I state I am not a member of the Communist Party today due to any
action on my part. I further state that I disavow anything which is
contrary to the best interests of our country and of our people. As
to pinning it down to the Communist Party, I have to frankly concede
that I am not at all sure where the Communist Party is. I mean if the
things that are ascribed to them are true, certainly I disavow them. I
say that I have no association with them. It is only that I hesitate to
disavow anything that I am not sure of.
I am sure of the one thing, that I am opposed to anything that is
against the best interests of the people of our country.
Actually, since I was dropped in 1948 I have been inactive in all
political activities to the point where I am not even registered
to vote, I don’t believe, since 1948. I am confused on where most
everybody stands, and I have not enough facts to draw a conclusion on
it.
Mr. MOULDER. The reason I ask you that question is because there is
considerable evidence before this committee and other investigative
Government agencies that many Communist Party members ceased to be
active as party members but have gone underground and still continue in
their same belief, the same philosophy, and with, of course, the same
objectives. I believe your answer is clear to this point: you attended
all of those Communist Party meetings; I believe you said a hundred,
and it would vary one way or another, 50 percent either way.
Mr. VELDE. Approximately 40, wasn’t it?
Mr. MILLER. That is it.
Mr. MOULDER. But during that period of time you certainly must have
been well versed and qualified to know the purposes and the policies of
the Communist Party as such, because at those meetings didn’t you study
the Communist Party literature and study the purposes for which it was
organized?
Mr. MILLER. Is that the question?
Mr. MOULDER. Yes.
Mr. MILLER. Yes, I did.
Mr. MOULDER. Has your opinion now changed with respect to the
Communist Party from what it was when you were attending the Communist
Party meetings? Or is it the same as it was then?
Mr. MILLER. I see what you are driving at, and it is hard for me to get
my understanding across.
Mr. MOULDER. You say you have severed your association with the party,
and I want to know if it is just a technical disassociation or is it a
clean break from the Communist Party?
Mr. MILLER. No; it is not a technical disassociation. If I might have a
moment, I would like to go on a little further.
First, the reference is to having attended, say, up to 40 meetings, one
way or the other, and being aware of the goal of the Communist Party. I
would have to say this in all honesty: During the time I was a member
of the Communist Party I at no time was aware of their desire to do
anything which was contrary to the best interests of the people. Now it
could conceivably be that I was not aware, perhaps naive.
All of my activity--and, in fact, that is what prompted me not to
take the fifth amendment. At no time in my life have I knowingly
done anything contrary to the best interests of the people of this
country. And certainly were I to be aware of that in an association and
continue activity I would be guilty of doing something against the best
interests of the people.
Mr. MOULDER. The subpena that has been served upon you will be in full
force and effect. You will be subject to recall upon due notice.
Mr. MILLER. Should I leave for the day?
Mr. MOULDER. Yes.
The subpena will remain in full force and effect, and you will be
subject to recall upon due notice at any time in the future. That does
not mean, of course, that you have to attend any of the hearings here
today or tomorrow.
Mr. TAVENNER. Mr. Chairman, I would like to call Mr. Eugene V. Dennett
at this time.
TESTIMONY OF EUGENE VICTOR DENNETT, ACCOMPANIED BY HIS COUNSEL, KENNETH
A. MacDONALD--Resumed
Mr. TAVENNER. Mr. Dennett, at the time we suspended your testimony you
had completed your narrative with regard to your experience in the CCC
camp, and told us that immediately thereafter you had been shanghaied
into working shipping.
(At this point Representative Morgan M. Moulder left the hearing room.)
Mr. DENNETT. A little freight boat here in Puget Sound.
Mr. TAVENNER. I am sure that would be a very interesting story, but it
is not a matter we are investigating in our work here.
After you had that experience how long was it before you returned to
the work of the Communist Party?
Mr. DENNETT. It was within a very few months because I didn’t know at
the time I started to work in the freight-boat industry in Puget Sound
that there was an organizing drive of a union to organize the employees
and that they had reached the point before I came along where they had
entered into an arbitration. And they were awaiting the decision of
this arbitrator. Finally the decision came down, I think about 3 or 4
months after I entered the industry, and the decision was so adverse
that the men stopped work as soon as the boats got into port.
Mr. TAVENNER. What do you mean by saying that a decision came down?
Mr. DENNETT. The arbitrator handed down his decision. He was a very
long time making his decision. When it finally came down it was very
disagreeable to all the employees. In fact, they rejected it; they
refused to accept it and called a strike.
When they called that strike they were confronted with a problem of
electing delegates to attend a meeting of the union to determine what
course of action to pursue.