Mr. TAVENNER. That had nothing to do with reporting to any agency of
Communist Party activities as such?
Mr. DENNETT. No; it did not.
Mr. TAVENNER. But it was just a matter of reporting things which
interfered with the war effort in industry?
Mr. DENNETT. That is true.
Among the things that she found, some of the outstanding things, was
one occasion pertaining to the Tacoma shipyards. She learned by various
sources--friends that she knew in the labor movement--that the shipyard
had been in operation for a period of around 10 months or more and
still didn’t have a ship on the ways. She made a number of inquiries as
to how they could account for such a thing, and at one point she ran
across a name that rang a bell with her.
She started to do a little probing, and found out that this name was
the same as that of a person who had been removed from the navy yard
some time before, either 2 or 3 years before, maybe. It might have been
longer than that. But the person had been removed as a Fascist. He was
known to be a member of a Silver Shirt organization.
Lo and behold, this person turns up as the production supervisor or
superintendent in this particular shipyard.
Anyway, she submitted a report of all the information she had gathered
on the subject. Within a couple of weeks’ time this person was removed
from his position, and within a short time afterward ships were on the
ways in that shipyard and production started booming. We could only
draw a conclusion that her information had, certainly, some value.
Mr. TAVENNER. We will be very much interested to hear of other
occasions, but, because of the shortness of time, we will have to move
on.
The point is, that before undertaking that type of work your wife
conferred with the leadership of the Communist Party and obtained
approval.
Mr. DENNETT. That is true.
Mr. TAVENNER. Then take it up from there and tell us what occurred.
Mr. DENNETT. That was part of the story on which this allegation of FBI
agent thing arose.
When I was first confronted with the story I recounted this whole thing
in every detail to the leader of the section. The person was Mr. Jim
Bourne. Mr. Jim Bourne told me to sit tight, do nothing, say nothing
until I heard from the district.
I waited from March until June 1947, and still had no word from them.
About sometime in June I was invited to a meeting which was called by
the Communist Party for the purpose of preparing its defenses from
the anticipated attack which would come from the Canwell committee
investigation which was about to open.
I reluctantly went to the meeting because I felt I was under a cloud.
However, I did go. I am glad I did because they did discuss the whole
question of these investigating committees, and it gave me some insight
as to my rights under the fifth amendment of the Constitution of the
United States. It was thoroughly discussed in this meeting, and we
understood that that was the sole and only real protection that a
person had if he wanted to avoid testifying.
However, during the course of that meeting I spoke to a leader of the
party, asking what was happening to my case. He advised me to speak to
Mr. Huff. I spoke to Mr. Huff about it and Mr. Huff, as a result of it,
arranged a meeting of the control commission.
The control commission called me to a meeting within a week’s time.
We reviewed the whole situation, the whole case, and I told them
every single thing I knew about it. They asked me to submit a written
statement. I did exactly that. I detailed everything that I knew about
the situation in the statement.
I declined to sign the statement, however, because at that time I
feared that their practices and methods were a little bit too loose,
and I feared it might fall into the wrong hands and be used against me.
However, they accepted the statement, but they did not like what was in
it.
They called me to another meeting, and at the second meeting they
upbraided me and accused me of everything under the sun, and we finally
broke up in rather a violent battle over whether or not they were
trying to help the working class or not.
That occurred some time in August.
By October Mr. John Lawrie, the chairman of the control commission,
visited our home, demanded our books, our party books.
We reluctantly gave them to him, protesting that we understood that a
person had a right to be charged and tried, hear witnesses, and that
sort of thing.
He said, “Well, you will get a statement.”
About a week later we did receive a statement. The statement was an
expulsion notice from the Communist Party.
No charges had ever been actually preferred, no opportunity for trial
had been granted us, and we were blasphemed and accused of everything
under the sun which is looked upon as a crime by the members of the
Communist Party.
This statement was circulated to all the Communist Party sections,
and evidently it reached other hands, because shortly afterward some
security agencies of the Government called me up and asked me what was
going on. I told them I didn’t know, and I declined to talk with any
of them, and I have never talked to any of them except on one occasion
when Mr. John Boyd asked that I stop by the Immigration Bureau Office.
I did stop by there. He asked me a number of questions then, and I
refused to be of any assistance to him whatsoever at that time. That
was shortly after the expulsion.
Now, the most important part of this disciplinary action is what I have
to say at this time, because immediately after receiving this notice,
we received rumors to the effect that the Communist Party members in
the union of which my former wife was the president, which was the
United Office and Professional Workers of America, Local 35--I heard
the rumor that they were going to come into that meeting that night and
demand her removal from the organization.