against the Mundt-Nixon bill in Pittsburgh was headed by the district
organizer of the Communist Party. These plans were carried out by the
Communist Party District Committee through the various trade unions,
front organizations, Progressive Party, and other organizations
which had been created or captured by the Communist Party in western
Pennsylvania.
Did you confer at any time with any one from Pittsburgh with reference
to the strategy and planning of the fight against the Mundt bill in
that area?
Mr. O’CONNELL. No, sir, I did not. You mean by that a personal
conference with somebody from there?
Mr. TAVENNER. Yes.
Mr. O’CONNELL. No, I did not.
Mr. TAVENNER. Were you aware of the fact that it was the
Communist Party in that area which led and headed the fight against the
Mundt bill in connection with the program of the National Committee To
Defeat the Mundt Bill.
Mr. O’CONNELL. No, I was not aware of that. I think as far
as the western area was concerned, I think the only contact we had
was with Alexander Wright, who was I think executive secretary of the
Progressive Party out there and I never talked with him personally.
I think he corresponded with the committee or sent some communication
and we in turn sent a wire or material to him but I don’t remember any
contact with anybody else.
Mr. TAVENNER. Was he known to you to be a member of the
Communist Party?
Mr. O’CONNELL. No, he was not. In fact, I don’t know him. I
have never even met him. Whatever communication we had was by mail or
by wire, as I remember. I don’t know him at all.
Mr. TAVENNER. He was identified by Matthew Cvetic as an active
member of the Communist Party.
Mr. WILLIS. Alexander Wright?
Mr. TAVENNER. Alexander Wright, W-r-i-g-h-t.
Mr. O’CONNELL. Communication by the committee was as executive
secretary of the Progressive Party.
Mr. TAVENNER. Isn’t it a fact, Mr. O’Connell, that the
situation which Mr. Cvetic described in Pittsburgh with reference to
the strategy and planning by the Communist Party for the fight against
the Mundt-Nixon bill was duplicated in many instances and many places
throughout the United States?
Mr. O’CONNELL. As I said, my work was here in Washington and
what actually took place, either in Pittsburgh or any other section of
the country, I wouldn’t know. Certainly my guess would be and certainly
my feeling would be that inasmuch as the legislation was proscribing
the Communist Party and affecting it, they certainly worked on it and
certainly did what they could to defeat it. I have no doubt about that.
Mr. TAVENNER. Was the Progressive Party in the State of
Washington active in promoting the fight against the passage of the
Mundt bill?
Mr. O’CONNELL. Yes, sir.
Mr. TAVENNER. Wasn’t a good part of the leadership of the
Progressive Party in the State of Washington of Communist Party
membership?
Mr. O’CONNELL. As far as the leadership of the Progressive
Party was concerned, as I stated yesterday, Mr. Russell Fluent was
the chairman; he was at the time of his chairmanship Democratic State
treasurer in the State of Washington; I feel sure was not a member of
the Communist Party; Mr. L. C. Hunterer was national committeeman; he
was Democratic sheriff in Olympia in Thurston County and I am sure was
not a member of the Communist Party.
I think at one time he used to be--out in the Western States we have
Old Greenbacks and Old Populace and former followers of the Progressive
Party under Bob La Follette, but Mr. Hunterer was not. Elsie Hoffman,
who was national committeewoman, was president of the Democratic
Women’s Club in the city of Spokane, and I am sure was not a Communist.
Mr. TAVENNER. What about Tom Rabbitt?
Mr. O’CONNELL. Tom Rabbitt worked for a short time in the
Progressive Party, I would say from probably April of maybe--I would
say latter part of March or early part of April 1948 until latter part
of May of 1948.
Mr. TAVENNER. What about William J. Pennock?
Mr. O’CONNELL. I am pretty sure that--well, Mr. Pennock had
no office in the Progressive Party. I think he was a member of the
executive committee. We had a very, very large executive committee, and
I think he was a member of the executive committee.
Mr. TAVENNER. What about John Daschbach?
Mr. O’CONNELL. I don’t remember any Progressive Party in
activity in my time on the part of John Daschbach.
Mr. TAVENNER. Mr. O’Connell, will you tell the committee what
action the Communist Party took in protesting to Judge Medina during
the trial of the 11 Communists under the provisions of the Smith Act in
Foley Square, New York?
Mr. O’CONNELL. Outside of what was in the ordinary press
notices, I mean of my own knowledge, I don’t know anything. I read
about the trial and so on, but of my own knowledge I don’t know
anything.
Mr. TAVENNER. Did the leadership of the Progressive Party in
the State of Washington take any active part in protesting to Judge
Medina regarding the trial of the 11 Communists?
Mr. O’CONNELL. When was that trial?
Mr. TAVENNER. The trial was in 1949; I think the first motion
of the trial was disposed of in the spring of 1949 before they began
the trial on its merits.
Mr. O’CONNELL. I wouldn’t want to say categorically one way or
the other what action might have been taken by the Progressive Party
in the State of Washington in that connection. I can’t recall anything
right now.
Mr. TAVENNER. Did you as executive secretary have any part in
the activity?
Mr. O’CONNELL. I can’t remember any.
Mr. TAVENNER. I hand you a photostatic copy of the June 6,
1949, issue of the Daily Worker and call your attention to an article
entitled “Men of Labor and Civic Leaders Throughout Nation Voice
Indignation,” and I ask if you see in that article a reference to the
fact that Henry Huff, chairman, and Clayton Van Lydegraf, secretary of
the Washington State Communist Party, having wired Dennis in connection
with those trials. Do you see that paragraph?
Mr. O’CONNELL. Yes; I see that paragraph.
Mr. TAVENNER. The subject of the wire is quoted as follows:
The northwest district is proud and inspired by the splendid fight
the defendants are making against the biased conduct and vicious
rulings of Judge Medina who is acting as prosecutor at Foley
Square. The jailing of John Gates, Gus Hall, and Henry Winston
has shocked and aroused our party and the massed forces to a new
fighting pitch and widespread protest action.
Will you examine the article again, please, and state whether just
above the paragraph pointed out to you there is the description of
a telegram sent by Russell Fluent, chairman, and Jerry O’Connell,
executive secretary of the Progressive Party to Judge Medina. Do you
see it?
Mr. O’CONNELL. Yes, I see that.
Mr. TAVENNER. Will you read it into the record, please?
Mr. O’CONNELL (reading):
Russell Fluent, chairman, and Jerry O’Connell, executive secretary
of the Progressive Party, wired Medina “Thousands of members are
shocked at your willful, unlawful, and unconstitutional attempt to
deny any defense to the Communist Party leaders now on trial.”
Mr. WILLIS. That was sent by whom to whom?
Mr. O’CONNELL. This paper----
Mr. WILLIS. Alleged to have been sent by whom to whom? What
does the paper say?
Mr. O’CONNELL. The paper says:
Russell Fluent, chairman, and Jerry O’Connell, executive secretary
of the Progressive Party wired Medina “Thousands of members shocked
at your willful, unlawful, and unconstitutional attempt to deny any
defense to the Communist Party leaders now on trial.”
Mr. TAVENNER. Did you send that wire?
Mr. O’CONNELL. I can’t remember sending any such wire.
Mr. TAVENNER. Would you state in view of the report of the
Daily Worker that the wire was not sent?
Mr. O’CONNELL. Well, I just have no recollection of sending
that wire, myself sending it. It is a long time ago and I don’t know
who wrote that story or how it was acquired or anything. I can’t
remember. I just can’t remember sending any wire in that connection.
Mr. TAVENNER. I desire to offer the document in evidence and
ask that it be marked “O’Connell Exhibit No. 5” for identification
purposes only, and to be made a part of the committee files.
Mr. WILLIS. It is so ordered.
Mr. O’CONNELL. I might say your showing me this paper is the
first time that has ever been called to my attention.
Mr. TAVENNER. The sending of this telegram to Judge Medina was
not the first occasion you have publicly come to the support of the
Communist Party, is it?
Mr. O’CONNELL. Well, I wouldn’t want to say that I came to the
support of the Communist Party. As a progressive American, I believe
that all people regardless of their political opinions and beliefs are
entitled to their political rights and civil liberties, whether they be
Communists or not.
Mr. TAVENNER. According to your statement, do you consider
that the Communist Party is a political party?
Mr. O’CONNELL. As far as my information is concerned, I know
there are findings by the Congress that it is not, but----
Mr. TAVENNER. And also by the courts?
Mr. O’CONNELL. I don’t recall any by the courts. I can’t
recall any case by the courts. Cases I can recall hold otherwise.
Mr. SCHERER. There are court cases.
Mr. O’CONNELL. Well, I don’t want to argue about it. The
thing is that as an American I feel that all people, regardless of
their political opinions or beliefs, whether they are Communist or
non-Communists, are entitled to their rights to their political
opinions and beliefs and to their civil rights and to their civil
liberties as provided by our Constitution. I say that as a progressive
American who really honestly and sincerely believes it.
Mr. SCHERER. I think we all believe that.
Mr. O’CONNELL. I didn’t get you, Congressman.
Mr. SCHERER. I said I think we all believe in the statement
you made.
Mr. O’CONNELL. I was just expressing--that is my position on
it. I just think it is dangerous to proscribe----
Mr. TAVENNER. You undertook in this telegram to accuse the
judge of willful, unlawful, and unconstitutional attempt to deny the
Communist Party leaders any defense.
Mr. O’CONNELL. As I said, I don’t remember sending that wire.
Mr. SCHERER. Do you deny it?
Mr. O’CONNELL. Well, Congressman, I can’t say. I just don’t
have any recollection of sending that wire, and I am saying that
honestly and truthfully. I did think, and I still do think, that Judge
Medina did restrict their defense at the trial.
Mr. SCHERER. We have had some of the lawyers who appeared
before Judge Medina in that trial appear before this committee, and
I am just wondering how Judge Medina withstood the assault that was
made upon him, not only by those lawyers but by telegrams such as the
counsel has just read, which, of course, I believe you sent.
Mr. O’CONNELL. Congressman, I really----
Mr. SCHERER. I think that was an attack on our judicial system
that was a disgrace by those who participated in it.
Mr. O’CONNELL. As I have said, I really don’t remember sending
any such wire, and this is the first time that has ever been called to
my attention.
Mr. SCHERER. The Communists and their followers talk about
persecution. If ever a fine jurist was persecuted for attempting to
do his job, as he was required to do by law, Judge Medina was so
persecuted and smeared.
Mr. O’CONNELL. I have not condoned the conduct of the
attorneys who were present at that trial.
Mr. SCHERER. I understand that.
Mr. O’CONNELL. I think--you have been here most of the time or
a considerable part of the time I testified.
Mr. SCHERER. I might say your conduct has been exemplary,
you have been very respectful and we certainly have no complaint. You
have used, I am not criticizing you for it, what is used regularly in
matters such as this, namely, the convenient and overworked answers, “I
don’t remember” and “not to my recollection, et cetera.”
Mr. O’CONNELL. These things happened some 5 and 6 and 7 years
ago and it is not easy and all of these people are actually strangers
to me and all that. I came down here as a former Congressman, as a
political figure in the Democratic Party in my own right and so on, I
came here with a true and honest and firm belief in my opposition to
the Mundt bill at that time. I think that it was wrong and I think it
is wrong now.
Mr. SCHERER. I do not want anything I have said to appear
as a criticism of you. As I said, I think you have been very polite
and very respectful, but I think when certain statements are made
it is incumbent upon members of the committee to comment upon those
statements and clear the record.
Mr. O’CONNELL. I have been a Member of the House, sir, and I
have full respect for the committee and I realize, I have sat up there
and I have made my comments too as witnesses have testified.
Mr. SCHERER. Have you been given every opportunity to make
explanations to answers you gave?
Mr. O’CONNELL. Yes.
Mr. SCHERER. I think that the members of the committee, then,
have a right of course to comment upon statements you have made, the
same as you have that privilege.
Mr. O’CONNELL. I have no complaint. I have been treated very
fairly and respectfully and everything, I have made no complaint and
I am doing my very level honest best to do a good job to answer the
questions as they are given to me.
Mr. TAVENNER. Do you recall having spoken to the legislative
conference of the Freedom Crusade Congress of the Civil Right Congress
on the question of the indictment of the 12 Communist leaders?
Mr. O’CONNELL. I don’t know what that Freedom Crusade is.
Where was that supposed to be?
Mr. TAVENNER. In Washington.
Mr. O’CONNELL. State of Washington?
Mr. TAVENNER. No. It was in Washington, D. C. According to
the Daily Worker of January 13, 1949, we find an article entitled
“Congressman To Address Crusade,” this paragraph:
The final panel on persecuted political minorities based on the
indictments of the 12 Communist leaders will be discussed by
Marcantonio, Dr. W. E. B. DuBois, and former Montana Congressman
Jerry O’Connell.
Do you recall whether you did speak?
Mr. O’CONNELL. I am positive I did not. I have never met
DuBois, never met him in my life. I have never been involved with him.
Marc I know real well.
Mr. SCHERER. Do I understand you to say you don’t recall
whether you made the speech?
Mr. O’CONNELL. I am positive I never spoke at any such panel.
Because I----
Mr. TAVENNER. Do you recall having agreed to appear on that
program?
Mr. O’CONNELL. No, I surely don’t.
Mr. SCHERER. Is that the Daily Worker?
Mr. TAVENNER. Yes, sir.
Mr. SCHERER. Do you mean the Daily Worker can be wrong?
Mr. O’CONNELL. The reason I feel positive about that is I do
not know Dr. DuBois, I have never met him, and I don’t know him at all,
and I know I was not on any panel where he talked. I know I didn’t do
that. Marc of course I knew real well, but I certainly don’t remember
speaking any place with Marc. I knew him.
Mr. TAVENNER. Did you speak, regardless of who accompanied
you, on a program sponsored by the Freedom Crusade Congress?
Mr. O’CONNELL. What date was that?
Mr. TAVENNER. In January 1949.
Mr. O’CONNELL. I am positive I did not.
The other reason I feel sure about that is I left the State of
Washington in October 1949, and I went back to Montana, and I know
during that particular period I was in the State of Montana and my wife
and I were living with her folks in Great Falls. I know my financial
circumstances at that time were very slim and that I am sure, I am just
positive that I never spoke at any such panel at that time.
Mr. TAVENNER. A report is made by the Special Committee on
Un-American Activities that the Daily Worker issue of June 23, 1937,
page 1, carried a letter addressed by you to David Leeds, business
manager of the Daily Worker, official organ of the Communist Party, in
which you state:
I feel that the Daily Worker is America’s outstanding daily labor
paper and has done much during these past crucial labor years to
bring true and accurate accounts of labor conditions throughout the
entire country to the attention of the people.
Did you write such a letter?
Mr. O’CONNELL. Yes, I wrote such a letter.
Mr. TAVENNER. Were you a subscriber to the Daily Worker?
Mr. O’CONNELL. No; I don’t think--I was a Member of Congress
at that time and the Daily Worker was delivered like a lot of other
newspapers are to my office. My particular recollection of that--that
is 1937--was that a man by the name of Paddy King was an avowed
Communist in the State of Montana and is quite a familiar character
around there came to my office and asked me if I would do this and I
think I told him I would confine it strictly to the labor coverage of
what the Daily Worker was doing, coverage on labor, on strikes, on
labor’s rights, and so on. I wrote the letter at that time.
Mr. SCHERER. Was what you said in 1937 true about the Daily
Worker?
Mr. O’CONNELL. That was written in 1937.
Mr. SCHERER. 1937. It surely has changed since I became
acquainted with it. I have just been reading the account of some of the
hearings we had in Newark a couple of weeks ago.
Mr. O’CONNELL. A lot of things have changed since 1937.
Mr. SCHERER. I said if what you stated in 1937 was true about
it, the paper surely has changed since my acquaintance with it.
Mr. O’CONNELL. You will remember that was the period in which
the CIO was beginning to organize and there was considerable, we had
the little steel strike, we had Memorial Day massacre at Republic Steel
near Chicago; there were many things happening in the labor situation
at that time, and in my opinion the Daily Worker covered them better
and did a better job than any other paper I knew of.
Mr. TAVENNER. You knew of course that the Daily Worker was
the official organ of the Communist Party, and that it was required
to be read by all Communist Party members in order to ascertain the
directives that were being issued by the Communist Party.
Mr. O’CONNELL. I knew that it was the organ of the Communist
Party but whether or not the members were required to do it, I was not
a Communist, I didn’t know.
Mr. TAVENNER. Why did you desire to give aid to the Communist
Party by writing such a highly commendatory article to be printed in
the Daily Worker?
Mr. O’CONNELL. I was dealing with the paper as such and
particularly with its labor coverage as such. I think I confined my
letter to that particular phase of the coverage that the Daily Worker
did. There was no intent on my part to give aid or support to the
Communist Party or anything----
Mr. TAVENNER. Was it your purpose to get aid or support for
yourself from the Communist Party?
Mr. O’CONNELL. No, not aid and support from the Communist
Party. I lived in western Montana and I was a Congressman from western
Montana where we had a very, very militant tradition out there as far
as labor was concerned. In that particular period and of course during
the depression and at other times, labor leaders had been hanged out
there, one labor leader was hanged to a railroad trestle----
Mr. TAVENNER. What has that to do with the question I asked?
Mr. O’CONNELL. What I am trying to point out is that I lived
in a district, that I represented a district where there were a lot
of militant labor leaders who read the Daily Worker, who actually,
many of them I know, were not Communists, there wasn’t any particular
fear--there might have been 30 or 37 Communists in the whole State,
nobody was ever bothered about them, nobody was afraid of them. As a
politician they came to see me and talk with me, they came to other
politicians there.
Mr. TAVENNER. Communists?
Mr. O’CONNELL. Yes. I can remember--in the 33d--in the 33d
Legislature of Montana the Communist Party came and talked to the
legislative assembly while the legislature was assembled and all that
on the conditions that existed in the State at the time. There wasn’t
any, I am trying to put you in the pattern and in the spirit and in the
situation that existed in that day. We weren’t worried about them, we
weren’t afraid of them at all. We let them speak their piece, we let
them say the things they wanted to say, if they had any contribution to
make, to make it, and so on.
That is the attitude and that was not only true of them. We had heavy
Socialist following, the Socialist Party out there, Norman Thomas
had decidedly strong feeling, in fact strong support out there and
carried some of the counties in the State of Montana particularly in my
district in the 1932 election.
What I am trying to do is put you in the mind and in the spirit
that existed as far as I was concerned at that particular time. For
instance, today I wouldn’t write that kind of a letter to the Daily
Worker.
Mr. TAVENNER. Did the same condition exist in Seattle, Wash.,
which you have described?
Mr. O’CONNELL. In the State of Washington you had about the
same situation, in the history of the State there was----
Mr. TAVENNER. Let me ask you this question: Did members of the
Communist Party in Seattle come to you as secretary of the Progressive
Party to discuss Communist Party problems with you?
Mr. O’CONNELL. No; not to discuss Communist Party problems
as such, both while I was executive secretary of the Democratic Party
and executive secretary of the Progressive Party I can remember Mr.
Henry P. Huff and Mr. Van Lydegraf, I think there was a Mr. Remes, and
others who came to the Democratic Party office and to the Progressive
Party Office and made certain representations about support of the
legislation they were interested in, matters that they were taking a
position in, and so on. I talked with them.
Mr. TAVENNER. Did that also include Tom Rabbitt and William
Pennock?
Mr. O’CONNELL. Well, in my time out there Rabbitt and Pennock
had never been identified or identified themselves as members of the
Communist Party. As I told you, Rabbitt was Democratic State senator,
Pennock was Democratic State representative and their dealings with me,
they were delegates to the Democratic Central Committee in King County
and their dealings with me were, as far as I knew, and ostensibly they
dealt with me as members of the Democratic party.
Mr. TAVENNER. We have spoken of the Daily Worker. You say you
were not a subscriber. Were you a subscriber to the Daily People’s
World?
Mr. O’CONNELL. I don’t think I ever subscribed to the People’s
World. I got the New World. I was a subscriber to the New World and to
the Washington New Dealer.
Mr. TAVENNER. You were acquainted, were you not, with a paper
published in Chicago by the name of Midwest Daily Record?
Mr. O’CONNELL. I can’t remember the Midwest Daily Record. When
was that published?
Mr. TAVENNER. In the thirties. Do you recall having written a
letter to the Daily Worker or made a public pronouncement recommending
the publication of that paper?
Mr. O’CONNELL. No, I don’t. Was it a Communist newspaper?
Mr. TAVENNER. Yes, it was.
Mr. O’CONNELL. Did it exist any time? Did it last any time?
Mr. TAVENNER. Not for a long period. I don’t know the period
it existed. As I understand, you do not recall anything about that
paper?
Mr. O’CONNELL. I honestly can’t remember anything about it. I
didn’t even know it existed as far as I can remember. When I was down
here in Congress there were a lot of newspapers and I am trying to
think of some of them. A lot of them came in.
Mr. TAVENNER. Mr. O’Connell, were you acquainted with John T.
Bernard, former Member of Congress?
Mr. O’CONNELL. Yes, sir; I was a Member of the House in the
75th Congress with Mr. Bernard and I have seen him on several occasions
since that time and I am acquainted with Mr. Bernard.
Mr. TAVENNER. I have before me the January 8, 1938, issue of
the Daily Worker carrying an article entitled “‘I Am for the Loyalists
and China,’ Police Captain Declares at Lincoln Vets Trial.” The last
paragraph of this article states as follows:
A dinner in honor of Robert Raven was given by the friends of the
Abraham Lincoln Brigade last night at the Aldine Club, 200 Fifth
Avenue. Congressman John T. Bernard, Farmer-Laborite of Minnesota,
paid tribute to the heroic death of Raven, and gave some account
of his experiences while visiting Spanish battle-grounds with
Jerry O’Connell, Congressman of Montana. Other speakers were Steve
Nelson. * * *
Did you accompany John T. Bernard to the Spanish battlefields?
Mr. O’CONNELL. Yes, sir.
Mr. TAVENNER. When were you in Spain and for what period of
time?