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.
Even in death a member may become a pawn to enhance the Party. The
passing of a prominent comrade invariably is the occasion for a “state
funeral.” The departed member is now a valuable showpiece and his passing
is exploited to the fullest extent. On such occasions the deceased lies
in state on the day of the funeral, with “mourners” passing the bier. A
large, blown-up photograph of the deceased, draped in black, hangs at the
rear of the stage. An honor guard of from two to four comrades stands at
attention wearing red armbands.
There is seldom a religious quality to the music, eulogies, or the
“mourners’” conduct. At the “state funeral” of Mother Ella Reeve Bloor in
1951 the “mourners” talked, laughed, and smoked.
The eulogies are numerous and recount the contributions made by the
deceased to the Communist Party, to the advancement of socialism, and
state how the Party can learn from the life of the departed. At Mother
Bloor’s funeral in New York City, for example, Pettis Perry, a member of
the National Committee, said:
This is not farewell to you, Mother Bloor. We pledge to follow
in your footsteps.... We will build your Party and our Party
and some day we will have a nation and a society built on the
brotherhood of man....
At the funeral of Peter V. Cacchione, an elected member of the New York
City Council, nineteen speakers delivered eulogies. Gilbert Green, then
chairman of the Party in Illinois, speaking for the National Committee,
observed that the deceased fell in the struggle as “a soldier in the
cause of human freedom,” and vowed that the remaining comrades would take
“the banner from his hands.”
After such services a cortege of automobiles laden with mourners journeys
from the funeral hall to the cemetery. As Mother Bloor was lowered into
her grave at Harleigh Cemetery in Camden, New Jersey, Walter Lowenfels,
then the Philadelphia correspondent of the _Daily Worker_, read Walt
Whitman’s poem, “The Mystic Trumpeter.”
At the Cacchione interment Henry Winston, a member of the National
Committee, delivered these parting words, “We are confident, as you were,
dear Pete, in ultimate victory.... We will carry out your heritage.”
Through it all runs the hope, not of life everlasting, but of communism
everlasting—if the members can be stirred up to work harder.
12.
_Making Communist Man_
In the last chapter we examined life in the Party—the constant hustle,
collecting of dues, registration of members, holding of conferences,
issuing of instructions.
These activities, however, have a meaning more sinister than just keeping
the Party going, a meaning that we over-look at our peril. It is this:
the Party is a vast workshop where the member is polished and shined, his
impurities melted out, his loyalty to communism strengthened. He is made
into _communist man_.
The revolution requires, as Lenin taught, that the fanatical believer be
a man who, if so instructed, will give his life to the cause. He’s the
paid functionary we met in the last chapter, the agitator and propaganda
agent we’ll see in future pages. Without him communism would be just
another “ism.”
This type of man doesn’t just grow; he must be created. To understand
fully how this happens, we must now briefly examine the Party’s
educational, press, literature, and cultural programs, its chief weapons
of indoctrination.
Suppose one joined the Party. How would these techniques of regimentation
affect the new member? We can best consider this question under several
headings.
Back to School
One of the first things a new member does is to go to a school. He’ll
receive his instructions soon after joining, probably from his club
chairman. And as long as he stays in the Party, he’ll continue to go to
school. Even the grizzled veterans go. There’s a diabolical reason behind
this, which we’ll soon see.
Most people don’t think of the Communist Party as an educational
institution. Yet year after year the Party operates a school system
of vast proportions: theory schools; orientation schools; specialized
schools in current events, history, economics, social problems; schools
in Party techniques: how to collect dues, recruit new members, serve as
a club chairman, be a better public speaker; and, of course, schools
on revolutionary tactics and procedure. In recent years the Party
has been extremely subtle in teaching its doctrines of revolution,
always remembering federal laws such as the Smith Act, which prohibits
advocating the overthrow of the United States government by force and
violence.
Education, in the communist scheme, means indoctrination, imbuing the
member with qualities desired by the Party. The pertinent question always
is: How can the member be trained to serve the Party better?
Classes are held on all levels—local, state, regional, and national,
varying in length from an hour to several weeks. For security reasons
members meet in an isolated building, a home, or even in an automobile or
a public park. The teacher is usually a paid functionary or someone from
the county or state educational commission. Class consists of an extended
lecture, perhaps for an hour or so, followed by discussion. As a general
rule, no note-taking is allowed. The class over, each student leaves,
careful not to attract attention.
After the beginning, or orientation, school (where members are soaked
with Aesopian double talk) is over, the member is ready for a more
advanced class. Never is he told at the outset that he is being changed
into a Bolshevik, that his loyalty is being shifted to Soviet Russia, and
that the American government must be overthrown. That would scare him
away. The Party’s indoctrination process is slow and gradual. The member
himself seldom realizes that bit by bit his precommunist training is
being extracted and replaced by Party ideology.
Most important, he is grounded in love of the Party. This is a cardinal
duty of the communist teacher.
... the cause of Communism is the greatest and most arduous
cause in the history of mankind.
* * * * *
To sacrifice one’s personal interests and even one’s life
without the slightest hesitation and even with a feeling of
happiness, for the cause of the Party ... is the highest
manifestation of Communist ethics.
* * * * *
The true Communist ... must feel that the Party does not owe
him a thing; it is he who owes everything ... to the Party.
Party schools make extensive use of study outlines and lesson aids
supplied by national, state, and local educational commissions. They are
written in a simple style and slanted to the average reader. Many contain
suggested readings, illustrative examples, and review questions. Usually
Mimeographed, they deal with all phases of the Party’s program. Sample
titles are “Lenin and Our Party,” “World Significance of the Events in
China,” “New Members Session and Introduction in the Communist Party,”
and “Farmers in the Coalition.”
Amazing attention is shown to detail. In advanced classes members will
have homework and examinations. As part of the instruction, classes often
are given practical “field work.” Students in one Midwestern school
were dismissed, divided into teams, and sent to industrial plants to
distribute Party literature. That evening they reassembled to discuss
their experiences and receive ideas on how better to do the job.
The longer one stays in the Party, the more specialized are the classes
he attends. The goal, of course, is to be selected to attend a national
leadership school. This means going to New York City or a Party camp and
staying several weeks. Students probably will not know the true names of
their fellow students; they’ll remember them as Sam (an alias), the man
with the crooked arm, the redheaded girl who talked so much, the old man
with the green shirt. That’s part of the Party’s security program.
The communist educational system is extremely practical: training members
to do what the Party needs. Perhaps more Mimeograph operators are needed;
then there’ll be a Mimeograph school. Maybe more dues secretaries are
needed; then there’ll be a dues secretaries’ school. All the time,
through training, the member is being pulled more closely under Party
discipline.
Home Study
Another indoctrination technique is self- or home study. Going to school
is important, but at best it can be for only an hour a day or several
weeks a year. More study is needed to bind the member to the Party.
One Party directive puts it this way: