is the truth.
And there has been so much bypassing the Negro until he has to
cry out. And the people who do cry out, even in radical tones or radi-
cal overtones, they are trying to be heard, they are trying to be heard.
Some people can stand a lot of pain, a lot of suffering, without uttering
a cry. Some people canh;. If you step on some people's toes they will
yell out.
Mr. Culver. What are they crying out about specifically, Mr. Moore ?
Mr. Moore. They are crying out about job opportunity more so than
anything, then equal housing or equal opportunity to get housing, edu-
cation. This is what they are crying out for.
First they want jobs. They have to have money in order to function.
Mr. Culver, Do you think they need a Communist to tell them they
don't have adequate housing or job opportunities in this country ?
Mr. Moore. I don't think they have to have anybody to tell them
that. They know that, but they need to be heard. They do need to be
heard.
Mr. Culver. Can you think of anything that would strengthen more
the Communist appeal in this countiy than for a continuation of the
denial of those opportunities that you make reference to ?
Mr. Moore. I feel we should strengthen our forces. We should ba
more cohesive to understand one another's problems internally.
Mr. Culver. Do you tliink the subversive elements who have as an
objective the alteration of our democratic institutions and processes as
we understand them would have much of an audience in the Negro
ghetto if these longstanding grievances and discriminations were
alleviated ?
Mr. MooRE. I don't believe so. I really don't believe so.
Mr. Culver. Thank you very much, Mr. Moore.
The other question I have is this: In your excellent statement to
the San Diego newspaper you say : "They should have been around in
the '30s when I was coming up in St. Louis. We had no way to go,'' and
"The young people of today think they have a hard lot."
748 SUBVERSIVE INFLUENCES IN RIOTS, LOOTING, AND BURNING
Then at another point in the article you state, "I've seen almost un-
believable progress made in the last handful of years."
My question to you really is : Do you suppose that this country is ex-
periencing greater racial stress today between the races in an acute
way because of the fact that some progress has in fact been made and
that, as a result, the Ne^ro community recognizes the possibilities of
greater equality approximating full equality, and when yoii were a
young man growing up during the depression it was inconceivable to
ever entertain in a realistic way such a general recognition by this
society?
In short, I am saying, if you are in jail and the door is locked tight
and there is not a crack of light, are you likely to throw yourself
against it?
Whereas in the alternative that that door is somewhat ajar — not open
but ajar — and the light starts to come in, as the light started to come
in in terms of America dealing responsibly with the Emancipation
Proclamation by tearing down some of the barriers that existed for
some years, when that door is open a crack don't you think it is then,
and only then, that it is likely somebody will throw himself against the
door and tiy to push it all the way open ?
Mr. Moore. This is a question that could be answered in more ways
than one, because certainly being in a room where there is no crack of
light, there may be this person who is game enough to throw himself
against the door in order to jar open a crack. This has to be done.
Mr. AsHBROOK. That is what you have done.
Mr. MooRE, Thank you.
And get a crack open in a sense, in hopes that somebody will stick a
foot in, now that they can see the light. Now we have made unbelievable
progress, and Mr. Asa Spaulding, who sits in the audience here, has
done an amazing job with an insurance company and investment com-
pany. I look with high hope and honors to him and his organization.
Mr. Culver. Wlien you make reference, and I say this as one of your
greatest sports admirers for many, many years, when you make ref-
erence to the fact that in your block, for example, you cite the fact that
a lot of us made it, you cite your own case, which I think is inspiring
and very exciting, but you did it through your great physical courage
and determination, with your fists.
The other man you cite, Mr. Clark Terry, the outstanding musician,
did it through his very remarkable artistic gifts. Both of these avenues
in our society were freely available and open to a Negro at all times in
American society, somewhat more open, relatively speaking, in the case
of musicians today than ever before.
My question is: What are we going to do about broadening the field
of opportunity for Negroes so that for some to achieve in quantity, in
equality of opportunity across the whole board, the whole spectrum of
life's opportunities, vocationally, professionally, how are we best going
to achieve that so that success in the route to excellence is not limited to
the speed of your feet, the power of your fists, and the gifts of your
musical soul ?
Haven't you really in effect said that some of us made it, but we
made it on a very special nairow path of opportunity at that time, and
now our great problem for those within your own community who don't
possess comparable skills and gifts like most of us in this room have to
SUBVERSIVE INFLUENCES IN RIOTS, LOOTING, AND BURNING 749
have a broader general opportunity. I think great progress has been
made there, too.
I think we should continue. In my judgment it is no surprise that the
subversive elements, those who seek to destroy this Government b;^ any
conceivable way, are exploiting this opportunity, this great crisis m the
society today between the races.
It seems to me that we do ourselves a disservice if we do not properly
acknowledge that these subversive elements would have little to prey
upon if you were making the American society work well and truly
fulfill the inspiring declarations of our Constitution in bringing into
reality equal opportunity for every citizen.
Now it seems to me that the most effective way that we can deal with
the understandable danger of subversive exploitation which they are
most anxious to do as you properly indicate, set black against white in
this country, is to elimmate what I would personally acknowledge to be
very legitimate and just frustrations and grievances.
It seems to me if we put our energy and attention on this gigantic
assignment, and spend less time in seeking simplistic scapegoats for the
cause of these conditions in our country, that we are not only going
to be well on the road to having a better society in America, but we
will deal the most devastating blow possible against communism and
its appeal in this country.
I share your belief it is in the areas of housing, jobs, and educa-"
tion that we have to mobilize our resources. And I think in that effort,
making America work well in all its greatness, we have definitely the
best opportunity to fight Communists most effectively not only in this
country, but throughout the world.
Mr. Tuck. I may say to the witness that the gentleman from Iowa
also is quite an athlete. He is a former All-American football player.
Mr. Culver. That is very kind of you. It is a nice thing about Con-
gress, if you ever did anything in athletics you get better every year.
I can assure you if you ever went to a game in which I participated
that very kind and enthusiastic caricature would hardly be appro-
priate.
Mr. Tuck. I wish to commend the witness for the very fine, construc-
tive work in which he is engaged and say also that his testimony is
very impressive and inspiring.
We thank you very much for coming today.
Mr. MooRE. Thank you. Before you put me out
Mr. Watson. I would like to ask him one final question.
I am sure that we have all profited by the colloquy between you and
my esteemed colleague, Mr. Culver. But so that we might get back on
the track here, as I understand your position, your life and your pro-
gram and your philosophy dictate this. Regardless of the adversity,
regardless of the problems tljat a person might have, the solution to
those problems is to be found through education, through obedience
to the law, through attendance at church, and in no Avay is it to be
found in rioting and violence in the streets of America.
Mr. MooRE. Yes, sir.
Mr. Watson. That is your philosophy ?
Mr. MooRE. That is my philosophy.
Mr. Watson. And that is your testimony today.
Thank you, sir.
750 SUBVERSIVE INFLUENCES IN RIOTS, LOOTING, AND BURNING
Mr. Tuck. Do you have anything further to add ?
Mr. MooRE. Yes, sir.
I would like to close by saying that the pursuit of happiness is every
man's opportunity. The pursuit of happiness. I would rather pursue
happiness than be pursued by people who destroy happiness.
And ABC still has such a wide scope — you do not understand, you
cannot conceive, of what is in a youngster's mind, what he wants to be.
Maybe many of you gentlemen in this very room are not doing some
of the things that you have set out in your life to do when you were a
little boy, or what you wanted to be. Maybe you wanted to be a great
singer, something like that. Maybe you are not good at that. Well, we
will give these youngsters that choice to let them name the things that
they want to try to be in life.
Let them be part of that program, organize that program ABC for
them. Let them be a part. Let them be the working part of this pro-
gram. Let them be the cause, let them run their own program.
You quoted something a while ago when you said man set against
man. This is a Biblical quote. Father will be against son, nation against
nation, rumors of wars. This is in the Bible. You can find this.
These things are coming to pass. But let us hold these things off by
teaching our youngsters how to get along in the harmony that every
man needs in his lifetime. Let us make the resounding note. If it is the
black key, let it hit loud and clean and clear. If it is the white key, let it
hit loud, clean, and clear. The red key the same way, the brown key
and yellow key. Let it be a resounding harmony.
Mr. IcHORD. I have one more question, Mr. Chairman.
I noticed in your statement, Mr. Moore, that you came out against a
guaranteed national income, which many of our liberal friends em-
brace. I wonder why are you against such a program as a guaranteed
national income ? What is your philosophy behind that, Mr. Moore ?
Mr. Moore. Let me ask you a question. Maybe I can answer this with
a question.
Well, suppose that there is a man out in the field pulling weeds, and
you are up here making laws and presiding and governing things.
Your work is more complex and more difficult than his. His is easy.
Maybe he can pull weeds 1 hour and he will be through. You have to
work all day, slaving ovef books and paperwork.
Do you feel that he should earn as much as you are ? ^^Hiat I am say-
ing is that if I can devise an idea that can cause a hundred thousand
people jobs and job opportunities, why should I be salaried $40 a
week, the same as a man who is pulling weeds 2 hours a day ?
Mr. IcHORD. What you are saying is that all every man is entitled
to regardless of his race, color, or creed is opportunity? '>
Mr. Moore. Equal opportunity, opportunity to develop.
Mr. Asa Spaulding, should he be making $40 a week or $100 a week
that he is paying his man who is cleaning his yard? He is president of
the company that he devised from his own ideas and liard work and
labor? No.
Mr. IcHORD. I agree with you.
Mr. Tuf'K. We tliank you very much.
Will you call your next witness?
Mr. McNamara. Mr. Clarence Mitchell.
SUBVERSIVE INFLUENCES IN RIOTS, LOOTING, AND BURNING 751
Mr. Tuck. Will you solemnly swear that the testimony you are about
to give before this committee will be the truth, the whole truth, and
nothing but the truth, so help you God ?
Mr. Mitchell. I do.
TESTIMONY OF CLARENCE MITCHELL
Mr. Mitchell. Governor Tuck and Members of the Committee : In
preparation of my testimony I had assumed that the chairman, Mr.
Willis, would be here and I have included in it a little reference to
him, which I will read, because I want very much to be on record
as saying it.
Mr. McNamara. Mr. Mitchell, before you proceed with your state-
ment, would you kindly state your name and address for the record,
please ?
Mr. Mitchell. My name is Clarence Mitchell. I am director of the
Washington Bureau of the NAACP. Our office is in the Congressional
Building, 422 First Street, Southeast.
Mr. McNamara. Mr. Mitchell, is your appearance before the com-
mittee today in response to an invitation and request of the chainnan
to Roy Wilkins, executive secretary of the NAACP, that he or another
representative of that organization testify in the committee's hearings ?
Mr. Mitchell. That is correct.
Mr. Wilkins indicated that I was to represent the association.
Mr. McNamara. Can you tell us, Mr. Mitchell, how long you have
held the position of the director of the Washington Bureau of the
NAACP?
Mr. Mitchell. I have been director of the bureau since 1950. I be-
gan my duties with the organization in 1945, when I was labor
secretary.
Mr. McNamara. In addition to your work with the NAACP, have
you from time to time been engaged in service with the Federal
Government ?
Mr. Mitchell. I have from time to time given volunteer service in
the areas of employment, housing, educational matters, and things of
that sort.
Mr. McNamara. I understand, Mr. Mitchell, that you have a pre-
pared statement to read for the record.
Mr. Mitchell. Yes, I do, Mr. McNamara.
Mr. McNamara. Will you proceed ?
Mr. IVIitchell. Thank you.
Mr. Tuck. I may say to the witness that the chairman, Mr. Willis,
would have liked to have been here today. We do expect him here next
week.
I may further add that he expressed himself on many occasions as
being highly pleased with your cooperation with him and your willing-
ness to appear before the committee and give us the benefit of your
testimony.
Mr. Mitchell. Thank you very much. Governor Tuck.
As I stated, I am Clarence Mitchell, director of the Washington
Bureau of the National Association for the xVdvancement of Colored
People. I want to thank you very much for this opportunity to appear
and to present testimon}^ at this hearing.
752 SUBVERSIVE INFLUENCES IN RIOTS, LOOTING, AND BURNING
At the outset I would like to express appreciation to Chairman
Willis for his courageous challenge of the Ku Klux Klan, The terrible
implications of Klan activity were emphasized in recent days during
the trial of individuals for murder of three civil rights workers in
Mississippi.
I would just like to say for the record that if we are to stamp out
lawlessness in this country, the people themselves must show concern.
We need just laws, we need prosecutors and courts that are above cor-
ruption, but in the end we also need determination by the people
themselves that they will uphold the law.
I would like to use this forum, Mr. Chairman, to salute the people
of Mississippi who served on the jury in that case to which you
referred.
I do not know a thing about their views on civil rights, segregation,
and whatever else might be their philosophy. But I would say that it is
a great thing in our country when people who are entrusted with the
duty of seeing to it that the law is upheld fulfill that duty. It is my
opinion that to the best of their ability they did that. This is what I
mean when I say, in the end, if the people do not uphold the law we
cannot have law. If they do, the law will prevail.
As I imderstand it, the committee is addressing itself to two ques-
tions. These were set forth in the chairman's letter of October 11, 1967.
First, whether rioting, looting, and burning are compatible with the
American system of government and whether it will serve to advance
the interests of Negro citizens in the United States.
The second question, whether or not Communists sincerely have the
interests of Negroes at heart and Negroes, therefore, can accept them
and work with them in their efforts to achieve full equality in this
country.
On behalf of the National Association for the Advancement of
Colored People as an organization and myself as an individual I
answer both if these questions with an emphatic "No."
With reference to question number one, I would like to point out
that throughout its long history the NAACP has always been against
lynching, mob violence, and the destruction of property. I might say
I have strong personal views about that, too.
Right after I finished college in 1932, I was assigned to cover a
lynching as a newspaper reporter. I was against mob violence then
when I saw it and I am agamst it now, regardless of who is the per-
petrator of mob violence.
We are opposed to law^lessness and have spent most of our existence,
as well as most of our funds, trying to build a society in which this
idea will prevail, of law and order. We also seek just laws, which in
themselves promote peace and tranquility by strenthening the faith
in the Constitution of the United States as a means of obtaining redress
for grievances.
We are a.ware of the underlying causes that promote discontent in
this country. The fact tliat unemployment is higher among minority
groups, that many must live in ghetto areas because of restrictions
on housing, and a century of mistreatment, all combine to build frus-
trations and desperation.
I might say, Governor Tuck and Members of the Committee, that
it is a fact that the rate of unemployment among Negroes in this
SUBVERSIVE INFLUENCES IN RIOTS, LOOTING, AND BURNING 753
country is about three times the rate of unemployment among white
people. We have problems which stem from not getting the right kind
of educational training.
I was in Meridian this weekend and had the pleasure of seeing a
private school which some people have started down there for the
purpose of training young women to be secretarial workers. They were
taking them through all the things you need to know in order to be a
good secretary. But the persons in charge of that school pointed out
that all too often, even though the applicants and the trainees have
completed high school in the regular public school system of that
area, they really have only the equivalent of an eighth grade educa-
tion, which means that there are serious deiiciences in English and
in other things that would be needed in order to be ready to go into
the mainstream of life in this country.
Mr. IcHORD. Mr. Chairman, if I may interrupt there.
Your figures there, Mr. Mitchell, include both Negro males and
females. I am certain that that is true. I wanted to ask you this
question. I was rather surprised to notice a headline in one of our
metropolitan papers a number of days ago — I did not read the entire
article.
The gist of the headlines, anyway, was that the unemployment
figures of Negro males was less than whites. Are you acquainted with
that article? I was rather surprised to hear that such a thing would
be true.
Mr. Mitchell. I did not see that, Mr. Ichord, but I would say it is
a very unusual thing if it is true. I can't imagine any area in this
country
Mr. IciioRD. The statistics were undoubtedly limited to a specific
area. I did not have an opportunity to read the article in full. I
thought you might be acquainted with it.
Mr. Mitchell. I am sorry, I didn't see it.
Mr. Ichord. Go ahead.
Mr. Mitchell. Under the leadership of President Lyndon B. John-
son, the Nation is engaged in a great struggle to right some of the
wrongs which I have mentioned. The positive things that are being
done, such as encouraging Federal aid to education, promoting better
health, insuring equal job opportunity, and strengthening civil rights
legislation, are all a part of the Nation's effort to keep our pledge
of equality under law. I just would like to say, Mr. Chairman and
members of the committee, that I can't emphasize too much the be-
lief that I have that, if we could pay a little more attention to some of
the direction that the President is trying to give in handling, some of
these problems in our country, I think we would have a few more
solutions than we now ^et.
For example, there is no doubt in my mind that the rent supple-
ment program is a very valuable thing in these ghetto areas of the
country. The President asked for $40 million for that. The commit-
tee in the House cut him back to $10 million. Then when we got to
the floor, it did not get through at all.
On the other hand, there are some people who are attacking the
President and saying why doesn't he do something about housing,
why doesn't he do something about these problems in the cities?
Well, I think the best way to find out the effectiveness of the Presi-
754 SUBVERSIVE INFLUENCES IN RIOTS, LOOTING, AND BURNING
dent's program is to try to give him the things that he is asking
for, see whether these work, and then if somebody has a better idea on
how it might be improved, I would be all for it and I guess the Presi-
dent would be, too. But if he can't get what he is asking for, which
is really modest, I think that it is kind of idle to speculate on what
we might do if we had a whole lot more.
Although a great deal has been accomplished, we are all aware of
the need to move further and faster. Yet I do not share the views of
those who seem to think that rioting, looting, and burning are ac-
tions of the mass of discontented colored people in this country. It is
my opinion that it is an insult to the millions of law-abiding colored
people to align them with the terrible destruction and violence that we
have witnessed in some of our cities.
I think I am voicing the sentiment of the great number of people
in NAACP when I say that, because riots in Newark broke out when
we were in our convention in Boston. We passed a resolution, an
emergency resolution, and the gist of that resolution was that while
there are problems we do not condone violence, we are opposed to it,
and with your permission, Mr. Chairman, I would like to offer for the
record an excerpt from that resolution.
Mr. Tuck. That may be done.
(Document marked "Mitchell Exhibit No. 1" follows:)
MITCHELL EXHIBIT NO. 1
Emergency Resolution on Newark, N. J., Riot of July 14, 1967
This convention of the NAACP can understand, but not condone, quick violence
which occurs to express mass resentment over a particular outrage.
We cannot understand nor do we in any way condone prolonged and seemingly
stimulated riotous destruction of life and property extending over days and nights
and spreading, apparently under plan, to persons and places not involved in any
specific occurrence.
* * « « * * ♦
We call upon all law-abiding citizens of both races to act promptly and sternly
to put down such violence. Any indulgence of this destruction of life and prop-
erty under the color of frustration over items that warrant more than routine
attention, but do not warrant rioting, will be but an encouragement to an anarchy
in which the whole society loses.
There must be a rooting out of evils in race relations and a thorough redress
of legitimate grievances, but insurrection cannot be tolerated as the instrument
for the attainment of these goals.
7/15/67
(At this point Mr. Culver and Mr. Ashbrook left the hearing room.)
Mr. Mitchell. I have no firsthand knowledge of who it is that
lights the fires, who throws the bricks, or who engages in sniping, but
I do know that those responsible for these crimes are only a rtiinuscule
part of the total population. It is my opinion that the vast majority
of colored people in this country seek to settle their grievances and to
achieve their objectives just as all other Americans, through the lawful
channels of the land.
With regard to question number two, it should be mentioned that
long before many organizations were conscious of the problem of Com-
munist infiltration, the NAACP instinctively avoided such contacts.
We have always believed that the colored citizens of the TTnitod States
are an inse]:>arable part of the Nation. We never have, and do not now,
believe that foreign intervention of any kind can settle our problems.
SUBVERSIVE INFLUENCES IN RIOTS, LOOTING, AND BURNING 755
"We do believe that application of the principles of the Constitution
of the United States will lead to freedom and progress. On June 23,
1950, the 41st Convention of the NAACP meeting in Boston passed
a resolution "unequivocally condemning attacks by the Communists
and their fellow travelers upon the Association and its officials." The
convention also authorized the board of directors to "suspend, re-
organize, lift the charter or expel any unit if it became infiltrated or
dominated by Communists." This resolution has been reaffirmed in all
subsequent conventions.
I might say that, even before that resolution, in 1949 Mr. Roy Wil-
kins, the executive director of our organization, made a similar pro-
nouncement about participation of Communist groups in a big mobili-
zation that we were having down here for civil rights.
We have been and are equally opposed to organizations that operate
on the extreme right, as well as the extreme left. Although our organi-
zation has taken an official position on commmiism, it is my opinion
that the great majority of colored Americans did not need any re-
minder from us on this subject. The hopes and aspirations of these
citizens are the same as those of other Americans. We cherish freedom
of speech, freedom of worship, the right to vote, and the right to be
secure against oppression by tyrranical government.
It is my opinion that the Communists have never made any great
headway in recruiting colored followers and they do not have any sub-
stantial follow^ing at this point. I believe that one of the surest ways to
reveal the weakness of communism is to make our own system of
government w^ork for the benefit of the most humble as well as the
greatest of our citizens. This is the objective of the NAACP, and I
believe that we will reach that goal within our lifetime-
Mr. Tuck. Do you have any questions, Mr. Ichord ?
Mr. loHORD. Yes, Mr. Chairman.
I think Mr. Mitchell has made a very significant observation of the
policy of the NAACP in regard to its refusal to work with the
Communists.
I observe that many organizations that truly started out as pacifist
organizations have made a very serious mistake. As a matter of fact a
few such members have testified before this committee that they will
accept anyone regardless of his political convictions as long as he
professes to be working for peace. Many truly pacifist organizations
have gotten into some very serious trouble. Of course, you have indi-
cated it is going to be very difficult, maybe some of your more militant
civil rights organizations have also made the same mistakes by think-
ing that they can work with Communists who are not truly interested
in the cause of civil rights, but to tear down and destroy our institu-
tions and our Nation.
Mr. Mitchell- I would say, Mr. Ichord, first that I am very careful
to define our philosophical position when I answer a question like that.
We do not concede that any other civil rights organization is more
militant than we are in what we are trying to do.
Mr. Ichord. I agree with you.
Mr. Mitchell. We feel that the word "militant" is the wrong word
in some of these organizations. You might call them reckless and irre-
sponsible, but certainly not militant. Now I think that there are some
which are not as scrupulous as we are in trying to make sure that those
756 SUBVERSIVE INFLUENCES IN RIOTS, LOOTING, AND BURNING
who become membei-s are loyal citizens of the United States who be-
lieve in the Constitution of the United States. It is my opinion that
that is a very serious error. I think that the one thing that binds us all
together as Americans, regardless of what might be our political or
religious or racial or social beliefs, is the belief that the Constitution of
the United States is the supreme law of the land. That is what I think
ought to be the test. So I agree that those who have done that — I am
not prepared to say how many or who — but I would say tliose who
have done that have made a very serious tactical error.
Mr. Tuck. Mr. McNamara.
Mr. McNamara. Mr. Mitchell, in your statement, in addition to
mentioning the resolution opposing communism adopted by the
NAACP in 1950, you referred to a civil rights mobilization which the
NAACP had initiated at an earlier time and mentioned the fact that,
in this instance, the NAACP had specifically rejected any Communist
support on that. Could you give us further details about that?
Mr. Mitchell. Yes, I could, Mr. McNamara. I have with me a
Xeroxed copy of a news article which was published on December 1,
1949, which sets forth the position taken by Mr. Wilkins at the time
when we were having in Washington a big mobilization for civil
rights. We called in all possible religious, fraternal, labor, and other
groups that would participate in that effort. But we had an ironclad
rule that we didn't want anybody who was Communist affiliated or an
out-and-out Communist connected with it. Needless to say, a lot of
people attacked us for that position, but we held to it and this article
delineates the position. With your permission, I would like to offer
it as an exhibit.
Mr. Tuck. Without objection, and the Chair hears none, it may be
made a part of the record.
(Document marked "Mitchell Exhibit No. 2" and retained in com-
mittee files.)
Mr. McNamara. For the record, Mr. Chairman, I think it might be
of interest to summarize the incident. What happened was that Wil-
liam L. Patterson, who was the executive secretary of the Civil Rights
Congress, an organization which has been cited as Communist and
subversive by this committee, by the Attorney General, by the Sub-
versive Activities Control Board, and the Senate Internal Security
Subcommittee, wrote to Mr. Roy Wilkins, who was then acting secre-
tary of the NAACP, asking him why the Civil Rights Congress had
not been invited to this mobilization.
Mr. Wilkins sent him a reply explaining why and he made public
both Mr. Patterson's letter and his own reply. I think it is interesting
to place in the record at this point one quotation from Mr. Wilkins'
reply—
the organizations of the extreme left, when they campaign for civil rights, or
in behalf of a minority, do so as a secondary consideration, activity upon which
is certain to be weighted, shaped, angled, or abandoned in accordance with the
Communist Party "line."
We can have no truck with such unity.
The Pilots the official publication of the National Maritime Union,
in commenting on this exchange of letters, stated, "the Communist-
Coalition crowd has been totally dishonest with the Negro and other
minority people."
SUBVERSIVE INFLUENCES IN RIOTS, LOOTING, AND BURNING 757
Mr. Mitchell, is it also true that subsequent to that period, in 1956, at
the time of another civil rights mobilization here in Washington in
which the NAACP had a very vital interest, your organization learned
of stepped-up Comjnunist efforts to infiltrate the civil rights movement
and took steps to defeat that maneuver ?
Mr. Mitchell. That is true, Mr. McNamara. We were having an-
other mobilization here of the organizations that customarily work
with us on civil rights matters.
Mr. McNamara. This was the Leadership Conference on Civil
Eights?
Mr. Mitchell. That is what it was called. Mr. Wilkins serves as the
chairman of that. It is a nonpaid position, but he is the chairman of
that group which is a combination of a number of organizations. At
that time we not only made a declaration against Communist participa-
tion^ but we had a rather effective screening system which was most
efficient in keeping out those who tried to force their way in. Some
went to rather imaginative lengths to try to get in. For example, there
was one group that came down from New York and gave out a large
number of NAACP membership cards that apparently they had
printed on some kind of clandestine press. But, in any event, they
were turned down when they presented themselves, and we were able
to keep them out.
Mr. McNamara. It is my recollection, Mr. Mitchell, that at that
time Mr. Wilkins sent a notice to the 1300 branches and youth coun-
cils of the NAACP pointing out this Communist effort and warning
of the damage that would be done to the civil rights movement if it is
successful. Is that correct?
Mr. Mitchell. That is correct.
Mr. McNamara. Mr. Mitchell, I have a few stickers here, approxi-
mately 2 by 4 inches in size. I would like to hand these to you and
ask you to identify these and tell us about their origin.
Mr. Mitchell. Mr. Chairman and Members of the Committee,
when you are confronted with a crisis such as we are confronted with
in this country on racial violence, men of good will or women of good
will tr^ very hard to find ways of doing all they can to head it off.
Mr. Wilkins in his way undertook to do that. He got out a memo-
randum which was sent to all of our branches on June 15, 1967, in
which he tried to spell out specific things that local branches might
do with the hope oi trying to head off violence in their communities.
One of the things that appeared at the bottom of that was the slogan
"KEEP COOL, Let the Other Guy BLOW HIS TOP." That is
reproduced in this little card here. Another was '*THE OTHEK
SIDE WINS IF WE LOSE OUK COOL." That is reproduced on
til IS CRTQ
The third was, "BRICKS THROUGH ^VINDOWS DON'T
OPEN DOORS," and that is this little exhibit.
(Stickers marked "Mitchell Exhibit No. 3" and retained in com-
mittee files.)
Mr. Mitchell. In addition he followed that up with a telegram
dated July 25, which went out to 450 of our key branches in urban
areas, reminding them of his admonition of June 15 and also urging
them to step up their effort to try to prevent trouble.
758 SUBVERSIVE INFLUENCES IN RIOTS, LOOTING, AND BURNING
"With your permission, Mr. Chairman, I would like to offer the
memorandum for the record and return to the staff director the
exhibits which he handed me.
Mr. Tuck. Without objection, and the Chair hears none, the state-
ment will be incorporated in the evidence offered by the witness.
(Document marked "Mitchell Exhibit No. 4" and retained in
committee files.)
Mr. McNamara. Mr. Mitchell, these stickers you refer to bear the
imprint of the NAACP; is that correct?
5lr. Mitchell. That is correct.
Mr. McNamara. The NAACP has furthered and promoted their
distribution and use throughout the Nation; is that correct?
Mr. Mitchell. That is correct, Mr. McNamara.
Mr. McNamara. Mr. Mitchell, you have been active for a good
many years in the civil rights movement. We have, I think, seen a
new phenomenon in this area. That is the sudden rise to national and
even international prominence of some self-proclaimed civil rights
leaders, people whose accomplishments in the field are actually nil.
But almost overnight they have gone from obscurity, from being
unknowns, into the spotlight of national attention. Would you care
to comment on this development?
Mr. Mitchell. I would, Mr. McNamara, because I would like the
country to realize that the precious right of a free press, free com-
munications media, has to be safeguarded by people who recognize
their responsibility in handlmg the news with the proper perspective.
It is my opinion that a great deal of the turmoil in this count i*y is
fomented by the playing up of those who are willing to say anything
that is irresponsible for the purpose of getting on television or getting
into the papers. I think, too, that the press has a great responsibility
to explore these matters before they are given wide distribution.
For example, a couple of weeks ago I was on a plane coming from
New York and picked up a copy of Time magazine that said the
Negroes of this country have become so enchanted with the idea of
black power that they are even starting black fraternities. They men-
tioned one of them, the Omega Si Phi fraternity. It just happens that
fraternity was started back in 1911 by Bisliop Edgar Love of the
Methodist Church, and I am sure that its founders had no remote
notion about black power or any other kind of ideology at the time.
They were doing what most fraternities are organized to do, and that
is have a good social time.
I thinli that the responsible publications ought to be verj' careful
in making sure that before they say a thing like that, they check
it out.
Another young lady called me from a very reputable magazine
and asked whether I could help her find a Negro who was a college
graduate, who was disillusioned by the war in Vietnam, disillusioned
about our domestic policy, and therefore had decided to become a
sniper. She was from a reputable magazine. She said she had been
assigned to do this for a Christmas story. It was a lady's magazine.
I tried to explain to her that that kind of person probably did not
exist. I offered, if she wanted me to get a balanced and true picture of
what Negroes are thinking these days, to try to help her find a cross-
SUBVERSIVE INFLUENCES IN RIOTS, LOOTING, AND BURNING 759
section. She said no, she had her assignment and she had to keep look-
ing for that particular kind of Negro.
AVell, this rmis through most of the media. I do hope that those who
are in positions of responsibility take a second look at some of the
things that they are doing in the way of promoting irresix>nsible
people to prominence.
Mr. McNajviara. The staff has no further questions, Mr. Chairman.
Mr. Tuck. The gentleman from South Carolina.
Mr. Watson. Mr. Chairman, we want to thank the witness for his
very helpful testimony. I would just ask one or two questions.
Of course, you are aware of the fact that the Communist Party in
their last meeting, which was public, said that the two major objectives
that they have are to move mto youth groups and into civil rights
groups. You are aware of that, are you not ?
Mr. Mitchell. I am not aware that they made that statement re-
cently, Mr. Watson, but I am sure they have been making that for a
long time. I am not surprised to find that they have now announced it
again.
Mr. Watson. So, consequently, it would be expected that tliis group
of sympathizers would try to move into the civil rights field, and you
and your organization would be on your guard to try to prevent it as
much as possible.
Mr. Mitchell. Yes, we would not need to wait for newspaper warn-
ing. We're always on a 24-hour alert on things of that sort.
Mr. Watson. Following that question, if there be such infiltration
into your organization by the Communists and Communist-front
groups, then would it naturally follow that you would want this com-
mittee or any other responsible committee or organization to identify
such Communists or Communist sympathizers if they have infiltrated
into your organization ?
Mr. Mitchell. Well, Mr. Watson, I think I understand what you are
getting at.
Mr. \Vatson. It is a direct question. I assure you I have no tricks in
this at all.
Mr. Mitchell. I would like to respond in as gracious a manner as
you have asked the question, but one of the things that we have
always felt is that if, in our organization, we are asking for due process
and if we are advocating adherence to the orderly determination of
guilt or innocence, then we have to practice that ourselves. So for our
part we would not look to any other source for information on who is or
who is not a Communist. We would wish to establish our own orderly
procedures. We would want to be sure that such persons had a day in
court and we would want to be the people who are responsible for oust-
ing them and identifying them if that be necessary.
I do not think that we would want to, and I am saying this very re-
spectfully, I do not think that we would want a committee of Con-
gress, the Attorney General of the United States, or a court to block
out for us what is a Communist, who is a Communist, and that kind
of thing. I think, because we are people with some knowledge and some
sophistication, we would want to make that determination ourselves.
Mr. Watson. Mr. Mitchell, I agree with you. I think the basic pur-
pose of identification by whatever source would be to give you the op-
32-955 O — 69— pt. 1 4
760 SUBVERSIVE INFLUENCES IN RIOTS, LOOTING, AND BURNING
portunity to do exactly what you said you wanted to do and that is to
expel these members from your organization.
I believe there would perhaps be some valuable help to be given to
you from the Subversive Activities Control Board, this committee here,
and the Department of Justice because, regardless of how fine an or-
ganization you may have, I dare say that there are sources at our dis-
posal that you would not have at your disposal. At least I was hopeful
that you might welcome the help and the assistance of this committee
in identifying any possible Communist sympathizers or actual Commu-
nist activists in your organization.
Mr. Mitchell. Mr. Watson, I am sure, as a lawyer, you would not
value documentary evidence as much as you would the direct testimony
of people and evidence that you could obtain on a firsthand basis your-
self. We adhere to that rule in our organization, that no matter what
a newspaper might say or what a Government reporter might say, we
would want to give the accused or the party charged his day in court
and before what would be equivalent of a jury of his peers, for the pur-
pose of deciding from our own knowledge whether he is or is not a
Communist.
Mr. Watson. I might say, and I am not going to prolong this partic-
ular line of questioning, but I am sure you will concede that this com-
mittee and other agencies would act responsibly in this fashion before
any organization or any individual would be placed on a subversive
list. I hope you appreciate that fact.
Mr. Mitchell. Well, we always hope that all agencies of Govern-
ment will act with responsibility. I do believe, though, in the separa-
tion of powers. I do believe that in the Congress you can engage in
factfinding and come out maybe right on the mark. But I do believe
that the function of making a determination of guilt or innocence is
really a function of the judiciary. Even with the t3est of intention on
the part of the executive branch and all these others, I think that the
final determination ought to be in the hands of the judiciary. This
is a hard decision for me personally because I know of my own knowl-
edge that the Government of the United States has information on who
is guilty in some of the more terrible murders that have taken place in
the areas of civil rights. The Government, for example, knows who
killed Medgar Evers. The Government knows who is responsible for
the bombings and the dynamitings in the South that have resulted in
the murder of people. But for various reasons those in charge of
prosecution have not submitted that evidence to the grand jury and
to the courts.
Now all of my instincts tell me I wish we would have spme way
through a committee of Congress or through the executive branch to
bring these culprits to justice. But then I know that, under our system,
until they are brought into court they really are presumed to be
innocent.
Mr. Watson. And the statement that you have just made contradicts
your earlier position that you think that the court should make such
determination of a person's Communist affiliation, because you have
just apparently expressed a complete lack of confidence in the judicial
system m some areas of this country.
Mr. Mitchell. I haven't expressed, that I am aware of, anv lack of
confidence in the judicial system. I have said that under the Constitu-
SUBVERSIVE INFLUENCES IN RIOTS, LOOTING, AND BURNING 761
tion and under our doctrine of separation of powers we use the judicial
system to determine questions of guilt or innocence.
Mr. Watson. Then you are fearful of the procedures. As I under-
stood, I thought you made the statement that you wished that the
legal authorities would move forward in this field and they have not.
Mr. Mitchell. That is right.
Mr. Watson. Did I misunderstand your position, or do you want
to modify it?
Mr. Mitchell. I don't want to modify it. I would like to restate it.
I said that I knew that the Government of the United States had in-
formation which would indicate the guilt of the persons involved in
these crimes that I have mentioned. By Government, I meant the ex-
ecutive branch, which of course is the Department of Justice. I indi-
cated that for reasons best known to themselves they have not sub-
mitted this to a grand jury. I was attempting to give you my more or
less animal reaction to that, and that is that emotionally I wish that
somehow or other we could get this into the works and get something
done.
But when reason takes over I know that, if we are to preserve the
system of government under which we live, even those accused of th^
most dastardly crimes have to have their day in court and until a court
does get those cases and makes some determination of them the people
are presumed to be innocent.
Mr. Watson. Mr. Mitchell, I am not defending the press at all be-
cause I have had my grievances with them, too. But did I understand
you to say or imply that the irresponsible conduct of some individuals
in the field of civil rights and racial disturbances should be exonerated
or perhaps overlooked because they happened to receive great play in
the press ?
Mr. Mitchell. No, Mr. Watson. What I was saying is that we don't
have enough of the kind of thing that I have coming out of one of your
papers — not yours, but out of your State. Now I would like to submit
this for exhibit purposes. Since I have only one copy, I would appre-
ciate it if your committee could duplicate it in some way. Our ex-
ecutive field director down in South Carolina sent me a copy of a news
story in the August 8, 1967, Charlotte Observer and in the August
1967—1 think that is the Palmetto State, isn't it ?
Mr. Watson. That is correct.
Mr. Mitchell. Both of these stories indicate efforts on the part of
the NAACP, under the leadership of Reverend I. DeQuincey Newman,
to take positive steps to cooperate with the State in trying to head off
possible violence.
As you will see, these apparently were on the front page in big head-
line type. There are pictures of people involved. I am sorry to say that
this is not done by many, many publications in this country. You can
get much more publicity as a Negro if you talk about burning down
the Capitol or wanting to do something violent and destructive, maybe
shoot Roy Wilkins, or something of that sort. You can get a whole lot
more publicity by doing that than you can get by these constructive
things.
All I would hope is that the responsible publications would start
looking at the whole picture and put some of these people who make
wild statements in proper perspective so that you can see that they are
762 SUBVERSIVE INFLUENCES IN RIOTS, LOOTING, AND BURNING
really only speaking for themselves, and maybe even not themselves,
because they change from day to day, depending on what is the most
attractive thing to say for the headlines.
Mr. Watson. I share your sentiments, and we are happy that this is
taking place in South Carolina. We have what we feel a very excellent
record in this particular field. I am happy for that. But at the same
time, without public exposure of the Rap Browns and Stokely Car-
michaels and some of the other radical, irresponsible people by the
press, perhaps the people would never know about them. Hopefully
your people will be governed accordingly and not be misled by these
people. But apparently a great many of them have been. I agree with
you it is not a majority. But I think you will concede that a great many
of them have been wittingly or unAvittingly misled by the likes of
Brown and Carmichael.
Mr. Mitchell. No, Mr. Watson, I would say I believe in the ex-
posure of wrongdoers, but I don't believe in overexposure to the point
that you make the wrongdoer a kind of folk hero.
Mr. Watson. Do you believe any of your people conclude that Rap
Brown and Carmichael are heroes ?
Mr. Mitchell. I would say that the only way you can answer that
kind of question is through a Harris poll or a crystal ball or some-
thing of that sort. I would not say "yes," but I would say that when
you see a person's picture in a four-column cut on the front page of
a leading metropolitan paper, as happened here, with all sorts of tele-
vision and radio equipment around him taking down every word he
says, I would think that somebody is going to believe that that fellow
must be saying something pretty important. I feel that this is a ques-
tion of judgment, and it would be my opinion that you could do the
same thing of exposing whoever you wanted to expose b^ doing it with
maybe at least a two-column picture or maybe putting it on the inside
I just think that we live in a period when the news competition is.
such that people strive to get the thing that is going to be the most
sensational. I think you can be sensational by saying that somebody is
going to come in here and blow up the Capitol. But, of course, it would
seem to me irresponsible to say that if there is no basis for it in fact.
Mr. Watson. I might make this one final statement. I think you and
I share the same thinking in that regard. I personally hav^e thought
many times that I had made a real earth-shaking statement in a news,
release, but I could not even trip up a newsman tx) give it to him, and
others would rush out to get a shot at the likes of Carmichael and
Rap Brown. s
Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman.
Mr. Tuck. We thank you very much for your statement and the
help you have given the committee.
Will you call the next witness.
Mr. McNamara. Mr. Asa Spaulding.
Mr. Tuck. Do you solemnly swear the testimony you give before
this committee will be the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the-
truth, so help you God ?
Mr. Spaulding. I do.
SUBVERSIVE INFLUENCES IN RIOTS, LOOTING, AND BURNING 763
TESTIMONY OF ASA T. SPAULDING
Mr. McNamara. Will you state your full name and. address for the
record, please ?
Mr. Spaulding. My name is Asa T. Spaulding. I live at 1608 Lin-
coln Street, Durham, North Carolina.
Mr. McNamara. What is your business or profession, Mr. Spauld-
ing?
Mr. Spaulding. I am president of the North Carolina Mutual
Life Insurance Company.
Mr. McNamara. Could you tell the committee how long you have
been associated with that company ?
Mr. Spaulding. I have been associated with the company for over
40 years. As a matter of fact, it is the only job I ever had. I worked
there during the summer when I was in high school right on through
until I went back — finishing my education and I went back as a full-
time employee of the company. That was in 1932. 1 was elected actuary
of the company in 1933. I held that position until 1935, when I was
also elected assistant secretary. In 1945 I was elected comptroller. So
I was actuary, assistant secretary, and comptroller from 1945 to 1948,
when I was elected vice president, actuary, and comptroller, which
position I held until January 1, 1959, when I became president of the
company.
Mr. McNamara. Are you appearing today, Mr. Spaulding, in re-
sponse to an invitation and request from the chairman that you testify
in these hearings ?
Mr. Spaulding. I am.
Mr. McNamara. Mr. Spaulding, you are a man, of many accomplish-
ments and activities and the liour is growing late. I will not ask you
to spell out all of them, but I would like to state for the record that
you are a member of the lx)ard of directors of a number of large
financial institutions, that you are a trustee of Howard Univei-sity and
Shaw University, that you received a Presidential citation in 1946 for
the work you did to help stabilize the economy of this Government
during World War II.
You have been active in church work. You were a member of a
United States delegation to a UNESCO general conference and I be-
lieve, Mr. Spaulding, you have recently returned from a trip abroad
where you were inspecting military installations for the Department
of Defense. Is this correct ?
Mr. Spaulding. There is a slight correction. I recently returned
from a trip to Africa as. a member of a trade mission for the United
States Department of Commerce. I have just returned from a JCOC,
the Joint Civilian Orientation Conference, under the auspices of the
Department of Defense, where the military installations of this coun-
try were inspected. That ended on October 19.
Mr. McNamara. I understand that at the end of this month you will
be going to Germany for 2 weeks at the invitation of the West <Grerman
Government to observe progress which has been made there under the
Marshall plan. Is that correct ?
Mr. Spaulding. That is correct.
Mr. McNamara. Mr. Spaulding, do you have a statement which you
have prepared for submission to the committee ?
764 SUBVERSIVE INFLUENCES IN RIOTS, LOOTING, AND BURNING
Mr. Spaulding. Yes, I do, Mr. McNamara.
Mr. McNamara. Would you care to read that ?
Mr. Spaulding. I would like to.
Mr. Tuck. The committee expresses its gratification that you have
come here. I would like to say that while the present witness is not my
constituent I have the privilege of living only 40 or 45 miles from
him. I know of the great work that he is engaged in in North Carolina.
I know of the respect in which he is held by people of both races all
over the State of North Carolina. He has one of the largest insurance
companies in that State. He enjoys an unusually high degree of con-
fidence and esteem by the people, generally, of the great State of North
Carolina.
Mr. Spaulding. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Mr. Chairman and Members of the Committee on Un-American
Activities :
I am here today in response to your request to express my views on
the following two basic issues :
1. Whether rioting, looting, and burning are compatible with the
American system of government and whether they will serve to ad-
vance the interests of Negro citizens in the United States ;
2. Wliether or not Communists sincerely have the interests of the
Negro at heart and Negroes, therefore, can accept them and work with
them in their efforts to achieve full equality in this country.
Before expressing my views on the two basic issues in question, Mr.
Chairman and Members of the Committee, I would like to quote from
an article I wrote in July 1963, which reads in part as follows :
A BURNING ISSUE
The situation may have changed materially by the time this appears in print,
but as of the time of its writing, there is no more burning issue facing the
American public than that of Civil Rights.
NOT A PHONY
Let no one be misled into believing that this is a phony issue which will go
away if ignored, or that Communists are solely responsible for the current racial
unrest and activity in this Country. The origin of the motivation is deep-seated
in the Negro himself, in his determined desire to have the same freedom of
movement, choice, and opportunity as his fellow Americans of other races.
NOT A SURPRISE
Careful observers of racial trends since World War II, and especially since
the Montgomery, Alabama, bus incident in 1955, have not been taken by surprise
by what they see today. The coming events clearly cast their shadows before
them, but far too many either buried their heads in the sand or assumed the
attitude that "when ignorance is bliss, 'tis folly to be wise," and refused to
become concerned.
It has been abundantly clear to many for several years, that the desire for
freedom and a better way of life on the part of underprivileged peoples through-
out the world is nn ever-ri.sing tide, and the flow of it might be DAMNED but
can not be dammed. Nor can this desire be crushed without destroying a major
portion of the human race.
TO BLOCK EVOLUTION IS TO INVITE REVOLUTION
... In these rapidly changing times, too strenuous efforts to block accelerated
evolution in the progress toward social, economic and political justice can but be
an open invitation to revolution.
SUBVERSIVE INFLUENCES IN RIOTS, LOOTING, AND BURNING 765
DEBT IN DEFAULT
The promissory note made to the Negro 100 years ago, embodying the American
Promise and the American Dream as set forth in the Declaration of Independence,
the Constitution of the United States, and the Bill of Rights, and proclaimed
through the Emancipation Proclamation, fell due long, long ago. . . . The present
generation is demanding payment of the principal now and in full. This is the
temper of the times. The serious question confronting America today is whether
or not she will honor and fulfill her obligation.
Y0T7TH DETERMINED TO COLLECT
The young i)eople are on the march. . . . They will not be deterred by arrests,
jail sentences, fire hoses, police dogs, or death itself ; for they feel that freedom
and first-class citizenship are in the air . . . and they are determined to collect
the full amount of the promissory note at this time. ... I am convinced that the
walls of segregation and barriers of discrimination based on race must go, and
are certain to be washed away by the onrushing tide of history and change.
This article was written 4 years ago.
BBIDOES ACROSS CHASMS
All deprived peoples are still seeking bridges across the chasms separating
their state and condition from that of the lands of greater opportunities and bet-
ter living. The wide, cultural, educational, economic, social and political gaps sepa-
rating members of the human family must be narrowed and/or bridged soon so
that whosoever vdll may cross over to that better way of life.
The privileged ("the haves") will know no peace or happiness again until these
bridges are built. ... It is because these cries have been unheard so long that
we have our Newarks and Detroits of today.
The foregoing statement, Mr. Chairman and Members of the Com-
mittee, is not an attempt to justify the riotings, looting, and burnings
which have taken place, but rather is an effort to put them in proper
perspective.
OPPOSED TO RIOTING, LOOTING, AND BURNING
I would like to make it abundantly clear, however, that while I sup-
port all appropriate efforts to have America live up to the ideals and
principles upon which the Nation was founded, I do not and cannot
support and/or condone the wanton destruction of human life and
property. I therefore oppose rioting, looting, and burning and consider
them incompatible with the American system of government.
Wliether or not from the short-range viewpoint they will serve to
advance the interests of Negro citizens in the United States may be
debatable. I would observe, however, that that which is taken by force
must be held and/or maintained by force unless and until the hearts
and minds of those involved are changed.
Right here I would like to read a statement from the current issue
of the house organ of my company on the company's position :
[For the More Abundant Life]
According to St. John, 10th Chapter and 10th Verse, one of the purposes of
the coming of Jesus was that man might have life and have it more abundantly.
This is the objective of the Civil Rights struggle. This, too, is the mission of life
insurance and the purpose for which North Carolina Mutual was organized, and
is the puriwse to which it is still dedicated. It seeks not only to destroy poverty,
but also the causes of poverty ; and is the enemy not only of crime but also tvhat
breeds it. Its aim is to help ward off misery, relieve distress, dispel fear and keep
hope for the future alive.
766 SUBVERSIVE INFLUENCES IN RIOTS, LOOTING, AND BURNING
[Affainst Want and Despair]
Morth Carolina Mutual has long been engaged in the war against poverty
and want, ignorance, poor housing, despair, and the causes of unemployment and
crime ; and in trying to convert hopelessness into hopefulness.
Dr. Robert C. Weaver, Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, in his
address at the dedication of the Company's new home office building, had this
to say :
"A quarter of a century ago, it was the North Carolina Mutual Life Insurance
Company which was unique among Negro businesses in recognizing the impor-
tance and significance of FHA insured and VA Guaranteed Mortgages. In the
mid-forties, 75% of such underwritten mortgages held by Negro-controlled
enterprises were in the portfolio of this insurance company . . . there have
been scores of instances when no other source of mortgage money was available
to a Negro family. ..."
[For Understanding and Cooperation]
During the period of the race riots following World War I, the then General
Manager, C. C. Spaulding, wrote the personnel throughout the Company's terri-
tory, in part, as follows :
"The delicate issues of our economic and ci\'ic life . . . require all the caution,
steadfastness, and Christian uprightness which the leaders of both races can
summon for their settlement. This is the time for Negroes to talk to our white
friends and not about them. We must make our position clear to the friends of the
race, and with them, guide our country through this i)erilous time."
It was also pointed out that "cooperation and mutual friendliness of the
races is the great hope for the development of the South" and that since "cooper-
ation is a two-way street, the Negro should not be expected to do all the co-ing
while the white man does all the operating."
[The Maturing Negro]
In addressing 250 agents and other representatives of the Company on June
20, 1919, at White Rock Baptist Church in Durham, Mr. Spaulding said :
"The Negro's future in America depends more on what he does for himself
than on what others may do for him. I am proud that the Negro is no longer
regarded as a baby, but as a full grown man and must therefore take the place
of a man. The Negro is proud of his race and is not trying to get away from it."
[Faithful to Its Mission and Heritage]
North Carolina Mutual Life Insurance Company would be unfaithful to the
Mission of life insurance, to the purposes for which it was organized, and to its
heritage, were it not to support the Negro, and/or any other deprived people, in
all legitimate struggles for the "more abundant life." The Company has no
other intention than to measure up to its responsibilities as a good citizen in
support of all appropriate efforts to have America live up to the ideals and
principles upon which the Nation was founded — first class citizenship, and
equality of opportunity and treatment for all its citizens. It cannot condone the
wanton destruction of human life and proi>erty, however, and therefore opposes
riots and rioting. To do otherwise would be to engage in a war against its own
aims and purposes which are "not to injure nor to pain, but to heal^ the very
causes of sorrow, and to help make a better world for all."
These are sentiments of the company that I represent. WitVi your
permission I would like to present a copy of this to you, Mr. Mc-
Namara, for the record.
(Document marked "Spaulding Exhibit No. 1" and retained in com-
mittee files.)
Mr. Tuck. We have a roll call in the House of Representatives. It
will be necessary for us to recess. I would suggest that we recess until
2:80.
Mr. Spaulding. Mr. Chairman, with your permission could I read
these two last paragraphs which will cover the statement? And then,
SUBVERSIVE INFLUENCES EST RIOTS, LOOTING, AND BURNING 767
if possible, I should leave here by 3 :15 to catch my plane back to Dur-
ham, if possible.
Mr. Watson. Mr. Chairman, so far as I am concerned, I want to
commend Mr. Spaulding. He has a wonderful operation in North
Carolina. I appreciate the calm and considerate and intelligent man-
ner in which he has approached this problem. In view of his travel
plans, I certainly would have no questions.
Mr. Tuck. I would suggest you complete the statement then.
Mr. Spaulding. I want to cover the (j[uestion on Conununists.
I am not an authority on Communists by training, experience, or
association; but from my limited readings and observations, I am of
the opinion that Commmiists never miss an opportunity to capitalize
on dissatisfaction, strife, and turmoil no matter what the cause. It is
also my feeling that their alliances are more or less "marriages of con-
venience," subject to being dissolved when it will serve their interest
to do so.
I, therefore, doubt that Communists "sincerely have the interests
of the Negro at heart," or that they will work with the Negro in his
efforts to achieve full equality in this country beyond the point where
it means more to the Negro than it does to the Communists and their
cause.
Thank you, Mr. Cliairman and Members of the Committee.
Mr. Tuck. We thank you very much. We appreciate your taking
the time to come here and give the committee the benefit of your
views.
Mr. Spaulding. Thank you. I am very happy to have had the privi-
lege of appearing.
STATEMENT OF WHITNEY M. YOTJNG, JR., ON BEHALF OF
NATIONAL URBAN LEAGUE, INC.
Inasmuch as Mr. Young was unable to appear on this date, he sub-
mitted the following statement which the chairman authorized to be
inserted at this point in the record.
(The statement follows :)
STATEMENT BY WHITNEY M. YOUNG. JR., EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, NA-
TIONAL URBAN LEAGUE, PREPARED FOR THE HOUSE UN-AMERICAN
ACTIVITIES COMMITTEE, WASHINGTON, D.C., OCTOBER 25, 1967
The chairman of the Committee on Un-American Activities of the U.S. House
of Representatives has requested that the National Urban League express its
views on two queries by the committee.
The first question is : "Whether rioting, looting, and burning are compatible
with the American system of government and whether they will serve to advance
the interests of Negro citizens in the United States."
The National Urban League has reijeatedly gone on record as opposing violence
and rioting. We submit a statement in which we joined with other organizations
in expressing this viewpoint.^ In the light of the deaths, injuries, arrests, and
destruction of Negro-owned property this past summer, it is obvious that the
interests of Negro citizens are not advanced by riots. This is recognized by the
overwhelming proportion of Negro citizens who did not participate in such activi-
ties this summer.
It would be a mistake, however, to expect the millions of Americans who have
been denied equal rights and who suffer from prejudice, discrimination, jobless-
1 See pp. 768, 769.
768 SUBVERSIVE INFLUENCES IN RIOTS, LOOTING, AND BURNING
ness, inadequate housing and education, poor health, and a myriad of other
social ills based on poverty and racial discrimination to bear their lot in silence.
Their anger at the obvious injustice of their plight and at the lack of massive
programs which would end poverty and racism must be recognized. So long as
people feel they have nothing to lose, appeals to logic and reason will fail.
The question is not, then, whether rioting is "compatible with the American
system of government," but whether the American system of government has
been as flexible and as energetic as it should be in including all American citi-
zens in the fruits of our society. If we were to take immediate steps to end the
racial gap which condemns a disproportionate number of Negro citizens to
poverty and inadequate necessities of life, we would not have to worry about
rioting.
The second question posed by the chairman is : "Whether or not Communists
sincerely have the interests of the Negro at heart and Negroes therefore can
accept them and work with them in their efforts to achieve full equality in this
country."
In every country in which there exists a poor and downtrodden group in the
population, the Communists have found their strength in that group. In every
country that is, but the United States. The Communist Party has sipent much
time and effort in wooing the Negro population, all to no avail. If anything,
its appeal to the Negro population in the United. States has been less than
with any other group of citizens.
Negro citizens do not want to change the American way of life. The whole
history of Negro efforts to secure equality is an indication that Negro citizens
desire, above all else, inclusion on an equal basis in American society.
There is little evidence that Communists have any significant influence on
the civil rights movement. Their record is not one which inspires trust among
Negro citizens, and Negro citizens do not accept them and do not work with
them.
The National Urban League welcomes this opportunity to comply with a
request for information by a committee of the United States Congress. The
National Urban League, Inc., is a professional community service organization
committed to securing equal opportunities for Negroes and other minorities
in all areas of American life. It is nonpartisan and interracial in its leadership
and staff.
[The joint statement referred to on p. 767 follows:]
From : Public Relations Department, National Urban League, 55 East 52nd
Street, New York, N.Y. 10022, (212) 751-0302.
Contact: Guichard Parris.
The following is the text of a statement issued jointly by, Dr. Martin Luther
King, Jr., A. Philip Randolph, Roy Wilkins, and Whitney M. Young, Jr., on
July 26, 1967, and released from the headquarters offices of the NAACP — 20
West 40th Street, New York City :
Developments in Newark, Detroit and other strife-torn cities make it crystal
clear that the primary victims of the riot are the Negro citizens. That they
have grave grievances of longstanding, cannot be denied or minimized. That
the riots have not contributed in any substantial measure to the eradication
of these just complaints, is by now obvious to all.
We are confident that the overwhelming majority of the Negro community
joins us in opposition to violence in the streets. Who is vsrithout the necessities
of life when the neighborhood stores are destroyed and looted? Whose children
are without milk because deliveries cannot be made? Who loses wages because
of a breakdown in transportation or destruction of the place of employment?
Who are the dead, the injured and the imprisoned? It is the Negroes who pay
and pay and pay, whether or not they are individually involved in the rioting.
And what for?
Killing, arson and looting are criminal acts and should be dealt with as such.
Equally guilty are those who incite, provoke, and call specifically for such action.
There is no injustice which justifies the present destruction of the Negro com-
munity and its people.
We who have fought so long and so hard to achieve justice for all Americans
have consistently opposed violence as a means of redress. Riots have proved in-
effective, disruptive and highly damaging to the Negro population, to the civil
rights cause, and to the entire nation. We call upon Negro citizens throughout
the nation to forego the temptation to disregard the law. This does not mean
SUBVERSIVE INFLUENCES IN RIOTS, LOOTING, AND BURNING 769
that we should submit tamely to joblessness, inadequate housing, poor schooling,
insult, humiliation and attack. It does require a re-doubling of efforts through
legitimate means to end these wrongs and disabilities.
We appeal not only to black Americans, but also to our fellow white citizens
who are not blameless. The disabilities imposed upon Negro citizens are a century
old. They remain because the white citizenry in general supports these restric-
tions.
The 90th Ck)ngress has exhibited an incredible indifference to hardships of the
ghetto dwellers. Only last week, the House defeated a rat-control bill which
would have enabled the cities to get rid of the rats which infest the slums. And
finally, we fully support President Johnson's call "upon all our people (black
and white alike) in all our cities to join in a determined program to maintain
law and order, to condemn and to combat lawlessness in all its forms, and firmly
to show by word and deed that riot, looting and public disorder will just not be
tolerated."
No one benefits under mob law. Let's end it now !
Mr. Tuck. The committee will recess until 2 :30.
(Whereupon, at 12 :35 p.m., Wednesday, October 25, 1^67, the com-
mittee was recessed, to reconvene at 2:30 p.m. the same day.)
AFTERNOON SESSION— WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 25, 1967
(The subcommittee reconvened at 2 :20 p.m., Hon. William M. Tuck
presiding. Subcommittee members present : Representatives Tuck and
Ashbrook.)
Mr. Tuck. The committee will please come to order.
Mr. McNamara, will you call the next witness, please?
Mr. McNamara. Mr. Evelle J. Younger, please.
Mr. Tuck. Do you solemnly swear that you will tell the truth, the
whole truth, and nothing but the truth, to the best of your knowledge
and belief ?
Mr. Younger. I do.
TESTIMONY OF EVELLE J. YOUNGER
Mr. McNamara. Will you state your full name and address for the
record ?
Mr. Younger. Evelle J. Younger. I reside in Los Angeles at 2461
Chiselhurst Drive.
Mr. McNamara. Will you state your position, Mr. Younger ?
Mr. Younger. District attorney, Los Angeles County.
Mr. McNamara. Will you give the committee a brief resume of your
educational background ?
Mr. Younger. I grew up in Nebraska, attended public schools there,
and got my A.B. and LL.B. degrees from the University of Nebraska.
I tooK graduate work in criminology at Northwestern University.
Mr. McNamara. And your professional background ?
Mr. Younger. Following my studies at Northwestern, I entered the
FBI as a special agent. I was employed in that capacity until after
Pearl Harbor, when I was in the Army for 4 years, serving with the
Counterintelligence Corps and with the Office of Strategic Services.
I was later recalled during the Korean war, serving with the Air
Force in the Office of Special Investigation.
I am now the research director of OSI of the U.S. Air Force Reserve.
Following World War II, I was, in turn, deputy city attorney in
Los Angeles, in the Criminal Division; prosecuting attorney in the
770 SUBVERSIVE INFLUENCES IN RIOTS, LOOTING, AND BURNING
city of Pasadena; and on the municipal and superior courts in Los
Angeles for 11 years before I became district attorney in 1964.
Mr. McNamara. In the course of your work as a law enforcement
officer, have you had occasion to have experience with rioters and riot-
ing?
Mr. Younger. Yes. Our first major involvement, of course, was with
the Watts riots. Having been involved actively in that insofar as the
handling of the approximately 3,500 felony cases was concerned — 1
should say 2,500 felony prosecutions — and the attendant problems of
court calendar, physical movement of prisoners, and so fortli, I devel-
oped quite a professional interest in cause and effect and followed the
other subsequent riots quit-e closely, through the papers and also
through our own investigative sources.
Mr. McNamara. Mr. Younger, as a law enforcement officer and the
head of the largest public prosecutor's office in the United States, how
would you describe or classify a riot ?
Mr. Younger. A riot, as I use the term, and without regard to Web-
ster's definition, involves thousands of people engaged in burning, loot-
ing, assault, and murder.
A riot, as opposed to an unlawful demonstration or civil disobedi-
ence, also involves a complete breakdown of law and order. Whatever
else a riot is — racial protest, rebellion, social revolution — it most cer-
tainly is one tremendous crime spree.
Mr. McNamara. Riots have plagued society for centuries, and there
are certain social, economic, and political conditions which have long
been recognized as basic elements in a riot situation.
In your opinion, however, is there a new element in our culture which
has contributed to the wave of rioting that has taken place in this coun-
try during the past few years ?
Mr. Younger. In part, riots are excesses attributable to widespread
disobedience of, and lack of respect for, law and order. There has not
been a time in our recent history when the rule of law was so in jeoo-
ardy — not just from militant extremists, but from citizens in all walks
of 1 ife and all levels of society.
Many Americans regularly and openly disobey laws they don't like.
To them the traditional method of seeking changes in the law by urging
legi^^lative action seems old fashioned.
We have been experiencing a number of actions by persons who re-
sort to physically coercive methods to effect change which, in effect,
amount to a repudiation of the orderly governmental process — pro-
fessors and cler.qrvmen urging young men to resist military service; the
editor of the UCLA student newspaper urging students to vi(^late the
laws against the use of marijuana ; pubHc figures advocating a refusal
to pay taxes because the Government finances programs with which
thev disagree.
These are all examples of conduct which tend to encourage robellioii
against all authority, esoecially among those persons wlio are not well
enoup-h educated or sufficiently sophisticated in their think'nT to dis-
cern the difference between the classic concent of civil disobedience and
the idea of simply breaking laws to accomplish an end which tliev seek.
It is one thing to deliberately violate a specific law which is believed
to be unconstitutional for the purpose of testing that law's constitution-
ality, but it is an entirely different thing to advocate rioting and law-
SUBVERSIVE INFLUENCES IN RIOTS, LOOTING, AND BURNING 771
breaking by large masses of people to accomplish some political or
social change, when the law which is being broken is totally unrelated
to the end that is sought to be accomplished.
Overriding this growing tendency to resort to physical coercion is
the increasingly popular attitude that because the protesters' cause may
be just, they may be excused from responsibility for any transgression.
When police are called upon to perform their duty to preserve
order and protect life and property, they are often jeered, insulted,
and spat upon by the very people they are paid to protect.
Screams of police brutality" drown out those who urge higher
standards of training and better pay and a higher degree of pro-
fessionalization to produce better law enforcement. Those interested
in more and bigger riots could hardly ask for more.
Mr. McNamara. In addition to this, is there a new technical devel-
opment in our society which, for good or evil, can have an important
effect on a riot or a potential riot situation ?
Mr. Younger. Yes. Unquestionably, the television medium can be a
major factor in contributing to or sustaining a riot. A newspaper
can also do much to mold and influence public opinion over a period
of time.
If I determined to elect or defeat a candidate, promote a bond issue,
or obtain passage of very controversial l^islation 2 years hence, I
would want to own a major newspaper. But, if I wanted thousands
of people to do something tomorrow — or even tonight — I would want
to own a TV station.
When Knute Rbckne wanted to inspire his team to superhuman
effort, he did not write out his fight talk and hand it to his players.
He spoke to them, fists pounding, red faced, breathing hard, eyeball
to eyeball !
Only TV can provide that kind of communication. Only TV can
inspire immediate action — ^ood or bad. TV can be the monster or the
Jolly Green Giant, depending on how its power is used.
Radio has many of the strengths and weaknesses of both news-
papers and television. Radio is, in a sense, less powerful and dangerous
than television when it comes to generating immediate action.
Newspapers — like any other private business in America — are oper-
ated for profit. Subject only to the laws of libel and contempt of
court, a newspaper can be completely irresponsible; and nothing can
be done about it so long as enough people buy the paper to keep it
operating.
TV, on the other hand, while legitimately interested in making
money, does not have the same freedom of operation that newspapers
enjoy. TV uses the airways, and the airways belong to the people.
The spectrum will only hold so many channels.
The Federal Communications Commission was empowered by a
1934 act to allocate radio and TV channels to be utilized "in the public
interest, necessity, and convenience." To encourage a station to main-
tain this high standard, the act provides that a TV license must be
renewed every 3 years. Courts have repeatedly held that a TV station
holds a license "as trustee for the people."
There are approximately 641 TV stations in the United States. Not
once has the FCC ever lifted a license. The FCC must believe, there-
772 SUBVERSIVE INFLUENCES IN RIOTS, LOOTING, AND BURNING
fore, that each and every TV station is being operated "in the public
interest, necessity, and convenience."
What is the "public interest"? Using that as a yardstick, what
should be shown on TV and what should not? There are no easy
answers, particularly when we are concerned with TV coverage during
demonstrations, protests, and actual or potential riots.
For example, if Rap Brown is making an inflammatory speech
before 20 people — and that is about as good as he can do without TV—
should TV come along and give him an audience of several million ?
It is exciting viewing, but is it in the public interest ?
Suppose during a near-riot situation in a major city the head of the
NAACP calls a meeting designed to discuss problems and ease
tensions. Suppose 500 people are listening attentively as he gives a
calm, reasonable analysis of the situation. Suppose a member of an
extremist group crashes the meeting and, before anyone can stop him,
runs to the stage shouting hysterical accusations and threats against
"Whitey." Who gets the most TV coverage? The hate-filled extremist,
or the responsible head of the NAACP? Wliat about the public
interest ?
When does TV stop reporting news and start creating news ? At a
recent Ku Klux Klan convention in southern California, there were
literally more TV cameras present than delegates.
Suppose that during a riot 100 policemen are trying to disperse a
crowd which remains in a public park in violation of the curfew.
Ninety-nine policemen go calmly and efficiently about their jobs. They
move with caution and restraint. They submit to jeers, insults, even
minor physical abuse. Suddenly one policeman breaks under the strain,
starts screaming obscenities and flailing about with his nightstick,
hitting anyone m range — men, women, or children. Should that be
televised ? It is true. It is honest reporting. It is dramatic. Is it in the
public interest ?
Should rioters be able to use TV as a means of publishing battle
orders?
Suppose during a lull in a big city riot, a person who had admittedly
taken part in the riot was saying, "It ain't over yet. We are just getting
warmed up. It's still 'bum, baby, burn!' But tonight it's not Watts,
but Bel Air. If you want some action, be there at 10 o'clock." Should
that go over the air? Is it in the public interest? It would certainly
create a great story. There would be excitement in Bel Air and great
viewing for the stay-at-homes. But how about the public interest ?
Not too long ago, the famous Sunset Strip became a hangout of
hippies, agitators, and unruly juveniles. Before long, the ^trip at-
tracted public interest. It is now a matter of record that on several
occasions the crowds erupted into a frenzy of senseless violence.
Here is what the news editor of KPOL in Los Angeles reports in
the spring 1967 issue of the Cohimhia Joumalism Review :
More than once during the Sunset Strip trouble, reporters, cameramen and
soundmen from at least two stations, one of them network owned and operated,
encouraged the crowd to violence. Their shouts amounted to : "C'mon, let's have
some excitement. How about rolling a car? You're on TV!" The crowds became
a mob; windows were broken, cars were damaged, and citizens were terrorized.
On the other hand, television can respond responsibly and in the
public interest to prevent the eruption of a riot. For example, on
SUBVERSIVE INFLUENCES IN RIOTS, LOOTING, AND BURNING 773
May 7, 1966, less than a year after the Watts riot, Leonard Deadwyler
was killed by a policeman's bullet after a 5-mile high-speed pursuit
through residential and commercial Los Angeles streets. One officer
had approached the curbed Deadwyler car on the right side. He reached
across the woman passenger in the front seat and pointed his gun
toward the driver. The car had not come to a full stop. It lurched
forward. The officer's feet left the ground, the gun went off, and the
driver was fatally shot through the chest.
It turned out later that Mrs. Deadwyler, the passenger in the front
seat, was pregnant and had said she was in labor and was being taken
that night to the hospital, A white handkerchief had been tied to the
automobile's radio antenna. Its purpose — according to later state-
ments— was to alert others to the emergency nature of the trip.
The Deadwylers were Negroes. The officer was white. I might add,
too, Mr. Deadwyler was intoxicated, with a blood alcohol reading of
.35, and his driving at speeds of 70, 80, 90 miles an hour through com-
mercial and residential areas obviously suggested to the officer that
he was chasing more than just a speeding driver. So the officer was
alert to every possibility when he arrived at the car. I might say also
Mrs. Deadwyler did not give birth for 2V^ months. She was not in labor
that night.
In any eventj almost immediately after the tragedy, from Watts and
other communities largely inhabited by Negroes, there were charges
of police brutality, of "legalized murder' by officers, and similar allega-
tions. A tense and sometimes bitter atmosphere spread through many
Los Angeles neighborhoods.
It was at this time, when tension was great and suspicion and resent-
ment were increasing steadily and swiftly, that a coroner's inquest was
about to start. The largest courtroom available could not accommodate
more than 300. Many of those who could not get in muttered angrily
that they were kept out deliberately and that the whole procedure was
"rigged."
Inside, the packed courtroom was equally noisy, the atmosphere
equally bitter, and when sheriff's deputies tried to clear the aisles they
were greeted with jeers. The inquest was delayed. It was impossible
to get started that day.
At this point, representatives of KTLA-TV in Los Angeles de-
cided it would be a good thing if all persons — those in the courthouse
and others at home — could see and hear the inquest. This station
offered to take all conflicting daytime programs on the air and carry
every minute of the sessions, no matter how long they went on. The
coroner agreed to this proposal, and live coverage started.
As each day passed, tempers in the community cooled, and crowds
in the courtroom grew smaller. Eventually, there were vacant seats
in the courtroom at all times. Several million persons were home watch-
ing the inquest from the calm and comfort of their living rooms.
When the last session was over and the jury came in, the com-
munity accepted without excitement the verdict that the death was
accidental, and the officer should not be prosecuted.
The inquest lasted 8 days. KTLA cameras and newscaster George
Putnam covered the proceedings with a high degree of skill that made
a tremendous contribution to public understanding. It enabled the
citizens to see the machinery of justice in action, and it explained the
774 SUBVERSIVE INFLUENCES IN RIOTS, LOOTING, AND BURNING
processes, so nobody could successfully argue that any facts were
suppressed.
Mr. McNamara. Mr. Younger, what, in your opinion, are some of
the basic factors in the creation of a potential riot situation?
Mr. Younger. Again, now talking about a full-blown riot, as op-
posed to demonstrations, civil disobedience, and so forth, there are, in
my opinion, four indispensable conditions which must exist in a com-
munity before a full-blown riot can occur.
First, hot, humid weather. In recent years there has never been a
successful riot in a snowstorm, or a heavy rainstorm is also bad.
Second, there must exist a disadvantaged minority, a group that
has be^n mistreated by the majority — in ways ranging from polite
discrimination to physical abuse — for a substantial period of time.
Any kind of minority will do, but historically most major riots have
involved religious, ethnic, or racial minorites.
Often throughout our history this condition has existed to a sub-
stantial degree — for example, during the early period, when the Irish
were the favorite target of the majority, and later when the Italian-
Americans in the East and the orientals in California took the brunt.
There has never been a period in our history, however, when this
condition existed to the degree that it exists today. Unlike the Irish
and Italians, the Negro did not come to this country voluntarily, so
his resentment against mistreatment is logically greater. Also, the
Negro, though a free American for over 100 years, has been the target
of discrimination and prejudice during this entire time — a more than
adequate period. Also, fortunately or unfortunately, the Negro looks
"different" and is easy to identify.
Then, too, the Negro minority is just the right size. Five percent
is adequate; 10 percent is ideal for riot purposes. The Negro com-
prises 11 percent of our population.
Third, tension must exist between the races. If this tension reaches
the level of hysteria, as it has in some cities in this country, then the
riot climate is ideal.
Speaking of tension, we cannot be surprised when we hear the
Powells, Carmichaels, and Rap Browns cry, "Blood will flow !" "Riots
are essential !" "Go get your guns!" et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. But
we must be amazed to see the help these extremists get from some sup-
posedly reasonable people.
For example, I recent heard a self-proclaimed civil rights leader in
my community say that unless a certain number of jobs were created
immediately and given to persons without regard to skill or qualifi-
cations, there would certainly be another Watts. When I accused him
of inviting trouble, he was nighly incensed and claimed he was just
reporting the "facts."
It has become standard operating procedure for a city, county, State,
or Federal legislator or administrator who wants to dip into the pork
barrel and get millions of dollars poured into his district under some
poorly planned and ^potentially useless project to urge passage on the
basis that it is essential to prevent a riot.
Recently, the Republican Coordinating Committee in Washington
accused the President of playing politics and refusing to act to pre-
vent a riot in Detroit, and Lyndon Johnson, understandably irritated,
forgot that a President is supposed to rise above this sort of thing
SUBVERSIVE INFLUENCES IN RIOTS, LOOTING, AND BURNING 775
and responded by blaming Governor Romney for not stopping the
riot there. On the same day, Senator McClellan blamed the Su-
preme Court for "creating an atmosphere in which riots flourish."
A few days later, Governor Romney, in a most intemperate statement,
accused President Johnson of lying. These are examples of tension-
creating incidents occurring at the highest governmental level.
Fourth, there must be the widespread disobedience of, and lack of
respect for, law and order, which I mentioned earlier.
When these "conditions" exist in sufficient degree, a riot will start.
Some Communists and extremists claim credit for starting certain of
the recent riots, but they are just bragging. The fact is, all the recent
riots have started accidentally, triggered by some explainable incident.
The incident usually, but not always, involves a confrontation be-
tween a Negro and a white policeman ; but in Hartford, Connecticut,
a fight between two Negroes was sufficient. The rumor following the
incident has normally been more important than the incident.
In Watts, the rumor that the police were beating a pregnant Negro
woman — who was not pregnant and was not beaten — started the riot.
In Newark, a Negro taxi driver was arrested for a traffic violation,
but the false rumor that he had been killed by a white policeman
triggered the riot.
Normally, after the incident, the rumor follows; the crowd gathers
following the rumor ; then, if someone starts throwing rocks and break-
ing windows — and so far, someone always has — ^the riot starts.
Mr. McNamara. Generally speaking, Mr. Younger, what kind of
l^eople, from your observation, take part in riots, and what percentage
of a community do these people usually comprise?
Mr. Younger. In recent riots involving Negroes, rarely have more
than 5 to 10 percent of the Negroes in the community actively sup-
ported or participated in the riots. The responsible Negroes — the other
90 to 95 percent — are the big losers in any riot and they are under-
standably more frightened by and critical of those who participate in
the riots than are members of the white community.
The riot-prone group — the 5 to 10 j^ercent who get involved — ^breaks
down as follows : a very small percentage are the extremists, the haters,
those whose feelings against "Whitey" are deep and violent. They are
blinded by rage. They will bum nine Negro dwellings to get one
owned by a white man. They claim, and possibly believe, that by
promoting violence they promote the welfare of the Negro. Actually,
and unfortunately, this conviction is strengtheped by the fact that,
after a riot in a particular city, we move in, spend massive amounts
of money, and try to do things we should have done 50 years ago.
Most of those in this group are young and they are psychotic. Each
is a potential killer. These are the bombers and snipers. These are the
ones who give the killing of policemen and firemen top priority in any
riot. This group of extremists is very small, but seems to be growing
steadily.
White extremists have not been actively involved in any recent
major riot. It has been rumored, however, that white extremists have
given financial support to black extremists. I have seen no confirma-
tion of this iiimor, but there is considerable logic behind it. For ex-
ample, if I were the head of a white extremist group held together
by hatred of the Negro and had some money in the treasury, I would
32-955 O— 69— pt. 1 5
776 SUBVERSIVE INFLUENCES IN RIOTS, LOOTING, AND BURNING
give that money to some militant revolutionist like Rap Brown or
Stokely Carmichael, who preaches hate, violence, and rebellion and
who, for some reason I will never understand, manages to get massive
attention in the media, far out of proportion to his importance. I can-
not imagine a more effective way to slow the progress of the Negro.
In addition to the haters, you have a small percentage of political
extremists and agitators — principally Communists— involved m every
riot. These people want riots to occur for political reasons. You also
have a small percentage of professional or confirmed criminals — niostly
thieves — who want riots to occur because they can operate at maximum
speed with minimum risk in a riot. For example, I recall one profes-
sional burglar who had a ball during the Watts riots. As soon as
things really got going, he backed a moving van up to the rear door of
an appliance store and cleaned out the store. He got as far east as
Kansas City, driving his van full of stoves, TV sets, and refrigerators,
before he was caught.
These racists, haters, political extremists, and agitators and the con-
firmed criminals are the real villains. They are criminals in the truest
sense. They are dangerous. They comprise at most 20 percent of the
participants in any modern American riot. They probably are strong
enough to start a riot, but they have not started one yet — they have not
found it necessary. Enough riots start accidentally to keep any ex-
tremist or criminal reasonably happy.
Certainly, after a riot sta,rts, this group moves in fast and pours
fuel on the flames and tries to make the riot as bloody, as damaging,
and as extensive as possible. The fact is, though, that while this 20
percent could probably start a riot, they cannot sustain it. Only the
remaining 80 percent of the 5 to 10 percent can sustain a riot, make it
last anywhere from 24 hours to a week.
Mr. Tuck. Mr. Younger, will you suspend? We have a call for a
vote. We will be right back.
Mr. McNamara. There will be a recess just long enough for the
members to go over to the floor and return.
(A brief recess was taken.)
(The subcommittee reconvened with Representatives Tuck and Wat-
son present.)
Mr. Tuck. The subcommittee will come to order.
Mr. McNamara. Mr. Younger, I believe you were answering the
question of the type person who usually becomes involved in a riot at
the time the committee recessed. Would you care to complete your
answer ?
Mr. Younger. Yes. I referred to the haters, the extremists, t|ie politi-
cal agitators, the Communists, the professional criminals. These people
all put together represent only about 20 percent of the persons involved
in a riot. That leaves the 80 percent.
Now, this 80 percent of these people in tliis group are not sufficiently
stable or responsible to be part of the 90 to 95 percent of the Negro
community who are not potential rioters. On the other hand, they are
not confirmed criminals. They are not basically bad. We might char-
acterize them as junior-grade cnminals. They are the looters, the
burners, and the rock throwers. They are the backbone of any riot.
Most of them have been previously arrested, but that is not signifi-
cant— the fact that a Negro in a slum area has been arrested does not
SUBVERSIVE INFLUENCES IN RIOTS, LOOTING, AND BURNING 777
necessarily mean that he has done anything wrong. Many have prior
convictions, usually misdemeanors, usually petty theft.
These junior-grade criminals, however, have one thing in common —
a resentment toward the so-called power structure. Consciously or sub-
consciously, they harbor a grudge. In some, the hatred or resentment
is deep enough to permit them to burn buildings. In others, it is not
that strong, but strong enough to enable them to participate in loot-
ing. In others, it is strong enough only for rock throwing. In some, it
is so weak that the person would not even steal, except that the riot
provides an irresistible opportunity.
Mr. McNamara. Mr. Younger, if you wanted to start a riot, what
kind of a city would you select as a target ?
Mr. Younger. I would select a city where the conditions I outlined
above exist in abundant measure. It need not be a big city — even
Waterloo, Iowa, a town of 75,000, will do — so long as tlie necessary
conditions exist. I would not select a city that has recently experienced
a riot.
Once citizens of a community know a riot can happen, they try
harder to prevent a repeat. It is difficult to start a second riot. Also, the
police are better prepared after the first riot. For example, there is a
very critical period after the first rock is thrown, the first window
boken, when the police can move in with massive but restrained force,
and possibly prevent a riot.
The first time, however, police action is not likely to be swift and
decisive enough. That, of course, is understandable. Just as a puppy
who is spanked every time he barks is not likely to be a good watchdog,
so is a police department that for years has been accused of being overly
aggressive apt to be not aggressive enough. In Los Angeles and New-
ark, the police did not overreact ; they underreacted. You cannot count
on that a second time.
Also — and this might surprise you — I would not select Los Angeles,
Newark, or Detroit ; but I would select a city like these — a city where
some effort has been made to help the Negro. I would not select a city
where the Negro is no better off than he was 25 years ago, where there
has been no progress or attempt at progress. I would select a community
where the voters have elected Negro Congressmen or State legislators or
city councilmen or have representatives on the police commission.
A little bit of freedom is a heady wine. "When a Negro has a taste
of a better life, he understandably wants more. The perfect rioter is
one who has experienced excitement, who has tasted a bit of success
and is hungry for much of it, who has achieved minor gains and now
demands massive rewards as his due.
Mr. McNamara. Having selected your target city, Mr. Younger,
what would you then do to trigger a riot ?
Mr. Younger. I would step up existing tensions by increasing the
anger, fear, resentment, and/or frustration of the disadvantaged
minority and then wait for, or create, the incident which will trigger
the riot.
Mr. McNamara. What specific steps would you take to do this?
Mr. Younger. I would select a white extremist, a Nazi, or a member
of the KKK to go on one of the radio or TV "talk" shows, where the
wilder and more antagonistic the guest, the more time and exposure
he gets, and have him relate the rumor over the air that 100 Negro
778 SUBVERSIVE LNFLUENCES IN RIOTS, LOOTING, AND BURNING
snipers have been imported from some named city outside the State
to shoot up, not Watts, but Beverly Hills, Glendale, and San Marino.
I would encourage him to brandish a firearm, if the host on the show
would permit it, and say something like, "By God, let 'em come. I'm
ready I*^
Just to be on the safe side, I would arrange for several other peoplp
to repeat this on all the talk shows as often as possible. Then, I would
have another person phone in and say that he is a gun dealer and has
only five weapons left.
Every gun in town would, of course, be sold within a matter of
hours. The Negro extremists would react as anticipated. Policemen
would naturally get worried and show it. Leaves would be canceled.
The police chief or sheriff or district attorney would say, "Keep
calm" — but no one would be listening.
I would then arrange for a TV commentator to bring a TV camera
and crew and accompany me into the area selected as the site for the
riot. Of course, it would be in a Negro area, preferably the worst in
the city.
Most TV station managers and commentators are responsible citi-
zens. They know that TV is an immensely powerful force — for good or
bad. But some commentators and stations are preoccupied with rat-
ings and will do almost anytliing to get dramatic, exciting footage. I
would recruit one of this kind. This commentator would probably
know all the tricks, but here are some suggestions I could pass on to
him :
Find a black nationalist and ask him his reaction to the way the
whites are buying up all the guns. He will say that this proves what
he has been saying all along, that Whitey is out to exterminate the
Negro and that the Negro must move first — "Kill or be killed !"
Then find another youth screaming, "Bum, baby, bum!" or "Get
Whitey !" or some similar war cry. This kind always loves to go on TV
and ^ets twice as wild when the filming starts. Before he goes on, ask
hun if he heard the rumor that 30 minutes before, in another area of
the city, a white policeman shot and killed a Negi'o teenager for steal-
ing a package of cigarettes from a drugstore. Naturally, he will relate
the rumor as fact on the air and scream a call to all blood brothers to
arm themselves.
I would tell the comment.ator, "Be sure you don\ let the head of the
Urban League or the National Association for the Advancement of
Colored People ^et on the air and try to calm people down."
I would ask him to stick around as long as possible after the riot
starts. "You'll be safe as long as you have film in your camera. Be sure
and identify and film the first liquor store that is broken into, so that
some inclined to stay at home will get into the act. Concentrate on
shots of violence. For example, when a policeman reacts to provocation,
show the reaction, not the provocation. If someone kicks a policeman
in the ^roin, don't film that; but be sure and have the camera on when
the policeman strikes out to defend himself."
Having started the TV operation, I would then move on until I
found two Negro young men fighting. It should not be difficult. Teen-
agers— ^white or black — are inclined to be physical. I would phone the
police, tell them a gang of Negro teenagers was attacking a white man.
SUBVERSIVE INFLUENCES IN RIOTS, LOOTING, AND BURNING 779
When the first police car arrived, I would phone again and give an-
other false report and get another car to the same area.
The crowd would be growing fast. I would have others phone in
more false reports and get more police cars. The more the better. If
other fights had not started by this time and if the police had not yet
been stoned or spat upon, I would go up to someone in the rear of the
crowd — where they could not see the police clearly — and tell him that
I saw one of the white policemen in the back seat of a police car pistol
whipping one of the Negro teenagers who had his hands cuffed behind
him and his feet chained together.
By this time, I would have started an A-1, king-size, bloody riot!
Mr. Tuck. Mr. Younger, I hate to interrupt you, but we are engaged
in a sort of foot exercise. We have another very important vote. We
will have to recess a few minutes and then come back.
Mr. Younger. Mr. Chairman, all I have left is in the nature of a
conclusion. May I leave a written copy of my conclusions and ask you
to incorporate that into the record? Would that be of assistance to
you, or would you rather I wait ?
Mr. Tuck. We would like to have you do that, but we would like to
ask you a few questions.
Mr. Younger. I will be happy to wait. I thought you might want
to save the time.
(A brief recess was taken.)
(The subcommittee reconvened with Representatives Tuck and
Watson present.)
Mr. Tuck. Go ahead, Mr. McNamara.
Mr. McNamara. Mr. Younger, do you have any suggestions that you
would make on steps that could be taken to eliminate or at least to
reduce the pK)Ssibility of riots in the future ?
Mr. Younger. Yes, I do, and let me say, Mr. Chairman, I suspect
everybody in America has an opinion on riots and what could be done,
and should be done, to stop them. And I suppose everyone would like
the opportunity to express their personal opinion on what to do to
stop them.
I am grateful to you for inviting me here and giving me a chance to
express myself.
I think I know what we in America must do in order to stop riots,
but we may not yet be ready to do what must be done.
Sooner or later we are going to have to do two things :
First, we must insist that all Americans obey all our laws at all
times, period. Not just the laws they like, but all laws, period. Not just
when a policeman is polite and has the preferred color skin, but always,
period. We must make everyone obey the law, not just the bad guys
with guns or burglar tools, but college professors and famous people
whose hearts are pure and who are just trying to stop the war in
Vietnam — everyone, period.
You have been hearing similar statements from prominent politi-
cians and public officials for months. But if you have listened closely,
there has always been a qualification : Laws must be obeyed, hut; not
laws must be obeyed, period. Laws must be obeyed, "but unless we
create more jobs, there will be more riots," or "but unless we spend X
billion dollars on slum clearance and higher welfare payments, blood
780 SUBVERSIVE INFLUENCES IN RIOTS, LOOTING, AND BURNING
will flow," or "but you can't expect people without hope to respect the
law," et cetera, et cetera, et cetera.
The time has come to say the law must be enforced and obeyed,
period. The President of the United States said for the first time on
July 27, 1967, during his statement to the American people concerning
the riots, "The law must be enforced and obeyed, period^ When every
responsible citizen in the United States says the law must be enforced
and obeyed, period — then we are ready for Step II. Step I without
Step II will not provide a permanent solution.
Here is Step II : Free the slaves.
Are we ready for that yet? I wonder. If so, we must be absolutely
honest with ourselves and the Negro. To ourselves, let us admit we
have not done what is necessary so that the Negro will be treated equally
with the white American. And we must be honest with the Negro and
say we are not talking about equal cars or equal homes or equal salary,
but equal opportunity.
What have we done in the past? The average white American has
practiced discrimination in varying ways in varying degrees. He will
vote against a school bond issue that would provide needed new educa-
tional facilities in a Negro district, then help prepare gift boxes to
distribute to poor Negroes at Christmas time to demonstrate lack of
prejudice.
We have been afraid to let the Ne^ro come all the way up. We have
been afraid to give him equal educational and employment opportuni-
ties. Let us face it. We might have successfully kept the Negro in
slavery, but we cannot keep him half free.
When the day comes that a Negro child has the same life expectancy
as a white child born on the same day, when a Negro child entering
kindergarten has the same eventual opportunity to get a job as his
white classmate, and when the Negro can live any place he can afford
without insults or harassment, then on that day Stokely Carmichael
will not be able to afford a trip to Cuba or Vietnam.
Let us be honest and admit that just throwing money at the Negro
problem has not made it go away. In the past, after a riot occurs, we
have poured money into the area; but we often spend it not to provide
opportunity, but as a bribe. We say, in effect, "Here, Negroes, are X
million dollars. Spend it; any way; spend it fast; there's more where
that came from ; but please — no more nots."
It is going to cost an enormous amount to give the Negro and other
disadvantaged minorities equal opportunities across the board. I^t us
spend money wisely on true job skill training and placement and on
projects like Headstart and compensatory education programs that
truly speed the day when the Negro has equal educational o{)portuni-
ties, and not on absurd anitiix)verty programs where we hire unquali-
fied people to do unnecessary jobs and where we hire untrained and in-
experienced, unemployable people to administer the program, so the
cost of administration will be over 50 percent and we cfiw get rid of
the money faster. This particular program at least provides the poor
Negro with a good laugh. It truly does. They really get a good laugh
out of that.
It will not be easy or cheap to provide equality of opportunity for
the Negro, and it will take a long time. When all Americans are truly
ready, then progress can be made. I say Lit us do it now. The sooner
SUBVERSIVE INFLUENCES IN RIOTS, LOOTING, AND BURNING 781
the better, not because we love all our fellow human beings as we do
ourselves — that is too much to expect — but because enlightened self-
interest requires that we solve the so-called minority problem perma-
nently— and there is no other way to do it.
Finally, I offer a suggestion. While we are working out our prob-
lems, let us ^et rid of our national inferiority complex. Government
should cease its preoccupation with introspection and feelings of guilt
and should stop espousmg the idea that society is at fault for riots.
This self-pity syndrome is extremely dangerous. Let us stop worrying
about what the Russians and Chinese Communists will say about us.
Let us say to the world : "Sure, we have problems — we have problems
because our citizens, including Negro citizens, enjoy a higher degree of
freedom than has been enjoyed in any other country in the history of
the world. When we have trouble with a minority, we don't extermi-
nate the minority. We try to solve the problem. Our system of gov-
ernment isn't j>erfect. It's just the best ever devised by man !"
Thank you, Mr. Chairman, for giving me the chance to appear.
(At this point, Mr. Ichord entered me hearing room.)
Mr. Tuck. We thank you very much for taking the time to come
here today.
I would like to apologize for the committee for these several inter-
ruptions. When we invited you here, we could not foresee that.
Mr. Younger. Not at all, Mr. Chairman. As a taxpayer, I am glad
to see the conscientious manner in which our Congressmen operate.
Mr. Tuck. We try to get ourselves recorded as much as we can,
particularly on important matters such as we have on the floor today.
Thank you for your expert testimony here on the subject of how
riots may be started.
I believe you brought us a very sensible answer as to how riots may
be stopped, that is, by firm adherence to the enforcement of law and
to require strict obedience of the law on the part of all persons, irre-
spective of positions in society or official life, local or national, they
may occupy.
I have been a strong adherent to that view. I have had responsibili-
ties along that line in law enforcement in the past. I have insisted on it,
and we have law enforcement in our State most of the time.
I believe, as you indicate you do here in your statement, that law
enforcement can be maintained at the local and State level. The diffi-
culty in some areas is that outsiders, those representing outside organi-
zations, the Federal Government, even, have sent men in there who
seem to have the effect of impeding or hampering the police or harass-
ing them.
I believe that the citizens in the localities and States in our Nation
are competent to enforce the law, if given free rein and encouraged to
do so.
I was rather astonished, however, to hear you state that none of the
riots had been caused by any outside influence, that they just happened.
I am not an authority on that subject, but we have had some
disturbances not too far away from my home. According to the press,
as I understood it, in Cambridge, Maryland, some woman came over
there and agitated those people and started one of the riots. Then
they had a second riot in Cambridge, started by Stokely Carmichael.
I have the feeling that while conditions may be ripe for riots in
782 SUBVERSIVE INFLUENCES IN RIOTS, LOOTING, AND BURNING
certain cities, certain areas of the country, the riots frequently, or
most always, are caused by some outside agitator.
Mr, Younger. I do not think that has happened in the major riots
so far, sir. I think outside agitators have moved in as fast as they could.
I have described the categories, that certainly Stokely Carmichael
would fit my description as a racist and as a hater, and the Com-
munists and criminals, they will move in fast.
I also said they could start a riot. I could start riot. If I had a
television camera and crew, I could start a riot in any city in the
country, given these conditions.
A small group of dedicated Communists could start a riot, but it
just has not been necessary so far. As I say, we have enough riots ac-
cidentally to keep any of those people well satisfied.
Mr. Tuck. We have not had many of them in the past. We went
through the worst depression known in history in the 1930's. People
all over the country, all races, suffered financial distress and some
deprivation. We did not have any rioting.
Mr. Younger. You mean during the depression ?
Mr. Tuck. Sir?
Mr. Younger. I did not hear all that.
Mr. Tuck. During the depression of the 1930's, which was probably
the worst depression this country ever experienced.
Mr. Younger. On the contrary, you can get some authorities who.
say not only riots, but crime generally, was at the lowest level of our
history during the course of the great depression.
There are all sorts of explanations for this. One is that people were
out of jobs, they stayed home, and the family unit spent more time
together and were more of a unit than ever since. There were fewer
families where the father and mother were working. For whatever
reason, the fact is that crime w^as very low during the depression.
Mr. Tuck. I commend you also for your statement in regard to your
undertaking to solve all these problems by the appropriations of public
money. That amounts, in my judgment, to what appears to be black-
mail. "If you don't give us so much money, we will have a riot."
Mr. Younger. I agree completely.
Mr. Tuck. Do you have any questions, Mr. Watson ?
Mr. Watson. Yes, Mr. Chairman.
I want to thank Mr. Yomiger for coming over and giving us his
very forthright testimony. Certainly he has had experience in an area
where they have suffered a very devastating riot.
Watts is in your district ?
Mr. Younger. Yes.
Mr. Watson. I share the sentiments of the chairman of the^subcom-
mittee in calling for a firm and effective law enforcement policy
and respect for the law, period, without the buts, ifs, ands, and the
equivocations.
I see from your testimony, and as I listened to it, you attached a lot
of blame to the TV medium for either instigating the riot or at least
prolonging it or aggravating it.
Was that the situation in Watts ?
Mr. Younger. No.
Mr^ Watson. Since you have made that statement, I will not argue
this matter, but I notice a lot of conjecture in here as to what might
SUBVERSIVE INFLUENCES IN RIOTS, LOOTING, AND BURNING 783
be done to start a riot. Let us get down to the facts. I agree with you
that you could start one, as you have outlined.
What precipitated it in Watts? Was it the TV, or what was it?
Mr. Younger. No, I don't think television, and I respectfully sug-
gest that if you check my statement again you will find, rather than
a criticism of television, a concern that television is so powerful that
the potential for doin^ great damage during the riot is there.
The Watts riot was m no way caused or prolonged by television, in
my opinion. The thing that triggered it was this thing I said, the
incident involving the woman.
The conditions were all there : the hot, humid weather, the area in
town which was depressed ; and in that connection it is interesting to
note, if you have been to Watts, it is not that bad. Watts, for example,
compared to Harlem, looks pretty good.
This is another thing we learned during the Watts riots. People in
Harlem don't compare themselves to people in the Congo. People in
Watts don't compare themselves with peoj)le in Harlem. The people
in Watts compare themselves with people in Bel Air. That is where
the dissatisfaction comes.
All those elements existed. Then you had a woman, a female barber,
a Negro woman who had a smock on. She looked pregnant. The police
officers were engaged in arresting two young men for driving under
the influence of liquor.
In the course of the arrests, the crowd gathered. They were insulting
and booing the police, and so forth. Somebody, as the police were leav-
ing with these two young men under arrest, somebody in the crowd
spit on one of the policemen. The policeman thought it was this
woman.
Just to show 3'ou how ironic it can be, she was not the one that spit
on the policeman.
They grabbed her. They tried to pull her out of the crowd. A tug of
war ensued. The rumor got started back in the crowd — they could not
see what was going on — somebody said, "They are beating up a preg-
nant woman."
The story spread. It was at that moment that they started throwing
stones at the police car.
Mr. Watson. Mr. Younger, prior to that, had you noticed any
agitation, and so forth, which would give rise to conditions that would
permit the triggering of such a massive riotous condition ?
Do you mean to tell me that you and the officers were unaware of
any agitation by any group or any individual in the Watts area?
Mr. Younger. Certainly there is always, and there has been for
years, and I am afraid there will be for years to come, agitators in
every large city. Some agitate on the basis of race. Some have other
causes. There was the normal activity along those lines. There were
the junior-grade Stokely Carmichaels, and so forth, that were ex-
pressing dissatisfaction over various things.
But if you mean was there any increased amount of agitation, any
program of fomenting violence, something that should have warned
us that a riot was going to occur, I will say "no."
I will concede that a great many people in our community, after
the Watts riots, said they knew the riots were going to occur, but I
never heard them say that before the riots.
784 SUBVERSR^E INFLUENCES IN RIOTS, LOOTING, AND BURNING
Mr. Watson. In other words, you never observed or had presented
to you any evidence of leaflets or pamphlets or anything else being
circulated by any organization or any individual in the Watts area,
trying to capitalize on this explosive situation ?
Mr. Younger. As I say, you will always get a certain amount of that,
but there was no increased or stepped-up activity along those lines just
prior to the Watts riots.
Mr. Watson. tVe are not concerned, necessarily — at least I am not —
about stepped-up activity.
Are you aware of any organization that was engaging in any
activity in this regard prior to the riot? If so, could you name that
organization ? Such as EAM, the Black Panthers, or the Communist
Party, U.S.A.? Do they have an office, the U.S. Communist Party,
Marxist-Leninist group ?
Mr. Younger. ThejT^ have an office of sorts, I guess, that moves
around from time to time. I don't know where it is currently located.
We certainly have that information in our files. I am sure they
were distributing pamphlets prior to the Watts riots, just as they
probably are doing today out there, but on a very small scale.
It would be a mistake, I think, because they were distributing
pamphlets. They have been distributing pamphlets since I got out of
high school, and it would be a mistake, I think, to assume that because
they were distributing pamphlets that that had anything to do with the
Watts riots.
There were no political overtones at all to that crowd that gathered
around the officers when they were trying to arrest these two boys for
drunk driving. That group had started the riots, started them spon-
taneously, because they thought the police were beating a pregnant
Negro woman.
There were no political overtones or implications in it at that time.
It would be simple if there were. I wish that I had evidence, and it
would be a nice thing if we could blame all the riots on the Commu-
nists, the black nationalists, or something like that. Then we could all
go out and round them up and solve our problems. But it is not that
easy.
Mr. Watson. In other words, you do not consider the activity of
this Communist group or any other group of any consequence out
there?
Mr. Younger. Not in the Watts riot or the major riots we have had
so far.
I say that they could start a riot in any major city. Right now they
could.
Mr. Watson. Then if they could, Mr. District Attorney, would not
a part of the process of inciting to riot be the distribution of inflam-
matory leaflets and pamphlets? You would not tell us that they have
not done that in your area, would you ?
Mr. Younger. I say as long as I can remember there have been
Communists and other political agitators distributing leaflets and
pamphlets. That is certainly true.
Mr. Watson. Mr. D.A.,'l don't want to interrupt you. Perhaps we
have taken this activity too lightly and that has given rise over the
course of years to the explosion we had last summer back in Watts.
Would that not be a reasonable conclusion ?
SUBVERSIVE INFLUENCES IN RIOTS, LOOTING, AND BURNING 785
Mr. Younger. You mean taken too lightly the distribution of the
leaflets?
Mr. Watson. I mean the effect this distribution might have upon the
people during a hot period, when you have, I assume, additional young
people out of school, and so forth, the effect this inflammatory mate-
rial might have on them.
Mr. Younger. I suppose, it is a personal thing, I suppose I have
been somewhat more concerned than maybe the average person. I don't
think that so far as I am personally concerned I have been unmindful
of the effect that these leaflets, and so forth, might have on people. I
don't know if the community generally has taken it too lightly.
Mr. Watson. A group of people who are distressed and denied vari-
ous opportunities, as you say they have been, would they not be more
susceptible to inflammatory leaflets of this nature?
Mr. Younger. I believe so.
Mr. Watson. As a consequence, should we not be more concerned
about the possible effect ?
I have heard some people say, well, there are only a handful of
people. I can go out myself and get me a printing press and print up
a hundred thousand leaflets, and if I put them in the right hands, al-
though I am one individual, I believe it would have a rather adverse
effect, so far as fomenting dissidence and discord. Would that not be a
fair observation?
Mr. Younger. I think that is so. I think there is no question but
what this would be an effect.
I also think that there is a built-in dissatisfaction and discord in
many cities in the country for a variety of reasons so that it really is
not necessary for the Communists to create discord, because it already
exists in ample degree in many communities.
Mr. Watson. But they would exploit it and take advantage of it;
would they not, sir?
Mr. Younger. No question about it.
Mr. Watson. That is where we do have some degree of serious con-
cern, or should we not ?
Mr. Younger. I agree.
As I said before, I think the only reason we have not had some
Communists or, rather, extremists start a riot is for the very simple
reason that — I am not being facetious when I say there has been
enough to keep them satisfied. We have had enough riots to satisfy
every Communist in the country. If that were not the case, I think the
Communists could start a riot in any major city in the United States.
Mr. Watson. Perhaps you and I might differ on that score. I don't
think the Communists are ever satisfied. I believe it is their intention
to break down our system of government. I don't believe they will be
satisfied until it is completed.
Mr. Younger. If we have a few more summers like last summer,
that could happen.
That is what I meant when I said that I think even the most ex-
treme should reasonably have been satisfied with the trouble we had
in our Nation last summer. Certainly we could not tolerate that every
summer. That is obvious.
Mr. Watson. On page 11 of your testimony you state as a fact, "The
fact is, all the recent riots have started accidentally, triggered by some
explainable incident."
786 SUBVERSIVE INFLUENCES IN RIOTS, LOOTING, AND BURNING
I have heard to the contrary about Chicago. Are you aware of what
triggered that, where the woman was killed by the fire truck ?
Mr. Younger. I have heard that.
You mean the riot in Chicago was planned ?
Mr. Watson. Yes.
Mr. Younger. I have heard that about every riot. I have heard that
about Watts and Newark and every place else. I have not seen evidence
to that effect. You may have. I have not.
I have sent members of our Bureau of Investigation to personally
work with other police agencies during the course of these riots to see
if we could find any evidence of a pattern that might help us predict
where the next riot was going to occur, and so forth.
I have never seen any evidence to the effect that any of the major
riots were deliberately started or deliberately planned.
Mr. Watson. After they erupt spontaneously, who comes in and
carries the ball in order to prolong it ?
Mr. Younger. The people who want riots, and that includes the
Communists, the haters, and the criminals. They are there as fast as
they can be, in every instance.
Mr, Watson. Can you give us any positive evidence of Communist
implication?
I am not trying to pin you down, but I just want to try to establish a
fact here. Is or is it not ?
Mr. Younger. I don't know how to say it any differently than I have
said it.
I think in every riot in every city in the country the local police
department can identify and can provide you with the names of known
Communists that appear on the scene as soon as a riot starts.
I don't have that information at present, but I have received from
other police departments throughout the city that type of information,
people who appeared and tried to keep the riot going, tried to prolong
it, and so forth, but this is again in the nature of moving it along after
it started.
Mr. Watson. You stat€ on page 12, "This group of extremists is very
small, but seems to be growing steadily."
That is based upon factual information that you have obtained in
the course of your responsibilities as district attorney and directly in-
volved with law enforcement?
Mr. Younger. Yes; although I think you could base it just on the
reading of the daily newspapers, the number of extremist groups that
spring up and their membership.
It used to be that the Muslims were about the only group of its kind.
Now they are just one of a great many of the type of group' who be-
lieve in varying degrees in black power, black supremacy, and so forth.
There are a 2:reat many Muslim-type organizations now, with larger
membership. That is what I base that statement on, that they seem to
be jrrowing.
Mr. Watson. I have one final question.
On page 13, again referring back to the extremist groups, you say,
"They probably are strong enough to start a riot, but they have nof
started one yet."
Mr. Younger. That is right.
SUBVERSIVE INFLUENCES IN RIOTS, LOOTING, AND BURNING 787
Mr. Watson. Factually, there is no basis for that statement. That
is an assumption upon your best judgment, because I would assume,
in view of your earlier answer, that you could not give me any direct
involvement by Communists per se, or others, that you could not an-
swer that positively, but yet it is a subjective determination on your
part.
Mr. Younger. I suppose there is a certain amount of opinion, based
on all of this. Every time an investigator in any police agency conducts
an investigation, and I read that investigation report and arrive at
certain conclusions, I suppose it could be ar^ed that what I was doing
was forming an opinion based on that investigation.
If that is what we mean by "opinion," then it is opinion. On the
other hand, we certainly made every effort in the Watts riots to see if
this was the product of a conspiracy, if it was planned by the Com-
munists, the black nationalists, or anybody else.
We have as good a local law enforcement as you will find in the
country. All the facilities at our command, the sheriff's department,
the local police department, our own, the attorney general's, nobody
could find any evidence that it was other than a spontaneous eruption.
This is the experience that other local law enforcement agencies have
had in the communities where the riots occurred last summer, if you
can accept and rely on the written reports which we have received
from them, and which you presumably will receive.
Mr. Watson. Have you personally seen any riots started in the man-
ner in which you say that you would start one, if you were of that
inclination, where we brought in a white extremist and had that white
extremist to appear on TV ?
Mr. Younger. No.
Mr. Watson. You have not ?
Mr. Younger. No.
Mr. Watson. In fact, we have found from evidence up in Cambridge
and in other areas, where in fact one man is under indictment now, Car-
michael or Rap Brown, for going up and inciting a riot.
I believe you would conclude that perhaps there is some evidence
that, on the contrary, some of the colored extremists have precipitated
a riotous condition.
Mr. Younger. Oh, yes. I think one extremist is as dangerous as the
other. I was just using hypothetical cases.
Mr. Watson. That is hypothetical, but factually the only example
we have is where the other extremist has precipitated a riot. That is
factual, is it not?
Mr. Younger. Again, it depends on what you mean by precipitated
the riot. Certainly the black extremists, the Stokely Carmichaels and
that brand of extremists certainly have done more talking about
"blood will flow," and that sort of thing than any white extremist I
have heard about.
Mr. Watson. And I do not condone the white extremist, but I be-
lieve this condition is certainly aggravated or precipitated more by
the other extremity than it is by that.
I should not like for the public to feel that this has precipitated such
incitement, because to my best knowledge and on the basis of your
testimony, the proposition, or the hypothetical case you have given has
never happened.
788 SUBVERSIVE INFLUENCES IN RIOTS, LOOTING, AND BURNING
Mr. Younger. No. As I say, it was hypothetical in large measure. I
was merely trying to make the point that while you might arouse the
Negroes with the Stokely Carmichael-type speech, that if you were
going to start a riot, you would want also to arouse the entire white
community and get them scared and mad, and that in turn would have
a spin-off.
Mr. Watson. Yes, sir; but, Mr. D.A., jou must admit that the part
of the white person has been one of reaction, rather than one of initiat-
ing this, in every instance I have heard about.
If you can relate any instance where they have triggered it, rather
than reacted, then I think the committee would like to hear it.
Mr. Younger. No, I am sure that you are right. I am sure that you
are right.
Mr. Watson. That is one thing that disturbs me about all of this.
You call for strict compliance with law on the part of the people, but
here we find again that we are trying to place the blame, by hypothesis
or otherwise, upon the white agitator.
I have no love for them at all and I have no brief for them, but again
I do not want to excuse the agitator, whether he is black, white, brown,
or yellow.
Mr. Younger. I may have explained myself poorly. At least I failed
to communicate with you what I was trying to do in this hypothetical.
The great mass of the Negro community, not the Carmichaels, but
the great mass of this 80 percent of the 5 to 10 percent that you need if
you are going to have a real, great big, A No. 1 riot, they need some-
thing to frighten them before they will get into a mood to conduct a
riot.
Ordinarily, Stokely Carmichael can run down the middle of the
street in Watts, and any other place in the country, and say, "Come on,
folks, let us go down and burn Whitey," and nobody will follow him.
When they get mad and excited enough so that they will follow a
Stokely Carmichael, then you will have a riot.
I simply was making the point that if I wanted to be sure that this
great group of people would be mad and excited enough, one thing I
would do would be to have a white man in the community buy up all the
guns, which happened after the Watts riots.
You can start a rumor that will cause every gun dealer in town to
sell out in a couple of hours. That in turn will get the great mass of the
people, without which you cannot have a big riot, that will get them
excited and scared.
Mr. Watson. Mr. D.A., I close with this. Again I appreciate your
testimony — it has been very helpful — ■but I believe you will conclude
tha,t in Watts and in every other riot that we know anything a:bout, the
white population has acted with restraint, and I believe much more re-
straint than I as an individual could have practiced if I had my store
burned down.
Do you not agree with that ?
Mr. Younger. I agree completely. There was surprising restraint.
I am amazed there has not been a group of white hoodlums after these
riots go down in the area with shotguns and really start a war. This
has been an amazing thing to me.
Mr. Watson. If the responsibility is aSvSessed to the white man, are
we not inviting him to adopt the attitude that, since he will be blamed
SUBVERSIVE INFLUENCES IN RIOTS, LOOTING, AND BURNING 789
for it all, and I don't want it on such a basis — "If I am going to be
accused of it, then we will see whether we can take the responsibility
in our hands." God forbid that that day should come.
Thank you, sir.
Mr. Tuck. Mr. Ichord ?
Mr. Ichord. Thank you.
I am sorry that I was not able to be present to hear all of your
statement, Mr. Younger.
On page 21, you state, "Let us spend money wisely on true job skill
training and placement and on projects like Headstart and compen-
satory education programs that truly speed the day when the Negro
has equal educational opportunities."
I could not agree more with that statement.
You feel, then, that the true way to solve a problem of poverty is
through education and training ?
Mr. Younger. I think so, through the long haul
Mr. Ichord. Assuming that we have equal opportunity?
Mr. Younger. Right. That is our best hope for over the long haul,
is education.
Mr. Ichord. You leave the inference that some of our poverty pro-
grams may be doing more harm than they are good.
Will you elucidate on that ?
Mr. Younger. Yes. To start with, I will say I hope I left more than
an inference. I intended to make very plain that some of them are
doing more harm than good.
I think anything we do to sustain the conviction held, justifiably
by many people now, that if they cause enough trouble, we will keep
pouring money indefinitely in an area, as a bribe, to use the chair-
man's words, except where the money we put in is related to some
worthwhile program of education and job training, except for that,
I think they are all harmful or potentially harmful.
I think many of the jobs created in our community and other com-
munities under the antipoverty program were purely make-work jobs.
Mr. Ichord. You state, "In the past, after a riot occurs, we have
poured money into the area; but we often spend it not to provide
opportunity, but as a bribe."
You would not say that the money we poured into Watts was used
as a bribe ; would you ?
Mr. Younger. No ; but I think when we are in a position of spend-
ing money as fast as we have been spending it immediately after a
riot, that we often do spend it unwisely.
I do not think that we get our money's worth out of this type of
spending, under pressure, so to speak, hurrying and getting every-
body happy before next summer arrives. I do not think that that
makes good sense in a lot of cases.
Mr. Ichord. So many of these conditions that exist, that contribute
to a riot, do you feel that they can all be cured by governmental action ?
You are not saying that governmental action alone is the panacea ?
Mr. Younger. I sure don't. I probably have much less faith in gov-
ernmental action than most people that have allocated these funds. I
suspect I have much less faith in governmental action than most men
in Congress.
I just do not think it is that simple. I do not think, to use the phrase
790 SUBVERSIVE INFLUENCES IN RIOTS, LOOTING, AND BURNING
I used in here, I do not think you can make this problem go away by
throwing money after it.
I do think it is going to take lots of money to do the essentials, where
it is going to take a lot of money before we are going to get to the situ-
ation in mis country where the average Negro cnild going into kinder-
garten is going to be as well equipped as is his white classmate to
imderstand what is going on in school.
That is why Headstart or some type of program like Headstart is
absolutely essential, because unless the child starts even, he will never
catch up and you will have a dropout someplace along the line who,
if not a potential troublemaker, is potentially one more name on the
relief role.
Mr. IcHORD. You say it is a problem of long-range solution, you are
not going to do it overnight ?
Mr. Younger. Right. I don't know if just giving somebody money
and pretending that they are doing a worthwhile job for a few
months — I don't really know if tliat helps us any or not. It may create
an attitude on the part of that individual that will make it more diffi-
cult for them to respond to a truly effective job training program.
Mr. IcHORD. I did not hear all of your statement, but I take it that
you listed the inciting factors of riots as many; there are many
factors that go to make up a riot.
Certainly you cannot explain it on poverty alone. For example, in
your Watts riot, I think the average income of the citizens of Watts
is much higher than the average income of my own congressional
district.
Mr. Younger. That is right, and a relatively high percentage of the
people involved were employed in the Watts riots, also.
Mr. IcHORD. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Mr. Tuck. Thank you very much, sir. We appreciate your testimony.
Mr. Younger. Thank you again, gentlemen, for your courtas}'.
Mr. Tuck. Will you call the next witness, Mr. McNamara.
Mr. McNamara. Mr. Adrian Jones.
Mr. Tuck. Will you solemnly swear the testimony you give before
this committee will be the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the
truth, so help you God?
Mr. Jones. I do.
TESTIMQNY OF AI>EIAN H. JONES
Mr. McNamara. Will you state your full name and address for the
record, please?
Mr. Jones. Yes, I will. My name is Adrian H. Jones. My^ address
is 8365 East Beach Drive, Northwest, Washington, D.C.
Mr. McNamara. What is the date and place of your birth, Mr.
Jones ?
Mr. Jones. I was born on 21 February 1918 in Eoslyn, in the State
of Washington.
Mr. Tuck. Does he have an extra copy of his statement?
Mr. McNamara. No, sir. These will be answers to individual
questions.
Will you give the committee a brief resume of your educational
background, please, Mr. Jones?
SUBVERSIVE INFLUENCES IN RIOTS, LOOTING, AND BURNING 791
Mr. Jones. Yes. I attended public schools in Roslyn and in Spokane,
Washington. I attended Gonzaga University in Spokane from 1937
through 1941. 1 entered the Army in 1942. 1 have a bachelor of science
degree in military science from the University of Maryland, awarded
in 1956. I have a master of arts degree in psychology awarded by the
University of Kansas City in 1963.
For the last 4i/^ years I have been studying in the sociology depart-
ment of the American University. I have completed all the course
work and qualifying examinations for a Ph. D. and I am presently
writing my dissertation on civil disturbances.
Mr. McNamara. A brief resume, please, of your professional or
employment background.
Mr. Jones. I entered the United States Army in 1942. I served for
a period of 20 years. I retired in 1962 as a lieutenant colonel. Military
Police Corps. During that time I had two tours of duty in Europe,
the first during World War II and the second from 1955 through
1958. During my last tour of duty I was a member of 508th Military
Police Battalion. I served 2 years in that battalion at Munich, Ger-
many, as plans, training, operations, intelligence, and security officer.
I also participated in the occupation of Japan from 1946 to 1949.
My assignments in the United States include 2 years as command-
ing officer of the Harlem Military Police detachment and an assign-
ment as the provost marshal of Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. I also
served as the military adviser to the two military police battalions of
the District of Columbia National Guard for a period of 21/0 years.
Mr. McNamara. During the course of your military service, did
you take any additional educational courses?
Mr. Jones. Yes. During that time, I completed the Military Police
Officer's basic and advanced courses at Fort Gordon, Georgia, the
Military Police criminal investigations course, and the Military Police
industrial security course.
Mr. McNamara. In what type of work have you engaged since your
retirement from the military service in 1962 ?
Mr. Jones. For the past 41^ years I have been engaged in research
and study in the area of internal security. That is the maintenance of
public confidence, public safety, law and order. I am employed by the
Center for Research in Social Systems of the American University.
Mr. McNamara. That was formerly known as SORO, the Special
Operations Research Office?
Mr. Jones. That is correct.
During the time I have been with this organization I have co-
authored a study entitled "Combating Subervisely Manipulated
Civil Disturbances." I am a guest lecturer at the International Police
Academy, Public Safety Division, of the Agency for International De-
velopment. My subject there is the "Psychological Aspects of Civil
Disturbances."
I am also a guest lecturer for the International Association of Chiefs
of Police. My subject there is "Police Community Relations and Social
Science Research."
Mr. McNamara. Have your studies, Mr. Jones, concerned civil dis-
turbances or riots both here and abroad and both those which are non-
subversive, as well as those which are subversive in nature?
Mr. Jones. Yes.
32-955 O— 69— pt. 1 6
792 SUBVERSIVE INFLUENCES IN RIOTS, LOOTING, AND BURNING
Mr. McNamara. Is it also true that your emphasis has been on in-
ternal security problems created by subversive manipulation of riots
and on what internal security forces can do to counter these elements?
Mr. Jones. Yes.
Mr. McNamara. Would it be accurate, Mr. Jones, to sav that you
have a total of approximately 25 years of experience, study, and re-
search in the handlmg of unruly and criminal elements, both individual
and group?
Mr. Jones. Yes.
Mr. McNamara. What in your opinion, Mr. Jones, is the relation-
ship between internal security and subversively manipulated riots or
civil disturbances?
Mr. Jones. I would like to repeat something that I previously said,
that internal security is conceptualized as the maintenance of public
confidence, public safet^y, law and order. The subversive manipulation
of riots is designed to disrupt this internal security and finally to break
it down completely.
Mr. McNamara. Regarding your studies and research on this sub-
ject, would you outline for the committee the approach you have
taken?
Mr. Jones. Yes, I will.
First, I would like to say that law enforcement has not been exten-
sively researched. The approach taken in studying subversively ma-
nipulated civil disturbances was to integrate material from three dif-
ferent areas. Those areas are political subversion, community conflict,
and the control of mobs and crowds. This systematic approach was
selected because everything surrounding a riot tends to become contro-
versial. This includes reports by committees and commissions and also
research. Perhaps all individuals who become involved in the preven-
tion, control, and investigation of riots should ask, "Am T helping with
the solution or am I part of the problem ?"
Mr. McNamara. What methods were used in your study and re-
search ?
Mr. Jones. This study was cross-cultural and used the historical
descriptive method based upon information gathered from secondary
sources, which included historical, social science, police operational,
and news media references. The study utilized a social science approach
which included the investigation of the social, psychological, economic,
and political aspects of the problem.
Civil disturbances, regardless of the scope of the salient issues in-
volved, take place in specific geographical areas which are social com-
munities— such as villages, towns, cities, and the subdivisions qf larger
cities. These communities can be described along several dimensions.
These dimensions are characterized by their social, religious, economic,
and geographic composition.
Mr. McNamara. Did your study reveal, Mr. Jones, certain differ-
ences between riots and civil disturbances that might be classified as
natural or spontaneous and those which are subversively manipulated ?
Mr. Jones. Yes.
Mr. McNamara. We will go into those differences later. At this time
would you tell the committee whether your studies reveal, as well, that
tliere are some basic elements necessary for any riot, whether it is
subversively manipulated or not ?
SUBVERSIVE INFLUENCES IN RIOTS, LOOTING, AND BURNING 793
Mr. Jones. Yes, there are identifiable salient basic elements.
Mr. McNamara. What is one of these basic elements?
Mr. Jones. One of the basic elements that can be identified is group
hostility or antagonism. Now this antagonism or hostility may be
latent or active. It may arise from anger, frustration, fear, or anxiety.
It may be felt or directed against other groups or against authority.
This hostility or antagonism must be aroused to a high emotional stage
in order to trigger a crowd to violent action.
Mr. IcHORD. On that point, Mr. Chairman, Mr. Jones has done a great
deal of study in regard to riots. Would you give as simply as you can,
sir, your definition of a riot ? I am sure we do not have any legal defini-
tion of a riot.
Mr. Jones. Yes, I will. This is one of the methodological problems in
studying riots in social science-type research.
There are .several legal definitions. These definitions, however, are
not satisfactory for research purposes. For research purposes we have
defined a riot as an unruly type of social violence, usually engaged in
by a large number of people. We don't want to say 100 people or 20
people because we feel this would cause us to eliminate some of the riots
that should be studied.
Mr. IcHORD. That is violence to persons or property ?
Mr. Jones. That is correct.
Mr. MoNamara. From the community viewpoint, Mr. Jones, who
and what are the basic component elements in a riot situation ?
Mr. Jones. I would say, number one, dissident groups with real or
imaginary grievances. And I would like to say that we found out
in the course of our study that it does not make too much difference
whether a grievance is real or imaginary as long as it is a powerful
determinant of human behavior.
Now these dissident groups may be subversive or nonsubversive.
They may be groups that are anti-status quo or anti-other groups, or
groups that may be dissident for a variety of other reasons.
One of the essentials is a crowd. There are several ways of describ-
ing a crowd. A physiological crowd is located close together. Psy-
chological crowds that have the same attitude and the same frame of
mind are very important. These crowds may be spontaneous, casual,
or planned and intentional.
One of the important components is the agitator. The agitator may
or may not be subversive. He may or he may not intend to trigger a
riot.
Another very important component element is the precipitating
incident. This incident may be either accidental or spontaneous, nat-
ural or developed.
Another basic component that we find is the various types of inter-
nal security forces that are brought in to prevent or try to control civil
disturbances.
Then another important element is the general population of the
cormnunity.
Mr. McNamara. In answering an earlier question, Mr. Jones, you
indicated that a considerable amount of research had already been
done on the subject of community conflict. Will you tell us briefly
what that research indicates?
794 SUBVERSIVE INFLUENCES IN RIOTS, LOOTING, AND BURNING
Mr. Jones. Yes. Community conflicts, once they have begun, tend to
resemble one another markedly. The initial issues of controversy un-
dergo significant changes with the passage of time. Specific issues tend
to give way to general issues and new grievances arise. The new issues
tend to be one-sided in that they allow response in only one direction.
Thus they do not disrupt the internal solidarity of the individual
groups in the conflict, but tend to strengthen this intragroup solidarity.
These issues must be controversial enough to gain the attention of
members of the community who have not previously been involved in
the conflict. As the community conflict continues to escalate, the com-
peting groups become completely polarized upon the salient issues.
Hostility and suspicion also increase in magnitude. The probability of
social violence increases as the community conflict becomes more
intense.
Mr. McNamara. You also stated, Mr. Jones, in answering an earlier
question that your studies revealed there were certain differences be-
tween what might be called the spontaneous riot and those that are sub-
versively manipulated. Can you tell us what those differences are?
Mr. Jones. Yes. Basically, of course, the big difference is that the
ordinary riot just develops more or less because of prevailing condi-
tions. The other type is deliberately planned or instigated.
In determining the character of a riot, it must be kept in mind
that the subversive is interested in a riot for a political purpose, not
for the sake of violence alone. He is opposed to the existing form of
government. He wants to change it, to substitute a new and different
type power structure for the existing one. He uses the riot as one
means of gaining this objective.
Normally, subversives have no hope of overthrowing a government
through one riot, but they do see in a riot a means of weakening the
existing power structure and of turning people against it. This, of
course, is the basic first step in destroying an existing political system.
Subversives do not want to solve existing social, political, and economic
problems; they are not spontaneously rebelling against social, politi-
cal, or economic situations, but are using a real or concocted grievance
to promote their cause. They have a definite ideological attachment
and purpose.
Mr. McNamara. How can you tell, Mr. Jones — that is, what do your
studies indicate to be clues or evidence of a riot which is subversively
manipulted ?
Mr. Jones. First, let me say that the reason we developed this
system, this analytic device, was so that speculation about this matter
might be eliminated. We find that people in discussing the subversive
manipulation of riots tend to use what we call validation by specific
example. This type of approach is very unscientific, and almost any-
thing that one can think of can be validated by selecting an appro-
priate specific example. Accurately distinguishing a spontaneous from
a subversively manipulated civil disturbance can be a very difficult
task.
Our research reveals that in order to systematically study riotous
civil disturbances the time sequence involved can be broken down into
four phases. Each one must be individually studied and analyzed.
Intelligence information is essential to the study of these phases, which
are as follows :
SUBVERSIVE INFLUENCES IN RIOTS, LOOTING, AND BURNING 795
The precrowd phase, the crowd phase, the civil disturbance phase,
and the post-civil disturbance phase.
Mr. McNamara. Would you discuss each one of these phases in
turn, indicating the differences during each phase between the spon-
taneous riot and the one that is subversively manipulated, starting
with the precrowd phase ?
Mr, Jones. Yes. The precrowd phase, this is the preparatory period
which is characterized by the development of antagonisms within a
community between groups which have a different position on some
economic, social, political, or other issue. If" the riot which follows,
however, is subversively manipulated, study and analysis based on
intelligence information will reveal the following about the precrowd
phase.
(a) A subversive organization, newly created or in existence for some
time, is working to develop a riot situation. The first step is to build
the organization, to recruit and train its personnel to put its plans into
action. Subversives train their members and followers in crowd ma-
nipulation, in riot tactics, and the use of weapons. They give them
instructions on issues that can be used to create conflict in the com-
munity.
(b^ They select their target ^oups on the basis of the conflict poten-
tial m the community. A basic Communist belief is that masses are
subject to manipulation and can be utilized for Communist purposes.
Subversives identify dissident groups, that is, target groups, within
the community and attempt to infiltrate their ranks.
(c) They launch vital preconditioning measures to influence the
attitudes of these target groups. Subversives use flyers, posters, rumors,
and all available means of communication to increase hostility and
antagonism, to aggravate grievances, to stimulate frustrations, dissent,
anxiety, anger, and to develop emotional stress.
Through these preconditioning communications they attempt to
unite dissident groups. To do this they concentrate on local bread-
and-butter issues. They repeat certain themes over and over again.
Specific slogans and phrases are used to condition the target groups
to react to these slogans and phrases under emotional stress.
They try to personalize the enemy, to direct the resentment of the
people against a specific pei^son, symbol, or object. It may be the mayor
of the city administration or the chief of police. In instances such as
agitation against the war in Vietnam, it may be the Secretary of State,
or the Secretary of Defense.
The issues on which they agitate are usually specific to begin with.
Gradually they are changed and become more general. The issues are
carefully selected so that they will not create differences among the
individuals who compose the target group, but rather will tend to unite
them.
An example is police brutality.
Issues on which subversives agitate must be controversial to arouse
interest, tension, and frustration. At the same time they are expressed
in moral terms so as to win support for those making the charges and
to create antagonism against those accused. For example, the charges
can be inefficiency, dishonesty, brutality, and claims that the subversive
or front groups are fighting for justice, equality, and so forth.
796 SUBVERSIVE INFLUENCES IN RIOTS, LOOTING, AND BURNING
Accusations will be so general that they cannot be disproved. They
will also be nurtured by rumor and slander.
(d) Finally, this precrowd phase or period will be used by a sub-
versive element or group to acquire and store weapons^guns, Molotov
cocktails, explosives, and anything else they decide to use in the civil
disturbance phase. This will include, if they do not already have it,
the acquisition of printing equipment and paper and the establishment
of routes of escape for important subversive individuals.
Meetings and rallies are also arranged to assist in the precondition-
ing of the target groups.
Mr. MoNamara. What are the characteristics, Mr. Jones, of the
crowd phase in the development of a riot ?
Mr. JoNE§. This phase, of course, is indispensable. You cannot have
a riot without a crowd that is turned into a mob which throws aside
all restraint and engages in collective social violence.
A crowd may assemble for any number of reasons. For example, a
sporting event, a political rally, an automobile accident, a fire, or an
arrest.
Subversive elements bent on starting a riot may plan to take advan-
tage of a crowd assembled under any of these circumstances, or they
may themselves insure that a crowd will be present at a certain place
and time by planning a meeting or rally that will attract people or by
staging an incident in a certain area at a time when they know a
crowd will immediately collect.
Once the crowd is assembled, the subversives deploy their personnel
in the crowd to agitate and excite it and to increase its hostility. Slo-
gans will be shouted, rumors circulated, speeches made, all of which
are desired to arouse the emotions of the crowd and thus direct it to
acts of violence.
The most vulnerable crowd, of course, is one which through the proc-
esses I have already mentioned has been preconditioned to react emo-
tionally to certain slogans, phrases, and accusations.
Mr. McNamara. What are the characteristics, Mr. Jones, of the
civil disturbance or actual riot phase?
Mr. Jones. Briefly, this is the period when the crowd, agitated and
highly excited over some issue, has been turned into a mob which
through a kind of emotional contagion engages in large-scale, collec-
tive social violence.
Again, if there is no subversive element involved, analysis may re-
veal that this collective violence developed more or less spontaneously
or naturally. No evidence, usually, can be found of any individual or
group intent to spark the violence. ,
The picture is different, however, if tliere has been subversive manip-
ulation. Analysis will usually reveal deliberate effort to incite the mob
to violence by the chanting of slogans or songs, by exhortations to
violent acts, and other devices which raise the emotional excitement
of the mob to the point of violence.
A booster incident will be initiated — rocks will be thrown, windows
broken, a fire or fight started. There may also be sniping or looting.
A martyr will be exploited or perhaps even created — someone who
has been arrested, wounded, or killed by the riot-control forces or in-
tentionally injured or killed by the subversives.
When a riot is subversively manipulated there is often evidence of
SUBVERSIVE ESTFLUENCES IN RIOTS, LOOTING, AND BURNING 797
deliberate attempts to block the effectiveness of the police or other
riot-control forces in order to impair their ability to end the violence.
Mr. McNamara. May I ask this question, Mr. Jones? Have you also
found it to be a characteristic of this phase that sometimes the sub-
versive elements will utilize guards of strong-arm men to protect cer-
tain of the leaders in triggering these acts of violence ?
Mr. Jones. Yes. There is evidence that there is a formal organiza-
tion that attempts to protect the very important subversive manipula-
tors in order to preclude their being arrested.
Mr. McNamara. A^Hiat about the post-civil disturbance phase ?
Mr. Jones. Briefly, this is the period when the violence is ended and
social order has been restored.
If there has been no subversive manipulation, this period is usually
characterized by the contending groups' or elements' efforts to avoid
further violence. There is a reaction against the damage, destruction,
injury, and so forth, that has taken place. A certain sense of shame and
realization that things have gone too far.
Once more the picture is very different if subversives are involved.
Evidence will be found of deliberate efforts to inflame further violence.
Propaganda and agitation will be continued in an effort to keep the
issue which sparked the violence alive. There will be a campaign to
exploit the riot through leaflets, rallies, rumors, martyrs, and so forth.
Demands which the Government cannot possibly meet will be made.
The unwarranted ouster of a certain official will be called for. The
intent of the subversive is to make the Government appear un-
compromising and thereby undennine the confidence and respect of
the target groups in the power structure. The intent is to maintain the
interest and emotional excitement of the community, to prevent the
calming of emotions and the elimination of resentment.
Mr. McNamara. Your studies, Mr. Jones, have also involved the
question of countermeasures to the rioting. "\\Tiat have they indicated
on this subject?
Mr. Jones. Let us keep in mind that community conflicts which be-
come riotous involve a struggle for favorable public opinion between
dissidents and the civil police and other Internal security forces.
Action of internal security forces must be based upon this fact.
The basic objective of internal security forces is to restore order, the
corollary is to reestablish respect for law and order and public safety.
Some of the things that the internal security forces must consider
are the nature of the crowd and the emotional factors involved.
One of the techniq^ues of controlling crowds is very solidly based
upon the specific panic response which is expressed by individuals in
the desire to escape or take flight from an immediate threatening area.
Chemical munitions or streams of water develop this response; they
cause people who are acting in concert in a mob to immediately start
to thinking about themselves as individuals again, about their own
protection.
The use of force, and the alternatives to the use of force, present one
of the most difficult problems faced b}'^ riot-control forces.
I think it is indicated that force is probably more properly used
against a spontaneous and unorganized crowd. Force has not his-
torically been so effective against groups that had formal leadership.
798 SUBVERSIVE INFLUENCES IN RIOTS, LOOTING, AND BURNING
that is, who have leaders that have psychological control of the mem-
bers of the crowd.
Subversives attempt to capitalize on the police use of force in order
to further alienate dissident segments of the population. Yet we find
that the show of force is certainly essential and, in addition to the
show of force, the force of the state sometimes has to be used and
there has to be a willingness to commit this force of the state under the
appropriate circumstances.
In controlling crowds and mobs, internal security forces are cau-
tioned to avoid emotional involvement by being overly identified with
dissident segments of the community. This identification, or lack of
identification, usually results in overreaction against crowds with
whom, for example, the majority of the civil police force does not
identify.
It usually results in underreaction against crowds composed of seg-
ments of the community with which they overidentify. But more dan-
gerous than anything, it causes vacillation before action is taken.
The use of the military in the control of crowds and riots does have
some value. Usually military units are highly trained and highly re-
spected. They are outsiders who are not emotionally involved in the
community conflict and once the riot is ended they usually leave the
community. And if any hostility has been generated against them it
usually dissipates.
Mr. McNamara. Do your studies also indicate, Mr. Jones, that there
are various countermeasures that are particularly adapted to the dif-
ferent phases of rioting, the precrowd phase, crowd phase, and so on ?
Mr. Jones. Yes.
Mr. McNamara. What are the countermeasures that you would sug-
gest, based on your studies, for the precrowd phase ?
Mr. Jones. I feel that a vital countermeasure here is the creation
and use of an intelligence information collection system. Now I would
like to point out that combating subversive manipulation of civil dis-
turbances requires the collection of political intelligence. This is a
function which must be performed regardless of what it is called.
Among actions that can be taken in the precrowd phase is mainte-
nance of contact with dissident groups. This allows for the surveillance
of not only these groups, but also of subversive elements. It allows for
the surveillance of known troublemakers likely to join in disturbances.
One of the other countermeasures that can be taken during this time
is to give people information to counter the subversives' precondition-
ing propaganda and agitation. People apparently have a psvchological
need to be informed during a time of crisis. I feel that the^ internal
security forces can demonstrate the readiness to use force. Sometimes
this is enough. It apparently aids in building public respect if the
show of force is efficient and impartial. Another technique that can be
used is the infiltration of subversive groups.
Now in terms of organizing and planning countermeasures, training
internal security forces personnel and making prearrangements for
mutual assistance with other internal security forces are important.
Mr. McNamara. During this period, Mr. Jones, are there definite
clues to the plotting of a riot 'i
Mr. Jones. Yes.
Mr. Mc^Nam ARA. W\\iit are they '^
Mr. Jones. Some of them are the observation of known subversives
SUBVERSIVE ESTFLUENCES IN RIOTS, LOOTING, AND BURNING 799
moving into an area, the discovery of arms caches, the circulation of
propaganda, attempts to hire demonstrators, attempts to train and
orient agitators, arrangements for safe houses and escape routes, an
increase in hostility toward the police, infiltration of known subver-
sives into nonsubversive groups.
Mr. McNamara. What countermeasures would you suggest based on
your studies during the crowd phase ?
Mr. Jones. This is a very important time. If countermeasures fail
during this phase, a riot will ensue. If countermeasures are successful,
there will be no riot. One of the basic objectives is either to disperse
the crowd or to bring the crowd under control, to maintain contact
with the leaders, and possibly to give the dissidents some sort of out-
let.
For example, let them state their grievances, try to use the leaders
in order to control the crowd. Another countermeasure that can be
taken during this specific time is to prepare and station riot-control
forces to handle any situation, to utilize a clear show of force, to ar-
rest agitators if there are legal grounds, and to identify the riot lead-
ers and to remove them if possible.
Mr. McNamara. What about the actual riot or civil disturbance
phase?
Mr. Jones. Once this particular phase is started, it is very difficult
to avoid the use of the force of the state. This force is sometimes applied
through batons, riot-control formations, police dogs, and chemical
munitions. The procedure of the United States Army is to first use
a show of force ; then to use riot-control formation ; then to consider
the use of streams of water; then the use of chemical agents; then
fire by selected marksmen; and finally, under very extreme condi-
tions, full fire power.
Firmness is very essential. Looters, as has been shown, are normal-
ly stopped by the threat of injury or arrest if these measures are taken
before the looting becomes widespread.
Mr. McNamara. What countermeasures would you suggest for the
postdisturbance period ?
Mr. Jones. The danger here is the spread or the revival of violence.
This danger is much greater when there is subversive manipulation.
Again intelligence is important to identify the subversive agitators.
Another very important thing is for the authorities involved to listen
to the complaints of members of dissident groups whether they feel
these complaints are based on fact or fiction.
The judicious use of prohibitions is apparently very important. It
is important to get information to the public to undercut the lies,
half-truths, and rumors of subversives. This can be done through the
use of the press, the radio, television, and statements by officials.
Measures can be taken to calm and to relieve tensions and emotions.
Riot-control forces in this particular phase are cautioned to avoid
commitments that can't be lived up to. An example would be the im-
position of a curfew in an area so large that the available riot-control
forces could not enforce that curfew.
Another possible technique here is to arrange meetings, set up com-
mittees to talk over the particular problems involved in the social situ-
ation that led to the riot.
IMective countermeasures are almost wholly dependent upon intel-
800 SUBVERSIVE INFLUENCES IN RIOTS, LOOTING, AND BURNING
ligence. In other words, the riot-control forces must know what subver-
sives are doing. Only then can effective countermeasures be planned.
Mr. McNamara. I)o your studies indicate, Mr. Jones, that a riot can
be predicted ?
Mr. Jones. There are indications that this must be done in terms
of probability, and not in terms of will or will not happen. Much of
what passes for prediction is actually "postdiction" or after the fact.
It involves what I have previously identified as validation by selected
example, and in this sense it is very unsystematic.
Mr. McNamara. What element in a community plays a major role in
determining the outcome of a riot ?
Mr. Jones. I think that in determining the outcome of a community
conflict that involves riotous social violence that what we call the
audience or the uncommitted members of the community play a very
vital and significant role. Sometimes it is very difficult to get these un-
committed members involved in the conflict on one side or the other.
Mr. McNamara. Mr. Jones, current investigation and research of the
committee indicate that there are some gTOups in the United States to-
day which are actually advocating guerrilla warfare and insurgency
in this country. I believe your study of riots was related largely to their
relationship to insurgency and guerrilla warfare in other countries of
the world. Based on your broad study of this subject, what relation-
ship do you see between subversively manipulated riots and insurgency
or guerrilla warfare?
Mr. Jones. Based upon the research I have been engaged in, I feel
that subversively manipulated riots are definitely a part of the polit-
ical weapon system of the international Communist movement. Other
elements of this political weapons system are assassination, sabotage,
terrorism, and guerrilla warfare.
Mr. McNamara. May I ask this question, Mr. Jones, again based on
your studies : Do you think there is a tremendous problem or a very dif-
ficult problem for a subversive element — granted that certain underly-
ing factors that you have described exist in that commmiity — to launch
or trigger a riot ?
Mr. Jones. No, I do not. I feel that the possibilities of manipulation
of riots apparently haven't been exploited to the extent that my re-
search indicates they can be exploited.
Mr. McNamara. Would you say that with fairly good knowledge of
mob psychology, group behavior, and sociology, a group or element, if
it so desired, could emotionally work up a community to a point —
through the processes you mentioned before — of psychological condi-
tioning, propaganda, and agitation, to bring members of a community
to a point where even though they were not initially on the ^pot, shall
I say, a riot could be triggered by some precipitating incident such as
arrest bv a policeman ?
Mr. JONEs. Yes; I would say that is certainly possible if one were
careful in identifying the community concerned to make sure that
some very deep social, racial, or political cleavages existed. I would
say, however, in my opinion if a subversive individual wanted to
make sure that the riot ensued, he would not leave anything to
chance. He would not depend on a spontaneous incident. He would
attempt to create this incidoni himself.
Mr. McNamara. Mr. Chairman, that concludes the staff interroga-
tion of Mr. Jones.
SUBVERSIVE INFLUENCES IN RIOTS, LOOTING, AND BURNING 801
Mr. TuoK. We thank you very much.
I want to apologize for keeping you around here so long, but we
could not help it.
Mr. Jones. That is quite all right. Thank you, sir. »
Mr. Tuck. Your testimony has been very eloqu'ent. Could the
stenographer writ« up that testimony and make it available to mem-
bers of the committee, particularly ceitain phases of it, between
now and the future hearings, not tomorrow but next week ?
Mr. McNamara. I am sorry, I could not quite hear.
Mr. Tuck. I say could the stenographer write up this testimony or
parts of it for the benefit of the committee when we examine some
of these other witnesses next week or the week following ?
Mr. McNamara. Yes, sir. We will have a transcript of it tomorrow
or the day after, and we can duplicate it for that purpose.
Mr. Tuck. That will be fine.
Mr. IcHORD. Mr. Chairman, I want to thank Mr. Jones for a very
learned presentation. Of course riots, Mr. Jones, are nothing new
to this country or to any nation which has endured for any length
of time. We have had in the past labor riots, racial riots. These don't
seem to fall right in the category of racial riots as such, though ; do
they ?
Mr. Jones. No, they don't.
Mr. IcHORD. The ones we have had recently ?
Mr. Jones. Let me mention, first, that my research started before
the rash of riots during the summer of 1964 in the United States.
We identified the type of rioting which ensued in the United States
in 1964 originally as racial rioting. We then discovered that this
perhaps was not the correct label. We then tended to talk about these
riots as Negro riots. However, Puerto Ricans were involved in at
least two instances in 1966. We therefore had to do a little rethinking
and we started calling these urban ethnic riots because there is a"
possibility that the other ethnic groups, disadvantaged groups, for
example, Mexican Americans, might be involved in the same type
of social violence.
Mr. Tuck. Tliey are more in the nature of rebellion against con-
stituted authority.
Mr. Jones. Again, sir?
Mr. Tuck. These uprisings are more in the nature of rebellion
against constituted authority ; are they not ?
Mr. Jones. They could be interpreted that wdy ; yes, sir. This, how-
ever, is only one of several interpretations.
Mr. IciiORD. How would you characterize what happened over at the
Pentagon Saturday? It started out as a demonstration. Would you
say that developed into a riot situation when a certain portion of the
group tried to rush the Pentagon ? Would you call that a riot situation ?
How would you characterize that ?
Mr. Jones. Yes, I think this perhaps could not be characterized as
a full-blown riot. I think it has been mentioned previously here that
maybe a full-blown riot is accompanied at least by a temporary break-
down of law and order. I think control was maintained there at all
times. I think there is certainly some evidence based upon my analyti-
cal scheme to support the contention that someone was trying to incite
riotous violence in this particular instance.
802 SUBVERSIVE INFLUENCES IN RIOTS, LOOTING, AND BURNING
Mr. IcHORD. In the riots that have occurred in the cities, we seem to
have the gathering of the crowd at certain places ; then you have pro-
longed periods of just hoodlums looting and burning, rather than
really being motivated by what occuiTed back at the gathering of the
crowd.
Mr. Jones. Yes. This is true. I didn't explain what I meant pre-
viously by booster incident. This is an incident that tends to keep the
riot going. One of the very favorite types of booster incidents is loot-
ing. Many people who have poor social control are drawn into the
looting situation. It is difficult to tell at this time if it is necessary for
someone to say let us start looting, follow me, or if at this particular
time the people have a certain psychological set whereby when they see
a store or group of stores they spontaneously start to loot.
Mr. IcHORD. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Mr. Tuck. Mr. Watson.
Mr. Watson. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
I want to join with you and my colleague from Missouri in thanking
Mr. Jones. It is obvious that you have made a very thorough study
of this. I think it is a very fine statement you have given us.
You say you are in the process now of writing a book, reducing this
to booklet form or something ? Did I understand correctly ?
Mr. Jones. The information upon which this testimony is based is
already published in the form of a research document which is called
"Combating Subversively Manipulated Civil Disturbances." I am pres-
ently in the process of writing a research report on rioting which has
taken place in the United States during the period 1964, 1965, and
1966.
Mr. McNamara. Do I understand correctly, Mr. Jones, that that is
your doctoral thesis ?
Mr. Jones. That is correct.
Mr. Watson. I think it would be helpful in giving us a clearer in-
sight into various characteristics that you have outlined here. Have
you gone in depth far enough to classify the particular riots that we
experienced last summer ?
Mr. Jones. No, I have not. Let me add this : What I was attempting
to do here is to create an analytical device which would allow an
evaluation of the riots for that period, for any period, for any country,
for that matter.
Mr. Watson. I think you have done a good job in that regard. That
is why the chairman and I were discussing, if we could get these four
phases that you outlined, then perhaps it would help the committee
later, as we have witnesses describe these riots, to approach it and try
to intelligently characterize the various riots that we have had based
upon your detailed study as outlined in the four phases.
Mr. Jones. I think it will be a good use to which this analytic device
can be put. Some of the information when view^ed within the frame-
work of this particular scheme might be vei'y revealing.
Mr. Tuck. We thank you very much.
The committee will recess until tomorrow morning at 10 o'clock.
Mr. Jones. Thank you, sir.
(Whereupon, at 5 :45 p.m., Wednesday, October 25, 19G7, the sub-
committee recessed, to reconvene at 10 a.m., Thui-sdav, October 26,
1967.)
SUBVERSIVE INFLUENCES IN RIOTS, LOOTING, AND
BURNING
Part 1
THURSDAY, OCTOBER 26, 1967
United States House of Representatives,
Subcommittee of the
Committee on Un-American Activities,
Washington, D.C.
public hearing
The subcommittee of the Committee on Un-American Activities
met, pursuant to recess, at 10:25 a.m., in Room 311, Cannon House
Office Building, Washington, D.C, Hon. William M. Tuck presiding.
(Subcommittee members: Representatives Edvs-in E. Willis, of
Louisiana, chairman; William M. Tuck, of Virginia; Richard H.
Ichord, of Missouri ; John M. Ashbrook, of Ohio ; and Albert W. Wat-
son, of South Carolina; also John C. Culver, of Iowa, in absence of
Mr. Willis.)
Subcommittee members present : Representatives Tuck and Ichord.
Staff members present: Francis J. McNamara, director; Chester
D. Smith, general counsel ; and Alfred M. Nittle, counsel.
Mr. Tuck. The committee will come to order.
Mr. McNamara, will you call the first witness.
Mr. McNamara. Mr. Herman Lerner.
Mr. Tuck. Come around and raise your right hand.
Do you solemnly swear the testimony you will give the committee
will be the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, to the
best of your knowledge and belief ?
Mr. Lerner. I do.
TESTIMONY OF HERMAN D. LERNER
Mr. McNamara. Will you state your full name and address for the
record, please ?
Mr. Lerner. Herman D. Lerner, 6825 Laverock Court, Bethesda,
Maryland.
Mr. McNamara. What is the place and date of your birth ?
Mr. Lerner. Baltimore, Maryland, 1923.
Mr. McNamara. What is your educational background, Mr. Lerner?
Mr. Lerner. I attended public schools in Baltimore. In 1942-43 I
attended the University of Maryland, where I began studies in the
physical and social sciences.
803
804 SUBVERSIVE INFLUENCES IN RIOTS, LOOTING, AND BURNING
My studies there were interrupted for several years for military
service. I resumed study at the University of Maryland in 1946, con-
centrating in sociology and political science, and was graduated with
an A.B. in 1948.
I continued my professional education that year with graduate work
at Columbia University in sociology, anthropology, and psychology.
From 1948 to 1952 I did graduate work in a doctoral program in
social relations at Harvard University, where I specialized in social
change and national character studies and where I was a teaching fel-
low in social change.
Since that time I have had additional graduate education periodi-
cally in social and behavioral science, including sociology of science,
criminology, and other subjects at the American University.
Mr. McNamara. What is your professional or employment back-
ground ?
Mr. Lerner. My first employment was in administrative work with
the U.S. Maritime Commission. I was in the U.S. Army from 1943 to
1946, serving first as a combat infantryman and later as an administra-
tive assistant in the war rooms of the general staff of the 103d Infantry
Division and the 3d Armored Division during operations in the Euro-
pean theater — in France, Alsace, Germany, and Austria.
From 1951 to 1952 I was employed by Harvard University and
shortly thereafter began my career as a researcher and consultant in
behavioral and social sciences.
For the past 14 years I have conducted many studies of military
systemSj research planning and utilization, social and economic issues,
and political trends.
In recent years I have been interested in relating scientific knowl-
edge to the needs of those who support scientific research. I am cur-
rently engaged, as one of several contractors, in a study at the Office of
Naval Research on the utility of research for the Navy.
I have conducted research for Government agencies and private
organizations, including the Navy, the Army, and the Air Force, De-
partment of Commerce, Radio Corporation of America, General Elec-
tric Company, International Business Machines Corporation, na-
tional associations, and research firms.
I am a member of various professional associations in operations
research, sociology, management, and general science.
Mr. McNamara. In what fields of study — related to organized riot-
ing— have you concentrated in the past 10 years ?
Mr. Lerner. Over a period of about 10 years I have done studies
periodically of national cohesion, military strategy, general and lim-
ited warfare, political riotingj crime, and internal security, With spe-
cial reference to military-civilian relations, force, propaganda, and
strategy.
In 1961 I prepared and gave a 20-hour course with two colleagues
on the psychology of group behavior in emergencies, which dealt pri-
marily with behavioral aspects of rioting. This course was given to
police officials who came from Greece, Colombia, Venezuela, and Viet-
nam. It was based on the study of open literature — books and articles —
on rioting.
In 1963, while with the Applied Psychology Corporation, I took
part in a study for the Office of Naval Research on the recuperative
SUBVERSIVE INFLUENCES IN RIOTS, LOOTING, AND BURNING 805
capacity of the Navy and the Marine Corps in the event of thermonu-
clear war. During that study I analyzed various problems connected
with internal security during general warfare and I prepared a paper
on "Psychological Aspects of Political Rioting and Its Control."
For the past few years I have been a visiting lecturer at the Inter-
national Police Academy, Agency for International Development, on
causes and characteristics of riots and on crowd and mob psychology.
At the IPA I have given numerous lectures and seminars to hun-
dreds of police officers from South America, Southeast Asia, Africa,
and the Middle East. During this time I have exchanged a great deal
of information regarding causes and control of rioting, with em-
phasis on political disturbances and their significance for internal
security and international relations.
As part of my background for this testimony, I have been reviewing
open literature on recent rioting in the U.S.
Mr. McNamara. Referring to the study you made in 1963, under-
taken for the Navy and Marine Corps, would it be correct to deduce
from the nature of that study that, at that time, two of our defense
agencies were looking to the future for any contingency they might
have to face and were taking steps to be prepared, and then, second,
that one of the possibilities they anticipated was that in the event of
a thermonuclear attack on this country, in conjunction with that
attack or inmiediately after it, the foreign powers which launched the
attack might attempt to use their agents in this country to incite polit-
ical rioting in their efforts to bring about the defeat of the United
States.
Would that be a fair inference from the nature of the study you
mentioned ?
Mr. Lerner. In reply to the first part of your question — whether the
Navy and the Marine Corps were concerned about various contin-
gencies— the Office of Naval Research is an agency of tlie Marine Corps
and the Navy which does take very long-range views. The Army and
the Air Force also have comparable agencies. ONR is interested pri-
marily in what may happen 15, 30, or 40 years from now. It helps
develop the physical and behavioral sciences in ways that will improve
our naval security and power.
As for the possibility of rioting as a tactic in general warfare, this
was a problem which the study team looked into since it was believed
that there would be enormous destruction during a thermonuclear war
and that military units might be required to cope with many emer-
gencies, including tlireats to naval installations and internal security
which might arise from political rioting and insurgencies.
Mr. McNamara. In addition to your studies and lectures, have you
engaged in the writing of articles, papers, and reports on the subjects
in which you have specialized ?
Mr. Lerner. Yes. Since 1958 I have prepared approximately 38
articles, reports, and papers on various subjects in the fields of social
science, research and development management, public affairs, and
national policy.
Not all are in the public domain. Some of these are classified mate-
rial. I also have written approximately 18 articles, reports, and papers
on human factors engineering, technology, and industrial psychology
since 1954.
806 SUBVERSIVE INFLUENCES IN RIOTS, LOOTING, AND BURNING
During the same period I have published several dozen reviews and
commentaries on studies and papers in criminality, delinquency, and
other forms deviant behavior in urban areas.
Mr. McNamara. Wliat, Mr. Lemer, do your studies reveal or indi-
cate are the basic subjects or problems which must be considered in any
discussion of urban political rioting ?
Mr. Lerner. There are five or six major sets of problems which can
be subdivided further into many categories, depending on our interests.
For an analysis of recent urban rioting in the United States, I believe
it is convenient and meaningful to consider these problems under the
headings of: urban disorganization and poverty; community conflict
(social, religious, economic, ethnic, racial, et cetera) ; criminality and
delinquency; domestic subversion; and foreign subversion.
Mr. McNamara. Would you dascribe what you mean by "urban
disorganization and poverty"?
Mr. Lerner. "Urban disorganization and poverty" refers to all those
physical, cultural, social, and economic characteristics of city life
which are associated with slums or ghettos.
Among these are crowded population; substandard health condi-
tions; uncomfortable and demoralizing living quarters; inadequat-e
food and clothing; feelings of estrangement and hopelessness ("no
one cares about us"); unemployment; educational deficiencies; low-
income jobs with high drudgery content; and the presence of what
might be called "pathological cultures," such as criminality, delin-
quency, drug addiction, alcoholism, and other kinds of behavior which
spoil, weaken, or pervert the quality of life — even for those persons
who are not participants in these cultures, but who must experience
them because they are neighbors.
Mr. McNamara. And what do you mean by "community conflict"?
Mr, Lerner. "Community conflict" refers to any strife between two
or more groups within a community over social, religious, economic,
ethnic, racial, or political issues.
Even if the problems of urban disorganization and poverty could
be solved overnight, the ethnic and racial contention which has been
generated over the past 10 to 15 years probably would itself be suf-
ficent to cause periodic eruption of rioting by Negroes and Caucasians,
although by no means on the scale which we have witnessed in recent
years.
The pressures for segregation and for integration, the provocative
demonstrations, the blacklash, the separatist propaganda and agita-
tion, and the rapid growth in acceptance of white and black racial
myths — while related to urban disorganization and poverty^^are suf-
ficiently independent and powerful to constitute a distinct set of prob-
lems or "pathologies" requiring its own set of remedies.
Mr. McNamara. Would you elaborate on the subject of "criminality
and delinquency," which you have indicated as another matter? What
must be considered in the study of this problem ?
Mr. Lerner. The category of "criminality and delinquency" refers
to the various forms of antisocial behavior which are in violation of
the law. These forms of behavior range from professionally and
chronically criminal acts as a way of life — that is, as a full-time or
part-time occupation or avocation — to incidental, impulsive, oppor-
tunistic, or symbolic acts.
SUBVERSIVE INFLUENCES IN RIOTS, LOOTING, AND BURNING 807
The looting which takes place by backing a truck up to an appliance
store, loading it with goods, and transporting the goods halfway across
the country— 'as cited by Mr. Younger — suggests the involvement of a
professional burglar.
On the other hand, most of the widespread, mass thievery which has
occurred during rioting in recent years and which has involved per-
sons who take advantage of the apparent availability of appliances,
clothes, food, and so forth, would represent incidental, opportunistic,
and impulsive forms of criminality and delinquency.
They all have in common an mtention to engage in action which
violates a law, some sort of actual behavior which constitutes a viola-
tion, harmful consequences which have been forbidden by law, and
several other technical characteristics of crime, such as the concurrence
between criminal intent and criminal action, a causal relation between
the action and the harmful consequences, and the existence of legal
prohibitions and legally prescribed penalties for the behavior. There-
fore, they are all, technically speaking, criminal or delinquent acts.
Unlike the problems in the first two categories, those that we have
referred to here as criminality and delinquency may not be sufficient
in themselves to cause large-scale rioting.
Professional criminals and amateur or incidental lawbreakers have
been participating in recent rioting usually as opportunists who take
advantage of momentary chaos and disorder to benefit in a compara-
tively petty way.
But sirhall-scale, localized disorders can be caused by organized
criminals or gangs who plan to exploit the confusion by engaging in
burglary; and such disorder also can be provoked by demonstrators
who may deliberately violate local ordinances as symbolic protests
against real or alleged injustices — ^^sometimes represented by the ordi-
nances themselves — or real or alleged injustices committed by persons
in positions of authority.
Noteworthy characteristics of criminality and delinquency as related
to urban rioting are :
1. They can be provocative of small-scale riots.
2. They are conducive to subversion — both in the near term and the
long term. In the near-term situation they provide opportunity for
subversive exploitation. In the long term, they depreciate respect for
law and authority and thereby reduce community resistance to sub-
versive influences.
Mr. McNamara. What, Mr. Lerner, is the relation of urban disorga-
nization and poverty, community conflict, and criminality — ^the first
three subjects you mentioned — to "domestic subversion" and "foreign
subversion," the two subjects which are of particular interest to the
committee?
Mr. Lerner. The first three subjects have two major kinds of sig-
nificance for subversion : exploitability and fertility.
The problems which are represented by those subjects can be ex-
ploited by subversives. That is, they provide opportunities and instru-
ments for subversive activity. The problems related to urban
disorganization and poverty are not created by subversives ; but these
problems themselves do create a tremendous degree of frustration and
resentment which can be channeled by subversives into destructive acts
such as those which we have experienced in the recent riots.
32-955 O — 69 — pt. 1 7 i
808 SUBVERSIVE INFLUENCES IN RIOTS, LOOTING, AND BURNING
The racial discord — which is part of community conflict — in the
same way can be channeled into acts of rioting, burning, looting — acts
which do not resolve the discord, but instead aggravate it.
Criminals and delinquents can be utilized as gangs to intensify and
prolong rioting which has already begun — ^and at least theoretically
can be used to help initiate a riot in an area which is already riot prone.
On the other hand, even if professional subversives did not already
exist, the kinds of problems which we have grouped under the first
three categories would in themselves breed subversive activity. With-
out any omer class of problems, we should expect that rioting would
occur in this country periodically, either because of the resentments
derived from urban disorganization and poverty or because of the
resentments caused by various forms of community conflict — espe-
cially the racial.
And we should expect that among the participants in such riots there
would be persons whose objectives were not limited to protest, to
criminal opportunism, or to solution of poverty or conflict problems
within the framework of existing institutions and legal procedures.
Persons with subversive ^oals — ^bred in the deeply frustrating and
embittering conditions which we have referred to — would emerge.
Mr. McNamara. You have made quite frequent references to sub-
version and subversives. What do you mean by those terms ?
Mr. Lerner. Subversion is any activity which has as its objective the
illegal displacement of pK)wer from one group to another ; the weaken-
ing or destruction of the social, political, and economic institutions
of a society; or the weakening or destruction of national cohesion
through propaganda, military and industrial sabotage, or other eco-
nomic or political measures.
The aim of a subversive is not to solve problems, but to exacerbate
and create problems; not to improve our institutions, but to destroy
them ; not to arrive at consensus, but to cause disunity ; not to cure, but
to control a society through illegal means.
While Republicans and Democrats, conservatives and liberals, and
the various interest groups which are represented by legal political
organizations seek to win advantages for their respective groups, they
compete for these advantages within existing political institutions
and within conventional rules of the game.
Debate, strikes, boycotts, legislation, price competition, and specific
and workable programs of social and economic change are among the
activities and products of legal political action. Among those who en-
gage exclusively in legal political action, there apparently is no prob-
lem of loyalty and allegiance to the Nation. But among tho^e who en-
gage in subversion, the problem is disloyalty and loss of allegiance to
our institutions.
Subversion is political criminality.
Mr. McNamara. What distinction do you make between domestic
and foreign subversion ?
Mr. Lerner. A domestic, or "benign" subversive is a person whose
disloyalty, alienation, and illegal activity are directed against our
national institutions, including our political structure and the incum-
bents of power, but whose loyalty and allegiance to the Nation — as a
people — are still intact.
SUBVERSIVE INFLUENCES IN RIOTS, LOOTING, AND BURNING 809
He can say truthfully, "I pledge alle^ance to the flag of the United
States and to the Republic for which it stands" ; and presumably he
would help defend this country against attack from the outside.
A foreign or "malignant" subversive, on the other hand, is a person
who is uncommitted to the Nation and who may in fact be an agent of a
foreign power with primary allegiance to that power.
Although he may have been born in this country and may retain his
citizenship, his allegiance to the Nation is minimal or nonexistent.
In the first case we have a revolutionary who is genuinely interested
in the well-being of the Nation, although he niay be mis^ided. In the
secpnd case, we have a revolutionary who is uninterested m the welfare
of the Nation and may be bent on weakening or destroying it so as to
gain advantage for one or more other nations.
Mr. McNamara. Why do you make a distinction between these two
types of subversion and deal with them separately ? That is, the do-
mestic and the foreign.
Mr. Lerner. The distinction is made for the same reason that dis-
tinctions are made among and within all of the five classes of problems
which we have mentioned ; namely, that all are separate kinds of prob-
lems and therefore may require different solutions, even though they
may be related to one another in political discourse and action.
Benign and malevolent subversiveness are closely related social and
political diseases. But a remedy for the first may be the improvement of
the operations of our society, while a remedy for the latter may be en-
tirely different. If we cure or remove the benign, we may do so per-
manently. If we remove the malignant, it will probably recur.
A domestic subversive who theoretically seeks social justice, albeit
through illegal means, is quite different from a foreign subversive
who — functionally speaking — is an invader and who, in the early
stages of the invasion, makes substantial use of the power of ideas
rather than the force of arms and therefore should be treated accord-
ingly-
The former can be acting in good faith where the Nation as a whole
is concerned. The latter is more likely to be an instrument of nations
antagonistic to ours (although he is also likely to believe that he is
merely enlisting their support) .
Admittedly the distinction between these two types is crudely drawn.
We should examine the nature of subversiveness much more closely
than we have done customarily. We may find that the chances for
rehabilitation of persons in various kinds and degrees of subversive-
ness will vary. Domestic subversives probably would be more easily
retrievable than the others.
Mr. McNamara. Based on your studies, Mr. Lerner, what are the
circumstances under which political rioting occurs ?
Mr. Lerner. In answering that question, it is helpful to consider
three subjects : the functions of government, how those functions are
defined or interpreted by the persons governed, and organized ex-
ploitation of real or alleged governmental inadequacies and injustices.
Mr. McNamara. Would you explain each of those in turn, beginning
with the first one you mentioned, the function of government.
Mr. Lerner. Although there are many conceptions of the functions
of government and how they should be performed, there are certain
810 SUBVERSIVE INFLUENCES IN RIOTS, LOOTING, AND BURNING
kinds of activities which are essential to the existence of a society^ and
which normally are performed by the government in modern societies.
Among these essential activities are : promulgation and enforcement
of laws ; maintenance of internal and external security ; equilibration
among conflicting interests when equitable settlements cannot be
reached by the conflicting parties themselves ; devising and administer-
ing programs for the economic, social, and medical health of the nation .
and maintenance of enough of a sense of national unity and under-
standing to permit the nation to operate as a unified system.
Every citizen may be thought of as a party to an implied, quasi-
contract with members of the government. In exchange for his vote
and for the payment of his taxes he expects that a large number of
functions and services — essential and nonessential — will be performed
and that they will be performed with degrees of competence and
justice which are greater than he could expect if he found it necessary
to perform those functions alone or in the absence of government.
Now most citizens may not think of the existence of an implied con-
tract of this kind and may not express their conceptions of govern-
mental functions in this way. But I believe that this statement is con-
sistent with the positions which most citizens would take.
Regardless of how we may prefer to express it, from a behavioral
standpoint, the function of government is to meet the terms of the
implied quasi-contract — as defined and interpreted by the citizen.
Mr. McNamara. Would you explain what you mean by the defini-
tion or interpretation of the function of the government, as distin-
guished from the actual function ?
Mr. Lerner. This definition or interpretation is usually quite vague
and changing. It is based largely on feeling, sentiments, and incom-
plete information. But it is especially significant because the attitudes
which a person has toward the incumbents of government and — under
some circumstances — the degree of allegiance which he has toward
the government depends greatly on the way in which he appraises
the competence and the justice with which governmental functions
are performed. It is not the actual competence or the actual justice,
but the way in which these qualities are perceived or understood that
affects the attitude a person will take toward hi's government.
One of the indispensable characteristics of American interpreta-
tions of just and equitable performance of governmental functions is
the idea that there is to be uniformity in the way that Government
functions and services are applied.
It is expected that all groups and individuals will be treated by the
Government on the basis of the same standards. It is expected also
that the benefits or the penalties which a person receives from the
Government will depend on what he does rather than on which group
he belongs to.
Another indispensable characteristic of governmental justice as
understood in this country is the idea that Government has some re-
sponsibility for assuring that there is no gross inequity in distribution
of goods, in social status, or in any other aspect of the society.
Poverty, racial and ethnic prejudices, urban blight, educational de-
ficiencies, crime and delinquency, for example, are regarded as con-
cerns of the Government, although there are differences of opinion
SUBVERSIVE INFLUENCES IN RIOTS, LOOTING, AND BURNING 811
as to the extent to which these concerns should be occupying the Gov-
ernment, rather than private organizations.
Such characteristics of our American definitions of governmental
functions appear prominently in discussions of causes and remedies
of recent urban rioting, although they f reouently do not appear to be
conspicuous in the thinking of those who nave been engaged at least
vocally in the rioting.
Mr. McNamara. And what about the third factor you mentioned,
the exploitation of real or alleged inadequacies of government ?
Mr. Lerner. Many persons in political life are inclined to take ad-
vantage of the flexibility and the vulnerability of our conceptions of
the Government. Through information management, one-sided argu-
ments, demonstrations, and sometimes through fabrications, skillful
efforts are made to influence the conception which the public has of
the Government for partisan purposes.
In recent years much of the partisan exploitation of alleged govern-
mental inadequacies has been related to realistic problems — difficulties
in enforcing school and housing integration; failure to eliminate de-
plorable living conditions; failure to provide adequate educational
and occupational opportunities; and other conditions for which au-
thorities at all levels of government may be held responsible — at least
in part.
(However, I believe we should understand that no one alive today
is actually responsible for the general social and economic conditions
which have contributed to the riot-proneness of certain areas. We are
all victims of the past. )
But associated with much of tlie rioting in the past few years, there
has been a continual barrage of unrealistic charges regarding various
local urban issues in the public communications media and in hand-
bills and pamphlets circulated by political groups.
A highly persistant and vitriolic kind of exploitation has occurred
in the form of grossly exaggerated and sometimes wholly false charges.
I am referring to such charges as police brutality, genocide, and mono-
lithic opposition of the "white power structure" to racial justice.
Mr, McNamara. How do people react to organized exploitation of
the failure of governmental authority and power, either real or
alleged ?
Mr. Lerner. The most important determinant of this reaction is the
set of basic attitudes and sentiments which people already have con-
cerning the Government.
But other conditions are also important. For example, the degree to
which the negative sentiments expressed by the exploiters are con-
sonant with the feelings of the people; the esteem in which the ex-
ploiters are held by the people; the extent to which people feel
deprived when they compare themselves with others ; et cetera.
The latter condition is worth examining a bit. How does anyone
know w^ien he has enough of anything that he values : security, health,
love, food, clothing, housing, intelligence, wealth, and so forth ?
Assuming that minimum physical requirements are met, there is
really no absolute standard which one can apply. It is only through
comparison with others that one can arrive at a judgment. Whom a
person chooses as a standard, of course, is a vital decision.
812 SUBVERSIVE ESTFLUENCES IN RIOTS, LOOTING, AND BURNING
An urban Negro in a low-income group in the U.S. is unlikely to
compare himself with an urban Russian or an urban Chinese or, as
indicated in the testimony yesterday afternoon, a man in Harlem
ordinarily will not compare himself with one in Watts, and vice versa.
Yet, if such a person were to appraise his standard of living against
that of a Chinese, a Russian, or an average European, he might regard
himself as relatively fortunate. But he is more likely to view himself
with other near'by Negroes who have more than he or with nearby
whites, many of whom may appear wealthy to him. And therefore he
is likely to feel deprived and to be unaware or unmindful of the ex-
istence of many thousands of American whites who are poorer than
he is.
This sense of comparative or relative deprivation which results from
consistently unfavorable comparisons causes frustration, which in
turn may lead to aggressive tendencies, especially when there are feel-
ings of hopelessness and when there are organized efforts to incite
negative tensions, emotions, and activity. The targets of aggression
may be any person, organization, property, or symbol which can be
associated with the frustration. A frustrated person may even attack
himself — through self-depreciation, ulcers, alcoholism, drug addiction,
or other forms of self-destruction, including suicide.
The forms and directions of aggression which may occur are deter-
mined by personal and situational factors. Propaganda, education, and
also agitation bv political agents may provide stimulants and oppor-
tunities for violent action such as that which takes place in riots.
Under these circumstances, the targets of aggression are persons or
symbols representing authorities or other persons who are in one way
seen as responsible agents or as beneficiaries of the frustrating circum-
stances.
Mr. McNamara. Rioting is a group, rather than individual, action.
What are the basic differences between individual and group behavior
which affect rioting?
Mr. Lerner. Authorities in the field of crowds, mobs, and riots have
made a number of observations about differences between individual
and group behavior which help to account for some aspects of public
disturbances.
Among the features of aggressive group action which are note-
worthy for an understanding of recent urban rioting in the United
States are:
(a) weakening of customary restraints or inhibitions which
ordinarily block illegal behavior and overtly aggressive action
against authorities ;
(b) moral support for aggressive action from other participants
in the group ;
(c) reinforced or increased power of the individual ;
(d) intensification of the influence of what might be called
negative or antisocial norms ; and so forth.
Mr. McNamara. What are the characteristics of group behavior in a
riot situation ?
Mr. Lerner. Two ways of looking at this are the external view and
the subjective view.
Mr. McNamara. Would you explain each of these. What are the
external characteristics?
SUBVERSIVE INFLUENCES IN RIOTS, LOOTING, AND BURNING 813
Mr. Lerner. External characteristics which are ordinarily cited by
specialists in this field are :
Mental homogeneity — that is, participants in the riots seem to be
of a similar state of mind and attitude ;
Emotionality — that is, deep and volatile emotions appear to be
expressed ;
Irrationality — there often appears to be little reason for the destruc-
tive activity which a mob or rioters become engaged in ;
Tendencies for growth — that is, crowds seem to accumulate to at-
tract bystanders, and to grow rather quickly ;
Spirals of emotion and agression — that is, there seems to be a pro-
gression of incidents from mild disturbances to more intense ones, and
this progression may be repeated.
Mr. McNamara. What are the subjective characteristics?
Mr. Lerner. Participants in riots are reported to be under tension
which requires some kind of discharge. They are also sometimes seen as
being in need of direction.
Another characteristic is the feeling of anonymity : since most par-
ticipants feel themselves as being part of a large group, they tend to
identify closely with the crowds and the events around them and to
believe that they themselves are not being given attention as individ-
uals. Therefore, they believe that they can engage in acts anonymously.
This characteristic leads to another one that is frequently mentioned,
namely, decline in the sense of responsibility — this refers to the weak-
ening of customary restraints and to the intensification of negative
norms which we mentioned earlier; but it involves primarily the feel-
ing that there is no personal accountability for any of the damage that
is done.
Another related characteristic is an impression of universality — the
belief that everyone is doing it; that the feelings, attitudes, and ac-
tions are shared by everyone.
Regression is another trait which is mentioned — a tendency to revert
to childish, infantile, and primitive feelings.
Another characteristic is narrowing of perception — that is, the focus-
ing of attention on one idea, one act, or a small number of incidents
so that there is a loss of perspective.
Mr. McNamara. What are the steps in the development of a riot
from a psychological point of view ? How can these characteristics you
have mentioned be used to stage a riot ?
Mr. Lerner. First, we should refer to a propaganda stagfe or a pre-
conditioning stage, or some such label — something which occurs prior
to the riot itself and which extends over a protracted period.
Mr. McNamara. Will you enlarge on that? What happens in this
stage ?
Mr. Lerner. This stage may take place over days, weeks, months, or
years. It involves the dissemination of messages which are strongly
opposed to authority, who may be characterized as incompetent, un-
just, corrupt, or brutal.
In recent years in urban areas these kinds of propaganda have
taken the form of allegations regarding the evils of whites, the un-
yielding opposition to blacks by the "white power structure," police
brutality, genocide, and so forth.
814 SUBVERSIVE INFLUENCES IN RIOTS, LOOTING, AND BURNING
In addition to these kinds of negative and destructive propaganda,
we have witnessed what could be a healthy encouragement of Negro
consciousness and self -appreciation if it could be kept free of racism
and divisiveness.
On the other hand, there also have been some efforts to encourage
civil and uncivil disobedience. The effects of these various positive
and negative forms of propaganda and education are only partly
understood and should be examined carefully by political leaders and
social scientists so that we can learn to realize more benefit and to incur
less damage from these activities.
Mr. McNamara. After the propaganda stage, what is the next step
in the development of a political riot ?
Mr. Lerner. The next stage — it is actually almost concurrent with
the first one — is a feeling of resentment over unjust deprivation, that
is, over the real or imagined comparative deprivation that we referred
to before.
Normal dissatisfactions — as a result of propaganda — become deep-
ened into great resentment and high levels of tension over real or
imagined failures by authority to meet their terms of the implied
contract between citizen and government.
Mr. McNamara. What step or development follows that ?
Mr. Lerner. Persons may assemble to observe some kind of alter-
cation during an arrest or for some kind of demonstration. There
usually are rumors — natural and synthetic — which heighten the ten-
sion of the crowd.
Demonstrations, speeches, sprinkling of agitative activity through-
out the crowd, shouting of abuses against authority, exhortations
toward violence, and sometimes corrective police action bring the level
of tensions to a point almost necessitating violent discharge. The
crowds wait for direction and for discharge of tension and are not
placated by admonitions to be peaceful, even when these admonitions
come from people to whom the crowds have been sympathetic and who
have stirred them into this state of tension.
Mr. McNamara. What follows the crowd crisis ?
Mr. Lerner. What might be called the riot-inciting idea or inci-
dent.
Mr. McNamara. What do you mean by that ?
Mr. Lerner. An incident, or an especially inflammatory statement,
provides a spark which sets off large numbers of persons into destruc-
tive activity. The riot-inciting event may be the shooting of a popular
figure; the impact of a flying wedge of policemen on a trapped crowd ;
the beginning of some minor but conspicuous damage which diverts
the attention of the police or which cannot be controlled, and so
forth.
Mr. McNamara. Then what happens ?
Mr. Lerner. The riot. External and internal characteristics such as
those mentioned earlier are activated, and rioting occurs.
Mr. McNamara. How would you explain this riot action from the
psychological viewpoint ?
Mr. Lerner. The riot has several kinds of sie:nificance to the par-
ticipants. One of these is a physical and symbolic redress, or righting,
of mjustice. That is, the damage, the looting, the burning, which are
reflected by rioters give them feelings of at least partial punishment
SUBVERSIVE INFLUENCES IN RIOTS, LOOTING, AND BURNING 815
of authority for the supposed injustices which have incensed the crowd
over an extended period of time and immediately prior to the riot.
In the eyes of the participants, the authorities or the power holders
and others identified with the established order have been guilty ; and
the rioters have been victims. The damage symbolizes the punishment
of the guilty. This drama of crime and punishment, because of its na-
ture, also tends to increase the status of the participants in an imagi-
nary power struggle. They feel they have demonstrated to themselves
and to the world that they have more power than was expected and
that they can exert greater control over authority than before.
Mr. McNamara. Following the riot itself, what is the next stage
or step ?
Mr. Lerner. a political goal of the rioter either is achieved or not
achieved ; and, where professional organizers are concerned, strategic
and tactical plans are adjusted for new rounds of political action,
which may or may not include demonstrations, riots, sabotage, or insur-
gencies, but almost always involves a new propaganda and agitation
program which takes into account the lessons and the results of the
rioting.
A political goal of the rioter ordinarily is an increase in legitimate
power — actual or symbolic. That is, he seeks policies, representatives,
or circumstances wliich are more responsive to his preferences, needs,
and control than in the past ; and he wants this increased responsive-
ness to be an accepted, unchallenged fact.
He seeks representatives whom he believes will meet the terms of their
implied contract more competently, and more justly than has been the
case, on the basis of his opinions and standards.
Where professional subversives are involved, especially what we have
called foreign subversives, follow-through exploitation of the riot will
occur irrespective of whether the kinds of political goals that I have
just referred to have been achieved. They seek renewal and intensi-
fication of community tensions, disorder, and confusion. Such efforts
may be coordinated with other diverse efforts by foreign powers and
their agents to gain advantage in international relations.
These stages should be understood as general concepts which help
describe much of the recent political rioting. Thev do not necessarily
apply to all cases. It should be understood also that during political
rioting of this kind, other action by opportunists can occur. For ex-
ample, much of the looting is a iionpolitical accompaniment to the
riots. Also, guerrilla units — one person or small groups — may take
advantage oi the riot by sniping and by other speci^ized acts of theft,
destruction, and terror.
Mr. McNamara. Mr. Lerner, you have studied much of the avail-
able open literature on the subject of political rioting. You have given
it much thought; you have applied your knowledge of the social
sciences to the matter. Based on these things, do you find evidence
of subversion in political rioting ?
Mr. Lerner. Yes. There is no question about it.
It is a matter of routine knowledge among those who have given
some careful attention to this subject. The existence of subversion in
the political rioting of recent years already has been announced and
documented by agencies which are responsible for surveillance over
such matters, including congressional committees and the FBI.
816 SUBVERSIVE INFLUENCES IN RIOTS, LOOTING, AND BURNING
As an example of this I would like to quote from testimony of John
Edgar Hoover, February 16, 1967, before a House Subcommittee on
Appropriations :
Communists and other subversives and extremists strive and labor ceaselessly
to precipitate racial trouble and to take advantage of racial discord in this
country. Such elements w^ere active in exploiting and aggravating the riots, for
example, in Harlem, Watts, Cleveland, and Chicago.
The question therefore is not whether there has been subversion in
the rioting, but rather has the subversion been of such a nature and of
such a degree that warrant new legislation, new enforcement measures,
or reexamination of judicial interpretations?
But even if we were to cast aside the official information such as
that which I have just quoted and if we were to deal only with the
information which is available in public news media and in the li-
braries, there would be no question about the existence of subversion
in recent urban rioting because the acts of many of the rioters — indi-
vidually and collectively — are themselves subversive.
All the rioting is criminal; some of it is conducive to subversion;
and some of it constitutes what we have called domestic subversion.
The question is, What has been the role of subversion in the rioting ?
Now these acts may range from comparatively minor civil and uncivil
disturbances which may be regarded as borderline cases between petty
criminality and subversion — even though there is some controversy
over their legitimacy — to the occasional open acknowledgement by
participants that their intention is to bum down the entire Nation, to
destroy the "white power structure," to set up a separate black nation
by force, and so on.
Mr. McNamara. In addition to the items you have mentioned, what
further evidence do you find of subversion in political rioting ?
Mr. Lerner. Leaders frequently and openly proclaim their inten-
tions to foment a riot and to destroy the existing power structure or
form of government, and they take credit for having instigated rioting
and violence.
The kinds of statements that I am referring to may be illustrated
by the following: The first quotation that I have here is from the
New York Times of July 26, 1967 :
Stokely Carmichael was quoted by the Cuban news agency Prensa Latina
today as saying that American Negroes were organizing urban guerrillas for "a
fight to the death."
According to the agency's account —
And this is quoting Carmichael : ''
"In Newark we applied war tactics of the guerrillas," he said. "We are pre-
paring groups of urban guerrillas for our defense in the cities. The price of
these rebellions is a high price that one must pay. This fight is not going to be
a simple street meeting. It is going to be a fight to the death."
He said he decided to come to Cuba because of the message of Che
Guevara last April which "called on Ljitin-American revolutionaries
to create two, three or more Vietnams." He said the leader was an
"inspiration to American Negroes," and so on.
There are dozens of such quotations here.
Another example is from a recent speech by H. Rap Brown here in
Washington, D.C. :
SUBVERSIVE INFLUENCES IN RIOTS, LOOTING, AND BURNING 817
We stand on the eve of a black revolution, brothers. Masses of our i)eople
are in the streets. They are fighting tit for tat, tooth for tooth, a eye for an
eye, and a life for a life. The rebellions that we see are merely dress rehearsals
for the revolution that's to come. We better get ourselves some guns and pre-
pare ourselves. I want to tell you why. I want to tell you why you have to be
armed to win against this animal — and a hunky ain't nothin' but a animal.
Plainfield, New Jersey, was the most successful, most successful rebellion rather,
that had been held in America. * * ♦ Evil is evil ! Lyndon Johnson is evil. The
only reason Goldwater lost the election was that he told the truth. He told niggers
he hated them, Johnson fooled you, you runnin' around here thinkin' that a
two-gun outlaw, a cracker from Texas was gonna love black people. Johnson
is the most violent man going. He is killing black people in Vietnam and he's
killing them in Detroit.
The point here is that this kind of talk can whip up crowd feeling,
as it presumably did in Cambridge. This is one form of subversion.
It also, incidentally, could be judged as criminal libel.
Mr. McNamara. In addition to these open proclamations, what other
evidence have you found of subversiveness m political rioting?
Mr. Lerner. There are definite patterns which are repeated over
and over again in subversively manipulated riots and in their devel-
opment, for example :
The style and timing of many police brutality allegations have
been identified by specialists on the riots as characteristic of certain
subversive groups ; the poster entitled "Wanted for Murder" with the
name and the picture of a policeman who has been made a temporary
symbol of police brutality was used both in Harlem by the Harlem
Defense Council, a subsidiary of the Progressive Labor Movement,
during the 1964 riots and in Los Angeles ; tne stoning of firemen after
fires have been set ; the organized chanting of slogans ; the references
to genocide ; the distribution of inflammatory handbills by known sub-
versive groups giving instructions on how to make Molotov cock-
tails and on how to disrupt and to kill white persons; the actual be-
havior of rioters in a manner consistent with these instructions ; and
the use of youth and student groups as auxiliaries in ways which a
number of subversive groups have done over the years.
The frequent, systematic repetition of such standardized events,
styles, and sequences in widely dispersed areas could not be accidental.
For such events 'to have occurred just once would have required plan-
ning, organizing, training, and preparing.
Mr. McNamara. Is there any other evidence?
Mr. Lerner. Yes. In some cases even long-range hopes and plans
are stated orally or in writing.
One of these statements which may be cited — this is quoted from
The Crusader, monthly newsletter published by Robert F. Williams,
February 1964 — describes a Negro revolution of the United States.
Williams, the exiled leader of the Revolutionary Action Movement, is
reported to have met Mao Tse-tung, Chou En-lai, and Lin Piao and
to have worked with guerrilla warfare specialists in Peking and Ha-
vana. Here is the excerpt :
When massive violence comes, the USA will become a bedlam of confusion and
chaos. The factory workers will he afraid to venture out on the streets to report
to their jobs. The telephone workers and radio workers will be afraid to report
All transportation will grind to a complete standstill. Stores will be destroyed
and looted. Property will be damaged and expensive buildings will be reduced to
ashes. Essential pipe lines will be severed and blown up and all manner of sabo-
tage will occur. Violence and terror will spread like a firestorm. A clash will occur
818 SUBVERSIVE INFLUENCES IN RIOTS, LOOTING, AND BURNING
inside the armed forces. At U.S. military bases around the world local revolu-
tionaries will side with Afro G.I.'s. Because of the vast area covered by the holo-
caust, U.S. forces will be spread too thin for effective action. U.S. workers, who
are caught on their jobs, will try to return home to protect their families. Trucks
and trains will not move the necessary supplies to the big urban centers. The
economy will fall into a state of chaos.
This racist imi)erialist oppressor will not be brought to his knees, simply be-
cause of the fighting ability and military power of Black Freedom Fighters and
their allies inside the U.S., but because of the creation of economic, chaotic con-
ditions, total disorganization, frustration of his essential and ultra vital organs
of production, and adverse conditions created by the world wide liberation
Struggle. Such a formidable enemy will fall prey to the new concept of revolu-
tion because of his ultra modem and automated society and the lack of psycho-
logical conditioning of his forces. Our people have already been conditioned by
almost 400 years of violence, terror and hunger.
The new concept of revolution defies military science and tactics. The new
concept is lightning campaigns conducted in highly sensitive urban communities
with the paralysis reaching the small communities and spreading to the farm
areas. The old method of guerrilla warfare, as carried out from the hills and
countryside, would be ineffective in a powerful country like the USA. Any such
force would be wiped out in an hour. The new concept is to huddle as close to
the enemy as possible so as to neutralize his modem and fierce weapons. The
new concept creates conditions that involve the total community, whether they
want to be involved or not. It sustains a state of confusion and destruction of
property. It dislocates the organs of harmony and order and reduces central
power to the level of a helpless, sprawling, octopus. During the hours of day
sporadic rioting takes place and massive sniping. Night brings all out warfare,
organized fighting and unlimited terror against the oppressor and his forces.
Such a campaign will bring about an end to oppression and social injustice in the
USA in less than 90 days and create the basis" for the implementation of the U.S.
(Constitution with justice and equality for all people.
Mr. McNamara. In addition to the statement of such plans, are there
other elements which also provide evidence of subversion ?
Mr. Lerner. Yes. There are usually standardized and grossly unfair
attacks on forces or agencies of authority and law and order — police,
city administration, security and defense agencies, et cetera.
The agency attacked will depend on the location of the riot (ghetto
area, university campus, et cetera) ; the nature of the rioters and
audience (students, general population, Negroes, et cetera) ; and the
immediate objective of the riot (violence to undermine local authority,
to discredit National Government policy, domestic or foreign), et
cetera. The Secretary of State or of Defense would not be a useful
target in a ghetto, but they would be on a campus. On the other hand,
the police are a natural titrget in slums, regardless of the racial com-
position of the area. And it is a normal tactic of Communists and other
subversives and insurgents to attack the police. As observed by
J. Edgar Hoover: '
The riots and disorders of the past 3 years clearly highlight the success of this
Communist smear campaign in ix)pularizing the cry of "police brutality" to the
point where it has been accepted by many individuals having no affiliation with
or sympathy for the Communist movement.
We should bear in mind also that evidence of subversive involve-
ment— both domestic and foreign — has been presented in detail by
many specialists, including undercover agents and former partici-
pants. The most recent example that I know of is a small book by
Phillip A. Luce called Road to Revolution. Moreover, there have been
a number of reports in the press — although it is difficult to establish
their validity — that rightwing groups may have had a hand in some
of the rioting such as that which occurred in Los Angeles and Detroit.
SUBVERSIVE INFLUENCES IN RIOTS, LOOTING, AND BURNING 819
If this were true and if the groups involved had subversive objectives,
this would constitute another form of domestic subversion in the recent
rioting.
But I believe we should be less concerned with the validity of reports
of this kind or with the actual causal relationships between subversive
activity and rioting and more concerned with the potentially destruc-
tive aspects of subversive presence in rioting areas.
Mr. McNamara. In discussing patterns which appear in political
riots and which are evidence of subversive influence, Mr. Lerner, you
mentioned the involvement of young people. It is true, is it not — and
generally accepted — that youths are more easily aroused emotionally
and stimulated to violent action, than are older persons?
Mr. Lerner. Yes. Young people are more volatile and more emo-
tional than older persons ; and this is true for both positive and nega-
tive emotions. And insecure youngsters are more apt to act impulsively
than comparatively secure youngsters. Resentful and unhappy young
people can be stimulated to violent action with relative ease.
Mr. McNamara. Would you also say, Mr. Lerner, that the type of
youth who would be a member of a teenage gang would be less capable
of making an objective analysis of some alleged injustice than would
the average youth ?
Mr. Lerner. Assuming that you refer to a member of a delinquent
gang, I would say that a boy of that kind would be both less able and
less willing to make an objective analysis of an alleged injustice than
other, better adjusted youths.
The gang member, because of his life experience, already has a
strong disposition toward assuming injustices for two major reasons:
He does not need proof of the existence of widespread injustice. His
own life experience constitutes an enormous, unpardonable injustice to
him. Therefore, his emotional structure and his beliefs are highly re-
ceptive and congenial to any suggestion of injustice. He has firsthand
evidence of injustice, and he is accustomed to episodes of anger and
aggression.
The second reason for the gang member's disposition to accept allega-
tions of injustices with less objectivity than other persons is that, on
the average, boys in delinquent gangs are less informed about public
affairs outside of their own immediate experiences and less inclined
toward careful weighing of facts than other boys of comparable age.
Mr. McNamara. Is it also true, Mr. Lerner, that youths generally
are much more open or susceptible to suggestion than are adults and
have a stronger inclination toward physical outlooks or solutions to
their problems than do adults ?
Mr. Lerner. Yes. Youths are more suggestible and impressionable
than adults. And even well-adjusted, privileged, and intelligent youths
are generally not well informed about public affairs.
Youths are more readily disposed to physical responses to frustra-
tion and they tend to be more idealistic, more highly sympathetic to
the imderdog, and more highly displeased over apparent deficiencies
in the social structure than adults.
All of these characteristics make youths a good target for propa-
ganda by those who may wish to represent themselves as sincere, legiti-
mate reformers or idealistic revolutionaries.
820 SUBVERSIVE INFLUENCES IN RIOTS, LOOTING, AND BXJRNING
These qualities also make young people good recruits for auxiliary
roles in demonstrations and riots. A high proportion of the partici-
pants in recent urban riots have been youngsters; and many of these
persons have been organized and trained to make Molotov cocktails
and to perform other operations during riots.
Mr. McNamara. Based on your studies, Mr. Lerner, would you have
any recommendations for dealing with riot situations ?
Mr. Lerner. Yes. I would divide them into emergency steps and
long-term programs; and since these hearings, as well as the jurisdic-
tion of this committee, are limited to inquiry into subversive activity,
I would emphasize meaures here for dealing with that problem.
Mr. McNamara. What immediate or emergency actions would you
recommend ?
Mr. Lerner. Emergency steps are those which should be taken im-
mediately at the threat or outbreak of a riot. These include isolation of
agitators and roundup of militant leaders. Ideally, known organizers
and a^tators, as well as their associates, should be insulated from riot
situations.
Also emergency regulations should permit police to forbid public
assembly temporarily during tense periods. Public accounts of riots
have shown frequently that outbreaks of violence occurred only after
rumors and inflammatory accusations against police have been made
during crowd crises.
At least twice during the New York riots, for example, outbreaks
occurred after protest assemblies and demonstrations had raised crowd
tensions to apparently unbearable levels.
There must be a strong showing of competence and force whenever
a crowd crisis seems to be emerging. The community also must be in-
formed that police force will be used immediately during any at-
tempted violence, and the police must execute their riot-control plans
promptly, intelligently, and firmly.
The j>olice must also make provisions for maintenance of control
of force and control of communications. That is, special emergency
provisions must be made for protection of stores which sell firearms,
newspaper plants, television and radio stations, and arsenals.
Steps of this kind may appear unnecessarily rigorous and repres-
sive, but they are recognized as essential by persons who have observed
or analyzed organized political rioting in various countries, including
the United States.
Mr. McNamara. In answering that last question, Mr. Lerner,- you
made reference to rumors and the almost universal use of them in the
course of recent riots in this country. I believe that Gordon W. Allport
is recognized as one of the outstanding authorities in the sociological
field on the subject of group or collective behavior; is that correct?
Mr. Lerner. Yes. He is a distinguished social psychologist who has
done fine work on rumor, prejudice, and related problems.
Mr.McNAMARA. I have a quotation from a statement he made in
1947. I am wondering if you would agree with it : "We may state as
dependable law that no riot or lynching ever occurs without the aid
of rumor."
Would you agree with that statement?
Mr. Lerner. I would have to think about it a little bit. Perhaps he
was overstressing rumor or preoccupied with it, because the statement
SUBVERSIVE INFLUENCES IN RIOTS, LOOTING, AND BURNING 821
appears to exclude exceptions. The phrase, "no riot or lynching ever,"
sounds absolute and final.
In one sense the statement probably can be defended on psychologi-
cal grounds because, no matter what the facts are, a person tends to
sharpen and distort them in order to give himself justification for
violent behavior which is normally proscribed by conscience and by
law.
In that sense, I would say probably he was correct ; but I would pre-
fer to state the law something like this : "Riots or lynchings ^nerally
occur with the aid of rumor." This is related to the "riot-incitmg idea"
which was mentioned as one of the events in a political riot sequence
in our discussion today. In any case, there is ample evidence that
rumors — especially concerning supposed misbehavior of police during
arrests, questioning, or crowd control — ^have played a substantial part
in igniting our recent riots.
Mr. Tuck. Let us take a 5-minute recess.
(Brief recess.)
Mr. Tuck. The committee will come to order.
Proceed, Mr. McNamara.
Mr. McNamara. Based on your studies, Mr. Lemer, what long-term
recommendations would you make for dealing with riot situations and
potentials?
Mr. Lerner. Among the long-term recommendations — and all of
these must be regarded as tentative and as being offered by one citizen
involved in a personal study of these matters and still in the study
stage — are the following :
This committee, I believe, should examine the feasibility of legisla-
tion or other action which would accomplish or encourage these items :
(1) Make ethnic "hate" activities a Federal offense; outlaw incite-
ment propaganda directed against ethnic groups — racial, religious, or
national.
Legislation of this kind could be eq^uivalent to section 6 of the Race
Relations Act of 1965 in Great Britam which reads as follows :
Incitement to racial hatred. (1) A person shall be guilty of an offense under
this section if, with intent to stir up hatred against any section of the public in
Great Britain distinguished by colour, race, or ethnic or national origins —
(a) he publishes or distributes written matter which is threatening,
abusive or insulting ; or
( b ) he uses in any public place or at any public meeting words which are
threatening, abusive or insulting,
being matters or words likely to stir up hatred against that section on grounds
of colour, race, or ethnic or national origins.
(2) Impose limited weapons control on those who have been engaged
in subversive, as well as other criminal activity. The movement to-
ward increased regulation in the distribution of arms is gaining sub-
stantial support. There is at least as much basis for limited access to
arms by subversives as by other criminals.
(3) Formulate a set of civil duties which corresponds to civil rights.
In every society rights imply duties, and the implied contract between
the citizen and his government assumes both rights and duties.
Those duties which Americans expect of themselves in exchange for
their rights should be made explicit and should be incorporated in our
Constitution.
822 SUBVERSIVE INFLUENCES IN RIOTS, LOOTING, AND BURNING
The terms of our vague, quasi-contract between government and citi-
zen should be made somewhat more precise than they are now. One of
the natural duties which should be made explicit is to uphold the legal
system and to refrain from weakening it. Failures to discharge duties
should be associated with suitable reduction of rights.
(4) Renew consideration of the desirability of selectively and tem-
porarily reducing rights to speech and assembly of subversives. In 1947,
the U.S. President's Committee on Civil Rights strongly opposed "spe-
cial" limitations on the rights of Communists and Fascists to speak
and assemble. This is a quotation from the report of that committee :
Our national past offers us two great touchstones to resolve the dilemma of
maintaining the right to free expression and yet protecting our democracy against
its enemies. One was offered by Jefferson in his first inaugural address : "If there
be any among us who wish to dissolve the Union, or to change its republican form,
let them stand undisturbed as monuments of the safety with which error of opin-
ion may be tolerated where reason is left free to combat it." The second is the
doctrine of "clear and present danger." This was laid down as a working prin-
ciple by the Supreme Court in 1919 in Schenck v. United States in an opinion
written by Justice Holmes. It says that no limitation of freedom of expression
shall be made unless "the words are used in such circumstances and are of such
a nature as to create a clear and present danger that they will bring about the
substantive evils that Congress has a right to prevent." The next year in a dis-
senting opinion in Schacfer v. United States Justice Brandeis added this in-
valuable word of advice about the application of the doctrine : "Like many other
rules for human conduct, it can be applied correctly only by the exercise of good
judgment, and in the exercise of good judgment, calmness is, in time of deep feel-
ing and on subjects which excite passion, as essential as fearlessness and honesty."
The situation today is materially different from that of 1947. Today,
I believe that reasonable, honest, and prudent men — who examine the
evidence and who exercise good judgment and calmness — will conclude
that the danger we face is sufficiently clear and present to warrant our
imposing a selective, temporary reduction of the rights to speak and
assemble. I feel that this point of view should be put to the test of a
national referendum during the 1968 election.
(5) Encourage Negro and white leaders who are committed to the
solution of Negro and other poverty problems — rather than to un-
yielding opposition to authority — to devise specific, workable programs
for bringing the quality of Negro life in this country to an acceptable
level, when compared with that of Caucasians. And in doing so empha-
size that the programs should be for all economically disadvantaged
Americans and that they should be based on standards which can be
applied uniformly, without racial preference.
Among the items which should be considered in programs of this sort
are establishing of occupational training and opportunities outside of
congested urban areas. Productive and continuous employment would
give the poor and the young a big enough stake in our society to make
them securely resistant to malicious and divi.sive propaganda and
slogans. Dispersion of those in congested areas would diminish oppor-
tunities of subversives to organize mob action by chronic dissidents.
(6) Provide a program for rehabilitation of subversives and insur-
gents along with the restrictions on them. This program should in-
volve gradual restoration of rights as progress is made in rehabilita-
tion, and it should include occupational training for riot participants.
(7) Consider the advisability of broadening the mandate of this
committee — or of broadening the interpretation of the current man-
SUBVERSIVE ESTFLUENCES IN RIOTS, LOOTING, AND BURNING 823
date — to encompass increased constructive action toward dealing with
the conditions which create subversives in this country and toward re-
habilitation of subversives.
This committee, I believe, should be concerned with the general ques-
tion of national cohesion, unity, and understanding because successful
control of subversion requires both positive as well as repressive
measures.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Mr. Tuck. Mr. Lerner, we commend you for your very exhaustive
and scholarly study and dissertation on this subject. Thank you for
coming before our committee and cooperating with us in this respect.
1 am sure your statement and views in regard to these matters, to-
gether with your recommendations, will be given careful consideration
by the members of the committee in formulating plans as to what
can be done under these conditions.
I have taken from the statement that you have made some little
time back in your testimony that you agree with a great many of us
that civil disobedience is reallv subversive.
Is that right?
Mr. Lerner. Civil disobedience is by definition criminal or delin-
quent when it violates law. It is subversive if the objective is to weaken
or overturn the institutions or the Government of the country.
Mr. Tuck. I recognize you can make a distinction between violating
a law just for the purpose of testing the constitutionality of an act,
but one who goes out and continues to engage in acts of civil disobedi-
ence in violation of the law of the State, locality, or the Federal Gov-
ernment, that is subversive under your definition ; is it not ?
Mr. Lerner. Continual violations of law, whether we call that sub-
versive or not I think is partly a matter of taste as to what kind of
word we want to use.
Mr. Tuck. You seem to find some more euphemistic term. After all
it really amounts to subversion, does it not?
Mr. Lerner. I am not inclined to look for a more euphemistic term.
On the contrary, I have referred to it as criminality and delinquency
and I think that is bad enough.
Mr. Tuck. I think so, too.
I don't see much difference between criminality and subversiveness
except that subversiveness implies overthrowing the form of our Gov-,
ernment, whereas criminality carries with it only the connota.tion of
the violation of the laws for the convenience of the individual.
How would you describe the conduct of a person or a group who
congregate in front of a person's place of business or congregate on a
principal street of a city in such a fashion as to impede and hamper
and harass the public in transacting their business in the ordinary
course of trade or in pursuing their chosen avocation ?
Mr. Lerner. Presumably that kind of activity is opposed to the
local ordinances. If it is, then it is what I call criminal and/or
delinquent.
Mr. Tuck. What would you caII a program such as is being espoused
now by certain individuals, of bringing a group of people here to the
Capital of the United States, the seat of the Government of the LTnited
States, to engage in some sort of activity described by those individuals
as disruption, supposedly meaning the distruption of the activities of
32-955 O — 69 — pt. 1 8
824 SUBVERSIVE INFLUENCES IN RIOTS, LOOTING, AND BURNING
the civilians of the city and also disruption of the activities of the
Government of the United States ?
Mr. Lerner. Again a question is, would the program be in violation
of the law. If yes, it would be criminal and delinquent.
If no, that raises still another question, and that is, what is the
motive. If the motive, for example, is to overthrow the Government
or to weaken the structure of the Government to the point where it
can be overthrown, then you can begin to speak in terms of an incip-
ient subversiveness. One key to a solution of this definition and clas-
sification problem is whether or not w^hat is being done is consistent
with, or opposed to, local ordinances. Another key is motive. Still
another is effect.
Mr. Tuck. Intent is generally one of the principles of law. I am
just a country lawyer, but the act generally carries with it intent.
If the effect of what this organization proposes to do is to disrupt
the Government of the United States in time of war — and we are cer-
tainly in a limited war, in a national emergency — then it seems to me
that that would border on the traitorous.
Mr. Lerner. In sentiment I agree with you, if an intent of that
organization is to interfere with the conduct of the war to our dis-
advantage.
I feel that any such activity, if the purpose is to disrupt the Govern-
ment during time of war and to compromise the national interest in
relation to an adversary, borders on something that is traitorous or
subversive.
I would say my attitude is consistent with yours, Mr. Chairman, as to
how we should feel about these things; and I would examine intent,
action, and effect in such cases before passing judgment.
Mr. Tuck. Thank you, sir. I am glad we agree.
I also notice a statement you made in regard to an emergency au-
thority. You understand the function of this committee is not passing
of any social or economic legislation.
We are interested, of course, in the solution of the social and eco-
nomic problems that disturb the people of this country at this time.
Nevertheless, it is the function of this committee, certainly to a large
extent, to deal with subversive activities and activities destined to
thwart the Government in its functions.
I notice you mention emergency authority. I take it from what you
said that you believe in the use of whatever force necessary by the
police to suppress this lawlessness and to require these people to
adhere strictly to the law ?
Mr. Lerner. I would say very definitely yes, although I W(Ould say
this reluctantly. Whatever force necessary should be used quickly,
firmly, and intelligently. But better yet, circumstances which make
force necessary should be prevented by other methods if possible.
Mr. Tuck. I do not believe in using more force than is necessary. I
do not believe in police beating up some individual after he has
already subdued him. But you do agree with me that it would be
helpful in these instances if the police would use whatever force is
necessary to subdue a person who is enaged in an unlawful activity ?
Mr. Lerner. Yes, sir. That is a function of the police.
Mr. Tuck. The gentleman from Missouri.
Mr. IciioRD. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
SUBVERSIVE INFLUENCES EST RIOTS, LOOTING, AND BURNING 825
Mr. Lemer, Mr. McNamara asked you the question, how do you
explain the riots from a psychological viewpoint. Part of your reply
was that, in the eyes of the participants, the authorities have been
guilty, the participants have been the victims, and the damage sym-
bolizes the punishment of the authorities.
I wonder if that is very descriptive of a great many of the riots
the Nation experienced this summer in that a great part, if not a
majority, of the damage was inflicted upon Negro property itself ?
Mr. Lerner. I think that is an interesting question.
I would like to comment, before we get to the Negro aspect of it, on
whether there are other features of the summer riots which indicate
that for certain kinds of participants the damage did not symbolize
punishment of the guilty. To the extent that subversives were in-
volved, for example, you might question whether they felt that we were
punishing anybody who was really guilty.
But even an outright cynic or a psychopath, lacking in conscience,
would need some kind of justifying cause or excuse — valid or invalid —
to motivate large numbers of persons to engage in rioting. It might
seem that some people do not need an excuse, but only an opportunity.
Yet, except in rare cases, we would find that they do have an excuse —
often an irrational, irrelevant, and highly personal one, but neverthe-
less one which would cause tension. My point is that the mass of the
rioters would need some justification for themselves to behave that
way. And the damage — destruction, theft, loss of life, loss of dignity,
and so on — signifies a redress of real or imagined injustice, however
vaguely the injustice may be understood ; and therefore inflicting that
damage helps to discharge tension.
As for the damage inflicted on Negroes or on Negroes' property, we
should understand that middle-class and wealthy Negroes are a symbol
of authority and an object of aggression to lower-class Negroes just
as whites are. -^
An illustration of the negative feelings which poor Negroes some-
times have toward middle-class and wealthy Negroes occurred during
the rioting in Detroit this summer, when it was reported that a rioter
threatened a well-dressed Negro standing nearby : "We will get you
rich niggers next."
This example demonstrates that a person who has been compara-
tively deprived, a person who believes himself to be socially or eco-
nomically disadvantaged relative to others, can feel deeply hostile
toward them. Because they seem to be favored beneficiaries, they
symbolize to him the social order that has been evil or guilty as far
as he is concerned.
The fact that they possess more than he constitutes evidence of this
guilt in his thinking. You might say this does not really make sense.
But psychologically and emotionally it does make sense. We resent
people who have more than we have irrespective of what group they
belong to. We tend to think of them as being guilty because they have
more. Poor whites sometimes feel this way about middle-class and rich
whites. Among Negroes the negative feelings may be compounded and
intensified by racial overtones, as expressed by terms like "Whitey"
and "Uncle Tom."
826 SUBVERSIVE INFLUENCES IN RIOTS, LOOTING, AND BURNING
Mr. IcHORD. To them then a great many of the authorities are the
Negroes themselves in position of authority, Negro policemen, for
example ?
Mr. Lerner. I did not understand the question.
Mr. loHORD. To them the authorities are the Negroes themselves ?
Mr. Lerner. Partly speaking.
Mr. IcHORD. For example, a Negro policeman ?
Mr. IjErner. Yes. The object of their aggression and the symbol of
their authority partly is the advantaged Negro community, including
Negro policemen.
Mr. IcHORD. I have heard many speakers say and have read many
times that the Negro riots are the result of a himdred years of depriva-
tion and discrimination. You indicated that you partially subscribe
to that theory when I believe you said at one time to a great extent we
are victims of the past.
Don't you think this is somewhat oversimplifying the matter ; that
is, in terms of relativity, the Negro today, even in the urban ghetto,
is much better off politically, economically, and socially than he was
25 or 50 years ago or for that matter at any time in the history of the
United States?
Mr. Lerner. It is true that it would be an oversimplification to state
that the riots are just the result of generations of disadvantage or
to state that we are victims of the past and nothing more. Apparently
there is some misunderstanding because I said that w^e were not respon-
sible for the acts of previous generations.
I do not feel that it is valid or constructive to say that the problem
we face today is simply a result of what has happened over the last
hundred years, or 350 years. The problem is what is happening now^ in
this generation. Certainly Negroes are much better off today than
they were a hundred years ago. They are much better off today than
Negroes and whites in other countries, or some whites in this country,
for that matter.
I am reminded of a statement attributed to Dick Gregory by Life
magazine recently :
At a national conference of Black Power leaders held in Newark after the
riots there, Dick Gregory * * ♦ summed up in one word the direction of the
1967 riots. If asked what they wanted, Negroes, he recommended, should reply,
"Nothing." Gregory explained : "How in the hell are you going to make a list
of 400 years of them misusing you?"
But it would be unrealistic and almost meaningless to think of com-
pensation for the deprivations of past generations. Other groups be-
sides Negroes also could make lists of past deprivations and grievances.
What would we do about the white Anglo-Saxon Protestants in the
Appalachia and other descendants of the early settlers whose stand-
ards of living are lower than that of urban Negroes? What would we
do about the families who lost 780,000 in the war wliich freed the
Negroes? What would we do about southerners who were economic
and social victims of that war and its aftermath and who sometimes
even today are regarded as social inferiors by some persons in the
North? A complete social and liistorical accounting would include
a fantastic inventory. This sort of thinking would lead to impossibly
complex, impractical, and meaningless tradeoffs. We can try to ar-
SUBVERSIVE INFLUENCES IN RIOTS, LOOTING, AND BURNING 827
rive at equitable settlements only within the framework of living
generations.
The point I was making earlier was that Negroes compare them-
selves with those who are immediately contiguous with them. People
in Watts do not compare themselves with those in Harlem or in Cuba,
but with those in Bel Air or some other community nearby.
This comparison results in a sense of deprivation that brings about
feelings of resentment and aggression.
When I said that we are all victims of the past I meant that the
entire community — all of us, white, blacks, everyone — are victims of
our history. None of us has created the circumstances, the prejudices,
the attitudes, and the values which constrain us, although we can in-
fluence them.
Therefore, none of us can be held wholly responsible for the situa-
tion. No one is really guilty. All of us are products of our heritage.
I would say that the best that each generation can be expected to do
is to make a determined ejffort to provide dignified social treatment
and sufficient oppKjrtunities for satisfactory education, employment,
and quality of life for everyone and to base compensation for work on
uniformly applied standards of performance rather than group mem-
bership, except where physically and mentally handicapped persons
are concerned. And I do not know of any scientific evidence that
Negroes are a physically or mentally handicapped race.
Mr. IcHORD. I am very much interested in 5^our long-term recom-
mendations and particularly in regard to making "hate activities" a
Federal offense. Of course, you realize that in this field we do encounter
serious constitutional difficulties. That is, under our system of govern-
ment the responsibility for enforcing most of our criminal laws has
rested with local units of government, and to a great extent I think this
has been the genius of the Federal system, the idea, the principle that
government works better the closer it is to the people.
It is true that rioting has been widespread. It is a serious national
problem. But aren't we going to be to a great extent modifying our
system of government if we enact detailed Federal laws making this
type of activity a criminal offense?
Mr. Lerner. Sir, it is my opinion that the answer is "no." As foi
legal tradition, our legal and political tradition is an outgrowth of that
of Great Britain, which has been noted for its liberality and its concern
for individual rights.
If it can be done there and it is consistent- with their tradition, it
seems to me it would not be inconsistent with ours. You have intro-
duced another point, that is, the question of whether legislation of
this kind should be Federal or State in scope.
I believe that the hate-incitement propaganda such as that which we
have discussed is serious enough, very clearly serious enough since it
is a national problem, to make this a Federal offense.
We consider something like counterfeiting a Federal offense. Print-
ing, possession, or distribution of counterfeit money or possession of
plates is each subject to Federal penalties of 15 years' imprisonment.
If instead someone prints, speaks, or otherwise manufactures and dis-
tributes hate propaganda, this kind of currency — counterfeit ideas de-
signed to divide and destroy — is much more seriously threatening and
828 SUBVERSIVE INFLUENCES IN RIOTS, LOOTING, AND BURNING
damaging to our national cohesion, unity, and health than counterfeit
money is.
Accordingly, if our system of legal control and remedies is to be
rational, effective, and equitable, we should have Federal cognizance
and regulation in the field of hate propaganda ; and we should impose
penalties which are at least as great here as for counterfeiting.
Mr. IcHORD. Don't you think that we have overlooked the respon-
sibility of local units of government which have the prime responsi-
bility; the enforcement of law, the keeping of law and order, is the
responsibility of police, your district attorneys, your city councils,
your State and other local units of government.
I know in my home State there were considerable rumors this sum-
mer of a riot going to occur in the city of St. Louis. As a matter of
fact, I had one civil rights leader call me, quite concerned about being
approached by one of Carmichael's cohorts who tried to persuade him
that he could achieve fame by becoming another Carmichael.
There were considerable rumors of riots going to occur in St. Louis.
But the Governor of the State stepped in and made it very clear by
a very w^ell-publicized announcement that he would meet force witifi
force and that disobedience of the laws would not be tolerated in the
State of Missouri.
The riot situation or the propensity to riot disappeared overnight.
I am wondering if we have not been directing too much attention to
the responsibility of the Federal Government in this field, and not to
the responsibilities of the local units of government.
Mr. Lerner. From a broad perspective, sir, I believe I am not really
qualified to answer that question so well as you are since I believe you
have been observing both State and Federal action against crime and
subversion more closely than I.
I can only speak in terms of personal preference. Since that prefer-
ence is not a strong one and since I do not believe it is an issue here as
I understand it, I would simply say I feel it should be a Federal of-
fense and that I do not feel that we are overemphasizing the role of
the Federal Government.
But this is a personal opinion.
I am much more concerned with the substance of the recommenda-
tion apart from its implementation on a Federal versus a local level.
Although I am here to respond to your questions, sir, I am curious and,
if I may, I would like to ask why this is an issue ?
Mr. IcnoRD. Of course, it is a matter of personal feeling.
By philosophy I have long been concerned about the movement of
power from our local units of government to the Federal Government.
This is the reason for my thinking alon^ this line.
I am not naive enough to think that m our 50 States at all times you
are going to have fair and just enforcement of the law. But I am
optimistic enough to think that at least a majority of the time in the
50 States, in the majority of the 50 States, you are going to have fair
and just enforcement of the laws.
When we move all responsibilities to the Federal Government there
may be a time when we might have a Federal Government which is
not a fair and just government and then we are really in trouble.
That simply is the — perhaps I am oversimplifying it — reason for
SUBVERSIVE INFLUENCES IN RIOTS, LOOTING, AND BURNING 829
my concern about the Federal Government assuming broad responsi-
bilities in the field of keeping peace and order.
Mr. Lerner. Sir, I understand and appreciate your explanation.
My comment, therefore, is that if we get to the point where our
differences or discussions concern whether this kind of law should be a
Federal law or State law, we would have made great progress.
First we would have to reach agreement on the question of whether
we are going to have any law like that.
Mr. IcHORD. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Mr. McNamara. Mr. Chairman, I have one more question.
Mr. Tuck. We have a roll call. We can't remain here very long.
Mr. McNamara. Mr. Lemer, when Mr. Younger was testifying
yesterday and outlining the steps he would take if he wanted to start
a riot, he said that he would not go to a city where no progress had
been made but, on the contrary, he would select one where there had
been definite improvement of the lot of the Negro. He did mention the
fact that this might sound surprising to many people.
I have here a quotation from a study of the Los Angeles Watts riot
made by some professors of the University of California Depart-
ment of Sociology and based on what they found it would seem that
they would agree with Mr. Younger. This is a quotation from their
report:
Our data contradict the common notion that those persons who are the most
deprived will sense the greatest frustrations and express the highest levels of
discontent. Instead, they support the other common contention that those most
aggrieved are those who have begun to overcome traditional barriers but who are
impatient with the yet-existing constraints placed upon them. This point of view
is well expressed by Pettee :
[They quote George S. Pettee, The Process of Revolution.]
"The consciousness of repression leads to discontent only when it is felt unnec-
essary. This is the reason why a rising class, which is actually becoming con-
stantly better off objectively, generally rebels most readily, and why the most
severe repression has so often failed to cause a revolution."
Would you care to comment on that finding as it is related to the
view of Mr. Younger?
Mr. Lbrner. That point of view has been expressed very widely by
social scientists in recent months as one, explanation for the fact that,
even though there has been objective improvement in the lot of the
Negro, there has been a tremendous amount of overt, violent
aggression.
I think that there is a great deal of soundness to it. It is consistent,
by the way, with a classic study in sociology which was done in a differ-
ent field but which expresses a similar principle, a study which was
published under the title of "The American Soldier."
This was large-scale studies of soldiers' attitudes on a wide variety
of subjects. It was observed regularly that the adjustment to military
life, feelings about military service, attitudes toward promotion, and
other characteristics seemed to depend to a significant extent on the
comparisons which soldiers made with others. Their standards, expec-
tations, and aspirations seemed to arise from these comparisons.
For example, Air Corps personnel, whose opportunities for promo-
tion were substantially greater than those of men in the ground forces,
nevertheless were more critical of promotion policy than the latter.
830 SUBVERSIVE INFLUENCES IN RIOTS, LOOTING, AND BURNING
Men in the Air Corps, when comparing themselves with others, ap-
parently learned to be more highly sensitive to promotions and more
expectant of them than ground forces personnel.
(Similarly, it may be reasoned, in recent years Negroes have begun
to expect more, have been more likely to compare themselves with
whites, and therefore have experienced greater impatience and resent-
ment than before.)
An idea that has been expressed several times during this session, the
idea that was referred to as relative or comparative deprivation and
which was brought up during the discussion with Mr. Ichord, was de-
veloped and used by analysts in that study to explain many of the
findings.
However, I think one other point ought to be made about this. To
those concerned with constructive remedies, simply referring to com-
parative deprivation does not explain sufficiently the rise in Negro and
other urban violence. And this is not just a question of the impatience of
those who have recently begun to taste a change for the better. Nor is
it simply discontent over what may be felt to be unnecessary repression,
I think other important elements also are involved. I am not com-
pletely clear on what these are, but I think the situation should be
looked at very carefully. For example^ I believe it would be highly
dangerous to ignore the needs of youth m slums — of all races. In terms
of job opportunities their lot is worsening, not improving. It would
be at least equally dangerous to ignore the divisive influences of the
very small groups of professional agitators and revolutionaries, a num^
ber of whom obscure and aggravate the problems with intensification
of race hatred. And it would be disastrous to overlook the potential
insurgency implications and the coordination with groups in other
countries.
We cannot simply dismiss such matters and say that Negroes have
more freedom than before, that they have had a taste of the good life,
and that they want more. Some of that may be true. But we must look
at the situation more carefully than this, both as scientists and as law-
makers.
Mr. Tuck. Mr. Lerner, I might say I share fully the views expressed
by the gentleman from Missouri to the effect that the responsibility
for the enforcement of law and suppression of lawlessness rests entirely
with the locality and the States. The Federal Government has no
business whatsoever in that area.
I am also concerned about another one of the long-range recom-
mendations with respect to this British law. I am afraid that that
might depend on what I like to think of as our freedom of s'peech.
The Virginia Bill of Rights, which has been incorporated into the
Constitution of the United States, says that freedom of the press is one
of the bulwarks of liberty and therefore all men have a right to speak
and publish their sentiments on all subjects, being responsible only for
the abuse of that right.
Of course, I think it is possible to draw a law dealing with the in-
citation to riot by someone. Certainly if someone who would be guilty
of preaching hate would be violating some law to preach hate, I am
afraid that might impinge on our constitutional liberties.
Mr. IcHORD. What the chairman is saying — the English under their
parliamentary system of government can pass such laws very easily;
SUBVERSIVE INFLUENCES IN RIOTS, LOOTING, AND BURNING 831
but under the constitutional form of government which we have, where
you run up against the first amendment rights, freedom of speech, it
IS extremely difficult to draw an effective law within the meaning of
the Constitution.
Mr. Tuck. Even if it were desirable it would not be constitutional.
Mr. Lerner. Mr. Chairman, I agree that the question should be
asked in the context of our form of government rather than the par-
liamentary form and suggest that we ask it and at least one other
question that was mentioned during the recommendations, in the form
of a referendum to the Nation. This step certainly would be consistent
with our tradition and practices.
Let the people decide whether the situation today is dangerous
enough, whether the kinds of things we are talking about are in them-
selves intrinsically dangerous enough, to warrant such laws and such
limitations, if you will, of freedom of speech.
We already limit other abuses of speech such as obscenity, libel, and
contempt. In fact, in criminal libel, even the truth is not always a de-
fense. And the Supreme Court at one time upheld an Illinois law
against hate activity in a case involving a white supremacist. There-
fore, it may be feasible to draw up a constitutional and effective statute
on ethnic incitement.
Let us put at least two of the questions which we have raised here
— (a) legislative control of ethnic hate activities and ^b) emergency
curtailment of rights by those engaged in subversion — m the form of
referenda or in the form of an equivalent mechanism for expressing
the will of the electorate.
Mr. Tuck. We thank you very much.
We have a roll call. The committee will stand in recess to meet again
on the call of the chairman.
(Whereupon, at 12:15 p.m., Thursday, October 26, 1967, the sub-
committee recessed, subject to the call of the Chair.)
SUBVERSIVE INFLUENCES IN RIOTS, LOOTING,
AND BURNING
Part 1
TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 28, 1967
United States House of Representatives,
SuBCOMMrrrEE of the
Committee on Un-American Activities,
Washington, D.C.
PUBLIC HEARINGS
The subcommittee of the Committee on Un-American Activities met,
pursuant to recess, at 10 a.m., in Room 311, Cannon House Office Build-
ing, Washington, D.C, Hon. Edwin E. Willis (chairman) presiding.
(Subcommittee members: Representatives Edwin E. Willis, of
Louisiana, chairman; William M. Tuck, of Virginia; Richard H.
Ichord, of Missouri ; John M, Ashbrook, of Ohio ; and Albert W. Wat-
son, of South Carolina ; also John C, Culver, of Iowa, in absence of
Mr. Willis.)
Subcommittee members present : Representatives Willis, Tuck, and
Ichord.
Staff members present : Francis J. McNamara, director ; Chester D.
Smith, general counsel ; Alfred M. Nittle, counsel ; Donald T. Appell,
chief investigator ; and William A. Wheeler, investigator.
The Chairman. The subcommittee will come to order.
Mayor, will you please stand?
Do you solemnly swear the testimony you are about to give will be
the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help you God ?
Mayor Yorty. I do.
The Chairman. Proceed.
TESTIMONY OF HON. SAM YORTY, MAYOR OF
LOS ANGELES, CALIF.^
Mr. McNamara. Will you state your full name, address, and occupa-
tion for the record, please ?
Mayor Yorty. Sam Yorty, Los Angeles, California.
Mr. McNamara. You are the mayor of Los Angeles ?
Mayor Yorty. I am.
1 Mayor Yorty, because of other commitments, was unable to testify during the initial
phase of the committee's hearings in October. However, because he, like Mr. Evelle J.
Younger, Mr. Adrian H. Jones, and Mr. Herman D. Lerner, was asked to testify as an
authority on the subject of subversive Influences In rioting, his testimony is included in
part 1 of the hearings.
833
834 SUBVERSIVE INFLUENCES IN RIOTS, LOOTING, AND BURNING
The Chairman. Let the record show, as everyone here knows, that
Mr. Yorty was for a long time a distinguished Member of the House
from California.
Mayor Yorty. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
The Chairman. I worked hand in glove with him for years and
years. I look back with pleasure to those years.
By the way, Mayor, where is Norris Poulson? He was also a col-
league of ours.
Mayor Yorty. Norris Poulson ?
The Chairman* Yes.
' Mayor Yorty. He is living down at La Jolla. Unfortunately, he had
some kind of injury to his voice, and it never cleared up. So, he has a
very difficult time speaking. Otherwise, he is fine.
The Chairman. All right, Mr. McNamara.
Mr. McNamara. Will you give the committee a brief resume of your
background, please. Mayor?
Mayor Yorty. Yes. By profession, an attorney at law. .
I first served in the California Legislature way back in 1936-1940.
I was an intelligence officer in the Air Force in 1942 to 1945 and
again in the California Legislature in 1949 and a Member of Congress
in 1950 to 1954 and mayor of Los Angeles since 1961.
Mr. McNamara. You referred, Mr. Mayor, to your service in the
California Legislature in the 1930's. Did your duties in the legislature
at that time develop in you any particular interest in the subject of
communism ?
Mayor Yorty. Yes. Those were the days of, I think, one of the most
successful united front periods of the Communist Party, U.S.A. They
had succeeded in infiltrating very heavily into at least one department
of the State government, the Relief Department. It was so bad that
I created the first State committee to investigate Un-American Activ-
ities by my resolution ; of course, the legislature created it but it was my
resolution, in 1939.
I was appointed chairman of the committee, and for 2 years we con-
ducted a rather vigorous investigation which ultimately resulted in
just abolishing the agency. It was so badly infiltrated we could not
clean it out. We abolished it and turned the administration of relief
over to the counties of the State rather than the State. Of course, I
wrote a report in 1940 of our activities which I will be happy to let you
have for the committee.
The Chairman. The report will be received for our files.
(Document marked "Yorty Exhibit No. 1" and retained in com-
mittee files.) ^
Mr. McNamara. The committee in which you played a leading role
in organizing. Mayor Yorty, is still existing ; is that not correct ?
Mayor Yorty. It exists now as a. senate committee, but when I was
chairman it was a committee of the State assembly. After I left the
legislature, it became a State senate committee and it has gone on and
continued its work ; yes.
Mr. McNamara. Ever since those days in the thirties, have you
maintained a more than casual interest in the subject of communism?
Mayor Yorty. Yes. I have maintained an interest in their activities.
They have certainly maintained an interest in mine.
SUBVERSIVE INFLUENCES EST RIOTS, LOOTING, AND BURNING 835
Mr. McNamara. I would like to state for the record, Mr. Chairman,
that the committee, as you know, originally hoped to have Mayor
Yorty testify in the initial phase of our hearings along with Mr.
Adrian H. Jones, Mr. Herman D. Lerner, and Mr. Evelle J. Younger,
who testified as authorities on the subject of rioting in general. Un-
fortunately, Mayor Yorty 'had other commitments at that time and
could not appear. This is 'the first day on which we have had hearings
since then that he was free to testify before the committee.
Mayor Yorty, as mayor of one of the largest cities in the country,
what, in your opinion, are some of the underlying factors which have
caused the riots which we have seen take place'in the last few years?
Mayor Yorty. I would think, Mr. Chairman, that it would be very
hard in a relative order to name all the factors. But, because of the
scope of this committee's hearing, I think that it would not be helpful
to you to dwell at length on the social causes, such as discrimination,
and upon some of the difficulties suffered by the minority people in
the economic field, and so forth.
But I think for this committee I would certainly say that one of the
factors is the constant repetition of subversive propaganda, the agita-
tion, and propaganda conducted bj^ the Communist Party within the
framework of their historic objective to break down the respect for
government, certainly for law and order, and to personalize, as they
always do, this objective mainly in the police officer.
Mr. McNamara. Based on your experience, Mr, Mayor, do you
believe that these riots which have taken place have been spontaneous
or planned ?
Mayor Yorty. I think that there are some of both. I think that there
has been a broad propaganda campaign to create the right atmosphere
for a violent opposition to law and order.
(At this point, Mr. Ashbrook entered the hearing room.)
The Chairman. What you say with reference to your State, Mayor,
that what happened in Watts is what occurred with reference to New
York City— Harlem. An atmosphere certainly was created which was
ripe for riots. By "created," I mean created by subversive elements.
Mayor Yorty. I believe that. I think that the propaganda over the
years has been so constant and at times very effective, at times not quite
so effective, but over the years it has-been effective so that you create
an atmosphere where a riot may break out spontaneously, m appear-
ance, but actually where there has been a great gi'oundwork laid for it.
I also think there are some riots where subversive forces have ac-
tually planned, perhaps only a demonstration as far as the general
participants know, but where subversive elements would plan incidents
that they would hope would spark a riot.
Incidentally, at this point, Mr. Chairman, perhaps you would be
interested in this little folder which we put out in Los Angeles, entitled
"The Big Lie." This is just a short history of the charge of police
brutality, mainly in our community, but also nationally. The charge, of
course, is contained in Communist publications such as The Worker
and, on the West Coast, the People's World.
The first one we have listed here, but certainly not the first one where
the charge has ever been made, is in 1946, called "Police terrorism."
It says, "Negro is brutally beaten while shopping with family." Now,
836 SUBVERSIVE INFLUENCES IN RIOTS, LOOTING, AND BURNING
that is 21 years ago that this was published on the West Coast in the
People's World.
Then I think it is interesting to skip up here to a later one, 1964, in
The Worker. It says, "Police Brutality to Be Detroit Election Issue."
Then again in 1965, in The Worker., "Negro Lad Is Latest Victim
in Detroit of Trigger-Happy Cop."
So, for 21 years, by this little record that we have developed, we have
had this agitation against the police department to inflame the people
against the police.
I think this is part of the background of things that are happening
in the country today. We have enough of these folders for all the
members of the committee and the press, if they are interested.
Mr. McNamara. Mr. Chairman, I would like to request that the
Mayor Yorty report, "The Big Lie," which he has just described, be
accepted for the hearing record as Yorty Exhibit No. 2.
Mr. AsHBROOK. Do you have copies ?
Mayor Yorty. Yes, sir.
(Document marked "Yorty Exhibit No. 2" follows :)
YoRTY Exhibit No. 2
Inn' -^
P-- " Murphy;^
Ges,«-
Charges traded cmzTA coi^
•^^^^'i^y^ probes are launched
and
-;age
*''*'' 'Wore «,r^r^
iTxU
'~-":'t.~-^^--' LA.,
(837)
Oakland cops cry
'^^ Communist plot'
■Red' score v^;o bury,
p,,„„4v,rqesofbrutol.tY
^i^«l.l>nita/,ty
i^//.
838
YoRTY Exhibit No. 2 — ^Continued
WHILE PROTECTING YOU
197 police officers were mur-
dered by criminals in the United
States between 1960 and 1964.
57 police officers were mur-
dered by criminals in 1964.
The number of policemen
murdered annually in the line of
duty has DOUBLED since 1960.
18,000 police officers were
attacked while enforcing the law
in 1964, or ONE OUT OF EVERY
10 POLICEMEN IN THE NATION.
7,738 policemen were phys-
ically injured in these attacks, or
ONE OUT OF EVERY 24.
IN LOS ANGELES
13 officers have been mur-
dered in the line of duty in the
past 13 years, 4 OF THEM IN
THE LAST 2V2 YEARS.
In 1964, 592 officers were
attacked in Los Angeles, or ONE
OUT OF EVERY 9.
Since 1952, attacks on Los
Angeles police officers have IN-
CREASED 284%, with almost
similar increases indicated in all
other large cities.
The foregoing are facts ob-
tained from the Federal Bureau
of Investigation, the Department
of Justice, and the Los Angeles
Police Department.
There are other facts which
the police officers must accept
in the course of protecting the
public.
Verbal abuse of the police is
a fact.
Attacks by self-seeking indi-
viduals and groups are a fact.
Citizen apathy is a fact.
Citizens "not wanting to get
involved" is a fact.
Unrealistic paroles of con-
victed criminals are a fact. (Of
the 13 policeofficers killed in the
line of duty in Los Angeles, 8
were murdered by convicts on
active parole.)
Overly technical Supreme
Court decisions reversing convic-
tions of even confessed crimin-
als are a fact.
And, there is another fact that
law enforcement agencies must
accept.
The police of our nation have
long been a prime target of the
Communist Party.
When Lenin set forth the prin-
ciples of the Communist revolu-
tion, dwelling primarily on the
need to destroy law enforcement
throughout the world, he recog-
nized that governments can only
be overthrown if respect for law
enforcement is first impaired.
Writing in "State and Revolu-
tion" in 1917 (copyright 1932-
International Publishers, New
York) Lenin stated:
"To destroy officialdom imme-
diately, everywhere, completely
...to reduce all officialdom to
naught. ..is the direct and urgent
task of the revolutionary prole-
tariat."
Following this doctrine, the
Communist Party has continued
to deal with mass emotional ap-
peal. Capitalizing on the resist-
ance of some people to any disci-
pline, the Communist press has
seized upon the propoganda-
loaded phrase... POLICE BRU-
TALITY, and has led many unsus-
pecting dupes into helping to
carry out the Party's poisonous
program.
Ignoring Budapest, Warsaw,
Prague, and other places where
Communist police have mur-
dered and imprisoned countless
innocent victims, the Communist
press in this country attempts to
twist every arrest into an act of
American "police brutality."
The deceptive and constantly re-
peated cry is the same in every
non-Communist country— the
"Big Lie" technique they have
used so effectively throughout
their history.
ACCORDING TO U.S. NEWS
(SEPTEMBER 6. 1965):
In Berkeley in 1964, student
demonstrators at the University
of California staged disorders in
defiance of university authorities
3nd police. A student "Police
Brutality Committee" began
grinding out propaganda before
the first arrest. Students were
primed to start chanting "Police
Brutality" as soon as officers ar-
rived on the scene.
"Students were instructed to
go to the university hospital and
report injuries. One police official
reported: 'When the physician on
duty asked several what they
were doing there, they replied
that they didn't know— they were
there because they were toJd to
report to the hospital.'"
"At other hospitals, attend-
ants treated 'victims' for hoarse-
ness and headaches and sent
them home — while five highway
patrolmen were undergoing
treatment for actual injuries re-
ceived at the hands of the rioters.
One patrolman was hospitalized
for a week."
839
YoRTY Exhibit No. 2 — Continued
An official of the International
Association of Police Chiefs,
Charles E. Moore, told the Senate
Internal Security Subcommittee
that the demonstrations at
Berkeley were a classic example
of techniques used by Commu-
nists to "destroy the public con-
fidence in the police— when they
destroy the symbol of authority
and of the laws, you bring about
anarchy."
As long ago as May, 1941, the
Daily Peoples World carried a
story attacking the Los Angeles
Police Department for "brutal-
ity" and "picket line crashing"
during some strikes. The story
reported that a "delegation"
called on then Mayor Fletcher
Bowron to protest these alleged
actions by police.
The delegation included a
number of persons identified in
House Un-American Activities
Committee fiearings as Commu-
nists, and I or members of nurr>-
erous organizations cited by that
and other investigating commit-
tees as Communist or Commu-
nist-front organizations.
The communist press in the
United States is constantly seiz-
ing upon the arrests of any mem-
ber of a minority group as mate-
rial for headline attacks on the
police. After the initial stories,
they follow up with emotional
appeals, "committees for jus-
tice" for whoever the arrestee
may be. They then arrange com-
munity protest meetings, etc.
It is important to note that a
search of back issues of commu-
nist papers in this country failed
to turn up a single report of po-
lice officers being killed in the
line of duty.
The obvious question arises:
Is every charge of "police bru-
tality" inspired by the commu-
nists? The answer is "no," but
the communist distort, magnify
and seize upon every such
charge, valid or not, in order to
carry on their propaganda war
against our protectors. Of course,
every police department in the
country receives some val id com-
plaints of police misconduct
made by sincere citizens. The
Los Angeles Police Department
itself metes out harsh discipline
to officers found guilty of any
misconduct. So does the County
Sheriff's Department. Seven
deputy sheriffs were recently dis-
charged for alleged mistreat-
ment of some prisoners who-
were charged with injuring a fel-
low deputy.
The true facts are ignored by
the .communists and malcon-
tents. Their concern is with util-
izing charges to cause a maxi-
mum corrosive effect on both
public opinion and the law en-
forcement agencies. The impor-
tant thing to them is that through
a constant barrage of attacks and
repetition of claims, the public's
confidence in their police may
be impaired, and the officers'
morale damaged. These are the
ends toward which they work,
and in which they are too often
unintentionally aided by indivi-
duals and groups whose motives
are honest, but whose facts are
wrong.
The effect on the pol ice officer,
the citizen's first line of defense
against criminal elements, has
been demoralizing.
Captain William Beall of the
Berkeley Police said: "A police-
man dreads the moment when
someone will yell 'brutality.'
That charge robs him of his dig-
nity. It takes away everything
he is trying to do — what he
believes in."
In Washington, D.C. on August
26, 1965, Senate Democratic
Leader Mike Mansfield decried
the "loose charge of police bru-
tality" and stated, "The police
are not privileged to take sides
or discriminate as among laws.
Their job is to uphold the laws
and, on the whole, they do an
excellent job."
Statements like the. foregoing
made by one of the nation's lead-
ing lawmakers; expressions of
confidence from those who im-
plement those laws; and a sprin-
kling of posters and bumper
stickers announcing "Suport
Your Local Police" are not
enough to overcome deleterious
effects of the waves of anti-police
propaganda which have been
flooding the country in recent
years.
The destructive nature of this
32-955 O — 69 — pt. 1-
840
YoRTY Exhibit No. 2 — Continued
propaganda must be understood
by the public-, understood and
recognized for what it is; and
what it is intended to accomplish.
The list of results is impressive.
For example:
Police departments every-
where are finding is almost im-
possible to recruit men for what
appears to be a thankless job.
Resignations are becoming more
frequent, and fewer experienced
men are continuing on the job
after reaching minimum retire-
ment requirements.
Police "brutality" is being
blamed for almost every riot and
violent demonstration. This was
particularly true of Los Angeles
in 1965, where an attempt by
State Highway Patrol officers to
arrest a man for alleged drunken
driving touched off a riot. Al-
though the man whose arrest
caused the riot pleaded guilty to
the drunk-driving charge, the
communist press here and
abroad used the riot to hammer
away at asserted "police brutal-
ity." The Communist line called
for pinning the blame for the riot
on the police instead of the law-
less elements who attacked
policemen, firemen, and their
fellow citizens while burning and
stealing their property.
Police personnel whose efforts
are needed to enforce the laws
are being forced to spend count-
less hours reporting, investigat-
ing or answering charges of "mis-
conduct"—most of them base-
less. Many of the complaints boil
down to a "hard stare" from an
officer, or "the officer's tone of
voice."
Courts, sitting in judgment
on even the most brutal and
hardened criminals; child kill-
ers, rapists, narcotic peddlers,
seem to go out of their way to
take note of the slightest hint of
even technical mistakes by the
police.
Officials everywhere are con-
cerned that the quality of law
enforcement will decline in the
face of these continued attacks
on the person, character and ef-
fectiveness of police officers.
Deputy Commissioner Joseph G.
Martin of New York City said;
"The eager, dedicated young po-
liceman starts out at a trot. Then
this kind of thing slows him down
to a walk. Finally you find him
dragging his feet — he doesn't
know where he stands, so he does
nothing."
This may be a little exagger-
ated—but the danger that it can
become literally factual is in-
creasing. Toa policeman, EVERY
arrest presents a danger either
to his person or his character.
The physical danger he accepts
as part of the job, but he should
not be subjected to thoughtless
ridicule and public indifference
toward his efforts to do his job.
And, although a concentrated
attempt is being made to make
the people believe otherwise, the
Los Angeles Police Department
has the machinery to see that the
police officer does his job prop-
erly. Complaints are exhaustively
investigated, by the department
itself, sometimes by the District
Attorney or the F.B.I. Verified
cases, including "discourteous
language" and "hard stares," as
well as those alleging "excessive
force," are dealt with according
to the severity of the incident.
To all well administered police
departments, self-examination,
self-disciplining and self-correc-
tion are a never-ending pursuit.
In order to enforce the law, they
know that their own record must
be kept clean, and although they
use every method to keep it so,
blemishes occur. The real ones
they cut away; the imagined and
manufactured ones are a prob-
lem for all citizens. We must help
in the search for truth and the
exposure of falsity.
841
YoRTY Exhibit No. 2 — Continued
Reports from everywhere show
that crime is continuing to in-
crease at an alarming rate. In
order to keep up with it, the po-
lice departments of the world
must seek more and better men.
Better methods are developed
by better men. It is an evolution-
ary cycle, with the hoped-for end
result being more and better pro-
tection for the citizen. Under at-
tack from the criminal and from,
those who would destroy their
dignity and character, the law
enforcement officers neverthe-
less doggedly provide the public
with protection of their persons
and property. They provide the
first line of defense of our con-
stitutional rights.
If we are to expect and accept
that protection, we must also ac-
cept our responsibility to those
who protect us' This responsibil-
ity entails an awareness of the
problems and dangers our law
enforcement officers face every
day and night on our behalf.
It calls for our confidence in
them; in their ability and deter-
mination to enforce the law with-
out discrimination or prejudice;
and in their tireless efforts to dis-
cipline themselves in the face of
constant, often planned, provo-
cation.
Above all, we must be alert to
the fact that manufactured
charges and the "Big Lie" are not
only a real danger to our system
of law enforcement, but a very
real threat to the free world.
SAM YORTY, MAYOR
City of Los Angeles
8 >artll-WED., MAR.?. 1966 IW> flngtlrt WmW 3*
Yorty Strikes Back at
Criticism by Lawyer
Points Out That Defense Attorney's View
Differs From That of Enforcement Officials
BT GENE BLAKE
Mayor Samuel W. Yorty
itruck back Tuesday at
noted attorney Joseph A.
Ball, who had assailed the
mayor for his criticism of
recent court decisions in
criminal cases.
■Mr. Ball does not have
the responsibility for en-
forcing the laws in an ur-
ban center so he is not an
authority on our law en-
forcement problems," Yor-
ty said.
'A defense attorney is
not apt to have the same
attitude toward unwar^
ranted technical reversals'
as those ot us who have t5
enforce the laws' ~
Yorty said riall, a past
president of the State Bar
and chairman of the
American Civil Liberties
Union lawyers division
here, 'defends accused
persons before the judges
whoe* decisions he seeks
to defend by attacking me
penonally."
Ball sa'j Monday that
Yorty's assertions the deci-
sions are contributing to
increased crime are 'ab-
surd."
The Long Beach attor-
ney also said Yorty's 'irre-
sponsible remarks" are un-
just, not based on fact or
reason and are undermhi-
Ing public confidence in
the courts.
But Yorty said Ball ap-
parently agrees with his
position relative to "many
of the decisions reversing
convictions of confessed
criminals on technicalities
where there has been no
miscarriage of justice.*
This referred to Ball's
view of the Dorado case,
which held confessions in-
admissible if the defen-
dant had not been warned
of his right to counsel and
to remain silent
Ball said that while he
agrees with the fairness of
the procedure as being a
'prophyUctlc against coer-
cion,* h* does not beltev*
It to be a matter of consti-
tutional right requiring
reversals.
"Some of the decisions
which have caused the
most difficulty," Yorty
pointed out, 'were split de-
cisions with the justices
themselves divided and
critical of each others' opi-
nions."
Criminal trials Yorty
rpiti»ra,t<Kl «hniilri h> m
search for truth and not a
game in which lawvers for
fiiiltv ■ rriminaH nhlfljn
technical reversals of con-
virtinns
"The puhlif ha. « riyht
to be interested in the ad-
mLnistraUon of iiintlc^ ' hn
said. 'It is not a privaM
preserve for criminal law-
OlA^'*^- ^
i
842
YoRTY Exhibit No. 2 — Continued
, J •OS-ACf
PAID
Mayor Yorty
Reports
SUBVERSIVE INFLUENCES IN RIOTS, LOOTING, AND BURNING 843
Mayor Yorty. I am sure if one had more time you could go back to
the early statements of Lenin — I have forgotten the exact quote, but I
think he said the police are the last bulwark of the bourgeoisie, and
the application of the propaganda against the police department fol-
lows strictly party lines.
Mr. Tuck. Mayor Yorty, have you found that the decision of the
courts and several Federal laws in respect to law enforcement have had
a tendency to impede or hamper the police in the enforcement of the
law?
Mayor Yorty. We are very handicapped, not by any laws that you
have passed, but by the reinterpretation, really the rewriting of the
Constitution by the United States Supreme Court, in the exclusionary
rule of evidence, the rules of search and seizure, registration of known
criminals, and so forth; law enforcement has become increasingly
diiRcult.
The young police officer in many cases is very uncertain as to what
his rights are in enforcing a law. We are sort of in a transitory period
where we are going to have to get some settled rules so that the police
officer will known what his rights are and what the citizen's rights
are and not be so unc^irtain as to just what he can do.
Mr. McNamara. Mr. Mayor, you have referred to the earlier works
of Lenin where he emphasized the necessity of smashing the state
machinery.
(At this point, Mr. Watson entered the hearing room.)
Mr. McNamara. He referred specifically to the police as a part of
the state machinery which the Communists and the workers must
smash. I believe you mentioned, did you not, that the work you had in
mind was "Stat-e and Revolution" ; is that correct?
Mayor Yorty. No, but I think that quote is from that one, about 1917.
Mr. McNamara. I think it is of interest, Mr. Chairman, that in
addition to his "State and Revolution'' statement, Lenin in 1902, in
"What Is To Be Done," made the following statement. He complained
about the fact that the Russian workers "as yet display so little
revolutionary activity in connection with the brutal way in which the
police maltreat the people."
Then he went on to say of the Communist, "he must be able to group
all these manifestations" — that is, manifestations of tyranny and op-
pression— "into a single picture of police violence and capitalist
exploitation."
These quotations certainly verify the statement made by Mayor
Yorty to the effect that these headlines and the agitation which has
been carried on in this country throughout the years in various cities
by Communist elements go back to the basic teachings of Ivenin.
Mayor Yorty. That is correct. I know myself of no period in our
history where the campaign against the police has been quite as effec-
tive as it is today.
I notice, Mr. Chairman, that before a House Appropriations Sub-
committee, John Edgar Hoover said on February 16, 1967 :
The cumulative effect of almost 50 years of Communist Party activity in the
United States cannot be minimized, for it has contributed to disrupting race rela-
tions in this country and has exerted an insidious influence on the life and times
of our Nation. As a prime example, for years it has been Communist policy to
charge "police brutality" in a calculated campaign to discredit law enforcement
844 SUBVERSIVE D^TLUENCES IN RIOTS, LOOTING, AND BURNING
and tx) accentuate racial issues. The riots and disorders of the past 3 years clearly
highlight the success of this Communist smear campaign in popularizing the cry
of "police brutality" to the point where it has been accepted by many individuals
having no aflBliation with or sympathy for the Communist movement.
So, we have a pretty good authority there, I would say, certainly the
best in the world, on the effectiveness of this campaign against the
police.
Another statement before the Appropriations Subcommittee, which
I am certain that you all recall, was made by Mr. Hoover on February
10, 1966. He said :
At a still higher level, the national headquarters of the party, on August 15,
1965, instructed the southern California party district to prepare articles concern-
ing the riots for early publication in The Worker, an east coast Communist news-
paper. Special efforts were to be made to play up the "police brutality" angle.
Major portions of subsequent issues of The Worker and People's World, a west
coast Communist newspaper, were devoted to the uprising in Los Angeles and its
aftermath. Each article faithfully followed the line set by party headquarters.
Mr. McNamara. Mayor Yorty, were police brutality charges made in
your city during the Watts riot ?
Mayor Yorty. Yes. An attempt was made, of cx)urse, to blame the
police for the rioting. This led to my unpleasant confrontation with
Dr. Martin Luther King. We had always welcomed him to our city on
previous occasions and tried to work with him in the field of civil
rights. But, during the aftermath of the rioting, he rushed out to Los
Angeles and in a private meeting wuth some of his aides and our chief
of police, Mr. William Parker, he began to blame the police for the
rioting.
I pointed out t;0 him that the police department of Los Angeles is
run by a civilian commission ; they are actually the head of the depart-
ment. I also pointed out to him that three of the five members were from
minority ^oups and, also, that one of the persons at the meeting with
Dr. Martin Luther King was the father of a member of the police
commission.
But he persisted in arguing that the police were to blame for the
rioting. Then he went out and got before the cameras and newspapers
and made that same charge. I felt it necessary to answer that charge
and to tell him that it was very unfair for him to come out to Los
Angeles and try to blame the police for the rioting.
Mr. McNamara. Your exhibit. Mayor, and various items that we
have read in the Communist press over the years indicate that many
charges of brutality have been made against the police in Los Angeles,
as in the case of other cities.
Will you tell the committee whether or not any police officei-s in Los
Angeles, since you have been mayor, have been dismissed for brutality ?
Mayor Yorty. I don't know of any case where an officer has had to
be dismissed for brutality.
We, of course, investigate every charge that is made to us of police
brutality, first within the department, and then I have instructed our
civilian police commission that if people are not satisfied with the
action of the department that they can ask the commission to hold a
hearing.
I think the best example of the big lie teclinique was the case where
one of the newspapers in Los Angeles, not a Communist newspaper,
but one that circulates only in the Negro area, had a picture of two
SUBVERSIVE INFLUENCES IN RIOTS, LOOTING, AND BURNING 845
little girls who looked like twins on the front page with an inflam-
matory story saying that they had befen arrested in front of their class-
mates and dragged out, I think handcuffed, in front of their class. I
made an investigation of this myself, and it wasn't at all true.
I won't bore you with a lot of details that are not necessary to make
the point, but the little girls had been, through some good police work
identifying people, had been in a restaurant, were brought into the
principal's office, and they were asked if they had been in the restau-
rant and they said "yes" and that their brother, and so forth, was there.
So, the police went and got the brother, and he took the police to where
he had thrown out a billfold, and mainly a passport, which was what
was worrying the victims — they were Mexican citizens and they had
lost their passports.
The story was so different from that which appeared in the paper
that I ordered — not ordered, but I told the police commission that I
felt that they should hold a hearing on this matter so that the public
could get the truth. Those who were involved in making these charges
themselves requested that we not hold the hearing. This is rather
typical.
Mr. AsHBROOK. I think you make the point in your report — isn't the
key factor here that the people who are making these charges don't
care about the truth ? Time and time again they make these accusations
and allegations and the facts might be totally contrary to what you are
saying. .
Here you are in a position as a responsible public official having to
investigate every charge and every allegation. Don't you come to the
conclusion, as most of us do, that these people do not care about the
truth ? The truth is not in them, and it is an attempt to rile up the pub-
lic, to play on the humanitarian instincts of good and right-thinking
people, but when you get down to it they don't care about the truth.
Mayor Yorty. I think yes ; you are correct. There are many people
who make these charges whose motives are to discredit the police
department and to carry on the so-called Communist struggle cam-
paign, creating every struggle that they can so that in a cumulative
way they break down respect for the law enforcement officials and, of
course, eventually they hope to break down the ability of our Govern-
ment to operate.
Mr. AsHBROOK. You have a high standard as a public official, and
they don't have the same standard. And you are fighting an uphill
battle with your standards, trying to compete in the minds of the pub-
lic and public opinion when they don't have the same standard and
they don't mind using lies, smears, and everything else.
It is a terrible battle in every one of our cities that you and other
mayors have to wage, and we certainly commiserate with your prob-
lem. We recognize what it is.
Mayor Yorty. You are right.
Getting back to the specific case of the two little girls, for instance,
I am sure that the facts of the case were never published, so that the
public got only one side. Unfortunately, the nature of news is that it is
usually negative. The bizarre makes more news than the everyday hard
work of law enforcement.
Mr. AsHBROOK. Isn't it also the fact that when a charge is made you
never fully convince everybody it is not true ? There are always going
846 SUBVERSIVE INFLUENCES IN RIOTS, LOOTING, AND BURNING
to be some people who think there was some substance to it and if you
add enough of these over a period of time the big lie technique, as you
say, is successful.
Mayor Yorty. It is successful. There is a tendency on the part of
most people who do not understand subversive agitation or propa-
ganda, to say, "Well, where there is smoke, there must be some fire."
Mr. AsHBROOK. Yes.
Mayor Yorty. And the subversives keep up such a drumfire of these
charges that there is no chance for the truth ever to catch up, and
innocent people are misled.
Mr. AsHBROOK. This is what this committee continually runs into.
And the American people, to their credit, think from the high stajid-
ards that you do and they cannot possibly contemplate that there are
people who do not operate on the principles of truth^ and so forth.
Mayor Yorty. I think you have made a very important point,
Congressman.
Mr. AsHBROOK. You have the problem ; we have the same problem.
The average good American just does not want to think that there are
people in their midst who subvert, lie, deceive.
Mayor Yorty. They simply do not understand communism or the
Communist Party and the way it operates and, of course, your job has
been made increasingly difficult over the years.
We badly need now for people to understand the Communist Party
and its apparatus. They are not getting the information, and I think
that for the protection of our country they must get it. I certainly feel
that the inquiry that you are conducting now is of extreme importance
because perhaps you can dramatize the issue enough to get some atten-
tion to it.
The Chairman. Yes, Mayor, but, as you may suspect, I was just told
this morning that there are certain elements in the press, which should
know better, who are lambasting the committee for conducting these
very hearings.
Mayor Yorty. Well, of course, that is to be expected
The Chairman. I told them on TV this morning : They don't want
any part of me; I don't want any part of them. They don't like me;
I detest them. There is nothing we can do that will ever be right in
their eyes.
Mayor Yorty. The public has been conditioned to feel that the
charge of communism is some kind of smear on innocent people. Now.
if you call a Communist a Communist, that is immediately called
McCarthyism, and ever since the days of Senator McCarthy this has
been the first cry that goes up. ^
So, the public, I don't think, is capable of differentiating between
a charge that a Communist is a Communist and a charge that some-
body who is not a Communist may be a radical, and there is a vast
difference, of course. But we have to overcome that, and I think your
committee through the methods that you employ can, with the per-
sistent hard work that you have to do, overcome it.
I think under your predecessor, Tad Walter, we came a long ways
because of the care yon have used in protecting witnesses against loose
charges. But there has been, there is no question about it, an atmosphere
in the country that when you say a Communist is a Communist or that
a certain demonstnition was planned by the Communists and carried
SUBVERSIVE INFLUENCES IN RIOTS, LOOTING, AND BURNING 847
out by them, then you immediately have to say, "Well, I am not saying
that everybody in the parade or in the demonstration was a Com-
munist," because otherwise they will accuse you of saying everyone
was a Communist when the innocent dupes in many cases are not; they
are just used.
I do think the time has come when this committee needs ix) do the
very job that you are doing.
There is another thing that disturbs me. The constant effort to get a
detente with Russia in the international field seems to more or less
paralyze the executive branch of the Government in their exposure and
combating of domestic Communists.
So, we find Premier Kosygin constantly berating the United States,
calling us imperialists and other names, but no retort of a similar mag-
nitude from our side. So, it is a one-sided deal in the international field
in our constant hope that Russia will help us get out of the Vietnam
war if we are just nice to them.
I think all of these things are having a cumulative effect of condi-
tioning our people until they have lost their understanding of the true
effectiveness of Communist agitation and propaganda.
Mr. McNamara. Mayor Yorty, would it be correct to summarize
your answer to my last question — when we were discussing police bru-
tality— by saying that many charges have been made against police
in Los Angeles, that these have all been investigated and, to your
knowledge, not a single policeman has been dismissed because of a veri-
fication of charges of brutality against him ?
Mayor Yorty. I wouldn't want to go so far as to say that no police-
man has ever been guilty of brutality, and if we catch one we certainly
fire him. But I know of none as a result of rioting in 1965.
I will say because of the way we select our police officers, the training
they have, the restraints we use on them, that the major problem is
brutality to police on the part of citizen groups.
Mr. McNamara. Mr. Mayor, on the same point, I would like to quote
a paragraph from a release made by your office on May 27, 1966, and
ask you if you would like to make any comment on it, and this is rela-
tive to the spreading of police brutality charges and constant agitation
against the police :
"In Los Angeles, where the hate-spreaders have been most active, attacks on
police officers have increased 284% since 19.52, and 13 have been murdered in the
line of duty. Now, the Progressive Labor Party handbill" —
You were referring to a handbill put out by the Peking Communist-
oriented Progressive Labor Party at the time —
"calls for ALL police to be 'wiped out.' Just where does the right of free speech
begin and end?" the Mayor asked.
Would you car© to make a further comment on that statement you
made in 1966?
Mayor Yorty. Only to say that I think it is just as true in 1967. This
is a very serious question, especially the delineation between the area
of free speech and the area of actually inciting riot and insurgency.
Of course. Chief William Parker and I went before our State legis-
lature and tried to get the legislature to enact a law making it a crime
to incite to riot. We did that because under our State laws we had no
authority at the local level. The field had been preempted.
848 SUBVERSIVE INFLUENCES IN RIOTS, LOOTING, AND BURNING
We went up to the legislature with a draft of a State law that we felt
would be helpful to us and helpful to the situation. We got a law pro-
hibiting inciting to riot, but after a couple of amendments it was
useless. The amendments said that we had to prove intent to cause
a riot and also that there had to be not only a clear and present danger
but the legislature added the word "immediate." So you had to prove
an intent to cause a riot and immediate danger.
We know of no way to prove immediate danger unless the riot
ensues, and if the riot ensues we don't need the act. We have other
statutes governing riots, and so forth.
I do have an interesting report here from our city attorney analyz-
ing this legislation as proposed and as finally enacted that might be
useful to people in some other cities and States who are interested in
this problem. It is from the very able attorney in the city of Los An-
geles, Mr. Amebergh.
(Document marked "Yorty Exhibit No. 3" and retained in com-
mittee files.)
Mr. McNamara. Would it be your recommendation, Mr. Mayor, that
this should be handled on the local — city or State — ^level or the Federal
level? Would you recommend Federal legislation in this area?
Mayor YoRnr. I think you have to take whatever action you can at
every level. I don*t think trying to maintain law and order is just a
matter for any one level of government. If we had authority at the
city level to enact the legislation as we proposed to the legislature, I
am sure that our city council would do it. We don't have the authority
so we go to the State. Of course, where people move across State lines,
then you have the basis, I think, for Federal legislation.
Mr. McNamara. It is my understanding, Mayor, that you had
planned to introduce as an exhibit a publication entitled Day of Pro-
test^ Night of Violence, published by the ACLU,^ in reference to this
general matter we have been discussing in reference to Los Angeles.
Mayor Yorty. Yes. This is a publication put out after the Presi-
dent appeared in Los Angeles and where I feel you had what I would
call a manipulated mob that turned into — whether I would want to
term that a riot or not, I am not sure, but it was very close to it.
Mr. McNamara. That was on June 23d of this year?
Mayor Yorty. When the President appeared in the city of Los An-
geles. Of course, some elements of the manipulated riot were certainly
present. The police permit for the so-called parade was issued to a per-
son who has been identified as a Communist.
The police commission actually did not want to issue the oermit
because it felt that we were opening the door to the very sorjt of thing
that happened. The city attorney ruled that we had to issue the
permit ; we had no choice.
Mr. McNamara. This permit, Mr. Mayor, was issued for a parade in
front of the hotel, is that right, where the President was speaking?
Mayor Yorty. It was to start in a park. They had authority to come
up to the hotel. I have forgotten whether they were under that permit
permitted to come in front of the hotel. I believe they were; yes.
Mr. McNamara. The purpose of this parade and demonstration was
to protest the war in Vietnam ; is that correct ?
Mayor Yorty. That was the stated purpose; yes. But I would say
that again j^ou have to look in the background. The war in Vietnam
'American Civil Liberties Union of Soutliern California report (July 1967).
SUBVERSIVE ESTFLUENCES IN RIOTS, LOOTING, AND BURNING 849
just happens to be the current issue that the Communists use to try to
cause citizens to confront policemen and to defy them.
I would say in the real background is the Communist Party's move-
ments to attempt to break down law and order. Of course, as far as the
war in Vietnam goes, that is the current issue that I think has been the
most successful of any that they have been able to use in the past. They
have created a highly emotional situation. They are far more effective
now than they were, sayj in 1940. In 1940, the slogans were about the
same. The peace delegations were the same and the same motivation.
But in 1940, of course, they were accusing the allies of conducting an
imperialist war, Britain and France on May Day 1940, Flag Day, when
Paris surrendered. But in those days, of course, Russia was an ally of
Hitler. So, the allies were the imperialists, and Roosevelt was called
all kinds of names. ;
Strangely enough, in California, in that year, a peace delegation was
also formed, as is being formed now, and Roosevelt was denounced in
about the same way that President Johnson is now being denounced by
the peace delegation formed.
I notice in my report written in 1940 1 said :
The Communists are today finding themselves exposed by their necessary
fidelity to the rapidly changing whims of Comrade Stalin, Czar of all the Com-
munists. In California, upon finding themselves in this position, and thus im-
able to continue to work as Democrats, they were recently forced to arrange
for the filing of an independent slate of Democratic Convention delegates, nomi-
nally pledged to Lieutenant Governor Ellis E. Patterson — ^a slate which used as
its slogan one borrowed directly and totally from an oflBcial Communist May
Day pamphlet which said in part :
"We, the working people, must promote the building of a new mass party of
the people — a broad peace party that will fight for us — only through such an anti-
imperialist people's front and party — can we best advance our fight for JOBS,
SECURITY, DEMOCRACY, AND PEACE."
That was in 1940.
I think in 1940 their propaganda and their peace slate would have
been more successful except for the fact that we were not actually
fighting. So, today, because we are fighting in Vietnam, they are more
effective.
I was very much surprised the other day to read an account of a
statement in the Strike for Peace ^ in which this woman said that the
demonstrations and the dissent here in the United States are a second
front. Certainly, that is true, but I am surprised that she would
say it.
Mr. McNamara. I might point out. Mayor, that the Vietnam
Courier, which is published in Hanoi, has made the same statement,
that there are two fronts against the United States todaj^, one in Viet-
nam and the other one here in our cities, and it was referring specifical-
ly to the riots.
But going back to this demonstration in Los Angeles on June 23d
of this year, is it your recollection that the person who applied for
the permit for that parade was Don Healey ?
Mayor Yorty. That is correct. He is the former husband of one of
the leaders of the Communist Party in California, Dorothy Healey, an
openly admitted Communist over the years.
Don Healey, back in the days of the united fronts, when they in-
filtrated the Democratic Party in California, in 1936 and 1940, was
850 SUBVEKSIVE INFLUENCES IN RIOTS, LOOTING, AND BURNING
the head of Labor's Nonpartisan League. It was quite a bit later be-
fore he was identified as a Communist.
Mr. McNamara. In reference to this publication, would you care
to describe for the committee, Mr. Mayor, its general content ?
Mayor Yorty. It is a highly inflammatory account of what hap-
pened on June 23d, attempting, of course, to put the whole blame on
the police for the violence that ensued. I do have this copy with me,
Mr. McNamara, if the committee would like to look at it.
Mr. McNamara. We would like to have it.
(Document marked "Yorty Exhibit No. 4" and retained in com-
mittee files.)
Mr. McNamara. Can you tell me this, Mayor? This demonstration
was primarily and allegedly a demonstration against the war in Viet-
nam.
Does this book w^hich you have just turned over to the committee
emphasize or accentuate the racial issue ?
Mayor Yorty. I would say, on the whole, it is not so much the racial
issue in that publication. It is an attempt to involve a broader spectrum
of the public against the police.
The police also told me that they felt that as they tried to get the
crowd back, to move them back so they could not carry out the threat
of rushing into the hotel where the President was, and so forth, that
they felt that the hard-core manipulators of the mob probably were at
the back holding the mob in toward the police so that the dupes were
more in the front and therefore could say the police used force on
them and they could not get out.
They didn't know that the manipulators were blocking them in so
they could not get out and forcing them against the police officers.
Mr. McNamara. Am I correct in my recollection. Mayor, that what
happened on this occasion was that a permit had been granted for
this group — I believe it was some 10,000 people all told that turned
out — to parade past the hotel where the President was speaking and
that when they reached the hotel, instead of continuing on the march,
some elements in the front stopped short, creating a ganging-up of
all these demonstrators in front of the hotel, and then, because this
was in violation of the permit, the police werQ directed to disperse the
crowd ? It was then, as you say, that the police have indicated to you
that the hard-core agitators got behind the crowd so that they could
not be dispersed by the police. This, of course, led to clashes.
Mayor Yorty. Of course, I feel myself from the very inception of
the planning of this demonstration that the Communists involved in it
and the hard-core subversives were hoping to manipulate the mob so
as to cause violence. Of course, I don't have to tell the members of
this conmiittee this is their constant purpose. It is part of what they
call the struggle movement.
The best description of struggle movements I have seen in a long
time is i'n the book called Viet Cong, written by a man named Pike ^
who worked for .our Embassy, I think, in Saigon, who made a great
study of the Viet Cong. He points out in the early days of the Com-
munist struggle movement they would try to get the people even to
protest like t^e location of a school or the location of a post office or
^ Douglas Pike, Viet Cong: The Organization and Techniques of the National Liberation
Front of South Vietnam (Cambridge : MIT Press, 1966).
SUBVERSIVE INFLUENCES IN RIOTS, LOOTING, AND BURNING 851
something like that because, to the Communists, any attempt to orga-
nize the people and to take part in any kind of cause that results in a
struggle against authority is useful for their purposes.
I think this is one thmg that our people don't understand, when
you say that the Communists are involved in something, say, like the
erection of a public building in a city and it may be where they can
make a cry that you are destroying a park or something like that. To
the general public it sounds a bit absurd to say there is a subversive
influence in this, but they don't understand the Communist theory of
the struggle. It is any kind of dispute that the Communists can get
in and infiltrate and make contacts and cause confrontations with the
Government where people can be called corrupt. Anything that dis-
credits authority, they will do.
We have a constant series of struggles in this country, all the time
conducted, of course, in most cases by legitimate and sincere people
who will never understand that they have become part of the struggle.
Mr, McNamara. There was a direct confrontation, am I right, on
June 23 in Los Angeles on the occasion of this demonstration we have
just referred to?
Mayor Yorty. Yes ; to protect the President and enforce the law, the
police had to resort to some physical force.
Mr. McNamara. Is it not a fact, Mayor, that the demonstration on
that day was sponsored and organized by the Peace Action Council ?
Mayor Yorty. That is correct.
Mr. McNamara. Mr. Chairman, I would like to state for the record
that the chairman of the Peace Action Council is Irving Samoff, who
was a witness before this committee on September 5, 1958, and who
invoked the fifth amendment in response to various questions concern-
ing Communist Party membership and activity.
The committee in its report on the Southern California District of
the Communist Party identified SamoflF as a member of the district
council. Communist Party, Southern California District. It also indi-
cated that he had been active in earlier years in various Communist
youth organizations, American Youth for Democracy, the Labor Youth
League, and so forth. He attended conventions, as a delegate, of the
Southern California District of the Communist Party.
Mayor Yorty. I notice, Mr. McNamara, that in my same report — I
gave you a copy of that 1940 report, didn't I ?
Mr. McNamara. Yes.
Mayor Yorty. That there is one reference here to the Communists
trying to organize the Negro citizens. It is a quote that I made from a
Communist Party Manual on Organization. This is their own docu-
ment. It says :
Who are the allies of the American working class? The Open Letter, adopted
by the Central Committee in July, 1933, very clearly answers this question.
Their open letter says :
The main task of the Party in its work among agrarian toilers is, above all, the
organization of the agricultural wage workers, organizing them into the trade
unions and the Party, organizing and leading strikes of the agricultural workers
for better wages and working conditions. Such strikes, in many places, have
already played an important part in the development of the farmers' move-
ment. * ♦ *
The other important ally of the American proletariat is the mass of 13,000,000
Negro people * * ♦.
852 SUBVERSIVE mFLUENCES IN RIOTS, LOOTING, AND BURNING
The Party can stand at the head of the national revolutionary struggle of the
Negro masses against American imperialism only if it energetically carries
through the following tasks :
"The Party must mobilize the masses for the struggle for equal rights of the
Negroes and for the right of self-determination for the N^roes in the Black
Belt. * * *"
I think this is a good example of where the Communists try to take
advantage of a movement in the country, and they call it a struggle,
infiltrate and then turn it into a confrontation between the Govern-
ment and the people in a manner where they can manipulate it and
help the Communist Party.
. I think it is rather apparent that over the long years the Negro
people did not prove very susceptible to Communist propaganda and
a^tation and showed a high degree of resistance, which certainly most
still do. That is obvious from the fine performance of the Negro sol-
diers in Vietnam ; it is really excellent.
But I do think that in the civil rights movement today there is a
growing success on the part of the Communist apparatus to manipulate
some of the organizations. I think the places visited by some of the
so-called leaders of Negro organizations recently would indicate more
success than they have achieved in the past, the Communists have
achieved, in influencing some segments of the Negro people.
Now, Wallace Terry, who is a writer for Time magazine, and a
Negro, recently referred to some of these people, in a statement he
made in Los Angeles, as self-appointed leaders without constituencies,
and was very critical of them.
Mr, McNamara. Do you have any comment to make, Mayor, on the
manner in which some of these self-appointed leaders have been built
up?
Mayor Yorty. Yes.
It is the feeling of Negro leaders — real Negro leaders like Wallace
Terry — ^that these highly inflammable agitators have been given more
attention than their following warrants. This has a tendency to build
them up.
Mr. McNamara. It was interesting, Mr. Mayor, that you quoted
from the Manual on Organization. I would just like to state for the
record that that document. The Communist Party — A Manual on
Organization^ was written by a man named J. Peters, and published
by Workers Library Publishers, a Communist Party publishing house,
in July 1935.
This was really a handbook for Communist units and cells through-
out the country, widely sold, studied, and distributed in Communist
circles. ,
J. Peters, the man who wrote this book, had numerous aliases —
Alexander Stevens, Isador Boorstein, Alexander Goldberg, E. Gold-
berger, Steve Lapin, Steven Lapur, Steve Miller, J. V. Peters, Jack
Roberts. And in 1948 Whittaker Chambers identified Peters as the
head of the Communist underground in this country ; and in the fol-
lowing year, on May 9, 1949, Peters left the United States voluntarily
under the threat of deportation.
It is generally recognized now that he was the "C.I. Rep" or the
representative of the Comintern, the Communist International, in
this country for a period of many years, bossing the Communist Party
for Moscow.
StJBVERSIVE mrLTJENCES IN RIOTS, LOOTING, AND BURNING 853
In his Manual on Organization, in addition to the quote you used,
Mr. Mayor, on the subject of agitating the masses and the racial issue,
he made specific reference on various occasions to "police brutality"
as an issue. Here is one quote. He is talking about party discipline and
the need for it and he wrote :
Let us take an example from the class struggle. The District Committee
decides that a demonstration should be held against police terror and gives
directives to the Sections to mobilize the whole membership to get the greatest
possible number of workers to the demonstration. ♦ * *
And another quotation — ^where he is talking about shop units of the
Communist Party, and he says :
The Shop Units must convince the workers of the necessity for organizing
unions, of the necessity for united struggle for better conditions, for freedom of
organization (union recognition), for equal rights for Negroes, against police
terror * * *.
Then he harps on the issue of the "police terror."
Finally, again, in speaking of party street units, he says that they
must agitate and get the workers to react "to every issue." Naming the
issues, he refers to problems of unemployment, the high cost of living,
sanitarj conditions, and so on. Then he makes a specific reference again
to "police brutality" as one of them.
So, going back to 1935, the Communist Party, in an official manual
or handbook for all its members, was emphasizing the issue of police
brutality as something that all Communists should agitate on.
Mayor Yorty. There is another point in reference to the Communist
Party that I am sure the committee knows, but I think this quote is
interesting because of its origin. It is from the History of the Commu-
nist Party of the Soviet Union (Bolsheviks). This was their official
historv or their coming to power. A quote from it says :
In oppvsition to the Menshevik and Socialist-Revolutionary policy of defending
the bourgeois fatherland, the Bolsheviks advanced the policy of "the defeat of
one's otvn government in the imperialist war." This meant voting against war
credits, forming illegal revolutionary organizations in the armed forces, support-
ing fraternization among the soldiers at the front, organizing revolutionary ac-
tions of the workers and peasants against the war, and turning these actions
into an uprising against one's own imperialist government. * ♦ * Lenin held
that the policy of working for the defeat of one's own imperialist government
must be pursued not only by the Russian revolutionaries, but by the revolutionary
parties of the working class in all the belligerent countries.
• •«•♦*•
The Bolshevik Party was the only proletarian party which remained faithful
to the cause of Socialism and internationalism and which organized civil war
against its own imperialist government. * * *
I think that quote is interesting because we see the party directed
by the Communists today working against their own government in a
war, working for our defeat, and placing the same label on our war,
"imperialist."
Mr. McNamara. Mayor, in addition to the subject of legislation,
antiriot legislation, which you have previously mentioned, would you
have any other recommendations that you would make to help solve the
situation, this problem of rioting and violence ?
Mayor Yorty. Would you repeat that, Mr. McNamara ?
Mr. McNamara. In addition to the recommendation of antiriot leg-
islation, would you have any others you would make to help solve the
problem of rioting and the use of riots in the cities?
854 SUBVERSIVE INFLUENCES IN RIOTS, LOOTING, AND BURNING
Mayor Yorty. I think that antiriot legislation is one factor of a
much bigger problem, and that is the problem that I believe Senator
McClellan and his committee is now investigating, and that is the
restricting of the ability of law enforcement agencies to do their job
because of some of the decisions of the United States Supreme Court,
based mainly on the exclusionary rule and followed by Escobedo and
some of the decisions that have made the job of the police officer ex-
tremely difficult and, I think and I believe most mayors would say,
have weighted the scales a little bit too much in favor of the criminal,
forgetting the rights of the victim.
Anything that makes law enforcement as difficult as these decisions
make it certainly plays into the hands of the criminal element and
those who do not respect the rights of other people.
(At this point, Mr. Ashbrook left the hearing room.)
Mr. McNamara. Mr. Chairman, that completes the staff interroga-
tion of Mayor Yorty.
The Chairman. Mayor, this committee is extremely grateful to you
for your interest in the subject of its investigation and for the great
contribution which you have made to its success. I know that you have
been in the forefront of this subject, that your city was victimized in
part by this subversive onslaught against its institutions, and you
yourself were booed and had to suffer all kinds of insults, I know.
We appreciate your appearance.
Mayor Yorty. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
I have some other quotes that I did not put in the record, but if you
would like to have them I will just leave them with you, that I think
are of historical interest and will put the problem in a little better
perspective.
Mr. Tuck. I would like to associate myself with the chairman's re-
marks and to commend the mayor for the manner in which he has
conducted the office to which he has been elevated.
Mayor Yorty. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Mr. Watson. Mr. Chairman, may I also thank Mayor Yorty for
coming here and contributing as much as he has to the hearings.
I, frankly, am distressed. Mayor. I don't know what we are going
to do to counteract the so-called big lies, such highly inflammatory and
deceptive publications as the one which you gave to us today. We can
have a Rap Brown or Carmichael appear and we can have the com-
mittee room full and overflowing from the chandeliers.
I am sure the American people are disturbed about hearing your
side of the picture, hearing from a responsible official. Somehow or
another, we do not see any evidence of much interest on the jpart of the
people. I am not condemning the press. As you say, the public demands
the grotesque, and they demand the negative rather than the positive of
these things. I am sure the press is just reflecting the attitude of the
public. But I am disturbed.
I am encouraged that you say that we are making a little headway.
Frankly, I think it is mighty slow.
Do you have any suggestions other than what you have made here
as to how we might counteract this big lie in such publications as
this and the apparent apathy on the part of the public and the press
in hearing from a responsible citizen as a mayor of the great city of
Los Angeles, when we will have a corporal's guard here. But when
SUBVERSIVE INFLUENCES IN RIOTS, LOOTING, AND BURNING 855
such an insane man as Brown or Carmichael appears, then we will
have this room overflowing. How do you counteract this ?
Mayor Yorty. Of course, Mr. Watson, part of this fits into the
same frame of reference relative to some of these decisions of our
highest Court.
When I was chairman of the committee in California, if a witness
refused to answer a question we could file a contempt charge against
him, and we successfully prosecuted probably a couple of dozen
people.
The Chairman. Didn't the courts finally undercut that practice?
Mayor Yorty. If I were chairman of the committee today, we
couldn't be as effective because the witnesses would simply do like they
do before you, take the fifth amendment. That is why I think the pub-
lic does not have the same interest in the work of your committee be-
cause you are so stymied when a witness can sit down and say "fifth
amendment" and that is the end of the interrogation.
We badly need correction of some of the procedures if the Congress
is to get the facts before the people. If this committee could get the
facts to the people, the interest would be much greater. When they read
a series of questions and the answer is "fifth amendment," that is not
very interesting reading.
Mr. Watson. Mr. Mayor, what have you done to try to counteract
this particular publication right here. Day of Protest^ Night of Vio-
lence^ published here with the most incendiary, most inflammatory
pictures I have ever seen, obviously taken with that in mind by pho-
tographers specifically for that purpose ?
What have you done officially to try to counteract this particular
publication?
Mayor Yorty. Our city council decided to conduct an investigation
itself, but so far the investigation is not effective because some of
our police officers have been sued for damages and the city attorney
does not think that we should require them to testify before the city
council until the lawsuits are settled. So, that is one phase of our ef-
fort to combat the big lie,
I myself constantly talk about it before our citizens. I must say the
vast majority of the people of Los Angeles are strongly behind our
police department. We think it is a very fine police department. We
think we have a very good chief.
But you still, of course, have the elements to deal with that have
a deliberate purpose in defying police officers, causing mobs to con-
front them. There is constant subversive agitation and propaganda.
Unfortunately, we have to say it is more effective today than I have
ever seen it.
Mr. Watson. When the man applied for the permit to conduct
this parade which resulted in this publication, plus other unfortunate
incidents, did the city announce publicly that this man was a Com-
munist, an admitted Communist ?
Mayor Yorty. No; I don't recall that that was done by the city, as
such.
Mr. Watson. The city granted the license.
Mayor Yorty. Yes. We did not want to grant it, and the police com-
mission did not want to grant it.
Mr. Watson. But the city attorney said you had to grant it.
32-955 O— 69— pt. 1 10
856 SUBVERSIVE INFLUENCES IN RIOTS, LOOTING, AND BURNING
Mayor Yorty. Yes. So then I asked that the city attorney draft a
new ordinance giving us a little more control over the so-called parades.
He drafted it. T sent it to the city council. Of course, the leftwing
elements, some not so leftwing, accused me of trying to stifle free
speech and dissent, and so forth, which is not our purpose at all.
We do feel that the general public should have greater control over
who parades, where and when they parade. We think that the public
safety should give us the right to have reasonable control. We are not
trying to stop all parades, as they accuse us, or stifle free speech, but
we are trying to provide some reasonable regulation.
Mr. Watson. Even if you published the fact that the man who had
applied for a permit was a Communist, he would still have had his
followers there, I am sure.
It is the purpose of this committee, and we are discussing amend-
ments to the Internal Security Act today on the floor, if we could
just let the American people know who head up these things and then
if the American people or some of them are going to be stupid enough
to go over and follow these Communists, then that is their responsibil-
ity*
But I would encourage you, in the absence of any legal prohibition,
that in the future, and you have real problems in California — we don't
have any problems in South Carolina at all — I guess we will be having
them but we are just country boys down there and we are not sophisti-
cated enough for these attacks — but I believe it would help if you would
publicize the fact that the permit has been granted and was granted to
"X Jones," an admitted Communist, and give his background and
affiliation and then if the people want to run behind this Commie, they
can do it.
I appreciate your testimony.
Mayor Yorty. Your reports are truly helpful, very factual and
helpful to those of us who read them. Unfortunately, the subversive
propaganda drums away every day, in very clever ways, coming
from strange sources, while your reports tend to get a one-day notice
in the media and that is the end of it.
So, we badly need your constant counteraction to the subversive
propaganda, an explanation from here of who these people are and
what they are doing. If it could be more continuous, I think it would
be more effective.
Mr. IcHORD. Mr. Chairman.
The Chairman. Mr. Ichord.
Mr. IcHORD. I, too, want to join with my colleagues in thanking
Mayor Yorty for his very excellent testimony. ^
I do have one question I would like to ask the the mayor.
Mayor, many Americans and several people in the press appear to be
looking for a simple and single causation factor for the riots that re-
cently occurred in our cities.
Bearing in mind that the subject of this investigation is the extent of
subversive influence, at least in agitating the riots, in dealing with the
causation factors, and I may be departing from the purview of our
jurisdiction, would you not say that the causation factors are multiple?
Mayor Yorty. Of course, that is perfectly obvious.
Mr. IcHORD. But your position is that in view of the material which
you have illustrated in your report and which you have handed to the
committee, such activity could not help but have some influence.
SUBVERSIVE nTFLXJENCES IN RIOTS, LOOTING, AND BURNING 857
Mayor Yortt. I think that is certainly one of the factors. I am cer-
tain it is.
Mr. IcHORD. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman.
Mr. Watson. Mr. Chairman, may 1 pursue that line of questioning
just a step further ?
The Chairman. Certainly.
Mr. Watson. I am aware that there are many causative factors here,
but most of the causative factors have been with us throughout the ,
years. Is that not correct? In fact, the situations with many of our
minority groups have been worse in former years than they are today.
Is that not a correct statement ?
Mayor Yorty. Well, answering only from the standpoint of Los
Angeles, I think that some of the factors are different.
I think involved in some of this, of course, is the tremendous migra-
tion to our urban centers, where you have new people coming into your
city who are not even accustomed to urban living. They are not
equipped for the kind of jobs that are now available m urban centers.
I think this is somewhat of a new factor in being aggravated.
Mr. IcHORD. If the gentleman will yield at that point, certainly in
the case of the Watts riots you could not point to economic deprivation
as being a primary causative factor, because it has been pointed out
that the average income of the Watts district is much higher, and was
much higher at the time of the riots, than the average income of many
of our own congressional districts.
Mayor Yorty. This might be, and no doubt is, true of those who
are employed. But you have a great number of people there who are
not employed.
Mr. Ichord. You have a high unemployed percentage ?
Mayor Yorty. Yes. It is very hard to keep an accurate count be-
cause that south central area of Los Angeles is a corridor. A lot of
new j>eople come in and only go through there. Some of them have
stopped seeking employment. I am not sure that our figures are en-
tirely accurate. We are trying now to get more accurate fibres. This,
of course, creates part of the atmosphere where agitation can be
more effective.
Mr. Ichord. I am very well acquainted with your problem because
I do come from the St. Louis area and we do have a similar influx of
new people although not to the extent that I think you have in Los
Angeles.
Mr. Tuck. Mayor, did I understand you in the other part of your
testimony to say that the riots ensued almost immediately following
the parade?
Mayor Yorty. Well, I don't think you could say when the parade
stopped and the rioting started except when they got to the hotel where
the President was, I feel myself this became the manipulative type of
situation where plans had been made in advance by subversives to cause
a confrontation with the police, which was their main objective, and
they succeeded.
Mr. Tuck. Any person in his right mind would not want to impinge
on the constitutional rights of anyone to assemble in a peaceful demon-
stration, but when it is known in advance that these demonstrations
may well serve as a catalyst to set off a riotous condition that results in
murder, looting and burning, and other violations of the law, it seems
858 SUBVERSIVE INFLUENCES IN RIOTS, LOOTING, AND BURNING •
to me some steps should be taken to prevent people from having those
permits.
Mayor Yorty. I agree.
Mr. Tuck. So far as I am concerned, I don't think it is right to
permit those demonstrations that will cost the Government money for
the people to demonstrate or that will result in bloodshed.
The Chairman. Especially when we know in advance that the
demonstration is for the sake of troublemaking.
Mayor Yorty. Well, it is a sad day in our country
The Chairman. Demonstration for the sake of making trouble and
demonstration for the purpose of redressing a wrong are two different
things.
Mr. Tuck. That is right.
Mayor Yorty. Well, when the President of the United States can't
come to your city without the most elaborate precautions and the strip-
ping of other areas of the city to provide police to protect him, it is a
pretty sad day in the country.
The same thing, I understand, happened to Secretary Rusk in New
York the other day.
I think the public of the United States is ready to do something
about it if we can provide the means of control that are reasonable.
The Chairman. Our problem is how can we let them know. Here we
are this morning. We have been at these hearings now for a long time.
I don't want to take the press to task because you can't win that
way. They want a raucous hearing before this committee in order
to lambaste us for throwing witnesses out. But when we have a
hearing with people of intelligence and dedicated public servants such
as yourself, who describe these abhorrent conditions, then what?
Tomorrow morning you will not see this reported, undoubtedly.
Mayor Yorty. Well, we shall see.
Mr. Watson. May I ask one further question along the same lines
that we were interrogating on a moment ago ?
While some of these causative factors have been in existence for
many years, I will agree with you that we have some new ones, such
as the migration of these minority groups into the urban areas. But
do you not agree, sir, that there is more effort on the local, State, and
national level today to eliminate some of the economic and sociological
causative factors than there has ever been in the past 100 years of this
country ?
Mayor Yorty. That statement is not refutable ; there is no question
about that.
Mr. Watson. So we would have to say that the rioting or we would
have to conclude, I think reasonably, that the rioting and the other
conditions that we have had during recent years would more nearly
be the result of the Communist agitation in these particular areas,
rather than just blaming it on the sociological and other factors
which have been in existence for many years.
Mayor Yorty. Well, I think that the Communist factor is more
effective than it has been before and partly because of the movement
of people into the urban centers and the conditions with which they
are confronted there. There is no question about it that when vou have
people who are not really part of the American economy, they have
no training for a job that is available to them and they arc simply
SUBVERSIVE INTLUENCES IN RIOTS, LOOTING, AND BURNING 859
put on relief, that they are certainly more subject to subversion than
a person who has training and has a job. Now, the kinds of jobs that
untrained people can do in the Los Angeles area are disappearing.
Mr. Watson. They are all over the country, are they not ?
Mayor Yorty. So you have an aggravation of the problem. You
have tremendous want ads looking for employees.
Mr. Watson. There is no genuine interest on the part of the Com-
munist agitator or manipulator of this unfortunate circumstance to
improve the lot of these people, but rather to cause disunity and un-
rest and a general breakdown in law and order.
Mayor Yorty. The purpose of the subversive is always to exploit
any situation that he can find. That' is not only true in our cities;
that is true in the Middle East; that is true everj^ place.
The public has no idea of the success of the international Com-
munist Party in the world today. There is not a conflict, even in
Nigeria, where they have moved in with a group at Lagos to help
them against Biaffra, at the same time they tell the Biaffrans that we
have refused help to them, that they have the situation confused,
both sides hate us: Biaffra because we don't help them and Lagos
because they are getting help by the Russian Communists. They move
in every place in this world that they can create more confusion, the
more opportunity for their kind of propaganda to make Communist
incursions.
The Chairman. Thank you again. Mayor Yorty.
Mayor Yorty. I was pleased to be here.
* * * 4> * * *
(Whereupon, at 12 noon, Tuesday, November 28, 1967, the subcom-
mittee recessed, to reconvene at 10 a.m., Wednesday, November 29,
1967.)
SUBVERSIVE INFLUENCES IN RIOTS, LOOTING, AND
BURNING
Part 1
TUESDAY, OCTOBER 31, 1967
United States House op Representatives,
subcommtttee op the
Committee on Un-American Activities,
Washington, D.C.
PUBLIC hearings
The subcommittee of the Committee on Un-American Activities met,
pursuant to call, at 10:00 a.m., in Room 311, Cannon House Office
Building, Washington, D.C, Hon. Edwin E. Willis (chairman)
presiding.
(Subcommittee members: Representatives Edwin E. Willis, of
Louisiana, chairman; William M. Tuck, of Virginia; Richard H.
Ichord, of Missouri; John M. Ashbrook, of Ohio; and Albert W.
Watson, of South Carolina ; also John C. Culver, of Iowa, in absence
of Mr. Willis.)
Subcommittee members present: Representatives Willis, Tuck,
Ichord, Ashbrook, and Watson.
Staff members present : Francis J. McNamara, director ; Chester D.
Smith, general counsel ; and Herbert Romerstein, investigator.
The CiiAiRMAN. The committee will come to order.
*******
The Chairman. Mr. Mehaffey, please raise you right hand.^
Do you solemnly swear that the testimony you give this committee
will be the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help
you God?
Mr. Mehaffey. I do.
Mr. Smith. Mr. Chairman, before he starts his testimony I have
a few documents I would like to introduce.
The Chairman. All right.
Mr. Smith. Mr. Chairman, in preparation for these hearings the
staff has prepared a compilation of statements by foreign Communist
powers and organizations on the recent riots in this country. Inasmuch
as there are groups in this country which have been involved in the
riots and which take orders from these powers, or openly adulate them
and hold them up as models, it is believed these statements are relevant
to this inquiry.
* Testimony of other witnesses wlio testified prior to Mr. Mebaffey's appearance on this
date Is printed in part 2 of these hearings.
861
862 SUBVERSIVE INFLUENCES IN RIOTS, LOOTING, AND BURNING
Is permission granted to make these statements a part of the hear-
ing record as Conmiittee Exhibit No. 1 ?
The Chairman. Without objection they will be included.
(Dociunent marked "Committee Exhibit No. 1." See pp. 863-878.)
Mr. Smith. Mr. Chairman, the staff has also compiled statements
raade by the FBI and its Director, Mr. J. Edgar Hoover, during the
I>ast 6 years on the subject of Communist activity in the area of racial
agitation. Because the FBI has a network of informants within Com-
munist and other subversive organizations and is in a better position
to know what these organizations are doing than any other agency
of Government, and because these statements are relevant to this
inquiry, permission is requested to make this compilation a part of
the record.
The Chairman. That compilation will be mad© a part of the record.
(Document marked "Committee Exhibit No. 2." See pp. 878-883.)
Mr. Smith. Mr. Chairman, in connection with Mr. Mehaffey's tes-
timony, investigation and research which have been carried out by
staff in connection with this inquiry have revealed that certain or-
ganizations as such have been directly involved in riots and racial
incidents involving violence; that individual leaders and members of
other organizations have played a role in certain of the riots; and,
finally, that certain organizations and/or their leaders have been
engaged in the dissemination of inflammatory racial propaganda and
agitation which, expert testimony has indicated, may well contribute
to the outbreak of riots.
Because some of these organizations are relatively new and others are
small and little known, the subcommittee has agreed that staff docu-
ments containing basic data about these organizations and also state-
ments which they or their recognized leaders have made concerning
riots, the use of violence, and related issues should be made a part of
the record.
The purpose is to make the record clear. When facts are presented
about these organizations and individuals in these hearings, the gen-
eral nature of the groups will be known and understood. It is em-
phasized that these documents are not intended to convey any more
than they actually say. Some of these organizations, as the documents
make clear, are openly Communist and subversive. Others have been
cited as Communist and/or subversive by official agencies. Still others
have not. In such cases, the inclusion of these documents in the record
is not to be interpreted as a committee finding or implication that the
organization is Communist or subversive.
Permission is requested at this time to enter these documents, to be
presented by Mr. Mehaffey, into the record.
The Chairman. PermivSsion is granted.
Mr. Smith. It was originally planned that all tJiese exhibits would
be placed in the record before receipt of testimony concerning the
Harlem riot of 1964 and racial aoitation in New York City prior
to and since the riot. A number of factors prevented this being done.
Therefore, it is requested that these exhibits be placed in the record
before the testimony of Detective Hart and immediately following
that of those witnesses who testified as authorities on the subject of
rioting.
The Chairman. The request is granted.
SUBVERSIVE INFLUENCES IN RIOTS, LOOTING, AND BURNING 863
TESTIMONY OF ROBERT H. MEHAFFEY
The Chairman. At this point, Mr. Mehaffey, just in a thumbnail
sketch form, can you read highlight excerpts from some of the staff
documents referred to by counsel which you are now submitting for
the record ?
(Documents marked "Committee Exhibit No. 3." See pp. 884-922.)
Mr. Mehaffey. Yes, sir.
Mr. Smith. Give the reporter your full name.
Mr. Mehaffey. Robert H. Mehaffey.
Mr. Smith. Where are you employed ?
Mr. Mehaffey. I am employed with the House Committee on Un-
American Activities as research consultant.
Mr. Smith. Will you proceed.
Mr. Mehaffey. Thank you.
(At this point, Mr. Mehaffey read excerpts from Committee Exhibit
No. 3, the staff pap>ers on the Communist Party, U.S.A., the W. E. B.
DuBois Clubs of America, and the Progressive Labor Party. As he
finished the excerpts from the document on the Progressive Labor
Party, the following exchange took place :)
The Chairman. Off the record, gentlemen.
There is a quorum call going on. I think I will try to make it.
The committee will stand in recess for 20 minutes.
(Brief recess)
The Chairman. The committee will be in recess until 10 o'clock
tomorrow morning.
(Whereupon, at 4 :50 p.m., Tuesday, October 31, 1967, the committee
was recessed, to reconvene at 10:00 a.m., Wednesday, November 1,
1967.)
(Committee Exhibits Nos. 1 through 3 follow :)
CJoMMiTTEE Exhibit No. 1
INTERNATIONAL COMMUNIST STATEMENTS ON RACIAL AGITATION
AND RIOTS IN THE UNITED STATES
E\)reign Communist parties and capitals, in statements and commentaries
broadcast to all parts of the world and published in international and national
Communist journals, have not only welcomed and supported the racial riots in
this country, but have made it clear that it is their desire that additional riots
take place — a message that will not be lost on their U.S. followers.
They have described the "so-called riots" as justified "insurrections" and
"rebellions," as "revolutionary violence" which is a part of the class struggle
in this country and the worldwide struggle against U.S. imperialism.
They have placed full blame for the riots on the United States Grovemment.
They portray the riots as "massacres" in which Negroes are "murdered" and
numerous "atrocities" are committed against them by the police and military
forces called in to restore order. The riot cities are "battlefields" in the "limited
war" of "genocide" being waged by the U.S. Government against Negroes in this
country.
The statements of Moscow, Peking, Hanoi, and Havana quoted in this exhibit,
as well as similar statements made by these and other Communist capitals
not reproduced herein, have a number of obvious purposes :
1. To discredit the United States everywhere by creating the impression that
the Negroes in this country are so brutally treated and oppressed that, unable
to tolerate conditions any longer, they have risen in rebellion against the
Grovemment ;
2. To make it clear to Communists in all parts of the world that, in whatever
way possible, they are to publicize, support, and promote individuals and orga-
864 SUBVEESIVE ESTFLUENCES IN RIOTS, LOOTING, AND BURNING
nizations in the U.S. engaging in racial agitation and the instigation of rioting;
3. To convey the message to U.S. Communists that they themselves should do all
they can to promote the outbreak of riots which, for obvious reasons, are be-
lieved to assist in the accomplishment of Communist objectives both here and
abroad ;
4. To convince civil rights organizations and activists, and Negroes in general,
that Negroes in this country cannot achieve full equality unless the United
States ends the war in Vietnam, i.e., pulls out of Vietnam and permits the Com-
munists to take over that country ;
5. To the degree that these statements reach Negroes in the United States,
they are clearly designed to arouse hatred, resentment, and enmity against the
Government and create a willingness to riot in the future against an allegedly
coldblooded, oppressive regime that is making a calculated effort to wipe out
the Negroes in the United States.
The Soviet Union
moscow radio. english language commentary to south asia on the watts
riot. august 16. 1965:
"The residents of the Negro ghetto [Watts] staged a peaceful campaign against
segregation a few days ago. The racists tried terror to impede them. ♦ * •
This small civil war * * * has witnessed the local and federal administrations
taking the side of the racists. Tens of thousands of police and national guards-
men, reinforced by regular troops are taking action against the Negroes.
• **«*«*
"It is remarkable that the massacre in Los Angeles took place exactly two
weeks after Congress passed a bill on Negro voting. ♦ * ♦ The bullets, bayonets,
and teargas used ♦ ♦ ♦ is eloquent disproval of the fairy tale about race har-
mony for which the present American administration is allegedly fighting. ♦ * •
These events have proved that the struggle for equality cannot be won by dem-
onstrations and singing of psalms alone."
MOSCOW RADIO ON WATTS RIOT, AUGUST 16, 1965:
"The Los Angeles events have further demolished the fairytale of freedom
and democracy in the United States. For the Negro population ♦ ♦ ♦ these prin-
ciples meant thousands of arrests, hundreds of wounded, and dozens of mur-
dered people. ♦ * * The population, cut off from the rest of the world, is facing
hunger. Police and National Guardsmen are combing the ruined streets. Acting
on the hysterical command of the City Police Chief Parker, they go on arresting,
arresting, arresting. ♦ ♦ * The bloodstained events in Los Angeles began six days
ago with a peaceful demonstration against racial discrimination. No one stopped
the racists when they attacked the demonstrators. But the full force of the strong-
est military power of the capitalist world was brought to bear on the Negroes of
Los Angeles when in their despair they took up arms.. ♦ * *
"The word 'ghetto' often occurs in reports from Los Angeles, sometimes in
conjunction with the term 'Warsaw.' Many people are reminded of the events
linked to rising of the population of the Jewish ghetto in the Polish capital
occupied by the Nazis. The Nazis quelled this rising with bestial and methodical
cruelty.
*******
"the soldier who disperses a Negro demonstration is being morally prepared for
killing people in Vietnam or the Dominican Republic. • ♦ ♦ report's from Los
Angeles stress that the behavior of U.S. soldiers in the city's Negro quarters is
reminiscent of their action in Santo Domingo. * * ♦ It is no accident that Viet-
nam, Santo Domingo, and the American city of Los Angeles are joined in one
line, the line of the fight against the common foe, American imperialism."
TASS INTERNATIONAL SERVICE. AUGUST 17. 1965:
"News coming from" Los Angeles shows that the actions of the Negro popula-
tion of that city have been suppressed by the most ruthless means.
• *****«
"politicians accentuate individual cases of 'violence' by the Negro population ♦ • •
"Despite the demagogic statements of U.S. oflBcials • ♦ ♦ the Negroes still
remain in the vise of inequality in all spheres of life. ♦ * • What is happening
in fact is that Negroes from rural areas, particularly from the southern states,
SUBVliRSIVE INFLUENCES IN RIOTS, LOOTING, AND BURNING 865
• • * pour into the big cities in search of a better life * ♦ *. But in the city
ghettos they find the same hopelessness * * *.
♦ ♦♦*•**
"The bloody events in Los Angeles, just as last year's events in Harlem, have a
common basis * ♦ ♦ the absence of radical action by the government to restore
the elementary rights of the Negro population; that is, such measures which
are not in the interests of the monopolies.
"The demands for change in the status of the Negro population in America
keep rising, and where this movement encounters most reactionary forms of
official resistance ♦. ♦ • it takes violent forms. • • ♦"
MOSCOW RADIO BROADCAST TO U.S. TROOPS IN VIETNAM, MAY 17. 196T:
"The American FBI and the CIA sent a secret letter to the commander of the
American occupation forces in South Vietnam which dealt with the alleged
unreliability of Negro soldiers and proposed measures to strengthen controls
over them. ♦ * * In the United States itself, a new movement against racial
discrimination has started • * • Negro soldiers serving in the U.S. Army will
not be indifferent to this. • • • American Negro soldiers are fully aware of all
this and they themselves are subjected to racial discrimination * • *.
"• ♦ ♦ General William Westmoreland ♦ • * issued an order for Negro sol-
diers to be thrown into the most dangerous areas and to use them for cover for
the white soldiers. Because of his orders, the Negroes are sent to parachute troop
detachments, which suffer the greatest losses in the Vietnam jungle. • • •
"Perhaps there are some Negro soldiers listening to this program. If so, do
they ask themselves in whose interests they have to rot in the Vietnam
jungles ♦ • ♦? For the interests of those who lynch their fathers and brothers
in America ♦ • • The Negro soldiers must not betray their ideals and their
hopes for freedom and equal rights. And it is exactly this that the Vietnamese
patriots are fighting for. They are fighting the same Yankee racists against whom
today the black ghettos of Ajnerica are rising in their just struggle."
MOSCOW RADIO BROADCAST TO SOUTH ASIA, JULY 2S. 1967:
"America has never seen the likes of it before and America is * * * accus-
tomed to racial disturbances. Real battles are raging in the streets of American
cities. • * •
"The United States is actually on the brink of civil war. ♦ ♦ * Earlier it was
the South that was the citadel of racism. Now Negroes are beaten up and
killed in the North too. ♦ ♦ • the full power of the police and the army, tanks
and armored cars, is thrown against the unarmed Negroes.
"American racism is celebrating a gory victory. It is suppressing, killing,
beating up, arresting, and imprisoning. ♦ ♦ ♦
"The Negro movement is growing in scope and vigor * * *, Experience has
shown them that only by fighting can they accomplish anything. In Newark * * *
there was a national conference by representatives of the Negro movement. • • ♦
The conference decided to set up a single center to coordinate and unite the move-
ment for Negro rights. ♦ ♦ ♦ Rap Brown, one of the delegates, said : There are
three forms of genocide in the United States today. There is the genocide toward
the Negro children in Mississippi * ♦ ♦. Then there is the police genocide * * *.
Finally, there is the war in Vietnam. * * ♦ American imperialist circles are now
waging two race wars — one against the Negroes at home, the other against
Asians in Vietnam. * * ♦"
MOSCOW DOMESTIC RADIO COMMENTARY ON NEWARK RIOT, JULY 25, 1967:
"The long, hot summer of Negro demonstrations ♦ * ♦ is now at its height. ♦ • ♦
there was an explosion in Newarif. For six days the unarmed Negro population
of the city, rising in despair to the din of police shooting ♦ ♦ ♦ tried to force
the federal authorities in Washington to listen to them. The response of the
authorities was that dozens of Negroes were killed, hundreds wounded, and
thousands arrested. * * ♦ the wave of despair and anger spread throughout the
country * * ♦. The rising in the Negro ghetto of Newark spread to New Bruns-
wick. Plainfield, Minneapolis, Birmingham, and finally reached the country's
largest cities. New York and Detroit. * * *"
866 SUBVERSIVE rNFLUENCES IN" RIOTS, LOOTING, AND BTTRNING
AN ARTICLE IN NEW TIMES (MOSCOW) OF AUGUST 16, 1967. TITLED "REAPING THE
WHIRLWIND," AND WRITTEN BY HARRY FREEMAN, A U.S. CITIZEN AND TASS
CORRESPONDENT IN THE U.S., STATED:
"Last year there were insurrections in Negro ghettos of thirty-eight cities
across the United States. ♦ * *
*******
"By cutting funds for the ghettos, they made slum insurrections inevitable, and
they were prepared to use force at home just as they were using it abroad * * *.
*«****•
"As the world knows, there were major ghetto insurrections in Detroit, Michi-
gan, and in Newark; New Jersey. * ♦ * The guardians of American 'law and
order' were ruthless in suppressing the ghetto insurrections in these two cities.
*******
"the entire struggle of the embittered black slum dwellers across the land has
assumed a new character. * * * It bears the heat of dynamite. * ♦ * the rulers
of the United States * ♦ * find themselves engaging in a thus far 'limited war'
to suppress black people at home ♦ * *. The battlefields and potential battle-
fields at home may be less numerous than in Vietnam, but surely suflicient to
cause concern to Washington strategists as they try to calculate in what cities
and in what numbers army troops may be required to supplement reservists
and police.
"No one can gauge precisely the power of the social dynamite stored in the
country's ghettos : no one can surely predict how far the 'limited war' on the
home front will escalate. What is clear is that the country is in the midst of an
internal crisis of major proportions.
* * * * * * * '
"young and new leaders in the struggle, such as Stokely Carmichael and H. Rap
Brown of the Student Non- Violent Co-ordinating Committee, clearly welcome
the insurrections * * *." ^
Communist China
On August 12, 1963, there was held in Peking, China, "The Rally of People
From All Walks of Life in Peking Opposing U.S. Imperialism and Supporting the
American Negroes' Struggle Against Racial Discrimination."
Four, days earlier, on August 8, while receiving a group of visitors from Africa,
Mao Tse-tung, at the request of Robert Williams (who was then visiting Peking
with his wife), made a statement on the theme of the above-mentioned rally.
EXCERPTS FROM MAO TSE-TVNG'S STATEMENT WHICH WAS READ AT THE RALLY
FOLLOW:
"An American Negro leader now taking refuge in Cuba, Mr. Robert Wil-
liams, * * • has twice this year asked me for a statement in support of the
American Negroes' struggle against racial discrimination. On behalf of the
Chinese people, I wish to take this opportunity to express our resolute support
for the American Negroes in their struggle against racial discrimination and for
freedom and equal rights.
*******
"The American Negroes are awakening and their resistance is growing stronger
and stronger. * * *
*******
"A gigantic and vigorous nationwide struggle is going on in nearly every city and
state, and the struggle is mounting. ♦ ♦ * the struggle of the American Negroes
is a manifestation of sharpening class struggle and sharpening national struggle
within the United States * ♦ *
"I call on the workers, peasants, revolutionary intellectuals, enlightened ele-
ments of the bourgeoisie and other enlightened persons of all colours in the
world, whether white, black, yellow or brown, to unite • * * and support the
American Negroes in their struggle against racial discrimination. In the final
analysis, national struggle is a matter of class struggle. * * * I am firmly con-
vinced that, with the support of more than 90 per cent of the people of the world,
the American Negroes will be victorious in their just struggle. ♦ ♦ ♦"
SUBVERSIVE INFLUENCES IN RIOTS, LOOTING, AND BURNING 867
EXCERPTS FROM OTHER SPEECHES AT THE AUGUST 12, 1963, RALLY:
Liu Ning-I, representative of the People's Organizations of China and president
of the All-China Federation of Trade Unions :
"The current struggle of the American Negroes which started in Birmingham
is a great revolutionary struggle * * * for the liberation of the Negroes. ♦ ♦ * it
shows that the American Negroes have discovered a correct path in their struggle,
that is. the path of unity and resolute struggle against the reactionary ruling
class. * * • Just as Robert Williams, a leader of the American Negroes in exile
in Cuba, has said, 'The stranglehold of oppression cannot be loosened by a plea
to the oppressors' conscience. Social change in something as fundamental as racist
oppression involves violence. You cannot have progress here without violence
and upheaval.' Casting away their illusions about the reactionary ruling class,
the broad masses of Negroes have moved from the courts to the streets and carried
on resolute struggles. Here lies the real hope of the liberation of the American
Negroes. Robert Williams said, 'The future belongs to today's oppressed and I
shall be witness to that future in the liberation of the Afro-American.' * * *
• *«»•••
"The struggle of the American Negroes against racial oppression and for free-
dom and equal rights is a component part of the revolutionary struggle of the
oppressed peoples and nations the world over. This revolutionary struggle spring-
ing ap in the heartland of U.S. imperialism is of very great significance to the
common struggle of the people of the world against imperialism headed by U.S.
imperialism, and gives a powerful support to the fighting peoples of different
countries, * * *
• *••*••
'In our common struggle we shall for ever give each other encouragement and
support. ♦ * * By relying on their firm unity and resolute struggle * * ♦and on
the sympathy and support of the world's people, our American Negro brothers
will certainly win great victory in their just struggle ♦ * *
"People of the whole world, unite ! Stop the U.S. imperialists' fascist crime
of persecuting and suppressing the American Negroes !
"Long live the victory of the American Negroes' struggle against racial
oppression !"
Frank Coe,^ "An American Friend Living in Peking" :
"All the American people will be happy over this great meeting * * * to sup-
port the struggle of the American Negroes.
"All our people will likewise be grateful for Chairman Mao Tse-tung's his-
toric statement on this struggle. This is the first time a world leader • ♦ ♦ has
called on the people of all countries to unite against • ♦ * U.S. imperialism and
to support the American Negroes in their struggle against it. * ♦ * it is also
the first time that Chairman Mao Tse-tung has personally issued a statement of
this kind. ♦ • ♦
1 A former official of the U.S. Treasury Department and of the United Nations who was
identified as a member of a Soviet espionage ring composed of Government employees In the
sworn testimony of Elizabeth Bentley before this committee on July 31, 1948.
On Aug. 13, 1948, Frank Coe appeared as a witness before this committee and denied that
he had ever been a member of the Communist Party or that he belonged to a Soviet espionage
group.
Coe subsequently, however, appeared as a witness during four hearings conducted by
Senate investigating committees. At all four hearings he invoked the fifth amendment in
refusing to answer questions pertaining to Communist Party membership. At three of the
hearings he also refused, on the same grounds, to answer questions regarding espionage
activities.
On Dec. 3, 1952, 2 days after the first of these appearances, he was dismissed as
secretary of the United Nations International Monetary Fund. On June 5, 1953, in testi-
mony before the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, Coe denied that he was then
engaged in espionage activities and that he had been engaged in espionage on Dec. 2. 1952.
When questioned about espionage on Dec. 1, 1952, and a period of time preceding that
date, Coe invoked the fifth amendment. He also Invoked the fifth amendment when the com-
mittee asked if he was under orders of the Communist Party.
On May 15, 1956. he testified before a Senate committee that Elizabeth Bentley's charges
had been false, but invoked the fifth amendment when questioned about past or present
membership in the Communist Party.
After the Supreme Court decision in the Kent-Briehl case. Coe was issued a passport on
July 31, 1958 (the State Department had denied him one in 1951).
He went to Red China later that year and has resided there since that time.
868 SUBVERSIVE INFLUENCES IN RIOTS, LOOTING, AND BURNING
"The movement of the U.S. Negroes against racial discrimination is neces-
sarily a part of the world-wide united front against U.S. imperialism * ♦ *. The
vigor and power of this movement in the United States is yet another proof
that this international united front is inevitable. This united front is bound to
achieve victory.
"People of the whole world, unite to support the American Negro people in
their struggle against racial discrimination !
"People of the whole world, unite to overthrow the common enemy, U.S.
imperialism !"
Anna Louise Strong,^ recorded speech on behalf of herself and the following
three Americans and one Canadian living and working in China :
Talitha Oerlach, China Welfare Institute, Shanghai ;
Dr. George Hatem (Ma Hai-teh) , for 30 years in China's Puiblic Health Service ;
Bertha Hinton, Peking Institute of Foreign Languages ;
Doris Nielsen, "wartime progressive member" of the Canadian Parliament:
"We want to bear witness that we, Americans, living, working and traveling ex-
tensively in China, have seen for ourselves how widely the Chinese people ♦ * ♦
are Interested in the American Negroes' struggle for Freedom and give it their
full support. * * *
"Second, we wish to inform the American Negroes that China herself is an
example that shows that racial discrimination and inequality can be abolished
"the experience of the Chinese people suggests that the American Negroes will
not gain the full benefits under the present social system in America. ♦ ♦ * So,
* * * we think and hope you also realize that final victory cannot be won until
you overthrow the monopoly capitalism of America, your final enemy, and also
the enemy of the American people and of the i)eople of the world.
*******
"This Negro struggle is not yet the American Revolution but may spark it.
As more and more of the American working class and progressives join to sup-
port the Negro movement for 'Freedom Now', this may win a new birth of free-
dom for all exploited Americans and reinforce the anti-imperialist struggles of
the world."
MESSAGE ADOPTED AT THE AUGUST 12. 1963, RALLY:
"The struggle waged by the more than 19 million American Negroes is an
entirely just one. It enjoys the sympathy and support of the Chinese people
♦ * • The Chinese people deeply admire their American Negro brothers for their
dauntless and indomitable spirit and most resolutely support their just demands.
* Anna Louise Strong has been identified as a member of the Communist Party by several
witnesses in testimony before this committee. She was also Identified as the representative
from the CPUSA to the Soviet News Agency Tass in the early 1930 s.
The Senate Internal Security Sulxrommlttee, after extensive hearings, issued a report on
the Institute of Pacific Relations In 1952. It stated that Miss Strong had also been a collab-
orator with agents of the Soviet intelligence apparatus.
Miss Strong went to Russia in 1921 for the American Friends Relief Mission.^ She became
a correspondent for Hearst magazines and the North American Newspaper Alliance, travel-
ing widely in Russia, China, and Central Europe. In 1930 she founded the Moscow Daily
News, the first English language newspaper in Moscow.
In 1949 she was arrested by the 'Soviets on spy charges and deported from the U.S.S.R.
In 1955 the Soviet Government cleared her of these charges and said that she had been
framed by former Russian police chief Lavrenti Beria.
In June 1955 Miss Strong, then a resident of California, applied for a passport. The State
Department refused her application. In 1958 she was granted a passport after the Supreme
Court ruled that the Secretary of State could not withhold passports because of "beliefs or
associations." Congress, it said, "has made no such provision in explicit terms ; and absent
one, the Secretary may not employ that standard to restrict the citizens' right of free
movement."
Miss Strong has been a resident of Communist China since 1958. Although she is now
over 80 years old, she was reported to have joined the Red Guards, China's revolutionary
youth movement, in 1966. Chinese leaders honor her as a veteran revolutionary. Mao
Tse-tung himself was host at a special banquet on her 80th birthday.
As for years in the past, she is presently serving as foreign correspondent in Peking for
the National Guardian and publishing "Letter from China," which is mailed to the United
States.
SUBVERSIVE mrLtTENCES IN RIOTS, LOOTmO, AND BURNING 869
"The struggle of the American Negroes is not an isolated one. Their struggle is
closely linked with the struggle of ♦ ♦ * the whole world against imperialism
headed by the United States and these struggles are inspiring and supporting each
other. We are firmly convinced that, as long as they close their ranks and perse-
vere in the struggle, our Negro brothers and sisters in the United States will
triumph no matter how arduous the struggle and how tortuous the path may
be. • * *"
PEOPLE'S DAILY (PEKING) EDITORIAL. AUGUST 12, 1963:
"Today, the people from all walks of life in the Chinese capital will hold a
grand rally in support of the American Negroes' just struggle against racial
discrimination. * * *
*******
"The U.S. Negroes' struggle ♦ • • cannot but be a severe struggle against the
U.S. monopoly groups' brutal exploitation and reactionary rule.
*******
"The American Negro people's struggle for equal rights is an inseparable part
of the revolutionary struggle of the oppressed jieoples and nations throughout
the world. Every success in the American Negroes' movement provides vigorous
support and inspiration for the revolutionary movement of the people in other
parts of the world. The revolutionary people everywhere firmly stand on the
side of the American Negroes and evaluate highly their just struggle. The struggle
of our American Negro brothers will be extremely arduous and they still may
meet various kinds of setbacks. But as Chairman Mao Tse-tung points out in his
statement : '. . . with the support of more than 90 per cent of the people of the
world, the American Negroes will be victorious in their just struggle. The evil
system of colonialism and imperialism grew up along with the enslavement of
Negroes and the trade in Negroes, and it wUl surely come to its end with the
thorough emancipation of the black people.' "
SECOND PEKING "RALLY OF PEOPLE":
A second "Rally of People from All Walks of Life in Peking Opposing U.S.
Imperialism and Supporting the American Negroes' Struggle Against Racial Dis-
crimination" was held in Peking on October 10, 1963. Excerpts from speeches at
this rally follow :
Robert Williams, "An American Negro Leader" ;
"The government of the U.S.A. is the world's greatest hypocrite. * * ♦ It has
forfeited its right to even exist on the face of the earth * * *
*******
"Patriots and friends, it fills my heart with joy for so many of us to join
together in a common cause against a common enemy. * * *
*******
"U.S. racism is a cancerous sore that threatens the well-being of humanity.
It can only be removed and a cure effected by a surgical operation performed by
the great masses of the world. * * * The government of the U.S.A. is an enemy
to all the world. Freedom in the U.S.A. is a farce. * * *
"In the name of the African captives of racist America, I thank you for your
support of a common struggle against a common enemy. Again, I thank Chairman
Mao for his appeal for universal support of our struggle. Patriots, in unity and
solidarity with our oppressed brothers, let our battle cry be heard around the
world : Freedom ! Freedom ! Freedom now or Death !"
Kuo Mo-Jo, chairman of the China Peace C<WQmittee :
"Aa Mr. [Robert] Williams points out, it is high time for the American Negroes
to take action. • * ♦
"We are glad to see that the struggle of the American Negroes is developing
with full speed. * • ♦ The struggle of the American Negroes is a comix>nent part
of the American people's revolutionary struggle, and of the world-wide struggle of
the oppressed peoples and nations against. imperialism and for emancipation. The
struggle of our American Negro brothers strikes at U.S. imi)erialism from the
heartland of this common enemy of the people of the world. Every victory they
win supports and inspires the revolutionary movements of the people of all coun-
tries. Similarly, the struggles of the people of the world against imperialism
870 SUBVERSIVE INFLUENCES IN RIOTS, LOOTING, AND BURNING
headed by the United States, gives powerful support to the struggle of the
American Negroes. * * * We are deeply concerned for the revolutionary struggle
of the American Negroes and the American people, and vpe regard their struggle
as our own, their victory our victory. We solemnly reiterate here that the 650
million Chinese people will always support the struggle of the American Negroes
and the American people as a whole, until they win the final victory."
MESSAGE TO AMERICAN NEGROES ADOPTED AT THE OCTOBER 10, 1963. PEKING
RALLY:
"People from all walks of life in Peking are gathered * * * to pledge resolute
support to American Negro brothers and sisters in their struggle against U.S.
imperialist racial discrimination and for freedom and equal rights. * * * The
Freedom March on Washington on August 28 * ♦ * marks a new upsurge in the
American Negroes' struggle. * ♦ *
* * * * * * *
"The American Negroes' struggle is an integral part of the revolutionary strug-
gle of the American people and of the liberation struggle of all oppressed nations
and peoples. * * * The Chinese people will always stand by their American Negro
brothers and sisters as well as the American people as a whole in the fight against
U.S. imi>erialism * * *."
On August 8, 1964, a rally was held in Peking to celebrate the first anniversary
©f Mao Tse-tung's statement in support of American Negroes.
EXCERPTS FROM SPEECHES MADE AT THIS RALLY FOLLOW:
Frank Coe:
"Comrade chairman, comrades, and friends: One year ago today Comrade
Mao Tse-tung issued his historic statement calling upon the people of the world
to unit and * * * support the American Negroes in their struggle * * *. The
statement was * * * widely circulated among the American Negroes, despite
the efforts of the U.S. capitalist press to suppress it * ♦ * By now almost every
national liberaition struggle in the world has declared that the struggle of the
Afro-Americans is part of its own cause. So have all the Marxist-Leninist parties
and groups in the world. * * * Negro leaders are reaching out to form links with
the national liberation struggles throughout the world. * * *
*******
"Afro-Americans are beginning to talk more and more about armed self-
defense, * * * about guerrilla warfare, and civil war. Why not armed self-
defense? * * ♦
"The U.S. Marxist-Leninists advocate armed self-defense ; black nationalist
organizations advocate it and are gaining ground. Some of the leaders liken the
stand of nonviolence to that of Khrushchev, and the stand of the more militant
leaders to that of Mao Tse-tung. Negro intellectuals are saying that the tactics
of nonviolence are not sufficient * * *. These local leaders are tending to the
view that violence must be met with violence (applause) .
*******
"These 20 million people, battering down the walls of U.S. imperalism from
within, are a great support for every people's struggle in the world. * ♦ ♦
*******
"Speaking for the people of the United States of America, whether white,
black, red, brown, or yellow, I wish to say to this rally in Peking : We the
American people oppose and condemn the aggression of the U.S. Government
against the DRV. ♦ ♦ » support the North Vietnamese people * * *. We want
the Vietnamese people to win and we are sure they will ♦ * *
"Soon there will be no (Negro people?) willing to serve as cannonfodder ♦ * •
"We, the American people of all colors, are grateful for the support the
Chinese people have given to the struggle of our Afro-American people. * • ♦
"We thank the people of Peking for organizing this splendid rally of support
and for your confidence in our victory (applause). Long live the heroic American
Negro people ! Victory for their struggle (applause) !
*******
"Finally, on behalf of all the American people, I wish to thank Chairman Mao
Tse-tung for the statement he issued one year ago declaring the support of the
SUBVERSIVE INFLUENCES IN RIOTS, LOOTING, AND BURNING 871
Chinese people for the struggle of the American Negro i)eople and calling on all
of the people of the world to do likewise. * * *"
Kuo Chien, secretary of the China Women's Federation :
"We i)eople of all circles in the nation's capital are holding a rally to support
the American Negroes' just struggle against racial discrimination and commem-
orate the first anniversary of the publication of Chairman Mao's statement. * * *
in the name of 650 million Chinese people, I solemnly declare that we shall
always — unswervingly and resolutely — support and thoroughly carry out this
great caU of Chairman Mao's (applause). * * * We pay high tribute and pledge*
resolute support to the American Negro brothers who i)ersist in their heroic
struggle • • ♦."
PEKING RADIO COMMENT ON WATTS RIOT, AUGUST 16, 1965:
"Leaflets distributed by the demonstrating Negroes * * * linked up their
struggle * * • with the battle fought by the other oppressed peoples of the
world against U.S. aggression. One leaflet reads in part: 'After years of frame-
ups, brutalities, and intimidations, the black i>eople are throwing off control of
the same rulers who are making war on people throughout the world — in
Vietnam, the Dominican Republic, and the Congo.' "
PEKING RADIO COMMENT (ENGLISH LANGUAGE) ON WATTS RIOT. AUGUST 16, 1965:
"The struggle of the Negro people in Los Angeles and other places in the
United States is a veritable revolutionary movement, and, like the revolutionary
movement of other peoples, the struggle of the American Negroes will be crowned
with victory, says the PEOPLE'S DAILY commentator today.
* * • • * * *
"The Chinese i>eople firmly support the just struggle of their American Negro
brothers and strongly protest against the atrocities of the U.S. ruling circles
against them. * * ♦ On the surface the Negro question is a national question.
But as Chairman Mao Tse-tung said : 'In the final analysis, a national struggle
is a question of class struggle.' * * * Class contradictions between the Negroes
and the monopolist groups are irreconciliable [sic]. * * *
"One new characteristic of the Los Angeles struggle is that the Negro masses
link their struggle against the domestic reactionary iwlicies of the Johnson
Administration with their struggle against its policy of aggression abroad. * * •
"The American Negroes know full well that they are not alone in their struggle.
The anti-U.S. forces throughout the world are on their side and fight shoulder to
shoulder with them. * ♦ ♦"
PEKING RADIO COMMENT ON THE WATTS RIOT, AUGUST 17. 1965:
"The dauntless Negroes • * * in Los Angeles are continuing their heroic
fight • • * against large numbers of police and national guard who had been
brought in to carry out cruel suppression * * ♦.
"The struggle 'has given some Negroes a feeling of importance and power they
never had before,' he said.
*******
"In the Negro district, 15,000 national guardsmen and police kept up the bloody
suppression against the Negroes. * ♦ ♦
"These national guardsmen and police are now slaughtering innoc'ent in-
habitants. * • •
*******
"One of the salient features of the present Negro fight is that from the very
beginning of their fight, they took up arms in resistance. They seized guns from
the racist arms dealers, * * * hit back at the racists and killed racists and
killed racists armymen and police. Thousands of Negroes have stood in the van
on this tumultuous fight. This shows that the Negroes hate to the bone the class
oppression and the social system of discrimination."
32-955 O— 69— pt. 1 11
872 SUBVEESIVE INFLUENCES IN RIOTS, LOOTING, AND BURNING
PEOPLE'S DAILY, EDITORIAL ON THE WATTS RIOT, AUGUST 19, 1965:
" 'more and more American Negroes are coming to realize * * • that th'ey must
meet counterrevolutionary violence with revolutionary violence' • * *
"The editorial points out that the American Negroes' sitruggle against racial
discrimination is an inseparable part of the worldvs^ide revolutionary struggle
of the oppressed nations and people. * * *
"The editorial says that 'the 20 million American Negroes * * * have become
an important revolutionary force in the United States that cannot be over-
looked. * * *♦
"It notes that the American Negroes have, since the beginning of this year,
taken an active part in the widespread struggle in the United States against
the U.S. Government aggression in Vietnam. 'This important development rn
the Negro movement in the United States marks a great advance in the revolu-
tionary level of the American Negroes' struggle for emancipation.'
"Two years ago Chairman Mao Tse-tung said in his statement in support of
the just struggle of the American Negroes : 'The fascist atrocities committed by
the U. S. imperialists against the Negro people have laid bare the true nature
of the so-called democracy and freedom in the United States and revealed the
inner link between the reactionary policies pursued by the U.S. government at
home and its policies of aggression abroad.'
" '* * ♦ The African people and the other peace- and justice-loving people of
the world must join the Negroes * * * in resolutely carrying through to the
end the struggle against the U.S. imperialist iwlicies * * * The bond which links
the American Negroes with the revolutionary people in other countries in their
common struggle wdU be strengthened as the Negro movement grows in the
United States.' "
On March 3, 1966, all Peking newspapers featured the statement which Wil-
liam Epton, vice president of the Progressive Labor Party, had made before the
New York State Supreme Court on January 27 before being sentenced to 1 year
in prison following his conviction of conspiracy to riot, advocacy of criminal
anarchy, and conspiracy to advocate criminal anarchy.
Epton's quoted statement read in part as follows :
"It is imperative that the student, intellectual, and worker unite to stay the
hand of the government before it is too late ; and in the same light — the black
people must organize themselves to struggle for their right to self-determination
and for their liberation. I say here, openly and publicly, that the black people
will not walk into the concentration camps, the furnaces, and the gas chambers.
We would sooner die fighting first before we allow this to happen to us.
*******
"When the future equivalent of the Nuremberg trials take place, it will not
be Bill Epton who will be standing in the docket. It will be the Johnsons, the
McNamaras, the Bundys, the Rusks, the war-mad industrialists who make war
for profit and their agents who will be tried for crimes against humanity."
PEOPLE'S DAILY EDITORIAL. MARCH 4, 1966, ON THE ABOVE-QUOTED EPTON
SPEECH :
"The speech of William Epton, vice president of the U.S. Progressive Labor
Party, before the U.S. court * * *. He ruthlessly exposed and condemned the
U.S. ruling group * * *. In his uprightness one sees the heroic mettle and militant
spirit of a revolutionary.
"The U.S. * ♦ ♦ want to strangle the revolutionary struggle of the people with
their police, courts, and prisons. * * *
"Comrade Ma'o Tse-tung has said : 'To start a war, the U.S. reactionaries must
first attack the American people. They are already attacking the American
people ♦ * *. The people of the United States should stand up and resist the
attacks of the U.S. reactionaries. ♦ * * The persecution of William Epton * • »
will bring about more violent resistance struggle among the American people.
• ♦*•••♦
"The persecution of Epton is ♦ * ♦ a mark of the stepped up fascistlzation by
the American rulers. * ♦ * the enemy of the American people * ♦ * is none other
than the Johnson administration. More and more American people have come to
SUBVERSIVE INFLUENCES IN RIOTS, LOOTING, AND BURNING 873
know this. They are rising up to resist the attacks of the American reaction-
aries * * *. Epton has put it well : we would sooner die fighting than walking
into the concentration camps, the furnaces, and the gas chambers. * * * Keep
up the tight, courageous Americans ! The people the world over * * * will be on
your side and will fight to the end against the common enemy — U.S. imperialism.
• * >)■*** *
"Just as Epton has pointed out, the day will come when the U.S. ruling group
will be tried by the American people and brought to the gallows by them."
"BREAKING THE FETTERS OF 'NON-VIOLENCE.' " ARTICLE PUBLISHED IN AUGUST
5, 1966, ISSUE OF PEKING REVIEW:
"the American Negro struggle * * ♦ is breaking away from the doctrine of 'non-
violence' ♦ * * and is embarking upon the path of opposing counter-revolutionary
violence with revolutionary violence. * * *
"The slogan 'black power' which reflects the growing militancy of the Xegro
people was raised for the first time ♦ * * when a Negro 'freedom march" was
staged * ♦ *
"The high militancy of the American Negroes has also found expression in
the recent changes of leadership and policies of a number of important Negro
organizations. The Student Non-Violent Co-ordinating Committee, which had
been active in organizing Negro struggles in the south, changed its leadership
in May to a more militant one which openly calls for armed self-defence. * * ♦
the Congress of Racial Equality * * * adopted a resolution announcing an end
to 'non-violence' * * *. 'The philosophy of non-violence is dying.'
"It is reported that the ranks of the Negro armed self-defence organizations
are rapidly swelling. The Deacons for Defence and Justice formed last year
has now established 50 to 60 branches in five southern states. The Revolutionary
Action Movement which has its headquarters in Philadelphia is now also active
in New York, Chicago, Detroit and other industrial centres in the north. * * *
However, the history of the American Negro struggle shows that violent sup-
pression by the ruling circles can only hasten the new awakening of the Negro
masses and make more people realize that their sole hope is to meet violence
with violence."
On August 8, 1966, a rally was held in Peking to mark the third anniversary
of Mao Tse-tung's 1963 message in support of American Negroes. The rally was
reportedly attended by Premier Chou En-lai and Vice-Premier Chen Yi and
10,000 Chinese people. A message to Robert Williams from William Epton, vice
president of the Progressive Labor Party, was read at the rally. AVilliams was one
of the rally speakers, as was another American, Sidney Rittenberg.
EXCERPTS AND SUMMARIES FROM RALLY SPEECHES AND STATEMENTS, AS PUB-
LISHED IN THE PEKING REVIEW, AUGUST 12, 1966, FOLLOW:
William Epton's message :
" 'The black people in the U.S.A. are in the midst of their struggle to achieve
their self-determination and liberation. We, at the same time, offer our resolute
support to the heroic Vietnamese people who are waging a militant armed
struggle against U.S. imperialism to win their .self-determination. We salute
the Chinese i)eople for giving leadership to the world revolutionary movement
against U.S. imperialism, and revisionism led by the Soviet Union. We join
hands with you on this occasion with the knowledge that the world revolutionary
movement will be victorious over U.S. imperialism and its revisionist colla-
borators.' "
Sidney Rittenberg,^ summary of speech :
^ Foreign correspondent in Peliing for The Worker in the late 1950's and early 1960's.
Although Rittenberg was dropped from The Worker'8 list of foreign correspondents after
1962, he continues to reside in Communist China.
Chinese Communist publications and broadcasts describe him as "an American journalist"
and "an American friend" living in China when commenting on his frequent speeches to
various rallies in Peking.
Several of his speeches have been broadcast in English by Radio Peking ; Peking Review
has reported and summarized others.
Rittenberg has openly proclaimed his admiration for communism — Chinese style — and
has expressed the hope that "imperialism will be smashed all over the world and the cause
of socialism and communism will be victorious."
In a speech to a rally on Apr. 10, 1967, Rittenberg "-wished Chairman Mao a long life,
because, he said, 'only his teachings can guide the revolutionaries of all countries to rebel
against the old world and to carry the world revolution through to the end ♦ • ♦.' "
874 SUBVERSIVE INFLUENCES IN RIOTS, LOOTING, AND BURNING
"Chairman Mao's brilliant analysis of the national struggle * * *
has opened the way for the rise of the black freedom struggle to a new stage ♦ ♦ *.
He noted that the American Negro people are abandoning the false doctrine
of 'non-violence' for slogans of 'meet counter-revolutionary violence with revolu-
tionary violence.' He also said that they are increasingly identifying their fight
with the Champion of Liberation, Mao Tse-tung, and the Gosi)el of Freedom, Mao
Tse-tung's thought."
" * * *, [a Red Chinese newspaper] said, the American Negro masses have not
only come to realize the need to win power but also to understand that power
has to be seized by means of violence. ♦ • •"
Kuo Mo- jo speech :
"The Chinese people hail the heroic struggle of their American Negro brothers !
*******
"The facts have proved that the exploited and oppressed American Negro people
are the most staunch and most reliable revolutionary force in the United States.
• **•**•
"Chairman Mao has said that the fascist atrocities of the U.S. imperialists
against the Negro people have exposed the true nature of the so-called American
democracy * * *. Like all reactionary ruling classes in history, the reactionary
U.S. ruling clique has all along relied on violence to maintain its rule. Therefore,
it is inevitable that the American Negro people should use violence to resist the
reactionary U.S. ruling clique. * * *
* * • * • * •
"By striking hard at U.S. imperialism in the battlefield, the Vietnamese people
have rendered powerful support to the struggle of the American Negro people.
Similarly, by fighting against U.S. imperialist racial discrimination, the American
Negro people have in turn given important support to the Vietnamese people's
struggle against U.S. aggression ♦ * *. In the past three years, our American
N^ro brothers have firmly opposed U.S. imperialism's expansion of its war of
aggression against Vietnam by refusing to enlist and burning draft cards * * *.
They have done a good thing, and the right thing too ! We are deeply convinced
that * * * our American N^^o brothers * * * will surely rise in still more
vigorous action and push their struggle against tyranny to a new high in order
to support the Vietnamese people in their struggle against U.S. aggression * ♦ •
In the struggle * * * against U.S. imperialism, the Soviet revisionist leading
clique is playing the role of number one accomplice to U.S. imperialism ♦ ♦ *. It
has never supported our American Negro brothers * . * * it absurdly describes
the correct stand of supporting the national-liberation movement as 'substituting
a racial point of view for the -point of view of class struggle.' * * * and conse-
quently gives support to U.S. tniperialism's reactionary internal policy. Not only
does it serve as an accomplice of U.S. imperialism in the latter's expansion of the
war of aggression, but it has at the same time placed itself in the shameful
position of helping U.S. imperialism attack the American people and the American
Negroes.
"In the excellent revolutionary situation ♦ * ♦ it is our primary task at present
to form the broadest and most genuine international united front against U.S.
imperialism. This front includes the broad masses of the American Negroes and
the American people • * • "'
*******
"The Chinese people are friendly to the American people. * * • the most
reliable friend of the American Negro people. In your struggle, you will always
receive infinite sympathy and active support from the Chinese people. * * •"
STATEMENT SUPPORTING AMERICAN NEGRO PEOPLE'S STRUGGLE ADOPTED AT
THE RALLY:
"The American Negroes' struggle has begun to take the road of using revolu-
tionary violence against counter-revolutionary violence. * * ♦ The American
Negroes' struggle has been ever more closely linked up with the American people's
movement against the U.S. imperialist war of aggression against Vietnam. This
constitutes a powerful support to the Vietnamese people's struggle against U.S.
SUBVERSIVE mrLUENCES IN RIOTS, LOOTING, AND BURNINQ 875
aggression * • * as well as to the anti-U.S. struggle of the people of the whole
world.
**♦♦«*♦
"The American Negroes' struggle is by no means isolated. They will for ever
receive boundless sympathy and resolute support from the 700 million Chinese
people * * *"
PEKING RADIO BROADCAST, JULY 28, 1967:
"By its ferocity and its ruthless methods in suppressing the Negro movement,
the Johnson administration has given a profound lesson to more and more Afro-
Americans by negative example. This has greatly hastened their awakening. On
the day Johnson made his speech, H. Rap Brown, a young Negro leader who has
stood out prominently in the current struggle, forcefully and pointedly replied to
Johnson's threats when he gave a press conference and attended a mass meeting
in Washington. Brown said that 'the black man has the immutable will to be free
and has no recourse but to rebel.' He stressed that 'violence is necessary' and
that the black people must get their guns because the white rulers 'don't respect
nothing but guns. . . .' His militant speech reflects the determination of the
awakening Afro-American masses to rebel."
PEKING RADIO EDITORIAL COMMENT IN ENGLISH ON DETROIT RIOT, JULY 30, 1967:
"The swift and vigorous spread of the Afro-American people's armed struggle
against racial oppression has thrown the White House into complete confusion.
This proves to the hilt that the US ruling circles who appear to be formidable
are no more than a paper tiger. • * *"
"The roaring flames in Detroit have scared the US ruling circles. • • *"
"It is not the fighting Afro-Americans who are afraid of the US ruling circles ;
it is the US ruling circles who are afraid of the Afro-American masses • * *.
*******
"More and more Afro-Americans have embarked on the road of combatting
counterrevolutionary violence with revolutionary violence. This is what the US
gangsters fear most * * * If the people in the United States unite, the revo-
lutionary people of the world unite, and together wage a common struggle, the
handful of reactionaries in the United States will be completely isolated and
besieged ring upon ring by the masses of the people thus accelerating the doom
of US imi>erialism."
PEKING RADIO BROADCAST, AUGUST 1, 1967:
"stooges like Martin Luther King issued statements publicly supporting the
Johnson administration's violence against the Afro-Americans. This at once
unmasked these champions of 'nonviolence' for what they really are — opponents
of the revolutionary violence of the oppressed and i^pporters of the counter-
revolutionary violence of the oppressors.
*******
"However, the level of political awareness of the Afro-American masses is
daily rising and they have come to realize more clearly than ever the need to re-
sist violence with violence. * * * Neither the US ruling circle's violent suppres-
sion nor the humbug of 'nonviolence' preached by Martin Luther King and his
ilk can prevent the Afro-American masses from taking the road of struggle by
violence and promoting the Afro- American movement"
PEKING RADIO BROADCAST, AUGUST 2, 1967:
"Lyndon Johnson * * * made a speech on 27 July calling for the intensified
suppression of the armed struggle of Afro- Americans * * * and asked the Afro-
Americans to be 'law-abiding' and 'responsible' and to 'share in America's
prosperity.'
"But what kind of stuff is American law? Friendrich [sic] Engels pointed out
long ago that bourgeois law is a 'whip' against the proletariat. * * * To the
Afro-Americans, such laws mean that they must put up with the privation of
monopoly capitalism * * *. The broad sections of Afro-Americans and working
people in the United States must destroy such laws and smash the state apparatus
876 SUBVERSIVE INFLUENCES IN RIOTS, LOOTING, AND BURNING
of monopoly capital if they are to free themselves and win liberation. The Afro-
Americans have torn up Johnson's '(farce)' and bravely taken up arms to
struggle against racial oppression. Their rebellion is justifie<l and they have done
well, very well.
"Johnson clamored to stop the 'violence' * ♦ ♦. His bluster about stopping the
'violence' means that they are allowed to wantonly massacre the Afro-American
masses while the latter should not resist. * * *
* • * * * * •
"The broad masses of Afro-Americans will * * * be fully aware that in order
to achieve complete liberation, the monstrous imperialist system must be wholly
and thoroughly overthrown."
PEKING REVIEW. AUGUST 4, 1967. COMMENT ON DETROIT RIOT:
"Beginning early July 23, several thousand Afro-Americans in Detroit, the
fifth largest city in the United States, mounted a stirring armed struggle against
fascist police violence. * * *
* * * • * « •
"Inspired by the militant heroism of Detroit's Afro-Americans * * * Black
Americans in other cities and states also rose in armed rebellion. * * *
"The powerful, surging Afro-American armed struggle against racial oppres-
sion is of great significance * * * to the struggle of the people of the world
against U.S. imperialism. The raging flames of the Afro-American struggle were
ignited at a time when U.S. imperialism faces an impasse in its war of aggres-
sion against Vietnam and when the struggle of the people the world over against
U.S. imperia'lism and its running dogs is pressing ahead powerfully. Fighting
Afro-Americans are dealing telling blows at U.S. imperialism from within the
United States, smashing down the reactionary power structure's so-called 'law
and order' and paralysing and causing confusion in more than a dozen cities.
Because this rising armed struggle against oppression is battering fiercely at
U.S. imperialism's rule at home, it will inevitably weaken U.S. imperialist aggres-
sion abroad and aggravate its already insurmountable difficulties. The struggle
of the Afro- American masses will not only give tremendous impetus to the revo-
lutionary struggle of the entire American people; it will provide powerful sup-
port for the struggles of the people of the world against U.S. imperialism,
especially for the Vietnamese people in their war of resistance against U.S.
aggression and for national salvation."
PEKING RADIO COMMENT ON SUMMER 1967 RIOTS. AUGUST 5, 1967:
"A vigorous Afro-American struggle against racial oppression has swept
the length and breadth of the United States this summer. ♦ * *
"The massive armed resistance that broke out in Newark and Detroit * * *
has added a brilliant new page to the annals of the Afro-American people's
struggle for liberation.
*******
"The Afro-Americans have begun to realize * * * that they simply cannot
get anywhere by adopting the 'nonviolent' means * * *.
"Meanwhile, the Afro- Americans have broken the shackles of bourgeois legality
and morals. * * *
* * * * * * \ *
"their struggle will certainly grow ever stronger and win final victory. Just
as Chairman Mao Tse-tung has pointed out, 'With the support of more than 90
percent of the people of the world, the Afro-Americans will be victorious in their
Just struggle. The evil system of colonialism and imperialism * * * will surely
come to its end with the complete emancipation of the black people.' "
PEKING RADIO, AUGUST 9, 1967, BROADCAST OF EXCERPTS FROM ARTICLE WRITTEN
BY THE RED GUARDS AT THE INSTITUTE OF DIPLOMACY:
"The heroic Afro-Americans have taken up arms and rebelled. The raging
flames of their struggle * * * were warmly hailed by revolutionary people the
world over.
"Four years ago, Chairman Mao Tse-tung, the great leader of the people of the
world, made the 'statement supporting the American Negroes * * *.' Chairman
SUBVERSIVE INFLUENCES IN RIOTS, LOOTING, AND BURNING 877
Mao scientifically analyzed the development of the Afro-Americans' struggle and
pointed out the road of their struggle. This brilliant work of historic signif-
icance has dealt a fatal blow to the US * ♦ *. Chairman Mao pointed out : 'In the
final analysis, national struggle is a matter of class struggle.'
"This brilliant truth has been incontestably home out ♦ * *.
"The struggle of the Afro-Americans is powerfully supported by the anti-U.S.
imperialist struggle of the peoples of the world. Victory will belong to the Afro-
Americans. Let the imperialists and their apologists of all shades and hues lament
in the midst of the song of triumph of the AfroTAmericans."
Cuba
havana radio broadcast, august 16, 1965, by sergio altisar :
"Los Angeles continues to be the pivotal center of the rebellion of the Negro
masses * * *. When * * ♦ the police used the most brutal repressive measures,
the insurrectional wave, like an uncontrollable fire, extended to other cities
and districts ♦ * *. The police terror employed by both local and federal authori-
ties recalls the worse periods of the pogroms and anti-Negro slaughters in the
so-called U.S. Dixieland.
"Despite the threats by President Johnson and the murderous actions of the
military and police riflemen, the movement of Negro rebellion has gone on the
march * * *."
SPEECH BY FIDEL CASTRO TO THE FIRST CONFERENCE OF THE LATIN AMERICAN
SOLIDARITY ORGANIZATION (LASO), BROADCAST BY HAVANA RADIO. AUGUST
11, 1967:
"However, it is untrue that they [U.S. Negro movement] have no pr(^ram.
* * * the Negro sector * * ♦ has devoted its energies to defend itself, to resist,
and to struggle. ♦ * * From this Negro segment * * * will merge [sic] the revo-
lutionary movement in the United States. * ♦ * from the Negro segment will
surge the revolutionary vanguard within the United States. Around this revolu-
tionary movement — which does not emerge as a result of race problems, but from
social problems — * ♦ * in US society, from this oppressed segment, the revolu-
tionary movement will emerge. ♦ * * a vanguard of a struggle called someday to
liberate all of US society. * ♦ ♦ we must reject * ♦ ♦ this attempt of presenting
the Negro movement in the United States as a racist problem. * * * we believe
that the revolutionary movement throughout the world should give Stokely
utmost support ♦ ♦ *. Our solidarity can * * ♦ aid to protect Stokely's life.
"This iilternationalism is not proclaimed. It is practiced. The US Negroes
are * * * resisting with weapons I * ♦ * taking up arms to defend their
rights. * * *"
HAVANA RADIO, AUGUST 25, 1967, BROADCAST, TEXT OF RESOLUTION ADOPTED
AT THE LASO CONFERENCE. THE RESOLUTION READ IN PART:
"in the new phase of the struggle of the Negro people symbolized in the rebellions
in the ghettos by the citizens of Watts, Selma, Chicago, Harlem, and more
recently Newark and Detroit, leaders have arisen who know how to interpret
correctly the anxieties, inclinations, and aspirations of the Afro-American
people; * * * the relations of the U.S. Negro movement with the national libera-
tion struggles in Asia, Africa, and Latin America have been raised to a higher
level * * * during the events * ♦ * in Newark and Detroit, the Negro masses have
responded * * * practically converting these cities into battlefields * * * the
struggle of the U.S. Negro is part of the struggle of all the U.S. people against
the U.S. imperialist government and is tied * * * to the struggle of all the
peoples of Africa, Asia, and Latin America against Yankee imperialism, which,
in fact, establishes the necessity and the advisability of forming a militant
solidarity movement between the Afro-American people and the peoples of the
three continents :
"The peoples of * * * the First LASO Conference, fully support the struggle
of the U.S. Negro * * ♦ and urge them to answer the racist violence of the
U.S. * * ♦ with stepped-up direct revolutionary action * * *.
878 SUBVERSIVE INFLUENCES IN RIOTS, LOOTING, AND BURNING
"They resolve, further, to proclaim 10 August a day of solidarity with the
N^To people of the United States, in memory of the rebellious evaits begun by
the U.S. Negro population in the streets of "Watts on 18 August 1965, which
marked a change in the strat^y of the struggle of the U.S. Negro, abandoning
peaceful forms of protest in favor of violent, armed demonstrations against
Imperialist oppression and discrimination."
North Vietnam
vietnam courier, officla.l newspaper of cobimunist government op
north vietnam, article entitled "second front against u.s. imperial-
ism," issue of august 29, 1966:
"The first front against U.S. imperialism is Vietnam.
"The second front lies in the United States.
"There live in the U.S. 20 million Afro-Americans. They are oppressed, ex-
ploited and treated with contempt like slaves. * * *
"The Vietnamese people's fight against the U.S. aggressors, for national
salvation, has brought a great influence to bear upon the Afro-ALmericans who
have realized that they have the same enemy as the Vienamese people — U.S.
imperialism — and that to achieve freedom and equality they must oppose revolu-
tionary violence to counter-revolutionary violence, just as the Vietnamese are
doing. No wonder they sympathize with the Vietnamese people and from non-
violence they have begun using violence for self-defense. * * *
"Another important thing is that the Afro-Americans combine their struggle
against racial discrimination with that against the U.S. war in Vietnam.
*******
"These two combined movements of the Afro-Americans and white Americans
are a tremendous force which is the second front against U.S. imperialism. ♦ * *
"Attacked on both fronts, the U.S. imperialists will certainly be defeated and
victory will surely belong to the American and Vietnamese peoples."
(Committee Exhibit No. 2
FBI STATEMENTS ON COMMUNIST RACIAL AGITATION
J. EDGAR HOOVER— HOUSE APPROPRIATIONS SUBCOMMITTEE TESTIMONY, BIARCH
6. 1961:
"Communist propaganda has always been quick to seize on problems of minority
groups. Instances involving the Negro race have been prime targets in this
barrage.
"The sit-in demonstrations in the South were a made-to-order issue which the
Party fully exploited to further its own ends. The Communists first showed an
interest in the demonstrations in late February 1960 when James E. Jackson and
Joseph North, national Communist Party functionaries, traveled to Richmond,
Va., and wrote articles for The Worker, an east coast Communist weekly news-
paper, concerning demonstrations then in progress in Richmond.
"Also during early March 1960, Daniel Rubin, national youth director of the
Communist Party, U.S.A., visited college campuses in Richmond to obtain state-
ments from students in connection with the demonstrations.
"The Communist Party strategy was not to openly advocate picketing, in-
asmuch as this would tend to expose its members, but rather to get behind the
movement by urging college students to take the initiative.
"The importance which the Communist Party, U.S.A., has placed on these
demonstrations was sharply brought into focus when Benjamin Dwvis, the
Party's national secretary, told the Party in March 1960 that these demonstra-
tions were considerd the next best thing to 'proletarian revolution.' "
J. EDGAR HOOVER— HOUSE APPROPRIATIONS SUBCOMMITTEE TESTIMONY, JANU-
ARY 24, 1962:
"Since its inception the Communist Party, U.S.A., has been alert to capitalize
on every possible issue or event which could be used to exploit the American
SUBVERSIVE INFLUENCES EST RIOTS, LOOTING, AND BURNING 879
Negro iB furtherance of party aims. In its efforts to influence the American
Negro, the party attempts to infiltrate the l^itimate Negro organizations for the
purpose of stirring up racial prejudice and hatred. In this way, the party strikes
a blow at our democratic form of government by attempting to influence public
opinion throughout the world against the United States."
FBI ANNUAL REPORT FOR 1963:
"Throughout the 1963 fiscal year the Communist Party, USA, circulated tons
of propaganda on the race issue. This pictured the Party as the great champion
of Negroes and other minority groups. Actually, the Party is not in the least bit
concerned with helping the Negro or any other minority — it merely hopes to en-
snare those persons who are naive enough to accept the communists for their
claims instead of their deeds."
J. EDGAR HOOVER— HOUSE APPROPRIATIONS SUBCOMMITTEE TESTIMONY, JANU-
ARY 29, 1964:
"Turning to the subject of Communist interest in Negro activities, the approxi-
mate 20 million Negroes in the United States today constitute the largest and
most important racial target of the Communist Party, U.S.A. The infiltration,
exploitation, and control of the Negro population has long been a party goal and
is one of its principal goals today.
"In this drive, Negroes have, over the years, been subjected to intensive and
■extensive Communist agitation and propaganda. The Communist Party has al-
ways depicted itself to Negroes as the champion of social protest and the leader
in the struggle for racial equality. But the truth of the matter is that the Com-
munist Party is not motivated by any honest desire to better the status or condi-
tion of the Negro in this country, but strives only to exploit what are often legiti-
mate Negro complaints and grievances for the advancement of Communist ob-
jectives. Controversial or potentially controversial racial issues are deliberately
and avidly seized upon by Communists for the fullest possible exploitation.
Racial incidents are magnified and dramatized by Communists in an effort to gen-
erate racial tensions. As a result, such campaigns are actually utilized as a step-
pingstone to extend Communist influence among the Negroes.
"Communists, through their worldwide Communist propaganda apparatus,
transmit propaganda regarding selected instances of racial inequity and in-
justice to every part of the world. They do not confine themselves to facts but
resort to distortion, exaggeration, and the big lie.
"Communists thus capitalize on the adverse propaganda effect that reports of
discrimination and oppression in the United States can produce in the eyes of the
rest of the world, particularly among the African and Asian peoples ; that is, the
idea that this country is against equal rights for all races.
"The Communist Party is attempting to use the Negro movement, as it does
everything else, to promote its own interest rather than the welfare of those to
whom it directs its agitation and propaganda. It may collect funds ostensibly
In behalf of Negro activities, hold discussions on civil rights at all levels, and
increase its coverage of Negro affairs in its publications, but behind all of this
effort is its clear-cut primary interest in promoting communism.
"The party is continually searching for new avenues in order to expand its
influence among the N^roes. In particular, it has sought ways and means to
exploit the militant forces of the Negro civil rights movement.
"The number of Communist Party recruits which may be attracted from the
large Negro racial group in this Nation is not the important thing. The old
Communist principle still holds: 'Communism must be built with non-Commu-
nist hands.'
"We do know that Communist influence does exist in the Negro movement and
it is this influence which is vitally important. It can be the means through which
large masses are caused to lose perspective on the issues involved and, without
realizing it, succumb to the party's propaganda lures.
"The Communists look upon students as potential sympathizers, supporters,
and contributors to the party's cause. Nor are they unmindful of the rich oppor-
tunity for infiltration presented by unwary racial and nationality groups.
"This is especially true of the intense civil rights movement within the United
States — for America's 20 million Negroes and the countless other citizens who
share their objectives in the current struggle are a priority target for Commu-
880 SUBVERSIVE INFLUENCES IN RIOTS, LOOTING, AND BURNING
nist propaganda and exploitation. Every organization engaged in this struggle
must constantly remain alert to this vital fact, for, once under Communist domi-
nation, all freedoms and rights are lost"
FBI ANNUAL REPORT FOR 1964:
"The Party waged a constant effort in the fiscal year 1964 to exploit the civil
/ights issue. During the August 28, 1963, March on Washington, communists and
Party sympathizers sought to involve themselves in every aspect of this demon-
stration. Although attempting to conceal their communist connections, approxi-
mately 200 Party members actually participated in the March.
"Other recent racial demonstrations have attracted communists, usually in a
hidden role, and the legitimate leaders of these activities have been hard pressed
to keep them out and minimize their influence.
"The FBI does not investigate the legitimate activities of civil rights groups,
but from an intelligence standpoint it is concerned with determining the extent
of possible communist infiltration of these organizations."
J. EDGAR HOOVER— HOUSE APPROPRIATIONS SUBCOMMITTEE TESTIMONY. MARCH
4. 1965:
"The ever-increasing evidences of racial unrest in the country during the past
year have witnessed a parallel in the increased emphasis being placed by the
Communist Party, U.S.A. on the Negro question and the racial movement gen-
erally. There are clear-cut evidences that the party has not only been 'talk-
ing,' but also has been directing and urging the increased participation by its
adherents in the racial movement. As in any similar party effort at infiltration,
where there is participation there is influence in varying degrees.
"These party efforts, though embellished with high-sounding expressions by
party leaders, claiming a sincere interest in the Negro and his problems, are, in
reality, just another of the great deceptions practiced by the party through the
years. Theirs is only a single aim ; namely, the gaining of Communist objectives
looking toward the ultimate goal of the spread of communism throughout the
United States. The racial unrest, then, offers the party a ready-made springboard
from which it is able to project its strategy and tactics.
"The past year found the party devoting maximum attention to its efforts to
influence civil rights developments. Always alert to exploit discontent and pro-
mote disorder, the party continued to regard the civil rights issue as one facet
of the class struggle within the capitalist system. With this Marxist-Leninist
analysis as a guide, the party has as an objective the use of the civil rights issue
to create a Negro-labor coalition which it would dominate to advance the cause
of communism in the United States. As in the words of the party's general secre-
tary, Gus Hall, 'Jim Crow can be dealt with only by dealing with capitalism.'
"The party's involvement in the racial situation is intended to also serve in
the all-important task of recruitment. In early June 1964, the party's national
headquarters proposed that headquarters be opened in major cities for the pur-
pose of holding forums. The objective, as explained by a party functionary, is to
organize special study groups to teach 'socialism' and thus make it possible for
the party to recruit members from among civil rights fighters."
FBI ANNUAL REPORT FOR 1965:
"The communists have been much encouraged by the current wave of social
unrest in the United States. They view this situation as the development of a
climate favorable to their operations and are constantly probing to exploit areas
of discord. It is a rare civil rights activity, whether it be a voter's Registration
drive, a demonstration, march or picket, that does not attract communists to
some degree.
* * * * * * ' *
"In general, legitimate civil rights organizations have been successful in ex-
cluding communists, although a few have received covert counseling from them
and have even accepted them as member.s. The Communist Party is not satisfied
with this situation and is continually striving to infiltrate the civil rights move-
ment at every level."
J. EDGAR HOOVER— HOUSE APPROPRIATIONS SUBCOMMITTEE TESTIMONY, FEB-
RUARY 10, 1966:
"The party's national office in early 1965 informed all of its districts that the
party planned to spend, during 1965, $10,000 for wages, travel, and literature
SUBVERSIVE INFLUENCES IN RIOTS, LOOTING, AND BURNING 881
distribution in the South. This was said to represent a modest increase over
1964. Party activities in the South are financed through what is termed a 'South-
ern solidarity assessment,' which is an involuntary assessment of 1 month's dues
payable each December.
• *****•
"The increasing frequency of meetings of party functionaries at the highest
levels to mold its designs on the Negro question is illustrative of the escalation
of Communist efforts to influence the civil rights movement. W^hereas the party's
national Negro commission was almost dormant 2 to 3 years ago, 1965 witnessed
several key meetings by this highest body in the party devoted to racial matters.
"At its meeting on March 20-21, 1965, labeled a 'milestone' by party National
Vice Chairman Henry Winston, the general consensus was that the party in-
crease its efforts to lure support from all segments of society. Party general
secretary Gus Hall emphasized that the party must pursue its efforts to merge
the struggles of the Negroes and the working class in order to reach its goal of
gaining influence among the masses.
"Just a month later, on April 23, 1965, the Negro commission again met and
passed a number of proposals which were immediately adopted by the Thirty's
national committee. These dealt with the party's far-reaching and penetrative
plans for exploiting the racial situation, as follows :
1. Each party district is to establish committees to work with the leadership
and to organize the party's activities in the South.
2. Perman<^nt assignments should be made in areas of concentration for the
recruiting of party members with each party district working on plans to
recruit young Negroes.
3. The party's role in relation to the labor movement should be one of stimu-
lating the idea of organizing the unorganized workers in the South.
4. The party leadership should prepare an informational catalog on the South
for the use of other groups.
5. The struggle for civil rights must be kept in motion.
6. The party must raise substantial amounts of money from SeptemlxT to
December 1965, to be controlled by the Negro commission for work in the
South.
"Another key item stressed during the April 23, 1965, meeting was to have
party contacts with the principal civil rights organizations working in the
South, including the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee and the South-
ern Christian Leadership Conference, as well as with other groups which supply
medical and legal aid in the South.
"To efl'ect a channel of communication between the party and civil rights
workers, it was stressed that the party become better organized by meeting
with indi\Tdnals going to the South for temporary work in the civil rights field
and having them report back to the party about their experiences.
"At another meeting of the Negro commission held on June 23, 1965, a leading
party functionary equated the struggle of Negroes for first-class citizenship as
consistent with Marxist-Leninist doctrines. Another party leader suggested that
the Communist Party, U.S.A. focus its attention on every educational .system
in the United States where discrimination is practiced and urged that Negro
youth be drawn into the 'socialist struggle' (Communist struggle).
"These activities show the clear-cut designs of the party to exploit to its
fullest the racial situation, including using it as a steppingstone for member-
ship recruitment.
"That Communists are not giving more lipservice to the dictates of their mas-
ters is clearly evidenced in an examination of the many racial activities such as
demonstrations, pickets, boycotts, and the like, which have taken place in the re-
cent past. There is hardly an activity in this area that does not have a Commu-
nist element present. The degree of Communist participation and influence will, of
course, vary from activity to activity but almost always there will be found the
Communist at work. We also find party leaders arrogantly proclaiming the in-
volvement of their 'slaves' to Communist dicta. In May 1965, Party leader Gtis
Hall proclaimed that the Communist movement is making progress in the civil
rights field. In June 1965, when it became public knowledge that Communists
were active in lengthy demonstrations in Chicago, 111., relating to a school segre-
gation protest, two party leaders, Claude Lightfoot and James West, issued pub-
lic statements verifying the presence of Communists in these demonstrations.
SS2 SUBVERSIVE INFLUENCES IN RIOTS, LOOTING, AND BURNING
"The riots in Los Angeles, Oalif., which took place during the period August
11-14, 1965, provided the Clommunist Party, U.S.A. and other subversives with the
means to further blacken the reputation of the United States and to attempt to
fan the flame of discontent among the American people.
"That the CJommunists had an ulterior motive in this action was clearly dem-
onstrated in the remarks of one party functionary who placed the entire blame
for the uprising on the white people and proposed to his party underlings that
they take advantage of such riots wherever they occur since riots will eventually
lead the United States to socialism.
"At a still higher level, the national headquarters of the party, on August 15,
1965, instructed the southern Oalifornia party district to prepare articles con-
cerning the riots for early publication in The Worker, an east coast Communist
newspaper. Special efforts were to be made to play up the 'police brutality' angle.
Major portions of subsequent issues of The Worker and People's World, a west
coast Communist newspaper, were devoted to the uprising in Los Angeles and its
aftermath. Each article faithfully followed the line set by party headquarters.
"Despite the expressed good intentions of those legitimately concerned with
the civil rights movement, their efforts to keep Communists out have been
less than totally effective. This is amply illustrated by the Communist involve-
ment in racial activities which are often sponsored by groups with well-mean-
ing intentions. Then, too, we find the extreme militants, such as the Student-
Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, whose leadership has proclaimed that they
will accept Communists within their ranks.
*******
"A widespread underestimation of the menace which the party presents to
the internal security of the United States is just the impression the party de-
sires to present. The ability of the party to seize upon items of discontent and
to fan the sparks of civil disobedience into actual strife presents a clear and
present danger."
FBI ANNUAL REPORT FOR 1966:
"Exploitation of racial unrest in the United States continues to be a major
program of the Communists. During the year, the Party issued numerous
directives through its National Negro Commission instructing members to par-
ticipate in the civil rights movement and to be alert to the provocation of mili-
tant action among Negroes."
STATEMENT BY J. EDGAR HOOVER TO SENATE INTERNAL SECURITY SUBCOM-
MITTEE CONCERNING THE 18TH NATIONAL CONVENTION OF THE COMMUNIST
PARTY. U.S.A., JUNE 22-26, 1966:
"The resolution on the Negro question was presented to the convention by
Claude Lightfoot, Chicago party leader. He suggested that the party must ele-
vate its role as the initiator of civil rights struggles and come forward in its
own name as 'the best fighter' for Negro rights in this country. Following
Lightfoot's report, which was adopted, other speakers commented on the need
for training Negro women for leadership in the Communist Party and the neces-
sity for the party to take more direct action In the Negro struggle and to de-
vote more attention to 'police brutality' in Negro communities.
"The Communist Party is acutely embarrassed by Its failure to adequately
recruit among Negroes. To their everlasting credit, the vast majority of Negroes
have recognized the falsity of communism and turned It down. They know
that communism does not mean a better life for them, economically, politically,
or socially.
"Nevertheless, the party has long been attempting to exploit the civil rights
movement. The 18th national convention signifies that the party will step forward
even more boldly, hoping to infiltrate and influence civil rights organizations. The
party wants to link work among Negroes more directly with the class struggle —
to turn the civil rights area into a hatchery for communism.
"Part of the convention's appeal to the Negro can be seen in the party's selec-
tion of oldtlme party leader, Henry Winston, a Negro, as national chairman.
The Worker quoted Winston as noting the significant precedent of electing a
Negro national chairman of a party 'that is becoming a major political force in
this country.' "
SUBVERSIVE INFLUENCES IN RIOTS, LOOTING, AND BURNING 883
J. EDGAR HOOVER— HOUSE APPROPRIATIONS SUBCOMMITTEE TESTIMONY, FEB-
RUARY 16, 1967:
"With the continuing increase of racial unrest and activities relating to the
civil rights movement in this country during the past year, there has been a
pronounced increase of activities by the Communist Party — U.S.A. concerning
the Negro question and the racial movement generally.
"The emphasis given to the Negro question at the Communist Party's 18th
national convention held in June 1966, at New York City, illustrates the party's
increased involvement in the racial movement. Claude Liffhtfoot, the party's
vice-chairman, presented the resolution on the Negro question to the convention
calling for the broadest linking of the civil rights struggle with the struggle
for peace. He emphasized that the Communist Party must be known as the 'best
fighter' for Negro rights in the United States.
"Although the Communist Party has always been active in the field of civil
rights, it has done very little in its own name. Based on the action taken at the
convention, the keynote now is that the Party will boldly step forward and
lead its own movement for civil rights as well as for infiltrating into all civil
rights struggles and joinipg with more militant elements.
"For the most part, legitimate civil rights organizations have rejected the
Communists' efforts to penetrate them. However, there have been some segments
of these groups that covertly seek Communist advice and direction and in some
instances accept Communists within their organizations.
•*••••♦
"The riots and disturbances of recent years have given Communists a golden
opportunity to emphasize the Marxist concept of the 'class struggle' by identi-
fying the Negro and other minority group problems with it. Communists seek
to advance the cause of communism by injecting themselves into racial situa-
tions and in exploiting them (1) to intensify the frictions between Negroes and
whites to 'prove' that the discrimination against minorities is an inherent
defect of the capitalist system, (2) to foster domestic disunity by dividing
Negroes and whites into antagonistic, warring factions, (3) to undermine and
destroy established authority, (4) to incite Negro hostility toward law and
order, (5) to encourage and foment further racial strife and riotous activity,
and (6) to portray the Communist movement as the 'champion' of social
protest and the only force capable of ameliorating the conditions of the Negroes
and the oppressed.
"The cumulative effect of almost 50 years of Communist Party activity in
the United States cannot be minimized, for it has contributed to disrupting race
relations in this country and has exerted an insidious influence on the life and
times of our Nation. As a prime example, for years it has been Communist policy
to charge 'police brutality' in a calculated campaign to discredit law enforce-
ment and to accentuate racial issues. The riots and disorders of the i>ast 3 years
clearly highlight the success of this Communist smear campaign in popularizing
the cry of 'i)olice brutality' to the point where it has been accepted by many
individuals having no aflSliation with or sympathy for the Communist movement.
"The net result of agitation and propaganda by Communist and other sub-
versive and extremist elements has been to create a climate of conflict between
the races in this country and to poison the atmosphere."
FBI ANNUAL REPORT FOR 1967:
"Merging the struggle for civil rights with the Vietnam war protest move-
ment occupied much of the Communist Party's efforts during the fiscal year.
Speaking before the National Committee, CPUSA, in December, 1966, National
Chairman Henry Winston suggested that white backlash was a weapon of the
monopolists and the ultraright to conceal their drive against the rights of
Negroes. West Coast Party leader Roscoe Proctor, writing in the March, 1967,
issue of Political Affairs, embraced civil rights extremists by calling for
Marxist-Leninists to provide more 'flesh and bone' to the inflammatory slogans
of Black Power groups. He called for Party programs and guidelines around
which the black masses could be mobilized in day-to-day struggles to improve
their conditions of life."
[Italics supplied in all of above FBI statements.]
884 SUBVERSIVE INFLUENCES IN RIOTS, LOOTING, AND BURNING
Committee Exhibit No. 3
(Organizational Background Material)
COMMUNIST PARTY OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
23 West 26th Street, New York, N.Y.
Origin:
September 1919 at convention in Chicago.
Purpose:
As the arm of the Soviet Union inside the United States, It is committed to
the overthrow of our democratic institutions.
Organization:
12,000 members.
Key Leaders:
Ous Hall — general secretary
Henry Winston — national chairman
80-member national committee
The current chairman of the Negro Commission is Claude Lightfoot, formerly
of Chicago, now New York.
Publications: (Circulation)
The Worker — semiweekly East Coast Communist newspaper 14, 718
People's World — weekly West Coast Communist newspaper 9, 628
Political Affairs — monthly theoretical journal 4, 550
Freedomway8—qua.TteTly Marxist Negro review 7, 000
Labor Today — ^bimonthly trade union magazine 2, 380
Jewish Currents — monthly Jewish magazine 4,300
American Dialog — bimonthly Communist cultural magazine.
Statements:
On Octoji)er 22, 1967, the Communist Party's official newspaper, The Worker,
reported that during the past week "an extraordinary meeting of over 80 leading
Communists" called by the party's Negro Affairs Commission had endorsed a
statement supporting Negro violence. The meeting, in effect, approved a new
Communist Party line regarding Negroes and rioting which included the follow-
ing statement:
"We as Marxists have always affirmed that oppressed people have the
right to forcibly overthrow an oppressive regime when the channels for
democratic change are closed to them. This right is affirmed in the Declara-
tion of Independence. Therefore there can be no question of the right of
black people in the U.S. to use violence to achieve change."
It appears that the main reason for the adoption of this statement was the
fact that the official softer line the party had been following on the Negro ques-
tion during recent years had placed it in a disadvantageous position, in com-
petition with other Communist parties, from the viewpoint of influencing and
recruiting members from black nationalist and ultramilitant civil rights orga-
nizations and from the violence- and riot-prone minority Negro element.
The party's former declared position of supporting full integration and reject-
ing violence had, in effect, placed it in the iwsition of rejecting, rebuking, and con-
tradicting those organizations and elements which had the greatest ^tential for
furthering the Communist aim of disrupting and weakening the United States.
If the Communist Party were to capitalize on the riots, it had no choice but to
reverse its official position on the question of "civil rights."
From its earliest years until 1959 the Communist Party had propounded the
"Black Belt" theory regarding American Negroes. It was Stalin's position that
Negroes were a people apart from whites in this country and that a separate
republic ^ould be set up for them in the South.
This position proved a serious hindrance to the party's recruiting and propa-
ganda activities among Negroes, who rightly considered themselves as American
as any white man and had no desire to secede from the United States.
Repeated appeals to Moscow by U.S. party leaders for a change in the line
went unheeded. Stalin refused to let the party change its position on this subject.
SUBVERSIVE INFLUENCES EST RIOTS, LOOTING, AND BURNING 885
When Khrushcliev took power some years after Stalin's death, however, and
instituted his de-iStalinization program, a change was effected.
Khrushchev and other Soviet leaders undoubtedly perceived that a Com-
munist Party claim that it believed in complete integration and full equality
for Negroes in the United States would provide it with a much better recruiting
potential than its former segregationist line had. Moreover, Khrushchev, unlike
Stalin, could approve a reversal in the U.S. Communist Party line without
admitting a past error on his part. Finally, in rejecting the "Black Belt" position,
Khrushchev would be finding a Stalinist policy in error and would thus be fur-
thering his aim of discrediting Stalin with U.S. Communists.
Therefore, in 1959, at its 17th National Convention, the Communist Party
adopted a new line on the Negro question. It abandoned its advocacy of a separate
Negro republic. It proclaimed that it stood for full integration and civil rights
for Negroes.
Pursuing its new line, the Communist Party became increasingly active in the
civil rights movement (see Committee Exhibit No. 2, statements of J. Edgar
Hoover on this subject). Despite the outbreak of riots in 1964 and 1965, the
party held to its integration and nonviolence position. At its 18th National Con-
vention in June 1966, it adopted a resolution on "The Negro Question" which
proclaimed that the Communist Party disassociated itself from those "in and out-
side of the Negro liberation movement, who maintain that only through violence
can progress be made in the achievement of equal rights, or who call for acts
of terrorism."
Despite this proclaimed repudiation of violence, the party gave backhanded
support to the riots once they had started. It justified the rioters' use of violence
by claiming that they were merely reacting to "police brutality" and that they
had the right to take up arms in "self-defense." The party completely absolved
the rioters of blame for their violence and placed full responsibility for the
rioting, looting, and burning on the local, State, and the Federal Governments.
During recent years, Communist Party statements have more and more
strongly — though indirectly — supported the radical revolutionary tactics of the
black militants. Wary of openly advocating, violence by Communists because of
the Smith Act prosecutions of the last decade, the party has used various devices
for communicating its support of rioting. One of these is "historic parallel" — the
device of quoting an historical figure on the necessity of violence and equating
the events of his time with conditions today. The recently published book by
Herbert Aptheker, the party's leading theoretican, utilizes this device. In review-
ing this book, A Documentary History of the Negro People in the United States,
the Communist magazine, Freedomways, praised Aptheker for having "bril-
liantly placed the necessary dynamite charges and, wisely, let those who made
the history light the fuses."
The 1967 riots apparently convinced the Communist Party that, in order
to capitalize on them fully, it would have to reject the oflScial repudiation of
violence it had reiterated as recently as its 1966 convention. Its October 1967
statement was careful not to say that the Communist Party advocated violence
but only expressed its Marxist belief that "oppressed people have the right to
forcibly overthrow an oppressive regime * * *."
The following statements by the Communist Party and its leaders exemplify
the recent development of the party line on racial matters and demonstrate how
in the past few years the Communist Party has more and more openly sui>ported
militancy and violence.
GUS HALL, THE WORKER. MAT 1. 1960, P. 12:
"To all Members and Friends of the Communist Party. Comrades : '■
*******
"Thia situation demands from all of us greater initiative, activity and leader-
ship. We must be first * * * in the sitdowns, on the picketlines, in the peace
marches and meetings and in election struggle."
JAMES E. JACKSON, WORLD MARXIST REVIEW, SEPTEMBER 1963, PP. 35, 36:
"the freedom struggle of the Negro people is a specialised part of the general
struggle of the working class against deprivation and class exploitation and
oppression.
*******
886 SUBVERSIVE INFLTJENCES IN RIOTS, LOOTING, AND BURNING
"the freedom struggle of the Negro people reinforces the struggle against the
exploiting class of the white capitalists * * *.
* ******
"the presence of so large a proportion of Negroes, so especially motivated
to militancy, in the American working-class can be likened to the addition of
manganese to iron ore ; when the two elements are united and fused * * * the
metal * * ♦ acquires a new quality, * * * the quality of pure steel.
*******
"veterans of the Civil Rights Revolution, will be fighting partisans of social
progress all down the line. * * *
"From its earliest days the Communist Party of the U.S. has given major
attention to the struggle for the economic, political and social equality of the
Negro people. * * *
"At its Sixte^ith Convention in 1957, the Communist Party clearly jwinted out
that the main line of march of the Negro people's movement was that of opposition
to all forms of separatist "solutions" to the question of their oppression and
toward full and complete integration in the life of the nation. * * ♦
"Events have fully confirmed the major theoretical and programmatic reso-
lution on the Negro question which our Party adopted at its Seventeenth Conven-
tion in December, 1959. In this resolution we stated :
" '♦ * * The bonds of Negro oppression can and must be shattered.
* * * Victory on this sector would open the way to rapid developments
along the whole front for radical social advancement of the entire nation.'
"our Party exposes the diversionists, adventurists, provocateurs, and opponents
of Negro-white unity who seek to poach uiwn and disrupt the Negro people's
freedom movement.
*******
"'The struggles (of the Negro people) in the South to rid our land of the
shackles on freedom are giving an injection of new strength to all our democratic
institutions. * * *' "
GUS HALL. THE WORKER, JANUARY 5, 1964, P. 9:
"The civil right revolution has become the central arena in the struggle for a
democratic America."
The "watchword is : 'Be satisfied with what you have gained — slow down.' It is
designed to destroy the militancy of the movement * * *."
GUS HALL, ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH, JANUARY 12, 1964, P. 4:
"Communist party leaders in the United States 'consult with and advise' top
Negro leaders in their civil rights campaigns. * * *
" 'We are not the active leaders, but members of the Communist party are
very active in all the Negro organizations' engaged in the civil rights
struggle * * *."
JAMES E. JACKSON. THE WORKER, APRIL 21, 1964, P. 2:
"The Negro freedom struggle has come now to the point where there can be no
vision of peace in the land until its ♦ * * demands are fully attained. * * * The
struggle will rise to embrace ever higher revolutionary actions * * *,"
THE WORKER, MAY 10, 1964, P. 8:
"The civil rights revolution has put the torch to the combustible material
gathering for decades in our cities' slums and segregated schools.
"The flames of rebellion have lit up the running sores of our cities. ♦ ♦ *"
THE WORKER, JULY 21, 1964, P. 1;
"There is no doubt that enraged and frustrated youngsters resorted to throw-
ing ibottles and bricks in resistance to the police assaults. There may have been
even some smashing of store windows and some looting in a misguided attempt
to avenge the racial brutality of the police."
JAMES E. JACKSON, THE WORKER, JULY 21, 1964. PP. 1, 7:
"VIOLENCE ROCKED Harlem over last weekend. And as usual, it was the
residents of Harlem who were on the receiving end of the murderous assault
SXJBVERSIVE INFLUENCES IN RIOTS, LOOTING, AND BURNING 887
upon the oommvuuty, and as usual it was the erstwhile 'defenders of law and
order,' the police, who shed the Negro people's blood and took the lives of those
who died in the encounter.
"The week-end of violence in Harlem was the latest in an unrelieved campaign
of 30 years of violence 0i7ain«< Harlem. • • •"
GUS HALL. THE WORKER. AUGUST 4, 1964, P. g:
" 'It [the Communist Party] constantly strives for greater unity of Negro-
and whites [sic] Americans as the prime prerequisite to victory in this —
fight ♦ • *.'"
THE WORKER. AUGUST 9, 1964, P. 3:
In the wake of the Harlem riots of 1964 :
"The Communist Party affirmed its confidence that 'a united people, Negro and
white, can peacefully and democratically compel elimination of the evils of the
ghettos' * * *."
JOHNPITTMAN, NEW TIMES, OCTOBER 7, 1964, PP. 11, 12:
"The Negro population, constituting about 10 per cent of the U.S. total, haa
now risen resolutely to fight for its rights * * * Gus Hall, U.S. Communist
Party spokesman, addressing a rally in New York, warned that the struggle in
Mississippi was 'a critical battle to save U.S. democracy. * * *'
"♦ * * The shadow of Mississippi hangs ominously over the United States. * * *
The entire apparatus of coercion — police, courts, jails and even armed forces —
is being used against demonstrators.
"Entire generations of the iwlice and judges and jurors in this country have
been reared and indoctrinated with racist mythology concerning the 'innate in-
feriority' and 'criminality' of Negroes. This is the real ideological background
of the recent clashes in New York, Philadelphia and other cities. ♦ * * in every
so-called 'riot' * ♦ * the combatants are not the Negro community versus the
white community, but the ghetto versus the police ; * * * every one is triggered
by police action.
« * O * * IK *
"A great people's coalition against racism, war and fascism is called for to
clear the Freedom Road, the American Communist Party has said. Such a
coalition is not only possible but a national necessity * ♦ *."
RESOLUTIONS OF THE 18TH NATIONAL CONVENTION, CPUSA, JUNE 1966, PP. 38, 41:
"with the passage of time, experience will show that the full power of the
Negro people can be guaranteed only in a socialist society. * * *"
"We do not identify ourselves with the nationalism which breeds separatism
* * * this could only end in the defeat of the hopes and aspirations of the
Negro people."
JAMES E. JACKSON, POLITICAL AFFAIRS. SEPTEMBER 1966, P. 9:
"The flaming struggle for Negro freedom which rages these days in the streets
of the great cities * * * is a part of the revolutionary processes which are rend-
ing the old social system beyond repair. This ongoing struggle * * * will open
the way to bringing into being a new order — socialism."
HENRY WINSTON, "NEGRO-WHITE UNITY: KEY TO— FULL EQUALITY, NEGRO REP-
RESENTATION, ECONOMIC ADVANCE OF LABOR, BLACK AND WHITE," A
PAMPHLET. FEBRUARY 1967, PP. 14, 23:
"The two concepts— labor solidarity and the alliance of labor and the Negro
people — constitute the cornerstone of the struggle * * * This is how our Party
places the question. It is this approach which gives substance to the strug-
gle * ♦ ♦."
."In our view ♦ * » the concept of 'black power' means that * * * the Negro
people must win their full equality. ♦ ♦ ♦
"This does not mean that black will go it alone and white will go it alone. * * *"
32-955 O — 69— pt. 1 12
888 SUBVERSrVB mrLUENCES m riots, looting, and BURNINa
THE NATIONAL COMMITTEE OF THE CPUSA, HENRT WINSTON AND GUS HALL. THE
WORKER. JUNE 18. 1967, PP. 6, 7:
An Open Letter to President Johnson :
"What may well be the longest, hottest and bloodiest summer has already begun.
"WE CHARGE * ♦ * conspiracy is afoot in our land to provoke and slaughter
militant Negroes * • *.
m * * • * * *
"THE FORCES OF GOVERNMENT ARE MAKING 1967 THE YEAR OF
THE CLUB.
"WE CHARGE the stage was set for this mailed fist policy by * * * your
major stress on the need for beefing up our police forces everywhere primarily
to suppress our exploding Negro ghettos.
• • * * • ' ' • •
"The evidence revealing the conspiracy to unleash the forces of racism and
reaction * * * against the Negro people is as overwhelming as it is menacing."
THE COMMUNIST PARTY OF ILLINOIS. CLAUDE LIGHTFOOT. CHAIRMAN. AND JACK
KLING. SECRETARY, ISSUED THE FOLLOWING DEMANDS ON JULY 2S, 1967:
"Immediate withdrawal of all armed racist police and troops from all Negro
communities, and the establishment of local self -police forces in the communities.
"Immediate freedom for all those arrested in the racist terror, including Rap
Brown, chairman of the Student Non- Violent Coordinating Committee.
"Immediate arrest and trial of any police oflScer accused of racist activity or
the use of racist language ; purging of all members of the John Birch Society
and all other racist organizations from the ranks of the police and the Army.
"Immediate launching of a $10 billion crash program, to be controlled and
administered by residents of the ghetto, for the rehabilitation of the slums and
the employment of every man or woman who desires a job.
"Immediate withdrawal of all U.S. troops from the soil of Vietnam, an end
to the draft and the release of all drafted Americans for the building of our
country as a place decent for everybody to live."
PAUL ROBESON, "THE POWER OF NEGRO ACTION" POLITICAL AFFAIRS. AUGUST
1967. PP. 43. 46:
"To live in freedom one must be prepared to die to achieve it * * *. He who is
not prepared to face the trials of battle will never lead to a triumph. * • •
• *•••••
"Mass action — in political life and elsewhere — is Negro power in motion ; and
it is the way to win. . . ."
GUS HALL. THE WORKER. OCTOBER 22. 1967, P. 3:
" 'Can we win the struggle by saying it (racism) is wrong, a sin, or against
the principles of brotherhood? Such arguments are helpful but not enough to be
effective developments.
" 'The role of mutual and parallel self-interest is the most effective way.
Through it we can become vanguards — if we apply leverage.
" 'Militant struggle by a united Negro people is not a contradiction to finding
areas of parallel struggle.' "
JAMES JACKSON. U.S. NEGROES IN BATTLE: FROM LITTLE ROCK TO WATTS (A
DIARY OF EVENTS— 1957-1965), PROGRESS PUBUSHERS. MOSCOW. 1967, PP. 5. 6,
104, 107. 148: ^
"It is recognized by freedom-loving peoples the world over, that the freedom
movement of the American Negro people is objectively part of the national-demo-
cratic revolution againS't colonialism and neo-colonialism which the peoples of
Asia, Africa and Latin America are waging against imperialsm wth the support
and soldarity of all progressives and working people, and the socialist nations.
"A sector of the world front against colonialism and imperialism, the Negro
freedom movement has a special, unique importance because it is that part of
the anti-colonial front that lies within the very inner chambers of the citadel
of world imperialism — ^the United States of America. * * * Negroes are largely
a proletarian people and constitute an imiwrtant percentage of the total working
class of the country. Therefore the Negro democratic struggle is not merely
allied to but increasingly tends to merge with, combine with, the general class
struggle. ♦ ♦ ♦"
SUBVERSIVE INFLUENCES IN RIOTS, LOOTING, AND BURNING 889
"The reality of their experience Is conditioning Negro youth 'in New York
City and in Jackson, Miss., to view police and law enforcement oflBcers not as
protectors, but as adversaries who are zealous in seeking to maintain the racial
status quo as are the most ardent segregationists'.
"It is evident that three things must be done at once in respect to the violence
that was visited upon Harlem by Murphy's Gestapo:
1. End the police occupation of Harlem at once. • • ♦
2. Police Commissioner Murphy must be promptly replaced * * ♦.
3. The citizens board of review ♦ * ♦ must be established with adequate
authority."
"The Communists are and always will be partisans at the side of the oppressed
people in battle for justice, equality and the implementation of their Constitu-
tional liberties. The Communists do not advocate, and never have advocated, the
resort to acts of Individual terror, vengeance or violence. ♦ * *"
"the young generation, especially, of the Negro people have gained a wide ex-
perience with the CLASS nature of the capitalist STATE and how its police and
court system defends its privilege and power. ♦ • * They seek a progressive
alternative to capitalism. Now, as at no other time In its history, the Communist
Party of the U.S.A. has the opportunity and duty to disclose the socialist
alternative to the young generation, to bring to the Negro militants the science
of Marxism-Leninism to help illumine the way to lasting victory for the masses
In the struggle for freedom, equality and Justice."
w. E. B. Dubois clubs of America (dca)
18531/2 McAllister, San Francisco, Calif, (first natl. office— 1964-1966)
180 N. Waeker Drive, Chicago, 111. (second natl. office — 1966-1967)
34 West 17th Street, New York, N.Y. (third natl. office— Sept. 1967)
Origin:
Founding convention was held June 1^21, 1964, in San Francisco, Calif.
Purpose:
FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover has stated that the W.E.B. DuBoIs Clubs of
America were "spawned" by the Communist Party ; that they were formed by
mandate of Gus Hall, the party's general secretary, after top party leaders
decided in October 1963 that the party should take additional measures to attract
young Americans. Hall "ordered the formation of a Marxist-oriented youth
organization to attract non-Communists as the first step toward their eventual
recruitment Into the party." ^
On March 2, 1906, then Attorney General Nicholas deB. Katzenbach petitioned
the Subversive Activities Control Board to Issue an order requiring the W.E.B.
DuBois Clubs of America (DCA) to register as a Communist front organization
as required by the Subversive Activities Control Act of 1950. In support of his
petition, the Attorney General stated :
"From Its inception, DCA [DuBoIs Clubs of America] has been and Is substan-
tially directed, dominated and controlled by the Communist Party and has been
and Is primarily operated for the purpose of giving aid and support to the Com-
munist Party. * • ♦"
In support of this statement, the Attorney General cited a number of facts
in his petition. Including the following, about the DuBoIs Clubs, their origin,
and activities :
Communist Party members and officers were assigned by the Communist
Party to attend the foomding convention of the DuBois Clubs ;
These people directed the activities of the DCA founding convention;
A substantial number of i)ersons who have been active In the management,
direction, and supervision of the DuBoIs Clubs have also been active In tlie
management, direction, and supervision — and also as representatives of — the
Communist Party ;
The Commimlst Party has given the DCA financial and other support;
The Communist Party has furnished speakers and lecturers for DCA meetings
and other functions ;
1 Testimony of J. Edgar Hoover, House Appropriations Subcommittee, Mar. 4, 1965.
890 SUBVERSIVE INFLUENCES IN RIOTS, LOOTING, AND BURNINO
The Communist Party has conducted classes in Marxism for DCA members^
and has supplied DCA with literature for the education of its members in
Marxism-Leninism.
Gus Hall, general secretary of the CPUS A, acknowledged the relationship
between the party and DCA in an interview in Moscow in August 1966, He
stated —
"we have the closest relations with the 'DuBois Clubs' since they take
the Marxist positions. This organization has become a real fighting van-
guard of the youth movement."
Oroanization:
25-30 chapters ; approximately 300 members.
Key Leaders:
Phil Davis, DCA's first chairman (1964-1965), is known, to have attended a
Communist Party recruiting school in October 1962.
Franklin Alexander was elected DCA chairman in 1966. His membership in
the Communist Party was revealed in February 1967 by J. Edgar Hoover.
Jarvis Tyner, the newly elected national chairman of DCA, was appointed
to the National Committee of the CPUSA at the party's 18th National
Convention in June 1966.
Other key leaders of DCA who were appointed to the NationaJ Committee
of the Communist Party at the 18th National Convention include: Bettina-
Aptheker, Carl Bloice, Robert Duggan, Michael Eisencher, Peggy Goldman,
Matthew Eallinan, Donald Hamnwrquist, and Robert Eeisler.
Other DCA leaders such as Jim Kennedy, its Southwest coordinator, made a
public announcement of his Communist Party membership in a letter which,
was printed in the November 18, 1965, issue of Lobo, a publication at the Uni-
versity of New Mexico.
Carl Bloice, DCA publications director, as a delegate from DCA participated
in the "World Forum of Solidarity of Youth and Students in the Fight for
National Independence and Liberation and for Peace," held in Moscow Septem-
ber 16-24, 1964. The forum was sponsored by the World Federation of Demo-
cratic Youth and the Council of Soviet Youth Organizations.
DCA International Secretary Mike Myerson and DCA'er Harold Supriano
attended the World Peace Congress in Helsinki in July 1965. At the congress,
Myerson, Supriano, Chris Koch, a radio announcer for WBAI, and Richard Ward,
a freelance writer living in Paris, sought out members of the North Vietnam.
Peace Committee and requested permission to visit North Vietnam. An invita-
tion from the North Vietnamese was extended, and the four spent the last week
of Au^st and the first week of September in North Vietnam. Myerson was made
an honorary nephew of Ho Chi Minh and since his return to the United States
has sported a Viet Cong cap and carried a Viet Cong flag at demonstrations
protesting the war in Vietnam.
Publications:
Publication of periodicals for national distribution by DGA has been erratic
for at least the past year.
Spur — newsletter of the W.E.B. DuBois Clubs of America
Insurgent — bimonthly national magazine of DCA
Dimensions — national theoretical journal of DCA
Various local DCA groups have intermittently published newsletters of their
own. N
The Organizer — monthly newsletter of the Midwest Region of DCA
Struggle — weekly information bulletin of the DuBois Conmiunity Action
Movement in Chicago
The Encounter — Chicago DCA
Avanti — Detroit DCA
The Activist— New York DCA
Activities:
(1) has collaborated with the Free Speech Movement at the University of
California and urged club members throughout the Nation to support FSM.
through demonstrations and protest letters ;
(2) has organized marches and rallies protesting alleged "police brutality";
(3) has organized demonstrations to protest the war in Vietnam;
SUBVERSIVE INFLUENCES IN RIOTS, LOOTING, AND BURNING 891
<4) has supported antiwar demonstrations sponsored by other Communist
and "New Left" groups ;
•<5) sponsored a national youth conference at Washington, D. C, August 27-28,
1966, for "jobs, peace and freedom" ;
(6) leaders visited Soviet Union and North Vietnam ;
'(7) published propaganda praising socialism (communism) ; supporting
North Vietnam and foreign policy of the Soviet Union ; inciting hatred for
all uniformed authority and instilling a suspicion of the motives of the
United States Government in both foreign and domestic policies.
Statements:
Openly "Socialist" (Communist)
spur. august 25, 1965. p. 3:
"Our goal then, to fight now to eliminate the most blatant forms of brutality
and poverty as part of a long struggle for an America free of exploitation — a
Socialist America."
DIMENSIONS, SPRING 1966, PP. IV, 4, 20:
"Radical social change, socialism, is believed to be the necessary culmination
of the struggles of working people to overcome the myriad problems which are
daily produced by a system organized to their disadvantage. * * *"
"When racism has been decisively defeated in America, the logical next step
will be the establishment of a party of the workers, black and white, North
and South, which can bring a Socialist America."
"The American movement awaits its Brecht, its Sequieros. The time Is
ripening • * *."
THE WORKER. JUNE 25, 1967, P. 3:
" 'We are a socialist organization * * *,' one [DCA] member said.
"Another member said, 'We have not been socialist enough . , . Our Marxist
■education has declined.' "
On Violence
dca flyer "poverty, frustration. death":
"We are not in favor of violence ; we do not condone what is happening in
Watts, but * * * the condition in Watts is our fault. * ♦ *"
On the Police
spur. august 25, 1965, p. 1:
"the Watts district ♦ * * was the battle ground for a class war. * * * When
they battled the Los Angeles police department, they took on one of the most
brutal instruments of racism."
SPUR. OCTOBER 1966, P. 5:
"Several DuBois clubs have taken the lead in the fight against police brutality
in their communities (Watts, Philadelphia, Chicago). * * * We strongly support
the right of people to protect and defend themselves from police bru-
tality. * • ♦"
THE WORKER. JUNE 25, 1967, P. 3 :
" 'There is a campaign under way • * * to use police brutality against those
who oppose the war in Vietnam. * * •' "
"DuBois clubs have themselves been the victims repeatedly of police bru-
tality * * *."
On Civil Rights
the worker. september 10. 1967, p. 9:
"the 'membership of the DuBois Club is committed to building an interracial
movement against war, racism and poverty • * * we must prove it is possible
to find common ground between Negro youth and white youth.' "
892 SUBVERSIVE ESTFLUENCES IN RIOTS, LOOTING, AND BURNING
On Riots
jarvis tyner, the worker. september 12, 1967. p. 5:
President "Johnson's answer to the rebellions in America's cities was geno-
cide * ♦ ♦."
PEOPLE'S WORLD, SEPTEMBER 23, 1967, P. 9 :
DCA's third annual convention resolution on black liberation declares the
DuBois Club will:
*******
"Move in support of the Negro community at times of intensified attack, such
as Newark and Detroit, to mobilize protest against the genocidal practices of
the police."
"THE FffiE THIS TIME," A PUBLICATION OF THE LOS ANGELES DCA, WAS DEVOTED
TO THE WATTS RIOTS. THE FOLLOWING QUOTATIONS ARE FROM THAT
PAMPHLET :
" '* * * Does one need to he Negro to be thrilled about the South Los Angeles
V prising r DR. HERBERT APTHEKER, People's World Testimonial Banquet,
Statler-Hilton Hotel in Los Angeles, October 12, 1965"
"Some phrases have been around for a long time, like 'police brutality.' The
way to get rid of these words is to get rid of brutal police. 'Poverty', 'Oppres-
sion', 'White Power Structure', are all cliches, but are facts of life for millions
of Americans today."
"we maintain that what occurred in Los Angeles last August was not a 'riot',
but a spontaneous insurgence of thousands of angry, oppressed people. • * *"^
"Thus it is left to us, the conscious people, the victims, and the potential vic-
tims, to combine our bodies and minds in order to stop this hideous machine from
crushing us all. * * *
"If we, the people, are to enforce democracy we must take heed of the words
of that great freedom fighter, Frederick Douglass, 'The whole history of human
progress shows that all concessions have been won in earnest struggle. If there
is no struggle, there is no progress. Power concedes nothing without demand. It
never did and it never will.'
"The Negro revolt will eventually do more to bring true democracy to these
United States than any other single factor in the life of the nation. When the
masses of whites realize this and. further recognize that the Negro revolt is
expressing the needs and demands of ail working people, then we can combine
and accomplish these demands."
Origin:
FREED0MWA78
799 Broadway, New York, N.Y. 10003
Freedomways Associates, Inc., publisher, incorporated February 28, 1961
First issue appeared spring 1961
Purpose:
Quarterly review of the "Negro freedom movement" by which the CJommunist
Party hopes "to indoctrinate more Negroes with Marxist dogma." (J. Edgar
Hoover, FBI Annual Report for 1961, p. 26)
Organization:
Freedomways Associates, Inc., was Incorporated by :
Henry O. May field
Dorothy Bumham, wife of Hyman Lumer, a member of the National Com-
mittee of the CPUSA and associate editor of the party's theoretical journal
Political Affairs
Cyril Philip, a known Communist
SUBVERSIVE INFLUENCES IN RIOTS, LOOTESTG, AND BURNING 893
Orioinal Editorial Board:
Shirley Graham DuBois — identified as Communist Party member by Louis
Budenz
W. Alphaeus Hunton — identified as Communist Party member by Louis Budenz
Esther Jackscm — wife of the Communist Party leader James E. Jackson
A few other known Communist Party members and leaders who have served
on Freedomtcays editorial board are Oeorge B. Murphy, Jr., J. H. O'Dell, and
Augusta Strong, wife of The Worker columnist and known Communist, Joseph
North.
Articles have been contributed to Freedomways by such well-known Com-
munists as William Patterson, Ben Davis, W.E.B. DuBois, James E. Jackson,
Herbert Aptheker, Carl Bloice, Claudia Jones, John Pittman, Anne Braden, and
Paul Roheson.
Circulation:
Total copies printed : 7,000
Statements which exemplify freedomways' basic position on social
matters:
A review of Herbert Aptheker's book, A Documentary Historu of the Negro
People in the United States, praised the veteran Communist theoretician as hav-
ing "brilliantly placed the necessary dynamite charges and, wisely, let those who
made the history light the fuses."
It states that Henry Highland Garnett's Call to Rebellion is "a masterpiece of
revolutionary exhortation.'' "The bitter-sweet deeds of Nat Turner * * * and
other men of revolution" are seen as examples of Negro builders of history who
had "the will to resist * * * and the willingness to engage in creative and often
violent social struggle * * *." [Emphasis added.] (Freedomways, Winter 1963,
pp. 109, 110)
"The struggle for freedom in our country today is a struggle against a native
totalitarianism * * ♦. That is why our Freedom Movement cannot afford to fail
in meeting the challenges which confront us today." (J. H. O'Dell, "A Special
Variety of Colonialism," Freedomways, Winter 1967, p. 15)
The riot which erupted in Newark, N. J., on July 12, 1967, was seen by Freedom-
ways as "the scene of yet another massacre of the poorest of black Americans
• * * a deadly pogrom, an urban lynching designed to terrorize and cower the
slum-dwellers ♦ * ♦.
* * 4i * * » •
"Newark and Plainfield, New Jersey, point to the need for united action * * *
to put an end to the police terror that reigns over the Negro communities from
one end of the country to the other. * * ♦ there must be launched a movement
to stop police brutality and to put an end to the use of National Guardsmen * * *.
Among other things, such an anti-police brutality program should call for :
placing the Negro community out of bouads to white police and uniformed
National Guardsmen * ♦ *."
Detroit was seen as "a class confrontation" in what Freedomways called "the
spreading battles for freedom." "The flames of Detroit should serve to light
up a great truth : It's that time, America. Grant Negroes freedom and equality
or invite catastrophe!" (Freedomumys, Vol. 7, No. 3, Summer 1967, editorial:
197-198)
In the same 1967 issue (p. 279) Freedomways called the following statement a
"PROPHECY" :
"Watts means that the time for stalling and demogogic promises and good-
will platitudes has run out. It has come down to this : either wipe out the
conditions that produce the slums or the slums will wipe out the cities."
(NEGROES IN BATTLE: FROM LITTLE ROCK TO WATTS. By James E.
Jackson — Publishers New Press, 23 West 26th Street, New York City.)
894 SUBVERSIVE INFLUENCES IN RIOTS, LOOTING, AND BURNING
PROGRESSIVE LABOR PARTY
132 Nassau Street, Room 622, New York, N.Y,
ORiam:
January 1962. (originally established as the Progressive Labor Movement,
vs^hich changed its name to Progressive Labor Party in April 1965)
The Progressive Labor Party (PLP) grew out of a faction within the Com-
raunist Party, U.S.A. (OPUSA). The PLP was established by Milton Rosen and
Iilortimer Scheer, who were expelled from iwsitions of leadership in the
orthodox Communist Party because of disagreement with CPUSA's strategy and
tactics. The CPUSA has described Rosen and Scheer as organizers of active
opposition to OPUSA strategies within the party ever since the party's 17th Na-
tional Convention held in December 1959. Condemnation by the CPUSA Na-
tional Committee and loss of party offices in August 1961 failed to deter Rosen
from "secret factional activities" which included conducting meetings and
recruiting members to the faction from various parts of the country, according
to the CPUSA. The CPUSA claimed that the Rosen group had admitted at a
party hearing to holding a faction meeting on December 2-3, 1961. The expulsion
of Rosen and three other party members was announced in The Worker of Jan-
uary 7, 1962 ; the ousting of Scheer and five others in the Buffalo area had been
reported in The Worker of December 31, 1961.
Purpose'.
The PLP Is an avow'edly revolutionary Communist organization which ag-
gressively and militantly strives to destroy the democratic form of government
in the United State.? and replace it with a socialist one based on the principles
of Marxism-Leninism. The PLP supports the ultrarevolutionary Chinese and Al-
banian Communists in their dispute with the less militant Russian Communists.
"This organization has publicly encouraged the use of force and violence as a means
of attaining its Communist totalitarian goals. PLP literature is replete with
statements supporting the violent revolutionary overthrow of the U.S. Govern-
ment.
Organization-.
200-300 members. (PLP claimed a membership of 1,500 in 1965.)
Directed by a 20-member national committee.
Composed of various national commissions, Including one called Black
liiberatlon.
Offices and mailing addresses: (national headquarters listed above)
P.O. Box 158, Cambridge, Mass.
P.O. Box 7814, Chicago, HI.
45 Moscow Road, Flat 9, London, W. 2, England.
P.O. Box 19724, Los Angeles, Oallf.
3382 18th Street, San Francisco, Calif.
2929 16th Sti'eet, San Francisco, Calif.
G.P.O. Box 808, Brooklyn, N.Y.
336 Lenox Avenue, New York, N.Y.
1 Union Square West, Room 617, New York, N.Y.
225 West 100th Street, New York, N.Y.
P.O. Box 208, Church Street Station, New York, N.Y.
345 Alexander Street, Apt. #19, Rochester, N.Y.
P.O. Box 223, Greenbelt, Md. n
Front groups : ( All of the following are now defunct:)
Harlfem Defense Coiancil
Mothers' Defense Committee
Committee to Defend Resistance to Ghetto Life ( OERGE )
Student Committee for Travel to Cuba ( SOTC)
May 2nd Movement (M2M)
Publisher of PLP literature : _ _ _ ____ _ _^ ^
Tri-Line Offset Co. Inc. (owned by identified members oFthe PLP)
Key Leaders:
Milton RoRcn — president (former CPUSA New York State committeeman and
CPUSA New York State labor secretary)
SUBVERSIVE INrLXTENCES IN RIOTS, LOOTING, AND BURNINQ 895
Mortimer Scheer— vice president (former CPUS A New York State committee-
man and chairman of the Communist Party of Erie County )
WiUiam Epton — ^vice president (former CPUSA member)
Publications:
Progressive Labor (national bimonthly magazine)
Challenge (East Coast monthly newspaper)
Spark (West Coast monthly newspaper)
World Revolution (national quarterly digest of revolutionary periodicals)
Marxist Leninist Quarterly (published during 1963 and 1964 — no longer pub-
lished— merged with Progressive Labor in 1965)
Activities:
The PLP or its front groups have —
(1) strongly condenmed the capitalist economic system of the United States
and have continually agitated against it by exploiting such issues as in-
adequate housing, unemployment, unequal employment opportunities,
poverty, discrimination, corruption, and alleged indifference of employers
and trade union leaders toward the workers ;
(2) waged an intensive and deceitful propaganda campaign against United
States military involvement in South Vietnam ;
(3) promoted the solicitation of money and medical aid for the Communist
Viet Cong;
(4) prepared, published, and distributed propaganda aimed at i)ersuading
young men to avoid service in the Armed Forces ;
(5) attempted to exploit Negro unrest through —
(a) organized agitation in urban ghettos, and
(b) preparation, publication, and distribution of inflammatory literature
calling for violence;
(6) prepared, published, and distributed literature creating hate and distrust
of law enforcement officers and has disseminated propaganda falsely charg-
ing police brutality ; and
(7) arranged for the travel of American youths to a Communist coimtry where
they would be assisted in the development of Marxist-Leninist ideology
and revolutionary organization.
Statements:
Openly Communist
plp "constitution," progressive labor, may-june 1965, p. 5:
"To win, we will have to work closely together, disciplined by the urgency of
the goal before us ; we will have to study and leam to utilize our communist
principles and the science of Marxism-Leninism to evaluate honestly our own
strengths and weaknesses and those of the enemy at each new stage of the
campaign.
"As communists we cannot tolerate in ourselves or in our comrades any form of
racism, or male supremacism. * • •"
PLP STATEMENT, AUGUST 16, 1966, PROGRESSIVE LABOR. OCTOBER-NOVEMBER
1966. P. 2:
"We are communists. We are proud of it. * • *"
EDITORIAL, PROGRESSIVE LABOR, NOVEMBER-DECEMBER 1964, P. 19:
"We still ascribe to the view that the major goal for communists in the United
States is to build a revolutionary party necessary for winning socialism. ♦ * *"
MILTON ROSEN SPEECH BEFORE NEW LEFT CLUB AT UNIVERSITY OF NORTH
CAROLINA DECEMBER 3. 1962. AS PUBLISHED IN THE DAILY TAR HEEL, DECEM-
BER 5. 1962, PROGRESSIVE LABOR, JANUARY 1963, P. 12:
" 'We American Communists are few in number and the stakes are high, * * •
but if we are to take advantage of the state of discontent and the injustices in
the U.S., we must press the socialistic movement at all costs. We must maintain
the outlook of smashing the ruling party.* "
896 SUBVERSIVE INFLUENCES IN RIOTS, LOOTINiG^; AND BURNING
WILUAM EPTON SPEECH BEFORE RECEIVING SENTENCE IN A NEW YORK COURT
FOR A CONVICTION OF CRIMINAL ANARCHY ON JANUARY 27, 1966, "WE ACCUSE"
(PLP PAMPHLET PUBLISHED FEBRUARY 1M6), P. U:
"We as communists, will fight against fascism as we have always done — no
matter how it disguises itself. * * *"
REVOLUTIONARY VIOLENCE
"BLACK LIBERATION" (RESOLUTION ADOPTED BY PLP FOUNDING CONVENTION,
APRIL 15-18. 1965), PROGRESSIVE LABOR, MAY-JUNE 1965, P. 27:
"A principle task of the PLP is to strive to train black and white Marxist-
Leninist revolutionary leadership to play a vanguard role. ♦ ♦ ♦
"While we will not be strait-jacketed by mechanical formulations, we will be
guided by the tested revolutionary principles of Marxism-Leninism. * ♦ *"
"PLP NATIONAL COMMITTEE STATEMENT," MAY DAY 1967, PROGRESSIVE LABOR,
JULY-AUGUST 1967, P. 1:
"For our people to go onto the offensive and fulfill the aspirations of millions of
U.S. workers, Black and white, students and intellectuals and other sections of
the people whose interests run counter to U.S. imperialism's aims, the involve-
ment of U.S. workers is essential ; to secure a revolutionary base and to success-
fully wage revolutionary struggle to defeat U.S. imperialism means that U.S.
workers must participate actively and lead in the struggle.
*******
"In the spirit of this May Day we pledge our continuing faith in the U.S.
workingclass and to the triumph of revolutionary socialism in the USA. Our
party is founded on the class outlook of Marxism-Leninism which is proving its
invincibility all over the world. The banner of revolution is triumphing over
counter-revolution. Marxism-Leninism will defeat U.S. imperialism * * *"
"BLACK LIBERATION— NOW!" (BOOKLET PUBLISHED BY BLACK LIBERATION COM-
MISSION PLP), 1967, PP. 23, 24:
"We all know that this system of U.S. imperialism cannot solve the problems fac-
ing the Black people of this country, or the working class in general. ♦ * ♦
"We must replace this system with one that will truly represent us as a na-
tional group and as members of the working class. * • * A system that is run
by us. * ♦ * And finally, a system where racism will be smashed and destroyed.
THIS SYSTEM WE CALL SOCIALISM!
"ORGANIZE !
"The U.S. ruling class is not going to give this to us. The only way we are go-
ing to get it is to take it. ♦ ♦ *"
"ROAD TO REVOLUTION— THE OUTLOOK OF THE PROGRESSIVE LABOR MOVEMENT"
(PLM PAMPHLET PUBLISHED NOVEMBER 1964— "A BASIC POLICY DECLARATION
OF THE PLM, ISSUED AROUND MARCH, 1963."), PP. 119, 120:
"We envision no easy transition to socialism. ♦ ♦ ♦ Naturally, communists
would welcome a peaceful transition to socialism, and do all in their power to
compel the ruling class to surrender peacefully. However, to date, nothing in-
dicates that the U.S. imperialists would even remotely contemplate this even-
tuality under any set of circumstances. * * *"
FRED JEROME, EDITORIAL, "WHAT THEY CAN NEVER RESTRAIN." CBALLENGE.
AUGUST 1, 1964, P. 4:
"I will go furthur [sic]. I will say 'that whenever any form of government be-
comes destructive ... it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it, and to
institute new government, laying its foundations on such principles, and organiz-
ing its powers in such forms, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their
safety and happiness.' * * *
"In case anyone thinks I am hiding behind quotes to avoid prosecution, I will
'hide' no more :
"I urge and will continue to urge and attempt to induce and persuade public
•demonstrations in the streets of Harlem * ♦ ♦.
"I advocate precisely that the people disturb the peace ♦ * *.
SUBVERSIVE ESTFLUENCES m RIOTS, LOOTING, AND BtJRNINQ 897
"There is no lawful government in this country today. Only a revolution will
•establish one, If that 18 civil rebellion, let us make th« most of it."
EDITORIAL. "ARMED SELF-DEFENSE," CBAlfLESGE, APRIL 6, 1965, P. 4:
"It is a foregone conclusion that no oppressor can be overcome with a non-
violent appeal to his non-existant [sic] morality,
* • « * « « •
"Non-violence is fine when the enemy is unarmed and non-violent also. When
the enemy is a master at violence and filled with generations of hate, you dare
mot turn the other cheek because you can be certain he will blow that one away,
too."
Peking Oriented
editorial, progressive labor. november-december 1964, p. 19:
"Regarding the position of the Soviet Union in its ideological attack on the
Peoples' Republic of China, the Progressive Labor Movement has continually
stated that we believe that China, some communist parties, and others have
fought for a correct Marxist-Leninist position. We believe that the Chinese
and others have prevented the Soviet leaders from engulfing the interpatlonal
communist and revolutionary movement with revisionism. We are gtrongly
opposed to the attempt of the Soviet Union to split the international move-
ment ♦ ♦ ♦"
EDITORIAL, MARXIST LENINIST QUARTERLY, VOL. 1, NO. 2 (UNDATED— DISTRIB-
UTED AUGUST 1963), PP. 20, 21:
"U.S. imperialism realizes that in several decades a socialist China vrill be
the world's greatest power. * • • the Chinese people and their party have been
steeled in four decades of war, civil .war, revolution, and national reconstruc-
tion."
"U.S. WORKERS REQUIRE REVOLUTIONARY THEORY: STAT1EMENT OF THE NA-
TIONAL COORDINATING COMMITTEE OP THE PROGRESSIVE LABOR MOVE-
MENT," MARXIST LENINIST QUARTERLY, VOL, H, NO, 1 (UNDATED— DISTRIB-
UTED MARCH 1964), P. 44:
"It is true that the Chinese are conducting a vigorous struggle for Marxism-
Leninism in the international movement, but only after and because the Soviet
leaders opened the assault on Marxism-Leninism. » ♦ • The Chinese have
made great efforts to prevent the splitting of the international movement. At
the beginning, their position was not put forward as a drive against the Khru-
shchev leadership of the international movement, but as an effort to persuade
those who had departed from Marxist-Leninist ideas. * • •"
"THE PLOT AGAINST BLACK AMERICA" (PAMPHLET PUBUSHED BY HARLEM
BRANCH. PLP), SEPTEMBER 1966, P. 3:
"China operates by revolutionary example and not by dictation to other
peoples who are fighting for th«r liberation. It is China's exemplary and prin-
cipled opposition to U.S. imperialism which serves as an inspiration to national
liberation struggles all over the world. • • •
« * • • » ■ • /.■ •
"China has proved to the oppressed people of the world that a correct revolu-
tionary ideology and a well disciplined political organization, uniting the whole
people against the common enemy, are indispensable to a successful revolu-
tion. * ♦ *"
Statements on Riots — General
"the plot against black america." p. «:
"The events of the past two years put the lie to imperialism's plot to kill
tohitey myth. From July 18, 19d4 to July 23, 1966, there have been no less than
20 uprisings in ghettos across America. • * • Absolutely no attacks have been
made on white communities adjacent to the ghettos which have risen in re-
bellion. * * • The uprisings have been defensive in character and have taken
place only within the boundaries of the ghettos. Black people have defended
their families and homes against racist attacks mounted inside the ghettos
by imperialism's cops and soldiers. * • *"
"BLACK LIBERATION— NOW I" (BOOKLET), P. 1:
"The threats are rising. Recent events and news stories clearly show that the
United States Government and its State, county and city administrations in the
898 SUBVERSIVE INFLUENCES IN RIOTS, LOOTING, AND BURNING
large northern Industrial areaa are preparing a reign of terror against the Afro-
American people this summer. They are deliberately planning to start a so-
called 'race war.' In fact, they have not waited for the summer — they have
already started their attacks in Jackson (Miss.), Houston, Cleveland and other
cities."
"STUDENTS AND THE GHETTO REBELLIONS" (PLP LEAFLET DISTRIBUTED DURING
SUMMER OF 1967), P. 1:
"Each of these rebellions teas launched in response to the deteriorating condi-
tions of life withi/n ghetto communities — and was sparked hy vicious a/nd re-
peated police attacks. These attacks constitute a campaign of terror directed
against Black people in order to stem their increasing militancy."
EDrrORLA.L. CHALLENGE, AUGUST 1967, P. 2:
"Even as rebellions continue to erupt in the oppressed ghettos across the
country, those forces who directed the use of troops to kill scores of innocent
people have announced that 'investigations' will begin to find the 'causes' and
'culprits' involved.
"THE PEOPLE OF THE GHETTO WILL NOT BE FOOLED by this baloney.
They know who charges them exorbitant rents, overcharges them for food and
clothing, and steals their low wages with fantastic interest rates. It's definitely
NOT militant people's leaders or communists."
Statements on July 1954 New York Riot
editorla.l. challenge, july 25, 1964, pp. 1, 5:
"The big-money boys downtown are running scared. They have seen the
writing on the bloodstained walls of Harlem.
"War is nothing new to the people of Harlepi : • • • But this time the people
are organizing to fight back — that is new.
*******
"We advocate and work for a people's revolution to establish socialism • • *.
*******
"This is not the hour to 'stay home' from the freedom fight"
"HARLEM UNITE: LET US DEFEND OURSELVES I" (HARLEM PLM LEAFLET DIS-
TRIBUTED DURING JULY 1964 RIOT), PP. 1, 4:
"They are tightening the screws on Harlem.
"The police, the press, the politicians and all the other agents of the white
power structure have launched a campaign of terror and slander against the
500,000 black people in this community • • •.
* * * * * • *
"BUT WE HAVE THE POWER TO STOP THEM. HALF A MILLION
BLACK PEOPLE IN HARLEM CAN LET THEM KNOW WE WILL NOT BE
TERRORIZED, WE WILL CONTINUE FIGHTING FOR OUR FREEDOM—
AND WE WILL DEFEND OURSELVES.
• •*•***
"AND IF THIS GOVERNMENT WILL NOT PROTECT US, OR CANNOT
PROTECT US, THEN WE MUST GET A GOVERNMENT THAT GA^."
LISA ARMAND, EDITORIAL. 'BEHIND THE RIOTS,' CHALLENGE, AUGUST 1, 1964. P. 5 :
"Do the Afro-American people — from Harlem, Bedford-Stuyvesant, Roches-
ter, Mississippi, Birmingham, Atlanta, Florida, California and points north,
east, south and west fight for freedom?
"They do and they will and they will be joined by others and nothing will
stop them \mtil they have it.
*******
"The struggles of the people are a 'lash-back' against exploitation and op-
pression. * * ♦"
BILL EPTON, FRED JEROME, AND MILTON ROSEN, "ARMED POLICE TERROR,"
PROGRESSIVE LABOR. JULY-AUGUST 1964, P. 3:
"The recent police riots in Harlem, Bedford-Stuyvesant and Rochester have
thrown the fear of God into the money magnets [sic] that rule the country.
SUBVERSIVE INFLUENCES EST RIOTS, LOOTING, AND BURNING 899
The power structure has now seen black people rebel against the brutality of
the police. The precepts of non violence have been thrown out and violence has
swept the black ghettos of two major New York cities. Black people in New York
have been forced into the streets to defend themselves against the police and
slum conditions.
• *•••••
"The people of Harlem began to talk of 'revolution* and 'guerilla warfare.' "
SOCIALIST V70RKERS PARTY
873 BsoADWAY, New Yoek, N.Y. 10003
Origin:
The Socialist Workers Party (SWP), largest and oldest U.S. Trotskyist orga-
nization, originated at the Sixth World Congress of the Communist International
in Moscow, U.S.S.R., during the summer of 1928.
While attending the congress, U.S. Communist leader James P. Cannon became
converted to the ideas of Leon Trotsky, who had broken with Stalin and who was
now expounding his own doctrine of worldwide "permanent" revolution, as op-
posed to Stalin's line of primary emphasis on building and defending the Soviet
Union as the basis for the world Communist movement
Upon his return to the United States, Cannon became active in promoting the
Trotskyist position within the Communist Party. This led to the expulsion of
Cannon and a small group of his followers from the Communist Party on
October 27, 1928.
On November 15, 1928, the expellees brought out the first issue of their news^
paper. The Militant, which has since served as the oflBcial organ of the SWP.
On May 17-19, 1929, Cannon and his followers organized the Communist
League of Ajnerica (Opposition). This group, the first Trotskyist Communist
organization in the United States, was the first in a progression that led to the
formation of the SWP on January 1, 1938.
Purpose:
The SWP is an avowedly Trotskyist Communist group that stands for "a new
radiealization of the working class" leading to "a revolution that will end the
alien rule of the Government of Money and establish a new government of the
people — a Workers and Farmers Government" The SWP espouses the "interna-
tional solidarity of the working class" and supports the principles of the Fourth
International, founded under Trotsky's guidance in 1938 with SWP participa-
tion, although the SWP dissolved its formal ties with the International when the
Voorhis Act was passed in October 1940. The SWP opposes the "bureaucratic"
leadership of the Soviet Union, but defends the U.S.S.R. as a Communist state.
In the Sino-Soviet controversy, the SWP has expressed critical preference for
the more militantly revolutionary stance of the Communist Chinese leadership.
Organization:
Approximately 600 members.
Directed by a national chairman, a national committee of indeterminate
membership, and a i>olitical committee.
Addresses *
873 Broadway, New York, N.Y. 10003 (national office)
1702 E. 4th Street Los Angeles, Calif. 90033
3737 Woodward Avenue, Detroit, Mich. 48201
295 Huntington Avenue, Room 307, Boston, Mass. 02139
S02 B. Oanal Street, Room 204, Chicago, 111. 60606
8601 Bndld Avenue, Cleveland, Ohio 44106
P.O. Box 2640, Denver, Colo. 80201
704 Hennepin Avenue, Hall 240, Minneapolis, Minn. 65403
Box 361, Newark, N.J. 07101
2003 Milvia, Berkeley, Calif. 94704
P.O. Box 8412, Philadelphia, Pa. 19101
1733 Waller, San Francisco, Calif. 94117
5257 University Way, Seattle, Wash. 98105
Contact in St Louis, Mo. : Dick Clarke, EVergreen 9-2895
900 SUBVERSIVE INFLUENCES IN RIOTS, LOOTING, AND BURNING
Youth section :
Young Socialist Alliance (YSA)
Educational groups :
Militant Labor Forums
Friday Night Socialist Forums
West Coast Vacation School
Political support groups :
Socialist VTorkers Campaign Committee
Young Socialists for Halstead and Boutelle
Afro-Americans for Halstead and Boutelle
Foreign issues propaganda groups :
Alexander Defense Committee
Fair Play for Cuba Committee (Greater Los Angeles)
Anti-Vietnam war propaganda publication : Bring the Troops Home Now
Newsletter
Defense groups;
Committee to Aid the Bloomington Students
Committee to Defend the Rights of Pfc. Howard Petrick
Committee to Oppose the Deportation of Joseph Johnson
Publishing house :
Merit Publishers ( formerly Pioneer Publishers )
Key Leaders:
James P. Cannon — founder and national chairman
Fred Halstead — member, national committee
Robert Himmel — member, national committee
Nat Weinstein — member, national committee
Farrell Dobbs — national secretary
Edward Shaw — organizational secretary
Joseph Hansen — editor, The Militant
Tom Kerry — editor, International Socialist Review
Frank Lovell — Michigan chairman
Theodore Edwards — California chairman
Peter Camejo — California organizer
Jack Barnes — New York organizer
Joel Britton — Chicago organizer
Paul Boutelle — 1968 SWP vice presidential candidate
Publications:
The Militant (national weekly newspaper)
Intetmational Socialist Review (theoretical quarterly)
The October 9, 1967, issue of The Militant includes a statement of ownership
which reveals a total circulation of 5302» including a total of 5071 paid circulation
and 231 distributed free, these figures applying to the single issue that was
nearest the date of filing.
The January-February 1967 issue of International Socialist Review includes
a statement of ownership which reveals a total paid circulation of 2749 and a
total free distribution of 1430, with a total distribution of 4179 copies of the
issue nearest the date of filing.
Activities:
The Socialist Workers Party in recent years has —
(1) engaged in political action and propaganda, running its own candidates
for major public oflSces and urging the development of a truly class-based
political movement to counter the influence of the regular political parties
in the United States ;
(2) collaborated with such groups as the Constitutional Liberties Information
Center and the Los Angeles Committee for Protection of Foreign Born in
attacking government security programs ;
(3) participated In the drive to abolish the House Committee on Un-Americam
Activities and Senate Internal Security Subcommittee;
(4) demonstrated and propagandized In support of Communist Cuba ;
SUBVERSIVE INFLUENCES IN RIOTS, LOOTING, AND BURNING 901
(5) projmgandized for the release from prision of convicted atom spy Morton
Sobell ;
(6) agitated against the Vietnam war, both by itself and in collaboration
with such groups as the National Mobilization Committee, Student Mobil-
ization Committee, and Fifth Avenue Vietnam Peace Parade Committee ;
(7) supported organizations — such as the Committee to Defend the Rights of
Pfc. Howard Petrick and the Fort Hood Three Defense Committee — which
promote agitation against the Vietnam war within the Armed Forces ;
(8) publicized the doctrines and pronouncements of the late Malcolm X and
his Organization of Afro-American Unity ;
(9) attempted to stimulate anti-Vietnam sentiment among Negroes through
involvement with such organizations as Afro-Americans Against the War
in Vietnam, founded by SWP member Paul Boutelle ;
(10) supported the activities of the Freedom Now' Party in New York and
Detroit as a means to the creation of a class-based all-black political move-
ment ; and
(11) disseminated inflammatory propaganda against so-called "racist cops"
and "police brutality."
Statements:
Position on Negroes
international socialist review, summer 1959, p. 82:
"The Negroes, more than any others in this country, have reason and right to be
revolutionary.
"An honest workers* party of the new generation will recognize this revolu-
tionary potential of the Negro struggle, and call for a fighting alliance of the
Negro people and the labor movement in a common revolutionary struggle against
the present social system."
INTERNATIONAL SOCIALIST REVIEW. SUMMER 1962. P. 74:
"the Negro movement * * ♦ is connected with the uprisings of the disinherited
colored peoples in the colonial and semicolonial countries. The Negro demand for
democratic rights is the most forcible and advanced expression to date within our
own borders of this world-wide revolutionary process. This is understood, at
least in part, by its most active participants who have been uplifted and
strengthened by the Asian, African and Cuban revolutions."
"FREEDOM NOW: NEW STAGE IN THE STRUGGLE FOR NEGRO EMANCIPATION"
(SWP PAMPHLET PUBLISHED OCTOBER 1963), PP. 9. 10:
"Negro socialists must bring forward, as an inspiration and guide for American
Negroes, the example of Cuba where the overthrow of capitalism through the
socialist revolution has uprooted discrimination and established genuine equality
and fraternity of black and white citizens ninety miles from the Southern coastal
states."
Racial Violence
the militant. may 18, 1964, p. 3:
"Robert Vernon discussed the differences between the North and the South
in terms of what tactics were appropriate. He pointed out that whereas the tactic
of non-violence was appropriate in the opening stages of the struggle in the
South, and had been effective in organizing mass movements there, it never was
appropriate in the North."
"THE REAL DIFFERENCES IN 1964: SOCIALIST WORKERS VS. DEMOCRATS AND
REPUBLICANS" (SWP LEAFLET) :
"We uphold the right to organized self-defense against racist attack and police
brutality."
GEORGE BREITMAN, "HOW A MINORITY CAN CHANGE SOCIETY" (PAMPHLET), 2ND
EDITION, OCTOBER 1966, PP. 13, 16:
"A minority, properly oriented and led, can go much farther than it has thus
far gone to make the present system unworkable and intolerable. • * * [Some]
give it the name of 'mass civil disobedience.' Whatever you call it, it has barely
been utilized in America up to now. * * *
902 SUBVERSIVE INFLUENCES IN RIOTS, LOOTING, AND BURNING
"They [the slaves before the Civil War] continued, just as before, or more
80, to run away by the thousands and tens of thousands, to commit sabotage and
arson, and to engage in various forms of civil disobedience, self-defense and
Insurrection, * * * Imagine what will happen when the Negro militants absorb
this lesson from history and then consciously work out a strategy to fully utilize
this process that is set in motion by the elemental desire of the masses to be free !"
Haklem Riots, 1964
the militant, july 27, 1964, p. 4:
"The attempt by New York Mayor Robert F. Wagner's cops to repress the
people of Harlem by brute force and open violence is not a sudden reflex. These
police military tactics are well thought out and knovra in advance in top govern-
mental circles. • * *
" 'Leaders' who are interested solely in concessions within the capitalist sys-
tem * * ♦ were worse than useless in the defense of Harlem against the police
repression of the recent days. And they are worse than useless for organizing
the revolutionary political struggle which is required to win justice, decent
housing, jobs, and human dignity for the black working-class."
THE MILITANT. JULY 27, 1964. P. 1:
"Armed with nothing more than courage, bottles, bricks, bare fists, and oc-
casional Molotov cocktails, Harlem's residents, provoked by years of savage bru-
tality by New York's corrupt and racist cops, managed to fight the tactical riot
force of the police to a stalemate in three days of demonstrations and open
hostilities."
THE MILITANT. AUGUST 24, 1964, P. 1:
"The indictment of William Epton, Harlem spokesman for the Progressive
Labor Movement, on trumped-up charges of 'criminal anarchy,' was denounced
by Clifton DeBerry, Socialist Workers Party candidate for President, as 'part
of a concerted drive by the New York City cops to establish a police state in
Harlem.' "
THE MILITANT. AUGUST 10, 1964, PP. 1, 2:
"The Harlem, Bedf ord-Stuyvesant, Rochester encounters were not at all peace-
ful. They were provoked by police violence and answered in kind. These justi-
fiably vehement uprisings contained the shoots of civil and racial war.
"* * * The cops [in Harlem] were attacked and fought in roving battles of
urban guerrilla warfare.
****** 41
"These protests had a revolutionary edge and implication • * ♦. They were
revolutionary defiances aimed at the overthrow of the whole rotten system that
condemns them to such misery and brutality. It was anti-capitalist in effect, if
not in consciousness.
"* * * these July incidents have been rough, uncontrolled and uncontrollable,
black nationalist in spirit, wholly proletarian in composition and revolutionary in
tendency.
*******
"the New York uprisings give warning that the patience of the black masses
penned in the ghettos is nearing exhaustion. They'd better look up from their
Martinis and take notice of the Molotov cocktails that were tossed into the midst
of the police battalions and at their patrol-wagons. * * *"
WORKERS WORLD PARTY
46 West 21st Street, New York, N.Y. 10010
Origin:
The Workers World Party (WWP) originaited on February 12, 1959, when five
former members of the Socialist Workers Party National Committee — Sam Marcy
(Ballan), Dorothy Flint, Jack Wilson, Ronald Jones, and Vincent Oopeland —
Issued a "Final Statement" and left the SWP because of "irreconcilable" ideologi-
SUBVERSIVE INFLUENCES IN RIOTS, LOOTING, AND BURNING 903
-oal and strategic differences. The mlniority held that the SWP had become in-
suflBciently revolutionary in outlook and program, that true "revolutionary Trot-
skyism" had been abandoned in favor of "parliamentary reformism" and "people's
front coalition."
In March 1959, the first issue of Workers WorM appeared under the editorship
of Vincent Copeland. The manager of this official Workers World Party news-
paper was identified as Dorothy Ballan, wife of Sam Ballan (Marcy) and former
-alternate member of the SWP National Committee.
The formal organization of the group as a party appears to have taken place
in April 1959 at a conference In Buffalo, N.Y., at which the new party's officers and
national committee members were chosen.
Purpose:
The WWP proclaims itself a Trotskyist Communist organization working for
the "revolutionary overthrow of American capitalism." Regarding itself as the
true heir to the Trotskyist-Leninist doctrine, the WWP scorns both the OPUSA
and the SWP as deviatlonist. Internationally, the WWP advocates "unoonditlonal
defense" of the Soviet Union as a Communist state. The party's sympathies, how-
ever, lie with the Communist Chinese, whom the WWP regards as the leaders of
the international Communist revolutionary drive.
Organization:
Membership unknown.
Directed by a national chairman, national committee of indeterminate member*
ship, and political committee.
Locations of known branches :
New York City, N.Y. (national office ; address above)
Buffalo, N.Y.
Los Angeles, Calif,
Seattle, Wash.
Milwaukee, Wise.
Youth section :
Youth Against War and Fascism ( YAWF )
Key Leaders:
Sam Marcy (real name Sam Ballan) — national chairman
Vincent Copelwnd — editor. Workers World; member, national committee
Dorothy Ballan — manager. Workers World; member, national committee
James Boulton — leader, Milwaukee branch
Fred Goldstein — New York organizer
Publication:
Workers World (national newspaper; twice monthly)
Activities:
The Workers World Party, by itself and through its youth section, Youth
Against War and Fascism, has —
(1) carried articles in Workers World implying that President Johnson was
implicated In a rightist conspiracy to assassinate President Kennedy ;
(2) supported the travel of a group of young people to Communist Cuba
in 1963 ;
(3) supported Conununist and ultranationallst organizations working to un-
dermine the United States in Puerto Rico ;
(4) accused the United States of aggression and genocide in Vietnam and
advocated a Communist victory and the complete withdrawal of United
States forces ;
(5) supported and encouraged resistance to the draft and agitation against
the Vietnam war within the Armed Forces ;
(6) endorsed the concept of black power as a class weapon against white
capitalist oppression ;
<7) advocated armed "self-defense" organizations among Negroes as part
of its inflammatory propaganda against "racist cops" ;
<8) specifically endorsed the violent doctrines of Robert F. Williams and
given circulation to his pronouncements ;
32-955 0 — 69 — pt. 1 13
904 SUBVERSIVE INFLUENCES IN RIOTS, LOOTING, AND BURNING
(9) collaborated in Communist-serving united front activities with such orga-
nizations as :
Revolutionary Action Movement
Monroe Defense Committee
Movement for Puerto Rican Independence
International War Crimes Tribunal
Student Mobilization Committee
Spring Mobilization Committee
National Mobilization Committee
Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee
Fifth Avenue Vietnam Peace Parade Committee
End the Draft Committee
Veterans of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade
Emergency Civil Liberties Committee
Fort Hood Three Defense Committee
W.E.B. DuBois Clubs of America
Communist Party of the United States ;
(10) participated in the violent and disruptive demonstrations during the
August 1966 hearings of the House Committee on Un-American Activ-
ities, boasting of the number of arrested YAWF members.
Statements:
Communist Revolution
"mnal statement," febkuary 12, 1959:
"We reject the bourgeois democratic illusion of the constitutional road to
I)ower. And we want to prepare for the revolutionary overthrow of American
capitalism. * * * "
WORKERS WORLD. MARCH 1959, P. 1: *
"Marxism has always taught that social convulsions, catastrophes, war and
revolutions are the inevitable qualitative changes after the cumulative, quanti-
tative growth of years if not decades of 'peaceful' development and sharpening
of irrepressible class antagonisms.
"Our task is to prepare the masses for these eventualities, not to sing them
to sleep with pacifist luUabys. • * * We say : without a proletarian revolution,
imperialist war is inevitable. That is the Leninist teaching on this subject and
that teaching is stiU valid."
WORKERS WORLD, JANUARY 9, 1964. P. 2:
"The conclusion is inescapable. . .
"Full equality eaniiot be achieved in thiis country without a socialist revolu-
tion. And * * * it is the bounden duty of every friend of freedom to devote his
life to the preparation an^ successful outcome of that event."
WORKERS WORLD, APRtL 2, 1964, P. 2:
"The triple revolution' — more than anything else — needs a fourth revolution,
a revolution of the workers and the dispossessed and the oppressed — a proletarian
revolution against the bourgeoisie."
Wartime Allegiance to Communism
workers world, march 1959. p. 2:
"In any war of the imperialist countries against the Soviet UnioA, China or
Eastern Europe — or any colonial countries— we stand firmly and unequivocally
on their side, which is the side of the working class."
Peking Oriented
workers world. december 7, 1962. p. 1:
"the Chinese Communist Party * * * is leading the revolutionary elements in
the world [Communist] movement."
WORKERS WORLD. JANUARY 20. 1967, P. 1:
"The Chinese Communist Party has been the strongest, truest, and most de-
voted of all the parties in the struggle for Marxism and socialism. ♦ ♦ ♦"
SUBVERSIVE INFLUENCES IN RIOTS, LOOTING, AND BURNING 905
Racial Violence
WORKERS WORLD, JULY 26, 1963, P. 1:
" 'Cambridge is different,' says many an observer. The smell of gunpowder
pervades the entire atmosphere of this eastern shore community, where 4,000
Black people have made a stand for freedom in a manner which has earned the
admiration of freedom-loving people the world over."
WORKERS WORLD, SEPTEMBER 27, 1963, P. 2:
"Neither the vicious police nor the racist State Guard will lift a finger to pro-
tect the Afro-American people. * * * Only the autonomous, independent armed
bodies of the oppressed themselves can be depended upon to keep the peace and
at the same time to enforce the rights that all citizens are supposed to possess.
"♦ ♦ * Self-defense, like self-preservation, is a law of nature. And under the
present conditions, that law must inevitably assert itself as a cUss law.
"The right of self-defense will soon be exercised with the greatest energy and.
on the broadest scale. * * *"
WORKERS WORLD, JULY 2. 1964. P. 1 :
"Only organized, armed self-defense by the masses themselves will stop the
lynchers and the would-be lynchers. Only such action will end the terror for good.
"The time to make this clear is NOW."
WORKERS WORLD, JULY 30. 1964, P. 2:
"Our slogan has always been to 'disarm the oppressor ; arm the oppressed.'
The oppressed Black People are going to implement this slogan against the
I)olice and police agents of the oppressor."
WORKERS WORLD, SEPTEMBER 17. 1964. P. 2:
"The issues of racism are not decided at the ballot box ; they are decided by
who has the club, who has the gun, who has the rope, who has the armed power in
his own person or that of his friends."
WORKERS WORLD, JULY 'l5, 1965. P. 1:
"The racial conflict is part of the global class conflict. * * ♦"
Harlem Riots, 1964
workers world, july 30, 1964, p. 2:
"The people of Harlem have not yet taken up arms. But they have the full
right to do so * * *.
"It is certain that if not in New York, then * * * somewhere else, a section
of the Black People will take to arms and their action will spread to other
sections."
WORKERS WORLD, JULY 30. 1964. P. 1:
"The Black People themselves were heard from instead of the 'leaders.' They
suffered long, endured much and were provoked by the thousand-and-first murder
of the innocent to stand up and fight the oppressor with bare hands, bottles, and
bricks."
WORKERS WORLD, SEPTEMBER 17, 1964. P. 3:
"But this time it was different. Daily police brutality, other cop shootings, had,
along with other grievances, driven the Black People to a point where they
could take no more. Gilligan's killing of James Powell was a spark in a huge train
of dynamite which started to explode, car by car.
"The Black People of New York and the whole U.S. began to fight back."
WORKERS WORLD, NOVEMBER 12, 1964, P. 1:
"This time it was the 'Police Board' who pinned a medal on the uniformed
murderer and gave the green light to every sadistic cop in Harlem.
'Police Board Absolves GilUgan;
No Violation of Rules Found,'
— says the latest headline.
"To those familiar with the case, the ugly events of that July day recalled
again with a terrible clearness the crude brutality with which the good-guy cops
act when dealing with the poor.
906 SUBVERSIVE INFLUENCES IN RIOTS, LOOTING, AND BURNING
"In spite of the tremendous uprising in the black community which the kill-
ing sparked, the authorities * • * officially okay the murder of the black
schoolboy by the racist cop,"
YOUTH AGAINST WAR AND FASCISM
58 West 25th Street, New York, N.Y. 10010
Origin:
Youth Against War and Fascism (YAWF) was founded early in 1962 as the
Anti-Fascist Youth Committee. The August 10, 1962, issue of Workers World
refers to "Youth Against War and Fascism (formerly the Anti-Fascist Youth
Committee)."
Purpose:
YAWF operates as the youth arm and principal agitational force of the Work-
ers World Party, a Trotskyist Communist splinter group whose leaders have
declared for the "revolutionary overthrow of American capitalism."
Organization:
Membership unknown.
Directed by a national chairman, national coordinator, and student co-
ordinator.
Locations of known branches :
New York City, N.Y. (national office ; address above)
City College of New York
Brooklyn Collie
Cleveland, Ohio (Committee Against War and Fascism, Box 91131, Cleve-
land, Ohio 44101 )
Youngstown, Ohio (Committee Against War and Fascism, Box 75, Youngs-
town, Ohio 44501)
Buffalo, N.Y. ( address unknown )
Milwaukee, Wise, (address unkown)
Front groups :
Ad Hoc Committee on the Middle East
Pvt. Stapp Defense Committee
Committee for GI Rights
Key Leaders:
Key Martin — national chairman
Maryann Weissimm — national coordinator
Alex Chemowitz — student coordinator; president, CCNY chapter
Joel Myers — leader, Buffalo chapter
Deirdre Oriswold — Editor, The Partisan
Publications:
The Partisan (national magazine ; six issues per year)
YAWF Newsletter (national ; issued irregularly)
Activities:
Youth Against War and Fascism has —
(1) demonstrated in support of the Communist Chinese and in favor of their
admission to membership in the United Nations ;
(2) supported the travel of a group of young people to Cuba under Com-
munist auspices in 1963 ;
(3) accused the United States of aggression and genocide in Vietnam;
(4) openly advocated a Communist victory in Vietnam;
(5) encouraged both defiance of the draft and open agitation against the
Vietnam war within the Armed Forces ;
(6) attempted to stimulate anti-Vietnam sentiment among Negroes through
participation in such groups as Blacks Against Negative Dying (BAND),
founded and led by YAWF activist Ed Oquendo ;
SUBVERSIVE INFLUENCES IN RIOTS, LOOTING, AND BURNING 907
(7) participated in or otherwise supported the activities of such organizations
as:
W.E.B. DuBois Clubs of America
Movement for Puerto Rican Independence
Progressive Labor Party
Student Committee for Travel to Cuba
Spartacist League
Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee
Student Mobilization Committee
National Mobilization Committee
Revolutionary Action Movement
(8) disseminated inflammatory propaganda against so-called "racist cops"
in the middle of riot situations ;
(9) demonstrated in support of those engaged in recent urban rioting; and
(10) urged the necessity for armed "self-defense" groups among Negroes as the
only hope for successful resistance to American oppression and racism.
Statements:
Harlem Riots, 1964
reprint of yawf leaflet distributed in new york streets and at gar-
ment center solidarity rally, workers world. july 30. 1964. p. 4:
"This is not a riot. This is a genuine rebellion of the people against the
monstrous conditions of existence. Everybody knew it was coming — long before
last Saturday night and long before Thomas Gilligan killed James Powell.
"It is a social convulsion against unbearable oppression. It is not peaceful and
prayerful, it is true.* ♦ *"'
"Who occupies Harlem and Bedford Stuyvesant, armed to the teeth? — ^The
police.
• ••••••
"Who, then, is directly responsible for the violence? — The police.
• ••••••
"Write, phone, wire, demonstrate — tell Mayor Wagner to GEXT THE RACIST
COPS OUT OF HARLEM."
"WHO KILLED JAMES POWELL?" (UNDATED YAWF LEAFLET):
"James Powell was killed by :
A RACIST COP * * *.
"James Powell was killed by:
A FASCIST-TYPE POLICE FORCE that recruits and trains people for
brutality. Any decent human being would quit before two weeks on the
force — a gang of storm troopers.
• . * * * * * *
"James Powell was the latest casualty in the war of the bosses against the
workers and unemployed, young and old. Black and white. The only way to fight
against this war on the masses is independent mass organization to fiffht back.'"'
SPARTACIST LEAGUE
Box 1377, G.P.O., New York, N.Y. 10001
Origin:
The Spartacist League originated in 1960 as a small group of dissident members
of the Socialist Workers Party (SWP) who, styling themselves the Revolu-
tionary Tendency of the SWP, stood in substantial disagreement with the party's
leadership on such basic policy questions as the proper approach to the Cuban
revolution. After 3 years of trying to promote a more revolutionary line than
that of the leadership, the group was expelled from the SWP in December 1963
for alleged "disloyal attitudes."
Under the leadership of James Robertson, the group, now referring to itself
as the Spartacist Group or Spartacist Committee, brought out the first issue of
its oflScial publication, Spartacist, dated February-March 1964, and proclaiming
itself a bimonthly published by "supporters of the Revolutionary Tendency ex-
pelled from the Socialist Workers Party."
908 SUBVERSIVE INFLUENCES IN RIOTS, LOOTING, AND BURNING
Though dedicated initially to gaining readmission to the SWP, the Spartacists
later shifted their emphasis to the development of an independent Trotskyist
Ck)mmunist organization and adopted the new name of Revolutionary Committee
of the Fourth International. With the June-July 1966 issue, Spartacist had
become simply a "Bimonthly Organ of Revolutionary Marxism," all reference
to the SWP having been dropped.
Over the Labor Day weekend of September 2-4, 1966, a conference was held
in Chicago, 111. At this conference, attended by a claimed 50 delegates and
observers from various parts of the country, the Spartacist League was organized
as a fully independent Trotskyist group and its chief oflBcers chosen.
Purpose:
The Spartacist League is a revolutionary organization which proclaims itself
a "national section of the international Trotskyist movement" working for the
"victory of the socialist revolution in the United States." In the Chinese-Soviet
dispute, the Spartacists reject the Soviet approach to revolution in line with
basic Trotskyist doctrine. But they also reject the Maoist approach because
of its alleged substitution of "peasant-based guerilla warfare" for the correct
line of the "vanguard role of the working class."
Organization:
60-80 members.
Directed by a central committee of indeterminate membership; by at least
two commissions (Negro and editorial) ; and by a political bureau.
Regional addresses :
Box 1377, G.P.O., New York, N.Y. 10001 (national office)
Box 852, Main P.O., Berkeley, Calif. 94701
Box 6(M4, Main P.O., Chicago, 111. 60680
Box 8121, Gentilly Station, New Orleans, La. 70122
Other known addresses :
Box 8165, Univ. Station, Austin, Tex. 78712
Box 3142, Univ. Station, Columbus, Ohio 43210
Box 1021A, Detroit, Mich. 48232
Box 3061, Eureka, Calif. 95501
Box 18434, Eastwood Station, Houston, Tex. 77023
Box 442, Ithaca, N.Y. 14851
Box 4054, Terminal Annex, Los Angeles, Calif. 9(X)54
Box 1827, Wm. Penn Annex, Philadelphia, Pa. 19105
Affiliated group :
Freedom Socialist Party of Washington [State]
Key Leaders:
James Robertson — national chairman ; editor, Spartacist
Geoffrey White — West Coast editor, Spartacist
Joseph Vetter (also known as Joseph Verret) — Southern editor, Spartacist
Helen Janacefc— managing editor, Spartacist
Paul Oaillard — member, central committee
Albert Nelson — New York organizer
Harry Turner — identified only as a "Spartacist leader"
Publications:
Sportacisf (national bimonthly)
Espartaco (national Spanish-language bimonthly)
Spartadst-West (occasionally issued publication of the Bay Area Spartacist
League, Berkeley, Calif. )
Marxist Bulletin series (basic documents of Spartacists' official positions on
such issues as expulsion from SWP, Cuban revolution, Negro questions, etc.)
Activities:
The Spartacist League has —
(1) disseminated propaganda and participated in demonstrations designed
to obstruct the Vietnam war effort ;
(2) openly advocated a Communist victory in Vietnam ;
(3) disseminated inflammatory propaganda against so-called "racist cops"
and "police brutality" during riot situations ;
SUBVERSIVE INFLUENCES IN RIOTS, LOOTESTG, AND BURNING 909
(4) advocated the creation of a mass Negro-oriented organization, not as a
concession to black power, which the Spartacists regard as divisive, but
as a part of the broader proletarian front ;
(5) disseminated propaganda designed si)ecifically to convey the idea that the
Vietnam war is a racist war of oppression against colored people by the
U.S. imperialists ; and
(6) urged the development of the organizational concepts of the rent strike
and tenants councils into a block-by-block armed Negro "self-defense"
network.
Statements:
Communist Revolution
sp art agist, february-march 1964, pp. 2, 12:
"We frankly state in advance that the purpose of our action is to further a revolu-
tionary regroupment of forces within this country such that a Leninist vanguard
party of the working class will emerge. * * *"
"The theory of the Permanent Revolution, which is basic to our movement,
declares that in the modem world the bourgeois-democratic revolution cannot
be completed except through the victory and extension of the proletarian revolu-
tion * * *."
SPARTACIST, ELECTION SUPPLEMENT, OCTOBER 1964, P. 3:
"* * * Marxists emphasize the self-defense of the Negroes in the South, and
look to them, ultimately in league with the white workers under a Bolshevik
program, to accomplish a real shattering of the racist system, North and South."
"THESES ON BUILDING THE REVOLUTIONARY MOVEMENT IN THE U.S.— TASKS OF
THE SPARTACIST LEAGUE" (SPARTACIST PRE-CONFERENCE DISCUSSION BUL-
LETIN, JULY 1966, P. 1) :
"The Spartacist League is based on the principles embodied in the decisions
of the first four Congresses of the Communist International, the resolutions and
dociiments agreed to by the 1938 Founding Conference of the Fourth Interna-
tional and the International resolution on perspectives adopted by the Interna-
tional Committee of the Fourth International Conference of April 1966. We
recognize that these materials are the indispensible [sic] documentary codifica-
tion of the Communist movement internationally and are fundamental to the
revolutionary tasks of the SL."
SPARTACIST. NOVEMBER-DECEMBER 1966, PP. 11, 13:
"The Spartacist League of the U.S. is a revolutionary organization which, as
part of the international revolutionary movement, is committed to the task
of building the party which will lead the working class to the victory of the
socialist revolution in the United States.
• **•***
"The Spartacist League * * ♦ [is] a national section of the international Trot-
skyist movement * * *."
Position on Negroes
R. S. FRASER, "FOR THE MATERIALIST CONCEPTION OF THE NEGRO QUESTION,"
MARXIST BULLETIN NO. 5. P. 26:
"The dual nature of the Negro struggle arises from the fact that a whole people
regardless of class distinction are the victims of discrimination. This problem
of a whole people can be solved only through the proletarian revolution, under
the leadership of the working class. * * *"
"DRAFT TASKS & PERSPECTIVES OF THE SPARTACIST LEAGUE" (SPARTACIST PRE-
CONFERENCE DISCUSSION BULLETIN, JULY 1966), P. 18:
"The only realistic program for black Americans is Communism."
Racial Violepjce
spartacist, july-august 1964, p. 5:
"The rent strike must te extended * * * because it, with its concommitant [sic]
tenants councils, offers the best method so far devised to organize the community
• * *. With the present level of mass consciousness, only the lack of exi)erienced
910 SUBVERSIVE INFLUENCES IN RIOTS, LOOTING, AND BURNING
organizers prevents virtually the whole of Harlem and the other New York
ghettos from being organized into tenants councils right now. Moreover, block
councils firmly based on building councils would offer a natural basis for the
organization of self-defense. * • *"
SP ART AGIST. MAY-JUNE 1965, P. 5:
"The illusion of 'non-violence' spread by King and others is a criminal dis-
arming ot black people, and is consistent with the role of these 'leaders' as agents
of the power sitructure. The movement must scrap these illusions once and for
all and begin to organize the N^ro people to defend themselves from violence.
• • ♦»»
SP ART AGIST, MAY-JUNE 1967, P. S4:
"It is the duty of a revolutionary organization to intervene where possible to-
give these outbursts [riots] political direction."
Harlem Riots, 1964
spartagist, january-february 1965, pp. 1, 5:
"On this basis Spaktacist stated early in July '. . . the bourgeois state now
prepares to fight openly in the streets through its police arm against the resur-
gence of the struggle.' This prediction was strikingly confirmed on July 18 and
the days that followed as wave after wave of armed, specially trained elite
police — the Tactical Patrol Force — swept through Harlem indiscriminately beat-
ing and terrorizing all who crossed their paths, when the mood of the ghetto
made it clear that the killing of 15-year-old James Powell by an off-duty police
officer would not go unprotested.
• *•****
"James Robertson, Spaktacist editor, described the role of the cops in creating
the riots and, in reference to attempts being made to blame the riots on Commu-
nists, said that 'unfortunately there aren't many Reds in Harlem now — hut
there will he!' "
REVOLUTIONARY ACTION MOVEMENT (RAM)
2811 W. Diamond Street, Philadelphia, Pa.
Origin:
Winter 1963
Purpose:
From the Ram Manifesto of 1964: "RAM was officially organized ♦ ♦ ♦ by
Afro-Americans who favored Robert F. Williams and the concept of organized
violence. * • * ONE PURPOSE — To free black people from the universal slave-
master * • ♦. ONE AIM — To develop black people through struggle to the highest
attainment possible. ONE DESTINY— To follow in the spirit of black revolu-
tionaries * * * and to create a new world free of colonialism, racism, imperial-
ism, exploitation, and national oppression."
In hearings before the subcommittee of the Committee on Appropriations,
House of Representatives, on February 16, 1967, J. Edgar Hoover, Director of
the FBI, described the Revolutionary Action Movement as "a Negro organiza-
tion • • ♦ dedicated to the overthrow of the capitalist system in the United
States, by violence if necessary, and its replacement by a socialist system
oriented toward the Chinese Communist interpretation of Marxism-Leninism."
Organization:
Less than 50
Precise membership figures cannot be stated owing to the clandestine nature
of the organization. However, it should be noted that RAM does not seek mass
membership. Instead, it operates on the principle of a tight-knit, highly selective
inner circle of leaders who accomplish their aims through infiltration and sub-
version of other Afro- American groups, through fronts, and through use of Negro
teenage gangs schooled in urban guerrilla warfare.
RAM has units in Philadelphia (home base), Boston, Cleveland, Chicago,
Detroit, and New York City.
There are three levels of membership in the RAM organization: (1) field
organizers, (2) active members, and (3) associate members.
SUBVERSIVE INFLUENCES IN RIOTS, LOOTING, AND BURNING 911
Fronts :
Afro-Ameriean Youth Council
Afro- American Student Movement
Jamaica (N.Y.) Rifle and Pistol Club
Black Guard ^
RAM is afl31iated with the United Black Brotherhood in Cleveland.
Key Leaders:
Robert F. Williams — chairman-in-exile (also self -proclaimed "Premier of the
African-American-Government-in-Exile")
Maxwell Curtis Stanford, Jr. — field chairman
Publication:
BLACK AMERICA
"Black America is the theoretical journal of RAM — Revolutionary Action
Movement, Black 'Libera tion Front of the U.S.A..
"It's [sic] purpose is to bring clarity and give direction in revohitionary strug-
gle. To help build revolutionary nationalist leadership.
"To present a revolutionary program of national liberation and self-deter-
mination for the African captives enslaved in the racist United States of
America.
"To forge a revolutionary unity among peoples of African decent and to give
a new international spirit to Pan- Africanism.
"To unite Black America with the Bandung world (Asia, Africa and Latin
America ) .
"To fight for the liberation of oppressed i>eoples everywhere.
"Our message ot [sic] the Black peoples of the world : UNITE or PERISH —
WE WILL WIN." (BLACK AMERICA, Summer-Fall 1965, p. 2)
Activitieb:
Revolutionary Action Movement members have —
(1) been charged with the planned cyaniiie poisoning of up to 1,500 policemen
and top city ofllcials in Philadelphia ;
(2) been indicted for conspiracy to murder moderate Negro leaders in
the United States, conspiracy to advocate anarchy and "overthrow of or-
ganized government by the assassination of executive officers of the
government" ;
(3) stored arms and ammunition in anticipation of the violent U.S. revolution
which is to be accomplished according to a well-organized plan of urban
guerrilla warfare ;
(4) sent "greeting" to the NLF of Soiith Vietnam and have called for a united
front against "racist U.S. imperialism."
■Statements:
ram manifesto quoted in monthly review, may 1964, p. 6, 7:
"we are at war with white America. * * *
• *•♦•♦♦
^'RAM's philosophy is one of the world black revolution or world revolution of
oppressed peoples rising up against their former slavemasters. * * *"
ROBERT F. WILLIAMS, THE CRUSADER, MARCH 1965, P. 5:
"As a representative if [sic] the Revolutionary Action Movement, I am here
[Hanoi, North Vietnam] to give support to the Vietnamese people in their strug-
gle against U.S. imperialist aggression. ♦ * ♦"
ROBERT F. WILLIAMS. HAVANA RADIO FREE DIXIE BROADCAST. DECEMBER 18, 1965 :
''The U.S. Government is a racist government. * * ♦ The only protection our
■oppressed people can expect in racist America is that which we render ourselves.
The only justice we can expect is on-the-spot justice : an eye for an eye and
-a tooth for a tooth.
1 One of the more recent fronts of the Revolutionary Action Movement is the Black
Ouard which is self-described in Its "Black Guard Organizers Manual" as "a black youth
«roup dedicated to black power, black unity and self-defense • • • [andl is the forerunner
'Of a black liberation army."
912 SUBVERSIVE INFLUENCES IN RIOTS, LOOTING, AND BURNING
"My brothers and sisters, the coming summer is going to be violent and bloody.
* * * Let our people organize, arm, unite, and prepare for a war of survival
and liberation! * * * Put the torch to the racist strongholds of the cities and
remember the forests. * ♦ *"
ROBERT F. WILLIAMS, THE CRUSADER, JULY 1967, PP.2, 3:
"The racist power structure [in America] hoped to head off the long hot sum-
mer of Afro-American rebellion * * * The battle of Newark should be a lesson
to the oppressor that his tactic of vicious repression is not an answer to the
black man's thrust for human dignity. * * * Our response * * * is a clarion call
to * * * Black America to UNITE OR PERISH ! MOBILIZE FOR PEOPLE'S
V7AR BECAUSE AMERICA IS THE BLACK MAN'S BATTLEGROUND !"
"BLACK GUARD ORGANIZERS MANUAL," DATED OCTOBER 23, 1967:
"THE BLACK GUARD IS A BLACK YOUTH GROUP DEDICATED TO
BLACK POWER, BLACK UNITY AND SELF-DEFENSE. THE BLACK
GUARD RESOLVES ANY CONTRADICTION WHICH MAY ARISE IN CAR-
RYING OUT VANGUARD DIRECTION, AND TO MOBILIZE AND LEAD
THE MASSES. * * * THE BLACK GUARD IS THE FORERUNNER OF A
BLACK LIBERATION ARMY."
"When a Black Guard has achieved his third degree RAM star (usually two
years) he will be qualified to govern any society, be in any guerrilla movement in
the world, and will be prepared to lead the NEW WORLD."
STUDENT NONVIOLENT COORDINATING COMMITTEE
(also known as SNCC and SNICK)
360 Nelson Street, SW., Atlanta, Ga. 30303
Origin :
April 1960 in Raleigh, N.C.
Originally known as the Temporary Student Nonviolent Coordinating Com-
mittee, SNOO, in the fall of 1960, met in Atlanta, Ga., elected its first slate of
oflScers, and dropped the "temporary" from its name. Primary initiators in the
founding of SNOC were Mrs. Ella J. Baker of Atlanta and Mrs. Anne Braden
of Louisville, Ky.
Purpose:
SNCC's original claimed purpose was to bring about the integration of south-
em "lunch counters and movie theaters." However, in the recent years, 'SNOC
has deviated grossly from this primary purpose and has been in the forefront
of a number of the more recent violent racial disturbances in the country.
Organization:
SNCC's national organization is headed by a chairman and a triumvirate com-
posed of an executive secretary, communications director, and program director.
While the chairman is the chief spokesman for the organization, the executive
secretary handles all organizational matters and directs the internal operation.
The position of chairman and his triumvirate are elective and are chosen an-
nually to preside over an 80-man central committee (aU of whom ha^e voting
privilege) and a 10-man "observer group" (without voting privilege.)' The na-
tional organization employs a number of staff personnel and field organizers.
Note: Friends of SNCC — an adjunct organization whose present director is
Elizabeth Sutherland!. "Friends" was formed as a campusHoriented fundraising
organization.
Key Leaders:
Hubert Oeriod (H.Rap) Broton — chairman (1967-to date)
Stanley Wise — executive secretary
Ethel Minor — communications director
Ralph Featherstone — program director
Stokely Carmichael — chairman (1966-67)
John Lewis — chairman (1963-66)
Charles McLaurin — chairman (1962-63)
Cfiarles McDew — chairman (1961-62)
Marion Barry, Jr. — chairman ( 1960-61 )
SUBVERSIVE ESTFLUENCES IN RIOTS, LOOTING, AND BURNING 913
Publications:
The Student Voice (published by The Student Voice, Inc. )
Activities:
SNOO has—
(1) aligned itself with the Havana-based Latin American Solidarity Organiza-
tion (LASO), a Castro-led network of guerrilla fighters whose primary
aim is to export revolution in Latin America and among the Negro popula-
tion in America ;
(2) openly assailed Zionism and accused the Israelis of committing atrocities
against the Arabs ;
(3) openly exhorted Negroes to refuse to be drafted into armed services of
the U.S. ;
(4) through its immediate past chairman, Stokely Carmichael, aligned itself
organizationally with the so-called Black Liberation Movement of the U.S.
and has called for the "overthrow" of the present government and the
start of "the real Revolution" in the U.S.;
(5) through its present chairman, H. Rap Brown, been indicted for inciting
a riot in Cambridge, Maryland.
Statements:
H. RAP BROWN, SNCC CHAIRMAN, "WHO ARE THE REAL OUTLAWS?" (SNCC
PAMPHLET JULY 1967), PP. 3. 5:
"That government which makes laws that you and I are supposed to obey,
without letting us be a part of that government ... is an illegal government. The
men who pass those laws are outlaws ; the police who enforce those laws are
outlaws and murderers.
"It should be understandable that we, as black people, should adopt the atti-
tude that we are neither morally nor legally bound to obey laws which were
not made with our consent and which seek to keep us down and keep us in our
place. * * *
• •*****
"We stand on the eve of a black revolution. These rebellions are but a dress
rehensal [sic] for real revolution. ♦ * *"
"ATLANTA'S BLACK PAPER," COMPILED BY ATLANTA PROJECT OF SNCC,
AUGUST 25, 1966:
"Saturday, August 20, 1966
"At the street comer rally held right after the press conference, two squad cars
with two black cops in each along with the paddy wagons pulled into the area.
At the rally, Bill Ware [SNCC], told the people that the black cops represent the
white power structure in the neighborhood and that the white power structure
had sent them ♦ ♦ *. He told the people of Vine City [Atlanta] about how Black
cops had beat him in the City Jail and how they are white men with black skins ;
how they are as much our enemy as any white Klu-Klux Klansmen [sic]."
STOKELY CARMICHAEL. GRAN MA, AUGUST 13, 1967:
"To my fellow comrade Che,
"The African-Americans inside the United States have a great deal of admira-
tion for you. We eagerly await your writings in order to read them, digest them
and plan our tactics based on them.
"We want you to know, wherever you are, that you are an inspiration not only
to the Blacks inside the U.S. but to the Liberation Struggle around the world.
Please keep on fighting because by your fighting you are inspiring us. Do not
despair, my comrade.
"We will win
Stokely Carmichael"
" 'We are moving toward urban guerrilla warfare within the United
States • » ♦.' "
914 SUBVERSIVE rNFLUENCES IN RIOTS, LOOTING, AND BURNING
SOUTHERN STUDENT ORGANIZING COMMITTEE (SSOC)
1703 Portland Avenue, Nashville, Tenn.
P.O. Box 6403, Nashville, Tenn. 31212
Tel. (615) 291-3537
Origix:
April 3-5, 1964
Founded by former Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC)
"white community" organizers as a counterpart to SNOC. It was designed to
work especially among white southern college students.
Purpose:
The proclaimed purpose of the 'Southern "Student. Organizing Committee is
to maintain a liaison between widely' scattered activists in the "peace" and
"civil rights" movements throughout the South through key representatives
located on various southern college campuses.
Organization:
In the fall of 1966, SSOC became a membership organization and embarked
on a campaign to form local chapters on various college campuses throughout
the South.
It now has an estimated 175 members with representatives on about 34 cam-
puses throughout the South.
SSOC is loosely coordinated though its central ofKce in Nashville and branch
office in Atlanta, Ga.
Key Leaders:
Tom Gardner— chairman
Alan Levin — vice chairman
There are about 15 StafC personnel employed by the Nashville headquarters
of SSOC.
Publication:
THE NEW SOUTH STUDENT (circulation, claimed 4,000) ; published month-
ly October through May by SSOC of Nashville ; $1 for southern students, $3 for
northern students and adults.
Activities:
On its own and in cooperation with other organizations has —
(1) staged or taken part in various civil rights picket lines and demonstra-
tions ;
(2) supported the activities and demonstrations of various U.S. anti-Vietnam
war organizations ;
(3) SSOC chairman Tom Gardner, together with 41 other Americans, met
with representatives of the North Vietnamese and the Viet Cong at a
conference in Bratislava, Czechoslovakia, September 5-12, 1967;
(4) supported the activities and demonstrations of the Student Nonviolent
Coordinating Committee ;
(5) supported the activities and demonstrations of, and is a fraternal organi-
zation to, the Students for a Democratic Society.
SOUTHERN CONFERENCE EDUCATIONAL FUND, INp.
3210 West Broadway, Louisville, Ky.
Origin:
September 6, 1938
The Southern Conference Educational Fund, Inc. (SCEF), initially functioned
as the "educational wing" of the Southern Conference for Human Welfare
(SCHW). The SCHW was cited by the Committee on Un-American Activities
in 1947 as a Communist-front organization "which seeks to attract southern
liberals on the basis of Its seeming interest in the problems of the South" al-
though its "professed interest in southern welfare is simply an expedient for
larger aims serving the Soviet Union and its subservient Communist Party
in the United States." Public exposure as a Communist-front group caused the
SCHW to suspend its operations in 1949; however, the SCEF continued as an
independent organization and absorbed the remaining functions of the SCHW.
SUBVERSIVE INFLUENCES IN RIOTS, LOOTING, AND BURNING 915
Operating as the successor of the SCHW, the SCEF maintained the same oflSce,
telephone number, and principal officers of the SCHW. The SCEF also continued
publishing SCHW's official organ, The Southern Patriot.
Purpose:
The SCEF purports to be an "interracial group" dedicated to ending "racial
discrimination, poverty, and other injustices in the South." Its main effort
at the present time is to "reach white Southerners and bring them into struggles
for social justice, helping them to unite with black Southerners in meaningful
joint action."
Organization:
Directed by a 60-member board of directors (SCEF is not a membership
organization with the exception of those individuals who are members of the
board.)
The SCEF has 22 staff members, a 60-member advisory committee and a
6-member medical advisory committee.
Reported annual budget : $100,000
Offices: (national headquarters listed above)
150 Tenth Avenue North, Nashville, Tenn.
799 Broadway, Suite 412, New York, N.Y. (Eastern office)
SCEF Projects :
(1) Southern Mountain Project & Mountain Education Program
(2) Operation Open Debate
(3) Grass-Roots Organizing Work (GROW) Project
(4) Southern Peace Education Project
(5) Anti-HUAC Project (SCEF operates as the southern regional office of
the National Committee to Abolish the House Un-American Activities
Committee, a Communist-front organization.)
Affiliate : Friends of SCEF
Key Leaders:
Rev. Fred L. Shuttleaworth — president
Carl Braden — executive director (member of SCEF staff since 1957) — identi-
fied member of the Communist Party, U.S.A.
Anne Braden — associate executive director and editor of Tihe Southern Patriot
(member of SCEF staff since 1957) — identified member of the Communist
Party, U.S.A.
James A. Dombrowski — special consultant (recently retired as SCEF executive
director; served as administrator for SCHW) — identified member of the
Communist Party, U.S.A. ; denied identification under oath.
Rev. WiUiam Howard Melish — assistant director — identified member of the
Communist Party, U.S.A.
Publication:
The Southern Patriot (monthly tabloid newspaper published since 1942 — circu-
lation [October 1966] : 9, 936)
Activities:
The SCEF has—
(1) prepared and published propaganda aimed at undermining the capitalist
system of the United States and has continually agitated against it by ex-
ploiting such issues as poverty, racial discrimination, and unemployment ;
(2) attempted to develop Negro and white unrest through organized agitation
in small southern towns and rural areas ;
(3) waged a deceitful campaign against congressional investigation of Com-
munist activities in the United States ;
(4) engaged in a program of agitation against United States military involve-
ment in Vietnam ; and
(5) maintained influence over certain militant Negro civil rights and "bla<*
power" organizations and has rendered financial support to at least one
of them. •
916 SUBVERSIVE INFLUENCES IN RIOTS, LOOTING, AND BURNING
Statement:
THE SOUTHERN PATRIOT (EDITORIAL), AUGUST 1967, PP. 1« 2:
"Past movements for peaceful social change have failed partly because people
in power have not wanted change and have used every device and every form
of terror to crush such movements. * * *
"But movements have also failed * * • because they have not been radical
enough — radical in the sense of going to the root of what is wrong in our society
and dealing with people's vital needs. They have failed too because sometimes
people in these movements have lost their nerve at crucial moments. • • *"
LIBERATOR
Published by: Afro-American Research Institute, Inc.
224 East 46th Street, New York City, N.Y. 10017
Origin:
January 1960
Daniel H. Watts began publishing the LIBERATOR in 1960 in the name
of a largely paper organization which he called the Liberation Committee for
Africa. In 1963, Watts and Richard Gibson, one of the initiators of the Fair
Play for Cuba Committee, incorporated the Afro-American Research Institute
as the successor of Watts' "Liberation Committee." The institute has since
served as the publisher of LIBERATOR magazine.
Purpose:
LIBERATOR magazine is self -described as the "intellectual voice for black
nationalism and socialism" and the "voice of the Afro-American protest move-
ment in the United States and the liberation movement of Africa."
Organization:
Other than the staff of the LIBERATOR, no organization exists in the sense
of the word.
Key Leaders:
Daniel H. Watts — editor in chief
Len Holt — Washington, D.C.
BUI Mahoney — editor. Southern
Richard Prioe — editor, West Coast
Richard CHbsonr— editor, Africa, Asia, and Europe
Clayton Riley — arts editor
Staff:
Evelyn B. Kalibala — secretary
Tom Feelings and James Malone — illustrators
Jwmes Connor — photographer
Publication:
Monthly. Subscription : $3 per year.
LIBERATOR magazine has featured articles supporting "black arts" which
show domination of blacks over whites and has endorsed the so-called N^^o
Liberation Movement in America. It supports an anti-U.S. capitalist movement
among Negroes to alter the present form of government and supports Negro
extremist groups such as the Black Muslims, RAM, SNCC, and the all-Negro
Freedom Now Party.
LIBERATOR magazine opposes civil rights groups such as the NAACP and
the Urban League and openly supports African-Marxist leaders such as Kwame
Nkrumah, Sekou Toure, and Patrice Lumumba.
LIBERATOR magazine, in addition to publishing and distributing its monthly
publication, operates the Liberator Book Service which offers historical, sepa-
ratist, and other Negro-oriented books and pamphlets written by a wide range
of authors including Communists and black nationalists.
Statements from Liberator Magazine:
"Mrs. [Gloria H.] Richardson has shown the direction which must be fol-
lowed, if the Movement is to be saved from destruction by its so-called friends.
* * * She, and others like her, however, who are providing courageous and
effective leadership will continue to be under growing pressure from the na-
SUBVERSIVE ESTFLUENCES EST RIOTS, LOOTING, AND BURNING 917
tional established civil rights groups * * *." (Editorial, "Mrs. Richardson's
Revolt," vol. Ill, No. 11, November 1963, p. 1)
"What is needed at this juncture is a truly national Liberation Front with
a program aimed squarely at basic changes in our economic and social structure —
e.g. a planned economy based on public ownership subject to the needs and will
of the masses who will hold jwwer — which will make for rapid social advance,
freedom and equality.
*******
"the prospects of victory for our Second Revolution are more than promising;
and through it, perhaps, America can at last rejoin the human family." (James A.
Kennedy, "Toward a National Liberation Front," voL III, No. 11, November 1963,
pp. 19, 20)
«'* * * Afro-America lacks adequate leaders. 'The acknowledged so-called
"Negro leadership" serves as the white man's neutralizer of Black America's
struggle. Therefore it will be removed by dedicated younger Black militants
who are more responsive to the fundamental needs of the Black Masses.' * ♦ *"
(Donald Freeman, "The Cleveland Story," vol. Ill, No. 6, June 1963, p. 18)
"The white racist iwliceman in the Black ghetto does not represent law and
order for Afro-Americans, he is merely the extension of the repressive economic,
political and social system that is imposed on the ghetto by the white power
structure. * * *" (Daniel H. Watts, editorial, "Genocide or Murder?" vol. V,
No. 8, August 1965, p. 3)
"The white power structure which had supported these negro anglo-saxons was
calling in the chits. The house niggers responded by saying *we can't control the
natives, they are not one of us. You (whites) must put down the rebellion. We tciU
hack you up, as far behind you, as we can get.' * * ♦" (Daniel H. Watts, editorial,
"Watts, L. A.,— The Nation's Shame," voL V, No. 9, September 1965, p. 3)
"The cry is Black Power. Very curiously, of all the slogans that the so-called
civil rights revolution has generated, to date, only the cry of Black power has
instill [sic] fear in the hearts of big and little charlie. Why? Why suddenly,
the most 'freedom' loving of whites, have been driven from the civil rights
circles by the cry of Black power? Is it because after 350 years of struggle we
have finally got to where the action is? Power ? Black Power?
"Black power! Power to punish, Power to destroy, and above all Power to
survive the most brutal system of oppression ever devised by man. • * •
"Brothers and Sisters, Charlie's finger is on the panic button, let our Black
Power help him push it, to hell. T.C.B." (Daniel H. Watts, editorial, "'Auda-
cious' Black Power," vol. VI, No. 7, July 1966, p. 3)
ACT
Origin:
March 1964 at a conference in Chester, Pa.
Purpose:
To support local "action groups" in civil rights activity "when their anti-
discrimination projects are attacked and 'undercut by the standard civil rights
organizations such as the NAACP ♦ * * and the Urban League.' "
Organization:
ACT leader Julius Hobson has stated that the group is "not a civil rights
organization in the classical sense but a revolutionary one in the American
tradition."
Chapters were formed in Chicago, IlL; New York City; Chester, Pa.; and
Washington, D.C.
Key Leaders:
Lawrence Landry — chairman
Stanley Branche
Gloria Richardson
Julius Hobson
John Wilson
Jesse Oray
Nahaz Rogers
918 SUBVERSIVE INFLUENCES IN RIOTS, LOOTING, AND BURNING
ACTIVITIBS:
ACT has —
(1) planned nationwide school boycott in 1964 to protest de facto school
segregation throughout the country ;
(2) planned a nationwide boycott of California wines and fruits to protest a
voter referendum on housing law. ACT took the position that the right to
open occupancy should not be decided by popular vote ;
(3) sponsored a 7-day rights offensive, May 24-30, 1965 ;
(4) participated in the attempted "stall-in" at the 1964 New York World's
Fair;
(5 ) organized civil rights school boycotts, buying boycotts, etc.
Statements:
julius hobson, the evening star (washington, d.c.), as quoted in the
congressional record. may 22, 1967, p. h5866:
"^'You can't make Socialist promises within the Capitalist System." It won't
work. I'm a Marxist "Socialist, not a Communist, but I don't have any illusions
that I can change the system, although I think I can improve it.' "
TBE EVENING STAR (WASHINGTON, D.C.), JULY 21, 1967, P. B-1:
Hobson saw the Newark riot of 1967 as " 'the beginning of the new "Civil War"
in the United States.' "
JULIUS HOBSON, THE WASHINGTON POST, NOVEMBER 6, 1966, P. A-27:
" 'We know what colonialism is right here at home,' he said. 'We don't have to
go to Vietnam to impose the kind of freedom I've enjoyed here. ♦ • *' "
NAHAZ ROGERS, THE MILITANT. APRIL 27, 1964, P. 1:
" 'The old line of making the Negro revolution acceptable by the guidelines of
dei)ortment and graciousness that are acceptable to the white community is gone.
ACT will not function in a manner that is acceptable to white people. It will do
things that are accaptable [sic] to Negroes.' "
ORGANIZATION FOR BLACK POWER
Origin:
May 1965 at a conference in Washington, D.C
Purpose:.
To serve as a political action arm for ACT leaders. "Its aim is to gain political
control of major U.S. cities through mobilization and control of the Negro
residents." According to its literature, it " 'is part of the revolutionary struggle
of people all over the world to liberate themselves from the determination of
the United States to impose its way of life on the whole world and to build a new
world free from exploitation.' "
Organization:
"Individuals connected with its founding represent various facets of the mili-
tant Negro extremist community. The chairman of the organization is Jesse
Gray. He is a former Harlem organizer for the Communist Party, USA."
" 'Membership in the Organization for Black Power shall be of organizations and
individuals who accept the perspective of Black Power and the discipline of the
organization in the struggle for this power.'" (J. Edgar Hoover, Testimony be-
fore Appropriations Subcommittee, February 10, 1966, pp. 256, 257.)
Key Leaders:
Jesse Orap — chairman
Lawrence Landry — Chicago chairman
Julius Hobson — member of steering committee
Activities:
At a meeting in Chicago in July 1965 a program was adopted which included
the following points:
(1) Dissemination of information on "fraudulent nature" of the poverty
program ;
SUBVERSIVE INFLUENCES IN RIOTS, LOOTING, AND BURNING 91^
(2) Institute a drive in every ghetto to stop all cooperation by the poor with
poverty programs ;
(3) Campaign to drive the "social work lobby" and their "Negro lackeys"^
from the ghettos ;
(4) Refuse to continue discussions about poverty, civil rights, etc., with
Government social workers ;
(5) Create immediate programs to deal with Negro "Uncle Toms" ;
(6) "Train the ix)or for a nationwide campaign designed to obstruct the
status quo and to force the hand of those seeking to exploit * • * black
people" ;
(7) "Resolve that militant organizations will cooperate and work with any
and all persons to achieve these goals and objectives."
FREEDOM NOW PARTY
81 B. 125th Street, Suite 207, New York, N.Y. 10035
Tel. MO 2-0681
Origin:
August 28, 1963 (Call for a Freedom Now Party distributed in Washington,.
D.C.)
Purpose:
Formed by former Communist Party member Conrad Lynn and Red China
travel-ban violator William Worthy for the purpose of running an all-Negra
slate of electors in the 1964 elections.
Organization:
Believed very small.
Key Leaders:
Conrad Lynn — national chairman
Mrs. Pemella V. Wattley — corresponding secretary
Rev. Albert Cleage — Michigan State chairman
Peter Pierre — chairman, Brooklyn Freedom Now Party
Publications:
None
Activities:
The Freedom Now Party —
(1) ran a small slate of candidates for State and local offices in 1964 in Michi-
gan and New York, including Paul Boutelle, vice-presidential candidate
of the Trotskyist Communists, as candidate for State Senator from
Harlem ;
(2) ran a total of 39 Negro candidates in 1964 for offices ranging from U.S.
Senator to Wayne County drain commissioner. Single candidates were
offered in New York, Connecticut, and California. Greatest strength was
in Michigan. However, all Freedom Now Party candidates were soundly
defeated.
CONGRESS OF RACIAL EQUALITY (CORE)
National Office, 135th Street and Seventh Avenue (Harlem), New York City, N.Y.
Origin:
Spring 1942
Originally formed as the Committee of Racial Equality by James Farmer and
Jim Robinson after they were reluctantly served in a white restaurant in Chicago.
Farmer and Robinson, then working for the Fellowship of Reconciliation ( FOR ) ,
drew support from FOR members and picketed the restaurant until full inte-
gration was achieved.
Purpose: '
Originally considered one of the more "moderate" civil rights organizations,
CORE, since the early 1960's, has gradually increased in militancy and has
32-955 O — 69— pt. 1 14
920 SUBVERSIVE INFLUENCES IN RIOTS, LOOTING, AND BURNING
become increasingly separatist, black supremacist, and ideologically aligned with
the so-called new left.
Organization :
CORE claims 80,000 members in 200 chapters.
The organizational structure of CORE consists of a large advisory board and
a slate of five oflScers under which an administrative staff, field staff, field secre-
taries, and task force workers function. In addition a national action committee
oversees the regional operations of the chapters and individual members.
Key Leaders:
Wilfred Vssery — national chairman
Floyd B. McKissick — national director (1966 — to date)
Lincoln O. Lynch — assoc. national director (1966 — to date)
James L. Farmer — national director (1960-1966)^
Activities:
In addition to organizing and sponsoring numerous civil rights rallies, dem-
onstrations, and picket lines, CORE, its national leaders and its chapters, have —
(1) exhorted Negroes to be ready to "kill for freedom;" (Lincoln O. Lynch)
(2) taken a "Get out of Vietnam" war protest stand nationally and has par-
ticipated at the chapter level in nearly every major anti-Vietnam war
demonstration ;
(3) attempted to unlawfully block traffic leading to the World's Pair in New
York City in 1964 ;
(4) attempted to make a "citizen's arrest" of N.Y. Mayor Robert Wagner
immediately before the Harlem riot of 1964.
Statements:
FLOYD McKISSICK, THE NEW YORK TIMES MAGAZINE, OCTOBER 1, 1967, P. 101:
" 'As long as the white man has all the power and money, nothing will happen
because we have nothing. The only way to achieve meaningful change is to take
power.' " [Emphasis added.]
ROBERT CARSON (CHAIRMAN, BROOKLYN CORE), THE NEW YORK TIMES MAGAZINE,
OCTOBER 1. 1967, P. 104:
" 'We will work on our land by day and plan at night for that day when the
Negroes and the black people wiU call us from our forced exile to lead the van-
guard, to structure the change which must come about, if we members of the
black race are to survive in this country.' "
WILLARD D. DIXON, JR., EDITOR, THE BLACK DISPATCH, A CORE PUBLICATION FOR
THE BALTIMORE TARGET CITY PROJECT, AS QUOTED IN THE BALTIMORE SUN,
NOVEMBER 30. 1967, P. C-6:
" 'The police will be barred completely from the ghetto or else suffer the ultimate
penalty.'
" 'The vigilantes will become the legitimate law enforcement agency in the
black community' * * *."
NATION OF ISLAM
(also known as Muslim Mosque, Inc., and Black Muslims)
National headquarters of the Nation of Islam is located at the Central Mosque
in Chicago, 111. (5335 Greenwood Avenue, Chicago, 111.), and is the home of Elijah
Muhammad (Poole), the "Messenger of Allah."
Origin:
1931 in Detroit, Michigan
An ex-convict, W. D. Fard (also known as Ford) actually organized the sect
with the help of Elijah Poole, a Georgia farm worker. Fard had been released
from San Quentin Federal Prison after serving out the term of a narcotics con-
viction. Fard left Detroit after his followers offered a human sacrifice in 1933.
His whereabouts have been unknown since that time. Poole then began teaching
that he was the messenger of Allah and that Fard was Allah who had come and
gone. Poole served a prison term as a WWII draft evader.
1 Farmer is currently chairman of CORE'S advisory board.
SUBVERSIVE INFLUENCES IN RIOTS, LOOTING, AND BURNING 921
Purpose:
Elijah Muhammad Poole claims to have discovered the lost Nation of Islam at
the time Allah (Fard) instructed him to rescue the American Negro from his
"enslavement" by Christianity and Western culture. The Black Muslims believe
that the white man is the devil incarnate and integration with the white man
is refused on this basis.
In testimony before the Subcommittee of the House Committee on Appropria-
tions on February 16, 1967, FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover stated that the Nation
of Islam (NOI) was an "all-Negro, violently antigovemment and antiwhite
organization." Mr. Hoover characterized the NOI as "a very real threat to the
internal security of the Nation."
Organization:
About 70 mosques in as many cities with "an active membership of about 5,500."
Key Leaders:
Elijah Muhammad Poole — messenger of Allah
Raymond X Sharrieff (real name Raymond Hatchett) — national commander
of the Fruit of Islam and son-in-law of Elijah Muhammad
Publication:
Muhammad Speaks (published twice monthly)
Published by Muhammad's Mosque # 2
634 E. 79th Street, Chicago, lU. 60619
Alternate address : 5335 S. Greenwood Avenue, Chicago, 111.
Activities:
The Nation of Islam (NOI), through its leadership and newspaper, consist-
ently urged Negroes to refuse to be drafted into the armed services of the U.S.
on grounds NOI members do not consider themselves U.S. citizens in the sense
of the word.
Statements:
ELUAH MUHAMMAD, "BEWARE OF FALSE PROMISES, SEPARATION OR DEATH I"
MUHAMMAD SPEAKS. JULY 5, 1963, P. 9:
"You send armies of heavily-armed policemen to slay the unarmed so-called
Negores [sic]. Does this act of murder of unarmed people show that you are brave
or cowards? You, like your fathers, hate and despise your slaves, and you beat
and murder them daily. And after such inhuman treatment you want them to
love you so that you may carry out your evil doings on them without resistance."
EDrrORLA.L, "CAPTIVE NATIONS WEEK," MUHAMMAD SPEAKS, AUGUST 2, 1963, P. 9:
"Perhaps some sort of Nobel Prize for 'Hyi)ocrisy' should go to those lily-white
souls who have the effrontery to conduct "Captive Nation's Week,' a memorial
dedicated to concern for the eventual 'freeing' of other white souls said to be
'enslaved' behind the Iron Curtain in the midst of the current race crisis,"
ELIJAH MUHAMMAD, "THE MUSLIM PROGRAM," MUHAMMAD SPEAKS, JUNE 4, 1965,
PP. 23, 24:
"We want the government of the United States to exempt our people from
ALL taxation as long as we are deprived of equal justice under the laws of the
land."
"We believe that we who declared ourselves to be righteous Muslims, should
not participate in wars which takes the lives of humans. We do not believe this
nation should force us to take part in such wars, for we have nothing to gain
from it unless Ajnerica agrees to give us the necessary territory wherein we
may have something to fight for."
ELIJAH MUHAMMAD, MUHAMMAD SPEAKS. JULY 9, 1965. P. 1:
"I have warned you that the Catholic religion, which means the whole of
Christianity, is one of the worst enemies of the so-called Negro in the world.
"These people and their religion are so terrible and evil that the Bible (Revela-
tions of John) gave them the name, while prophesying of them, as the 'beast.'
The head of the church (Pope) is referred to as the 'dragon' who aided the
'beast,' the ruler, (President of the United States) and gave him the knowledge
of how to destroy the people. Rev. 13 :4."
922 ST7BVERSIVE INFLUENCES IN RIOTS, LOOTING, AND BURNING
EUJAH MUHAMMAD, MUHAMMAD SPEAKS. JULY 30, 1965, P. 1:
"Don't be deceived because you saw President Johnson, at his inaugural ball^
dancing with a black woman, a descendant of his great grandparents' slaves.
Why didn't we see her husband dancing with the President's white wife?"
EUJAH MUHAMMAD, MESSAGE TO THE BLACKMAN, P. 313:
"Arthur R. Gottschalk, state senator, 8th district, Park Forest (111.), wrote
our National Secretary, John All, asking him and my followers to disavow and
repudiate pubUcly the truth Allah has revealed to me of the Caucasian race,
the truth of them being real devils and our (the Black Nation's) open enemies. "^
INDEX
INDIVIDUALS
A
Page
Alexander, Franklin 890
Ali, John . 922
AUport, Gordon W 820
Altisar, Sergio 877
Aptheker, Bettina ■ 890
Aptheker, Herbert 885, 892, 893
Armand, Lisa , 898
B
Baker, EUa J -. 912
Ballan, Dorothy (Mrs. Sam Ballan) 903
Ballan, Sam (also known as Sam Marcy) __. 902, 903
Barnes, Jack 900
Barry, Marion, Jr. 912
Bentlev, Elizabeth 867
Beria, "Lavrenti — 868
Bloice, Carl -.--- 890, 893
Boulton, James 903
Boutelle, Paul - 900, 919
Bowron, Fletcher 839
Braden, Anne (Mrs. Carl Braden) 893, 912, 916
Braden, Carl 915
Branche, Stanley. 917
firandeis ( Louis D.) 822
Breitman, George 901
Briehl (Walter) 867
Britton. Joel - ^— ^in MP
Brown, H. Rap 719, 762,
772, 774 776, '787, 816, 854, 855, 865, 866, 875, 888. 912, 913
Brown, Herbert Geroid. (See Brown, H. Rap.)
Budenz, Louis (Francis) 893
Bundy 872
Burnham, Dorothy ( Mrs. Hyman Lumer) 892
C
Calloway, Dwight ■ 743
Camejo, Peter 900
Cannon, James P 899, 900
Carmichael, Stokely 762,774,
776, 780-783, 787, 788, 816, 828, 854, 855, 866, 877, 912, 913
Carson, Robert 920
Castro, Fidel --,-- 877
Chambers, Whittaker - 852
Chen Yi ; 873
Chernowitz, Alex --. 906
Chou En-lai .- 817, 873
Clarke, Dick _... . ^ 899
Clay, Cassius (also known as Muhammad Ali) 744
Cleage, Albert 919
Coe, Frank - 867, 870
Connor, James <--- 916
Copeland, Vincent — - 902, 903
t
11 INDEX
D Pas«
Davis, Ben 893
Davis, Benjamin 878
Davis, PhU 890
Deadwyler, Leonard 773
Deadwyler, Mrs. (Leonard) 773
DeBerry, Clifton 902
Dixon, Willard D., Jr 920
Dobbs, FarreU 900
Dodd (Thomas J.) 737
Dombrowski, James A 915
Douglass, Frederick 892
DuBois, Shirley Graham. (See Graham, Shirley.)
DuBois, W. E. B 893
Duggan, Robert 890
Durelle, Yvon 736
E
Edwards, Theodore 900
Eisencher, Michael 890
Engels, Friedrich (Frederick) 875 *
Epton, WiUiam 872, 873, 895, 896, 898, 902
Evers, Medgar 760
F
Fard, W. D. (also known as W. D. Ford) 920, 921
Farmer, James L 919, 920
Featherstone, Ralph 912
Feelings, Tom 916
FUnt, Dorothy 902
Ford, W. D. (See Fard, W. D.)
Eraser, R. S 909
Freeman, Donald 917
Freeman, Harry 866
G
Gaillard, Paul 908
Gardner, Tom 914
Garnett, Henry Highland 893
Gerlach, Talitha 868
Gibson, Richard 916
Gilligan, Thomas (R.) 905,907
Goldman, Peggy 890
Goldstein, Fred.. 903
Goldwater (Barry) 817
Gottschalk, Arthur R 922
Graham, Shirley 893
Gray, Jesse (Willard) 917, 918
Gregory, Dick 826
Griswold, Deirdre 906
Guevara (Ernesto) "Che"_ 816,913
H
Hall, Gus 880,881,884-890
Hallinan, Matthew 890
Halstead, Fred 900
Hammerquist, Donald 890
Hansen, Joseph 900
Hart (Adolph W.) 862
Hatchett, Raymond. (See SharrieflF, Raymond X.)
Hatem, George 868
Healey, Don 727,849
Healey, Dorothy 727, 849
Heisler, Robert 890
Himmel, Robert 900
Hinton, Bertha 868
Hitler (Adolf) _. 849
* Spelled "Friendrich" in this reference.
INDEX Ui
Page
Ho Chi Minh '. ----- 890
Hobson, Julius 917, 918
Holmes (Oliver Wendell) 822
Holt, Len 916
Hoover, John Edgar 725,
816, 818, 843, 844, 878-880, 882, 883, 885, 889, 890, 892, 910, 918, 921
Hunton, W. Alphaeus 893
J
Jackson, Esther (Mrs. James E. Jackson) 893
Jackson, James E 878, 885-888, 893
Janaeek, Helen 908
Jefferson (Thomas) 822
Jerome, Fred 896, 898
Johnson, Joseph 900
Johnson, Lyndon B 727,
753, 754, 769, 774, 775, 817, 848-850, 871, 872, 875-877, 888,
892 903 922
Jones, Adrian H_ _.'____'_ 720, 721, 723, 790-802 (testimony), 833, 835
Jones, Claudia 893
Jones, Ronald 902
E
KaUbala, Evelyn B 916
Katzenbach, Nicholas deB 889
Kennedy, James A 917
Kennedy, Jim 890
Kennedy (John F.) 903
Kent (Rockwell) 867
Kerry, Tom 900
Khrushchev (Nikita Sergeevich) 735, 780, 885, 897
King, Martin Luther, Jr 726, 768, 844, 875, 910
Kling, Jack 888
Koch, Chris 890
Kosygin ( Aleksei) 847
KuoChien 871
Kuo Mo-jo 869, 874
L
Landry, Lawrence 917, 918
Lenin (V. L) 726,838,843
Lerner, Herman D 723-725, 803-831 (testimony), 833, 835
Leyin, Alan 914
Lewis, John 912
Lightfoot, Claude , 881-884, 888
Lin, Piao 817
Liu Ning-I 867
Love, Edgar 758
LoveU, Frank 900
Luce, PhilUp A 818
Lumer, Hyman 892
Lumumba, Patrice 916
Lynch, Lincoln O 920
Lynn, Conrad 919
M
Mahoney, BiU 916
Malone, James 916
Mao Tse-tung . 817, 866-874, 876, 877
Marcy, Sam. (See Ballan, Sam.)
Martin, Key 906
Mayfield, Henry O 892
McCarthy (Eugene J.) 846
McCleUan (John L.) 775, 854
iv INDEX
Page
McDew, Charles 912
McKissick, Floyd B 920
McLaurin, Charles 912
McNamara (Robert S.) 872
Mehaffey, Robert H 728,861,862,863 (testimony)
Melish, William Howard 915
Minor, Ethel . 912
Mitchell, Clarence 717, 750, 751-762 (testimony)
Moore, Archie 716, 735-750 (testimony)
Moore, Charles E 839
Muhammad Ali. (See Clay, Cassius.)
Murphy, George B., Jr 893
Murphy (Michael J.) 889
Myers, Joel 906
Myerson, Mike (Michael) 890
N
Nelson, Albert 908
Newman, I. DeQuincey 761
Nielsen, Doris 868
Nkrumah, Kwame 916
North, Joseph 878,893
O
O'Dell, J. H 893
Oquendo, Ed 906
P
Parker, WiUiam (H.) 844, 847, 864
Parris, Guichard 768
Patterson, Ellis E 849
Patterson, William L 756,893
Peters, J. (also known as Alexander Stevens; Blake; Isador Boorstein;
Alexander Groldberg; R. Goldberger; Steve Lapur; Steve Miller; J. V.
Peters; Jack Roberts) 852,853
Petrick, Howard 900,901
Pettee, George S 829
Philip, Cyril 892
Pierre, Peter 919
Pike, Douglas 850
Pittman, John 887, 893
Poole, Elijah Muhammad 920, 921
Poulson, Norris ^ 834
Powell, James 774, 905, 907, 910
Price, Richard 916
Proctor, Roscoe i-_ 883
Putnam, George 773
R
Randolph, A. Philip 768
Richardson, Gloria H 916, 917
Riley, Clayton i.__ 916
Rittenberg, Sidney 873
Robertson, James 907, 908, 910
Bobeson, Paul 888, 893
Robinson, Jim 919
Rockne, Knute 771
Rogers, Nahaz 917, 918
Romney ( George) 775
Roosevelt (Franklin Delano) 849
Rosen, Milton 894, 895, 898
Rubin, Daniel 878
Rusk (Dean) _ _ , 858,872
INDEX r
S Page
Sarnofif, Irving 727,851
Schaefer 822"
Scheer, Mortimer 894, 895
Schenck 822
Schwarz, Fred 737
Sharrieff, Raymond X. (real name Raymond Hatchett) 921
Shaw, Edward 900
Shriver (Sargent) 744
Shuttlesworth, Fred L 915
Sobell, Morton 901
Spaulding, Asa T 717, 718, 748, 762,763-767 (testimony)'
Spaulding, C. C. (Charles Clinton) 766
Stalin (Josef) _ 849,884,885
Stanford, Maxwell Curtis, Jr 911
Strong, Anna Louise 868
Strong, Augusta (Mrs. Joseph North) 893
Supriano, Harold 890*
Sutherland, Elizabeth 912
T
Terry, Clark 737, 748
Terry, Wallace 852
Toure, Sekou 916
Trotsky (Lev) Leon 89^
Tse-tung, Mao. (See Mao Tse-tung.)
Turner, Harry 90S
Turner, Nat 893
Tyner, Jarvis _ _ _ 890, 892
U
Ussery, Wilfred 920
V
Vernon, Robert 901
Verret, Joseph. (See Vetter, Joseph.)
Vetter, Joseph (also known as Joseph Verret) 90S
W
Wagner, Robert F 902, 907, 920
Walter (Franci» E.), Tad 84&
Ward, Richard 890
Ware, Bill 913
Washington, Walter E 739
Wattley, Pernella V___ ._ 919
Watts, Daniel H 916,917
Weaver, Robert C. 766
Weinstein, Nat 900
Weissman, Maryann 906
West, James 881
Westmoreland, William (C.) 865
White, GeoflFrey 90&
Wilkins, Roy 745,751,755-757,761, 76&
Williams, Mrs. Robert 866
WiUiams, Robert F 817, 866, 867, 869, 873, 903, 910-912
WUson, Jack 902
Wilson, John 917
Winston, Henry 881-884, 887, 888
Wise, Stanley 912
Worthy, WUliam 919
Yorty, Samuel W 725-728, 833-859 (testimony)
Young, Whitney M., Jr.._ 718, 767-769 (statement)
Younger, Evelle J 718-720, 769-790 (testimony)
Vi INDEX
ORGANIZATIONS
A
ABC. (See Any Boy Can.) Page
ACLU. (See American Civil Liberties Union.)
ACT 729, 917, 918
Ad Hoc Committee on the Middle East (see also Youth Against War and
Fascism) 906
Afro-American Research Institute, Inc '. 916
Afro-American Student Movement (see ako Revolutionary Action Move-
ment) 911
Afro-American Youth Council (see also Revolutionary Action Movement). 911
Afro-Americans Against the War in Vietnam 901
Afro-Americans for Halstead and Boutelle (see also Socialist Workers
Party) 900
Alexander Defense Committee (see also Socialist Workers Party) _._ 900
All-China Federation of Trade Unions 867
American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU): Southern California 848
American Youth for Democracy 851
Any Boy Can (ABC) 716, 738-745, 747, 750
B
BAND. (See Blacks Against Negative Dying.)
Black Guard (see also Revolutionary Action Movement) 911, 912
Black Muslims, (See Nation of Islam.)
Black Panthers 784
Blacks Against Negative Dying (BAND) 906
C
CERGE. (See Committee to Defend Resistance to Ghetto Life.)
CIA. (See U.S. Government, Central Intelligence Agency.)
CORE. (See Congress of Racial Equality.)
CPUSA. (See Communist Party of the United States of America.)
China Peace Committee 869
China Women's Federation 871
Civil Rights Congress 756
Comintern. (See International, III.)
Committee for GI Rights (see also Youth Against War and Fascism) 906
Committee to Aid the Bloomington Students (see also Socialist Workers
Party) 900
•Committee to Defend Resistance to Ghetto Life (CERGE) (see also
Progressive Labor Movement (PLM)) 894
Committee to Defend the Rights of Pfc. Howard Petrick (see also Socialist
Workers Party) 900
Committee to Oppose the Deportation of Joseph Johnson (see also Socialist
Workers Party) 900
Communist League of America (Opposition) 899
Communist Party, China 904
Communist Party of the United States of America (CPUSA) 718, 726,
734, 759, 768, 784, 834, 835, 843, 849, 853, 879-881, 883-890, 904
National Structure:
Central Committee i — 851
National Committee 883, 888, 890, 894
Negro Commission 882, 884
National Conventions and Conferences:
Sixteenth Convention (February 9-12, 1957, New York City)... 886
Seventeenth Convention (December 10-13, 1959, New York
City) 885, 886, 894
Eighteenth Convention (June 22-26, 1966, New York City) 882,
883, 887, 890
States and Territories : Illinois 888
Communist Party of the United States of America (Marxist-Leninist) 784
INDEX VU
Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) (originally formed as Committee of Page
Racial Equality) 729,873,919,920
Constitutional Liberties Information Center 900
Council of Soviet Youth Organizations 890
D
DCA. {See W. E. B. DuBois Clubs of America.)
Deacons for Defense and Justice, The 873
Democratic Party (USA) :
California 849
E
Emergency Civil Liberties Committee 904
End the Draft Committee . . 904
F
FOR. {See Fellowship of Reconciliation.)
FSM. (See Free Speech Movement.)
Pair Play for Cuba Committee:
Greater Los Angeles (Chapter) 900, 916
Fellowship of Reconciliation (FOR) 919
Fifth Avenue Vietnam Peace Parade Committee 901, 904
Fort Hood Three Defense Committee 901, 904
Free Speech Movement (FSM) 890
Freedom Now Party 729, 901, 916, 919
Freedom Sociahst Party of Washington (State) 908
Freedomways Associates, Inc 892
Friday Night Socialist For\ims {see also Socialist Workers Party) 900
Friends of SCEF 915
Friends of SNCC 912
H
Harlem Defense Council {see also Progressive Labor Movement) 817,894
I
International, III (Communist) (also known as Comintern) 852
Sixth World Congress (July 17 to September 1, 1928, Moscow) 899
International, IV (Trotskyite) 899,909
International War Crimes Tribunal 904
J
Jamaica (N.Y.) Rifle and Pistol Club (see also Revolutionary Action
Movement) 911
John Birch Society 888
K
KPOL (Radio station, Los Angeles) 772
KTLA (Television station, Los Angeles) 773
L
LASO. {See Latin American Solidarity Organization.)
Labor Youth League 851
Labor's Nonpartisan League 850
Latin American Solidarity Organization (LASO) 913
First Conference (July 31-August 10, 1967, Havana, Cuba) 877
Liberation Committee for Africa 916
Los Angeles Committee for Protection of Foreign Born 900
Los Angeles Police Department 838^40, 891
M
M2M. {See May 2nd Movement.)
May 2nd Movement (M2M) {see also Progressive Labor Movement
(PLM)) - 894
Merit Publishers (formerly Pioneer Publishers) 900
Viii INDEX
Page.
Militant Labor Forums (see also Socialist Workers Party) 900
Monroe Defense Committee 904
Mothers' Defense Committee (see also Progressive Labor Movement
(PLM)) 894
Movement for Puerto Rican Independence 904, 907
Muslim Mosque, Inc. (See Nation of Islam.)
N
NAACP. (See National Association for the Advancement of Colored
People.)
NOI. (See Nation of Islam.)
Nation of Islam (NOI) (also known as Muslim Mosque, Inc.; and Black
Muslims) 729, 745, 916, 920, 92 1
National Association for the Advancement of Colored People ( NAACP) 717,
751, 752, 754-758, 768, 772, 916, 917
41st Convention, Boston, Mass., June 23, 1950 755
Leadership Conference on Civil Rights 757
National Maritime Union . 156
National Mobilissation Committee. (See National Mobilization Committee
To End the War in Vietnam. )
National Mobilization To End the War in Vietnam 901, 904, 907
National Urban League, Inc 718,767-769 (Statement), 916, 917
Public Relations Department 768
New Left Club (University of North Carolina) 895
North Vietnam Peace Committee 890
O
Organization for Black Power . 729, 918
Organization of Afro-American Unity 901
PLM. (See Progressive Labor Movement (or Party).)
PLP. (See Progressive Labor Movement (or Party).)
Peace Action Council ' 727, 851
People's Organizations of China 867
Pioneer Publishers 900
Prensa Latina (Cuban news agency) 816
Progressive Labor Movement (PLM) (or Party (PLP)) 729,
817, 847, 872, 873, 894-898, 907
Founding Convention (April 15-18, 1965) 896
Harlem branch 897, 898
National Coordinating Committee 897
Pvt. Stapp Defense Committee (see also Youth Against War and Fascism) 906
R
RAM. (See Revolutionary Action Movement.)
Rally of People Fom All Walks of Life in Peking Opposing U.S. Imperialism
and Supporting the American Negroes' Struggle:
First rally, August 12, 1963, Peking. China 866-869
S'cond rally, October 10, 1963, Peking, China \- 869, 870
Red Guards 868
Republican Party:
Republican Coordinating Committee 774
Revolutionary Action Movement (RAM) 729,
744, 745, 784, 817, 873, 904, 907, 910, 912, 916
Revolutionary Committee of the Fourth International (see also Spartacist
League) 908
Revolutionary Tendency of the SWP (see also Spartacist League) 907
S
SCEF. (See Southern Conference Educational Fund, Inc.)
SCHW. (See Southern Conference for Human Welfare.)
SCTC. (See Student Committee for Travel to Cuba.)
INDEX ix
Page
SNCC. (See Student Nonviolent ^Coordinating Committee^
SNICK. (See Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee.)
SSDC. (See Southern Student Organizing Committee.)
SWP. (See Socialist Workers Party.)
Socialist Workers Campaign Committee (see also Socialist Workers Party) _ 900
Socialist Workers Party (BWP) 729, 899-903, 907, 908
National Committee 902, 903
Young Socialist Alliance ( YSA) 900
Southern Christian Leadership Conference 881
Southern Conference Educational Fund, Inc. (SCEF) 729, 914, 915
.Southern Conference for Human Welfare (SCHW) 914, 915
.So\ithern Student Organizing Committee (SSOC) 729, 914
•Spartacist Group or Committee (see also Spartacist League) 907
.Spnrtacist League (formerly known as Revolutionary Tendency of the
SWP; Spartacist Group or Committee; and Revolutionary Committee of
the Fourth International) 729, 907-909
iSpring Mobilization Committee. (See Spring Mobilization Committee To
End the War in Vietnam.)
.Spring Mobilization Committee To End the War in Vietnam 904
.Student Committee for Travel to Cuba (SCTC) (see also Progressive Labor
Movement (PLM)). 894, 907
Student MohlirzatTon Committee. (See Student Mobilization To End the
War in Vietnam. )
Student Mobilization To End the War in Vietnam 901, 904^ 907
iStudent Mobilization Committee 901, 904, 907
.Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (originally known as Tempo-
rary Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee) (also known as
SNCC and SNICK) 729, 866, 873, 881, 882, 888, 904, 907, 912-914
Students for a Democratic Society 914, 916
T
Temporary Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee. (See Student
Nonviolent Coordinating Committee. )
Tri-Line Offset Co. Inc 894
U
(UNESCO. (See United Nations, Educational, Scientific, and Cultural
Organization.)
X'SIA. (See U.S. Government, U.S. Information Agency.)
Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, Government of 868
lUnited Black Brotherhood (Cleveland) (see also Revolutionary Action
Movement) 911
H'. S. Government:
Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) 865
Defense, Department of:
Army, Department of the 722
Navy, Department of the:
Office of Naval Research 723, 804. 805
Federal Communications Commission (FCC) 771
Justice Department 838
Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) 838, 862, 865, 880
Office of Economic Opportunity 743
President's Committee on Civil Rights 822
State Department 867, 868
Subversive Activities Control Board 889
Supreme Court 728, 775, 822, 831, 843, 854, 867, 868
United States Information Agency ( USI A) 737
Universijty of North Carolina 895
Veterans of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade 904
W
WWP. (See Workers World Party.)
W. E. B. DuBois Clubs of America (DC A) 729, 889-892, 904, 907
Founding Convention, June 19-21, 1964, San Francisco, Calif 889
X INDEX
Page
West Coast Vacation School {see also Socialist "Workers Tarty) 900
Workers Library Publishers 852
Workers World Party (WWP) 729, 902, 903, 906
Youth Against War and Fascism (YAWF) (formerly known as the
Anti- Fascist Youth Committee) 729, 903, 904, 906
World Federation of Democratic Youth 890
World Forum of Solidarity of Youth and Students in the Fight for
National Independence and Liberation and for Peace (Moscow,
September 16-24,1964) 890
World Forum of Solidarity of Y'outh and Students in the Fight for National
Independence and Liberation and for Peace (Moscow, September 16-24,
1964). (See entry under World Federation of Democratic Youth.)
World Peace Council:
World Congress for Peace, National Independence and General Dis-
armament (July 10-15, 1965, Helsinki, Finland) , 890
Y
YAWF. (iSee Workers World Party, Youth Against War and Fascism.)
YSA. (See Socialist Workers Party, Young Socialist Alliance.)
Young Socialist Alliance (YSA). (See entry under Socialist Workers Party.)
Young Socialists for Halstead and Boutelle (see also Socialist Workers
Party) 900
Youth Against War and Fascism (YAWF). (See entry under Workers
World Party.)
PUBLICATIONS
A
Activist, The 890
American Dialog 884
Atlanta's Black Paper (compiled by Atlanta Project of SNCC) 913
Avanti 890
B
Big Lie, The (pamphlet) 726, 835-842
Black America 911
Black Dispatch, The (CORE publication for Baltimore Target City
Project) 920
Black Guard Organizers Manual (October 23, 1967) 911, 912
Black Liberation (Resolution adopted by PLP Founding Convention,
April 15-18, 1965) 896
Black Liberation— Now! (booklet) 896, 897
Bring the Troops Home Now Newsletter 900
C
Call to Rebellion (Henry Highland Gamett) (book) 893
Challenge (newspaper) 895
Combating Subversively Manipulated Civil Disturbances 720, 802
Communist Party — A Manual on Organization, The (J. Peters) 727, 851-853
Crusader, The 817
D
Day of Protest, Night of Violence V_ 848, 855
Dimensions (j ournal) 890
Documentary History of the Negro People in the United States, A (Herbert
Aptheker) (book) 885, 893
Draft Tasks & Perspectives of the Spartacist League (Spartacist Precon-
ference Discussion Bulletin, July 1966) 909
E
Encounter, The 890
Espartaco 908
F
Fire This Time, The (pamphlet) 892
Freedom Now: New Stage in the Struggle for Negro Emancipation
(pamphlet) 901
Freedomways (magazine) 729, 884, 885, 892, 893
n^DEX
H "Page
Harlem Unite: Let Us Defend Ourselves! (Harlem PLM leaflet) 898
History of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (Bolsheviks) (book)__ 853
How a Minority Can Change Society (pamphlet) 901
Insurgent (magazine) 890
International Socialist Review . 900
J
Jewish Currents 884
Labor Today (CPUSA trade union magazine) 884
Letter from China 868
Liberator (magazine) 729, 916
Lobo (University of Mexico publication) 890
M
Marxist BuUetin 908
Marxist Leninist Quarterly. {See Progressive Labor.)
Militant, The 899,900
Moscow Daily News 868
Muhammad Speaks 921
Muslim Program, The 921
N
National Guardian 868
Negro- White Unity: Key to — Full Equality, Negro Representation,
Economic Advance of Labor, Black and White (pamphlet) 887
New South Student, The 914
O
Organizer, The. -- 890
PLP National Committee Statement (May Day 1967) _ _ 896
Partisan, The (magazine) 906
Peking Review 873
People's Daily, The (Peking, China) 871
People's World 835,836,839,844,882, 884
Pilot (oflftcial publication of the National Maritime Union) 756
Plot Against Black America, The (pamphlet) __-- 897
Political Affairs 883,884,892
Process of Revolution, The (George S. Pettee) (book) 829
Progressive Labor (magazine) 895
R
RAM Manifesto 911
Road to Revolution (Phillip A. Luce) (book) _. 818
Road to Revolution — The Outlook of the Progressive Labor Movement
(pamphlet) 896
S
Southern Patriot, The 915
Spark (newspaper) 895
Spartacist__-. 907, 908, 910
Spartacist-West 908
Spur (newsletter of DCA) 890
State and Revolution (Lenin) 838
Strike for Peace 849
Struggle 890
Student Voice, The 913
Students and the Ghetto Rebellions (PLP leaflet) 898
Hi INDEX
Theses on Building the Revolutionary Movement in the U.S. — Tasks of
the Spartacist League (Spartacist Preconference Discussion Bulletin, ^"*®
July 1966) 909
U
U.S. Negroes in Battle: From Little Rock to Watts (James E. Jackson)
(book) 888,893
U.S. Workers Require Revolutionary Theory: Statement of the National
Coordinating Committee of the Progressive Labor Movement 897
Viet Cong: The Organization and Techniques of the National Liberation
Front of South Vietnam (Douglas Pike) 850
Vietnam Courier (newspaper) 849, 878
W
We Accuse (PLP pamphlet) 896
Who Are the Real Outlaws? (SNCC pamphlet) 913
Who Killed James Powell? (YAWF leaflet) . 907
Worker, The 835,836,844,873,878,882,884,894
Workers World (newspaper) 903, 906
World Revolution .._ 895
Y
YAWF Newsletter _ _ 906
O
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