Chapter V: Front Matter (5)

The communist member furnishing information to the FBI is also doing his moral and patriotic duty in helping crush a criminal conspiracy. To remain silent is to assist the Party. Communism, like a criminal gang, thrives when people able to combat it refuse to do so. “Stool pigeon” is a Party-defined term used as a weapon to enforce communist discipline. The Party is enabled to reach into men’s minds, censor their thoughts and words, and thereby buttress tyranny.

3. _Fear of personal safety and reputation._ Some members fear the rabid hatred that the Party spews out at members leaving the movement. A West Coast communist, though disillusioned, didn’t break with the Party. He feared that his communist friends would ostracize him. Finally, though hesitantly, he said he was now willing to “risk” being with the majority of Americans!

Party members should not fear the hostility of their former Party associates. To be denounced by communists is an honor. Remember, the example of a Party member breaking with the Party may influence others to do likewise.

4. _Fear of disgracing their families._ Many members trapped in the Party dread that their loved ones will know of their involvement. One man, asked if his wife and children knew of his communist background, began to cry. Another said he would do anything to keep his young son from knowing. Not long ago our agents contacted a Party member. “Don’t talk to me at home,” she said. “I don’t want the children to know. Call me on the phone.” Her wishes were respected.

To remain silent is not to improve the situation. There is no way in which such cooperation will injure the family. One member, very thankful that he had cooperated with the FBI, said he was happily married and simply would not allow his communist background to injure his innocent family.

5. _Fear of not being received as a loyal American._ The answer lies largely with the Party member himself. It is within his power alone to break completely with communism. He will be judged by his actions, not alone by his words. The biblical advice holds true: “... by their fruits ye shall know them.”

In addition, patriotic Americans must do their share to help these Party members. Many are driven back into Party tyranny by the inexcusable ignorance, rancor, and pride of noncommunists. Moreover, it does not help when the truly reformed communist is characterized as a “renegade” and “traitor”—terms which would normally be used by communists themselves and not by good Americans.

In November, 1953, I wrote an article entitled “Breaking the Communist Spell,” which appeared in _This Week_ magazine. It was an appeal to members disillusioned with communism to step forward and help in the fight against Soviet tyranny. The response was encouraging. In an Eastern city a caller said he had read the article and wanted to give information about Party activities. Another person told our agents, “It’s never easy to tell such a story.... Then I saw an appeal by J. Edgar Hoover in a recent magazine article and after reading it several times felt that I should make a special effort to remember and pull what I could into order.”

I want to set forth again the salient portions of this article. It seems to sum up what we have been trying to say on this most important subject:

The individual contributions of former members of the Communist
Party to the security of our way of life are shining examples
of people who have recognized their mistakes and are doing all
within their power to rectify them.

* * * * *

If, having knowledge of persons and activities detrimental to
his country, he breaks from the Party, yet maintains silence,
he is still aiding the enemy. The moral obligation involved
cannot be met by silence. The choice is simple: _help the
United States_. The man who does this is preserving freedom
under law. He is protecting the American way of life for free
men and women—including his family and himself.

* * * * *

These people deserve the nation’s respect, and their neighbors’
fair-minded forgiveness for their past devotion to Communism.
Their means of livelihood must be protected, and loyal
Americans must accept their sincere repentance as a return to
the full scope of citizenship. All great religions teach that
the sinner can always redeem himself. Who, then, shall sit in
judgment on the ex-Communist? Who dare deny him the promise
held out to those who repent of the evil they have done and who
try to make amends?

For our part, at the FBI, we have always sought to recognize
the very real human and personal problems facing the
ex-Communists who have come to our offices to make such
amends....

In discussing the ex-Communist, those who piously say that the
leopard never changes its spots forget that they are speaking
of human beings—mortal creatures with immortal souls. And those
who say “Once a Communist, always a Communist” are simply
advertising their ignorance. To deny that men can change is to
deny the truths which have eternally guided civilized man.

_Part IV_

LIFE IN THE PARTY

10.

_How the Party Is Organized_

Look in for a minute on a typical secret meeting of a communist “club” or cell “somewhere in the United States.” This particular meeting is selected because it is typical of hundreds of such meetings.

The house is frame, painted gray with green shutters. A wire fence runs around the trim yard. The owner works as a draftsman in a downtown company, his wife keeps house. They have lived in the neighborhood for many years.

It is now dark, a little after eight o’clock on a winter evening. The downstairs light is on, the blinds are drawn. A man comes to the front door, raps lightly, and is admitted. Soon another man, walking at a leisurely pace, rounds the corner and enters. He has parked his car on another street.

Ten minutes pass. A third man knocks. He has come by bus from downtown. To make certain nobody was following him, he had ridden two stops past his correct destination, then walked back. Five minutes later a fourth person, a woman in a dark coat, arrives. Everything is quiet: no loud voices, no cars parked in front, no reasons for the neighbors to suspect that a Communist Party meeting is in progress.

Communist Party groups like this are small, containing three, four, or five people—a security precaution. In that way fewer members know each other and detection is less likely. Meeting places are frequently changed: this evening a private home, next time a public library or an automobile. Members have been known to sit on park benches, in bus terminals, even in hospital waiting rooms, hatching their plots in casual, conversational tones.

The third man is the Party organizer, a paid official who serves as the group’s leader. He sits in a chair in the corner; the others form a rough semicircle. He speaks quietly but in a commanding tone, acting the dictator that he actually is.

“Joe,” he says, addressing the first man to arrive, “you remember the last time we met you were given an assignment to collect three to five thousand sheets of paper, a Mimeograph machine, and some ink. How did things go?”

“Fine,” Joe replies. “I bought four thousand sheets of paper. Got them at three different stores.”

“Good,” says the organizer, “that’s using your head.”

“I also bought a Mimeograph machine and plenty of ink. Everything’s safe now in the right place.” (The “right place” refers to an apartment in another section of the city occupied by a concealed communist, which the Party uses as a secret hide-out.)

“One thing more,” Joe says. “I’ve made inquiries about a portable printing press. It’s pretty old, but it’ll work.”

“Fine,” the organizer says, obviously pleased. “Follow that through. You took the serial numbers off the Mimeograph, didn’t you?”

“No, I didn’t,” stammers the comrade. “I forgot....”

“Forgot!” explodes the organizer. “What’s wrong with you? That’s just plain stupid. Joe, this is serious business. You’ve got to keep alert. Someday this machine may be used to print secret Party instructions. We can’t afford to have it traced. Take off all identification marks at once.”

Then turning to another man, the one who had parked his car around the corner, the organizer says, “Phil, how are things coming at the plant? Making any progress on getting Bill installed as shop steward?”

“No, not much. Things look pretty bad.” The man shifts his legs. He is a big fellow, weighing over two hundred pounds. “Looks like we’re blocked.”

“Nonsense,” snaps the organizer, “we’ve gone over that before. There’s always a way. Communists never give up. You’ve got things good. You’re at home enjoying life. Remember Lenin, exiled from Russia, going from town to town. He didn’t quit, and look what he did. He was a genius. What’s the big problem, Phil?”

“It’s Red, the union president. He knows Bill is a communist and he’s fighting him. Red is smart, he knows the ropes. He’s always been a hard worker for labor unions. He’s got a clean record and he’s liked by the members. As long as Red is president, we’re in a bad fix.”

“That’s the wrong attitude, Phil. If one thing won’t work, try another. Can’t we accuse him of something? Have you gone over his past life? Hasn’t he ever done anything wrong?”

“If he has, we can’t find it. He’s a straight shooter from ’way back and he really hates communists.”

“Phil, this is your Number One assignment,” the organizer says. “You get something on Red. He’s got to be discredited. Maybe we can make up some letters, mail them in another city, accuse him of working against the union. You figure out the details.”

The organizer goes around the circle to the other members. Are they carrying out their assignments? Ethel, the draftsman’s wife, thinks she will soon be elected an officer in a downtown women’s group.

“Wonderful,” says the organizer. “Don’t rush things too fast but try to get some of the women to write letters to Washington. Let them say the FBI is a Gestapo; that they’re violating civil liberties by arresting Party leaders. That’s good, Ethel.”

“They haven’t the slightest idea I’m a communist.” She laughs. “I’m working hard at it.” The other woman, the last one to arrive, reports her activities as secretary of a communist-front organization.

The organizer, wanting the meeting to be short, speaks a few words about “new things” in the Party: A pamphlet from national headquarters has just been received and should be bought by all; finances are not in good shape; a new Party school is going to be held next month. Ethel should attend.

Shortly after nine o’clock the meeting is over, and as quietly as they have come the members slip out into the night.

This Communist Party club is representative of many hundreds throughout the nation. Night after night, week after week, these men and women are plotting against America, working out smears, seeking to discredit free government, and planning for revolution. They form the base of a gigantic pyramid of treason, stretching from the little gray house with green shutters to the towers of the Kremlin.

The Communist Constitution (18th version, 1957)

At least in theory the Communist Party, USA, is based on a “constitution,” which sets forth the group’s organizational structure. That constitution, being a public document, is filled with typical Aesopian language. The Party member, for example, isn’t fooled when the constitution proclaims, “The Communist Party upholds the achievements of American democracy and defends the United States Constitution and its Bill of Rights....” He knows better. His Marxist training enables him to recognize the Party’s real aim:

The Communist Party seeks to advance the understanding of the
working class in its day-to-day struggles for its historic
mission, the establishment of socialism. (Preamble)

Here is the key, “_historic mission_.” What does it mean? Not something traditional, respectable, or patriotic, but the overthrow of this government by force and violence. Engels talked about the “historic mission” of “the proletariat,” which “can only free itself by doing away once for all with class dominion, subjugation, and exploitation.” That, in communist terminology, means revolution. The Communist International spoke of the Party’s “historic mission of achieving the dictatorship of the proletariat.”

Today’s communists, with deceitful double talk, are attempting to camouflage the true meaning of this old and well-defined revolutionary term. Comrades in the early 1920’s weren’t quite so squeamish about their intentions. The Party’s constitution (1921) proclaimed the communist purpose:

... to destroy the bourgeois state machinery; to establish the
Dictatorship of the Proletariat in the form of Soviet power; to
abolish the capitalist system and to introduce the Communist
Society. (Article I, Section 2)

Regardless of current communist claims, “historic mission” is the Party’s linguistic description of its revolutionary intent.

The National Convention, according to the constitution, is the highest authority in the Party. This convention, normally held every two years, is composed of delegates “elected” by state or district conventions. The National Convention, after hearing “discussions” of the various issues, is authorized to make decisions binding upon the entire membership.

These affairs have the trappings of big-time conventions. Various committees are chosen, resolutions adopted, and speeches given. Proceedings are secret, although communists say they have nothing to hide. Members of the legitimate press are excluded. Exploiting this blackout of news, the communists often issue slanted press releases in an effort to influence public opinion. Another tactic is to allow the attendance of selected noncommunists, persons carefully hand-picked wherever possible, who the Party hopes will later make favorable reports.

Extensive preparations are made for the National Convention. Party officials as a general rule work up a “draft program,” a summary of proposed Party aims on current issues, national and international. This “draft program” is widely circulated, with members being asked to discuss indicated approaches. Then, theoretically, the convention, based on the opinions developed, adopts a final program. Actually, in practice, the draft program represents a technique whereby the leadership “sells” the membership the ideas it wants to stress. Frequently, convention reports, resolutions, and speeches, properly edited, are later published. They serve as policy guides for the membership.

Never forgotten are Soviet trimmings. Proudly read on the floor of the Sixteenth National Convention (February 9-12, 1957) were greetings from the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. Other Communist Parties in China, Canada, Italy, Japan, and Czechoslovakia also sent “best wishes.” From these, members gain a sense of communist solidarity, or, in Party language, _proletarian internationalism_, the feeling that they are integral parts of the world-wide communist movement. This is one of the driving forces of modern-day communism: the Party-promoted idea that no member is alone, that he is part of a vast movement which, in communist eyes, is destined to conquer the world. Singing the “Internationale,” the communist marching song, also engenders this feeling.

The Three Levels of Power

The Party’s organizational structure may be likened to layers in a pyramid, one placed on top of the other.

1. The top level centers around national headquarters and contains the Party’s policy-making organs (1) _National Committee_; (2) _National Executive Committee_; and (3) _National Administrative Committee_. With ruthless hand this echelon rules the Communist Party, USA. The designation given here is the current arrangement, which is always subject to change. The Party never hesitates to reshuffle its top administrative bodies, changing their names and sizes. For many years, for example, it had national officers: National Chairman, William Z. Foster, and General Secretary, Earl Browder and, later, Eugene Dennis. The power remains, however, in the hands of a small minority.

2. The second or middle level contains the many administrative organs that implement the decisions of the inner hierarchy: (1) _various commissions and departments_; (2) _special organizers_; and (3) _front groups_.

3. The bottom or third level is broad and extensive and contains all the subordinate regional and local units in the Party: that is, _district organizations_, and, in turn, various _state_, _county_, _city_, _section_, and _club_ setups. This level encompasses the entire nation.

National headquarters is located in a three-story, twenty-foot-wide, brownstone building at 23 West 26th Street, New York City, just off Broadway. A pygmy amid Manhattan’s towering skyscrapers, with iron bars shielding the bottom-floor windows, this American Kremlin is the symbol of communist power in our country. Here meetings are held and important decisions made. The national office occupies the third floor and penthouse; the New York State Communist Party is on the first and second floors. However, the 1957 Party convention authorized shifting national offices to Chicago.

Level 1: The High Command

The real power of the Party rests in the _National Committee_. This committee, “elected” by the national and state conventions, is responsible for running the Party between conventions as provided by the constitution:

Between National Conventions, the National Committee is the
highest authority of the Party, representing the Party as a
whole, and as such has the authority to make decisions and take
actions necessary and incidental to the good and welfare of the
entire Party, and to act upon all problems and developments
occurring between Conventions. (Article V, Section 9)

This provision covers a multitude of possibilities and forms the basis for the dictatorship of a few leaders, in typical communist style. The National Committee is America’s Politburo, a small group of some sixty individuals directing war against noncommunist institutions.

Minority control is strengthened still more by clever manipulation. The current National Committee elected a twenty-member National Executive Committee, which in turn selected administrative officials. In actual practice, the latter group is the dominant power, making day-to-day decisions. There is no free election of the membership. With members of the National Committee spread throughout the country, “on-the-spot” New York comrades tend to monopolize control of Party affairs.

This atmosphere of almost unlimited authority often produces a repugnant type of person. Many of the top leaders are haughty, swaggering, overbearing. They feel that they are better than “little” comrades. They are the “experts” in Marxism-Leninism. Their job is to teach the “less informed.”

William Z. Foster went to Seattle, Washington, a few years ago to make a speech. “We’re glad you’ve come,” the welcoming local official commented. “Many of our comrades are looking forward to meeting you.”

“Not so fast,” warned Foster. “I’m not going to see any of them. I’m too busy. These little Party people just sit down and pour out their personal problems. It wears me out and you can’t get rid of them.”

“But,” protested the local organizer, “they’ve been busy for weeks, working to make the meeting a success. They want....”

“Nonsense,” snapped Foster. “You decide which ones are worth my time and I’ll see them. Make appointments. I can’t solve everybody’s problems.”

Later the local leader told Foster that the comrades wanted to give him a present, perhaps a traveling bag.

“Oh, no,” Foster interrupted. “I’ve already looked at traveling bags, and I didn’t find any costing less than seventy-five dollars which would be suitable. I don’t think the members want to spend that much.”

Right he was. The organizer had probably browbeaten all “volunteers” to collect twenty to thirty dollars.

“What about a watch?” inquired the local leader, intent on pleasing the high-ranking visitor.

“I already have one,” replied Foster. “It cost a hundred and twenty-five dollars. I don’t think it’s advisable to buy a more expensive one, and I wouldn’t wear a cheaper one.”

That settled it. This “proletarian” leader, the “champion of the poor and downtrodden,” acting like a miniature Hitler, was indeed difficult to please.

Level 2: The Special Units

The attack weapons of the Communist Party are contained in the middle layer, the _commissions_ and _departments_ to carry out the decisions of the inner clique.

Communist leaders view American life not as a vast, uniform whole but as a series of different segments, each, in its own way, open to the appeal of communism. There are, for instance, farmers with their special problems, trade-union members, and groups with special interests related to nationality, youth, and race. Communists realize that a single program, slanted to appeal to all groups at once, will not work. To be effective, communist propaganda must be tailored to fit specific problems. What are a group’s dissatisfactions, desires, and aims? How can communism most effectively appeal to this group? The fact that programs designed for different groups are often mutually contradictory makes no difference to communists. The main point is to attract followers and stir up discontent in as many areas as possible.

This is the task of various commissions and departments, each headed by a national Party leader. Merely to list some of them will give an idea of the scope of the Communist Party’s appeal: Veterans’ Commission, Women’s Commission, Education Department, Cultural Commission, Negro Commission, Labor Department, Nationality Groups Commission, Youth Commission.

In addition, there are related organs dealing with the internal administration of the Party. The National Organization Department, for example, handles the placement of Party officials throughout the nation, while the National Review (Control) Commission (also known as the Appeals Commission) is in charge of security and disciplinary matters.

These commissions and departments are little dynamos attempting to spark enthusiasm for the communist cause in their special fields. They prepare literature, arrange speaking tours, organize fronts. Their job is to work out the practical details of implementing the Party line.

This task is accomplished largely through the employment of “experts,” men and women trained in special fields. There are experts of all kinds, on both local and national levels: waterfront organizers specializing in seamen’s groups; labor organizers interested in penetrating labor unions; organizers in virtually every other field, such as aircraft, mining, steel, agriculture, youth, nationality groups. Then there are fund raisers, recruiters, Marxist teachers, organizational experts.

If a Party district is planning, let us say, a special organizing drive, an expert from national headquarters or another district may arrive to assume charge. He may deal with top officials or descend to club levels. He may stay a few hours, a week, or even months. John Williamson for many years was considered one of the Party’s top labor experts. Henry Winston was an authority on organizational problems. Both Williamson and Winston were convicted under the Smith Act; Williamson later accepted voluntary deportation to Great Britain and has since been reported to have served as liaison between the Communist Party of the Soviet Union and the United States Party.

If the visitor is a high national officer, special arrangements are usually made to receive him with “extreme cordiality.” If his schedule is crowded, a rank-and-filer may be assigned as a chauffeur. Never must the Party be regarded as a “desk-type” organization, operating only through letters, telegrams, and phone calls. It is a fast, hard-hitting, mobile organization, based primarily on personal contacts, with its officials traveling thousands of miles a year by auto, train, and air to pursue subversive activities.

Level 3: Regional and Local Units

This layer provides the broad base for the pyramid and includes the remainder of the Party structure. The United States is divided into Communist Party districts, some of which have jurisdiction over more than one state. The Ohio State Communist Party, directed principally from Cleveland, Ohio, for example, includes the states of Ohio and Kentucky and West Virginia’s four northern “panhandle” counties.

Communist membership is strongest in the Northeast section of the United States. The greatest concentration of Communist Party members is in the area of New York City. Other states having large numbers of communists are California, Illinois, New Jersey, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Washington, Connecticut, Michigan, and Massachusetts. Few members, relatively speaking, reside in Southern and Rocky Mountain states.

District (or state) organizations, patterned on the national structure, hold periodic conventions, “elect” state committees, and have officers. Hence there is a Chairman, New York State Communist Party, or Secretary, Ohio State Communist Party. Sometimes state conventions are held in “split sessions”: the first, before the National Convention when selected topics, such as those proposed in the “draft program,” are “discussed”; the second, after the national meeting when the state convention reassembles to ratify the decisions of the national body. State leaders take no chances, they stay on the Party line.

Many states and districts have open headquarters. In recent years most were closed, but the Party realizes that an open headquarters is essential in carrying out its day-to-day agitational work. These Party offices are usually located downtown in a dingy room or suite in an old building. Battered desks, with typewriter, Mimeograph machine (the good right arm of the Party), and perhaps a literature rack are standard equipment. Here are the offices of the state chairman, state secretary, and other officers. An old-time communist, usually a woman, will “triple” as receptionist, stenographer, and Mimeograph operator. Knowing all the members, she’s a good “lookout” and can answer most questions: Has Oscar come back from vacation? Where does Joyce work? Is Ruth a club chairman?

Normally, headquarters is a busy place, with people going in and out all day long. Here special state, county, and city meetings are held as well as personal conferences. The busiest items in the place are chairs; they seldom have a rest until after midnight.

The local organizational structure, under state (or district) headquarters, varies from area to area. The city (or county) sections in turn are subdivided. Intracity sections may encompass several wards, each, like the county, having its own set of officers. Each section, of course, is rigidly controlled from the top.

The basic unit, at the bottom of the whole structure, is the _club_, formerly known as the cell, like the one described at the beginning of this chapter. Clubs are of various types: _community clubs_, comprising members who live in a certain geographical area; _shop clubs_, composed of members who work at a certain company; _industrial clubs_, which include members employed in the same basic industry, such as steel, automobile, aluminum, though working for different industrial firms; and _specialized clubs_, appealing to professions or other natural groupings. In the latter category, for example, there may be a professional section (often called white-collar), comprising clubs of teachers, doctors, or lawyers. A few members, especially the deeply concealed communists, do not belong to any club but are considered as _members-at-large_, subject to control only from headquarters.

Determining which club a member should join is simple: where can he do the most good for the Party? If he is employed in the aluminum industry, for instance, he would probably be instructed to join an aluminum club (made up of members employed in the aluminum industry). If he is a union officer, he might join a shop or industrial club. Or, again, if his membership should be carefully concealed, he would be a member-at-large. The organizational structure is always in a state of flux, members being frequently shifted from club to club, while headquarters organizes and reorganizes sections and clubs, tearing down one, establishing another, always hoping to gain greater efficiency.

Each club is required to have a chairman, a financial secretary, and an educational director. A well-run club has many more officers: literature director, press chairman, dues secretary, membership chairman, and so on. The same is true of county, city, and section groups; the communists have plenty of officers. Moreover, a definite chain of command is always in effect. Everybody knows his relative position: who are his Party “inferior” and Party “boss.” Instructions are quickly carried out, and in the event of an emergency a commanding officer is always available.

Communist clubs are often named after famous American historical figures such as Tom Paine, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln, Walt Whitman. Other clubs bear the names of communist “heroes” such as John Reed.

The Principle of “Democratic Centralism”

This is a complicated structure, you might say. How does it work? The point is: _it does work_, efficiently, effectively, and all too often to the detriment of this nation. The whole Party organization, regardless of its structural shape, is based on strict discipline, a rigid hierarchy, and a unified structure.

The cement that holds it together is a principle called _democratic centralism_. That sounds like a contradiction in terms; it is. But communists like fancy words to fool their opponents and, perhaps, to satisfy themselves. Democratic centralism is the basic principle of communist organizational structure—a term meaning, in actual practice, simple, naked, and unadulterated dictatorship.

According to communists, Party members have a right to participate in formulating policy and electing officers. That is, to them, democracy in action.

An issue has arisen. The city is planning to close a play-ground. What stand will the Party take? All members are encouraged to express opinions. There may be different points of view.

Then a decision is made—the communists say by an “election,” but actually it is by the leader clique. The city’s action will be opposed. From that moment, “centralism” takes over and “democratic” falls away. All members, regardless of their previous opinions, are required to support the Party’s stand. No minority can exist.

Democratic centralism, communist leaders claim, combines the “strictest discipline with the widest initiative and independent activity of the Party membership.” It is “democratic” because of the preliminary “free discussion of issues” and “right of election”; it is “centralism” because once a decision is made, the discipline of the Party enforces the decision. This is the ideal type of organizational structure, say the communists.

The tyranny and dictatorship that are part and parcel of the Communist Party are laid down by the rule: all lower Party organizations are subordinated to the higher bodies, and the highest of all are the Congresses of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, which are run by the Kremlin.

A practical demonstration of democratic centralism at work recently occurred in New York City. As we have mentioned, a campaign was launched to circulate a petition to put Elizabeth Gurley Flynn, a member of the National Committee, on the ballot as candidate for the New York City Council. Although the 1957 National Convention of the Party emphasized that Party members could dissent from official Party policy, William Weinstone, another member of the National Committee, issued the order that “Those members who may not agree with this campaign should nevertheless understand that it is their duty to participate in signature getting.”

We in the FBI, through confidential sources of information, know what goes on in hundreds of these meetings. We know who the speakers are, what they say (and don’t say), what decisions are made. These “free discussions” would be amusing but for the deadly malady they highlight: a ruthless thought control.

Communist members learn what to think, how to vote, what to say by a process of “automatic osmosis”—the seeping of predigested thoughts along the Party line into all subordinate minds, disciplined to accept. The members become ideological sleepwalkers, drugged into complete obedience by an unconscious discipline.

Sometimes, absurd as it may seem, secret ballots are used. Members go through all the motions of argument, taking a vote, nominating and electing officers. They become excited, waving their arms, pounding desks, shaking their fists. You would think there was open opposition. But that is merely part of the show. Communist thought control, operating through Party ranks, is a terrifying spectacle, freezing into fixed rigidity the mental processes of thousands.

Seen in its true light, democratic centralism is a deceptive cloak dropped over a ruthless dictatorship.

Sometimes a member, somehow or other, does not fathom the Party line. He says something out of step. He is simply “ill-informed” and needs more “education.” A Party school or a conference will probably bring him back to his “right senses.”

Occasionally a stubborn member will persist in criticism. That takes courage. He is made of metal the communist thought-control machine has not yet melted. He carries the fight to higher Party bodies. But he can’t win and out he goes.

In one instance a member was accused of falling down on the job. The section organizer recommended that he be removed from both his Party office and the county executive committee.

“He’s irresponsible,” stormed one old-time comrade, “and in the Soviet Union irresponsibles are not voted out of office—they are shot!”

That’s democratic centralism, the organizational principle that has welded the Communist Party, USA, into a terrible instrument poised and eager to destroy this country if given the opportunity.

11.

_This Is the Party!_

What about life in the Party, how members live, who they are, how they earn their money, what they do with their time, and how they get their orders? The following are accounts of day-to-day activities of Party life.

Eleanor is washing the dishes. Her husband, Henry, has just gone to work. The two children are scurrying around the house, ready to leave for school.

Suddenly there is a knock on the door. It is Ruth, who lives across the street. Ruth is chairman of the East Side Communist Club. Her husband, Robert, is state secretary of the Communist Party and a full-time paid functionary.

“Starting the day out just right,” smiles Ruth. “The kitchen is all cleaned up. You can come and help us.”

Ruth outlines her plans. The state office needs some typing done this morning. Eleanor was a stenographer before she married and often helps on a part-time basis at headquarters. She is a trusted member. But that is not all. In the afternoon Eleanor is to make “some calls”; that is, visit some comrades. She must pass out word that the next meeting of the county executive committee will be held on Friday evening. This message cannot be given over the telephone. Then tonight will be the regular meeting of the East Side Club. Eleanor probably won’t get home in time to fix supper. If she doesn’t, Henry and the kids can make some cold meat sandwiches. Besides, Henry is scheduled to meet with the state education secretary tonight and he won’t have time to eat supper anyway.

Life in the Party! For good members nothing is left for life outside the Party. The housewife is doing typing, running errands, Mimeographing, arranging meetings, collecting dues; her husband, even while working at the grocery store, in the shoe factory, or at the service station, is thinking of his Party assignment that night, distributing literature, soliciting money, serving as a courier. The Party is the most important force in their lives.

If anybody joins the Communist Party expecting to lead an easy life, perhaps read Marx and Engels, buy some literature, and not exert much effort, he is completely misguided. Party work is hard, tough work, and the Party is a ruthless task-master. The member is always on the run, doing this and doing that. He has no spare time, energy, or money for himself. His whole life becomes dominated. The Party is his school, source of friends, and recreation, his substitute for God. Communism wants the _total_ man, hence it is _total_itarian. That is part of its indoctrination policy: by concentrating everything on the Party, all other interests are squeezed out.

Day and night the Party structure is buzzing with action: fund drives, registration of members, collection of dues, sale of literature. Leaflets must be passed out on Olive Street, a picket line formed at city hall, a meeting attended. Workers, not playboys, are wanted; or as one Party spokesman expressed it, we must rid ourselves of the member who “makes noises like an eager beaver but accomplishes little.” A major characteristic of the Communist Party is perpetual motion.

The man who keeps this subversive beehive of activity going is the paid Party functionary. He is the key to the whole apparatus. Working on national, state, and local levels, he pumps in energy, gives orders, coaxes, cajoles, threatens, smiles, scowls, pleads, anything to keep the Party bustling.

Most communist functionaries are old-timers with ten, fifteen, or twenty years of service. Some have been trained abroad, possibly in the Lenin School in Moscow. They are transferred at frequent intervals, depending on the needs of the Party. One may serve as an organizer in California, as a section secretary in Rhode Island, or as a fund-raiser in Florida. Their full-time job is to advance the communist cause. The Party employs women functionaries, especially on the lower levels. During World War II, when many male comrades were drafted, a number of Party offices were run by women.

Salaries vary, depending on the size and location of assignment, but they average fifty to seventy dollars weekly. As a general rule, officials are paid by the local organization, although the national office, in case of a deficit, may step in with cash. Some functionaries operate on an expense account, especially if they travel.

The communist official will probably live in a modest neighborhood. His wife will patronize the corner grocery store, his children attend the local school. If a shoe store or a butcher shop is operated by a Party member, the official will probably get a discount on his purchases.

Most Party officials drive cars, usually older models. They are generally out late at night attending meetings. A car is essential for transportation and carrying literature. Except for special affairs, communist activity is slight early in the morning. The organizer, coming in around midnight or one o’clock, will sleep late. But that doesn’t mean all day. One Southern official was severely censured for sleeping too late; to solve the problem the Party bought him an electric alarm clock.

Functionaries eat away from home a great deal. They generally are well versed on “cozy” places where they can talk with a minimum of observation. Much Party business is conducted at luncheon appointments. Their wives are also engaged in Party work, and often both are away from home night after night. “Home,” to the communist organizer, is more a place to sleep than to enjoy restful relaxation.

If a Party convention is to be held, and many out-of-town delegates are coming in, the organizer may turn his apartment into a temporary hotel. He will pull out all the spare cots, beds, and blankets and “put up” a half-dozen visitors.

The paid official’s job is to keep the Party going, to see that everybody has something to do, that meetings are scheduled, that money is collected, that the Party’s program is carried out. He may start his day around ten-thirty or eleven o’clock with a “staff” conference at headquarters. There he will discuss the day’s agenda with other officials, give or receive orders, and get squared away for the day’s work.

The organizer must be a fairly intelligent man with an ability to get along with people. He is always asking for something: Can you deliver papers, how about attending this class, making a speech? He must know how to overcome fears, suspicions, and laziness, and encourage members to work. He may, for example, approach a member for a donation: “We need five hundred dollars. Sell your car and donate the money.” Communists come up with all kinds of schemes. The organizer must go out and “sell” the idea.

He also spends a great deal of time smoothing out personal problems. In one case a communist “love triangle” erupted. A young Party member, even though married, decided that she loved another member’s husband. The man’s wife, however, was determined to fight. The problem reached such bitterness that the trio’s Party work began to suffer. There was little hope of solving it by themselves. So the state chairman stepped in.

He talked to them personally. They poured out their inner feelings. The young woman and her “lover” requested Party approval for a divorce. A few days later the wife, with fire in her eyes, told the state chairman she wanted three months’ leave of absence from the Party to regain the love of her husband. A regular free-for-all was brewing. The Party, however, exerted pressure and the situation was settled. No divorce was approved. The organizer must be ready at any hour to settle everything, from a hair-pulling contest to the distribution of an estate.

For most members the Party is their whole life. If any problems arise, changing jobs, adopting a child, lawsuits, etc., they solve them with the Party’s advice. If a member has a case of ulcers, the organizer will recommend a “Party doctor”; if somebody is threatening suit, he will suggest a “Party lawyer”; if one has lost his job, he might know somebody in the Party, perhaps the owner of a store, a union-shop steward, or an industrial executive, who will help out.

The Party, in many respects, is a vast paternalistic system. Not that it is humanitarian, full of mercy, or interested in the members’ welfare. Nothing like that. The Party’s interests come first. If a member is sick, tied up with a lawsuit, or unemployed, his Party work will suffer. Each member should be in top working shape at all times. The Party functionary’s job is to seek out and solve these problems. He is an administrator, expediter, and nursemaid.

Also, any activity that might injure the Party must be prevented. The discipline of the Party, exercised through the functionary, extends to the most intimate details of personal life. Here are a few actual cases:

A member in Ohio desired to adopt a child whose parents were
members of the Catholic Church, and the member had taken steps
to join the Church. The state chairman was furious and said no.
Finally the member asserted his independence and left the Party.

* * * * *

Another member, in the Party’s eyes, manifested “bourgeois”
tendencies. He spent too much time working on his house! He was
removed from his Party position.

* * * * *

One member in the state of Washington went to Alaska, without
permission, to secure a job. He was suspended on the ground
that he would attract the FBI’s attention in Alaska.

* * * * *

A member in New York City, age thirty-five, was dropped from
the rolls. Why? In the Party’s eyes he was too much dominated
by his mother.

Sometimes the functionary will order the member to take an affirmative step:

A strawberry farmer was visited in Everett, Washington, by a
Party fund-raiser who demanded one hundred dollars, which the
farmer did not have. The farmer was ordered to mortgage his
house. He refused and was expelled for failure to abide by
Communist Party discipline.

* * * * *

In Philadelphia the district organizer called at the residence
of a couple with a long record of devoted Party activity.
The organizer announced that the wife was being dropped from
the Party because she was anticommunist. When pressed for an
explanation, the organizer stated he had concluded that the
wife had written critical letters regarding the Party leaders,
which she vigorously denied. The organizer then advanced a
further reason. A news account had appeared in the papers
recounting that her brother, an Air Force Reservist, had been
killed in a plane crash and she had failed to advise the Party
that he had been called to active duty. The wife then made the
futile complaint that, since she was being dropped from the
Party and not expelled, she had no way to appeal the decision
or to defend herself. Then the organizer told the husband that
he had to either leave his wife and children or be dropped
from the Party. When he elected to remain with his wife, he
was ousted from the Party, as was a former Party organizer who
continued to associate with the wife.

* * * * *

A promising young communist was attending a Communist Party
training school in New York. He was called out of class and
advised that the Party had decided that he was to marry a young
lady who had just arrived from Hungary on a student visa.
The Party felt the girl was promising Party material. The
communist went to City Hall accompanied by a fellow student,
the bride-to-be, and her sister. The ceremony was performed,
which enabled the girl to stay in the United States since she
was now married to an American citizen. The marriage was in
form only, and three years later the girl secured a divorce. In
the meantime the young communist was sent to West Virginia as a
functionary and started living with another girl. She also had
a citizenship problem. This was met when the two were called to
New York for a meeting. In passing through Elkton, Maryland,
they secured a marriage license and returned after the New York
meeting for the ceremony. The girl then went on to Chicago.
When the communist finally met the lady of his choice, he went
to a communist lawyer who arranged for an annulment of the
second marriage on the ground that a prenuptial agreement to
join the church had been violated.

The Party functionary can order members to resign from one job and accept another, to move from one town to another, to stop seeing their families and friends, to lie, cheat, or steal.

Then there is the problem of money. The functionary is always prodding. First, members must pay dues. They are collected monthly from each member and give the Party a substantial source of revenue. Payments of dues are based on regular schedules, depending on a member’s income. Here is a sample schedule:

_Income Per Week_ _Dues Per Month_
Housewives .50
Students .50
Unemployed .50
To $80 $1.00
To $110 $2.50
Over $110 $5.00

Dues also serve another purpose: to control the member. The Party official can keep track of him, see if his interest is waning (if he doesn’t want to pay), and also, if possible, determine how much money he actually has (which the Party can later extract). If he falls behind in payments, the financial secretary will be right after him.

Another related obligation is to donate money (besides paying dues). Every member _must_ pay, and pay until it hurts. The Party conducts an annual fund drive, involving the whole membership. Goals are set for clubs, sections, regions, and on a national basis. A big celebration, perhaps a dance or a dinner, marks the “kick-off,” and a definite conclusion date is established. During this period, say September 1 to October 15, a white heat of intensity is reached. The theme: “Money, money, money.” No member, regardless of excuse, is spared. If the amount isn’t reached, the campaign is extended.

How much should a member give? Usually a week’s wages is the accepted minimum. If a comrade has extra sources of income, the amount will be higher.

The Party raises money, lots of it. In one fund drive alone, for example, national headquarters announced a collection of over 165,000 dollars. And the campaign was still not complete. The nickels and dimes (although communists say they like “folding money” best) soon add up. With the effectiveness of a vacuum cleaner, the Party pulls money from everywhere.

Laggards, renegers, and backsliders are pushed hard. “That’s not enough. You’re a piker,” the Party organizer will scoff. Sections and clubs vie for “collection honors.” The first state or district to reach its quota is enthusiastically hailed.

But that is not the end of “donations.” Time after time there are assessments or special fund drives. They come like snowflakes in a winter storm. Party leaders have been arrested, they need help! (Defense Fund). The _Daily Worker_ needs money—urgently! (Press Fund). The Party must have 100,000 dollars in thirty days! (Emergency Fund). An “emergency” is always stalking the Communist Party. The best way to solve it is money. The only thing better is more money. The cost to members: at least a day’s pay for each special fund.

Fund drives do not exhaust the financial wizardry of the communists. Money is obtained in still other ways, such as Hallowe’en parties, dances, waffle parties, going-away affairs, testimonial dinners, anniversaries (such as of the October Revolution in Russia or the birthday of Lenin). In most instances tickets are sold and, in addition, a collection may be taken up. Everything you have belongs to the Party. That’s the philosophy.

One top leader explained how to obtain contributions. Visit the prospective victim. Take along an out-of-town comrade (he’s the high-pressure expert) and a local member. The latter should have plenty of money with him. The prospective victim might say, “Yes, I’d like to contribute, but I haven’t any money now”—the easy way out. If so, the local comrade would interrupt and say, “Fine, I’ll lend you the money. Would a hundred dollars be enough?” This squeeze always works, the leader said. Blank checks are also carried.

To show how far money-raising can go, one member dreamed up the idea that bodies of deceased comrades should be sold for medical experimentation. The Party would gain doubly: first it demanded the fee for the cadaver and then the money ordinarily spent for the burial. Another member suggested that gifts no longer be given at “stork” showers for expectant mothers. This money should be donated to the Party.

Then there are extra revenue sources. At the end of World War II, Party officials requested comrades returning from military service to donate part of their bonus money. In many instances they set the actual amount. If the member didn’t comply, he might be disciplined.

Estates are also juicy morsels. If members, or maybe sympathizers, have any extra money, the Party urges that wills be executed naming the Party or certain functionaries as beneficiaries. Large sums are thus often gained.

Some years ago a former Episcopal bishop died in Ohio. Years before, during an illness, he had started reading Marx and other communist books. Then he turned author and wrote a book entitled _Communism and Christianism_, wherein he expressed doubt that Christ had ever lived, and asserted that he had “found Christ via Karl Marx.” The bishop was given a trial by his church and deposed. Following his death, his will provided that the residue of his estate, valued at between 300,000 and 400,000 dollars, was to go to a corporation whose trustees were to devote all or any part of it to the cause of communism as “propagated by Karl Marx.”

Another communist sympathizer in Oregon a few years ago received more than 100,000 dollars upon the death of a son. A communist friend persuaded the sympathizer to bequeath a part of his estate to two West Coast communists.

A Party member died in Massachusetts in 1953, leaving a 14,000-dollar bank account and real estate to the Party, naming three Party officials as executors of his will.

Over the years the Party has been blessed by angels and foundations whose money was made through the American free enterprise system and is then used in an attempt to destroy the system that made wealth and affluence possible.

In years past, each member was given a membership card or book (which was numbered) on which he could paste his “dues stamps,” showing that he was current on this obligation. But today, for security reasons, this practice is no longer followed. Membership records, if kept, are carefully concealed, and only a trusted few know their whereabouts. Sometimes elaborate code, color, and tab combinations are used on such records to indicate the name, occupation, sex, length of Party service, etc., of the members.

To join the Communist Party does not automatically mean life tenure. Memberships must be renewed every year or, in communist language, members are “reregistered.” This represents another means of control. If a member is delinquent in dues or donations, he’ll have to pay a penalty, perhaps contribute ten dollars, or be disciplined. These annual registration drives are important events in Party life. Each member is personally contacted. Clubs and sections compete for speed and percentage of successful registration. The drives usually start in October and often extend well past the December 31 deadline.

A member moves. His district organization will send details concerning him to his new area: name, Party history, whether dues are paid, along with any other remarks. A member may be given half of a dollar bill and the other half forwarded to the new district. When the member arrives, the halves are matched. Identity is thus established.

So it goes, a constant round of rushing, driving, pushing, paying, never time to stop. The member is regimented from life to death. His chief obligation: to follow instructions eagerly, energetically, obediently. He is a mere wisp of living matter, born, as a _Daily Worker_ birth announcement proclaimed, “for swelling our ranks.”

This complete absorption in the Party creates an exhilaration that warps judgment. One comrade became so wrought up over the supposed superiority of communist culture that he cited statistics that the Soviet soldier in World War II was an inch taller and had a chest one and a half inches larger than his Czarist counterpart!

Such fervor sounds laughable, but it is symptomatic of paranoiac behavior. To an individual like this, any communist achievement surpasses anything American. This bigoted communist fanaticism drives members to mortgage their homes, spend years in underground shelters, and betray their native land.