%9iu^A^^ 'Bi Given By t it7,S.SUP^ ^M IS. _3^ INVESTIGATION OF COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES IN THE NEW YORK CITY AREA— PART 7 (Based on Testimony of Manning Johnson) HEARING BEFORE THE COMMITTEE ON UK-AMERKTAN ACTIVITIES •-1-^^ HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES EIGHTY-THIRD CONGRESS FIRST SESSION JULY 8, 1953 Printed for the use of the Committee on Un-American Activities UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE 33909 WASHINGTON : 1953 Boston Public Library Superintendent of Documents SEP 1 1 1953 COMMITTEE ON UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES United States House of Representatives HAROLD H. VELDE, Illinois, Chairman BERNARD W. KEARNEY, New York FRANCIS E. WALTER. Pennsylvania DONALD L. JACKSON, California MORGAN M. MOULDER, Missouri KIT CLARDY, Michigan CLYDE DOYLE, California GORDON H. SCHERER, Ohio JAMES B. FRAZIER, Jr., Tennessee ROBIJUT L. KUNZIG, Counsel Pra.xk S. T.4VF.NNER, Jr., Couusel Louis J. Russell, Chief Invesfuiaior Thomas W. Beale, Sr., Chief Clerk Raphael I. Nixon, Director of Research II CONTENTS Page Testimony of Maiming Johnson 2145 Manning Johnson Exhibit No. 1 : New Pioneer, February 1933, page 17, Science and History for Boys and Girls, by William Montgomery Brown, a review of this book l)y Bert Grant 2150 Manning Johnson Exhibit No. 2 : New Pioneer, April 1932, pages 3 and 4. article entitled "The Puppet Show," by Clarina Michelson 2153 Manning Johnson Exhibit No. 3 : New Pioneer, April 1934, page 267, story entitled "Next Time It Will Be Different," by Martha Campion, illus- trated by Walter Quirt 2155 Manning Johnson Exhibit No. 4 : New Pioneer, April 1933, page 15, cartoon signed "Lon Freeman"' 2156 Manning Johnson Exhibit No. 5 : New Pioneer, February 1935, pages 10 and 11 V Manning Johnson Exhibit No. 6: New Pioneer, December 1931, pages 10 and 11, story entitled "St. Peter's Out," by Harry Alan Potamkin 2158 Manning Johnson Exhibit No. 7 : New Pioneer, October 1934, page 10, article entitled "A Bellyful of Bayonets" 2160 Manning Johnson Exhibit No. 8: New Pioneer, October 1931, page 11, cartoon 2162 Manning Johnson Exhibit No. 9 : New Pioneer, February 1935, pages 8 and 9, Little Lefty Reports on the Workers' Congress, by "Del" 2162 Manning Jolmson Exhibit No. 10: The Communist, August 1939, pages 702 and 703, excerpt from Secondary Aspects of Mass Organization, by AVilliam Z. Foster 2167 Manning Johnson Exhibit No. 11 : Fight magazine, December 1935, page 2, American League Against War and Fascism, officers and executive com- mittee 2173 Manning Johnson Exhibit No. 12 : Fight magazine, February 1934, page 11, article entitled, "Hit Munition INLakers" 2175 Manning Johnson Exhibit No. 13 : Figlit magazine, February 1936, pages 8 and 9, article entitled, "The Third Congress (Against War and Fascism)," by Paul Reid 2191 Manning Johnson Exhibit No. 14 : Fight magazine, September 1934, page 5, article entitled, "Anti-War Congress," by Earl Browder 2193 Manning Johnson Exhibit No. 15: Fight magazine, February 1935, page 14, article entitled, "The League's Program" 2195 Manning Johnson Exhibit Nos. 16 and 17 : Fight magazine, February 1936, page 0, article entitled, "Action" Fight, March 1936, page 14, article entitled, "Program of the American League" 2196 III Public Law 601, 79th Congress The legislation under which the House Committee on Un-American Activities operates is Public Law 601, 79th Congress [1946], chapter 753, 2d session, which provides : Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, * * * PART 2— RULES OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES Rule X SEC. 121. STANDING COMMITTEES ******* 17. Committee on Un-American Activities, to consist of nine members. Rule XI POWERS AND DUTIES OF COMMITTEES ******* (q) (1) Committee on Un-American Activities. (A) Un-American activities. (2) The Committee on Un-American Activities, as a whole or by subcommit- tee, is authorized to make from time to time investigations of (i) the extent, character, and objects of un-American propaganda activities in the United States, (ii) the diffusion within the United States of subversive and un-American propa- ganda that is instigated from foreign countries or of a domestic origin and attaclis the principle of the form of government as guaranteed by our Constitution, and (iii) all other questions in relation thereto that would aid Congress in any neces- sary 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 in- vestigation, together with such recommendations as it deems advisable. For the purpose of any such investigation, the Committee on Un-American Activities, or any subcommittee thereof, is authorized to sit and act at such times and places within the United States, whether or not the House is sitting, has recessed, or has adjourned, to hold such hearings, to require the attendance of such witnesses and the production of such books, papers, and documents, and to take such testimony, as it deems necessary. Subpenas may be issued under the signature of the chairman of the committee or any subcommittee, or by any member designated by any such chairman, and may be served by any person designated by any such chairman or member. IV RULES ADOPTED BY THE S3d CONGRESS House Resolution 5, January 3, 1953 ******* Rule X STANDING COMMITTEES 1. There shall be elected by the House, at the commencement of each Congress, the following standing committees : ******* (q) Committee on Un-American Activities, to consist of nine members. ******* Rule XI POWERS AND DUTIES OF COMMITTEES ******* 17. Committee on Un-American Activities. (a) Un-American Activities. (b) The Committee on Un-American Activities, as a whole or by subcommittee, is authorized to make from time to time, investigations of (1) the extent, char- acter, and objects of un-American propaganda activities in the United States, (2) the diffusion within the United States of subversive and un-American prop- aganda that is instigated from foreign countries or of a domestic origin and attacks the principle of the form of government as guaranteed by our Constitu- tion, and (3) all other questions in relation thereto that would aid Congress in any necessary remedial legislation. The Committee on Uu-American Activities shall report to the House (or to the Clerk of the House if the House is not in session) the results of any such investi- gation, together with such recommendations as it deems advisable. For the purpose of any such investigation, the Committee on Un-American Activities, or any subcommittee thereof, is authorized to sit and act at such times and places within the United States, whether or not the House is sitting, has recessed, or has adjourned, to hold such hearings, to require the attendance of such witnesses and the production of such books, papers, and documents, and to take such testimony, as it deems necessary. Subpenas may be issued under the signature of the chairman of the committee or any subcommittee, or by any member designated by such chairman, and may be served by any person designated by any such chairman or member. 'U-"t«.A-, Manning Johnson Exhibit No. 5 (New Pioneer, February 1935, pp. 10 and 11) VI INVESTIGATION OF COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES IN THE NEW YORK CITY AEEA-PART 7 (Based on testimony of Manning Johnson) WEDNESDAY, JULY 8, 1953 United States House of Representatives, Subcommittee of the Committee on Un-American Activities, New York, N. Y. executive session^ The subcommittee of the Committee on Un-American Activities met, pursuant to adjournment, at 10 : 05 a. m., in room 1305 of the United States Courthouse, Foley Square, New York, N. Y., Hon. Gordon H. Scherer presiding. Committee member present: Representative Gordon H. Scherer. Staff memb-ers present: Robert L. Kunzig, counsel; W. Jackson Jones, Alvin W. Stokes, and George E. Cooper, investigators; Larry Kerley, special investigator ; and Mrs. Juliette Joray , acting clerk. ]Mr. Scherer. Let the record show that the Honorable Harold H. Velde, chairman of the House Committee on Un-American Activities, has appointed Representative (jordon H. Scherer, of Ohio, as a sub- connnittee of one to conclude the New York hearings. Present are Mr. Robert L. Kunzig, counsel of the committee, and Mrs. Juliette Joray, acting clerk. Mr. Counsel, you may proceed. jNIr. Kunzig. We are ready for the witness, Mr. Chairman. Will Mr. INIanning Johnson please step forward? Mr. Scherer. Mr. Johnson, do you solemnly swear that the testi- mony you are about to give before this subcommittee shall be the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help you God? Mr. Johnson. I do. ]Mr. Kunzig. Would you state your full name for the record and spell it, please, for the stenographer. TESTIMONY OF MANNING JOHNSON Mr. Johnson. Manning Johnson, M-a-n-n-i-n-g J-o-h-n-s-o-n. Mr. Kunzig. What is your present address, Mr. Johnson? Mr. Johnson. My present address is 70 Columbus Avenue. Mr. Kunzig. I note, Mr. Johnson, that you are not accompanied by counsel here this morning. I am sure you understand you are privi- I 1 Released by the full committee. 2145 2146 COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES IN THE NEW YORK AREA leged to be advised by an attorney at all times while testifying if you so desire. Do I take it that you prefer to testify without an attorney ? Mr. Johnson. Yes; I do. Mr. KuNziG. Then we will continue. Would you give the subcom- mittee a resume of your educational and occupational background? Just tell us your experiences, your main experiences up to date. Mr. Johnson. I was born in Washington, D. C., December 18, 1907. I was educated in the elementary, junior high, and high school in Washington, D. C. I graduated from the Naval Air Technical Train- ing School in Memphis, Tenn. I graduated from the national training school of the Communist Party. m Mr. KuNziG. What year was that? ^ Mr. Johnson. 1932. At the present time I am employed as a con- sultant in the Investigation Section of the Department of Justice, Immigration and Naturalization Service, in the city of New York. In 1930, in the city of Buffalo, N. Y., I joined the Communist Party, In 1931 I was appointed district agitation and propaganda director, a position which I held until 1932. In the latter part of 1932 I was appointed district organizer of the Communist Party in Buffalo, N. Y., district No. 4. I remained district organizer until the middle of 1934. I was later transferred to New York City, the headquarters of the Communist Party in America. In 1934 or 1935 I became a member of the trade union commission of the national committee of the Communist Party. I held this posi- tion until 1940. I was also a member of the national Negro commission of the na- tional committee of tlie Communist Party. I was appointed to this position in either 1934 or 1935. I held this position up until I left the party in 1940. I was also a member of the national committee of the Communist Party. I was elected to the national committee at the national convention of the Communist Party in 1936. I remained a member of the national committee until the national convention of the Communist Party in 1938. I left the Communist Party — that is, I attended my last meeting in 1940, though I had decided in 1939 that I was tlirough with com- munism and that forever after I would conscientiously and vigorously oppose it, vocally and spiritually. Mr. KuNziG. Mr. Johnson, this committee is studying the activities of certain individuals in the field of clergy with special attention to their alleged Communist and subversive activities. Since you have such a fund of knowledge of the activities of Communists in this coun- try, would you state briefly the Communist position on religion? Mr. Johnson. Briefly, the Communist Party is antireligious. Communism and religion have nothing in common. Religion is the antithesis of communism. Consequently, the Communists are un- alterably opposed to it, and their program calls for a ceaseless struggle or war to the complete extermination and extinction of religion from the face of the earth. Atheism, as I know it, on the basis of my per- sonal experience as a Communist and my study of the documents of the party — that no member of the Communist Party can be a member of the party unless he becomes an atheist. I have here a statement by Earl BroAvder "Wliat is Communism?" page 146, in which he states in reply to the question, "Must a member of the Communist Party be an atheist?" that — COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES IN THE NEW YORK AREA 2147 The Comniunists maintain that the roliffious holiofs of a person are his private concern in rehition to the state and j,^ovornniontal policies. The state should not dictate religious beliefs. We Communists are completely opposed on prin- ciple to state coercion in regard to ri^ligious beliefs. Of course Communists do not believe religion to be a private matter insofar as it concerns mcnnbers of our revolutionary party. We stand without any reservations for education that will root out belief in "the supernatural, that will remove the religious prejudices which stand in the way of organizing the masses for socialism, that will with- draw the special privileges of religious institutions, but as far as religious workers go, tlie party does not insist that they abandon their beliefs before they join the partv. Our test for such people is whether they represent and fight for the aspiration of the masses. If they do, we will welcome them into our party and we exercise no coercion against their religious beliefs within our movement. We subject their religious beliefs to careful and systematic criticism, and we expect that they will not be able to withstand this educational process. It is our experience "that their work in the movement will bring them to see the correctness of our viewpoint on the question. Mv. KuxziG. Mr. Johnson, do you by any chance have the date that the book, What Is Communism ? was published ? Mr. Johnson. Yes; it was published in 1936, Workers Library Pub- lishers, in New York. INIr. KuNziG. As I understand it, then, Mr. Johnson, you are saying, in effect, that atheism is a must for all Communists. Mr. Johnson. It is a must. I wish to call your attention to an additional quote from Earl Browder's book. What Is Communism? in which he says that — It is significant that the Communist Party, more than any other labor group, has been able to achieve successful united fronts with church groups on the most important issues of the day. This is not due to any compromise with reli- gion as such on our part. In fact, by going among the religious masses we are, for the first time, able to bring our antireligious ideas to them. This is pa^e 147, chapter 17, "Wliat About Religion ? Mr. KuNZiG. Do you have further documentary evidence proving the point that you are making that Communists are unalterably opposed to religion ? Mr. Johnson. Yes; I have, and I would like to quote from one of the international leaders of the Communist movement and a member of the Communist Party of Russia, E. Yaroslavsky. From his book I quote. Religion in the U. S. S. R., and, of course, published by International Publishers in New York, a Communist publishing agency ISIr. KuNziG. Do you have the date ? Mr. Johnson. 1934. He states : Is it not possible to be a Communist and at the same time believe in religion ; i. e., believe that the whole world is controlled by a god or number of gods and that everything on earth is done by the will of these gods or of their assistance? The saints or the malice of evil spirits, devils, flpuds, Satan V Is it possible to live without believing in God and yet preserving morality? Mr. KuNziG. You are still quoting, but you have skipped something, have you not ? Mr. Johnson. Yes. Every Leninist, every Communist, every class-conscious worker and peasant must be able to explain why a Communist cannot support religion, why Commu- nists fight against religion, and every Communist must be able to answer the questions put to him by his fellow workers on that subject. Mr. KuNziG. Were you, Mr. Johnson, ever personally given instruc- tion in atheism ? 33909— 53— rt. 7 2 2148 COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES IN THE NEW YORK AREA Mr. Johnson. Yes; I was. When I first joined the Communist Party, the district organizer, Peter Chaunt, C-h-a-u-n-t, and a mem- ber of the district bureau and the district committee of the Communist Party by the name of Otto Hall, talked at great length to me on the sub- ject of communism and religion. The essence of what they said was that man made God, not God made man, and that the duty of every Communist is to rid himself of the supernatural bondage of religion ; that religion is used by the powers that be in order to keep the masses of the people in docile submission to exploitation. Therefore, the liberation of the masses of humanity is dependent upon their emanci- pation from religious ideology. In addition to these so-called lessons of indoctrination, they gave me Lenin's writings on religion, in which he states practically the same thing. Mr. KuNziG. When and where was this given to you, Mr. Johnson ? Mr. Johnson. This was in Buffalo, N. Y., when I first joined the party, in 1930. Mr. KuNziG. Do you have any samples of any printed instruction which was given to you ? Mr. Johnson. Yes, I do have. I was given the pamphlets and booklets that were written by Bishop William Montgomery Brown. He was a prominent Episcopalian bishop who was expelled from the church because of heresy. He devoted the balance of his life to a war on religion. He published such books as the Banki-uptcy of Christian Supernaturalism, Heresy, and others. The Communist Party received a large supply of these antireligious pamphlets, and they circulated them very extensively. They either gave them away or sold them. Mr. KuNziG. Throughout the United States of America? Mr. Johnson. Yes, throughout the United States. Mr. ScHERER. Let me just ask one question. You have here with you this morning some of the books and pamphlets of Bishop Brown to which you have referred ; have you not ? Mr. Johnson. Yes, I have. Mr. ScHERER. Would you just for the record say which ones are in your possession at this time ? Mr. Johnson. I have a copy of the Bankruptcy of Christian Super- naturalism, volumes 1, 2, and 3. Mr. ScHERER. Off the record. (Discussion off the record.) Mr. ScHERER. Mr. Johnson, in the books of Bishop Brown to which you have just referred, is there anything of significance which should be brought to the attention of the committee ? _ Mr. Johnson. Yes, there is. He states in Communism and Chris- tianism, on page 210 : Christianism is nothing to eitlier the owners or workers in the sky, for Its God and heaven, devil and hell are lies, and neither religious Christianism or political republicanism or democratism, not to speak of the other evils of re- ligion and politics, offers the workers aught on earth. Capitalism is the god of this world, of no part of it no more than of these United States, and capi- talism is to the laborer a wrong, lying, murderous devil, not a good divinity. I may also state that the main theme of Bishop Brown was to banish gods from the heavens and capitalists from the earth for the science of Moscow against the superstition of Eome. COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES IN THE NEW YORK AREA 2149 Bishop Brown not only wrote such books for adults, but he also wrote books for children in order to indoctrinate them in atheisni. Mr. SciiERER. Let me ask at this point, is Bishop Brown still alive ? Mr. Johnson. No, Bishop Brown is dead and incidentally, he willed his entire estate to the Communist Party. Mr. ScHERER. When did he die ; do you know ? Mr. Johnson. I do not recall. Mr. SciiERER. Approximately. Mr. Johnson. About 10 years ago. Mr. ScHERER. And he was bishop of what church? Mr. Johnson. Episcopal bishop, but I do not know exactly which church. I stated before that he also issued antireligious material for chil- dren, and I have here a photostatic copy taken from the New Pioneer, the second month in the 33d year. That is February 1933. This is an article Science and Nature for Johnny Rebel, by Bert Grant, which was a review of a book written by Bishop Brown, and Grant said : Once there was a young man who made his living by telling the workers fairy tales about how the world was created. He also told them how the world was going to end and what they must do to be saved when that happened. Most of all, he was trained to lead the minds of workers and their children away from their problems on this earth and to occupy their attention as much as possible with affairs in some supposed other world beyond the sky. That is what all ministers and priests make their living by doing, and this young man was a minister. He preached in the Episcopal Church, but as he grew older, he came to see how false his preaching was and how it really held the workers and their children back instead of helping them. He therefore began to talk and write in a different way. He began to show the workers how the churches had always taught them what was not true and how these untrue teachings had stood in the way of human progress. For that lie was thrown out of the church. Now he has written a grand book, especially for workers' children, putting 2 billion years of science and history into a simple, thrilling story that every Johnny and Jill Rebel can read and enjoy, and how different it is from the dull mistaken stuff they teach in school and church. No lists of dates and presidents, no hocus pocus about spirits that don't exist, no comments to be loyal to the em- ployers and their government and let them keep on robbing us — quite the oppo- site. Every page tears to tatters some pet idea that the bosses try to make, the teachers try to force into their heads. Let us take two sets of statements. Set No. 1 is: The earth is 4,000 years old ; the world and all li^■ing things in it were made in 1 week ; everything was created by a Spirit called God; men were all wicked until Christian religion came into the world to teach them goodness ; the church built the first schools and hospitals and abolished slavery, helped science to grow, and established human brotherhood. If the workers come into power as in the Russian revolution, they will act cruelly and stupidly and destroy civilization. You'd get an A-plus if you answered "True" to these statements in most schools, wouldn't you ? But let us look at set No. 2 : The earth is 2 billion years old. For millions of years there was no life on the earth. Then the very tiny plants called bacteria appeared in the hot ocean and very gradually the life so started and developed in all plants and animals we have now, and man was the latest animal to develop, coming about a million years ago. There are no spirits and everything there grew to its present condition without the interference of any god. Great thinkers taught goodness and science and people were industrious and kindhearted long before Christianity existed. The church was always in favor of slavery, tyranny and war, did everything it could to crush science and has stood with the rich and powerful against the workers in every age. The Russian revolution in which the workers are planning their own life and using for themselves the wealth they create, is the most important single advance civilization has made. Quite a different point of view, isn't it? But this is the truth and set No. 1 is bunk, and these are only a few of the fascinating facts this inspiring book will 2150 COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES EST THE NEW YORK AREA tell you ; even though there are no pictures, you will spend many an interesting hour reading the little volume and talking about it with your comrades. The name of the book? Oh, yes. It Is Science and History for Boys and Girls by William Montgomery Brown. It has 320 pages, and you can get it through the New Pioneer office for only 25 cents. Mr. KuNziG. Mr. Johnson, you are testifying that this type of printed material, poisoning the minds of American youths, was sent out by the Communist Party all over this country, is that right? Mr. Johnson. Yes, that is correct, and mind you, those are young people between the ages of 10 and 16. Mr, KuNziG. I have here a photostatic copy of page 17, of New Pioneer, issue of February 1933, which has just been read by the wit- ness, headed "Science and Nature for Johnny Rebel." It is marked "Manning Johnson Exhibit No. 1," and I should like to offer it into evidence. Mr. ScHERER. It will be received. (The photostatic copy of the article, Science and Nature for Johnny Rebel, was received in evidence as Manning Johnson exhibit No. 1.) Manning Johnson Exhibit No. 1 (New Pioneer, February 1933, p. 17) Science and Nature For Johnny Eebel A Grand New Science Book by Bert Grant Once there was a young man who made his living by telling the workers fairy tales about how the world was created. He also told them how the world was going to end, and what they must do to be "saved" when that happened. Most of all, he was trained to lead the minds of the workers and their children away from their problems on this earth, and to occupy their attention as much as possible with affairs in some supposed "other world" beyond the sky. That is what all ministers and priests make their living by doing, and this young man was a minister. He preached in the Episcopal Church. But as he grew older he came to see how false this preaching was, and how it really held the workers and their children back instead of helping them. He therefore began to talk and write in a very different way. He began to show the workers how the churches had always taught them what was not true, and how these untrue teachings had stood in the way of human progress. For that he was thrown out of the church. Now he has written a gi-and book especially for workers' children, putting 2 billion years of science and history into a simple, thrilling story that every Johnny and Jill Rebel can read and enjoy. And how different it all is from the dull, mistaken stuff they teach us in school and church. No lists of dates and presidents, no hocus-pocus about spirits that don't exist, no comments to be "loyal" to the employers and their government and let them keep on robbing us. Quite the opposite. Every page tears to tatters some pet idea that the bosses try to make the teachers try to force into our heads. Let us take two sets of statements. Set No. 1 is : The earth is 4,000 years old. The world and all living things in it were made in 1 week. Everything was created by a Spirit called God. Men were all wicked until the Christian religion came into the world to teach goodness. The church built the first schools and hospitals, abolished slavery, helped science to grow and established human brotherhood. If the workers come into power, as in the Russian Revolution, they will act cruelly and stupidly and destroy civilization. You'd get an A-plus if you answered "true" to those statements in most schools, wouldn't you? But now let us look at set No. 2 : The earth is 2 billion years old. COMLIUNIST ACTIVITIES IN THE NEW YORK AREA 2151 For millions of years there was no life on the earth. Then very tiny plants, called bacteria, appeared in the hot oceans, and very gradually the life so started developed into all plants and animals we have now. Man was the latest animal to develop, coming about a million years ago. There are no spirits, and everything there grew to its present condition with- out the interference of any god. Great thinkers taught goodness and science, and people were industrious and kindhearted long before Christianity existed. The church was always in favor of slavery, tyranny, and war, did everything it could to crush science, and has stood with the rich and powerful against the workers in every age. The Russian revolution, in which the workers are planning their own lives and using for themselves the wealth they create, is the most important single advance civilization has ever made. Quite a different point of view, isn't it? But this is the truth, and set No. 1 is bunk. And these are only a few of the fascinating facts this inspiring book will tell you. Even though there are no pictures, you'll spend many an inter- esting hour reading the little volume and talking about it with your comrades. The name of the book? Oh, yes — it is Science and History for Boys and Girls, by William Montgomery Brown. It has 320 pages, and you can get it through the New Pioneer office for only 25 cents. Mv. KuNziG. Yoli have just given us an example of the type of printed material which is sent out to children. Would you go a little bit further into the type of instruction which the youth and the chil- dren receive under commimism? Mr. Johnson. When I was a member of the Communist Party, the Communist Party paid special attention to the indoctrination of the youth. They in fact issued special bulletins instructing leaders and teachers with regard to the type of training for the youth. I have here in my possession a pamphlet, The Worker's Child, which was published in April 1933 by the Central Pioneer Bureau. It is a bulletin for teachers, leaders, and parents of proletarian and foreign children. I wish to quote from this book to give you an indication of the kind and nature of training and where it comes from that these children were to be given. IMr. KuNziG. Please continue and give us a brief and most important quote. Mr. Johnson, On page 6 it states : It was only in the summer of 1930 with the adoption of a resolution on work among cliildren by the executive committee of the Young Communist International and Communist International that a change took place in our conception of work among children. This line was further emphasized successively by the sixth convention of the Young Communist League in its pioneer commission and by a recent resolution of the central committee of the Communist Party. These docu- ments clarified further the basic line underlying a Communist approach to child education, the necessity for childlike methods of work as well as the role of the working class as a whole in the development of a mass childi'en's movement. During this time the Pioneer magazine was developed. While it is necessary to understand the resolution of the Communist Party in the light of development of our movement, it is not the purpose of this article to go into detail on this subject. Mr. ScHERER. We will have a short recess. ( Where uj)on a short recess was taken.) Mr. KuNzio. Was the Young Communist League for young people of ages 16 to 25, is that correct ? Mr. Johnson. That is correct. Mr. KuNziG. The Young Pioneers were from ages 10 to 16 ? Mr. Johnson. That is correct. 2152 COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES IN THE NEW YORK AREA Mr. KuNZiG. This magazine, the New Pioneer, was a Communist Party publication, I presume, issued by the children's bureau of the Communist Party. Mr. Johnson, Yes ; that is correct. Mr. KuNziG. Do you have any further documents or material evi- dence you can present to this committee illustrating the type of prop- aganda which was put out by the Communist Party in religion ? Mr. Johnson. Yes, I have ; and before I present that, I would like to state that what is written in the Pioneer magazine is written directly and not in a roundabout way, because that is necessary for the proper education of the child. Mr. KuNziG. You mean the Communist Party does not attempt to beat around the bush when they are dealing with children. They deal directly and say what they mean so that it can penetrate the children's minds ? Mr. Johnson. That is correct. I have before me a cartoon and an article written by Clarina Michel- son, who has for years been a leader of the Communist Party with whom I have worked in leading committees of the party during the period of my membership. The subject of this article, I quote, "The Puppet Show." Now, this cartoon shows a capitalist with a fistful of money manipulating puppets. The puppets are a sheriff, a policeman, a minister, a judge, and a plant guard. The moral of this story is that the puppets are only the tools of the capitalist class. Now, Clarina Michelson makes this very clear in the concluding 2 paragraphs of the 2 stories which I would like to read into the record. Mr. KuNziG. Proceed. Mr. Johnson. I quote : And they had the idea that when the United States Constitution guaranteed them the rights of free speech and free assemblage that they had a right to meet and spealc. They were surprised and they began to think, and then they saw that there were two sides, that they and their wives and the kids, all workers, were on one side, and that on the otlier side were the coal operators, mill owners, and all the otlier capitalists, together with the governors, judges, city. State, and Federal authorities, together with the newspapers, churches, schools, and the law, and they saw that all these were linked up together and all were part of the same thing. When workers and their kids think that clearly and see that clearly, it is pretty good thinking, and when enough of us do, we will give that puppet show such a sock it will be smashed to smithereens and we will give the fat manager of the show, Mr. Capitalist, such a big kick in the middle of his system that he will see the workers have come into their own — and they will have. Mr. Ktjnzig. Mr. Chairman, I have in my hand a photostatic copy of this document by Clarina Michelson which has just been identified here by the witness. It is an article appearing on pages 3 and 4 of the New Pioneer, issite of April 1932. It is marked "Manning John- son Exhibit No. 2" for identification, and I should like to offer this into evidence as Manning Johnson Exhibit No. 2. Mr. ScHERER. It may be so admitted. (The article, The Puppet Show, was received in evidence as Man- ning Johnson Exhibit No. 2.) COMMUNIST ACTWITIES IN THE NEW YORK AREA 2153 Manning Johnson Exhibit No. 2 New Pioneer, April ld'i2, Pages 3-4 The Puppet Show By Clarina Michelson Do yon know what a pnppet show is? Well, there is a stage, very small, too small for real people to act on. The actors on this stage are jointed wooden dolls. They are dressed up like real men and women. They walk and sit down and dance and turn somersaults, and you wonder — How come? And then you see that a siring is attached to each one of them and all these strings are held by the manager of the show. When he pulls the strings they jump. They do just what he wants them to do. It ***** * Down in the State of Kentucky the miners have been digging coal way under- ground, at the daily risk of their lives, working for long hours — 10 and 12 hours a day. Instead of getting extra high wages for slaving under very terrible condi- tions— sometimes bent over double, sometimes working in water, sometimes be- coming unconscious from the bad air in the mines — these coal diggers get hardly any wages at all. When they get back to their leaky shacks after a hard day's work, they would find the children had not been able to go to school because they had no clothes, that the baby was sick because there was no milk, and there was nothing to eat for supper except the same old potatoes, pinto beans, and corn- bread. The miners and their wives were angry that wages were so low and conditions so bad. Almost every miner thought to himself, "This can't go on. I must do something to get food and clothes for the wife and kids." But they didn't know just what to do. Then last summer a group of Kentucky miners went to a big convention of the National Miners Union in Pittsburgh and then they said : "This won't go on! We will do something!" Other miners in Kentucky heard about the National Miners Union and pretty soon, instead of each one thinking to him- self what he would do, they were all thinking together what they would do. They decided to build up a strong union — and strike against starvation. And they did. The men of each mine organized a union local of that mine. And the women organized branches, too. And so did the children. On .January 18 thousands of miners, helped and encouraged by their wives and kids, came out on strike. * * * * 55: * sjs Here's where the puppet show comes in. Try to imagine that evei'y news])aper all over the State of Kentucky is I'epresented by one of those little wodden dolls. Try to imagine that all the churches are represented by another, and that all the judges, county, and district attorneys, policemen, and deputy sheriffs, are repre- sented by other dolls. Attached to each one of these dolls is a string, and the strings are held in the hands of a big fat manager of the show, representing the coal operators. When this show manager heard the voices of the miners growing louder and louder, saying they were organizing and going to strike, he got purple Iti the face from rage. "How dare my slaves interfere with my profits !" he howled. "How dare they ! I'll show them who's boss around here !" And he quickly pulled one of the strings. Typewriters began to click, and every newspaper all over Kentucky began to gi-ind out : "The Kentucky miners are Russian Reds. They will destroy the property of the rich. They will break up the home. They must be driven out, arrested, or killed." Then he pulled another string, and from every church all over Kentucky shrill voices screeched : "Outside agitators have come into our fair southland, upset- ting the peace and harmony the miners were enjoying. Cdmmunism is a slim.v serpent. It aims to destroy the chui'ches (where we get a good fat living). It says there is no God. These foreigners who dare to demand higher wages for our contented working class must be driven out, arrested, killed." Then he pulled some more strings, and all the policemen, deputy sheriffs, and underworld characters, arrived with high-powered rifles and machine guns. They swarmed to wherever the miners were, shouting, "There'll be no meetings. 2154 COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES IN THE NEW YORK AREA No more speeches. "We've come to shoot down women and children. Anyone trying to meet or speali, for the National Miners Union, Workers International Relief, or International Labor Defense, must be driven out, arrested, or killed." Then he pulled another string, and every potbellied judge all over Kentucky solemnly nooded his head, and said : "We must protect our property. We must protect our profits. A drop of Kentucky blood is worth more than all the Reds in the world. The electric chair is too good for them. They should be lined up against a wall and shot. Guilty. Guilty. Slam 'em all in jail. Give them 21 years." He pulled another string, and the Governor said, "Amen." * * * The Kentucky miners, whose ancestors were early American settlers, had be- lieved what they read in the papers. Now they were surprised to find they had suddenly become Russian Reds. "If organizing and striking against starvation and terror is l)eing a Red, I guess I am a Red," they said. Many of them had thought that the law was "for rich and poor alike." Now they saw different. And they had an idea that when the United States Constitution guaranteed them the rights of free speech and free assemblage, that they had a right to meet and speak. They were surprised and they began to think. And then they saw that there were two sides ; that they, and their wives and kids — all workers, were on one side. And that on the other side were the coal operators, mill owners, and all the other capitalists, together with the governors, judges, city, State, and Federal authorities. Together with the news- papers, churches, schools, and the law. And they saw that all these were linked up together, and all were part of the same thing. When workers and their kids think that clearly, and see that clearly, it is pretty good thinking. And when enough of us do, we will give that puppet show such a sock, it will be smashed to smithereens, and we will give the fat manager of the show, Mr. Capitalist, such a big kick in the middle of his system, that he'll see the workers have come into their own. And they will have. Mr. Johnson. I have here also another cartoon and an article, the subject of which is, Next Time It Will Be Different^ by Martha Cam- pion, the picture by Walter Quirt. The cartoon shows Mr. ScHERER. Will you excuse me just a minute? Do you know anything about the background of the author and the Mr. Johnson. Martha Campion was a member of the Young Com- munist League. Mr. ScpiERER. Do you know anything about the cartoonist ? Mr. Johnson. I do not recall at this particular time. Mr. ScHERER. Go ahead, I am sorry. Mr. Johnson. This cartoon shows a capitalist behind whom stands a priest and another individual shouting, "War, War, War," There is also in the cartoon a picture, "Give 'til it hurts," an attempt to sell Liberty bonds to a student with a worker lying prostrate on the ground. The moral of this cartoon is self-evident, but clearly indicates that the priest is a supporter of war and of capitalism which, according to the Communists,* breeds war, and tliat the only thing tliat a woi4?:er can get out of it is death on the battkfields. In this way they inject their antireligion poison in the tender minds of children between the ages of 10 and 16. Once the religious convictions of a child are de- stroyed, it is very eas}^ to indoctrinate them in the Comnnmist philos- ophy of hate. Mr. KuNziG. I have in my hand a photostatic copy of page 267, of New Pioneer, April 1931, containing an article entitled "Next Time It Will Be Different," by Martha Campion, which has just been testified to, marked "Manning Johnson Exliibit No. 3," and I shoidd like to offer this into evidence, Mr. Chairman. Mr. ScHERER. It may be received. (The document entitled "Next Time It Will Be Different" was received in evidence as Manning Johnson Exhibit No. 3.) COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES IN THE NEW YORK AREA 2155 Manning Johnson Exhibit No. 3 (New Pioneer, April 1934, page 267) Next Time It Will Be Different By Martha Campion (Picture by Walter Quirt) "Do you remember anything about the last war, Jean?" some Pioneers asked their comrade leader while they were waiting for their meeting to begin. "I was pretty young," responded Jean, "but I remember a few things about it." "Tell us," urged the Pioneers. "Did the Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts really do so much to help the war? And what did the other boys and girls do?" "Well, they did plenty. Suppose I tell you just what I remember. I guess the first thing was the reelection of President Wilson. My father said one night, "Well, I've been a Republican all my life, but I'm voting for Wilson. He kept us out of war." "The fathers of most of the girls and boys I knew voted for Wilson, too. One girl's father voted for Hughes, and we used to tease her by saying, 'I guess you want a war if you vote for him. You ought to vote for Wilson because he kept us out of war.' "Of course, we didn't know that there was no difference between Hughes the Republican and Wilson the Democrat. We didn't know that both parties were backed by the bosses and both would have to do what the bosses wanted. "The bosses and (sic) been been preparing for war for a long time, but we didn't know that either. I remember when I was in the first grade we used to march around the room with flags over our shoulders singing a song that went like this : " 'Soldier boy, soldier boy, where ai'e you going Waving so proudly the red, white, and blue? I'm fighting for my country where duty calls me If you'll be a soldier boy, you may come too.' "And, of course we all learned the American Creed and all that. "The next thing I remember is this. One day in April — a day like today — I went to the corner to get the daily newspaper. I brought it back to our porch where my mother was sitting with the baby on her lap. I spread the paper out on the porch and lay down on my belly to read it. Usually I read the comics first and stopped there, but this day the big letters on the front page caught niy eye. I spelled out the headlines aloud : United States Declares War on Germany "I was so intent on spelling out the words, that they didn't mean anything to me. They were just so many words I could read. But when my mother heard me, she jumped up and exclaimed 'You're joking." "I was surprised. How could I be joking about something I didn't even under- stand? " 'Give me that paper,' she said. Then I began to realize how important this headline was. "Then I remember how it was in school during the war. We sang war songs in assembly every morning. All about how the American soldiers were going to kill all the Germans. "Our teachers called the Germans 'Huns.' They told us how their (sic.) nailed little babies to barn doors and made their mothers sit and watch them die. They told us all sorts of horrible stories about the Germans, and we all believed them. Of course, we realize now * * *." Mr. Johnson. Once religion is destroyed in the minds of young- sters between the ages of 10 and 16, it is very easy for the Communist Party to indoctrinate them in their philosophy of hate, and they do this very cleverly. I have here a cartoon taken from the New Pioneer, April 1933, signed Lou Freeman, in which there is a capitalist hanging from a 33909— 53— pt. 7 3 2156 COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES IN THE NEW YORK AREA tree, alongside of which are the following words : "Not long from now the bourgeoise will all be hanging from a tree." In other words, they are instilling in the minds of these youngsters the commission of murder, of lynchmg. Mr. KuNziG. The cartoon from the New Pioneer, page 15, of April 1933, which has just been testified to, I have in my hand and is Man- ning Johnson Exhibit No. 4, and I ask that it be admitted into evi- dence, Mr. Chairman. Mr. ScHERER. It may be so admitted. (The cartoon referred to was received in evidence as Manning John- son Exhibit No. 4.) Manning Johnson Exhibit No. 4 (New Pioneer, April 1933, p. 15) THOJSMOS UPON TH0USArvD5 OfOMlON$ OP MILK AKE POURED INTO THL SEA -VJH!L£. THOU5AMD5 OF CHILDREN ARE STARVING FOR LACK Of IT Page IS Mr. Johnson. I have here an article and cartoon from the New Pioneer, February 1935. The subject of the article is, We Won't Be Fooled Again, story by Helen Zunser, Z-u-n-s-e-r. This cartoon shows a huge capitalist, alongside of whom is standing representatives of the clergy and the militarists. Between his legs, the capitalist's legs, is a rabble rouser. In another cartoon alongside of this is a car- toon of the capitalists, the clergy, and the military fleeing from the revolt of the workers and the farmer. The moral of the story is that the ministers, the capitalists, and the military and their spellbinders create war. They created the last war, and they will create war again, and only the revolt of the masses of workers and farmers against them will be able to defeat their plans for another war — in other words, will turn the war into a civil war and overthrow the Govern- ment like the workers did in Soviet Russia. COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES IN THE NEW YORK AREA 2157 Mr. KuNziG. I have a photostatic copy of, We Won't Be Fooled Again, from the New Pioneer of February 1935, marked "Manning Johnson Exhibit No. 5," and I ask respectfully, sir, that this be ad- mitted into evidence. Mr. ScHERER. It may be so admitted. (The photostatic copy of We Won't Be Fooled Again was received in evidence as Manning Johnson Exhibit No. 5.)^ Mr. KuNziG. Do you have any further illustrations of Communist attempts to influence the minds of children? Mr. Johnson. Yes, I have. This is an article written by Alan Potamkin. The subject of the article is, St. Peter's Out. The cartoon in the picture, most interesting, shows young boys dressed in football clothes attacking a Jewish rabbi, a minister, and a nun, and a policeman. The conclusion of the article has a doleful ditty : The game was played on Sunday in old St. Peter's yard. Jesus was the full- back and the Holy Ghost the guard. Tommy tried to butt us, but he got butted just too hard. This is the sort of stuff that the Youner Communist Leaarue and the Young Pioneers have circulated to youths between the ages of 10 and 16. I have several other articles and cartoons along this same line that I would like to introduce into the record. Mr. ScHERER. Let me ask you this, Mr. Johnson: If I am correct in assuming that the purpose of your testimony in referring to these articles and cartoons is to indicate that children who would accept this type of propaganda could not possibly accept the teachings of any of our major religions? Mr. Johnson. That is correct. The whole purpose is to destroy religion among the youngsters and to prepare them for indoctrina- tion of the whole program of the Communist Party. As I said before, the philosophy of hate — and I would like to say here that I was reading a ditty that was published along this line which goes on to say : In '17 we went to war ; in '17 we went to war ; in '17 we went to war — ^we're wiser now in '34. It's time to turn those guns the other way. In bosses' war the worker gets — in bosses' war the worker gets — in bosses' war the worker gets — a belly full of bayonets. It's time to turn those guns the other way. This is the antithesis of Christian charity, teaching the youngster to disbelieve in God and at the same time indoctrinating him in hate and murder. Mr. ScHERER. You arrived at those conclusions which you have just given the committee not only from the articles you have just read from and which have been introduced in evidence, but from your long and intimate experience in the Communist Party itself, is that right? Mr. Johnson. Yes; during the period that I was a leader in the Communist Party, I assisted in the sale and distribution and circula- tion of these magazines, and I was fully aware of the content of them at that particular time, and I know that they were spread far and wide. 1 For Manning Johnson Exhibit No. 5, see frontispiece, p. vi. 2158 COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES IN THE NEW YORK AREA but what is most significant is that those children were youngsters at that time, and they are today grown men and women. Mr. ScHERER. I assume, Mr. Johnson, that your realization of the damage which you were doing by participating in these types of activities was one of the reasons that caused you to leave the party, am I correct? Mr. Johnson. That is correct, it was one of the reasons, and I happened to run across a letter that was written by a young girl to the Young Pioneer and published in the Pioneer magazine that really made me ashamed of some of the work that I assisted in doing during the time that I was in the party. I would like to read this letter. Mr. ScHERER. You may read it. Mr. Johnson (reading) : The church keeps the workers in the dark. I have tried to get more sub- scribers to the New Pioneer, but the people have given their last penny to the great faker vphich is the church. I told them and argued with them that the Pioneer is the best and truest magazine published. 1 have the children on my side, but when the parents ask the children what the magazine is and they tell their parents, the parents say, "Oh, so, the magazine doesn't say anything about the holy church of God. Well, then, you cannot buy that magazine." These people are still in the dark. They would rather starve than fight for their rights. They go to church every day and keep fasting. They are always fast- ing or starving. Instead of helping the working class, they help keep the preacher or priest or Pope rich, but I'll try to show them. Signed, Anastasia Dimitruck, Alliance, Ohio. Mr. ScHERER. Off the record. (Discussion off the record.) Mr. KuNziG. Mr. Chairman, before we go any further in taking this testimony, I would like at this point to offer into evidence the article from the New Pioneer of December 1931, entitled, "St. Peter's Out," which was testified to a few moments ago. It is listed as Man- ning Johnson Exhibit No. 6, and I now offer it into evidence. Mr. ScHERER. It may be so received. (The article from the New Pioneer entitled "St. Peter's Out" was received in evidence as Manning Johnson Exhibit No. 6.) Manning Johnson Exhibit No. 6. (New Pioneer, December 1931, pp. 10 and 11) St. Peter's Out Another Story of the Striker's Boys Club of the Neck By Harry Alan Potamkin Illustrated by Philip Reisman The carmen needed money for kitchens to feed their women and kids. It was a cold winter. And the strike was hard. The Strikers Boys' Club of the Neck challenged the Northeast Pioneers from the textile district to a football game, all receipts to the kitchen fund. The game was scheduled for Sunday at the ball field on the Dump, the lower end of the Neck. The girls roasted wieners, snuggled them in cozy soft rolls, and beautified them with mustard — a meal for a nickel — and a tin cup of coffee, another jitney. The profit went to the kitchen fund which the women and girls handled. A city ordinance prohibited a chai-ge for admission to games played on Sun- day. The boys got around this by printing "invitations" to a football game for the striking carmen's kitchen fund. No admission charged. But two bits accepted "as a sign of solidarity." And every one who "accepted" the "invita- COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES IN THE NEW YORK AREA 2159 tion" showed his solidarity. Except the delegation from St. Peter's Parish Church and Parochial School. There had been tall doings in the Catholic school. The former Huckleberries, now part of the Strikers Boys' Club, had attended St. Peter's until the principal. Father Thomas, called Peeping Tom because he always spied on the boys got up one day and called the strikers "tools of the devil." Dan Maloney rose and yelled : "Then we'll go to the devil" and all the Hucks walked out and never returned. Peeping Tom gathered Rabl)i Isaacs of the Shalom Synagogue and the Reverend Muddle of the Baptist Church and they held a public meeting to bring the strikers "to their senses." Well, the strikers came to their senses mighty quick. They attended the meeting in a body and one after another their repre- sentatives— Irish, Jewish, German, Italian, Polish, Russian, American — rose to ask Peeping Tom and "Father" Isaacs and "Rabbi" Muddle — one was the same as the other — to answer a few simple questions : Were they serving God in calling this meeting? And who was God serving? Were they getting telephone messages from Mr. God, of the Rapid Transit Co.? Were they well fed? And by whom? And from whose earnings did their wages come? Should the starving workers wait until judgment day or should they make their own judgment day? Why were the three churches joined tonight on the same platform and yet in the schools and the four walls of their churches they were doing everything to split the strikers' ranks, Jew against Christian, Irish against German, Polish against Russian? Priest and rabbi and minister didn't want the strikers to do "violence." Did that mean they didn't want the workers to defend their rights? And why didn't these three protest the violences of the Rapid Transit? R. T. stood for Rapid Transit, and for Rotten Treatment, and didn't it stand also for Religious Tommyrot? The answers didn't satisfy the strikers. And the boys went on advertising the game. The Northeast Pioneers drove down in buses and wagons. They brought with them their mascot, Buck, a battling billy goat. Bands of boys and girls marched to the game afoot — red flags flying and brave voices singing : "We are the young fighters Whose battle flag is red. We are the young fighters Who know no fear or dread," At 2 p. m. the crowd had filled every seat and sat on the roof of the stand and on the fences. It was a great sight. At 2 : 30 the game was to start. The crowd was eager. But just as the game was about to start an uninvited delega- tion entered — Father Thomas, Rabbi Isaacs, and Reverend Muddle with a host of school bullies and old maids. Father Thomas walked to the midfield and called out : "In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, I forbid this desecration of the Lord's day." Dan Maloney picked up the referee's megaphone and shouted : "In the name of the mother, the sister, and the holy smoke, I declare this day closed to R. T." The crowd rose and laughed and cheered. Rabbi Isaacs jumped in to say something, but Izzy Moore forestalled him by introducing "the Pope." Father Muddle got out in the middle, and got all muddled up. He began to stutter. A little Italian girl, very innocent, went up to him and asked him would he buy a hotdog, mustard and all? The old maids with the delegation were very angry. They hurried off the field in a fluster. But the bullies gathered around Father Thomas, Rabbi Isaacs, and the Reverend Muddle, and stood there, husky, tough-looking young men. Father Thomas harangued the crowd : "This is the work of the devil. You are being led astray by infidels. You are unpatriotic." The crowd rose in anger. "Get out of here, you hypocrite," they yelled. One of the bullies put a whistle to his mouth and in ran a regiment of police. The crowd's disgust and rage became even greater. The police lieutenant walked up to the clergymen. "Well?" he asked. Father Thomas pointed to Dan Maloney. Rabbi Isaacs to Izzy Moore, and the Reverend Muddle to Phil Blake, captain of the Northeast Pioneers. The three boys saw the trick and ran into the grandstand. The bullies went after them, but the boys beat them off with the help of the spectators. Father Thomas advanced. And as he approached the grandstand Bu(.'k, the Northeast goat, trotted out of the dugout, saw Peeping Tom's fat seat, and sailed directly for a touchdown. Such 2160 COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES IN THE NEW YORK AREA laughter was never heard before in the four corners of the world. When the priest arose he was Peeping Tom, indeed. Two blinking eyes peeped through a face maslied with mud. The priest roared : "In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, I demand the arrest of everyone." At that even the police lieutenant began to laugh. "Well compromise," he said, "we'll arrest the ringleaders." He turned to the boys in homemade uni- forms: "Who's the ringleader?" Thirty voices answered "Me." The police lieutenant's face reddened. "Well, I'll be damned if I won't pull you all in." No sooner did he say this than Dan Maloney threw the pigskin into the air and Phil Blake went for it. The 30 boys, 2 teams and 6 substitutes, suddenly piled in a heap on — When the heap had scattered into the grandstand on the muddy ground lay a police lieutenant, face downward. Distributed through the grandstand sat 27 boys in their daily clothes. Three of the 30 were on their way home in a battered tin lizzie. The lieutenant rose and shook his fist in the priest's face. "This was all a trick of yours." Rabbi Isaacs came up to the two. "We'd better leave." Father Muddle said, "And we'd better keep it quiet. If the papers should hear of this." The papers did. That is, the strikers' special newspaper wrote it up. And the Strikers Boys' Club sang a doleful ditty : "The game was played on Sunday in old St. Peter's yard, Jesus was the fullback and the Holy Ghost the guard. Tommy tried to butt us — but he got butted just too hard." Mr. KuNziG. Mr. Johnson also testified, Mr. Chairman, with respect to three other documents which he had which illustrated the same point of Communist control of the minds of youth. I therefore now offer into evidence in a group three of these docu- ments marked "Manning Johnson Exhibits Nos. 7, 8, and 9." Mr. ScHERER. They may be so received. (The three documents referred to were received in evidence as Manning Johnson Exhibits Nos. Y, 8, and 9.) Manning Johnson Exhibit No. 7 (New Pioneer, October 1934, p. 10) A Belly Full of Bayonets In '17 we went to war In '17 we went to war In '17 we went to war We're wiser now in '34 It's time to turn those guns the other way. In bosses' wars the worker gets In bosses' wars the worker gets In bosses' wars the worker gets A belly full of bayonets It's time to turn those guns the other way. In the next war, if the boys and girls who attended the New York City Chil- dren's Conference Against War and Fascism have anything to do with it, the bosses who make the war will get their belly full of bayonets. And I expect these boys and girls will have something to say about it. There were 228 of them, including visitors, and when Dr. Treadwell Smith, chairman of the New York City League Against War and Fascism, asked how many of them were going to organize their friends and schoolmates into clubs to fight war and fascism, they all raised their hands. It was a fine conference. Would you like to know what organizations were there? Well, there were the Pioneers, the I WO Juniors, the children's section of the Russian National Mutual Aid Society, the Nature Friends Scouts, the Jewish Schools, the Finnish Federation Pioneers, the Young Defenders, the Grand Street Settlement House, the Pioneer Youth of America, a Boy Scout COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES IN THE NEW YORK AREA 2161 troop, a Free Food Fighters Club, the Bronx Busy Bees, and the recreation rooms of some settlement houses. Here is what happened at the meeting. Dr. Treadwell Smith gave a talk about why children should fight against war and fascism, and then the delegates asked lots of questions, which Dr. Smith and other delegates answered. There were questions about the causes of war and others about the best ways of or- ganizing against war. The American League is preparing a program of action for its children's section. If you want to make any suggestions to them, you should write to the Children's Committee Against War and Fascism at 413 Fourth Avenue, New York City, N. Y. They would be very glad to hear from you and to get your ideas. After the questions came a very interesting part of the program. Del, the Daily Worker cartoonist, gave a short talk and then a chalk talk. Del told how he was a Boy Scout living in Paris in the last war. He used to hear the French soldiers marching to war singing how they were going to "make sausages out of the Germans." When his family had to leave Paris because the fighting was coming too close, Del saw these soldiers returning from war, looking like chopped meat themselves. In England, airplanes dropped shells right across the street from his home. Then he came to America, and on the way the ship came near being blown up by a submarine. Del wondered how people could say the war was glorious, but not knowing any better, he joined the Boy Scouts over here and sold more Liberty bonds and war savings stamps than any other boy in his class. "I was proud of it then, but I'm ashamed of it now," said Del, "because it helped the bosses continue the war, and more workers were killed and hurt for the profits of Morgan." Then Del appealed to all the delegates to join and form organizations to fight hard against war and fascism before they come. Next month we are going to tell you about the program of action the delegates will start to carry out. But don't wait for that. Tell your leaders and parents and the branch of the American League in your city that you want a city conference of children against war and fascism right away. Send invitations to the Boy Scouts, settlement houses, and all children's clubs. Then write in and tell the New Pioneer about it. And, by the way, you can get some good ideas from reading about the big second congress of the American League Against War and Fascism, and the Youth Congress, to be held September 28, 29, and 30, in the Daily Worker. This congress will take place in Chicago. It will be very interesting and very important, for delegates representing hundreds of thousands of people will be there. This is the most important thing that's happening this month. Don't miss the reports of it in the Daily. 2162 COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES IN THE NEW YORK AREA Manning Johnson Exhibit No. 8 l-yi:i.NXfe JOilKSQN .EXhIBlT. NO, S ;,. ("iJBW jeianesn,;-, October l^^l) Rimes By Lisle Rigby O sing a song of Hoover— This bloated saint would die Before he'd see the workers Eating cheese and pie. Drawing by Otto Soglow He'd turn the cock-eyed world on end And pile the graveyards high Before he'd give the work- ers bread Right now instead of "bye- and-bye" Manning Johnson Exhibit No. 9 (New Pioneer, February 1935, pp. 8 and 9) Little Lefty Repouts on the Workers' Congress By "Del" Well gee whiz, I don't know wbere to start. So many exciting things happened in those 3 days of January 5, 6, and 7, that I'm kind of mixed up. I guess I'll begin by telling you about the special train that took the delegates to Washington from New Yorli. In Pennsylvania Station there were hundreds of delegates. At about midnight they let us through the gates and we all hopped on the train. We got seats and in a few moments the trainmaster blew the whistle and hollered "All aboard." All of a sudden I got a big lump in my throat. I thought of Mom and Pop, of Peanuts and Spunky wagging his tail and it seemed I was leaving them far behind. Then I reminded myself tbat I was only going away for a few days, and I felt a little better. On the train it was just like old home week. Everybody seemed to know everybody else, and if you didn't it made no difference. You just spoke to anyone you liked and it seemed you bad known the person for years. I guess it's because everyone had the same feelings about the Congress. COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES IN THE NEW YORK AREA 2163 In spite of the singing and joking the train got me drowsy and I fell fast asleep. When I woke up Uncle John was carrying me out of the train, into Union Station in Washington, D. C. Along with some 18 or 20 others we went into a restaurant to get some coffee. I suppose you've heard about how they refused to serve the two Negro delegates with us. Well, the rest of us ordered great big meals and after they were placed in front of us we didn't touch them and walked out witliout paying, as a protest against the boss' dirty Jim Crow ideas. Well, you sliould have seen this guy's face. It went the color of one of his tablecloths. Ha ! Ha ! Excuse me but I gotta laugh when I just think of it. When we got to Washington Auditorium, we got a swell breakfast. Then the Ccmgress started in earnest. Herbert Benjamin, the national secretary of the unemployment councils, told about the whole history of the fight to get unemployment relief through House Resolution 2827 (it used to be H. R. 7598). It's a swell idea. In case a worker gets thrown out of work through no fault of his own the Government pays him $10 a week and $3 extra for each one who depends on him, like his wife and kids. And the bosses have to foot the bill. Of course, everyone knew that the bosses would never give this out of their own big hearts and would fight it, but the speakers explained that we were there to make plans how to fight for our right to live. When the session closed we went into the lobby and there I saw cowboys and sharecroppers, lumberjacks and farmers, and one big strapping delegate who looked, spoke, and dressed like Daniel Boone. They seemed like they had stepped out of the pages of my history book. The most exciting part of the convention was when Earl Browder, the Secre- tary of the Communist Party, got through speaking. First he said that we were not in Washington to kidnap the President like they had in the papers — and did everybody laugh. When he got through speaking everybody got up and sang Solidarity. What a thrill ran up and down my spine. On the last day, we went to see Secretary Perkins. Of course she was "not in". So we spoke to her secretary, Edward McGrady. Ann Burlak led the delegation and introduced a mother in the coal-mining region who told about how it was impossible for her to properly care for her children, and asked McGrady to support our unemployment insurance bill. This McGrady guy thought he was putting over a fast one and very sym- patheticlike says '"Leave me your name and address and I'll send you a book on how to feed your children." Well, you should have seen Ann Burlak snap out that we couldn't squeeze food and milk out of his books. After that the Congress wound up and we went back to Union Station and took the next train back for home. Believe me, these were the three most thrilling days of my life. Of course, the fight for unemployment insurance is just beginning. We all have lots of work to do. I asked Uncle John if kids could help and he said, "Sure." So I'm helping, and I hope you all are too. Mr. ScHERER. Now, Mr. Johnson, I think it is important at this point to ask, during the time that you were an active member of the Communist Party, whether you were an atheist. Is that right? Mr. JoHNSOx. No, I was not. I hid my religion. I committed the grievous sin of hiding it. I outwardly accepted the atheistic anti- religious program of the Communists, but secretly in my heart I re- tained my religious convictions. Of course, that was an awful strug- gle, an internal struggle, a struggle between two different and oppos- ing philosophies, the philosophy of charity and the philosophy of hate. Sometimes I wonder how I did that tightrope walking. Mr. ScHERER. Now, since you have left the party, however, you are no longer, I believe, hiding your religion ? Mr. JoHxsoN. No, I am not. Mr. ScHERER. Are you a member of a church ? Mr. Johnson. Yes, I joined a Baptist Church in New Jersey sev- eral years ago. Of course, time has not permitted me to attend the services, but I do attend church services in New York regularly, though I have not connected myself with a church in New York. 33909— 53— pt. 7 4 2164 COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES IN THE NEW YORK AREA Mr. KuNziG. Mr. Johnson, we have had extensive testimony here concerning the New Pioneer. That publication, if my information is correct, stopped coming out in about 1938, is that correct? Mr. Johnson. Yes, about 1938. ^ Mr. KuNziG. If it lies within your knowledge, is there any publica- tion today with Communist influence behind it attempting also to influence the minds of youth ? Mr. Johnson. Yes, there is, the publications of the International Workers' Order, the organization through which the Young Pioneer movement functions today. Mr. KuNziG. Mr. Johnson, the IWO is presently involved in court proceedings in the State of New York. I know the case is still going on, but there were various stays issued by judges preventing the or- ganization in some ways from functioning. Do you mean to say that still today this type of propaganda is being put out through the or- ganization at this very moment? Mr. Johnson. My understanding is that it is. Mr. KuNziG. That is an amazing thing, sir ; and I think the record should show this information. Mr. Johnson, during the period of your membership in the Com- munist Party was there ever any deviation from the basic antireligious line? Mr. Johnson. No, there was never any deviation from the basic antireligious line. Mr. KuNziG. Was there a change of tactical application of this antireligious policy ? Mr. Johnson. Yes, there was. There was a change in the tactical application of the Communist Party's antireligious policy. This tac- tical change was made in 1932, if I recall correctly, when I was present at a meeting of the national committee of the Communist Party in New York, at which time Earl Browder made a speech to the commit- tee in which he said that our aim should be to draw the religious ele- ment into the movement before we convinced them to become atheists. In other words, to reverse the old policy of convincing the worker and farmer to become an atheist before he became active in the Com- munist Party movement. As Browder put it, that old policy was like putting the cart before the horse. Mr. KuNziG. In other words, if you cannot completely destroy religion, would you say that the correct phraseology would be that it is best to attempt to infiltrate it first and then later destroy it ? Mr. Johnson. I would say that the policy then was to first get the worker and the farmer involved in Communist activities, and in the course of his involvement in these activities you steadily indoctrinate him in the antireligious philosophy of the Communist Party. This was contrary to previous procedure where the Communist first ap- proached the average worker and farmer with an antireligious pro- gram and policy. The result was that the Christian worker was antagonized, and there was built up a wall of resistance between the party and the religious element in America, and the new policy was for the purpose of breaking down this wall of resistance and getting the Christian element in, thereby getting the Communist Party out of the rut of sectarianism in which it had fallen. COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES EST THE NEW YORK AREA 2165 Mr. KuNZiG. Mr. Johnson, I note that you just mentioned the date of 1932, and some of your previous examples of antireligious propa- ganda went much further, into 1935 and 1936. Can you explain just what the policy was? Mr. Johnson. There is no contradiction there. The Communist Party did both. They continued their antireligious propaganda and at the same time they revised their tactical approach toward the Chris- tian element in order to get them in. Once they got them in, they con- tinued to indoctrinate them in their antireligious program. Mr. KuNziG. What was known as the united front, Mr. Johnson? Mr. Johnson. The united front was a development of a new tactical line by the Communist International in 1935. This new tactical line was developed at the seventh world congress of the Communist International in Moscow in 1935. Georgi Dimitrov, general secretary of the Communist International, presented this new tactical line to the seventh world congress. Now, the essence of it was to infiltrate churches, trade unions and all other organizations through the process of involving them into a so-called united front on the basis of a program presented to them by the Communist Party. Now, the united front was a coalition or an alliance of the church, trade unions, farm and youth and women's organizations of the Com- munist Party, under Communist Party leadership and for the pro- mulgation of the Communist Party program. It was a step in the formation of a people's front government, which of course is a form of transition to proletarian revolution and the seizure of power in a given country. As Dimitrov said, the united front is useful, but the final salvation is in a socialist revolution. The united front is used for revolutionary training of the masses. Mr. KuNziG. Can you explain the phrase "outstretched hand of communism?" Mr. Johnson. Yes; I can. The outstretched hand was the new united-front policy of the Communist International applied all over the world. It was the extension of the hand of friendship and coop- eration to the church, while in the other hand holding a dagger to drive through the heart of the church. In other words, it was a ruse whereby they could get the churches involved in united-front activities with the Communists so that the Communists could bring to the religious element in America their antireligious program. In other words, to educate the masses in the revolutionary program and policy of the Communist Party, to prepare them ideologically and organiza- tionally for the overthrow of the Government of the United States. I have here some documents that I would like to introduce into the record at this point. First, I have here the Communist, the theo- retical organ of the Communist Party, in which there is an article, The United Front, the Key to Our New Tactical Orientation, by Earl Browder. I want to quote from pages 1076 and also 1077. First, 1076 : The first argument said that by adopting a new tactical orientation the Com- munists are admitting whether they want to or not that their old tactical orientation was wrong and had to be changed because it was wrong. To this our answer is not at all. The seventh world congress formulated a new tactical line because new conditions have arisen, not because the old line was wrong. The Communists are Marxists, Leninists, Stalinists. 2166 COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES IN THE NEW YORK AREA On page 1077 : And then another change, the proved inability of the bourgeoise to overcome the collapse of capitalist stabilization, it proved inability to make any progress toward overcoming the final crisis of the capitalist system. * * * That is why the seventh world congress formulated the new tactical orientation which seized the final and irrevocable victory of socialism. The inability of the bourgeoisie to overcome the collapse of the capitalist stabilization and the growing urge of the struggle for socialism. I would like to state in explanation of the foregoing quotation that Dimitrov clearly pointed out in his speech that the united front which is aimed at getting control of the churches is not a digression from the basic position of the Communist Party ; that is, the struggle for revolution, the conquest of power, but merely a reconstruction of tactics in accordance with changing situation. It is the tactic to draw wide masses into revolutionary class struggle where the working people, both Christians and Jews, will be welded into a millionfold strong revolutionary army, led by the Communist Inter- national under the leadership of Stalin at that time. Now, the tactics called for in the building of this united front were also brought out by Dimitrov. He calls attention in his speech to a story taken from Greek history in which he states, and I quote: Comrades, you remember the ancient tale of the capture of Troy. Troy was inaccessible to the armies attacking her, thanks to her impregnable walls, and the attacking army, after suffering great losses, was still unable to achieve victory until, with the aid of the Trojan horse, it managed to penetrate to the very heart of the enemy's camp. In other words, what he is saying is that if vou cannot take over the churches by frontal attack, take them over by the use of deception and guile and trickery, and that is exactly what the Communists practice in order to infiltrate and subvert the church and prepare them for the day when they would come under the hierarchical and authori- tarian control of Moscow, The leaders of the Communist Party had an eye toward the millions of people in the churches, and this policy was designed specifically to reach the millions in the churches. Already as early as 1931 the Com- munist Party published a survey of the churches in the United States which was published by certain international pamphlets. In the pamphlet. The Church and the Workers, by Bennett Stevens, may be found a survey of the church, its membership, and its holdings. I would like to read into the record what the author has to say about the church. Mr. Ktjnzig. "Wliat year was this ? Mr. JoHNSOX. This was publislied in 1931. The purpose of doing this is to show that already as early as 1931 the Communists had an eye toward the millions in religious organizations in America, and this survey was not prepared without instructions from the Communist Party, because when pamphlets of this kind, according to my knowl- edge and experience, are written and published, they are published under instructions of the top leadership of the Communist Party, both in America and abroad, because such pamphlets are sent to the Soviet Union where they are evaluated, and on the strength of them the policy for the Communist Party of America is formulated, and not only for America, but throughout the world. COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES IN THE NEW YORK AREA 2167 This shows how many people in America are connected with the church, and this is not lost to the men who sit in the Kremlin and are forinulating policy for the American party. I quote : The churches are effective propagnnda agencies, for they reached a inenibership of no million Dersous 1n 1J180. That capitalists are conscious of this fact is shown by the liberality of their donation to tlie churches. As one of his many contributions to the Episcopal Church, J. 1'. Morgan paid the expenses involved in publishing the revised Book of Common Prayer. John D. Ilockefeller, Jr., in addition to building a $7-million church in New York, gives millions to Baptist colleges and other religious enterprises. In 1929 gifts to Protestant churches of the United States amounted to ,i:Ji20 million. The churches are not spiritual institutions, but are in themselves powerful, wealthy, capitalist corporations, and as such have special church-property investments, and churches spent $817 million in immediate expenses in 1926. Only a very slight portion of this went to benevoloncies. The following table indicates the value of church property and expenses in some of the larger sects of the United States, and then they go on to give an estimate of the value of church property in the United States. Then the author goes on to say that religion cannot be reformed, whatever its doctrine and ritual, that it remains an agency by which the capitalist class enforces its control. The program of those who want to reform existing religion must therefore be rejected. The significance of this is that the party had already in 1931 seen the need of getting into the churches where 50 million Americans are, and this survey and surveys made after this one was made, constituted a very important factor in determining the Communist policy in infiltrating the churches and religious organizations. Mr. ScHERER. Off the record. (Discussion off the record.) Mr. KuNziG. Do you have any further documentary evidence, Mr. Johnson ? Mr. Johnson. Yes ; I have. I have here a statement by William Z. Foster in the Communist, the theoretical magazine of the Communist Farty, that I would like to submit in evidence. Mr. KuNziG. I have here, then, Mr. Chairman, pages 702 and 703, Secondary Aspects of Mass Organization by Foster in the Communist of August 1939, and I request that the marked paragraph be incorpo- rated into the record at this point as Mafming Johnson Exhibit No. 10. Mr. ScHERER. It may be so received. (The marked paragraph on pages 702 and 703 of Secondary Aspects of Mass Organization was received in evidence as Manning Johnson Exhibit No. 10.) Johnson Exhibit No. 10 (The Communist, August 1939, pp. 702 and 703) Secondary Aspects of Mass Organization (By W. Z. Foster) ij! 5F ^ ^F * * "fr B. RELIGION Religion is another extremely important secondary aspect of American mass organization. Inevitably a social current so well organized and so deeply in- grained in the mind of the masses as religion has exerted a far-reaching effect 2168 COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES IN THE NEW YORK AREA upon the people's mass organization of all types throughout their entire history. Political parties, trade unions, farmers' associations, fraternal orders, and the many other kinds of broad mass movements in which the toilers participate in huge numbers have been fundamentally influenced in various ways by this powerful force. The employers have tirelessly exploited religion to control the people's organizations and they have often been unwittingly aided by leftwing mistakes in dealing with it. The numerous churches (and American bourgeois-democracy has served to multiply greatly the number of Protestant sects) have sedulously cultivated their causes within the mass organization, and the resultant conflicts, especially those between Protestants and Catholics, have at times been acute. Conse- quently, the employers have been alert to provoke such sectarian clashes. In the main, however, the spirit of democratic tolerance has prevailed and mass solidarity been preserved. In the great fraternal organizations (which, with duplications, are estimated to number 50,000,000 members, including many mil- lions of workers and farmers) there is a wide split between Catholics and Protestants; but this is not the case in mass organizations generally. Thus, there are in the United States no Catholic trade unions and, in our time, no special political parties based upon religious lines. The triumph of mass solidarity over religious sectarianism is a tribute to American democracy. Communists must ever be keen to cultivate the demo- cratic spirit of mutual tolerance among the religious sects in the people's mass organizations. A still greater lesson for us to learn, however, is how to work freely with religious strata for the accomplishment of democratic mass objec- tives, while at the same time carrying on our basic Marxist-Leninist educational work. A very serious mistake of the American leftwing during many years, and one it would not have made had it understood Marx and Lenin, has been its attempt arbitrarily to wave aside religious sentiments among the masses. Reactionary forces have always knowm how to take advantage of this short- sighted sectarian error by instigating the religious masses against the leftwing. In recent years, however, the Communist Party, with its policy of "the out- stretched hand," has done much to overcome the harmful leftwing narrowness of former years and to develop a more healthy cooperation with the religious masses of the people in building the democratic front. Mr. Johnson. The success of the united-front policy enabled the Communist Party to come in contact with thousands of ministers and millions of people who make up their congregations all over the coun- try. The fact that they were successful in the so-called outstretched- haiid policy was clearly stated by Earl Browder in his book, What Is Communism ? which has been mentioned before in my testimony. On page 147 in that book he states, and I quote : It is significant that the Communist Party, more than any other labor group, has been able to achieve successful united fronts with church groups on the most important issues of the day. This is not due to any compromise with religion as such on our part. In fact by going among the religious masses we are, for the first time, able to bring our antireligious ideas to them. Mr. KuNziG. In other words, you would say, would you not, Mr. Johnson, that on the basis of your personal experience and knowledge the united front is the medium through which people were educated to communism ? Mr. Johnson. That is correct. The united front is a school for communism. It is the instrument to bring the Communist Party pro- gram and policy to millions of people throughout the length and breadth of the country. Mr. KuNziG. Would it be correct to say that there actually was party recruiting through the united front ? Mr. Johnson. Yes, there was. The whole purpose of the united front was to bring the Communist Party into contact with millions of people from whom they had before been isolated in order to indoc- trinate them, to educate them and train them in Communist policy and orient them along the path of revolutionary struggle. COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES IN THE NEW YORK AREA 2169 Now, in the course of all these activities, recruiting the most mili- tant, the most active, the most promising element into the Communist Party, sending them to schools and training them for leadership in the united-front movement. I wish to introduce into the record an excerpt from the report to the Tenth National Convention of the Communist Party, U. S. A., on behalf of the central committee, by Earl Browder, general secretary. Mr. KuNziG. What date was that? Mr. Johnson. May 1938. In reference to the Communist training of persons involved in united-front activities, I quote : We propose to make the education of our leading people, the Marxist-Leninist training, the central task of the whole party. It shall not be conflned to the members of the central committee and State leaders, but extended to a broad new circle of leaders for the States and sections and for party leaders in the mass organizations, trade unions, youth, Negro, farm, cultural, women's, religious, national groups, and other organizations. I would like to state that the main purpose of this educational process of religious leaders is for the overthrow of the Government of the United States. The party, according to my knowledge and experience, realized that without subverting the millions of persons in the church, revolution in the United States is unthinkable ; it is impossible. For that reason a corps of trained persons was necessary who would be in a position to work successfully toward this end arnong the church- goers. This was very clearly brought out in Fight magazine, for instance. Now, Fight magazine was the official organ of the American League Against War and Fascism. In the April 1934 issue, on page 34, it reads as follows : This means that those who would use what resources are available in the churches to fight the development of fascism must be prepared to show the people in the churches that there is no way out under the profit system and that the only way they can get the better life that is within their reach is to take ownership and control out of the hands of the few, put it into the hands of the many, and develop a planned economy for the purpose of realizing the classless society. Then the emotions and ideals that will otherwise be misled by the Fascists will be directed to the defeat of the real enemy of the people — the capitalist slystem — and will be given a constructive outlet in the building of a new order. To work at this task the American League Against War and Fascism needs to get members in all religious organizations. Mr. KuNziG. Mr. Johnson, who was the chairman of this American League Against War and Fascism ? Mr. Johnson. The Eeverend Harry F. Ward. Mr. KuNziG. Do you know him personally ? Mr. Johnson. Yes, I did. Mr. KuNziG. When you were a member of the Communist Party did you know him as a member of the Communist Party ? Mr. Johnson. Yes ; he was a member of the Communist Party while I was a member. Mr. KuNziG. Did you meet with him as such ? Mr. Johnson. Yes, I did. Mr. KuNziG. Would you characterize him as a prominent member of the Communist Party? Mr. Johnson. I would say that he is the Red dean of the Commu- nist Party in the religious field. 2170 COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES IN THE NEW YORK AREA Mr. KuNziG. Off the record. (Discussion off the record.) Mr. Johnson. The training of leaders for work in the united front is of major importance to the success of the Communist Party's pro- gram. For that reason we had considerable discussions in the cen- tral committee and in the sections and districts and State committees of the Communist Party on methods of work among religious elements. Mr. KuNziG. Did you participate in these discussions personally ? Mr. Johnson. Yes, I did. Mr. KuNziG. So that what you are testifying to is a matter of your own personal experience and knowledge ? Mr. Johnson. That is right, because I participated in these discus- sions on national and on lower levels in the Communist Party, and I would like to present to this committee the substance of some of these discussions that were aimed at educating the party members on how to work among the religious element. I would first like to read to you what William Z. Foster has to say on this matter. Communists must ever be keen to cultivate the democratic spirit of mutual tolerance among the religious sects in the people's mass organizations. A still greater lesson for us to learn, however, is how to work freely with religious strata for the accomplishment of democratic mass objectives, while at the same time carrying on our basic Marxist-Leninist educational work. A very serious mistake of the American leftwing during many years, and one it would not have made had it understood Marx and Lenin, has been its attempt arbitrarily to wave aside religious sentiments among the masses. Reactionary forces have always known how to take advantage of this shortsighted sectarian error by instigating the religious masses against the leftwing. In recent years, however, the Communist Party with its policy of "the outstretched hand," has done much to overcome the harmful leftwing narrowness of former years and to develop a more healthy cooperation with the religious masses of the people in building democratic front. Continuing along this line, the Communist leaders instructed us in the use of deceit in dealing with religious elements. Mr. KuNziG. Was deceit a major policy of Communist propaganda and activity? Mr. Johnson. Yes, it was. They made fine gestures and honeyed words to the church people which could be well likened unto the song of the fabled sea nymphs luring millions to moral decay, spiritual death, and spiritual slavery. An illustration of this treachery, I might point out, is smiling, sneaky Earl Browder, for example, who was vice chairman of the American League Against War and Fascism, greeting and praising ministers and other church workers participating with him in the united front, antiwar activities, while secretly harboring in his heart only contempt for them and for the religion that they represented. Now, in order to train others in the use of such deceit, he wrote, and I quote from What is Communism ? 1936 : It is true that we have learned to be much more careful about the quality of our mass work in this field. We take pains not to offend any religious belief. We don't want to close the minds of religious people to what we have to tell them about capitalism, because of some remark or action offensive to their reli- gion. We can well say that the cessation of ineffective, rude, and vulgar at- tacks upon religion is a positive improvement in our work. COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES IN THE NEW YORK AREA 2171 Speaking along the same line Earl Browder had this to say in 1936 : But these critics do not understand that we Communists do not distinguish between good and bad religions, because we think they are all bad for the mass enthusiasm or lack of enthusiasm in religious worship. We judge religious organizations and their leaders by their attitude to the fundamental social issues of the day. What church organization has so com- pletely demonstrated its opposition to fascism and war as that of Father Di- vine? Other churches could very well follow his example. We would be de- lighted if thousands of other churches would support the workers' social in- surance bill, the fight to free the Scottsboro boys, and would fight against Mus- solini's invasion of Ethiopia, as the followers of Father Divine have done. The major organizational form of the nnited front in which the churches were involved was the American League Against War and Fascism which has been headed by the Reverend Harry F. Ward. That organization was the key Communist Party front. There was no other Communist Party front in all of the solar system of organi- zations of the Communist Party that involved so many ministers, churches, and religious organizations. In fact, this organization was the key to the infiltration of the church, and as a result of the suc- cessful infiltration and penetration they were able to involve these ministers in every other Communist front through the years, even down to the present time. Mr. KuNZiG. Undoubtedly the great, great number of ministers who were involved one way or another in this or other Communist-front groups were loyal citizens and fine, good, religious men who were completely duped ; is that not true, Mr. Johnson ? Mr. JoHNSox. There were quite a few of them who were duped, but the Communist clergymen and fellow travelers and those under Communist Party discipline were not duped. They were fully con- scious and fully aware of what they were doing. They were the small minority that utilized their position to infiltrate and seek to subvert the majority of the clergy in the interests of the aims and objectives of the Communist Party of the United States. Mr, KuNziG. It was an example of a small minority attempting to influence, control, and use the majority of good, decent clergymen? Mr. Johnson. Yes; that is true, because I know from my own expe- rience in working in labor organizations, for example, that we had an organization with 10,000 members, and there were only about 60 or 70 Communists, and we controlled the organization. So with a small minority of ministers who work in an organized manner, they can always win over and subvert and dupe the majority who are disorganized and are individualistic. Mr. ScHERER. Let us adjourn until 1 : 30. ("Wliereupon, at 1 p. m., the hearing recessed to 1 : 30 p. m. of the same day.) AFTERNOON SESSION (At the hour of 2 : 05 p. m. of the same day the proceedings were resumed. Representative Gordon H. Scherer being present.) Mr. Scherer. Proceed. Mr. KuNzTG. A few moments ago, Mr. Johnson, you mentioned the American League Against War and Fascism. I would like to direct your attention for a bit to this very vital and important organization so that the true picture of the true work of this organization may become clear on this record. 2172 COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES IN THE NEW YORK AREA Would you explain to the committee how this group was organized, who headed it, and in general its purposes and functions ? Mr. Johnson. Well, I sat in on meetings of the national committee of the Communist Party in New York City. These were meetings of the national committee at which were discussed the formation of the American League Against War and Fascism. The substance of these discussions was that the Communist International had formed an organization known as the World Congress Against War. The head of that organization was Henri Barbusse, H-e-n-r-i B-a-r- b-u-s-s-e, a leader of the Communist Party of France and a confidante of Joseph Stalin. The American party was instructed by the Communist International to form the American League Against War and Fascism. This organ- ization was officially set up at the first United States Congress Against War, held in New York City in 1933. At that congress was Henri Barbusse, whom I have formerly mentioned, who directed and assisted in the setting up of this congress and this organization. Mr. KuNziG. Did you know Henri Barbusse to be a Communist ? Mr. Johnson. Yes, I did; and incidentally, I was introduced to him at that time in a top fraction meeting that was held prior to the opening of the congress. The policy of this particular front — that is, the American League Against War and Fascism — was to involve the religious organizations into Communist Party activities generally to exploit the tremendous antiwar and anti-Fascist senti- ment that exists among the religious masses. That is the reason why, according to the discussions that took place in the national committee, that Harry F. Ward was selected to head the American League Against War and Fascism. The party conclusion was that because he was a minister, he would be able to draw in churches, and secondly, that he would be able to draw in labor because of his imposing record as a clergyman of some standing and note. In other words, they considered him the ideal head for the organ- ization. It was proven a good decision because the American League Against War and Fascism was able, through exploiting the antiwar and anti-Fascist sentiments among the clergymen and among church people generally to involve millions of people in supporting the program of the American League Against War and Fascism. I might say here that the majority of the American people generally are peace-loving people and are democratic people, and they are opposed to war and fascism, and that such a campaign as this has a tremendous appeal, a tremendous attraction, but when such a cam- paign like the one against war and fascism is used as a cover to attack our Government, our social system, our leaders, when it is used as a cover to attack our law-enforcement agencies and to build up mass hate against them, when it is used as a cover for the transmission of intelli- gence information to Soviet Russia, when it is used as a cover for Soviet espionage, when it is used as a cover for infiltration and subver- sion of our churches, seminaries, youth organizations, when it is used as a cover to undermine national security, when it is used as a cover to sabotage industry and transportation, when it is used to prepare and to influence and win over millions in support of the foreign policy of an alien government, namely, Soviet Russia, against our own country, when it is used as a cover to defend Communists, the sworn enemies of our great heritage, when it is used as a cover for preparing millions COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES IN THE NEW YORK AREA 2173 of people ideologically and organizationally for the overthrow of the United States Government, then that is a different matter altogether. That is the program as it was worked out in the central committee, and that was the program that was advocated by the American League Against War and Fascism when I was not only a member of it, but a member of the national committee. Mr. KuNziG. Mr. Johnson, can you give us any evidence of how it was used to aid sabotage and in giving information to the enemy ? Mr, Johnson. Before I do that I would like to offer to the commit- tee a photostat showing that I was a member of the national committee of the American League Against War and Fascism. Mr. KuNziG. I have a photostatic copy here of Fight magazine, December 1935, page 2, which purports to show and does show Manning Johnson listed as a member of the national executive committee of the American League Against War and Fascism. This document is marked "Manning Johnson Exhibit No. 11," and I now offer it into evidence, Mr. Chairman. Mr. ScHERER. It may be so received. (The photostatic copy of Fight magazine, December 1935, p. 2, was received in evidence as Manning Johnson Exhibit No. 11.) Manning Johnson Exhibit No. 11 (Fight, December 1935, p. 2) NATIONAL EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE, AMEKICAN LEAGUE AGAINST WAB AND FASCISM Dr. Harry F. Ward, chairman Robert Morss Lovett, vice chairman Earl Browder, vice chairman Lincoln StefEens, vice chairman William P. Mangold, treasurer Thomas R. Amlie Israel Amter Roger Baldwin Mrs. Clinton Barr Max Bedacht Fred Biedenkapp Charles Blome Ella Reeve Bloor .John Bosch LeRoy E. Bowman Harry Bridges William Brown Mabel Byrd AVinifred Chappell George A. Coe Prof. George S. Counts Malcolm Cowley H. W. L. Dana Dorothy Detzer Margaret Forsyth Maurice Gates Ben Gold Paul L. Goldman Rabbi Benjamin Goldstein Dr. Israel Goldstein Mrs. Annie E. Gray Gilbert Green Clarence Hathaway A. A. Heller Donald Henderson Harold Hickerson Roy Hudson Langston Hughes Rabbi Edward L. Israel Clarence Irwin Lela R. Jackson Manning Johnson A. H. Johnston Rev. Herbert King Ernest Kornfeld Corliss Lamont James Lerner E. C. Lindemann Lola Maverick Lloyd Waldo McNutt Rev. J. A. Martin Rev. R. Lester Mondale Peter Onisick Samuel C. Patterson D. R. Poindexter Rev. A. Clayton Powell, Jr. Henry Shepard Tredwell Smith Rev. William B. Spofford Maxwell S. Stewart Louise Thompson Alfred Wagenknecht Colston E. Warne Louis Weinstock James Wechsler John Werlick Richard Babb Whitten Ella Winter Alex V. Wright Charles Zimmerman 2174 COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES IN THE NEW YORK AREA Mr, KuNziG. May I also point out for the record that Dr. Harry F. Ward is listed as chairman ; Lincoln Steffens, vice chairman ; Robert Morss Lovett, vice chairman; Earl Browder, vice chairman, and William P. Mangold, treasurer. Mr. ScHERER. Off the record. (Discussion off the record.) Mr. KuNziG. May I, Mr. Chairman, at this point hand to the wit- ness exhibit 11, Johnson exhibit 11, which has this long list of mem- bers of the executive committee of the American League against War and Fascism, and ask him how many of these names he recognizes as people whom he knew to be members of the Communist Party. Will you please name them, sir? Mr. Johnson. Dr. Harry F. Ward, Earl Browder, Israel Amter, Max Bedecht, Fred Biedenkapp, Ella Reeve Bloor, Hari^ Bridges, Winifred Chappell, H. W. L. Dana, Margaret Forsyth, Gilbert Green^ Clarence Hathaway, A. A. Heller, Donald Henderson, Roy Hudson, Langston Hughes, Manning Johnson — of course, that is myself — James Lerner, Samuel C. Patterson, Henry Sheppard, Louise Thomp- son, Alfred Wagenknecht, Louis Weinstock, James Wechsler, Ella Winter. Mr. KuNziG. AVliat period of time did this cover? Mr. Johnson. This was in December 1935. Mr. KuNziG. You knew all those people whose names you just gave to be members of the Communist Party ? Mr. Johnson. That is correct. Mr. KuNziG. I should like again to direct your attention to the question I asked you a few moments ago as to whether you had any proof of the fact that the American League Against War and Fascism conducted sabotage and also gave important material to a foreign government, namely, the U. S. S. R. ? Mr. Johnson. Yes. I would like to read from Fight magazine, February 1935, page 14, which I would like to offer for the record later. The league's program : No. 1. To work toward the stopping of the manufac- ture and transport of munitions and all other material essential to the conduct of war through mass demonstrations, picketing, and strikes ; to likewise with- draw the professionals from the service of the war machine and to enlist them in agitation and educational propaganda against war and every aspect of fascism. In the Communist Party, may I explain, we had discussions of point No. 1, and it means that the workers in a given shop that is manufac- turing war materials should be instructed to sabotage the manufac- turer through strikes and other means in order to prevent the manu- facture of munitions, and in cases where munitions have been manu- factured and they are in transit — that is, they are being transported — to do everything within our power to prevent the transportation of military supplies. That would mean that if the Government of the United States were supplying arms to our allies, that is, the sinews of war, or for their own security, as our first line of defense, the Commu- nist's duty was to sabotage such things; secondly, that in the event the United States was engaged in a war, that the workers in industry, both in the productive end and the transportation end, should sabotage the manufacture and the transportation of munitions, which, of course, you realize, would mean the complete and total defeat of the Govern- ment of the United States, or in the case of its allies, their defeat. COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES IN THE NEW YORK AREA 2175 No. 2. To expose everywhere the extensive preparations for war being carried on under the guise of aiding national recovery. This particular section is a cover for Soviet espionage because tliey are requesting here that every worker employed in a munitions plant supply the league with information with regard to what kind of w^ar materials were being produced there. Now, I want to introduce here in substantiation of this a very im- portant bit of information taken from Fight magazine to substantiate this particular point. Mr. KuNziG. Mr. Chairman, I have a document marked "Manning Johnson Exhibit No. 12," which is a photostatic copy of a page of Fight magazine entitled, "Hit Munition Makers," with appropriate maps attached thereto, and I should like to offer this evidence as Manning Johnson Exhibit No. 12. Mr. ScHERER. It will be received. (The photostatic copy of page from Fight magazine entitled "Hit Munitions Makers" w^as received in evidence as Manning Johnson Ex- hibit No. 12.) Manning Johnson Exhibit No. 12 (Fight, February 1934, p. 11) Hit Munition Makers All the imperialist powers are feverishly preparing for war. In the United States thousands of factories that could turn out the necessaries of life remain closed — 15 million workers are jobless, 60 million are getting less than enough to live on — but approximately 17,000 factories are making war material. The imperialist governments are preparing a new blood bath for the workers and farmers. Look at this map. To the right you can read the type of armaments manufac- tured in the various States. (The map is incomplete because the Government refuses to give out facts and figures on war preparations.) Now we shall list the names of some of the armament makers and the cities they are in : Colt's Patent Firearm Co., Hartford, Conn, (machineguns, pistols, rifles, etc.) ; Remington Arms Co., Bridgeport, Conn, (firearms and ammunition) ; Winchester Repeating Anns Co., New Haven, Conn, (cartridges, firearms, etc.) ; Savage Arms Corp., Chicopee Falls, Mass., Norwich, Conn., Utica, N. Y. ; Auto Ordnance Corp., New York City (portable automatic guns) ; Smith & Wesson, Springfield, Mass. ((revolvers and pistols) ; Johnson's Arms & Cycle Works, Fitchburg, Mass. (small arms, cartridges, etc.) ; R. F. Sedgley, Inc., Philadelphia, Pa. (rifles and pistols) ; Pacific Arms Coi-p., San Francisco, Calif, (small arms and cartridges) ; Woodstock Manufacturing Co., Charleston, S. C. (light ordnance) ; Western Cartridge Co., East Alton, 111. (shells, cartridges, etc.) ; Federal Cartridge Corp., Minneapolis, Minn, (shells, cartridges) ; King Powder Co., Cincinnati, Ohio (shells and cartridges) ; Atlas Powder Co., Wilmington, Del. (explosives) ; National Acme Co., Cleveland, Ohio (shells) ; Peters Cartridges Co., King Mills, Ohio (shells and cartridges) ; Hoffman & Bryan, Findlay, Ohio (torpedoes) ; E. I. du Pont de Nemours, Wilmington, Del. (explosives and gunpowder) ; Hercules Powder Co., Wilmington, Del. (explosives and gunpowder) ; Aerial Powder Co., Wilmington, Del. (machinegun parts) ; Chase Brass & Copper Foundry, Bridgeport, Conn, (material for cartridges) ; Arma Engineering, Brooklyn, N. Y. (range finders) ; Harrington & Richardson Arms Co., Worcester, Mass (arms, etc.) ; Kopper's Products Co., New Haven, Conn, (gas producing ovens) ; Bethleliem Shipbuilding Corp., Quincy, Mass. (war vessels and merchant «hips) ; 2176 COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES IN THE NEW YORK AREA Newport News Shipbuilding & Dry Dock Co., Newport News, Va. (warships) ; New York Shipbuilding Co., Camden, N. J. (war vessels) ; Bath Iron Works Corp., Bath, Maine (destroyers) ; Electric Boat Co., Gi-oton, Conn, (submarines) ; Federal Shipbuilding & Dry dock Co., Kearney, N. J. (destroyers) ; United Drydock, Inc., Hoboken, N. J., Brooklyn, N. Y., Mariner's Island, S. I. N. Y. (destroyers) ; Curtis-Wright Corp., Baltimore, Md., Wichita, Kans., St. Louis, Mo., Patterson, N. J., Bristol, Pa. (airplanes, bombing planes, transport planes, engines, and other equipment for military purposes) ; Boeing Airplane Co., Seattle, Wash, (pursuit planes) ; Pratt & Whitney, Hartford, Conn, (bombing planes). We call upon the workers in these plants to get in touch with the American League Against War and Fascism, 112 East 19th Street, New York City, or with the branch of the league located in your city. We call upon all workers everywhere you have information on the manufacture of war material to mail us in immediately the location of the plant, the type of war material made, and the number of workers employed. Mr. KuNziG. Do you have any specific comment you wish to make, Mr. Johnson, with regard to exhibit 12 ? Mr. Johnson. Yes; I have. Now, exhibit 12 shows a maj) of the United States, and on this map you will find the exact location and name of many firms making munitions in the United States. What is significant about this is summed up in the last two short paragraphs of instruction. I quote : We call upon the workers in these plants to get in touch with the American League Against War and Fascism, 112 East 19th Street, New York City, or with the branch of the league located in your city. We call upon all workers everywhere who have information on the manufacture of war material to mail us in immediately the location of the plant, the type of war material made, and the number of workers employed there. I want to say in connection with this that when I was in the national training school of the Communist Party, one of my instructors was J. Peters, who was head of the Communist Party underground and the Communist Party espionage apparatus, and he informed us that all publications of all Communist-front organizations are sent to the Soviet Union for study and evaluation ; two, that contacts made by the Communist Party, whether directly or through front organiza- tions, are to be used to supply information of value to the Communist Party. This information given by these individual workers from these plants is sent in turn to the Soviet Union. The individual locally is contacted. He is eventually recruited into the Communist Party or in the Soviet espionage apparatus. Now, he may be used to supply information because he believes idealistically that he is fighting against war and fascism, but in reality he is giving vital information To the Soviet Government for their intelligence estimate of our defense setup in America and for use in future wars against this country. Mr. KuNziG. Did you know J. Peters under any other name ? Mr. Johnson. Yes ; I knew him under the name of Blake and also under the name of Stevens, Alexander Stevens. Mr. KuNziG. These are vitally important statements that you are making before this committee today concerning the American League Against War and Fascism. I presume you are testifying that its leaders and particularly its chairman, Rev. Harry F. Ward, a member of the clergy, knew personally every one of these facts to which you COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES IN THE NEW YORK AREA 2177 are testifying and were fully cognizant of the aims and purposes of this organization? Mr. JOHNSON. Yes; I do. This program was adopted at the con- gress against war and the program was widely printed in the official organ of the American League Against War and Fascism known as Fight. The members and the leaders of the league had as their major task the spreading of this information through tlie sale and distribu- tion of Fight magazine. Mr. KuNziG. Mr. Johnson, how do jou account for the large num- bers of clergymen and religious organizations involved in this Ameri- can League Against War and Fascism ? Mr. Johnson. The majority of the ministers in the American League Against War and Fascism were involved by Harry F. Ward, and the organization which he was connected with, known as the Methodist Federation for Social Action; also the People's Institute of Applied Religion, and other Communist-front organizations operating in the religious world. The Methodist Federation for Social Service later became the Methodist Federation for Social Action. This program was widely circulated throughout church organiza- tions. Mr. KuNziG. How? Mr. Johnson. Through the regular channels of the leagues that were formed all over the country in which the ministers played a leading, if not the leading, part. Mr. Kunzig. What leagues? Mr. Johnson. The branches of the American League Against War and Fascism, and I would like to offer to the committee, to show this point, some of the information that I culled from the copies of Fight magazine through the years from the formation of the league up until it was abolished, showing the leading role that ministers played in the sale of this magazine Fight and in the promotion of this par- ticular program. Mr. ScHERER. Do I understand that there were branches of thi& league in most of the communities of the country ? Mr. Johnson. Yes ; in most of the large communities and cities all over the country they had branches of the league, and you will note on the basis of the information that I am submitting to the com- mittee that the leaders in practically every instance were members of the clergy. Mr. ScHERER. Off the record. (Discussion off the record.) Mr. KuNziG. I have been handed a group of documents and quota- tions from various and sundry ministers throughout the United States of America which appear to be between the years of 1933 and 1939 as quoted in Fight, the magazine put out by the American League Against War and Fascism. Mr. Chairman, I feel this material should be incorporated into the record at this point, and I would like to ask Mr. Johnson — and I want to make this 100 percent clear, sir — is the purpose of putting this material into the record at this point to show the extent of the ac- tivities of these various persons in the work of the American League Against War and Fascism ? Mr. Johnson. Yes ; that is my purpose only. 2178 COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES IN THE NEW YORK ABEA Mr. KtJNziG. Is that the only purpose at the present time? Mr. Johnson. Yes ; that is the sole purpose. Mr. KuNziG. Then, Mr. Chairman, with that clear in mind, I would like to recommend to you, sir, that this material be incorporated at this point into the record to show the activities and the extent of ac- tivities of the various individuals herein named in the American League Against War and Fascism. Mr. ScHERER. Those documents will be made a part of the record for the sole purpose of indicating the activity of members of the clergy and others in the American League Against War and Fascism, which I understand has been cited as subversive and Communist- front organization by Attorney General Tom Clark in 1947 and 1948 ; by Attorney General Francis IBiddle as early as 1942, and by the Spe- cial Committee on Un-American Activities in 1939 and again in 1940. (The material referred to is as follows :) (Building the League, Fight, by Paul Reid, September 1935, p. 14 :) A huge rally in Harlem included a mammoth parade made up of Negroes, Italians, Philadelphia delegates, church groups, trade unions, and many other organizations. Rev. William Lloyd Imes was chairman and among the many speakers were A. Johnson of the Provisional Committee for the Defense of Ethiopia; Tito Nuncio, editor of L'Unita Operatia ; Elenor Brannan, of the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom; S. A. Cowan, of the Pioneers of Ethiopia ; Robert Minor, of the Communist Party ; and Rabbi INIichael Alper, of the National Religious Committee of the American League, Boston, sponsored an August 4 meeting at the Old South Meeting House with Rev. Donald Lester as chairman. Englewood, N. J., held a meeting the same date at McKay Park with Protestant and Jewish speakers. Milwaukee held a broad united-front meeting in a large Negro church with Italian, trade union, and Negro speakers. (Building the League, Fight, by Paul Eeid, September 1935, p. 14 :) Upper Michigan : As a result of a tour by Rev. Ralph Compere, State chairman of the Wisconsin league, new branches have been set up at Iron Mountain, Iron River, Iron wood, in Michigan, and at Phelps, in AVisconsin. The Michigan towns plan to organize themselves into a district and to spread the league further into this area. (Building the League, Fight, by Ida Dailes, March 1935, p. 15 :) Mrs. Chris Frederickson, who in her Minnesota farm community has been con- ducting patient, persistent work since the second congress, now begins to see results from her work. She writes : "Things look brighter here. Both the youth and the farmers are beginning to realize what it is all about. The local Young People's Society is sponsoring an evening for this work, and together with the Farmers Holiday are arranging a lecture by Rev. R. Compere, chairman of the Milwaukee chapter of the league * * * One bright instance occurred yesterday when the farmers had a big annual co-op oil meeting and a young man moved that a resolution be passed and sent to our Senators and Representatives that that organization was in sympathy with the League Against War and Fascism. It was immediately seconded by 6 or 7 voices, and the great majority voted for it." (Building the League, Fight, by Ida Dailes, March 1935, p. 15 :) Chicago is also working on neighborhood conferences. The first, held at Albany Park area, had delegates from Epworth League, Methodist Church Hi-League, a number of sororities and fraternities, high-school forum, Community Center Girl Scouts, several other church youth groups, and from a council of 32 Boys' Clubs. The plans made include : Investigation of the CCC camp at Stokie Valley ; all local aldermanic candidates will be invited ; an open hearing on Fascist tend- encies in the neighborhood, the sale of Fight at a local union and outside of a (pertain shop. A large conference is now on the way on the South Side. (Fight, 1938, p. 3:) Harry F. Ward, national chairman of the American League, has for many years been at the side of labor in its struggle for a better world. As chairman of the COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES IN THE NEW YORK AREA 2179 American Civil Liberties Union, Dr. Ward has been the foremost lighter for free speech, free press, and the right to organize in the country. He is the author of many books— including Poverty and Wealth, the Labor Movement, the New Social Order, In Place of Profit — and is a member of the Teachers Union. (Building tlie league, Fight, by Ida Dailes, March 1935, p. 15 :) Cleveland held a highly successful conference to broaden the base of its organ- ization. The delegates represented 28 A. F. of L. locals, 17 social clubs, 9 frater- nal organizations, 12 women's organizations, 6 independent unions, the Small Home and Landowners' Federation, et cetera, et cetera, a total of G9 organiza- tions. The secretary reports : "Our trade union committee has been enlarged, and the prospect of really launching a campaign in the A. F. of L. locals is good. We succeeded in involving many of the trade unions in the discussion." Officers of the Cleveland league include Rabbi Barnett Brickner, member of the Regional Labor Board, as honorary chairman ; Prof. Paul Rogers, of Oberlin, chairman, and as vice chairmen : Stephen Lecso, painters. No. 867, A. F. of L., and Rev. Horace White, Negro minister ; Ruth Bennett, secretary, and Dr. Zucker, treas- urer. An intensive campaign against the proposed Federal gag legislation is to be undertaken. The secretary also reports that they have set themselves the task of increasing their Fight order 40 percent and expect to exceed this. (Youth notes, Fight, by James Lerner, July 1936, p. 28 :) About 15 organizations have already agreed to send delegates to the World Youth Congress, Geneva, August 31 to September 7. Included are the YW'CA, National Student Federation, American Jewish Congress (Youth Division), American Student Union and, of course, the Youth Committee of the American League Against War and Fascism. We have decided to send at least one delegate but any city committee which can raise the money is free to choose a youth dele- gate. This, in case you care to know, is a challenge to Chicago, Cleveland, Balti- more, and other cities. (The Fascist International, Fight, by Harry F. Ward, January 1937, p. 9:) This time the attack is against People's Front governments, because they regis- ter a forward step in democracy. The effort is to crush the people before they take the next step, and establish the people's power completely. (The Fascist International, Fight, by Harry F. Ward, January 1937, p. 9:) The Pope made it clear that he was trying to save the faithful from hieing deceived into alliance with Communists. That means the People's Front govern- ments in Spain and in France. The Church blesses a cause that uses Moham- medan Moors to kill Spanish Catholics, but curses the Spanish Catholics who support the People's government. The People's government is ordered destroyed by Fascist attack because it may lead to people's power in every aspect of life. (Building the League, Fight, by Paul Eeid, January 1937, p. 28 :) The midwestern regional conference of the league, to take place in Chicago, January 8 to 10, will be addressed by Bishop Edgar Blake of the Methodist Epis- copal Church, Van A. Bittner, head of the Steel Workers Organizing Committee in the Great Lakes area and Dr. Harry F. Ward. Our regional organizer, Ralph M. Compere, is in charge of arrangements. (Building the League, Fight, by Paul Eeid, April 1936, p. 27:) Centerport, Long Island, held an organization meeting on February 18 in spite of bitter cold weather. A number of new members were signed up and ofiicers for the bi'anch were elected. The Reverend John Franzen is the chairman and the Rev.erend Edgar Jackson the secretary. (Building the League, Fight, by Paul Reid, April 1936, p. 27 :) California — Bakersfield held a league meeting in the local Labor Temple recently, with Bert Leech, California organizer, as the main .speaker. The peti- tions against the gag bills have been circulated very effectively among the Epics and trade unions. The local labor council has voted to send official observers to the league meetings * * * San Joaquin Valley was toured by the Reverend Don- ald M. Chase and Bert Leech in the interests of spreading the league. 2180 COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES EST THE NEW YORK AREA (Building the League, Fight, by Paul Reid, March 1937, p. 27:) Chicago. — The regional conference held in this city, January 8 to 10, was attended by 175 delegates who represented over 300,000 people of the Midwest. Five roundtables at the conference took up the problems of labor, sections of the Copeland bill. A national campaign of pressure on Congress for the revision of this bill has now been organized. All over the country, league and labor groups are addressing their Congressmen, requesting them to support the resolution presented by Representative William I. Sirovich of New York and calling for the elimination of "continuous discharge" ("fink") book and the "certificates of efficiency." (Fight, June 1937, p. 3:) Bishop Francis J. McConnell, Methodist Resident Bishop of the New York area, was chairman of the Commission of Inquiry of the Interchuroh World Movement which investigated the great steel strike of 1919 when 365,600 workers walked out on strike. The report of the steel strike, of 1919, issued by that commis-sion, was edited by the bishop and is a rare document of social value. The story here was told at intervals to his daughter, Miss Dorothy McConnell. (Building the League, Fight, by Paul Reid, June 1937, p. 27:) On May 3 the religious Committee of the Chicago League, under the leader- ship of its chairman, the Reverend W. B. Waltmire, conducted a very important conference on the theme of "Trends Toward Fascism in Religion.' Among the speakers were Prof. William Fauck, Rabbi Felix Levy, Prof. Henry N. Wieman, and Dr. Harry F. Ward. (Building the League, Fight, June 1937, p. 28 :) Rev. Norman D. Fletcher, president of the Montclair Ministers' As-sociation, on the subject of Civil Liberties and Fascism. In celebration of its second anni- versary, the branch plans a special meeting on May 25 with John Jacobson of Brookwood Labor College and Paul Reid of the national office as speakers. (Youth notes. Fight, December 1937, p. 28 :) We acclaim the participation of the greatest youth delegation ever in the People's Congress for Peace and Democracy. Not only from the point of view of numbers, but from the wide variety of organizational composition, youth's part stands out. Delegates from settlement house and campus, YMHA and YWCA, religious and Negro youth organizations, and a whole host of others prove the point. It becomes increasingly apparent that youth understands the issues of the day. Young people have learned that fascism breeds war and are determined to do something effective about it. And that something effective comes out of the Congress — — (Building the League, Fight, by Paul Reid, September 1936, p. 28 :) August antiwar meetings : At the August antiwar meetings all over the nation the Spanish situation was the major point of concern. The Emergency Peace Campaign Committee of Pittsburgh joined with the American League there in a meeting and demonstration at Schenley Park. Music by a WPA band, an inter- racial chorus, mass singing, in addition to several stirring speeches, featured the meeting. Charles L. Miller, vice president of the Central Labor Union; the Reverend B. F. Crawford, chairman of the Emergency Peace Campaign; Miss Blanche Bray, of the WIL. ; and Dr. R. H. Valinsky, chairman of the American League, addressed the meeting. A cable was sent to President Azana, of Spain, wishing success to the Spanish people's fight against the Fascists and a telegram to Secretary Cordell Hull. (Youth Notes, Fight, by James Lerner, September 1936, p. 28 :) Between August 19 and 22 the first of the American delegates to the World Youth Congress left for Geneva, Switzerland. In the group were William Hinck- ley, chairman of the American Youth Congress; Miss Elizabeth Scott, of the St. James Presbyterian Church, New York, representing the Youth Congress; Mi.ss Helen Vrabel, of the International Workers Order; Harold Pederson, of the Minnesota Farmer-Labor Juniors; Jack Kling, of the Young Communist COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES EST THE NEW YORK AREA 2181 League ; and James Lerner, representing, of course, the American League Against War and Fascism. This group will join up with representatives of the Young Women's Christian Association and YMCA ; Joseph Cadden, secretary of the National Student Fed- eration ; Joseph Lash, of the American Student Union ; two representatives of the National Council of Methodist Youth ; and several others from church, student, and League of Nations Association groups to form the American delegation. (Ficrht, Junel936, p. 3:) Bishop Francis J. McConnell, whose article opens this issue, is Methodist resi- dent bishop of the New York area, president of the Methodist Federation for Social Service, and coauthor of the Methodist Social Creed. Bishop of Mexico during the .vears of the revolution, 1912-16, chairman of the Commission of Inquiry of tiie Interchurch World Movement, editor of that commission's report of the steel strike of 1919, head of the Federal Council of Churches of Christ in America from 1928 to 1932, author of 17 books. Bishop McConnell has given distinguished service to the progressive church movement. (Building the League, Fight, by Paul Keid, January 1937, p. 28 :) Here and There — Dr. Harry F. Ward, national chairman of the league, meeting on the Spanish situation at Madison, Wis., on November 21, a large audience of university and town people gave a very warm response to his setting of the issue of democracy against fascism. The midwestern regional conference of the league, to take place in Chicago, January 8 to 10, will be addressed by Bishop Edgar Blake of the Methodist Episcopal Church, Van A. Bittner, head of the Steel Workers Organizing Committee in the Great Lakes area and Dr. Harry F. Ward. Our regional organizer, Ralph M. Compere, is in charge of arrangements. The Pittsburgh League had Clinton S. Golden, regional director of the Steel Workers Organizing Committee, as speaker at a meeting on November 18. His subject was, A Strong Labor Movement as a Bulwark Against Fascism. (Paul Keid and Clara Bodian Join Our Forces, Fight, by Harry F. Ward, national chairman, June 1935, p. 14:) The national bureau of the American League Against War and Fascism an- nounces the appointment of Paul Reid as executive secretary ; in addition, Clara Bodian has taken over the duties of administration secretary. Paul Keid, the new executive secretary, has taken an active interest in the labor movement ever since he went out on strike at the age of 16, as a worker in a wallpaper mill. He has worked in automobile factories, at building and road construction, and for a railroad company. He is a Hoosier by birth, and at- tended DePauw University in Indiana where he actively opposed the ROTC. After serving for 2 years at the London School of Economics under Prof. R. H. Tawney and Harold Laski. He then visited the Soviet Union before returning to the United States. For the past 2 years he has worked with Harry F. Ward and Reinhold Niebuhr at Union Seminary. He has aided in the struggles of the unemployed for more relief and for social insvirance. As an active member of the New York City committee of the American League Against War and Fascism he has led demonstrations of protest before the offices of J. P. Morgan & Co., war profiteers. Paul Reid came to the conclusion that his life work is in neither the school nor the church, but in a mass organization, fighting militantly against the immediate danger of war and fascism. He will devote himself to the tasks of the league — arousing the American people to the imminence of these twin menaces, and mobilizing the greatest possible number in a united-front struggle to defeat the forces of reaction which would plunge us into slaughter under a Fascist dictatorship. Paul Reid will be ably assisted by Clara Bodian, a veteran in the labor move- ment. For the past 3 years she has been secretary of the United Council of Working Class Women. (Building the League, Fight, by Paul Reid, November 1935, p. 15 :) Baltimore : From all indications Baltimore will have one of the finest confer- ences in the country. The list of endorsers already gives the picture of a very broad movement. It includes several large trade unions, League of Women Voters, Christian Endeavor, Episcopalian, Presbyterian, Evangelical, and Jewish ministers. Urban League, professors and newspapermen, YMCA and Negro leaders. 2182 COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES IN THE NEW YORK AREA (Building the League, Fight, by Ida Dailes, January 1934, p.. 15 :) Los Angeles conference : A very successful conference was held in Los Angeles on December 10. Rev. Alonzo W. Reynolds, of the Methodist Episcopal Church, who was a delegate to the United States Congress Against War [and Fascism], gave the opening report. A permanent executive committee was elected including students, workers, representatives of Negro organizations, unemployed, churcli groups, Socialists, Communists, and pacifists. The public sessions of the con- ference were attended by about 1,200 people. (Building the League, Fight, by Paul Reid, October 1935, p. 13 :) Took part in busy and eventful Save Herndon Day on August 14 and held im- pressive meeting on civil rights, September 17, with Dr. Harry F. Ward as the main speaker. (Building the League, Fight, by Paul Reid, October 1935, p. 13 :) Cincinnati : League here organized a real united-front meeting against Nazi persecutions on August 18, and this was followed by an effective protest cam- paign against a Nazi display at a German-American Day demonstration. Speak- ers at the meeting on the 18th were a trade-union leader, a rabbi, two Protestant ministers, and the league secretaiy, Carl H. Levy. Telegrams of protest were sent to the American Olympic Committee, the German Ambassador, and local Congressmen. An Ethiopian protest meeting was held on September 5 with Alex Phillian, midwestern organizer of the league, as chief speaker. The local branch of the NAACP has afiiliated with the league. (Building the League, Fight, by Paul Reid, October 1935, p. 13 :) Baltimore : On August 24 the league took part in an Ethiopian defense meet- ing at the city hall plaza, where Angelo Herndon was the chief speaker. The league also organized an anti-Nazi protect meeting on August 22, attended by over 2,000 people, and addressed by Rabbi Sidney Goldstein, of New York City, the Rev. F. C. Rueggeberg, George Renahan, a Catholic layman, and other speakers of Baltimore. Resolutions protesting the German persecutions, and banning the Olympic games in Berlin were adopted. (Oh Say, Can You See? Fight, December 1936, p. 31:) And by the way, we haven't been able to improve on the definition of "fascism'* that Harry F. Ward gave at the Cleveland Congress of the American League- last January. Here it is. Keep it handy as a yardstick by which to judge the situation: "Fascism in this country is the destruction of democracy by violence; the substitution of the rule of force for the attempt of the people to govern themselves ; and this, for the sake of preserving profits, property income, and the profit system." (Building the League, Fight, by Paul Reid, December 1936, p. 28 :) The mass meeting was held under the auspices of the North American Committee To Aid Spanish Democracy, the organization which is directing the delegation's tour throughout Canada and the United States. Bishop Robert L. P'addock and Harry F. Ward served as chairmen of the meeting, with Roger Baldwin making the plea for funds. Joseph Cadden, member of the Ameri- can Youth delegation that visited Spain, also spoke. The luncheon followed a farewell dinner for Dorothy McConnell, secretary of the Women's Section, who sailed for the Buenos Aires Peace Conference. Miss McConnell is an accredited delegate of the People's Mandate to Governments, the American League, and the Women's Section. She will attend both the Govern- ment conference which begins December 1 and the people's conference which precedes it. (Building the League, Fight, by Paul Reid, December 1936, p. 28 :) League members arrested in Ossinlng, N. Y., on August 25 for distributing^ handbills announcing a rally for the defense of Spanish democracy were brought to trial October 10 and found guilty of violating a local ordinance regarding dis- tribution of literature. Attorney Samuel P. Puner, retained by the American- Civil Liberties Union for the league, maintained that the application of the ordinance was an infringement of freedom of speech and appealed the case to the next higher court. It was also contended that strict application of the ordi- COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES IN THE NEW YORK AREA 2183 uance would have prevented the distribution of campaign literature of the Demo- •cratic and Republican Parties. Albany held a large peace meeting on November 6, with William B. Spofford of the national biu-eau of the league as chief speaker. (Building the League, Fight, by Paul Reid, August 1935, p. 15 :) Urbana, 111. : The Champaign-Urbana branch of the league held a successful conference against war and fascism on May 30. Delegates represented 900 mem- bers of their respective organizations. Rev. Ralph Compere, state chairman of Wisconsin, was chief speaker. (Building the League, Fight, by Paul Reid, August 1935, p. 15 :) Hackensack, N. J. : Bergen County committee was the first to follow the ex- ample of the national office in holding a weekend school. Considered in two sessions "the role of the league in the present crisis," and "principles and tactics of the united front in the league. Speakers, Jay Wright, New Jersey organizer, Clara Bodian, and Paul Reid. (Red Clay, Fight, by Phil Bowen, January 1935, p. 9:) The Canadian League Against War and Fascism held its second national con- gress at Toronto on December 6, 7, and 8, with 500 delegates and official observers present, representing close to 500,000 people. Many trade luiions, youth, and women's organizations were represented. The presence of Cooperative Common- wealth Federation Clubs (C. C. F.) was of particular interest, as that political body corresponds roughly to the powerful British Labor Party and polled more than 300,000 votes in the recent Federal election. The congress showed a great improvement in the work during the recent year and a real broadening of its base. The speakers included the Reverend T. C. Douglas, C. C. F. member of Parliament ; Dr. Harry F. Ward ; Prof. Lome T. Morgan, University of Toronto ; Maj. Fred Fish ; Prof. Felic Walter, Trinity College; Tim Buck, general secretary of the Communist Party of Canada ; Rev. Ben Spence, chairman, regional council of the C. C. F. ; Dr. Berta Hamilton, prominent Toronto pacifist ; Mrs. Anna Sis- sons, chairman of the Fort William Independent Labor Party and prominent in trade union circles ; Roger Baldwin and Eleanor Brannan, representing the World Committee ; A. A. McLeod, former editor of the World Tomorrow, and others. (Building the League, Fight, by Paul Reid, December 1936, p. 27:) New York. — The mock trial of Hearst, staged by the New York City division of the league at the Hippodrome on October 22 was tremendously effective and drew widespread interest. The house was sold out and hundreds of people were turned away. Under the able guidance of Arthur Garfield Hays, who acted as prosecuting attorney, an impressive list of witnesses appeared and testified against the Fascist character of Hearst. Among them were Gov. Hjalmar Petersen of Minnesota, Oswald Garrison Villard, Prof. Robert K. Speer of New York University, Charles J. Hendley of the Teachers' Union, the Reverend William Lloyd Imes, and Representative Vito Marcantonio. The verdict was guilty on all counts, and the crowd promised to carry out the slogan, "Don't read Hearst, don't see Hearst, don't hear Hearst." (Building the League, Fight, by Ida Dailes, January 1935, p. 15 :) A Superior, Wis., conference is being held to establish a permanent chapter in that city, on January 7 at the Central Uijih School Auditorium. The chairman of provisional committee is Rev. Nat Buckley of the First ^Methodist Church. The use of local radio station has been secured for publicity for this conference. The Wisconsin State conference had 217 delegates, 68 'of whom were from A. F. of L. unions and 10 of those from central trades councils. Five official Socialist Party delegates participated. Altogether, 29 Socialist Party members were present and signed a resolution urging the S. P. national executive com- mittee to affiliate with the American league. Altogether, over 78,000 persons were represented. (American Youth in Action, Fight, by Waldo McNutt, August 1935, p. 14:) Twenty-five regional gatherings from Boston to San Diego have given the Youth Congress a mass base rooted in the trade unions, churches, YMCA's, YWCA's, and student organizations. 2184 COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES IN THE NEW YORK AREA (American Youth in Action, Fight, by Waldo McNutt, August 1935, p. 14:) James Lerner, national secretary of the youth section, was elected to the National Council of the Youth Congress, and will be our representative on the executive council of the congress. This executive council includes the represent- atives of the Young People's Socialist League, the Young Communist League, the Farmer-Labor Political Federation, the Young Epics, the Central Labor Union of Toledo, the Detroit Federation of Labor, the National Student League, the Inter- national Longshoremen's Association of San Francisco, the Amalgamated Asso- ciation of Iron, Tin, and Steel Workers, Ohio, the United Mine Workers of America, Russelton, Pa., YMCA's and YWCA's of many cities. Southern Tenant Farmers' Union, and many other trade unions, workers' fraternal organizations, religious groups, and miscellaneous youth organizations. This partial list serves to indicate the scope of the united front formed, and we are confident that we can go forward carrying out the decisions and plans of the Congress, a united, mili- tant, and progressive youth movement opposing the forces of reaction driving toward war and fascism. (Building the League, Fight, by Paul Reid, August 1935, p. 15:) Activities in defense of Ethiopia : Chicago held a large conference on July 12. New York City is developing mass sentiment for a huge protest meeting on Au- gust 3 in Harlem. The national office has cabled the world committee urging action at Geneva. A pamphlet on the Ethiopian issue is being written by Rev. William Lloyd Imes, of St. James Church, Harlem, and will soon be ready for distribution. Other cities are planning protest meetings and demonstrations. (Building the League, Fight, by Paul Reid, March 1938, p. 28 :) Septimus Craig is the chairman of the League's China Aid Council. The league recently held a forum and social with the Reverend Charles Webber, field secre- tary of the Methodist Federation for Social Service, as guest speaker. (Building the League, Fight, by Paul Reid, March 1938, p. 27:) Over 200 people attended this stirring meeting. Fall River, Mass., heard the Reverend Donald G. Lothrop, of the Boston Community Church, at an open meet- ing. His speech on the far-eastern war situation and the boycott as a method of aiding the Chinese people was well received. The Reverend Chester Ham, of the Brayton Methodist Church, was chairman of the meeting. A musical program was presented by Granoff Sister. Ralph Eary, the delegate to the Pitts- burgh congress, made his formal report on this occasion. Arthur Kaplan, the league secretary, reports definite plans for a membership campaign in the com- munity and prospects for rapid extension. (Fight, November 1936, p. 3 :) Jerome Davis, educator and sociologist, teaches at Yale University and is the author of many books, including Capitalism and Its Culture, Contemporary Social Movements, Labor Speaks for Itself on Religion, Business, and the Church, etc. Professor Davis was elected recently to head the teachers' union. (Fight, October 1936, p. 3:) William B. Spofford, who gives a short analysis of the election campaign from the point of view of an anti-Fascist, is editor of the Witness, an Episcopalian weekly, and executive secretary of the Church League for Industrial Democracy. (Building the League, Fight, by Paul Reid, November 1936, p. 27 :) New England. — "The matter of peace is up to the people themselves," said the Reverend Kenneth Kingston, of Farmingdale, N. J., at a recent meeting of the Provincetown, Mass., league. The branch has been very active in this city during the past few months. (Youth notes, Fight, by James Lerner, November 1936, p. 28 :) Milwaukee. — The local branch was visited by the national executive secretary in September and plans were laid at that time for extended activity during the coming months. On October 14 the Reverend Ralph M. Compere, regional organizer for the league, will address an open membership meeting. COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES IN THE NEW YORK AREA 2185 The United Student Peace Committee, consisting of representatives of most national student groups, is planning an intensive program which will start on Armistice Day and lead up to the student strike. On November 14 there will be radio panels, peace institutes, and a peace poll. This educational campaign, plus the recent endorsement of the student peace strike by the YMCA and YWCA student divisions, will most likely add tremendously to the size and value of the strike next spring. National organizations working with students, including the American league, have issued a joint appeal and program for activity. Among these are the Emergency Peace Campaign, youth section. League of Nations Association. (Building the League, Fight, by Ida Dailes, May 1934, p. 15:) Over 6.000 workers, students, and professional people came to the first city- wide demonstration against war and fascism on April 6, organized by the recently formed New York City central committee. The high point of the demonstration came when Norman H. Tallentire, general secretary of the city committee, appealed for new members for the league and 2,000 people rose to their feet. Dr. Harry F. Ward, national chairman of the league, was the main speaker of the evening. (Building the League, Fight, by Paul Keid, September 1935, p. 14 :) Upper Michigan : As a result of a tour by Rev. Ralph Compere, State chair- man of the Wisconsin League, new branches have been set up at Iron Mountain, Iron River, Ironwood, in Michigan, and at Phelps in Wisconsin. The Michigan towns plan to organize themselves into a district and to spread the league further into this area. (Church Peace Poll, Fight, by Alfred Schmalz, p. 2 :) The peace plebiscite, conducted by the Council for Social Action of the Congre- gational and Christian Churches, is the largest recorded vote in the United States on certain issues of war and peace. About 200,000 people from 2,504 churches across the land cast their votes on some of the most controversial issues of the day. The plebiscite thus represents a lair cross section of opinion and conviction in America, and give the facts on which future education for peace should be based. (Forward Against the Forces of Death, Fight, p. 9 :) Dr. Harry F. Ward, after reading greetings from various organizations : "Now, we will have a brief 10 minutes subsessiou of representatives from religious or- ganizations and one from Negro and farmers' groups. At the conclusion of these sessions, we will have special sessions : Trade unions, cultural and fraternal, religious, workers' clubs, ex-servicemen's organizations, unemployed, farmer and Negro organizations." Rev. W. B. Waltmire : "The final thing the religious groups can contribute to this movement is to organize among religious people units of people who will stand shoulder to shoulder with the working class until victory is won. I may be a preacher, but I am on the side of the workers from now until death." (Is Opposition to Hitler Growing? Fight, by John Haynes Holmes, September 1935, p. 2 and 3 :) In a recent sermon Dr. Holmes made an eloquent appeal for unity of Chris- tians and Communists in oppo.sition to the forces of reaction driving toward war and fascism, and in the struggle for the achievement of a better world based on brotherhood and cooperation among men. If churchmen will unite with Communist, Socialists, trade unionists, and everyone else opposed to war and fascism, our forces will be tremendously sti'engthened, and war and fascism will not be inevitable. Already the American League Against War and Fascism has brought together in its ranks people of diverse political and religious beliefs, liberals, radicals, and revolutionists, of all races and creeds. (The United Student Front, Fight, by Joseph P. Lash, March 1936, p. 6:) The hope of America : The student Christian movement is the student divisions of the YMCA and YWCA but in a larger sense it can be said to include the Na- tional Council of Methodist Youth, the interseminary movement, and the many 2186 COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES IN THE NEW YORK AREA other organized student organizations in America and one of the most progres- sive. The National Council of Methodist Youth and many local Y's supported the student strike against Jim-Crowism and violations of academic freedom. They have cooperated with labor in strikes. They are for the united student front for peace, freedom, and security because they consider it the consistent expres- sion of true religion under present conditions. (Building the League, Fight, by Kussell Thayer, April 1939, p. 27 :) The whole league membership welcomes Thomas L. Harris as the executive secretary of the American League as he assumes office April 1. Mr. Harris comes to the league from the rectorship of Christ Church, Cranbrooke, Bloom- field Hills, Mich., and is eminently suited to giving executive leadership to the national organization. A graduate of Cambridge University, formerly a fellow at Union Theological Seminary, for 3 years adviser in religion at Harvard University and later rector of the Church of St. Luke and Epiphany in Phila- delphia, Mr. Harris is widely known in student and church fields. To the public at large he is known as a speaker and as an author of books on religion and travel, and for numerous articles in Harper's, the Churchman, Living Church, and other publications. During recent months Mr. Harris has been able to spend a few days occasionally in the national office in preparation for the work ahead. The league has been without a permanent executive head for a long while now, and Mr. Harris' appointment should give encouragement and new determination to all of us to build the league. (Forward From Pittsburgh, Fight, by James Waterman Wise, January 1938, p. 6:) A broadened base : The very composition of the congress was proof of the changed and broadened base of the struggle against war and fascism. The 1,416 delegates representing more than 4 million people constituted an increase of about 1 million over the Cleveland congress of 1936. Even more significant than this numerical increase was the changing character. As against 603,511 trade union members represented by 286 delegates in 1936, there were 413 labor delegates from A. F. of L. and CIO unions who represented 1,622,231 trade unionists. Similarly there was a rise in farm representation from 61,471 in 1936 to 163,036. In addition, there was broad representation from professional, religious, youth, racial, fraternal, and women's groups. (Building the League, Fight, by Kussell Thayer, May 1938, p. 27 : ; A crowd of over 17,000 people turned out to the rally for peace at Madison Square Garden, New York City, April 4. The meeting was conducted under the sponsorship of a group of prominent individuals in the peace movement: Henry A. Atkinson, Harry F. Ward, Henrietta Roelofs, James T. Shotwell, William B. Spofford, William W. Hinckley, Clark M. Eichelberger, Charles G. Fenwick, Marion M. Miller, Margaret E. Forsyth, Edgar J. Fisher. The national office and the New York City division of the American League participated in the arrangements for this great peace rally, where thousands of people turned out and voted unanimously for a resolution to Congress and the administration which called for a revision of the Neutrality Act and the holdding of open hear- ings in the House. The speakers were Bishop G. A. Oldham, of Albany, chair- man ; Dr. Charles Fenwick, president of the Catholic Association for Inter- national Peace ; Clark M. Eichelberger, of the League of Nations Association ; Bishop Francis J. McConnell ; Dr. Harry F. Ward, of the American League for Peace and Democracy ; Representative Byron N. Scott, of California ; the Rever- end Herman F. Reissig; and Rabbi Stephen S. Wise. Dr. Ward's speech has been i>ublished by the Methodist Federation for Social Service and can be secured from the American League at 5 cents a copy and at reduced rates in bundle lots. Mr. ScHERER. Let the record show this is where the special consid- eration ends. Mr. KuNziG. Mr. Johnson, do you have any furtlier material involv- ing the American League Against War and Fascism ? Mr. Johnson. Yes, sir ; I do. In addition to those statements which have just been incorporated in the record, I have four very important additional statements which I should like to present to the committee from Fight magazine. They cover the period from 1934 to 1938. COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES IN THE NEW YORK AREA 2187 They show advocacy of the sabotajje of industry and transportation by the American Lea<^ie Against War and Fascism. Mr. KuNZKJ. Mr. Chairman, I respectfully recommend that these four statements bo incorporated into the record at this point. Mr. SciiEKEK. They may be so incorporated. (The material referred to is as follows:) (The Campus Divides, F'ight, by James A. Wechsler, October lOa-i, p. 13:) Chemical, and all otber warfare, will become impossible when and if all those who make, traii-sport, ami operate "means of destruction" refuse any longer to. do so. U'here is no power on earth that could resist for so much as 1 week the relentless forces of mass action directed by, and in the sole interests of, plain human beings who wish to control their destinies to the ends of peace,, security, and social progress. (Merchant Seamen, Fight, by James Green, May 193-1, p. 14:) Stop munition shipments: It is plain that in the maritime industry the cards are stacked all down the line lor war, and there is only one force that can prevent them from being dealt and that force is the internatieciflc fields in the year ahead. One more connnission report came before the noonday adjournment, and that was on the lO-point program (see p. (>) considered by the war and fascism com- mission. Roger Baldwin presenti'd these points and they were adopted in order, with a minority report on but one point. The issue involved was a rather simple one — whether the Soviet Union should be referred to in the statement of our stand on total disarmament. The assembled delegates voted by a decisive major- ity to include the words, and thus rejected the minority position. The international session which began the afternoon program centered on the worldwide character of the movement against war and fascism. Dr. Mendez, of Mexico, invited the congress to send delegates to an all- American congress in Mexico City next June. A message from the oppressed people of Cuba was delivered by Leonardo Fernandez Sanchez, now a political exile in this country after serving valiantly in the Cuban league. Canada was represented by A. A. McLeod, the general secretary of the Canadian league. General Fang Chen-Wu presented a warm message of greeting from the op- pressed people of China, with Dr. Hansu Chan acting as interpreter. Then Miss Haru Matsui spoke for the Japanese people who are opposed to war and fascism. At this point a statement prepared by a number of Christian Japanese in this country was read, giving expression to their opposition to the imperialist and Fascist acts of the ruling group in Japan. Dr. Kurt Rosenfeld spoke on behalf of the German anti-Fascists and revealed the latest developments of the brutal Fascist regime in Germany. Another colorful moment full of dramatic meaning occurred when Dr. Ward introduced a Negro and an Italian, representing Ethi- opia and Italy, and these two fellow lighters against the ravages of war and the oppressions of fascism shook hands and greeted each other warmly. Paul Porter, official observer for the national executive conmiittee of the Socialist Party, welcomed the resolution introduced by Robert Morss Lovett, which opened the way for the closer cooperation between the Socialist Party, the league, and additional trade unions toward the broadening of the movement against war and fascism. The remaining commission reports — trade union, national and racial minorities, and literature and Fight — were the next items of business. Clarence Irwin, reporting for the trade-union commission, maintained — with spirited applause — that the position of organized labor was basic in the struggle against war and fascism. James Waterman Wise and Manning Johnson gave the report for the minorities commission, and revealed that many minority groups were taking an active part in our common drive against the evils before us. Joseph Pass, in the concluding report, presented the plans for an enlarged magazine with many new features, and for additional pamphlets and leaflets.^ Manning Johnson Exhibit No. 14 (Fight, September 1934, p. 5) Antiwar Congkess (By Earl Browder) The writer of this article is the general secretary of the Communist Party and a vice chairman of the American League Against War and Fascism. The American League Against W^ar and Fascism arose out of the first great United States Congress Against War and Fascism, held in New York 1 year ago. This was the initial serious effort in America to build a really broad, all-inclu- sive united front against these twin scourges of the masses of the population. Now, as we approach the second congress, called for Chicago on September 28, 29, and 30, it is valuable to review our experiences of a year ago. Let us recall what it was that made the first congress a strong and historic gathering. Last year's congress escaped those pitfalls which would have condemned it to sterility. From the beginning, it refused to adopt any limitation which would ^ This article describes further the reports of various committees of this congress, and the singing of "Solidarity" at its conclusion. 2194 COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES IN THE NEW YORK AREA have excluded any group or category expressing a sincere desire to unite on a minimum program of struggle against war and fascism. As a result, the congress had 2,616 delegates, from 35 States, representing the broadest variety of organi- zations ever gathered under 1 roof in this country, from churches and peace groups, trade unions, a wide variety of workers' political, fraternal, and cultural organizations, etc. Some idea of the inclusive character of the congress is given by the official report of the credentials committee rendered to the congress. Who Camef Report of the credentials committee submitted by Delegate Jack Herling : This report covers the delegates registered at this congress up until 10 a. m. Sunday morning. We have not questioned the right of any delegate to this congress to be seated. Delegates are present at this congress from 35 States in the United States and from 3 foreign countries. The total number of delegates at present reg- istered is 2,616, listed under the following general categories. Antiwar and peace organizations 178 Anti-Fascist organizations 19 Labor defense and relief 172 Educational and cultural 364 Religious groups 14 Language labor groups 253 Fraternal labor organizations 370 Trade unions 450 Factory committees 147 Unemployed organizations 135 Farmers organizations 41 Veterans organizations 87 Women organizations 106 Negro organizations 19 General youth organizations 129 Student groups 79 Communist Party 130 Young Communist League 70 Socialist Party 9 Y. P. Socialist League 1 Other political parties (Conference for Progressive I^abor Action, Com- munist Party opposition, official representatives) 18 People's Lobby 5 Continental Congress 1 National Guard 1 Rifle Club 1 Antiwar mass meetings 4 Miscellaneous 19 League of Nations Association 1 The coming second congress can, and must, be made even larger and more alMnclusIve than the first one. This is the road to a real mass struggle against war and fascism, which can be defeated only through mass power. Facing reality Another set of pitfalls that threatened the first congress, was the questions arising around the program. There was the danger of dissolving the movement by seeking to offend no one in the program, which, in the last analysis always means to have a program so vague that it is no program at all. There was the opposite danger of running so far ahead of the mass movement that the bulk of even sincere enemies of war and fascism would not be prepared to follow. Both these dangers on the program question were avoided by the first congress. Steadfastly insisting upon a minimum program of action, without illusions, facing the most bitter realities, recognizing the true relation of class forces, the congress at the same time -drew up such a program as even the enemies of the League Against War and Fascism have found exceedingly difficult to attack. The program appeals to, and gives practical tasks for, the most diverse groups and strata of the toiling population, in such form that to reject the program is clearly in all objective results nothing else than to reject the fight against war and fascism. COMAIUNIST ACTIVITIES IN THE NEW YORK AREA 2195 Attached to the call for the second congress, this program has again been cir- culated in 1(X>,U00 copies. It would be very valuable if it would become the sub- ject of a broad mass discussion in the precongress period. We invite all critics of the league or its program, to come forwai-d, please, with any and all criticisms of tliis document. All such criticisms will serve the very valuable purpose of demonstrating how sound and indispensable precisely such a program as this is for tlie movement against war and fascism. Perhaps that is the reason why all our enemies keep dead silence about our program ; it is one of our really strong points. Taking stock What progress have we made in carrying out the program? Here the situation is not so favorable. Only the first beginnings have been made. We cannot, of course, afford to underestimate the importance of what we have been able to do. The American League Against War and Fascism has, for the first time in this country, brought upon the scene a dependable yardstick to measure the worth and effectiveness of all ideas and organizations in this field. This has been enormously valuable ; it has brought some order into the previous chaos ; it has revealed who is who and where they stand. A great educational work, of fundamental nature, has been done. Serious achievements in carrying out our program since the first congress are, however, as yet confined largely to the field of educational work. Of a more deep-g(»ing nature — mobilizing for sustained actions and bringing organizational features of a permanent character, we can cite only a few outstanding examples. This would include : 1. The growth of the youth section and its activities, which have extended and activized the broad united front to include about everything healthy and liv- ing in its field, student-strike movement, a national youth day series of mass demonstrations, dozens of conferences, publications, etc. 2. The Women's Committee and especially its mass campaign for election of the broad delegation to the Women's World Congress Against War and Fascism in Paris. 3. The growingly successful publication of the monthly journal. Fight Against War and Fascism, which has won a secure and honorable place for itself purely on its merits. 4. The mass demonstrations and parades on August 4, the 20th anniversary of the world war, which in some places, as New York City, revealed an unexpected degree of mass interest and active support for the American League, and dis- closed really great potentialities. Moiilize We have all reasons to expect the second congress, to be held in Chicago on Sep- tember 28, 29, and 30, to mark another big step forward. Every sincere enemy of war and fascism must put his shoulder to the wheel to guarantee that it will actually do so. Manning Johnson Exhibit No. 15 (Fight, February 1935, p. 14) The League's Program 1. To work toward the stopping of the manufacture and transport of munitions and all other materials essential to the conduct of war, throush mass demon- strations, picketing and strikes; to likewise withdraw the professionals from the service of the war machine and to enlist them in agitation and educational propaganda against war and every aspect of fascism. 2. To expose everywhere the extensive preparations for war being carried on under tlie guise of aiding national recovery. 3. To demand the transfer of all war funds to relief of the unemployed, the distressed farmers and those deprived of education and the social services. 4. To oppose the policies of American imperialism in the Far East, in Latin America and throughout the world; to support the struggles of all colonial peoples against the imperialist policies of exploitation and armed suppression. 5. To support the peace policies of the Soviet Union and especially the pro- posals for total and universal disarmament, which today with the support of masses in all coimtries constitute the clearest and most effective opposition to war throughout the world. 2196 COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES IN THE NEW YORK AREA 6. To oppose all developments leading to fascism in this country and abroad, especially in Germany and other countries under Fascist dictatorships; to oppose the increasingly widespread use of the armed forces against the workers, farm- ers, and the special terrorism and suppression of Negroes in their attempts to maintain a decent standard of living; to mobilize aggressive defense of the civil liberties of these groups and so stop the growing Fascist trend of our so- called democratic government. 7. To win the armed forces to the support of the program. 8. To enlist for our program the women in industry and in the home ; and to enlist the youth, especially those who, by the crisis, have been deprived of training in the industries and are therefore more susceptible to Fascist and war propaganda. 9. To give effective international support to all workers and antiwar fighters against their own imperialist governments ; and to all who suffer under and struggle against the Fascist state. 10. To form committees of action against war and fascism in every im- portant center and industry, particularly in the basic war industries ; to secure the support for this program of all organizations seeking to prevent war, paying special attention to labor, veteran, unemployed, and farmer organizations. National, state, and city organizations of the league shall carry out these objectives through educational propaganda, action by mass meetings, demon- strations, picketing, and political pressure on legislative and administrative officials. Every emergency calling for action shall be met by national cam- paigns uniting all our forces in common resistance to these allied destroyers of mankind — war and fascism. Manning Johnson Exhibit Nos. 16 and 17 (Fight, February 1936, p. 6; March 1936, p. 14') Action The American League Against War and Fascism invites all organizations and persons who desire to defeat these two allied enemies of mankind — war and fascism — to unite in carrying out the following program : 1. To work toward the stopping of the manufacture and transport of munitions in time of peace or war, and in time of war the transport of all other materials essential to the conduct of war, through mass demonstrations, picketing, and strikes; and to enlist the professional classes in educational propaganda against war and for participation with woi'kers and farmers in antiwar actions. 2. To expose at every point the extensive preparations for war being carried on by the Government of the United States (a) under the guise of "national defense" and (ft) by diversion to war preparations funds for relief projects and public works ; to demand that relief funds he spent only in constructive work or for adequate relief, and that the huge additional budgets now being spent in preparation for war be transferred to the extension of health and education. 3. To resist the increasing militarization of youth in schools, CCO, and CMTC camps, and the use of their dependence upon relief to get them into the Armed Forces. 4. To demand total and universal disarmament, as proposed by the Soviet Union to the League of Nations, and to support all measures that move clearly toward that goal. 5. To demand that neutrality legislation effectively cover all war supplies, loans, and credits, and permit no discretion to the President ; more particularly, to promote and support refusal of workers to handle all materials of war ; to organize and support public condemnation of those who seek profit from the sale of war materials and war loans ; to organize mass support for every effort, national or international, which, in our judgment, as occasion arises, is directed toward postponing, restricting, or shortening war. 6. To oppose the policies of American imperialism in Latin America, the Far East, and throughout the world ; to give the support of our protests and demands to all peoples who are resisting exploitation, aggression, and suppression by imperialist powers; to those in all lands who struggle against the war measures and Fascist policies of their own governments, and to all who suffer under the Fascist state. 7. To demonstrate constantly the relationship between war and fascism ; to expose and counteract Fascist propaganda, both foreign and native; to prevent the formation of Fascist forces in this country. 1 Text of exhibits 16 and 17 are identical. COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES IN THE NEW YORK AREA 2197 8. To oppose all developments leading to fascism, particularly the increasingly widespread use of armed forces and vigilante terrorism against workers, unem- ployed, farmers, Negroes, and other racial minorities, who are exercising their constitutional rights to protest against unbearable conditions and to organize for their own advancement. 9. To resist the attempts of our American Fascists to destroy by legislation, Executive order, judicial decree, or lawless action, our guaranteed civil rights of free speech, free press, free assembly, the right to organize, picket, and dem- onstrate; and further to resist all forms of discrimination against foreign-born based on their political or labor activities. 10. To oppose all legislation or orders denying citizens in the Armed Forces their constitutional right to receive printed matter or personal appeals in behalf of this or any other program designed to secure peace, freedom, and justice; and to defend their right to join organizations on the same basis as other citizens. Mr. KuNziG. Mr. Johnson, when you listed a short time ago in the record this afternoon a group of names of members of the national executive committee of the American League Against War and Fas- cism, you included one Winifred Chappell. Did you know Winifred Chappell personally ? Mr. JoHNSOisr. Yes. Winifred Chappell was a Communist, and at the same time she was secretary of the Methodist Federation for So- cial Service. Now, in Fight magazine, June 1934, on page 15, she wrote an article, and I quote : Japan's competitive exports. I won't read the entire article. I only wish to quote the last para- graph of the article. She wrote : Events of April and May have suddenly made this trade war into front-page news. It is an unconcluded serial story (intertwined with the lagertail of ri- valry between two economic assistants for the Soviet Union and the Soviet part of Cliina are also in the picture), the last chapter of which will be war, unless the workers who now make the competitive goods join in one mass war refusal and then in a joyful international Soviet to supply their own and each other's needs. Mr. ScHERER. You say she was secretary of the Methodist Federa- tion at the time she wrote that article? Mr. Johnson. That is right. She is calling for an international Soviet government. jNIr. ScHERER. Did she write that as a Communist or as the secre- tary^ of the Methodist Federation, or just under her own name? Mr. Johnson. She wrote this as secretary of the Methodist Fed- eration for Social Service. Mr. ScHERER. Where did you say that was published? Mr. Johnson. In Fight magazine, June 1934. Mr. ScHERER. Was she a member of the American League Against War and Fiscism? Mr. Johnson. Yes. Mr. KuNziG. And you knew her as a Communist? Mr. Johnson. Yes. Mr. Kunzig. So in a sense in the person of Winifred Chappell, the Communist Party, the American League Against War and Fascism, and the Methodist Federation for Social Service were all blended into one? Mr. Johnson. Yes. Mr. Kunzig. Can you explain, if it lies within your knowledge, why the Methodist Federation did not expel her immediately from its ranks ? 2198 COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES EST THE NEW YORK AREA Mr. Johnson. The Methodist Federation for Social Service did not expel her, because the program of the Methodist Federation for Social Service calls for the Soviet form of government. Mr. ScHERER. Who was the chairman at that time of the Methodist Federation ? Mr. Johnson. Harry F. Ward. Mr. ScHERER. At that very time? Mr. Johnson. I am sure he was chairman in 1934. Mr. KuNziG. Is that the same Harry F. Ward who was also chair- man of the American League for Peace and Democracy? Mr. Johnson. Yes ; that is right. Mr. ScHERER. The same one you have identified as a Communist? Mr. Johnson. Yes. Mr. KuNziG. Then the Methodist Federation had at least two prin- cipal officers who were not only members of the Methodist Federation for Social Service but also members of the Communist Party, to your personal knowledge ? Mr. Johnson. That is correct. Mr. Scherer. May I ask one more question of the witness, Mr. Counsel ? Was Winifred Chappell also an active member of the Methodist Church at that time ? Mr. Johnson. Yes, she was. Mr. KuNziG. Is that the same Winifred Chappell who wrote the article that youth of America should not yield to conscription and should not fight if they actually were conscripted in any United States Army ? Mr. Johnson. Yes ; she is one and the same. Mr. Scherer. How long did she remain secretary of the Methodist Federation ? Mr. Johnson. She was active, to my knowledge, many years, the exact number I do not know at this time. Mr. Scherer. What is the date of this article ? Mr. KuNziG. June 1934. Mr. Scherer. Mr. Johnson, do you know of any other person who was an officer of the Methodist Federation at any time who was a member of the Communist Party ? Mr. Johnson. Yes; the Reverend Jack McMichael was a member of the Methodist Federation. I understand that he did attend and graduate from a divinity school. Mr. Scherer. What was his connection with the Methodist Federa- tion ? Mr. Johnson. He was executive secretary of the Methodist Federa- tion for Social Action up until 1953. Mr. KuNZiG. I note you say the Methodist Federation for Social Action, whereas a moment ago you were referring to it as the Federa- tion for Social Service. Could you clarify that point and explain just what those two organizations were? Mr. Johnson. They are one and the same organization. It is just a change of names. It was first called the Methodist Federation for Social Service, and later it changed its name to the Methodist Federa- tion for Social Action. Mr. Scherer. How did you know that Reverend McMichael was a Communist ? COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES IN THE NEW YORK AREA 2199 Mr. Johnson. Well, durin^^ the period that I was a member of the Communist Party, during the thii-ties, Jack McMichael was a member of the National Connnittee of the Youn, in my hand. It is marked "]\ranninnce between work in the street and work in a mass organiza- tion. On the street, comrades put up a soapbox and speak to the workers. Those who are interested listen. Others who are not, go away. Sometimes our com- rades get away with making general rah-rah speeches. But in the mass organiza- tions rah-iah speeches will not go. Our comrades will have to learn how to speak simi)ly and to the point. They will have to learn how to answer the argtiments of skilled, trained leaders, many of whom have had years and years of experience in miseducating youth. We have already seen sectarian tendencies to solve this problem by creating ' inside these organizations narrow discussion groups or clubs of sympathizers. Among these our conu-ades feel at home and at the same time ease their conscience in the belief that this constitutes work in these organizations. We must fight against the creation of these narrow groups. Our comrades must attend the lectures and activities of the whole organization. They must be where the majority of youth are and not isolated from them. We have an advantage today that we did not have at the time of our Convention. Our Comrades can enter any settlement house or "Y" and speak to the youth on the basis of the program of the American Youth Congress. Around this broad program our comrades can educate the youth, set up committees for the Youth Congress, and draw the most advanced youth into the Y. C. L. Our work in these Settlement Houses, "Y's" and Church organizations must result in rapid recruitment for the Y. C. L. This is of great importance not alone because we must numerically strengthen our League, but because exi)erience shows tliat the comrades we now send into these organizations will, in most cases, not become the recognized leaders of these youth for some time to come — and some of them not at all. These comrades we send in can immediately make friends, can develop influence, can recruit, but to become the leaders of these youth we need something more. In New York, for example, most of the youth who are today active in Settle- ment Houses have been active in these for many years. They entered when they were children and graduated from one group to another, and in the course of years became known to thousands of children and youth. We cannot expect that a comrade we send in to a House for the first time should immediately become known to all youth and accepted by them as a leader. That is why by re- cruiting from the youth in these Houses we will get for our League, a new type of Y. C. Ler — one who is known in his organization, who grew up with it and is accepted as one of the fellows. It is from these new recruits that our leadership for these organizations will come. This does not mean that our comrades who go into these organizations should enter with an exaggerated idea of their difficulties. Experience has already proven how easily otir comrades can recruit and build the League if they work correctly. Just a few examples : In the Bronx House in New York we had two or three comrades. In a few weeks of work they discovered some five youths in the House who formerly had been members of the Young Pioneers. These are now in the Y". C. L. In the Y. M. H. A. we had four comrades. These set themselves up as a committee to form a unit. In three weeks a unit was established with twelve members. In a '"Y" in Philadelphia, in a period of three weeks two or three comrades also multiplied themselves into a unit of ten. These examples must be duplicated in hundreds of mass organizations. "Victory never comes, by itself— it has to be dragged by the hand. Good resolutions and declarations in favor of the general line of the Party are only a beginning, they merely express the desire to win, but it is not victory. After the correct line has been given, after the correct solution of the problem has been found, success depends on the manner in which the work is organized, on the organization of the struggle for the application of the line of the Party, 2224 COIMMUNIST ACTrV^TIES IX THE NEW YORK AREA on the proper selection of workers, on supervising the fulfillment of the decisions of the leading organs." Stalin. ******* Mr. Johnson. In the pamphlet The Party Organizer, March 1935, this is a special issue by the Central Committee of the Communist Party. Mr. Claedy. Wliat is the Party Organizer, and what is its purpose ? Mr. Johnson. The Communist Party Organizer is a restricted Com- munist publication. By "restricted" I mean it is limited only to Com- munist Party members. Mr. Clardy. You mean distributed only to them ? ISIr. Johnson. Only to them. Mr. Clardy. Sort of a confidential report more or less ? Mr. Johnson. It is. JNIr. Clardy. Proceed. Mr. Johnson. Here is an article written by Fred Brown, alias Alpi, A-l-p-i, alias Marini, who was for years a Communist Inter- national technical agent assigned to work with the American Com- munist Party by the Communist International. A few years ago he fled from the United States. He is at the present time active in the Communist Party of Italy. JSIr. Doyle. Which name did he usually go by ? INIr. Johnson. He went under the name of Fred Brown and Alpi. He was a member of the organizational department of the Communist Party National Committee. Mr. Doyle. Did I understand you to say he came from Kussia ? Mr. Johnson. He was sent here by the Commmiist International as a technical representative or agent. Mr. Doyle. Does that mean he came direct from Russia? Mr. Johnson. From Moscow, who ordered him here, in accordance with the provisions of the program of the Communist International. In this article — and I quote Mr. Clardy. Pardon me, may I interrupt you? Do you want to have all that article put into the thing and marked as an exhibit, or is there only a portion of it that you want to read? Mr. Johnson. There are only two paragraphs of it that I want to read. Mr. Clardy. All right, read it. Instead of marking it, you go ahead and read it. Mr. Johnson. The subtitle is "Into the Negro Organizations." This is the first paragraph : Comrades Browder, Edwards, and Forcl have spoken about the necessity of making a turn in our Nesro work, of learning from our experiences in the trade-union work on how to connect ourselves with the organized masses. While the influence of the party is increasing among the Negro masses, yet organiza- tionally they are still detached from us. In the United States there are 5 million of the Negro population organized in fraternal organizations, 10 million in churches. The problem of how to penetrate these organizations is of the utmost political importance for us. We must systematically study how to penetrate among the millions of organized Negro workers. It is not only a political, but also an organizational problem. We must not be content with the United Front es- tablished at the top. These United Front conferences are not giving results and cannot give results if their decisions are not brought down into the branches of these organizations. But in order for decisions to go down, there must be COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES IN THE NEW YORK AREA 2225 somebody down below to fi^iht for these decisions. Therefore, if we want to mobilize the organized Negro masses, we must have forces inside of these organizations. Now, I was present at the meeting of the National Conniiittee of the Communist Party in 1935 when Comrades Browder, Edwards, and Ford s])oke on this subject. Mr. Claiu)y. Where was this? Mr. Johnson. This was hehl in the city of New York in 1935. Now, BroAvder, as you know, was formerly general secretary of the Communist Barty of the United States of America. He was also a member of the executive conniiittee of the Communist International. Edwards went under the name of Brown. His real name is Gerhart Eisler, tlie Communist International representative who fled our coun- try on the Batovy to the eastern part of Germany, where at the present time he holds a high and responsible post there. Ford was a mem- ber of the National Committee of the Communist Party, a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party. He was vice presi- dential candidate on the Communist Party ticket for Vice President of the United States. He was also head of the Negro commission of the national committee responsible for the infiltration of Negro organ- izations and the winning of the Negro masses in this country for rebellion. ^Ir. Clardy. Is he 1 of the 11 ? Mr. Johnson. No, he was not. Ford was disgraced along with Browder at the end of the war when the cold war M'as initiated by Soviet Russia, and he was given a minor position in the Bedford- Stuyvesant section of Brooklyn. Mr. KuNziG. Did the Communists ever try to actually get into some of our Negro religious groups, such as Father Divine's group? Mr. Johnson. Yes, they did, and I wish to quote from the Com- munist International which was the theoretical organ of the world organization of Communists called the Communist International, which is now known as the Communist Information Bureau. This article was written by R. Palme Dutt. Mr. KuNziG. What is the date and time ? Mr. Johnson. May 5, 1935, published by the Workers Library Publishers, on page 503. I quote : An inexcusable blunder occurred in the course of building up the United Front actions in Harlem (Father Divine's religious followers). A comrade (see Daily Worker, April 9, 1935, article on Harlem by O. Johnson) in a most careless manner branded this preacher without concrete evidence as a racketeer, classifying him with gangster racketeers, ignoring a more tactful approach to this person who has under his influence thousands of sincere Negroes who are seeking a way out and who have demonstrated with us against war and fascism. Such a blunder drives a wedge between us and the masses and confuses our theoretical program because of bad practice. Before we can sufficiently enlighten his followers of the futility of religious ideology and of the cor- rectness of our program and the need for a united struggle against worsening conditions, they are driven away from us. This is not convincing the masses. It is name calling. Through organized educational scientific antlreligious propaganda we seek to rid the mas.ses of their religious prejudices. We must carefully avoid any offense that will strengthen religious fanaticism (see the Communist, April 193.5, Religion and Communism, by Earl Browder.) These mistakes in the United Front tactic appeared in enlarged forms in other cases (Herndon, Lee Armwood, Camp Hill, and Tuscaloosa), where the struggle as far as the United Front is concerned assumed more of the character of a protest (letters and delegations) campaign from the North and mainly a legal 2226 COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES IN THE NEW YORK AREA battle in the South. No doubt the most difficult task in this work was to extend the United Front. The Communist workers have penetrated into new organizations, have brought new workers under our influence to accept revolu- tionary methods of struggle and in general have made inroads among the Negro masses that at times seriously threatened the reformist leadershin of some organizations. Now, further on this subject, which was quite a hot issue in tho party at tliat particuhir time, which was discussed in the top ciYcU^f, of the party and in the party press, Earl Browder. in his book, What is Communism?, in 1936, Workers Library Publishers, speaking on the issue of Father Divine, had this to say, and I quote : We have nothing in common with the religions beliefs of Father Divine in whose fantastic features we see the fundamental characteristics of all re- ligions, but we have much in common with the masses of Negroes who follow Father Divine. They are our people. We will fight for them and for their interests. We will do everything possible to draw them into the common struggle against a common foe. the capitalist system. We will not deny them the right to religious beliefs that we grant to Catholic workers. Jewish workers, or members of the numerous Protestant sects. We will fight for all of them. At the same time, we reserve our own right to oppose all religious superstition wherever we find it, and with the most effective means at our disposal. Mr. D0YI.E. Eight at that point, Mr. Chairman, on the article you read just prior to this one there was this language — to accept revolu- tionary methods. Do 3^ou remember reading that? Mr. Johnson. Yes. Mr. Doyle. From your own personal experience what is meant by revolutionary methods as used in that article? Mr. Johnson. That means actions which tend to weaken the Gov- ernment of the United States and lay the groundwork for its destruc- tion— for example, by starting a campaign, let us say, around the issue of Scottsboro. That is familiar to most people, and in the course of starting this campaign for the freedom of the Scottsboro boys, they will link it up with the whole social system, and in the course of this development they will attempt to show those who are attracted on the issues involved in the Scottsboro case that the perse- cution of the Scottsboro boys is a part of the economic system where Negroes do not get justice, that the courts are controlled by the capital- ists, and they are therefore the enemies of the Negro, and that the only way the Negroes can completely do away with lynching by rope or lynching by the courts is to rebel and to overthrow the Government of the United States. In other words, they use a legitimate Mr. DoTLE. Overthrow how? Mr. Johnson. By force and violence. Mr. Clardy. What do you mean by force and violence? Mr. Johnson. By bloody, forceful revolution, civil war. Mr. Doyle. Do t understand that the Communist Party then re- vealed the fact to this Negro youth and the Baptist religious denomi- nations and other religious denominations that you referred to in that pamphlet — did they go to that extreme to reveal that it might be necessary someday to use force and violence to overthrow our form of government? Mr. Johnson. Yes, they went Mr. DoYi.E. You notice my question is directed to the young people. Mr. Johnson. Yes ; they started out with simple grievances of the youth in order to attract them. Then they twisted these issues around .so as to give them political and revolutionary content and direction, COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES IN THE NEW YORK AREA 2227 in the same sense as they used the issue of preace and war in order to attack our social system, prepare the masses ideologically for the sabotage of our industry and our transportation system. They used it against our courts; they use it against the Congress of tlie United States ; in short, against our whole governmental system in all of its institutions. Mr. Doyle. All right, thank you. Mr. Clardy. It is that same thing that impels them to act as they do before this committee, is it not ? Mr. Johnson. That is correct. Mr. Clardy. Let us take about a 5-minute break at this juncture. ( Whereupon a short recess was taken. ) Mr. KuNziG. Do you have any further documents which act as examples of how the Communists infiltrate religion? Mr. Johnson. Yes. The united front in the field of Negi'o work, the Communist, by James W. Ford, Workers Library Publishers, page 169, February 1935: There are thousands of organizations among Negroes, such as fraternal organi- zations, lodges, social clubs, West Indian organizations, independent trade unions, locals of the A. F. of L., youth and Greek-letter societies, churches, and affiliated social groups. They can be approached with the conception of Scottsboro as a symbol of national oppression and for national liberation. We must not come to these organizations with their varying programs with the idea of destroying them but with the idea of bringing them nearer to the program of the League of Struggle for Negro Rights. Whatever the character of the organization, we can by correct appeal orientate a phase of it to Scottsboro and the LSNR liberation program. The united front in the field of Negro work, The Communist, by James W. Ford, Workers Library Publishers, Februarv 1935, pages 170-171: y ^i h The church represents a fertile field for work ; as an institution it has solid contact with the Negi-o masses, forming a social as well as a religious center. Long before there were social ciubs, meeting halls, or fraternal halls the church served their purposes. Marriages, baptisms, funerals, drama, amusements, reli- gion, all of the features of Negro social activities were bound up in the church. When we go among the masses of the church to win support for Scottsboro we do not go in to raise the religious issue. Recently at an open forum on religion a Negro woman member of a church, said during "the discussion : "You know you Communists have been sent by God to do the work you are doing, but you don't know it." Should we argue with such a woman about this statement when we are trying to make a united front on Scottsboro? Of course not. It would be stupid. If this woman l)elieves that her religion can play a revolutionary role to the extent of supporting us on Scottsboro, this gives us a starting point for building the United Front on Scottsboro. If we get the United Front on Scotts- boro other things will take care of themselves if we act intelligently and know how to follow through. Problems of National Groups in United States, The Communist, by Irene Browcler, May 1939, pages 462-463 : It is the greatest mistake to deal with the Church, whether Catholic or Prot- estant, as one reactionary mass. The same political divisions run through it as through society in general, determined by much the same considerations. Class divisions are, of course, the basic ones, and we can always rouse the democratic instincts and sympathies of working-class members of the church, and can often reach them effectively through their church, provided we do not offend their religious susceptibilities and thereby throw them back under the influence of reactionary religious leaders. To ignore such obvious differences and their profound political significance would be childish stupidity. 33909 — 53— pt. S 3 2228 COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES IN THE NEW YORK AREA Mr. KuNziG. Mr. Johnson, you testified previously in New York and here today that you knew Dr. Harry F. Ward. If you have any further testimony regarding Dr. Ward or any further information, I should appreciate your stating it before the subcommittee at tliis time. Mr. Johnson. Yes; I have additional information. It is more or less documentary, and I would like to offer it to you. The first is an article in the Daily Worker dated Thursday, May 7, 1953. Along with this article is a picture of Dr. Harry F. Ward. The newspaper story is headed "Dr. Harry F. Ward's Achievements Recounted at Dinner in His Honor." Mr. Clardy. As I understand it, you hold the actual copy of the issue of the Worker you mention ? Mr. Johnson. That is correct ; and I would like to submit this for the consideration of the committee. Mr. Clardy. Have it marked as "Manning Johnson Exhibit No. 21," Mr. KuNZiG. Mr. Chairman, it is marked "Manning Johnson Ex- hibit No. 21," and I offer it into evidence at this time. Mr. Clardy. It will be received. (The copy of the article in the Daily Worker dated Thursday, May 7, 1953, was received in evidence as Manning Johnson exhibit No. 21.) Manning Johnson Exhibit No. 21 (Daily Worker, New York, May 7, 1953, p. 7) Dr. Harry F. Ward's Achievements Recounted at Dinner in His Honor (By David Piatt) Dr. Harry F. Ward, one of America's noblemen, who will soon reach his 80th birthday, was guest of honor at a dinner at Hotel McAlpin the other night. The affair was sponsored by Now World Review, a progressive monthly devoted to circulating the truth about the Socialist and People's Democracies abroad. The magazine brought out several hundred friends and former students of Dr. Ward, and some of those who knew him well, like Rev. Jack McMichael, of the Methodist Federation for Social Action ; Corliss Lamont ; Paul Robeson ; Frederick Field ; and Jessica Smith, editor of New World Review, told the others of how Dr. Ward's teachings enriched them personally and how his tremendous work for brotherhood, peace, and justice has influenced the nation as a whole. "His influence on the churches of this country is incalculable," said Rev. Mc- Michael, one of Dr. Ward's former students at Union Theological Seminary, in his stirring account of the life of this "rare scholar and man of action." "When you see ministers taking a courageous stand on civil liberties and peace, it is because of the inspiration of Dr. Ward's work." * * * * * « • Other speakers noted the enormous amount of activity that Dr. Ward has been involved in during the past half century. He is the author of 15 books since 1913 and has a new one coming out soon. He was for years chairman of the American League Against War and Fascism and the American League for Peace and Democracy. He was general secretary of the Methodist Federation of Social Service from 1911 to 1944. He was professor of Christian Ethics at Union Theological Seminary for 25 years and chairman of American Civil Liberties Union from 1920 to 1940. Jes'sica Smith pointed out a few more things about Dr. Ward, such as his activity in the British labor movement as far back as 1889. He knew the British labor leader Tom Mann, she said, and was himself a worker when he came to America as a young lad of 17. He was a rancher and teamster and worked with Sidney Hillman in the great garment strike that brought about the birth of the Amalgamated Clothing Workers Union. COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES IN THE NEW YORK AREA 2229 He knew William Z. Foster and Eugene Debs. He studied the works of Marx and Engels and learned what was the basis of the thinking of these Socialist giants. Ho went to the Soviet Union in 1SJ24 and in 1931 spent a whole year there studying the incentives of socialism, out of which came his book, In Place of Profit. How did Dr. Ward find time to do all the things he did? The answer, said Corliss Lamont, is to be found in a poem by Alfred Tennyson, "His strength was as the strenuth of ten because his heart is pure !" The entire audience I)roke into applause when Dr. Ward came to the mike. After paying a moving compliment to his wife who was seated on the plat- form. Dr. Ward, in words of great eloquence called for a counteroffensive against the warmakers. "The Eisenhower administration declares that peace is subversive. Very well. Ivct our answer then be not defense but the most terrific counteroffensive this Nation has ever seen. Let us answer that war is subversive. "It is war that is destroying the Bill of Rights and undermining the Con- stitution. War is bringing fascism to our doorstep. War is submerging peace. War is taking money needed for education and health and subverting the social wellbeing of the whole Nation. These are the things we must make the people see. Let that be our answer to the Department of Justice." (Tremendous applause ! ) Earlier in the evening, INIr. Lamont drove home to the audience the threat to the press in McCarthy's drive against civil liberties, pointing out that even the violent anli-Conimunist paper, the N. Y. Post, is having its trouble with McCarthy. This paper, he said, offers the "greatest possible lesson to all liberals and progressives. "The Post tried to win safety through the dirtiest redbaiting you can imagine. James Wechsler thought he could win safety and security for his paper by attacking the Communists and the Soviet Union on eveiw possible occasion. Has it done him any good? It has not. Winchell is after him and McCarthy is after him, and though Wechsler grovels on the ground, he can't get away from him." The situation on The Post, said Lamont is proof that the drive against civil liberties is against anybody "left of President McKinley — anybody who has any ideas at all." The thing to do, he said, as the audience applauded vigorously, is for every- body who believes in freedom of the press to "stand firm and tight until the McCarthyites are beaten." * * « * 4: * • Theodore Bozal of the United Furniture Workers, CIO Local 92, contributed his bit to this splendid evening by telling of his recent trip to the Soviet Union and Peoples Poland and of the tremendous peace feeling he encountered everywhere. Here in America, he said, "we are accustomed to seeing nothing but com- mercial advertising on billboards. In the U. S. S. R. I saw hundreds of billboards advertising 'We are for Peace.' " m ***** * Robeson's marvelous singing of Climbing Jacob's Ladder and other songs, accompanied by Alan Booth on the piano stirred everyone at this inspiring tribute to Dr. Ward described by chairman Frederick V. Field as "one of the American leaders of the new world in whom is combined that fusion of intelli- gence, understanding, and progressive leadership which is the mark of true greatness." Mr. Johnson. Now, I would also like to quote from a pamphlet entitled "Socialism— What's in It for You?'' by A. B. Magil, New Century Publishers. A. B. Magil has for years been a national leader of the Communist Party in the United States. Now, Magil in this pamphlet states the following, and I quote : There are religious people who, far from considering socialism a menace, see in it the fulfillment of the ethical principles of their faith. It is this that has attracted to socialism distinguished clergymen like the Dean of Canterbury, Dr. Harry F. Ward, professor emeritus of Christian Ethics at Union Theological 2230 COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES IN THE NEW YORK AREA Seminary, and Reverend Eliot White, formerly of the Grace Episcopal Church of New York. The next quote deals with Harry F. Ward and is taken from a pam- phlet written by Earl Browder in 1936 called Democracy or Fascism?, Workers Library Publishers. This pamphlet is made up from the report of Earl Browder to the ninth national convention of the Com- munist Party in 1936. I was present at the ninth convention of the Communist Party in New York City held at Manhattan Center on 34th Street when this report was made. I was a delegate, and it was at that convention that I was elected to membership on the national committee. In the report Browder mentioned the splendid work of Dr. Harry F. Ward as one of the finer types of comrades or party members. He stated that — It is impossible to speak of the American League and its work without noting the outstanding contribution of its tireless and devoted chairman, Dr. Harry F. Ward. Mr. Clardy. By American League, of course you mean the Ameri- can League Against War and Fascism ? Mr. Johnson. Yes, the American League Against War and Fascism. I continue : Such selfless and consistent service to a progressive cause as Dr. Ward has given will always receive the unstinted recognition and support of the Commu- nist Party. Mr. Clardy. You have of your own knowledge placed Dr. Ward in the party, and you have so testified repeatedly before us. Now, what you have laeen giving us is some documentary confirmation of precisely what you, yourself, have testified to. Mr. Johnson. That is correct. Mr. KuNziG, Mr. Johnson, do you know anything about the United Christian Council for Democracy? Mr. Johnson. Yes, I do. Mr. KuNziG. Did you ever have any experience with that group ? Mr. Johnson. I personally never worked with the group itself be- cause the group was formed, according to my best recollection, in 1939, and that was the first time that I had heard of it. It was one of those organizations that was formed for the purpose of infiltrating the various religious denominations throughout the country. Mr. KuNziG. If you had no personal knowledge, then what is your source of knowledge ? Mr. Johnson. My source of knowledge may be found in the pamphlet or magazine known as the Protestant Digest. Mr. Clardy. Let me interrupt you. I am not sure that either you or counsel are quite accurate in the way you phrased it. You as a member of the Communist Party must have had some knowledge of this subject. Suppose you tell us what the extent of that knowledge was. Mr. Johnson. The extent of my knowledge was that this organiza- tion existed and that it had a program similar to that of the Methodist Federation for Social Service. Mr. Clardy. All right, now I will ask you another one. In your contacts with other members of the Communist Party was the subject discussed so that out of all of these meetings with others you picked COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES IN THE NEW YORK AREA 2231 lip knowledge about the movement and about this other arm of the party ? Mr. Johnson. Yes, it was of general knowledge. It was mentioned incidentally in discussion of work in religious organization. (Representative Clyde Doyle left the hearing room at this point.) Mr. Johnson. At the particular time I was mainly involved in work in the trade unions. Consequently, I did not make myself familiar with the organization or its program. I was content just to accept on the basis of the mere mention of it that it was a new Communist front that was organized. Mr. Ci^vRDY. So while you knew it was organized, and you knew from others what it was doing and its general method of operation, yon were not part of that particular piece of apparatus? Mr. Johnson. No ; I was not. Mr. Clardy. All right, now proceed. Mr. Johnson. I am only testifying on this as an expert. Mr. Clardy. That, sir, is a good statement of the position I think 370U occupy on this subject. Go right ahead. Mr. Johnson. In the Protestant Digest of April 1939, published by the Protestant Digest Council for Democracy, there is an article, United Christian Council for Democracy, which sets forth the aims, purposes, and objectives of this organization and the list of its officers. Speaking as an expert on the strength of this article the program as set forth in it indicates that the policy of the organization is based upon the program of the Communist Party for the infiltration of the various Protestant denominations on the basis of conditioning them mentally, organizationally for the overthrow of the Government of the United States. Mr. Clardy. Again you have just one issue or photostat or part of one issue dated sometime in 1939 ? Mr. Johnson. That is correct. Mr, Clardy. Is that magazine still being published, but under a di ff erent name ? Mr. Johnson. It was published, to my knowledge, up until the fifties under the name of the Protestant Digest. ]Mr. Clardy. We have had some testimony in the files from other witnesses prior to now. Any more comment on that ? Mr. KuNziG. Mr. Chairman, I have in my hand the pamphlet which has just been read from by the witness which has been marked "Man- ning Johnson Exhibit No. 22," and I should like to offer this exhibit into evidence at this time. Mr. Clardy. It will be received. (The pamphlet Protestant Digest, April 1939, was received in evi- dence as Manning Johnson exhibit No. 22.) Manning Johnson Exhibit No. 22 (The Protestant Digest, April 1939, pp. 61-63) United Christian Council fob Democracy PURPOSE To bring together for education and united action members in all Christian chui'clies who are intent upon expressing the social imperatives inherent in the Christian religion. 2232 COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES IN THE NEW YORK AREA A STATEMENT OF PEINCIPLES Our Christian faith in a God of love and righteousness, our acceptance of the prophetic command to do justice and love mercy, our obedience to Jesus' teach- ings concerning the values and possibilities of human life, leave us vpith no alternative save to labor for a radically new society. Therefore, moved by the joint compulsion of the desperate needs of human society and the inescapable demands of the Christian faith and hope, vre unite around the following basic principles : 1. We reject the profit-seeking economy and the capitalistic way of life with its private ownership of the things upon which the lives of all depend. 2. We seek to establish a social economy which, under social ownership and democratic control of the common means of life, will make possible the highest potential development of persons and society. 3. We pledge ourselves to resolute effort to accomplish this basic change in the organization of society by the democratic process. 4. We propose to support the necessary political and economic action to im- plement these aims. 5. In all this we rely upon the availability of spiritual resources adequate for the redemption of society. THE OEGANIZATION A federation The United Christian Council for Democracy is a federation of nationally organized unofficial denominational units. Denominational groups An effective means, we believe, of promoting education and action in line with our principles is first of all through the various denominations. A major objective then is to win the support of a large number of laymen and ministers in each denomination. This is accomplished through individual membership organizations. We believe that each Protestant denomination ought to have such an unofiicial organized group which will crystallize and express advanced social positions, beyond those which the denomination will or can take officially. We are anxious to enlist laymen as well as ministers in these groups and believe that the effectiveness of our work will depend measurably upon the pro- portion of laymen who actively support this program. Regional committees On a geographical basis, regional or statewise, and in large cities, regional committees of the United Christian Council are being formed. Such committees will be interdenominational and representative. Uniting as they will persons of common anxiety and conviction in the several denominations of the given areas, there will be sufficient strength to support decisive action needed in acute social situations. A national committee A national committee is composed of representatives from each nationally organized denominational group, 1 for each 200 members, together with 1 representative from each interdenominational regional committee. Executive committee The executive body of the United Christian Council is composed of one repre- sentative from each denominational group. The committee has been given power to act in terms of the general policy established annually by the National Committee. PROPOSED ACTION For the United Christian Council, the constituent national denominational organizations, and regional committees. Literature The council hopes to recruit the ablest men in all denominations in the prepara- tion of pamphlets interpreting our convictions on basic social problems and the relation of the church to them. We believe that united action in propaganda will greatly improve the quality and effectiveness of such educational work. It is our hope that later both a weekly news sheet and a quarterly magazine may bring our inteiiDretations of social problems to the people of the churches. COMJMUNIST ACTIVITIES IN THE NEW YORK AREA 2233 Pronouncements The council expects to make pronouncements, from time to time, on current issues in which it will seek to express the nilud and determination of the socially advanced portion of the Christian churches. The regional and local groups will be encouraged to make pronouncements upon social crises in their own communities. Action We liclieve that common counsel will lead to united action on the part of church people on behalf of labor, in counteracting prejudice in labor disputes, in defending civil liberties, in opposing wai-making, in furtherance of inter- national conferences on basic economic problems, in supporting cooperatives, in relating the rural church to the most effective farmers' organizations, and generally in giving aid to the forces in the community which are working toward immediate justice and an ultimate cooperative commonwealth. Mutual aid Recognizing that perils of insecurity beset Christian leaders who advocate positions more advanced than those held by the community in general, we will strive in every way possible to secure the facts in the event of dismissals, to place our moral support behind those who are unjustly dismissed, and to secure aid for those whose livelihood is imperiled. United Christian CotTNciL foe Democracy William F. Cochran, President Executive Committee Reinhold Niebuhr, chairman Evangelical and Reformed Ruth Maybee Baptist H. Lincoln MacKenzie Community Ralph Read Congregational Harold Fey Disciples William B. Spofford Episcopal Harry F. Ward Methodist Howard Black Presbyterian Howard Kester Southern Churchmen Lon Ray Call Unitarian Information regarding the United Christian Council for Democracy may be obtained from Richard Morford, secretary, 22 Forest Ave., Albany, N. Y. Mr. KuNziG. Mr. Johnson, as a former leader of the Communist Party can you tell us something about the nature of this magazine first called the Protestant Digest and later called the Protestant ? Mr. Johnson. Yes, I can; but before I go into that, I would like to call (At this point Kepresentative Clyde Doyle returned to the hearing room. ) Mr. Clardy. Off the record. (Discussion off the record.) Mr. Johnson. The Protestant Digest was first published in 1938 while I was a member of the party, and in the party circles it was discussed as one of the Communist- front publications that had as its aim and purpose using first the infiltration of the Protestant denomi- nations ; secondly, to carry the materialist, antireligious policy of the Communist Party into the religious denominations under the guise of religion. Moreover, it provided the ministers with material for sermons that they delivered to congregations at the regular services. 2234 COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES IN THE NEW YORK AREA Mr. Clardt. Let me interrupt you, Witness. Is it fair to say then that this magazine was instituted by the Communist Party for the purpose of perhaps deceiving and misleading the good men in the ministry into preaching things that would help promote the Com- munist Party line without their being necessarily completely aware of it? Mr. Johnson. That is correct ; that is a correct statement. Mr. Clardy. And that it was fostered and put forward and sold in some instances to good men, but men who were willing to accept the statements as though they were bona fide expressions of true Christianity ? Mr. Johnson. That is correct. (Representative Kit Clardy left the hearing room at this point.) Mr. Johnson. In 1938 when the Protestant Digest first was pub- lished, there was only one person on the editorial staff. That person was Kenneth Leslie. Mr. Kunzig. Do you know Kenneth Leslie to be a member of the Communist Party? Did you personally know? Mr. Johnson. I do not recall having ever attended party meetings with Kenneth Leslie, though I do know that he was under Communist Party discipline. Mr. KuNziG. How do you know that he was under Communist Party discipline ? Mr. Johnson. Because in the upper circles of the party he was discussed as one that could be depended upon to carry out the Com- munist Party line. Mr. Kunzig. Would you continue with the list of people who were responsible through the years for the magazine ? Mr. Johnson. In 1939 the magazine shows in addition to Kenneth Leslie a group of editorial advisers, six, to be exact. (Representative Kit Clardy returned to the hearing room at this point.) Mr. Clardy. You do not mean to imply that these six of your own knowledge were necessarily members of the Communist Party? Mr. Johnson. I do not say that they were card-carrying members of the Communist Party. I make this statement because in the Com- munist Party we had card-carrying members; we had non-card- carrjang members. By non-card-carrying members are meant persons who are of great value to the Communist Party in various Communist- front organizations whose identity, were it known generally, as card- carrying members would render ineffective their work in these Com- munist-front organizations. Mr. Clardy. All right. Now, to come back to my question, as to those that have been specifically named, you do not have any specific knov/ledge, I take it, as to whether they were m any of these classes that you are talking about? Mr. Johnson. I did not attend any closed meetings witli these people, but I would say that they were on numerous Communist- front organiaztions, and they carried out the line. Therefore, they were persons under Communist Party discipline as all persons who consistently carry out the work of the Communist Party through front organizations are persons who are under Communist Party discipline. COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES IN THE NEW YORK AREA 2235 Mr. Clardy. Let us put it this way : Are 3'ou personally, or were you personally acquainted with the individuals that you have dis- cussed so that you are in a position to say of your own knowledge whether they fell in any of these categories or not? Mr. Johnson. I only know of them through their activities in the Connnunist-front organizations or the solar system of organizations that was set up in the Communist Party. Mr. KuNziG. Then the answer is, you do not know them as card- carrying members nor do you know them as specifically non-card- carrying members? Mr. Johnson. That is correct. Mr. Clardy. But you know them as you have previously described as collaborating in some fashion or other? Mr. Johnson. That is right. Mr. Clardy. It is of course possible, and we want evei*yone to be actuall}^ as fair as they possibly can. It is possible that some of them may be dupes or may be innocently brought in because they are naive or for some other reason, not necessarily because they are actually Communists or even Communist sympathizers? Mr. Johnson. Yes, that is possible. Mr. Doyle. "Wliat year was that? Mr. Johnson. That is 1939. I did not get to the later editions of the Protestant Digest and the Protestant. What I am trying to point out here is that there were persons who served at one time or another on the Protestant who dropped out. What the reasons were, I do not knoAv. but there are others who were consistently on the editorial board of the Protestant over a period of years, and not only that, their names have appeared in numerous front organizations of the Com- munist Party following every twist and every turn in the Commu- nist Party line. I do not know of most of them as card-carrying members of the party. Those that I do I will identify as I go along. Mr. KuNziG. Would you give us the names of those who remained consistently on the editorial board as you just mentioned and who followed the Communist line throughout the j^ears? Mr. Johnson. For example, Jerome Davis was on the editorial board in 1939. Mr. Clardy. You were about to name persons whom you are not identifsang as Communists but persons who followed the deviations of the Communist Party line. I want to have it clearly understood at this juncture that as to any other names mentioned up to this moment you are not identifying any of them as Communists unless you have specifically said so when you named them. That is a correct statement ; is it not ? Mr. Johnson. That is correct. Mr. Clardy. All right, proceed from there. (Representative Kit Clardy left the hearing room at this point.) Mr.KuNziG. You stated that the magazine, the Protestant Digest, later called the Protestant, met the various turns of policy of the Soviet Union and the twists and the turns in the Communist line as it went through the years. Could you document that, please, with illustra- tions taken from the magazine? Mr. Johnson. Yes ; I can. 2236 COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES IN THE NEW YORK AREA I have here the Protestant Digest, December 1938, the period when the Communist Party was building the united front, and we find in this edition of the Protestant Digest an article by "William Spofford. It was a reprint from the Witness, September 22, 1938. (Representative Kit Clardy reentered the hearing room at this point.) Mr. Johnson. The subject of the article is Bill Spofford Hails United Front. Mr. KuNziG. Mr. Chairman, I have this document marked "Man- ning Johnson Exhibit No. 23," and I offer it now in evidence. Mr. Clardy. It will be received. (The article, Bill Spofford Hails United Front, from the Protestant Digest, December 1938, was received in evidence as Manning Johnson exhibit No. 23.) Manning Johnson Exhibit No. 23 (Protestant Digest, December 1938) Bill Spofford Hails United Front (By William B. Spofford in the Witness, September 22, 1938) The Church League for Industrial Democracy is an organization of the Epis- copal Church, composed of approximately 3,000 members, who have pledged them- selves to seek to understand the teachings of Christ and to apply them in their own vocations and activities in relation to the present problems of industrial society. There is no connection whatever between the American League for Peace and Democracy and the CLID, or between the Communist Party and the CLID. Some of our members are also members of the American League and accept the program above stated. Others approve of parts and disapprove of other parts. CLID members are, of course, free to join the American League or not as they see fit — or to oppose it if that is their conviction. The proposal was made at the last national meeting of the CLID that we affiliate with the American League. The proposal was overwhelmingly defeated, and as executive secretary I opposed affiliation. I did state, however, that I personally accepted the program of the American League and asked that I be allowed as an individual to cooperate with the organization. This was voted and I have since been active in the American League and am at present proud to be vice chairman. In regard to the Communist Party, it is, of course, a secular organization, based upon a materialistic philosophy, and for this reason is quite properly op- posed by Christians. Their ultimate purpose is so to order society throughout the world that communism will be universal. However, because of the present world situation, with wars in Spain and China and with the Fascist powers threatening other democratic nations, they have set aside their ultimate objectives in order to join forces in a United Front to maintain peace and democracy. Just as a United Front, including the Communists, was necessary in China if Japanese aggression was to be resisted (a United Front that has received the blessing of Bishop Roots and I think I am safe in saying all our missionaries) ; just as Hitlerism might have been avoided in Germany and democracy main- tained if the people had created a United Front (as Martin Niemoller told a group of us in Berlin last summer just three days before his arrest) ; so I believe a United Front must be built in the United States if democracy is to be main- tained and war avoided. And an effective United Front is built not by various groups stressing their differences but rather by setting aside their differences and uniting wholeheartedly in a minimum program. The Communists, as far as my experience means anything, are sincere in their desire for a United Front and are effective workers for it. Therefore, I am happy to join forces with them, and others, on this minimum program for peace and democracy. When and if they change their "line" (and I do not believe I shall be so innocent as not to know) it is probably that I shall part company with them. Mr. Johnson. I would like to present to the committee an article published in the Protestant, April-May 1942. The author of the article is David Easton, and is an article in which he follows the Com- COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES IN THE NEW YORK AREA 2237 munist Party line on religion by attempting to show in this article that Marxism and democracy and a liberal religious faith are one. Mr. Clardy. All right, let us have that marked "Manning Johnson Exhibit No. 24." Mr. KuNziG. It is marked "Manning Johnson Exhibit No. 24." I now offer it in evidence, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Clardy. It will be received. (The article referred to from the Protestant, April-May 1942, was received in evidence as Manning Johnson exhibit No. 24.) Manning Johnson Exhibit No. 24 (The Protestant, April-May 1942, pp. 52-55) Spirituality and Maus (By David Easton) Marx explains "self -alienation" as it appears in our present form of society : The more the worker expends his labor, the more powerful becomes the alien objective world which he creates outside himself, and the poorer he and his inner world become and the less he can call his own. * * * Not only does his work become an external object, but it exists outside of him as an inde- pendent and alien thing. It becomes a self-sufficient power over him. The life which he has lost to the object confronts him as strange and alien. * * * The estranged relation of the worker to his work expresses itself in the rela- tion of capitalist to worker. Private property is thus result and necessary expression of the estranged relation of the worker to himself and to nature (Marx-Engels, Gesamtausgabe (Ed. V. Adoratskij), Abt. 1, Bd. 3, pp. 83-84, 91. Trans, mine). For Marx the idea of self-alienation expresses the fact that concentration of wealth and forces of production in a few hands means spiritual impoverish- ment for the majority of men. In this state men lose their freedom — the product of their labor and even their tools become powers over them. Marx believed that "to be a man" really means "to work," to transform nature for human ends. In this way nature is integrated with humanity, and each product of labor incarnates the personality of man. Through work man "makes the whole of nature his inorganic body." But when the product of labor is "alienated," the personality of man is diminished and stunted. Marx wanted to suppress the alienation of labor. He believed that man can realize and fulfill his personality through a socialist society. This entails "the posi- tive dissolution of private property, as human self-alienation, and thus the genuine appropriation of the attributes of humanity by and for mankind." The new society, Marx said, can produce "as a continual reality, man in all the richness of his being, the complete and well-rounded man." The young Marx called his view of man "realistic humanism" or "completed naturalism." It is the groundwork of his well-known historical materialism. Marx' view of man went beyond Feuerbach who stopped with the abstract isolated individual and did not see that "only in community with others has each individual the means of cultivating his gifts in all directions." Man's self-alienation and the way to his self-fulfillment became the motif of Marx' thought and endeavor. It runs through all his writings. It implies a particular theory of education : The education of the future will combine productive labor with instruction and gymnastics, not only as one of the methods of adding to the efficiency of production, but as the only method of producing fully developed human beings (Capital, I, 529). It may seem that Marx's historical determinism leaves no room for effective human action and development. But Marx never denied that the purposes and acts of men are motors of history. He approved of Vico's observation that ^uman history differs from natural history in this, that we have made the former, but not the latter." In an early letter he criticized Feuerbach's material- ism for being "merely naturalistic and not historical" for not taking account of human efforts, particularly in politics. For Marx "History is nothing else than the acitivity of man pursuing his own aims." And man is to be conceived as 2238 COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES IN THE NEW YORK AREA *'a living conscious thing" ratlier than a pure disembodied spirit. Following these leads, Soviet philosophers recently attacked "economism" which "neglects per- sonalities, wills, and temperaments as historical facts." And in 1930 K. N. Kornilov of Moscow University wrote a criticism of any view which "either flatly denies the existence of human consciousness or identifies it with mechanical movements of matter." Marx's determinism is simply an assertion that historical events have discover- able causes. He denies that human action is free in the sense of being uncaused. There is regularity and lawfulness in human events as every social scientist supposes. Out of the conflicts and agreements of many individual acts there comes regularity and continuity. In this sense social movements are indi^endent of the individual will and intelligence. Marx's determinism implies simply that the actions of an individual or a group have definite antecedents and conse- quences. Is this a denial of human freedom? By no means. Marx always distinguished between historical and merely natural events. He insisted that men are moved to action by their purposes and needs. This, it seems to me, is the substance of human freedom. It is self-determination. It is the condi- tion of all our choices. Without such determination "guilt," "responsibility," and "moral education" would be empty words. Human purposes and preferences are always affected by other parts of the historical process. In their origin, their specific content, and in their effectiveness they are conditioned by the given productive forces and relations — by other social facts which all presuppose man's conscious transformation of nature through his work. All of Marx's writings are a condemnation of those economic and social ar- rangements which disallow fully developed human beings. He condemned the social system which "converts the laborer into a crippled monstrosity" and at the same time creates a leisure class of elfete, parasitical, and pleasure-hunting animals. He condemned the social scheme which leaves "no other nexus between man and man than naked self-interest" and resolves "personal worth into ex- change value." For Marx the cultivation and sharing of art is essential to the complete life. He deplored the sacrifice of art to the gods of profit and business. The treatment of poetry, painting, music, etc., as mere commodities rather than "products sui generis" was accepted as one of the tragic ironies of our time. And Marx persistently denounced the prostitution of science and education for the sake of profits. The relation of Marxism to religion will never be understood if we stop with the slogan, "Religion is the opium of the people." We should remember that Marx's sallies were primarily against those forms of religion which belittle man and discount his ideal aims. His criticism was a response to "the categorical im- perative to overthrow all conditions in which man is a degraded, servile, neglected, contemptible being." In one of his letters Marx wrote, bitterly, that after the Greeks the e.ssential dignity of man disappeared from the world. Historical Christianity too much emphasized man's worthlessness and the vanity of any effort to change his present estate. It is clear that Marx's attack on religion is primarily an attack on super- naturalism or other wordliness which is indifferent to human needs and develop- ment. His views are quite in harmony with humanistic and naturalistic philos- ophies of religion. They are altogether acceptable to those who, with Matthew Arnold, find the essence of religion to be "morality touched by emotion." But with the "new supernaturalism" Marxism clashes on fundamental issues. The extreme supernaturalists of our day condenui as false any view which denies man's "creatureliness" and commits "the sin of pride.'' Still, many of the new supernaturalists use the Marxian way of understanding social events as they try to answer present demands of the transcendent ideal. The stimulus to Marx's moral passion was an awareness that great numbers of men never get to the human level of existence. Only a part of each man is developed. Too many are "appendages of machines" and "laboring cattle." Life begins when they leave work which is alien and thus fearsome. Marx wanted to change this condition. He wanted to get rid of those property ar- rangements which cause human self-alienation. He sought to unfetter technology for the benefit of all so that human lives might be more complete and rounded out. All men, he deeply believed, must have the chance to know the value of camaraderie for its own sake, the liberation and romance of learning, and the lasting pleasures in art. These things are out of reach when man's work be- comes an alien power over him that diminishes his personality. Marx expanded the Greek ideal of harmonious self-development. He removed it from aristocratic contemplation and related it to social action. For Aristotle COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES IN THE NEW YORK AREA 2239 the ideal type of man was one who, like the Unmoved Mover, needs only to con- template. Likewise, Marx opposed Hegel's view of man. Hegel did think of man as a process and thus the result of his own work. But the only kind of work he rocognized wa.s abstract spiritual work or pure mental activity. In Marx's view the complete man is one who works ; he acts in society and actually trans- foi-nis nature of human ends. All of his socially developed senses and spiritual organs are instruments for "the humanization of nature." This is Marx's view of man which he called realistic humanism. It gives deeper meaning to his favorite maxim : "Nihil humani a me alieimm puto." In this respect, as well as others, Marxism and democracy and a liberal religious faith are as one. Mr. KuxziG. Mr. Johnson, do yon know Easton as a member of the Connnunist Party ? Mr. JoiiNSOx. I do not know of my personal knowledge whether he is or wlietlier he is not a member of the Communist Party. Mr. Clardy. You are not at this time making any accusation that the gentleman named is a member of the Communist Party ? Mv. Johnson. No ; I am not at this time. IMr. KuNziG. Do you have any further documents, Mr. Johnson ? Mr. Johnson. Yes, I have. I have in my hand a copy of the Protestant Digest of January 1940, which shows that the Protestant Digest worked against America's entry into the war at the time when the Communist line was peace for America as long as Russia and Germany were tied together in a pact. Mr. KuNziG. Mr. Chairman, I have this document in my hand marked "Manning Johnson Exhibit No. 25," and I offer it into evi- dence at this point. Mr. Clardy. It will be received. (The copy of the Protestant Digest, January 1940, was received in evidence as Manning Johnson exhibit No. 25. Manning Johnson Exhibit No. 25 (Protestant Digest, January 1940, pp. 68-73) Toward a Democratic Peace By Harry F. Ward Can We Do It? We are now back to the old international law concept of neutrality. Like the Soviet we are technically willing to sell to both sides. Actually we mean to help the allies, relying on the cash-and-carry provisions and the British blockade to make it impossible for Germany to buy here. If she can get something by a roundabout way through neutrals, we will take the profits on that, too. This is a better protection against the consequences of war trade than we had in 1914-1917. How effective is it? Is the desire for profit, and the need for profit tamed and under control? The first attempt to break through the cash restriction by substituting 90 days' credit for cash on the barrelhead, has been defeated by popular protest. But the same interests who tried that are now hop- iui; that the clause which provides that insurance does not constitute an Anieii- can interest in goods or ships will afl'ord them a loophole ; and the British Minis- ter of Supply naturally says they are examining the bill to see if there is not a possibility of getting around the cash restriction by arrangements with private business. The Wall Street Journal has hopes. The attempt to evade the carry restriction by transfer to foreign registry, and the ofiicial support it has secured, indicates the necessity to continually watch and expose attempts to evade or change the restrictions on war trade designed to lessen the risk of our being drawn into the war. 2240 COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES IN THE NEW YORK AREA The Danger Points Popular support will gather behind such attempts if and when there is any danger of Hitler winning, and if the war lasts until the allies' cash is gone and orders and jobs begin to fall off. War trade on a cash basis has its own way of producing economic pressures on the side of our entering the war. The antici- pation of immediate orders which are not forthcoming has already created a small boom with no base. The concentration of orders on airplanes and a few other things, and the need of conserving cash for a possibly long struggle, is already reducing British purchases of basic necessities that we have been supply- ing. The prosperity we get from war orders will be very spotty. The effects of the transfer of British and French securities here to pay for their orders, along with additional transfer of gold, will load us up still more with idle capital. The net result will be an increase in our total economic insecurity, a psychologi- cal situation which always brings war nearer. To offset these tendencies it would be necessary to make much larger Govern- ment expenditures for social gains, whereas the reactionaries who succeeded in limiting these in the last session of Congress expect to do worse in 1940. Those who seek to check the rise of a war spirit in this Nation will need to be able to defeat reaction at this point and to protect the living standards of the people by exposing and leading them to stop all war profiteering as soon as it begins. If the war lasts the cold-blooded military experts have a formula for the time when the economic and propaganda pressures will actually begin to take us in. It is the ratio between our supply of the instruments of war to the allied man- power available for their use. When the production flow of war materials from our plants becomes greater than the capacity of their armies, there will be both need for our manpower and propaganda to get it. The danger to democracy will then suddenly become very acute in the headlines. Those who would expose and resist this must know their economic facts. It is of no more avail to shout "keep out of war" than it was to vote that way in 1916. If the underlying forces are again working as they were then, they will take us in. The first step in getting them under control is to continually explain to the people exactly what is happening. What About China? Since England now has no war supplies to spare for Japan, that country needs to draw more heavily upon us than even our present 54 percent of her imported materials for war. Our new war-trade legislation does not apply, for the legal fiction of an undeclared war still remains. If that situation continues, only an embargo can end our partnership in the invasion of China. If Japan declar«^s war our present legislation will still help Japan more than China, for she can only get supplies through neutrals willing to run the blockade, while Japan has both cash and ships, * * * The only prevention would be a Presidential ban on scrap iron and oil on the ground of our own needs, plus discrimination under the tariff law when our trade treaty ends in January. Our present protests to Japan are entirely in terms of our own trade interests and lead either to war or a compromising assent to Japanese control in China. Our moral obligation to China calls clearly for a renewed dpmand for an embargo on war supplies to Japan until she takes her armies out of China. Incitements to War Incitements to war will naturally be continuous. There is and will be propa- ganda, with its inevitable atrocity stories, to be exposed. There will be incidents infringing upon our rights, and inhuman deeds, against which our emotions will need to be steeled. There are sympathies to be watched lest they betray us. Those responsible for forming public opinion will need constantly to ask some questions and answer them from the unfolding facts. What are the war aims of the allies? Can the people who helped destroy democracy in Austria, Spain. and Czecho-Slovakia do anything for it now? Can Hitler and Hitlerism be stopped by war? Will the victory of the allies produce anything better than it did at Versailles with all its consequences? How can a repetition, in even worse form, of the cycle which produced the present disaster, be prevented? A New Devil A dangerous feature in recent developments is the propaganda of incitement against the Soviet Union. It fairly shrieks from the headlines and thunders from tlie editorials. Stalin has replaced Hitler for most of the American people as the COMIVrUNIST ACTIVITIES IN THE NEW YORK: AREA 2241 devil to be feared. Stories are told one week on the front page and the facts which deny them are the next week buried in the back of the papers. The Soviets had betrayed and abandoned China to its fate, we were told. Now come the facts concerning increased supplies. Tons of Russian gold were on their way to Ger- many. Now it appears they are in Dutch banks for Soviet purchases in the United States. Yet our liberals, so shocked by the change in Soviet policy, are still prepared to believe the worst. Usually they do not even mention, let alone assess, Chamberlain's part in that change. Our Government talks in sterner tones * * * to Stalin than to Hitler. It says nothing when two score of our ships are interned by the allies ; it protests when one is held in a Soviet port. All this provides the emotional background for what? Among the possibilities is the cry for a holy war against the pagan Nazis and the atheistic Communists. The Vatican has laid the groundwork for it. Two of our most widely read col- umnists are calling for a union of all forces to heat back the barbarians of the East before they destroy all the values of civilization. In the event of an alliance between Nazi Germany and Soviet Russia, the cry for a holy war would develop hysteria overnight in this nation. God is a more powerful sanction for modern mass slaughter than democracy. There is another and more cold-blooded prospect for the use of the moral emo- tions now being aroused against Russia and it coincides with the property in- terest and the fear of social change suddenly revealed by this animus. The plan of a section of the British Tories is to restore a reactionary Government in Ger- many, the kind that we helped to overthrow in 1918. There is talk of bolstering this by a monarchical Catholic state in central Europe. In any event a i-eac- tionary Germany is to be turned eastward again, looking toward that attack upon the Soviet Union which is the historic necessity of the Tory imperialists. In this eventuality the support of the United States in one way or another is sought. In these circumstances those who feel an obligation to pass moral judgments on the Soviet Union must realize the risk involved. It is the same risk which was taken by those who passed moral judgments upon Hitler, and they took precautions to get them executed without war. The least that can be done by those who stand in a similar position in relation to the Soviet Union is to see that their judgments are exact and are based on all the facts. Some Facts Most of those who now put the actions of the Soviet on the same plane with those of Hitler, have read only the new.spaper case against the Soviet. Their side is now available in English through the speeches of Molotov. He declares their main motivation to be self-protection, with the hope that their course will make for peace. On questions of fact the British point of view, more hard-headed than ours despite their more vital interests, supports the Russians on some points. Chamberlain's latest speech on November 9 says : "On the other hand, the pact between Germany and the Soviet Union has given indeed great advan- tages for the Soviet Union, but it has brought only humiliation and loss for Germany." Chamberlain has odicially justified the Soviet entry into Poland as a defense measure. And this was not merely a tactical move on the score of neutrality. The additional fact that he has debarred the Polish Government in Paris from making any claim to the territory involved indicates his conclusion that this Government has no moral or legal title to territory which it took by force from the Soviet contrary to the Versailles decision. This places the Soviet action against Hitler rather than the Polish Govern- ment. The technical point in the question of aggression is whether the border was crossed before or after the Polish Government had ceased to function. The correspondent of the London Times, who was in the area at the moment, states that the Government was out of commission. This left the territory either to Hitler or the Soviet, from which it was originally taken. Concerning the charge of a previous plan of partition, Gedye, the Moscow correspondent of the New York Times, with a long and honorable experience in Vienna and Prague, affirms that he can find no proof of it. The record of the Soviet of keeping their pledge to Czechoslovakia, publicly confirmed by mem- bers of that Government, coincides with the charge of the total political oppo- sition to Chamberlain in England, including many conservatives, that he, and not the Soviet Union, was responsible for the breakdown of the negotiations between them. If this is correct it left the Soviet faced with continuous ma- noeuvres against them with no alternative but to protect themselves as best 2242 COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES IN THE NEW YORK AREA they could. Their moves can only be understood in the light of the fear psy- chology developed by continuous attacks upon them, and threats against them, which are met by Lenin's strategy of playing off one enemy against another in Tliis explains the policy in relation to the Baltic States and Finland. Weeks before this developed the Ambassadors of these states in Washington told the Nev? Republic correspondent that the key to Soviet policy was the impossibihty of defending Leningrad as long as the approaches to the Gulf of Finland were controlled by other powers. This is equally true of its nearness to the Finnish border, and "it involves the whole northern industrial section of Russia proper. It is the fear of future attack ftom either or both Germany or Great Britain which dominates the situation. Those who interpret Soviet action only in terms of power politics, and talk of socialist imperialism, are thinking too narrowly in their habitual pattern. Those who think that Russia might have stayed within her own borders usually ignore tactical necessities in the face of ene- mies in the field, and generally forget that a socialist state in a capitalist world is still subject to the laws of State nature. Since all States sin the question is, are these siuners above the others, or below the others, in this modern Jeru- salem? The answer to that must be found in the terms of their contracts with, and the future development of, those smaller States which of necessity must either be in the orbit of Germany, Great Britain, or the Soviet until the day when there is a commonwealth of socialized nations in Europe. Meantime, the terms of the Soviet concessions in the Baltic States and Finland should be com- pared with Hitler's terms in Czecho-Slovakia, Britain's in India and ours in Cuba. Our Democracy The question of the outcome of the moral emotions now being aroused against the Soviet also has another bearing. Here they are being translated into anti- Communism, and this is being used under the leadership of Dies in a new red hunt which promises, under other leadership, to be more intelligent, as well as more ruthless, than that under Mitchell Palmer after the last war. The foun- dations of our democracy are being assailed under the cry of saving it from the reds. Even if we manage to stay out of the war, it is clear that we have a con- tinuous and difficult job to protect our democratic rights from the massed at- tack of reaction, using war-time feelings for its dynamic. A later Bulletin will deal with this question. A Democratic Peace Those who seek a democratic peace must begin to work for it now. Because of the contribution of our economic resources to the allied cause, as well as be- cause of our security and our professed ideas, we have an obligation as a neu- tral to secure at the earliest possible moment a conference of all the interested nations to face the basic issues involved in the War. They are three: the end- ing of aggression and imperialist domination with restitution for the dispos- sessed nations and minorities ; disarmament ; meeting the economic needs of all nations by reciprocal arrangements. * ****** Our present protests to Japan are entirely in terms of our own trade interests and lead either to war or a compromising assent to Japanese control in China. * ****** In the event of an alliance between Nazi Germany and Soviet Russia the cry for a holy war would develop hysteria overnight. God is a more powerful sanction for modern mass slaughter than democracy. Mr. Johnson. I have an article entitled "Two Speeches by Kenneth Leslie." Mr. KuNziG- What is the date of the article ? Mr. Johnson. October-November 1942, the Protestant. The sub- ject of the article, The Second Front. This article was written after Hitler's attack on Russia, and it was in accord with the Connniniist Party's national campaign to compel America to go along with Soviet Russia on the opening up of a second front in Europe. COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES IX THE NEW YORK AREA 2243 Mr. KuN/Jo. I have this document marked "Manning Johnson Exliibit No. 2G,'' Mr, Chairman, and T offer it into evidence at this point. Mr. Clardy. It will be received. (The article entitled "Two Speeches by Kenneth Leslie" from the Protestant, October-November ldP2, was received in evidence as Man- ning Johnson Exhibit No. 2G.) Manning Johnson Exhibit No. 26 (The Protestant, October-November 1942, pp. 47-50) Two Speeches by Kenneth Leslie' THE SECOND FRONT In gangster tilm languiige Fascism is the o'ook district attorney who is using two gunmen from Murder, Inc. (the Japanese and German nationalists) to do the dirty heavy vporli on the modern liberal democratic world against which the Counter Reformation is aimed. After they have done their work they will be disavowed and double-crossed. Fascism plans to step in later on when the modern liberal democratic world is staggering from the attentions of the gun- men, and, strange as it may seem, to save the modern liberal democratic world from the gunmen — on one condition. The condition will be that it must renounce its modern ideas of liberalism, equality, democracy, and go back to the obedience, discipline, and authority of the pre-Reformation era. In this connection you must certainly have noticed the strange concert of propaganda drives exalting the virtues of obedience and authority for our youth and decrying the lack of discipline in our youth. That such propaganda was a libel on American youth has been amply proved by the nmgnificent discipline shown by American youth in the Army, in the Navy, in the factory, and in the merchant marine. This talk of discipline and obedience was brought here and planted here with Fascist money — the same money that financed Hitler. In other words, to go back to the Fascist plan whose pattern grows clearer every day — you, the people, will be saved by those who think they know what is best for you. You will not only be saved fi-om Hitler-Hirohito Murder, Inc., you will be saved from yourselves, the people. For you the people as the rulers of your- selves are the only enemies of those who would rule you. It is as simple as that. In America the people rule themselves through their President, in England through their Prime Minister. They are very fortunate and very wise to have elected Mr. Roosevelt and Mr. Churchill as their deputies. Both of these men can be trusted. You can depend upon them. But can they depend upon you? You can depend upon them to do your will only if they can depend upon you to let them knoiv what your icill is. Many ask : Why bother Mr. Churchill and Mr. Roosevelt about the war? They know better about it than you can possibly know. They have access to facts of which, for strategic reasons, you cannot have knowledge. They have at their elbows all the experts. They don't need your advice. Such an ob- jection is the objection of a Fascist. For, leaving aside the somewhat sensitive point about the experts (the ex- perts haven't fared at all well so far in this war), it is vital to the democratic cause that the democratic chiefs keep in touch with the people. And (follow this) it is vital to the Fascist cause that the democratic chiefs ai*e kept out of touch with the people. That's why I say this is a Fascist objection. Fascists who literally swarm in the democracies, using democratic methods and democratic language and democratic protective coloration are putting pressure directly and indirectly, visibly and invisibly, on our democratic chiefs who many times cannot recognize it and can hardly protect themselves from it if they could recognize it, because it comes so well protected and in such legally regularized forms. Legal citizens with Fascist hearts bring this pressure twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week. They are the famous fifth column ; they play for high stakes, no less than the undoing of the human gains of the past four hundred ^^^^— — ^— ■ III Ml M iFrora an address broadcast over WFIL, Philadelphia, August 3. 1942, arranged by the Philadelphia Protestant Associates. 33909— 531— pt. 8 4 2244 COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES IN THE NEW YORK AREA years ; tbey are thrilled with the thrill of titanic destruction ; they have waited long and hungrily for this great moment in which they will carry out the ana- thema against tolerance. Not only do American and British citizens bring this pressure but the ac- credited and befriended representatives in Britain and America of Fascist Spain and Fascist France and Fascist Finland also bring pressure. They bring pressure not only on our chiefs but upon us, the people, as well, confusing and bewildering us, but upon their own sorely tried people the Spanish, the French, the Finnish, who see us entertaining and befriending the representatives of Fascist power in those unhappy lands. They wonder why we have taken de- livery of these Fascists in the first place, and why, now that they are linown and ticketed and catalogued, we do not invite them to leave. The reason I say that our chiefs need pressure is that they get pressure from the other side to keep these agents here and if they could receive a little pres- sure from us who want them out of here, they would be sent out of here. Our chiefs are not supermen, not fuehrers, just our own deputies, and they very much depend on popular agitation for every move they make. Now I have mentioned the friendship, the anomolous friendship, the em- barrassing friendship we retain for Fascists who are supposed to be our enemies, and, I have not yet mentioned the topic named for these remarks. Namely, the second front, which should perhaps better be called simply our share of the war. The Russians are doing their share. This is admitted, even by their enemies. This is admitted by those who call themselves friends of Russia but who look on Russia only as a convenience and who inwardly hope that she won't become such a great convenience that she will prove to be an inconvenience. The Rus- sians are, in fact, fighting the Germans. This much is accepted. The Rus- sians have suffered heavy losses in men, land and material. Five million men, 600 thousand square miles of land (equal to the land in England, Germany and France), three quarters of its mineral production and the Ukraine wheatlands. [This was in August] More than .50 million Russians now live under the swastika. These terrible losses may be taken lightly in this counti-y. They may in- wardly comfort certain haters of the land of socialism. But they are nothing less than stark tragedy to the Russian people. How can we ask them to understand our friendship for Mannerheim of Finland who adds the weight of his Fascist army to their already unbearable woes? Can yon not see the Russian soldier, the Russian farmer, shaking his head slowly from side to side and saying to himself: "Second Front. Second Front. So much talk of a second front * * * yet how is this? Not only is there no second front * * * not only have we to bear the weight of the whole Nazi army but the Finnish army as well. They say they can't open a second front. They say they icant to but can't. What is it tlien that makes them support the Finnish front against us by recognizing the Finnish Government, long ago tied hand and foot to the Nazi scorpion? So you see how these questions are all part of the same question. Fascism is a world movement. A world conspiracy, woven in one pattern, of one cloth. Until we, the people, see this, we are lost, and rhetoric cannot save us. Not even the noble rhetoric of Henry Wallace. We do not yet see it. The problem of the opening of the second front is one part of the whole problem of the world anti-Fascist war which is still not being made. We are chasing the gunmen while entertaining the crooked district attorney in our home. And even if we beat Hitler and Hirohito, the killers, we shall not have helped ourselves the least bit if in doing so we make any commitments to the polite district attorney Fascist who let them loose on us in the first place. With regard to the military aspects of opening a European land front against the axis, it naturally behooves a lavnian to talk with diffidence and caution. Only the extreme urgency of the situation forces amateur opinion to express itself. As I have indicated. I do not believe it is skill we lack. It is will we lack. And that is my chief concern here today. But even the most skillful professionals sometimes get so close to their problem that they lose their i)er- spective. Moreover, although they may think their politics does not influence them, it does. This political bias was clearly indicated when they predicted that Russia would fold up before the Nazi drive last year. This was the mili- tary eye blinded by the political eyeglasses. COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES IN THE NEW YORK AREA 2245 So today I stress the political unity of Fascism whose agents and whose way of thinking are the unrecognized enemy in our midst and whose agents at least must be put out of our midst before we can save ourselves. It is true that there is a great risk in giving battle to the Nazis on European soil. We might be beaten. That is true of any battle. It is not the spirit in which the Russians fight. It is not the spirit in which the British Commandos fight. The Canadians will not open the second front in that spirit. They will go in to win. Their commander, General MacNaughton, knows exactly what he is up against. Yet he and they are anxious to get over and get it over. This risk which opponents of giving battle fear, is courted gladly by those who will have to bear the risk. Hitler's men, tougher, cockier than ever, if and when they turn West once more, having (the possibility must be faced) for the time being, stabilized their Eastern front, will let loose on the concentrated target of Plngland, an attack which it is horrible to contemplate. Before that happens, before that can happen, before they get the jump on us (as they have dcme so sickeningly often) and slaughter our boys in their British camps, let those boys have a chance to show their stuff. Now is the time, while Hitler's armies are caught deep in the Caucasus rat- trap, to spring the trap by opening the Western Front. Mr. Johnson. I would like to show to the committee an article from the Protestant, June-July 1942, Whose Property Is This War? by Kenneth Leslie, in which he calls for the making of Timoshenko, the Russian military commander, commander in chief of the whole allied forces. Mr. KuNziG. I have this marked "Manning Johnson Exhibit No. 27," Mr. Chairman, and offer it into evidence at this point. Mr. Clardy. It will be received. (The article. Whose Property Is This War? from the Protestant, June-July 1942, was received in evidence as Manning Johnson exhibit No. 27.) Manning Johnson Exhibit No. 27 (The Protestant, June- July 1942, p. 4) Whose Property Is This War? By Kenneth Leslie TIMOSHENKO FOB ALLIED CHIEF If in the last war, the so-called great war, it became necessary to forge a uni- fied command under the chieftanship of Marshall Foch, it becomes all the more necessary in this war, because of its even more complicated nature and its global character, to achieve a similar single coordinating head. The people are watching very carefully the materialization of the promised second front. It could be opened just too late. It could be opened just too little. Big business is as yet not quite willing to gear its effort wholeheartedly with Russia, and therefore the gears of the global war are with monotonous repetition being stripped to the bone-crushing tune of too little, too late. Any projected second front, in order to be honestly effective, must be geared to the Russian front for both military and political reasons. For political reasons, because Russia is the only country without fifth and sixth columnists. In other words, Russia is where Hitler first found all-out resistance, and therefore the people of the world, while in nowise withholding their undying gratitude to the heroic defenders of Madrid and Chunking, must look upon Russia as the champion anti-Fascist fighter. For military reasons, because so far Russia alone has been able to speak the new military language of Germany, having learned it at a time when British and American military experts were still fumbling with its ABC's. Since the fronts must be coordinated it appears elementary that the coordina- tion should be directed by the man most experienced in German war tactics and of most proven ability to cope with them : That is General Semyon Timoshenko, who would appear, therefore, to be the logical choice to head the Supreme Mili- tary Command of the United Nations. 2246 COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES IN THE NEW YORK AREA Let Timoshenko fit the driving shaft to the tread of the allied war machine, and it will move smoothly and swiftly upon the Axis and will bury it deep in the bowels of the earth where its stench will fade from the memory of men. Mr. Johnson. I would like to give you also a quotation from the Protestant, December-January 1942. The subject is God's Red Army, I quote : It is not because Russia has saved us that we thank God for the Red Army. It is not even because Russia has saved for us the opportunity to save ourselves. Indeed, it is not because of anything to do with us either individually or na- tionally. It is simply because of what Russia is and because of the quality of the Red Array itself, the spiritual quality of its soldiers, the way its soldiers feel toward its people, the way its soldiers feel toward their enemies — this is why listening to our inmost voice we hear ourselves thanking God for the Red Army. Mr. KuNziG. I have this document in hand, Mr. Chairman, and offer it as Manning Johnson exhibit No. 28 into evidence. Mr. Clardy. It may be received. (The quotation "God's Ked Army," from the Protestant, December- January 1942, was received in evidence as Manning Johnson exhibit No. 28.) Manning Johnson Exhibit No. 28 (The Protestant, December-January 1942, pp. 2 and 3) God's Red Army "Timoshenko" — Password to Sanity "Russia has shown wisdom in the distinction she consistently and conspicu- ously draws between Hitlerite Germany and the German people." — Bishop of Chichestek. "Our Red Army men know what they are defending. They are defending the youngest country in the world, the land of youth. We are the first in the world to construct a society based not on greed but on the cult of labor, on creative activity, on human solidarity. "We defend the land of real culture against barbarism. Dr. Goebbels once said : 'The printed word nauseates me.' Our reply was to publish Goethe's works in 700,000 copies in eight languages. "I saw German fascists humiliating Frenchmen in Paris. In Warsaw they destroyed the monument of the great Polish poet Mickiewicz ; in our country his poems are published in hundreds of thousands of copies. In our country Kirghiz actors come to Moscow. Jubilees of Armenian and Georgian poets are celebrated throughout our land. It would never occur even to a hooligan to offend anyone because of his nationality. "Our youth is defending the great cultural heritage of Russia against the maniacs who measure genius and heart by the shape of the skull. Our youth is fighting for our land, for our liberty. They are fighting also for the liberty of the world. They are fighting for human dignity. They are fighting for the rights of Paris, desecrated by the executioners, for the University of Prague, for proud Norway, for the huts of the Serbs, for the Acropolis." — Ilya Ehrenbourg. It is not because Russia has saved us that we thank God for the Red Army. It is not even because Russia has saved for us the opportunity to save ourselves. Indeed, it is not because of anything to do with us either individually or nationally. It is .simply because of what Russia is and because of the quality of the Red Array itself, the spiritual quality of its soldiers, the way its soldiers feel toward its people, the way its soldiers feel toward their eneraies. This is why, listening to our innermost voice, we hear ourselves thanking God for the Red Army. In fact there are those who put it the other way around : they thank the Russians for renewing their faith in a God they had begun to doubt. One writes-. "They have sure pulled nie out of some tough spots. IMy circle of wolves is small and for that very reason close and ready. When things look black I say a word to myself, 'Timoshenko.' It is a password to sanity." COMJMUXIST ACT1\1TIES IN THE NEW YORK AREA 2247 This is so true. There are many dark spots on tins dark earth which the sacrificial blood of these selfless Soviet soldiers has brighteued and redeemed. The Vansittarts and the Duff Coopers of England who repeat the old anti- German racism to cover their own race egotism should stand in sliame before the armed citizens of the Soviet. For the Soviet men spurn such criminal stupidity and regard the German soldiers as their temporarily misguided brothers. So too the American racist, curbed by the words and actions of that bravely wise woman, Eleanor Roosevelt, may study to advantage his new ally. There are some things he must learn from his Russian brother in arms if both are to live in one world, not white, nor colored, but human. It would be embarrassing for an American to find himself talking about "tlie yellow bastards" and to turn around and find a Red soldier reproving him for liis fascist mentality. "Remember Pearl Harbour" is a poor slogan for the effort of this nation. Those who are acting on this slogan and those it took such a slogan to unite are those who fight only on the lowest level, the level of mere survival. Surely we can do better than this. "Remember Chungking" for instance would mean that we remembered the 10,000 "Pearl Harbours" we made possible in China during the four years we dispensed oil and junk to the perpetrator of those 10,000 "Pearl Harbours." A long way it is to the lost and buried and forgotten conscience of our Western World. But best of all might be "Remember our humiliating exclusion of the Japanese." We can only be forgiven our trespasses if we remember that we trespassed. Mr, Johnson. I would like also to submit to you an article from the Protestant, April 1939; the subject, "Why Not Be Fair to the Soviet Union ? " by Jerome Davis. Mr. Clardy. That, I assume, to further identify it, is just another twist in the party line. Mr. Johnson. Yes. I specifically wish to call the attention of the committee to the last 5 paragraphs. Mr. KuNziG. I have this document marked "Manning Johnson Ex- hibit No. 29," and I offer it into evidence as Manning Johnson exhibit No. 29, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Clardy. It will be received. (The article. Why Not Be Fair to the Soviet Union? from the Protestant, April 1939, was received in evidence as Manning Johnson exhibit No. 29.) Manning Johnson Exhibit No. 29 (The Protestant, April 19.39, pp. 57 and 58) Why Not Be Fair to the Sov^ET Union? [Excerpt] By Jerome Davis Christianity has for nearly two thousand years proclaimed its high ideals to the world. The Sermon on the Mount, if it was actually carried out would shatter and supersede our existing capitalistic system. Yet after two thousand years we still have lynchings in the United States, gross exploitation of labor, and even shootings in the back of innocent workers by the state. Communism has perhaps come nearer to bringing in equality and justice for the common working class in twenty years than the Czar's Christianity had in centuries. Let us recognize then that given another hundred years Russia may make some progress towards more freedom of expression. She may perhaps modify her drastic treatment of opponents. At least as Christians confronted with the horrible crimes of wars supported in the name of Christianity we can hardly afford to throw stones. Strange as it may seem the Soviet Union has a more consistent peace record than any other nation. It has offered completely to disarm to any point on which the other nations can agree. It is the Christian nations that have blocked dis- armament. 2248 COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES EST THE NEW YORK AREA Her successes have come because she has struggled to abolish exploitation and bring in justice for the working class of the world. In doing this she has met with violence from the so-called Christian forces and her philosophy is to meet violence with violence, if that is necessary. Nothing that has here been said is intended to imply that no serious evils exist within the Soviet Union, but rather that in the endeavor to bring about inter- national peace and good will, we ought at least to understand one another. Those who genuinely understand the Soviet Union will go back to their own countries, determined to do all in their power to end exploitation and bring about justice- at home before they begin to throw stones abroad. Dr. Jerome Davis, who taught for thirteen years at the Yale Divinity School, is again taking a very select group to Europe this summer for the Bureau of University Travel. The group will visit eleven countries, interviewing the leaders in the governments as well as taking in the major points of interest. Last summer, in London, the group met with Malcolm McDonald, British Minister of Colonies ; spent an evening with Professor Harold Laski of the London School of Economics ; conferred with the well-known author, G. D. H. Cole ; and heard the Foreign Minister, Lord Halifax, The total cost of the trip. New York to New York, is $695, including all expenses. The cooperative movement will be studied in Denmark and Sweden. All those interested should write immediately to Dr. Davis at 489 Ocean Avenue, West Haven, Connecticut, for further information, since the number who can go is limited. Mr. Johnson. I have one further amazing example, Mr. Clardy, that I would like to give to the committee. It purports to be a letter from one Daniel James, theoretically a sailor in the United States mer- chant marine, written to Christ, dated Murmansk, U. S. S. R., May 10, 1942. This is a photostat from the Protestant, pages 38 and 39 in the October-November issue of 1942. The article purports to show that all is milk and honey in Russia, and that in Russia is the new rebirth of freedom and religious purity such as is associated with Christianity. Mr. KuNziG. Mr. Chairman, I have this document in my hand marked "Manning Johnson Exhibit No. 30," and I offer it in evidence at this time. Mr. Clardy. It will be received, even though it is almost a sacrilege to bring it into the record. Mr. KuNZiG. It certainly is. (The article from the Protestant, October-November 1942, appear- ing on pages 38 and 39, was received in evidence as Manning Johnson exhibit No. 30.) Manning Johnson Exhibit No. 30 (The Protestant, October-November 1942, pp. 38 and 39) Meditation At Murmansk Daniel James was on the "Lahaina" when she was torpedoed in the Pacific^ spent 10 days in an open boat before reaching land, immediately shipped on another boat to Murmansk. That boat was bombed continuously for 10 days by German airplanes. It was after this experience and while Murmansk was under hourly bombing that the following letter was written. Murmansk, USSR May 10, 1942 Dear Christ : After your death new continents and lands were discovered. Cities grew and man's mind grew with them, and learned to comprehend many of nature's mys- teries. COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES IN THE NEW YORK AREA 2249 Great churches made of carved stone and stained glass, small humble churches of wood and clay, and the church out in the clearing with a stump for a pulpit, they were all used as places to pass on to others your teachings. They called it Christianity after you. Man today, however, is still pretty much the man you knew. Christianity, since your time, has been through hard straits as well as periods in which it flourished. In some countries it became too powerful ; all meaning and thought behind your teachings was lost, and in your name, Jesus, fraud, lies, murder, promotion of schemes to rob honest men of their bread and to keep them ignorant, promotion of schemes to create war and betrayal, they were all committed in your name. Millions of good people have been deceived by the Church. "Through our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ * * *," an expression it uses ; behind those words plans that made poor working men starve and inno- cent children to learn evil and hatred, were veiled. My home is in America, a relatively new country, one that was discovered only 400 years ago. Tonight, and for a little while, I'm living in Soviet Russia, a land 5,000 miles from home. The whole world is at war now. Twenty-five years ago the world was in another war. When the dust of battle had cleared, the world looked and saw a new Russia, one in which there was no church . . . I was taught to believe that this land of Russia was a pit of hell, in which men starved, children walked in bare feet, and women were reduced to the level of some gear in one of our new machines. It was a Godless country in which people walked the streets with sad and hungry faces. The teachers, the newspapers, and friends did not tell me the truth. It is a Godless country in that the Church is not recognized as it is in other places and your name is not used as a screen for evil. These people call their gov- ernment Communism. In your doctrine I see a marked similarity to the con- stitution of these people. You, Christ, were the first to really preach the brother- hood of man. You were the first Communist. There have been many real Com- munists since your time. They were individuals. Here the great masses are composed of Communists. A woman is as good as a man here. One was the Captain of a ship that came in today. Another is directing the men who are unloading the ships. The people have the necessities of life such as food, a home, and clothing. Luxuries they lack because of the war. All walk and work with determination as though they were going someplace and had a real job to do, one that is their own, one affecting themselves. There is singing and laughter such as one would find among a contented people. All in all, one can say that these people have something to live for and they know it. The rest of the world has been taught and bred to hate Communism and to associate the word with savagery, butchery, barbarism, hunger, and human de- gradation. And the very word implies man living with man as brother living with brother. Well, Jesus, I've written about enough. I just thought that you would like to know that since your death, while you have been crucified in many countries and on many pulpits, far worse than that time on Calvary Hill, your spirit has been reborn in a great people whether consciously or unconsciously. They do not speak of you nor is your name mentioned. All you have is the great happiness of seeing carried out your principles of brotherhood and justice among men on earth. May the rest of the world's workers lift up their eyes to Russia. So long, Daniel James, Sailor in the U. 8. Merchant Marine. Mr. Johnson. I would like to submit to the committee an article in the Protestant entitled "Poison Well and the Dean's Book," in which they advocate all ministers should read the dean's book; that is, the Red dean, Hewlett Johnson, entitled, "The Soviet Power." Mr. KuNziG. I have this document marked "Manning Johnson Exhibit No. 31," Mr. Chairman. I now offer it into evdence at this time. Mr. Clardy. It will be received. (The article, Poison Well and the Dean's Book, from the Protestant, was received in e\ddence as Manning Johnson exhibit No. 31.) 2250 COIVIMUNIST ACTIVITIES IN THE NEW YORK AREA Manning Johnson Exhibit No. 31 (The Protestaut, October-November 1941, pp. 10 and 11) Poison Well and the Dean's Book Our ministers are one of our important opinion-making groups. They get their information necessarily and much of their viewpoint from newspapers and magazines and books. When the news is poisoned at the source, as for instance the news of Russia has been poisoned at the source during the past 20 years, the result is tliat our ministers all innocently and unwittingly have been giving their people false news and views. That is why we have recommended that the Dean's book, The Soviet Power, be read. The chief cry against the Dean's book is that it leaves out the dark side of the Russian picture — the ruthless purges, for instance, of those the Russians said were traitors but our organs of news and views said were simply anti- Stalinists. Now, criminally late, along comes Joseph E. Davies, who was American ambas- sador to Russia and who attended the treason trials in person. He confesses in the American Magazine (Dec.) he was wrong about them. He says he "missed the boat." He says they were treason trials. He says that through them the traitors and fifth columnists were weeded out in time. He says this is "the real story behind the Russian purges — and one of the chief explanations for the magnificent Russian resistance to the Nazi juggernaut." So those who have been hiding the Dean's book behind the bookcase can bring it out into the open now and read aloud the liberating truth that is in it. It has sold well over a million copies although this is not mentioned in the best seller lists. Read it. Pass it on. It clears the fog of the past two decades. It shows us Russia and it shows us ourselves. We will send you a bundle of 20 copies for the very low price of $1. Mr. Johnson, I would like to offer to the committee for their consideration a letter written by Anna Louise Strong to the editor of the Protestant, in the October-November 1941, edition. Anna Louise Strong, as you know, was editor of the Moscow News and was for years one of the most active agents for the Communist Inter- national. Mr. Claedy. Yes; we have considerable evidence in our records about her. and so do other committees. Mr. Doyle. Was her father Josiah Strong, a preacher? Mr. Johnson. Her father was a minister, I think, somewhere out in Nebraska. Mr. KuNziG. I have this document marked "JNIanning John.«;on Ex- hibit No. 32," Mr. Chairman, and offer it into evidence at this time. Mr. Clardy. It will be received. (The letter written hj Anna Louise Strong in the Protestant, Oc- tober-November 1941, was received in evidence as Manning Johnson Exhibit No. 32.) Manning Johnson Exhibit No. 32 (The Protestant, October-November 1941, pp. 105 and 106) Letters to the Editor I was delighted to read in this morning's paper of the statement that 1,000 Protestant clergymen have made about the U. S. S. R. I wonder whether you are aware of the extent to which the whole question of religious freedom is especially being used by the Vatican to force the country open to its missionaries. * * * Ever since the Tsar fell, and the Orthodox Church lost its strong political-religious head, the Vatican has hoped to annex the Orthodox Church. It has been training large numbers of priests especially for the purpose ; some of them are already in the German-occupied areas. They COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES IX THE NEW YORK AREA 2251 have a centuries-old dream of uniting the two great "Catholic" branches of the faith under Rome. What prevents them is the fact that Soviet law grants freedom of "worship" to the individual but no freedom of "propaganda" to the hierarchy ; it does not allow foreign missionaries to come in. Soviet citizens may worship as they like, and their right to so worship is implemented by granting them the free use of church buildings, etc., etc. However, the legal ownership of these buildings is vested in the municlpalit,y, and not in the hierarchy ; citizens get them in pursuance of their "right to worship" as citizens, and not as a result of any particular brand of faith. Therefore the Soviet property law acts as a decentralizing influence on the church, and prevents any hierarchy from using its control of property to enforce control of creed. This was from the first the chief cause of the fight between Kremlin and Vatican. * * * Today, the Vatican wants the right to send in missionaries, maintain parochial schools, etc. * * * A very small use of funds and personnel would "revive" a lot of rather moribund old churches, whose congregations find it hard to support their priests. Their pressure, plus outside world pressure, might even be used to revoke the property law and give the Vatican control of buildings. You will note that the Archbishop of Canterbury is not pushing the crusade for religious freedom. The Church of England has good fraternal relations with the Orthodox Church and doesn't want these complicated by a sudden influx of high-powered missionaries and funds from Rome. Anna Lotjise Strong. Nexo York, N. Y. [We are glad to have this word from Anna Louise Strong, but must correct its correction slightly. She says that "Soviet law grants freedom of 'worship' to the individual but not freedom of 'propaganda' to the hierarchy." Not only from the hierarchy does the Soviet law withhold freedom of propaganda but from anti- hierarchical (even antiecclesiastical) Baptists, most of whom are devoted sup- porters of the Soviet regime. There may be a reason for this, but of the fact there can be no doubt. I recently spoke to a large meeting of Armenians in New York. These Armen- ians were all small merchants and therefore not sympathetic to communism. Yet there was unanimity among them in the conviction that the Armenian Church was flourishing in Soviet Armenia. This state of affairs was attributed by the speakers (including an Archbishop) to the fact that their church is in no degree involved in political ambitions. — K. L.] Mr. Johnson. I have another article here from the Protestant which gloats over the passage of the atomic power from the "West to the East and is smug over the fact that Russia stole the atomic bomb, and the article speaks also in favor of Mao against the United States. It is in the January-February-March issue of 1950 of the Protestant, Mr. KuNZiG. I have this document in my hand and have it marked "Manning Johnson Exhibit No. 33," and I now offer it in evidence, Mr. Chairman, at this time. Mr. Clardy. It will be received. (The article from the Protestant, January-February-March 1950, was received in evidence as Manning Johnson exhibit No. 33.) Manning Johnson Exhibit No. 33 (The Protestant, January-February-March 1950, vol. VIII, No. 6, pp. 4-6) Tito and the Balance op Power Louis Adamic is one of the returning travelers from Yugoslavia (he is a native Yugoslav) who have become champions of Tito in his defection from the Russian side of the world struggle. In his paper Trends & Tides Adamic says he tried to get into Russia and told the Russian oflScials that he wanted to visit the Soviet Union before going any- where else because "in the making of peace her responsibility was equal to America's." Yet Adamic admits that the Unites States is "the world's greatest povp'er." Power carries responsibility. The greater the power the greater the 2252 COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES IN THE NEW YORK AREA responsibility. Therefore Russia's responsibility in the making of peace cannot be equal to America's. Another admission by Adamic: "* * * without her (U. S. S. R.'s) existence ■Communists could not have so much as dreamed of a revolution in Yugoslavia." An even more primary fact should be faced : The Soviet Union has been in a state of siege through the whole of her existence right down to the date on which you read these words. True, her influence and power have grown through the years. She is however, even with China and the bomb, not yet strong enough to balance the world coalition against her. When that day of balance arrives, and not before then shall we have the conditions necessary to begin to make order in the world. These conditions will be such a close approach to equality, industrial and military, between the two power blocs that one side will not be tempted to attack the other. Since at present the preponderance of power is on the American side it is obvious that the cause of peace is set back by each further accession of power to that side. That is why the defection of Tito to the American side is such a blow to peace. For we are still living in an era of power politics in which unbalance or pre- ponderance of one power group is latent war. Our destruction of Hiroshima was an act of war against Russia, to push her out of the Pacific. Our seizure of the Pacific bases was an act of war against Russia, the act of a power so awe-inspiring that the rest of the world, including Russia, opened its mouth and said nothing. The defeat of Germany, Italy, and Japan and the Civil War in China left great power vacuums. The allies of Russia, suddenly turned enemies, tried to fill these vacuums. Up to date they have control of Italy, Japan, and two-thirds of Germany. China they missed out on, but it will take time for China to get herself industrially organized. So that preponderance of power as of this instant remains with the American coalition. In other words Russia is not yet free from her state of siege. Her enemies are quick to take advantage of any opening. Their aim is clear. It is called containment. It is really elimination — destruction. Their organizations of espionage are constantly on the lookout for vv^eak spots in the ring of Russia's friendly nations. They prepare sabotage and defection. They bribe. They corrupt. They stir up counterrevolution. It was Chesterton who said that the principal objection to a quarrel is that it interrupts an argument. It is too bad that the United Nations Assembly could not be the scene of an argument between Vishinsky and the Yougoslav Bebler. But the premise of such an argument has been undermined. The premise of argument is mutual respect. Tlie Russian people respect the Yugoslav people, but they cannot respect a regime which Truman and Bevin are using against Russia, the only bulwark defending that same Yugoslavia from counterrevolution and conquest by Capitalism ! TWO JUSTICES The war today is a war between two justices. One is Capitalist and the other is Communist. One calls itself Christian and holds property sacred. The other calls itself materialist and holds human beings sacred. The war between these two is seen clearly in Italy where peasants are taking away property from big landowners and dividing it up among themselves. This is the ending of a long and fruitless argument. This is a difference resolved by force. And right here the same thing should be noticed that Adamic noticed about Yugoslavia and that Mao Tse-tung proclaimed about China. This thing could not have happened unless the Soviet had built a backlog of power behind it. Here is an example, one of many, of how the moral power of the Soviet Union is growing. The Gasperri government is moving to relieve land hunger in Italy in answer to the moral challenge of Communism. This kind of thing is happening all over the world. Right here in America there is a recent quickening of a long-lapsed movement to redress color discrim- ination. In this movement we are being forced by world public opinion to answer the challenge of the Communist victory over color discrimination. We say : Christianity theoretically knows no color discrimination. Shall we allow Com- munists to be better Christians than we are and to shame us before the non-Christian world? So we are morally paced by the Communists ! The same thing will some day happen to our "property justice" which protects the exploitation of labor for profit. This too will go on the defensive when the news gets out that people can enjoy life without exploiting each other. When this happens the war will be at an end. COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES IN THE NEW YORK AREA 2253 But today there is only force majeure, call it bullying if you like. Vishinsky said, "I hit you with facts, you hit me with votes." At last, however, one of Vishinsky's facts talked the language that bullies understand: Russia joined the ranks of the atomic powers. We have dealt with the meaning of that event in another place. It takes time for events to work out their moaning. And no one can predict exactly how they will work out. The important thing is to hold fast to the basic realities. In a world struggle such as is going on today, in which for the first time in recorded history there is a real chance for a great revolution to resist the tides of counterrevolution and "stay put," there is no room for any individual, nation, or regional group of nations to put its fate above the fate of the world. Let us never forget that the infant Spanish Republic was murdered in its cradle before the Soviet Power had tempered her steel in a terrible war and had become a great world power. Capitalist "civilization" sided with the murderers, took the risk of helping them perpetrate their crime because Russia at that time was in no position to prevent it. If you ask Mao Tse-tung why the Capitalist nations didn't do the same job on the Chinese Republic, he will tell you that it was because the Soviet power was absent from no battle of the Chinese Revolution, no skirmish however small. Not by sending soldiers or arms, but by being in the world, a strong threat to the political abortionists. It is Soviet Power which protects the integrity of Poland and the other peo- ple's governments today. It is Soviet Power which no whit less protects the Yugoslavs, as too it protects China and all the revolutionary peoples of Asia. The United States is, as Walter Lippmann says, "not in a position to overthrow Mao Tse-tung * * * to defend Hong Kong or to seal the borders of Indochina, Siam, and P>urma. * * * Any attempt on our part to rely on military power — particularly when we cannot exercise it in the area concerned — can result only in the destruction of our influence." There it is from a conservative who keeps his head on his shoulders. Don't interfere where you can't interfere. But he doesn't quite come clean with the why. That "why" is Soviet Power, the same "why" the new Chinese Republic is born and thrives. That is what Mao says. Perhaps it is not too late for the Yugoslavs to realize their mistake in letting go of the rock on which they founded their federation. Somehow, at whatever cost, they must get back there where they started. Mr. Johnson. That ends that part of it. Mr. Clardy. Let the record show we shall recess at this point until 9 : 30 a. m. tomorrow. ( Wliereupon, at 4 : 22 p. m., the hearing recessed to 9 : 30 a. m. Tues- day, July 14, 1953.) INVESTIGATION OF COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES IN THE NEW YOEK CITY AREA— PAKT 8 (Baf^ed on Testimony of Manning Johnson) TUESDAY, JULY 14, 1953 United States House of Representatives, Subcommittee of the Committee on Un-Aivierican Activities, Washington^ D. G. executive session^ The subcommittee of the Committee on Un-American Activities met, pursuant to adjournment, at 10 a. m., in room 225-A, Old House Office Building, Washington, D. C, Hon. Kit Clardy presiding. Committee members present : Representatives Kit Clardy and Clyde Doyle. Staff members present : Robert L. Kunzig, counsel. Mr. Clardy. Proceed, Counsel. Mr. Kunzig. All right. TESTIMONY OF MANNING JOHNSON— Resumed Mr. Johnson. I have here an article in my hand from the Protestant entitled "God and Starvation — a True Story by Cedric Belfrage." Mr. Kunzig. Is that the same Cedric Belfrage who appeared before this committee in New York in May of this year and took the fifth amendment, refusing to answer questions as to whether he had given espionage material to the Russians during the war as charged by Elizabeth Bentley in public testimony ? Mr. Johnson. Yes. Mr. Clardy. May I interject? As I recall, we asked him some ques- tions about his writing in the magazine in question, the Protestant, and I think he took the fifth amendment on that also. Mr. KuNziQ. Mr. Chairman, I have that in my hand, a photo- static copy of the article, entitled, "God and Starvation — a True Story," marked "Manning Johnson Exhibit No. 34," and I ask that same be admitted into the record. Mr. Clardy. It will be received. (The article, God and Starvation — a True Story, from the Prot- estant was received in evidence as Manning Johnson exhibit No. 34.) ' Released by the full committee. 2255 2256 COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES IN THE NEW YORK AREA Manning Johnson Exhibit No. 34 (The Protestant, October-November 1941, pp. 66-75) God and Starvation — A Teue Story (By Cedric Belfrage) " — Hefner vpent away." [CJondensed from two chapters of South of God, the Life of Claude Williajms, by Cedric Belfrage ; Modern Age, New York] "Yes . . . but it's my job to minister to all people. I can't take sides." "But don't you see that by your very silence you are taking sides? Siding tcith mealtli and property against the multitudes for whoru the Nas:arene stood?" « * ***** There was a strike in Fort Smith, Ark. Relief workers there had been getting 30 cents an hour and averaged 2 or 3 days' work a week. Some were only doing 12 hours a week. The funds to create these jobs came from Washington, but the administration of the work was in the hands of State authorities, under a governor who was a planter. These authorities had advised Washington that southern workers did not need as much relief as northern workers; they were used to wearing less and eating less. The rate of pay had to be fixed so low that it could not tempt the cotton slaves away from the plantations. And now the miners' union contract was about to expire; and it was planned to cut their wages again ; but in order to force the miners to take this cvit, relief -work pay had also to be reduced. The relief workers were told they would now receive 20 instead of 30 cents an hour. It was the last straw, and they declared a strike. The strike leader was a miner named Horace Bryan. There was a Govern- ment official there appointed to investigate destitution in the State. This man's name was Rev. Claude Williams of the Presbyterian Church. Bryan one day went to the jail to demand release of a striker who had been illegally arrested. Instead of releasing the striker they locked Bryan up with him. On the day before Bryan's trial Claude led a great hunger march through the streets of Fort Smith. Whites, Negroes, Mexicans, and Indians marched behind him singing hymns. The people of property in Fort Smith watched the faces of the marchers as they went by singing, and smelled trouble. The faces of the marchers said they were hungry even more plainly than the banners they carried, but the people of property saw only a band of cutthroats menacing law and order. It looked like revolution, and the word tightened the lips and hardened the hearts of all good citizens. The court was so jammed for the trial of Bryan that the architect of the court house was called in to announce it might collapse if some people did not leave. Nobody left. Nearly all the people in the court were strikers. They sat very quiet and silent. To ease the tension the judge offered some humorous and sarcastic remarks, but nobody laughed. Sweat beaded his flat brow and he looked increasing uneasy. Claude was summoned as a witness, but was put on trial as if he were accused with Bryan. The judge seemed to feel the atmosphere was not right for passing sentence on Bryan, and the verdict was postponed over the weekend. Bryan was allowed free on bail. After the session Claude applied to the judge for permission to hold a Sunday afternoon service for the strikers there in the court house. "I know it's an unusual request. Judge," he said, "but it would give these people something to do to prevent violence. It is bitter cold outside and they have nowhere else to go. It would keep the struggle on a high ethical basis." "You can keep your struggle on a high ethical basis in the ball park," said the judge. "But I'd advise you to leave these men alone." Claude held his service in the ball park. It was not actually freezing, but the great crowd of strikers who came to worship and hear Claude preach were sooa blue with cold, for they were half naked. The sheriff, mayor, and judge came with detectives and policemen and stood on the crowd's edge, snugly overcoated. The strikers, white and black and brown, prayed and sang together. The re- spectable ministers of Fort Smith had refused to attend the service, but five lowly lay preachers cooperated with Claude. COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES IN THE NEW YORK AREA 2257 A Negro preacher led the people in prayer. Claude preached on the text: "Wherefore criest thou unto me? Speak unto the children of Israel that they go forward." He said that it was the strikers' unshaken solidarity, not the fear of violence, that was giving the respectable citizens of Fort Smith the jitters. After the service he tried to speak to the sheriff and police to make them under- stand the peaceful intentions of the strikers. They walked away and would not speak to him. Next afternoon another hunger march was arranged. The strikers planned to meet for prayers in a field on the edge of the city, then march across town. In the morning the mayor sent a message that there must he no march. There was in effect a declaration of martial law. The strikers sent word back to the mayor: "This is America. We can march. If there is any law against it, it is unconstitutional." The mayor telephoned that gas bombs would be thrown to disperse any march, and hoses would be turned on the people. Claude replied that they would all be glad to take a bath together. The mayor said : "If this march is attempted, there will be bloodshed. There will be murder." Then Claude telephoned the police, telling them the route of the march and the number of marchers, and asking for protection. The mayor, he said, had threatened violence, but there would be no violence from the marchers. They intended to shed no blood. "There isn't going to be any march," the police chief said. "We're going to attempt it." "And we'll attempt to break it up." "That is probably to be expected." The strikers assembled, and Claude spoke to them from an improvised plat- form, on which an American flag had been placed. A poor preacher led the people in prayer. As they stood with bowed heads, a line of police cars drew up. The police chief with some men charged on to the platform, pushing the prayer leader and Claude to the ground, and knocking the flag askew. "Watch out for that flag !" said Claude. "To hell with the flag ! It's you I want." Claude urged the strikers : under no circumstances, whatever might be done to them, must they let themselves be provoked. If the hose was turned on them they must walk right through it. They must not carry so much as a pocketknife. Claude, Bryan, and the others were piled into a police car filled with guns and gas bombs. A policeman was clutching Claude with trembling fist as if he were some dangerous criminal. At the jail the men who had been arrested for praying on the public street to the God of the poor asked to see the warrants for their arrest. The police officials looked at them as if to warn them this was no time for the funny stuff, and put them into cells. Claude and Bryan were in a 14-by-lO foot cell with 6 others who introduced themselves as Mike Chibuski, Dennis Rome, Frank and Demas Ray, .Tack Brown, and Jimmle Reynolds. The boys were already used to jail routine and passed the time playing poker and talking sex. One of them had syphilis and another had gonorrhea. In a corner was a nouflushable receptacle, encrusted and undisinfected, for the use of all the guests. Some of the bunks were bare and some had filthy, sour-smelling pads and blankets. Lying about the floor were tin cups and spoons which, Mike Chibuski said, were passed down through the years without clean- ing. The floor was dirty and the unventilated cell was full of stifling dust. Later another guest arrived in the cell and reported what the boys were say- ing around town : that the vigis would be calling at the jail at 2 in the morning to take Claude and Bryan for a ride into Oklahoma. It sounded not improbable, but there was nothing they could do about it. Claude woke in the grey dawning and was surprised to find he was still there. Joyce was allowed to see him during the morning. She told him through the bars that their house had been raided during the night by the police who had warned her of worse to come. The whole city was a piece of tinder, she said, ready to flare up at the drop of a pink hat. People were acting as though pos- sessed by devils. In the afternoon Bryan was taken to court and sentenced to 6 months and a $500 fine. Then Claude and the others were called and charged with barratry, and their bail set at $1,200 each. The judge managed to crack off several good jokes during the brief business. 2258 COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES IN THE NEW YORK AREA Bryan was put in another cell, and Claude felt alone and depressed. Joyce had said she would be back before evening and she had not come, and he Kept thinking of the way the police had threatened her. His fears for her and tlie children combined with the uncertainty of his own position, wondering when the vigilantes might come to take him out for a ride, made sleep impossible. The dawn came grey and cold and he was still there. He had not slept at nil and he felt dirty. He needed a shave, and in order to get it he had to let the .jail barber use on liim the same razor he had been using on the syphilitic. He was allowed to take a bath, without any towel, in a filthy bathroom. He complained of the conditions to the sheriff, but the sheriff looked oddly at him for a minute and said he could not do anything. The day wore on. His attorney came with Joyce and said that during the night two of the relief workers who were trying to lead the strike had l)eeu taken for a ride by masked men, and threatened with lynching. When he was brought into the courthouse the building was filled with a great crowd of overalled workers with dirty, weary, hungry faces. All the people who had gathered for the hunger march were there, and hundreds more. They covered the courthouse square and steps, filled the lobby and the staircase lead- ing to the courtroom. Against the walls squatted Negroes and Indians, who had been waiting since early morning to see their preacher. The sight of the great crowd lifted Claude's spirit. The sheriff, whose breath was perfumed with whiskey, went through the press of Negroes and white trash, kicking them aside to make a lane. The courtroom was packed tight. The flat-headed .iudge, wearing a red tie, sat back in his chair and dribbled from the corners of his mouth. Forty or fifty vigilantes were packed in on either side of him. The jurymen were hard- bitten types, lean and vindictive looking. Tlie preacher looked about to see if any of his fellow ministers had come, but he saw only Rabbi Teitelbaum sitting near the front. A quick look of under- standing passed between him and the rabbi, who was evidently suffering, aware of his impotence. The court would not try the group of arrested men together. Chiude was taken first. He was public enemy No. 1 in Fort Smith. A feeling of calm settled upon him and that queer detachable part of himself flew up into the rafters and looked down impersonally on the scene, laughing. The trial was a buffoonery. The workers in the body of the court sat very still. The faces of the jurymen were hard like granite, except when the prosecuting attorney found some especially vile thing to say about Claude, when they nudged one another and grinned knowingly. The judge comfortable on his throne with the vigilantes about him, sneered humorous asides from time to time. Delighting in his role of defender of the faith against a devil in priest's clothing, the prosecuting attorney dramatized himself with shouts and stamping. There was little chance for Claude to say anything, but when he could, he answered the fantastic questions with dignity and wit. After 2 or 3 hours of it night had fallen, and there was a recess. One of the vigilantes walked up and down many times shaking his head and staring at Claude, as if to say : "We've got you where we want you now." The workers crowded past him and stood 10 deep at the rail, reaching for the preacher's hand and calling out: "Hi, Preacher ! Good work ! Keep it up." Claude strolled inside the rail, shaking their hands and joking with them. Finally the judge banged his gavel and shouted humorously : "Reverend Doctor Mister Williams! Will you set down? These ipeople have been mighty good so fur and I don't want you stirring them up !" The court would not allow any relevant evidence at all to be presented. It might as well be gotten over with quickly without bringing others into it. No defense witnesses were called. The jury found him guilty of barratry in less than 10 minutes. He was sentenced to 90 days and a $100 fine. Claude appealed the case and went back to jail with the sheriff. There was nothing to do but wait for his bond to be raised and accepted. He had kept up his spirit in court, but tlie jail was beginning to get on his nerves. The dirt and the stink of excrement and the talk of some of his cell mates, degraded by brutish social forces, nauseated him. The thought of his children, who might be without food and certainly were in danger, would not leave him. COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES IN THE NEW YORK AREA 2259 During the night a mad boy in the next cell began to do some extraordinary imitations of birds and animals. The prisoners yelled at him to stop, but he persisted, and linally Claude hi^ard the jailers go in and beat him. The mad boy was silent after that, but it was impossible to sleep. The boy's cries rang in his ears. As he had left the courthouse he had been able to sense the tension in the crowd ; he had read the vigilantes' faces and heard them nnitteriug threats, and he knew they were liable to come any time. They might be afraid to lynch him because of the inllueiilial friends they knew he had outside the State, and because he was a minister. But if the mob frenzy were great enough, such considerations would not stop them. His life hung perhaps in a scales and it was just a question whether hysteria or caution tipped the balance. Another dawn, and Claude was still unlyiiched. He began to think this danger was iiassing and maybe soon he might be able to have some sleep. When be bad i)een there 2 weeks and the authorities were still making dif- ficulties about bail, Claude decided to try and call the local nunisters' hand. He was a minister officially in good standing, shut up in a cell on a technicality of the law ; a mere $1,200 bond stood in the way of his liberation ; yet not one preacher of Christ in Forr Smitli had so much as come to the jail. Rabbi Teitel- baum had come, he had heard, to ask whether bail had been arranged. Accord- ing to Joyce, only one intluential man in the rabbi's congregation had been able to save him from violence which the citizens wanted to visit upon him for this action. Teitelbaum, the Jew, was risking much to act like a Christian. Claude asked his lawyers to call the ministers to the jail to see him. None came save Hefner, who as moderator of the Presbytery could not refuse the plain request. He was embarrassed at the meeting. He had never been inside a jail before and knew nothing of what went on. Claude asked him whether he could not help in the bonding matter without involving himself. "I don't know," Hefner said. "There are so many angles to it. I cannot sympathize with agitators. I don't see what they hope to accomplish, striking against the Government when they are on ?harity. It isn't a minister's place to lead strikes and stir up hatred. He must be a friend to all." "But we were in prayer when they arrested us. It was not we who stirred up trouble." "Yes — but it's my job to minister to all people. I can't take sides." "P>ut don't you see that by your very silence you are taking sides? Siding with wealth and property against the midtitudes for whom the Nazarene stood?" Hefner went away. By the 18th day, with his friends outside still working feverishly to bail him out, the jail was getting Claude seriously down. The noises and smells were like knives cutting deep into his brain, and he could not keep the cell walls from closing in on him to crush him; the sensation was so sharp that he almost cried out. A drunk had been brought in that evening and, to add to the din, he was yelling a mad song. The jailer went to a woman's cell, and everyone listened to the sound of the rubber hose on her body until her shrieks died away. It was the last night of Claude's postgraduate course in the pain of the despised and rejected. They took the woman out on a stretcher in the morning, still un- conscious. Soon afterward Claude's bail was paid and Joyce took him home. Legends about the Red preacher spread fast. A Paris friend of Claude's came into Fort Smith some days later. He went to see the judge who had finally allowed the bond, and asked where Claude was. "He's gone," the judge said. "We think he ought to be in hell, but we can't do a thing to him. He's got friends all over the world. I've a stack of telegrams that high on my desk from his friends all trying to meddle in Fort Smith affairs. ******* Mr. Jonxsox. That is an article about Claude Williams whom I knew when I was a member of the Communist Party, as a Communist. Mr. Cl.\rdy. That is tlie Reverend Claude Williams^ Mr. Johnson. Yes ; that is right. Mr. KuNziG. As long as we are on this subject, can you give us a bit of information from your own persotial knowledge about Rev. Claude C. Williams? 33909— 53— pt. 8 5 2260 COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES EN THE NEW YORK AREA Mr. Johnson. Yes. Rev. Claude C. Williams was a member of the Communist Party during the period that I was a member. He organ- ized what was knoAvn as the People's Institute of Applied Eeligion, an organization that was set up for the purpose of using the Scriptures as a means of inciting social rebellion; that is, the culling from the Scriptures of certain passages which could be interpreted to justify rebellion against the social system. He did that in a very devilish way in the sense that he tried to show that the Blessed Savior was a carpenter and a worker, and he rebelled against the conditions during His day, and that they should follow in His footsteps and rebel against social conditions in our day. In other words, he used the story of our Blessed Savior as a means to promote atheistic communism and revolution in the South and throughout the country. Mr. Clardy. I have noticed that that same technique is being em- ployed or has been employed by a number of others who have had their works brought together by a gentleman I shall leave unnamed at this juncture in the hearing. Mr. Johnson. That is quite correct. I have here a copy of the Daily Worker, Friday, July 10, 1953, in which there is one of the most sacrilegious cartoons of our Blessed Savior I have ever seen, and this is the type of cartoon that Claude Williams used to use to illustrate his lectures. Mr. Clardy. It seems incredible that that would be printed as recently as 4 days ago, this present time. Mr. Johnson. That is in connection with the admission that many ministers have joined with them in the defense of Communists and the signing of petitions and sponsoring front organizations that were set up by the Communist Party. Mr. Clardy. Am I not correct in saying that this is a copy of the cartoon that appeared in the first or early issue of the Protestant Digest or in connection with advertising that magazine ? Mr. Johnson. I do not recall. Mr. Clardy. The reason I ask is that the language beneath the picture — the picture may not be identical, but the language beneath it has a vague resemblance in my mind to something I have read about the things the Protestant used in advertising itself in some fashion or another in the early days, portraying Christ in the manner that you have indicated. COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES EN THE NEW YORK AREA 2261 BiiiU? tp«,rlf«r. New York. Friday, July 10. 19.'>3 PaCe 5 REWARD Tor I Nro«»>^/i'»»C'i« iCtOf^c To »wf APP«fH£NviON or — licsus Christ WaHTCO - rftl^ ScOtTfONi, CRV»A»rs() for the purpose only of putting in the record the names of the officers. State directors, and sponsors of the Peoples Institute of Ap- plied Religion. Mr. Clardy. It will be received. (The document referred to was received in evidence as Manning Johnson exhibit No. 36.) 2264 COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES IN THE NEW YORK AREA Manning Johnson Exhibit No. 36 APR 10 1942 ■rklPAKi tl TMI WAY Of IMt ftOHIi CAST Uf. CASt UP THI HlftHWATi 6AIMf» out THI STONIS: LIFT Vt A $IANDA«0 fOU TBI PEOHI." ISAIAH ililO PEOPLE'S INSTITUTE of APPLIED RELIGION 313 SOUTHIAST FIRST STREET EVANSVILLE INDIANA J»Mlt lUTMII ADAMl tllAHOI C. ANOtlSON PftANk C. ■AHCtOFT Cfloiic ictrtAttt WAllll • lltttMAM — HIMtlITT* eUCfMA$TH — tiCHAlD COW'OIT — MAlt A. DAWII« — MALCOLM C.OOItl— JAMIS OOMtlOWHI-- JOlirH P. ILI'CHlt — HIRMAM C. MAMM— CLIZA I |TM H I t t IH«— • yOMM »A«l JONII-^ C. IICWAJIO lUCM — JOHN MOWLAHO l.A^M■0^— HOWACO It 1*^ ^KCMMC^H LlStll-- CMAlLIS tlfcMtlOO*"" OONALO lOfHtO'^ 40t*H A. M,,CALIUM — C. ». M.«LINMAM-" Paul « . MAC »*^ HAIOLD P. MAIlIt-- $r A H L ^1 WATTHiWl'- mPIaNCIS i. M«CONHIll — H. lUtNITT u*6iWDFI " »JACK «. MtWICMAIL. Ji — ' CLTOI i. MlLLlt- JOJIPM 6 UOO>l L I I T O N port ,NIILL POTIAT- •IITH* C. iltNOLPl- Wlt SVDNlll tNOW' •.WIIII4W ■ iP0»»OtD- «IU'*M W*ll*CI lUlU**** - ALVA W. TArtOi' JOHN f. THOMPSON- CHANNINfi H, tOIIAS- WIILAID I. OPHAUS- ««I|6CI1 VL«S*01- .MAttr ' . WAID- I.TND WAiD' C»<*PLIt C. Wlllll' OWIN H. WHiTfllLD- StDNII ■ wilLIAMi- CHAltlS C WIIJOM- •M A I I I • A N^- flllO LIACIftS A . I . C ^ M P I I I i-* a 0 lilt 0. (HUMPtir- iONAlD L. W|(T' • I o • • ; » LAwaiMCI iAT' OCLaMOma WILLIAM L. •LACiSrONI" OAMICk C. WliLIAMt' H , • 1 ■ O W ■ ( WIlllAH DitftlV HAitr Koect- LIONAHe M. sill* 'CLAUDE C. WILLIAMS D t ■ ■ C 1 O I _il^ WINIFRED L. CHAPPELL PIILO IIPIItaHfAflVf wEDNA JOYCE KIN6 OPPICI tICttTAIt April 9. 19'»2 Hr. Max Bedacht Intnrnatlonal "orkers Order __ 60 Fifth A»e, Now York ' Dear llr« Bedaehi- A* yau suggaatf I am putting Into tirlting b; request for a con- tribution froB the International *orkera Order, tonard the t^OO that the forthconlne ' Institute" of the People'a Institute of Applied religion alll cost> I eneloae a program ( which you ea« In another form) and *lth It a little ItC'S IfO of our diacuaslon leaders at thle Inatltute. I eneloDO also a general communleution from Olaude Vllllama, Director of the People'a Inetitute; and a letter from one of our rural preuch- ert) illustrating how the program gets into action among the people toward the ends that we uo earnestly aeek« The Dixie emagogues use the Bible among the religiously-.condltloned folk of the " Bible Belt" toward unoocial ends. The People'a Institute Is using the Bible-- legitimately— to lead the people tosard Democracy* You will see by the letterheud that most, though not all, of our sponsors are church Icudars" It is the firm conviction of Claude tllllana that the church people, sinio the 8hrteti«n ^hurch'haa been the chief tinner in nronoting unti-Semitism should bear the respon- eibility of aupportir.?; finaiiciall) our work »hich is directed against atiti- ^ecitism und raciso:* But aa a mekber of the r*0 und one «ho knows itjbroad social Interaet, 1 am taking the liberty o/ uppeuling to you for help. 1 oanthmiik of ns tore uaoful place to invest a little money than in thio institute fron which — as from each of our former oneo- »ill £0 men vho »ill. use their Bibles to«ard meeting the brei^d- ttr.d..meit proble^ of Ihe people; und toward leading them in the effort for national unity ogsinat Hitler and Hltlerism, abroad and here ' Since re lyq> t. Chappell ' *inifred i.. ''happe 1J6 E 17, New York, N.Y. 0r5-9a51. COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES IN THE NEW YORK AREA 2265 ;Mi'. Clakdy. I think it has vahie in demonstrating that these movements have drawn into them some good people along with those that we know to be Communists. Mr. KuNziG. You will note the name of Dr. Harry Ward is on there. Mr. Clardy. Who has been identified as a Communist. Mr. KuNziG. There are the names of Jack McMichael, who has been identified as a Communist; Winifred Chappell, and others. Mr. Clardy. Also Max Yergan. Mr. Johnson. I would like to mention in this connection that the People's Institute of Applied Religion was one of the most important Communist-front operations operating in the South, because in order to get around the difficulties that stood in the way of a Communist organization of a rebellion in the South, the}^ used religion as a cloak to reach the masses of the South who lived by the Book and believed in the Book, taking as they did scriptures from the Bible and twist- ing them around in order to incite social rebellion in the South. Mr. Doyle. May I ask this, is Rev. Claude Williams a Negro or white? Mr. Johnson. White. Mr. Doyle. About what proportion of this list of persons that Mr. Kunzig identifies here as Manning Johnson Exhibit No. 36, are Negro or white? Mr. Johnson. I do not know. Mr. Doyle, The reason I ask that is because you specified they were working in the South. Mr. Johnson. Yes; they were working in the South, using the religion to stir up Mr. Doyle. I know you stated that, but I am interested to know, because they were working in the South, what their policy was to using Negroes or whites. Mr. Johnson. Both Negroes, whites, Mexicans, all nationalities in the South. Mr. Doyle. ^Vl^at is the status of this People's Institute of Applied Religion now? Is it still in existence, and active? If not, when did it stop ? Mr. Johnson. I do not know exactly when or if the institute was discontinued. I do know that during the period of my membership in the party Mr. Doyle. Have they been active since you stopped being active? Mr. Johnson. I am not in a position to state. Mr. Doyle. Did you know of it being active after you stopped being active in the Communist Party ? That is a plain question. Do you know of any incident where it functioned after you stopped being active in the Communist Party ? Mr. Johnson. I am not aware of any of its activities after my leaving the party. I am only testifying in connection Mr. DoTLE. Do you know of any activity after you left the Com- munist Party of the People's Institute of Applied Religion, or has it been dead several years? That is what I am asking, as far as you know. Mr. Johnson. Just a moment. I might have something on that. 2266 COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES IN THE NEW YORK AREA Mr. Doyle. I think it is important, Mr. Chairman, that we have the status of this. Mr. C^^^RDY. Yes; if the witness knows. Of course, he has indi- cated that his knowledge ended as of the time he ceased being a mem- ber, but if he does liave something, I would like to have it in the record. Mr. DbYLp.. I just kind of assumed that the witness' interest in Conmiunist activities has continued, or he would not be liere today. Mr. KuNziG. Off the record. (Discussion off the record.) Mr. Clardy. Witness, rather than your going through that volumi- nous file at the moment, let us move on to something else and come back to that later. Mr. KuNziG. Mr. Johnson, before we leave this point I note that the name Harry Ward has appeared in so many of these various organizations and groups. It seems as if there is almost an interlacing tieup of one to the other, not in any one particular religious sect or denomination, but through various sects and denominations. Have you any comment to make on this situation ? Mr. Johnson. Yes; I have. Dr. Harry F. Ward, for many years, has been the chief architect for Communist infilti'ation and subversion in the religious field. Mr. Clardy. That, you think, explains why we find his name turn- ing up in practicallj^ all of the Communist-front or Communist organizations. Mr. Johnson. Absolutely correct. Mr. KuNziG. ]Mr. Johnson, when we were discussing the magazine Protestant Digest, later called the Protestant, you testified that it generally followed the Comnumist line throughout the years. How, do you know, were they tipped off with regard to this Communist line? How would they know what to write about? I ask this question because I know just this morning, to bring the matter down to date, that the Daily Worker finally commented on the fall from grace of Beria. It took them 3 or 4 days to find out what the line was, and until they found out, they did not dare print anything, so where did the magazine such as the Protestant Digest get their line? Mr. Johnson. The line comes down from Moscow to the Politburo of the National Committee of the Communist Party and from the Politburo of the National Committee of the Communist Party it goes doAvn to the Communist Party fraction in the many front organi- zations of the solar system of organizations of the Communist Party and the Communist fraction inside of each of these organizations carries out the line. That is how the line comes down from Moscow to the lowest organization of the Communist Party. A clear indication and example of how the Communist Party policy in the religious field is handed down and reflected in the Protestant Digest and in all of the other activities of the Comnumist Party in the religious field may be clearly illustrated in an article by Raymond Guyot, who was a leader of the Young Communist International and a member of the Communist International, writing in the Young Communist Review in September 1939, on the subject, I quote : "The Communist Discusses Christianity." This is the most revealing article on how to exploit Christianty, brotherhood, the peace sentiments, etc., among religious people to COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES IN THE NEW YORK AREA 2267 convince them of the need of accepting the policy of the program of the world Communist movement. Mr, Clardy. Do you care to have that marked as an exhibit ? Mr. KuNziG. Yes, Mr, Chairman, I have it marked as "Manning Jolinson Exliibit No, 37," and I should like now to offer it into evidence, Mr, Clardy, It will be received. (Article, A Communist Discusses Christianity, from the Young Communist Review, September 1939, was received in evidence as Manning Johnson exhibit No. 37.) Manning Johnson Exhibit No. 37 (Young Commuuist Review, September 1938, pp. 8-10) A Communist Discusses Christianity THE ADDKESS TO THE COMMISSION ON RELIGIOUS AND PHILOSOPHICAL BASES OF PEACE AT THE SECOND WORLD YOUTH CONGRESS (By Raymond Guyot) I am very glad to find here a number of prominent members of Christian or- ganizations who tooli part in the Third Commission at Geneva, The Third Com- mission is called Commission C here, but its work is the same. Terrible evils — above all, war — are threatening and already ravaging mankind. In face of these, Young Communists throughout the world have shown a spirit of understaudiiig which has won praise. Neither denying nor underestimating that which may or does divide us, we have nevertheless placed in the foreground that v.'hich may unite us, and through this we have made it possible to carry on joint activity to save manliind from the shame of retrogression and destruction. The experience of 2 years has been conclusive. Life has given an affirmative answer to the statement that "it is impossible to reduce these positions to a common ideology. But that does not prevent youth of all opinions from collabo- rating for the defense of peace," (Report of Geneva Congress — IlIrd Commis- sion, p. 18G.) The religious world, and, I may add, the leaders of the Church in ever-growing numbers, are henceforth convinced of the sincerity of the Communists when they offer their cooiieration in face of the common danger. Thus our sincerity, our loyally, our efforts to reach an understanding authorize us to init a question in our turn, a question that might be formulated in this way: "Does not the refusal to take the hand stretched out by the Communists mean in reality acquiescence in the triumph of violence and war in the world?" I fell (sic) sure that the doubts and confusion are going to disappear once and for all, and that cooperation is going to make still more decisive progi-ess. And the reply that we shall give to the issues raised at this Congress will depend a great deal on this point of view, I would like now to make my modest contribu- tion to this noble cause. We think that the highest good, demanding the ultimate loyalty of all human beings, consists in the happiness of mankind. The Comnnmists affirm that the haiipiness of mankind is identified with the collective building of a peaceful life Avhich will allow the free and far-reaching development of the individual per- sonality. Sncli a life is possible only in a society where there is no exploitation of man by man. For the Communists, the happiness of mankind is a conquest, demanding sacrifices that mankind is forced to make in a war of conquest. Our heroism is of a \ ery different nature from the so-called heroism of the warmakers. Man's happiness and the means of attaining it have been the goal to which all that is best and most proiiressive in mankind has aspired. In our day, too, progressive individuals and groups are striving after the happiness of mankind and, under one form or another, identifying this ideal with the highest good. This should he considered as a very important position shared hy Communists and by other progressive forces in the world today. The aggressions uideashed by those who may be called the instigators of war constitutes the gravest attack upon the welfare of mankind, not only as regards its immediate results, but also as regards its future. 33909— 53— pt. 8 6 2268 COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES IN THE NEW YORK AEEA The World War of 1914-18 did not contribute anything to the happiness of mankind. On the contrary, it destroyed 10 million human lives, ravaged vphole countries and swallowed up immense riches. With regard to the question of patriotism, we should draw a distinction : there is a so-called patriotism, one of the (sic) ideological forms of fascism, which, preaches war in order to bring other countries under its yoke. We call this "false patriotism"— chauvinism. In reality, there is only one patriotism which is true and healthy and which, established on the rights of nations to inde- pendence, will tolerate no attack on the independence of its people. Chauvinism turns its back on the happiness of mankind. For chauvinism there is no highest good "common to all human beings." The chauvinism of our day places in opposi- tion to the moral principle of human happiness certain subhuman principles: brute force as "the absolute good," and racial theory as "the only truth." In the name of these principles chauvinism "which has now found a crude form in fascism" is trying to create a war psychology among the younger gen- eration whom it influences by "educating it" to scorn all that is not "my race" and "my war strength." The healthy sentiment of patriotism "which has nothing in common with chauvinism" may — under certain circumstances — condition the action of nations and individuals. Has a country threatened by or subjected to aggression the richt to mobilize the resistance of the people on the basis of patriotic feeling? Clearly it has the right. And in using this right it is not betraying its loyalty to the" highest good, but on the contrary affirming this loyalty. In defending their national independence, the Ethiopians, the Spanish and the Chinese, filled with love of their country, are working for the happiness of mankind. Indeed, in these cases the happiness of mankind is threatened with annihilation for the Ethiopians, the Spanish and the Chinese— that is to say, for a considerable part of mankind. While those who are seeking to annihilate it are those very persons who believe that force in its most brutish form and pride of race in its most repulsive aspect, constitute the highest good. In summary : (a) A highest good — the happiness of mankind — unites all progressive forces, whatever their religion. (b) Chauvinism cannot govern the action of individuals without destroy- ing loyalty to the highest good, which consists in the happiness of mankind. (c)'The healthy sentiment of patriotism, when a nation defends itself from aggression, is in accord with loyalty to the highest good. Solidarity, devotion to the common welfare of humanity, is interpreted by us as the old rule of human solidarity— all for one and one for all. The youth cannot remain indifferent to the fact that in consequence of the war policy of Germany, Italy and Japan, hundreds and thousands of people are Shedding their blood in Spain and China, and among them large numbers of young men and women. Youth must know for whose benefit the war is being waged. Is this war being waged for the benefit of progress and culture, in the name of the emancipation of the human personality, in the name of a new life of happiness for all human society? No, this war is being waged in the name of an imperialist policy. War is taking place because r^ascist Germany, Italy, and Japan are seeking to conquer new colonies and to enslave more free nations. The Catholic youth will realize that this is true when considering the occupation of Austria, to which fascism has brought nothing but servitude and oppression. They will realize it in con- sidering the words of the Fascist leaders themselves. What have the wars in Spain, Abyssinia, and China brought? The wars have Irought death to peoples and the massacre of defenseless women and children. This war has brought outrage to the human personality. War destroys culture and all the progressive achievements of mankind. In spurning all notions of freedom of thought and faith, of the sacred tradi- tions of mankind, the Fascist aggressors are destroying everything that human culture and progress have built up. They do not even hesitate to make use of churches for their ends. . The war carried on by the Fascist aggressors brings extermination ot the highest good, of the free personality. The peoples of Spain and China are fighting not only for their independence but for world peace, and the need for the international solidarity of all peace- loving humanity becomes daily more evident. The principle of solidarity must therefore be applied in the interests of peace and justice. COMJVIUNIST ACTIVITIES IN THE NEW YORK AREA 2269 Solidarity cannot be abstract. It must be concretized in action. Today the active solidarity of peace-loving youth towards the victims of the war must have two aims : (1) Bring pressure to bear on the governments in order to bring to an end the injustice which deprives Republican Spain (victim of the Italo-German oppression) of the possibility of procuring means for her defense. (2) Humanitarian aul for the victims whose lot has aroused the deepest emo- tion throughout the civilized world : the women and children. (Sending of milk, medical supplies, warm clothing, shoes, etc.) What we Communists call solidarity coiTesponds more or less with what Christianity calls charity. We do not wish to enter upon a critical discussion with the Christians on the different content of the two principles, but on the contrary to find out the basis common to both. Christian charity, for instance, goes out to tlie weak, to the victims of injustice, to the persecuted. This is suffi- cient to draw Christian charity towards the Spanish people, the people of China and Abyssinia. THE BASIS OF INTERNATIONAL LAW The report of the Ilird Commission of the Geneva Congress affirmed that "moral standards must regulate the relations between nations" (Report of the Congress, p. 187). We agree with the Christian youth that moral standards must regulate the relations between individuals and between peoples. In the moral doctrine of Christianity we find a whole number of principles that we Communists not only accept but are constantly endeavoring to carry out. The heroes of our move- ment who are making enormous sacrifices for their opinions, who are stoically supporting the most terrible persecutions and defending in face of the ferocious tribunals of fascism, in face of torture and death, their convictions, are the living symbol of communism. Since the persecutions of the Christians of old, no movement has suffered such terrible persecution nor borne them with such stoicism as the revolutionary working-class movement. Evei'yone must acknowl- edge this moral firmness and endurance, this absolute self-abnegation, this moral greatness in the martyrs of our movement. Christianity preaches the freedom and diynity of the human 'personality. We Communists unreservedly accept this principle and consider as one of our highest tasks to defend the liberty and dignity of the human personality against all oppression, servitude, or outrage. Christianity preaches equality of all men in God's sight. We Communists are fighting for the equal rights of all men and all peoples, for their right to freedom of thought and faith, for a social regime which will guarantee equal possibilities of development for everyone, regardless of their origin, sex, or nationality. Christianity preachs [sic] love of one's neighbor. We Communists believe in love of our fellowmen and are fighting for it, for such a love tends to ensure the maximum happiness for the maximum number of persons. We mean by the term happiness not only material welfare but also the joy of labor, a far-reaching education, the development of every capacity, cultivation of the arts and sciences, the pursuit of noble human aims, the senti- ment of collectivity, and the knowledge of filling the right post and of contributing to the common good. We Communists encourage that solidarity which lifts man out of his own "self" and binds him to give effective help to his brothers in distress. Christianity demands that all should aspire to moral perfection. We Communists are fighting for the perfection of the human race, against the oppression and humiliation of the human personality under capitalism, against the stupefying, degenerating effects of poverty and servitude, of race hatred and persecution between peoples, of the deep-rooted immorality of ruling society. We strive to lay the foundations of a harmonious and far-reaching development of the human race, of a world in which man's social qualities will vanquish his brutish instincts. And so we reply affirmatively to the question : "Is it possible to establish a common moral basis which will offer a solid foundation for international law?" AVe find that the moral principles of our movement and the numerous moral demands of Christianity have something in common which can offer a solid foun- dation of international law. In face of fascist barbarism and the imminent danger of war it is necessary, in our opinion, to develop everything that is common to us and to put aside all that divides us. 2270 COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES IN THE NEW YORK AREA Mr. Johnson. It is interesting to note that the Protestant was pub- lished 60 days after that line was handed down, Mr. Clardy. You mean tliat in this article in exhibit 37 we have a prescription for the magazine, the Protestant Digest? Mr. Johnson. That is correct, that is what I mean. Mr. Clardy. And would you say further that when the Protestant Digest commenced publication that it thereafter adhered to the gen- eral lines outlined in this article? Mr. Johnson. It did. It reflected the line of that article in all of the subsequent — in its first and all of the subsequent editions. Mr. Clardy. Then would you say that the institution of publica- tion of the magazine Protestant Digest was a concrete example of the way in which the party line is handed down from Moscow and finally put into execution down in the lower ranks? Mr. Johnson. Of course, Mr. Chairman, it is to be understood that tliere were deviations from this policy, but these were only inci- s Angeles 2271 Church League for Industrial Democracy 2126,2184,2236 Citizens Committee for Harry Bridges 2093 Citizens Military Training Corps 2196 City College of New York 1971,1975 Civilian Conservation Corps 2196 Civil Rights Congress 1977, 1982, 1998, 2054, 2274 Cleveland Federation of Labor 2191 Colgate-Rochester Divinity School 2271 Columbia University 2123 Comintern 2039, 2040, 2042, 2050, 2071, 2074, 2077, 2079, 2082, 2083, 2086, 2091, 2105, 2115 Commissariat of Foreign Affairs in the Soviet Government 2075 Committee for Citizenship Rights 2094 Committee for Democracy and Intellectual Freedom 2103 Committee of One Thousand 2093, 2094 Committee on African Affairs 2263 Committee to Defend the Rosenbergs 2054 Committee to Free Earl Browder 1974 Committee to Secure Justice in the Rosenberg Case 2022 Commonwealth College, Mena, Ark 2263 Communist Information Bureau 2225 Communist International 2036, 2043, 2046, 2050, 2051, 2071, 2074, 2075, 2079, 2130, 2151, 2165, 2172, 2224, 2225, 2250, 2275 Communist International, Anglo-American Secretariat 2036- 2038, 2050, 2051, 2079 Communist International, Sixth World Congress 2043 Communist International, Seventh World Congress 2083 Conference for Progressive Labor Action 2194 Conference of Methodist Youth 2139 Conference on Constitutional Liberties 2133 Congress of Industrial Organizations 1971, 1983, 1984, 1992, 1999, 2003, 2040, 2043, 2186 Congress of Industrial Organizations — Political Action Committee 2136 Congress of Industrial Organizations — Political Action Committee, Virginia 2135 Contemporary Publishing Association 2073 Continental Congress 2194 Cooperative Commonwealth Federation Clubs 2183 Cornell University 2076 Council for Social Action 2185 Cultural Workers in Motion Pictures and Other Arts 2094 Department of Justice 2104, 2215. 2229 Department of Justice, Immigration and Naturalization Service, Inves- tigation Section of 2146 Department Store Employees Union of New York City 2134 Detroit Federation of Labor 2184 Distributive, Processing and Office Workers of America, CIO 1984, 1991, 1992,2003 Dumbarton Oaks Conference 2114 2294 INDEX Page Emergency Civil Liberties Committee 2025 Emergency Peace Campaign 21S0 Emergency Peace Campaign Committee, Pittsburgh 2180 Epics 2179 Episcopal Theological Seminary in Cambridge, Mass 2017, 2271 Epworth League 2178 Ethical Culture Society 2271 Evangelical and Reformed Council for Social Reconstruction 2126 Farmer-Labor Political Federation 21 S4 Farmers Holiday 2178 Federal Bureau of Investigations— 2008,2017,2019,2021,2026,2029,2104,2210 Federal Communications Commission 2106, 2107 Federal Council of Churches of Christ in America 2025, 2181 Finnish Federation Pioneers 2160 Foreign Language Publishing House, Moscow 2129 Foreiyn Mission lioard of the National Baptist Convention, Inc 2271 Fort William Independent Labor Party 2183 Fraternal Council of Churches 2272 Free Food Fighters Club 2161 Friends for Protection of Foreign Born 2078 Friends of Russia 2025 Friends of the Soviet Union 2077, 2080, 2080, 2106, 2115 Fur and Leather Workers Union, CIO 1999 George Washington Carver School 1997 German-American League for Culture 2130 Gimbels 1978 Girl Scouts 2155, 2178 Golden Rule Foundation 2273 Greater New York Emergency Conference on Inalienable Rights 2094,2115 Greater New York Fund 2002 Hands Off China Committee 2078 Hartford Theological Seminary 2075 Harvard University 2186 Hearns 1987 Hood Theological Seminary 2271 Hoover Institute and Library of Stanford University 2072 Industrial Union of Marine and Shipyard Workers 2280 Institute of Pacitic Relations 2027 Interchurch World Movement 2180, 2181 Intercollegiate Christian Council 2091 International Fishermen and Allied Worker's Union 2280 International Juridical Association 2040 International Labor Defense 1977, 2077, 2080, 2086, 2154 International Legion in the Red Army 2076 International Lungshoremen s and Warehousemen's Union 2280 International Longshoremen's Association of San Francisco 2184 International of Youth 2214,2216,2219,2222 International Press Correspondence 2130 International Publishers 2047, 2147 International Workers Order 2094,2164,2180 International Workers Order Juniors 2160 Jefferson Scliool of Social Science 2017 Joint Anti-Fascist Refugee Committee 2017 "Keep America Out of War Congress" 2089 Konsomol 2072 Labor Research Association 2079, 2097, 2104, 2135 Labor Youth League 2090, 2091 League of Nations 2196 League of Nations Association 2181,2186,2194 League of Struggle for Negro Rights 2227 League of Women Voters 2181 Lenin Institute 2050 Lenin Scliool, Moscow 2036, 2038, 2043, 2044, 2047, 2048, 2057, 2106 Lenin University, Moscow 2039,2042 Living Church 2186 London Conference for World Trade Union Unity 2121 INDEX 2295 Page London School of Economics 2248 L'Unita Operatia 2178 Massachusetts Conference of Conirregational-Christian Churches 2271 IMassnchusotts Youth Council of Boston 2020 Meariville Tlieolosical Seminary 2273 Methodist Church Hi-League 2178 Methodist Federation for Social Action (formerly Methodist Federation for Social Service) 2040, 2nr>0, 20n2, 20r>n, 2057. 2nr.8, 20S2, 2084, 2085, 2088-2000, 200.3-2102. 2104-2122, 2125-2128, 2130- 2136, 2139, 2177, 2181. 2184, 21 SG, 2197, 2198, 2201, 2202, 2228, 2230 Michigan State Or.ganization of the Socialist Party 2075 Mid Eastern University, Moscow 2082 Minnesota Farmer-Lahor Juniors 21S0 "MOPR"— American Branch 2086 Morehouse College, Atlanta 2001 Moscow University 2238 Mother Bloor Celebration Committee 2086 Murder, Inc 2243 NAC Bureau 2140 Nation Associates 21 16 National Association for the Advancement of Colored People 2002,2182 National Association of Manufacturers 2110 National Committee to Defend Negro Leadership 2023, 2274 National Committee to Keep Prices Down 2109 National Committee to Secure Justice for the Rosenbergs 2274 National Committee to Win the Peace 1096 National Conference of Jewish Youth Organizations 2091 National Conference of Methodist Youth 2091 National Council of American-Soviet Friendship 2017 National Council of Churches 2273 National Council of Jewish Y'outh 2091 National Council of Methodist Youth 2089, 2181, 2185, 21S6, 2213 National Council of the Youth Congress 2184 National Council to Aid Agricultural Labor 2003 National Emergency Conference Call 2117 National Emergency Conference for Democratic Rights 2094 National Farmers Union 2109 National Federation for Constitutional Liberties 1977, 2093, 2094 National Guard 2188-2190, 2194, 2207-2211 National Intercollegiate Christian Council 2089 National Labor Relations Board 1986 National Lawyers Guild 2028 National Maritime Union 2040, 2280. 2281 National Miners Union 2153. 2154 National Negro Congress 2140. 2280 National Recovery Administration 2098, 2099 National Student Federation 2181 National Student League 2184 National Training School of the Communist Party 2277 National Union of Marine Cooks and Stewards 2280 National University, Peking 2080 National Youth Committee of the Protestant Episcopal Church 2091 National Friends Scouts 2160 Negro Labor Congress 2263 New Age Publishers 1903 New Century Publishers 2229 New York City Children's Conference Against War and Fascism 2160 New York City League Against War and Fascism 2160 New York East Annual Conference 2187 New Y'ork East Conference of the Methodist Church 2"7l New York National Guardsman 2100 New York Public Library 2088 New York State Trade Union Committee to Free Earl Browder 1074 New York Stores P:mployees Union, Local 2 1973 New York University 2115 North American Committee to Aid Spanish Democracy 2086, 2182 2296 INDEX Page Northern California-Nevada Council of Churches 2271 OGPU 2049 Pacific School of Religian, Berkeley, Calif 2130 People's Congress for Peace and Democracy 2180 People's Institute of Applied Religion 2052 2053, 2055, 2057, 2058, 2094, 2107, 2177, 2260, 2263-2265 People's Lobby 2194 People's Mandate to Governments 2182 People's Press - 2191 Physician's Forum 2118 Pioneers 2087 Pioneers of Ethiopia 2178 Pioneer Youth of America - 2160 Presbyterian Fellowship for Social Action 2126 Princeton Theological Seminary 2025 Princeton University 2025 Profintern _ 2036, 2071, 2079 Proletarian Party 2075 Protestant Digest Council for Democracy 2231 Protestant Forum Associates 2115 Rauschenbush Fellowship of Baptists 2126 Red International Labor Unions 2036 Red Trade Union International - 2071 Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union, CIO 1992 Retail & Wholesale Department Store Clerks, joint board 1976 Rural Youth Association 2094 Russian National Mutual Aid Society 2160 Saks 1978 Samuel Adams School 2017, 2018 Schappes Defense Committee 1975' 2094 Scottsboro case 2226,' 2227 Second United States Congress Against War and Fascism 2189 Second World Youth Congress 2267 Social Action Fellowship 2126 Social Action Movement 2096 Socialist Ministers Protective Association 2095 Socialist Party 2086, 2070, 2075, 2183, 2193, 2194 Social- Work Action Committee 2124 Society for Technical Aid to Russia 2081 Society of the Godless 2105 Sound View Foundation 2132 Southern Conference for Human Welfare 2132, 2133 Soviet Embassy, Washington 2026 Steel Workers Organizing Committee 2179, 2181 Student Religious Association, Lane Hall, University of Michigan 2120 Teachers College, Columbia University 2106 Teachers' Union 2040, 2179, 2183 Temple University \ ' 2026 Third Commission at Geneva 2267, 2269 Third United States Congress Against War and Fascism 2191 Thirty-third Division, Illinois National Guard 2189 Trade Union and Labor Commission 2192 212th Coast Artillery Antiaircraft Regiment 2189, 2190, 2210 Union Theological Seminary 2025, 2076, 2085, 2142, 2186, 2228, 2229, 2273 Unitarian Fellowship for Social Justice 2126 United American Spanish Aid Committee 2133 United Christian Council for Democracy 2114, 2126-2128, 2230-2233 United Council of Working Class Women 2181 United Front 2224, 2226, 2227, 2236 United Furniture Workers, CIO Local 92 2229- United Mine Workers of America 2184 United Nations 2024, 2025, 2108, 2115, 2119, 2125, 2131, 2139, 2245 United Nations Assembly 2252 United Nations Atomic Energy Commission 2125 United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Conference 2108 United Nations Security Council 2134,2126 United Retail and Wholesale Employees Unions, Local 2, CIO 1971, 1975 INDEX 2297 Page United Retail and Wholesale Workers Union, Local 3 11)72 URWEDSEA-CIO, Local 65 1996, 1998 United States Army 2207, 2209 United States Con^^ress Against War and Fascism 2182, 2193 United States Navy 2203 United Steelwurkers of America, CIO 2124 United Student Peace Committee 21S5 United Wliolesale Employees of New York 1993 United Wholesale and Warehouse Workers, CIO 1992 University of Chicago 2088 University of Chicago Divinity School 2215, 2218 \ iiiveiSiiy of Southern California 2119 Urban League 2181 Vanderbilt University 2132, 2271 Western Reserve University 2271 \> uoiesaie una Warehouse Workers Union, Local 65 1997, 1999 WIL 2180 Win tiie Peace Conference in Washington 1995, 1996 Women's Commission of the Communist Party 2106 Women's World Congress Against War and Fascism 2195 Workers Alliance 2093 Workers' Congress 2162 Workers International Relief 2078, 2080, 2154 Workers Library Publishers 2043, 2147, 2225-2227, 2230 Works Progress Administration 2180 World Committee of the League Against War and Fascism 2192 World Congress Against War 2172 World Federation of Trade Unions 2121, 2124, 2135 World Labor Congress 2121 World Peace Congress 2086 World Trade-Union Conference 2121 World Youth Congress 2180 Yale University 2059, 2184 Yale University Divinity School 2248, 2271, 2273 Yalta Conference 2114, 2115 Young Communist International 2151,2214,2221,2266 Young Communist League 1991-1994, 2008, 2009, 2011, 2040, 2083, 2084, 20S6, 2088-2090, 2107, 2114, 2136-2138, 2140, 2141, 2151, 2157, 2180, 2184, 2194, 2199, 2214, 2220-2223, 2281 Young Defenders 2160 Young Epics 2184 Young Men's Christian Association 2074, 2079, 2091, 2181, 2183-2185 Young Men's Hebrew Association 2180, 2223 Young People's Socialist League 2184 Young People's Society 2178 Young Pioneers 2151, 2157, 2158, 2160, 2164, 2223 Young Progressives of America 2091 Young Women's Christian Association 2180, 2181, 2184, 2185 Youth Committee for May Day, 1940 2093 Youth Conference Against War and Fascism 2189 Youth for Victory 2017, 2022 Publications American Magazine 2250 China Today 2274 Christian Advocate (The Voice of Methodism) 2139 Christian Herald 2019, 2025 Churchman, The 2186, 2271 Communist, The 2165, 2167, 2227 Communist International (Publication) 2225 Crisis Leaflets 2098-2101, 2127 Daily People's World 2022 Daily Worker 1971, 1973-1975, 1977, 1978, 1982, 1988, 1989, 1992, 1994-1996, 1998, 1999, 2003, 2013, 2020, 2022, 2023, 2032, 2033, 2054, 2088, 2098, 2099, 2115, 2130, 2131, 2133, 2139, 2215, 2217, 2218, 2225, 2228, 2260, 2262, 2266, 2270, 2272-2274, 2277, 2281. 2298 INDEX Page Equality 2093 Fight . 20S5 2088, 2094, 2169, 2173-2175, 2177-2193, 2195-2197, 2192, 2202, 2203, 2207, 2209, 2210, 2213. Harper's 2186 In Fact 2109, 2185 Leaders Handbook 2095-2097 London Times 2241 Masses and Mainstream 2024 Moscow News 2250 New Masses "2087, 2089, 2oi)3, ;n30 New Pioneer 2149-2158, 2160, 2162, 2164 New Republic 2242 New World Review 2228 New York Herald Tribune 2007,2012,2013,2027,2029 New York Post 2229 New York Times 2033, 2073, 2241. 2274 New Y«)rk World Telegram 2138, 2139 Party Organizer 2224 Peace News 2133 PM "__ir 2100 Political Affairs _ 2110, 2115, 2118, 2128 Protestant, Tlie 2094, 2115, 2132. 2233, 2235-2237, 2245-2251, 2255, 2256, 2260, 22G6, 2270, 2274 Protestant Digest 2058, 2230, 2231, 2233-2236, 2239, 2242, 2243, 2260, 2266, 2270 Review ' 1993 Social Questions Bulletin 2090,2093,2102,2104-2115, 2117, 2119, 2120, 2122, 2123, 2127, 2130, 2132, 2133, 2134, 2136 Soviet Russia Today 2088, 2092, 2106, 2116 Spotlight, AYD 2090 Survey Graphic 2076 This Week 2029 Trends & Tides 2251 Volksecho 2130 Wall Street Journal 2239 Wasliington Star 19,S3 Witness 2236, 2271 Women Today ' 21O6 Worker 1975, 1999,'2022, 2272 Worker's Child 2151 Young Communist League 1938 "Yearbook" l!)91 Young Communist Review 2266, 2267 Zions Herald ' 2139 ,^°STON PUBLIC LIBRARY 3 9999 05018 317 5