Mr. TAVENNER. I think you should define more specifically what
was meant by the term “liquidate.”
Mr. DENNETT. Well, in that connection, I believe it occurred
during a meeting of the district bureau, in which I had insisted that
the grammar of one of Mr. Noral’s leaflets was in need of repair. He
insisted that he knew what he was saying and that if anybody else
didn’t know it was just too bad. And he proceeded to describe the
importance of party discipline.
And in a very boastful way remarked that he was in the Fosterite
faction that went to the Soviet Union in 1928 to the Sixth World
Congress of the Comintern, and that following the decision of the
Sixth World Congress to liquidate factionalism in the American section
of the Communist Party, that the Comintern set up a special commission
to deal with the American section delegates, dealing with the Foster
faction, the Lovestone faction, and the Cannon faction. And he said
that since he was in the Foster faction that they, being the largest
faction, were called up first.
And when they were called before the commission the chairman of that
commission was Josef Stalin, and that Stalin leaned over the rostrum,
shook his finger at them, and demanded to know, “Do you or do you not
submit to the authority of the Comintern and its decisions?”
Noral said that he very proudly was the first to arise and say that he
did submit to it. And he gave that to us as an illustration of the kind
of discipline that we must expect and that we must follow.
Mr. MOULDER. Mr. Dennett and Mr. Tavenner, would you like to
have a recess at this time?
Mr. TAVENNER. Yes.
Mr. MOULDER. The committee will stand in recess for a period
of 5 minutes.
(Whereupon a short recess was taken.)
Mr. MOULDER. The committee will be in order.
Proceed, Mr. Tavenner.
Mr. TAVENNER. Mr. Chairman, at this time I would like to call
the witness, Mr. Jerry O’Connell.
Mr. Jerry O’Connell. Is he present?
(There was no response.)
Mr. TAVENNER. May I ask that he be called in the corridor?
Mr. MOULDER. Mr. Officer, would you call the witness Jerry
O’Connell in the corridor?
Is there anyone here, an attorney representing the witness Mr.
O’Connell?
(There was no response.)
Mr. MOULDER. Proceed, Mr. Tavenner.
Is there any announcement you wish to make on that, Mr. Tavenner?
Mr. VELDE. May I inquire of Mr. Tavenner or Mr. Wheeler, was
Jerry O’Connell served with a subpena?
Mr. TAVENNER. Yes, sir; he was.
Mr. MOULDER. For appearance here today?
Mr. TAVENNER. Yes, sir.
Mr. VELDE. I think it would be appropriate at this point to
have the subpena and the return thereon entered in the record.
Mr. TAVENNER. I would like to interrupt the course of this
testimony and produce to the committee a copy of the subpena served on
Mr. Jerry O’Connell, and call the committee’s attention to the return
which shows that it was served at 12 minutes to 9 p. m., March 8, 1955,
at his residence, 3415 Central Avenue, Great Falls, Mont., signed
Harold Mady, chief of police.
I desire to offer the document in evidence and ask that it be marked as
“O’Connell Exhibit No. 1,” for identification purposes only and to be
made a part of the committee files.
Mr. MOULDER. It is so ordered.
Mr. TAVENNER. Mr. Dennett, you were asked a question by one of
the members of the subcommittee with reference to your knowledge at the
time you became a member of the Communist Party as to what control,
if any, that a foreign power had, over the Communist Party in this
country, and you explained that.