A subcommittee of the Committee on Un-American Activities met, pursuant
to recess, at 9 a. m., in Room 402, County-City Building, Seattle,
Wash., Hon. Morgan M. Moulder (chairman) presiding.
Committee members present: Representatives Morgan M. Moulder (chairman)
and Harold H. Velde (appearance as noted).
Staff members present: Frank S. Tavenner, Jr., counsel; William A.
Wheeler, staff investigator.
Mr. MOULDER. The subcommittee will be in order.
Mr. Counsel, call the witness you wish to examine.
Mr. TAVENNER. Mr. Chairman, I would like to recall Mr. Dennett
at this time.
TESTIMONY OF EUGENE VICTOR DENNETT, ACCOMPANIED BY HIS COUNSEL, KENNETH
A. MacDONALD--Resumed
Mr. TAVENNER. It is noted, Mr. Dennett, that your counsel is
not with you. Do you prefer to wait until he arrives before proceeding?
Mr. DENNETT. It doesn’t make any particular difference. I am
sure my counsel intends to be here as soon as he can get here, but
there is no need to delay.
Mr. TAVENNER. I understand he is in the corridor, so we will
wait until he arrives.
(At this point Kenneth A. MacDonald, counsel to the witness, entered
the hearing room.)
Mr. TAVENNER. When you left the stand yesterday, Mr. Dennett,
we were speaking of your experience in the Communist Party at
Bellingham. Will you please describe to the committee what additional
activities of the Communist Party you engaged in while at Bellingham.
Mr. DENNETT. I believe, sir, that I recounted that the
Communist Party was active in the unemployed movement, and our
membership grew from 7 to approximately 160 in the course of a year’s
time, and that we had proceeded to reorient that membership in the
party from exclusive work in the unemployment councils to working in
an organization known as the People’s Councils, which was organized by
non-party people.
The two leaders of that organization at that time were Mr. M. M. London
and Mr. George Bradley.
The Communist Party was quite disturbed that there was such an
effective organization in existence which was not directly under our
leadership.
Mr. TAVENNER. What was the name of that organization?
Mr. DENNETT. The People’s Councils. Consequently, one of
our major objectives was to win that leadership to support the party
position one way or another. We had had previous experience with Mr.
London and we considered that it was not possible to win Mr. London
back to--or to support the party. Therefore, we concentrated our
attention on Mr. Bradley, and ultimately won him to support the party
and the party position in opposition to Mr. London.
Mr. TAVENNER. When you say you won Mr. Bradley to the support
of the Communist Party position, do you mean to indicate that he became
a member of the Communist Party?
Mr. DENNETT. Yes; he did. He became a member of the Communist
Party after my constant agitation with him had convinced him that the
Communist Party program was a sounder program and a better program than
the one that they were pursuing in the People’s Councils.
And Mr. Bradley was unable to convince Mr. London, and they became at
some conflict in point of view on that.
Mr. TAVENNER. The organization there known as the
Unemployed Councils, if I understood your testimony correctly, was a
Communist-organized group?
Mr. DENNETT. That is true. The Unemployed Council was
organized by the Communist Party, and it was our policy throughout that
entire period to insist that all unemployed organizations, if they were
to truly represent the unemployed, had to affiliate with the Unemployed
Councils.
Now in the case of the People’s Councils, we tried to get them to
affiliate with the National Unemployed Councils. They never did. Even
after we won Bradley to our support the rest of the membership still
would not agree to direct affiliation with the National Unemployed
Council. Instead, they felt that they had a greater kinship and
association with the Unemployed Citizens Leagues, which had been
organized in the city of Seattle and in various parts of the State of
Washington under the leadership of anti-Communists who had originally
come from the labor movement in the city of Seattle.
There were three particular leaders of the Unemployed Citizens League
who organized it at the outset.
And I am not sure that I related yesterday how serious the unemployment
problem was in the city of Seattle, but I am sure that if anyone would
take the trouble to look up the records they would find that at one
time there were over 90,000 families in the city of Seattle who were
dependent upon public assistance to maintain themselves and their
families.
There was no private employment in the city. The only persons who were
receiving paychecks were those who were working for either the State,
Federal, or city governments. And under those circumstances the problem
was very, very acute. The tax rolls were overtaxed. I mean by that that
the tax burden was greater than the city was able to bear. The city
treasury was soon exhausted trying to maintain the citizens who were
unemployed through no fault of their own.
Soon the county budget was exhausted, and they were perplexed. The
problem was far more serious and far more acute than the average person
today can possibly comprehend unless he looks at the statistics, which
are available, I am sure, in some of the research libraries.
I speak of that about the city of Seattle because I have some knowledge
of it from personal experience. The same situation existed in nearly
every small city in the State of Washington at that time. I cannot
testify as to what the condition was in other parts of the country.
But it was that condition which opened the door for widespread
organization on the part of workers and unaffiliated and disaffiliated
people, and it was when they came into these organizations that it
became possible for the Communists to begin to hammer away with the
class-struggle line of tactics and the insistence that a relentless
fight must be waged against the capitalist system and blame the
capitalist system for this condition of unemployment.
It created a problem, too, for those who held public office because
they did not know what to do about it. And, frankly, it wasn’t possible
for any local people to solve the problem. It had to be dealt with on a
national scale, on a national basis.
It was not until after the new administration took office in 1933 that
steps were taken which made it possible to start the wheels of industry
in motion again. And as those wheels of industry got started in motion
it was possible for these workers to find jobs. And when they started
finding jobs they left the unemployed organizations. When they left
the unemployed organizations they got out from under the immediate
influence of the Communists who had entered those organizations, and,
in many instances, obtained control.
I am speaking specifically of the Unemployed Citizens League, the
People’s Councils, and I think that there were some other organizations
around here that I have forgotten the names of.
I think that there was one called the United Producers of Washington
that was created over in Pierce County which was affiliated with the
Unemployed Citizens League.
There were many different names of these organizations, and they
assumed different forms. But essentially they all performed the same
function. They provided a center around which people could begin to
develop their own ideas and listen to other people’s ideas.
I would certainly like to make certain that everyone understands that
that kind of problem has to be dealt with also with ideas.
Mr. TAVENNER. You made reference to unemployment citizens’
leagues. Were there such organizations in Bellingham?
Mr. DENNETT. No, there were not. The People’s Councils
performed all the functions which the Unemployed Citizens Leagues
would do, plus the fact that the People’s Councils also developed some
political aspirations. I mean they did embark upon an independent
political campaign, and they did run candidates for public office. That
was largely due to the influence of the Communist Party there. Remember
1932? We were insistent that they not support either the Democratic or
Republican Parties because we branded them as capitalist parties, and
we insisted that the only way it was possible for the workers to obtain
what they wanted was through their own party.
We succeeded in prevailing upon the People’s Councils to run their
independent candidates, and some of them came very close to election to
office. They didn’t quite make it.
Mr. TAVENNER. Mr. Dennett, I think it would be of value to
the committee to understand as fully as possible the methods used by
the Communist Party in that period in causing the Unemployed Councils
to take various courses of action in Bellingham and Seattle, and to
understand to what extent the Communist Party was successful in using
other organizations which it did not control.
Mr. DENNETT. I can think of two very graphic illustrations of
that.
One occurred in the city of Seattle at the time the unemployed occupied
this building for 3 solid days. The Unemployed Citizens Leagues
in the city of Seattle were anti-Communist; their leadership was
anti-Communist. But they were confronted with the budget running low,
the city funds exhausted, and the county commissioners were confronted
with the dilemma of what to do with their funds diminishing.
The county commissioners at that time ordered a cut in the amount
of relief which would be allowed. When they did that it placed the
anti-Communist leadership in the Unemployed Citizens Leagues in a most
embarrassing position because we in the Communist Party and in the
Unemployed Councils had been very critical of everything which the
Unemployed Citizens Leagues had been doing and which their leaders had
been doing.
When this cut occurred we blamed the leaders of the Unemployed Citizens
Leagues for permitting it. We didn’t know that these leaders had been
opposing the cut. We didn’t know what their actual attitude was. But
we very soon found out because these leaders were so desperate that
they decided to make a march on the County-City Building where the
commissioners were to meet in a room similar to this one. And it was
their intention to demand at that time that the cuts not be put into
effect.
However, the demonstration proved to be much larger and had much
more support than the leaders of the Unemployed Citizens Leagues
anticipated, and the Communists--I remember it very well because I was
on the district bureau at that time--and we found ourselves not in the
leadership of a militant action, and we were embarrassed and fearful
that if we didn’t get into the act that we would be blamed by the
national leadership.
And we didn’t have any contacts in the Unemployed Citizens League
leadership, and we didn’t know what to do. So we debated the question
for about 30 hours in 1 continuous bureau meeting. Following that
meeting we decided that it was best for us to join the demonstration
regardless, whether we had contact or not, and we issued leaflets and
called upon our members to join in the demonstration.
(At this point Representative Harold H. Velde entered the hearing room).
Mr. DENNETT. In the process of doing so we received a bigger
response than we expected. In other words, the need was more acute
than even the most closest observers realized. Consequently, there
were about 6,000 people down here in this building. They couldn’t all
get into the chambers. They crowded the hallways, they crowded several
floors of the building. And some of the commissioners got so scared
of the demonstration that they tried to run out. They tried to avoid
meeting the leaders.
As a result, the demonstrators decided they would stay until they did
meet the leaders, until they met the commissioners. And it took over 3
days before the commissioners finally agreed to meet with the committee
of this group.
I happened to be the secretary of that committee at that time, and I am
sorry that those records that I kept of that demonstration are records
which I do not have today. They would be quite valuable to understand
all the things that happened, the chronology of why one thing followed
another.
But I am quite convinced and I am quite certain that the account I have
just given you can be verified by checking the newspaper files of that
period.
Mr. TAVENNER. Now is it correct to say that the general
objectives of the Unemployed Councils, which was organized by the
Communist Party, and the general objectives of the Unemployed Citizens
Leagues, which were anti-Communist in character, were the same in that
their purpose was to alleviate suffering from unemployment? Is that
true?
Mr. DENNETT. I think that is generally true with this possible
exception, that the Communist Party was never satisfied to resolve the
alleviation of immediate suffering. That was a tactic to win wider
support and to pursue their further objective of political control.
But, on the other hand, the Unemployed Citizens Leagues were concerned
only with the question of getting some relief for the immediate
situation and not fundamentally altering the economic system.
The Unemployed Councils did strive to change the economic system.
Mr. TAVENNER. That is the point I wanted made clear. This
appears to be an excellent example of the Communist Party using a
situation in which all people were interested from the humanity
standpoint and endeavoring to turn it to its own advantage in
developing its general objectives.
Mr. DENNETT. I think that is true.
And while we speak of that point I think that all political parties do
the same thing. They try to turn things to their own advantage. That is
the way the Communists try to do it.
Mr. TAVENNER. Was there any other development at that period
of time which would demonstrate how the Communist Party by its
organizational efforts turned unfortunate situations of this character
to its own advantage?
Mr. DENNETT. There was another example which seems rather
devious when you look at it from this perspective, but at that time we
thought it was quite skillful.
In the city of Seattle after this embarrassing financial crisis arose
it became quite clear to everyone that to finance the relief load was a
problem greater than cities or counties could bear. It required State
and Federal assistance. But the State was not helping at that time. The
State was not doing anything. And the Communists conceived the idea of
hunger marches. I remember there were national hunger marches. There
were also State hunger marches. There were county hunger marches. There
were hunger marches within cities. Wherever the need was acute there
were hunger marches.
And we had more than our share of them here.
In one, in particular, on one occasion, the Communists raised a demand
for a march on Olympia to demand that the State finance the relief load
for localities. Our request was for a big bond issue.
The unemployed councils in the city of Seattle did not have a very
large following, and it was a hopeless task unless some means could be
found to prevail upon the unemployed citizens’ leagues to take part
in such a march. But the Unemployed Citizens’ League leadership was
hostile to the Communist leadership in the unemployed councils. But
through the people’s councils we were able to exert some influence
because we had a considerable Communist leadership developing in the
ranks of the people’s councils in Whatcom County. Strangely enough,
that organization was in a position where its top leadership was
friendly with and collaborated with the unemployed citizens’ leagues
in Seattle while those of us in the Communist Party, in the ranks
of the organization, naturally were following the leadership of the
national unemployed councils and were friendly with and working with
the unemployed councils in the city of Seattle.
Consequently, when the unemployed councils in the city of Seattle
issued a call for a march on Olympia, that call was transmitted to
Bellingham where we entered into the people’s councils and won a
majority vote in support of such a march, and with the further request
that they call upon the unemployed citizens’ leagues in Seattle to join
the march, which they did. They prevailed upon the unemployed citizens’
leagues to join in the march.
Consequently, we had two somewhat hostile groups participating in the
same event, marching on Olympia.
But when they got to Olympia there was a split. There were two
demonstrations. And there is a gentleman in this room who suffered as a
casualty of one of those demonstrations because at that particular time
he was a leader in the unemployed citizens leagues.
The unemployed councils people wanted to chase the leadership of the
unemployed citizens leagues and the people’s councils away from the
head of that demonstration. And Mr. Jess Fletcher was a casualty on
that occasion. He was pulled down off of one of the--I forget what you
would call it--one of those approaches to the steps. And he had a badly
crushed ankle as a result of that occasion.
I was called upon by the district leadership of the party at that
time to make a speech. I was instructed to expose Mr. London and to
otherwise denounce the Social-Fascist leaders of those organizations.
And, of course, being a thoroughly disciplined Communist, I did
precisely what I was instructed.
It had some repercussions because when we returned to Bellingham I had
some other unfortunate experiences about it.
I should say that in this demonstration in Olympia the Unemployed
Citizens League people did wait out the Governor and did get a
committee in to see the Governor, whereas the unemployed councils
people left Olympia without seeing the Governor and without
accomplishing their objective.
Mr. TAVENNER. If I correctly understand these two
illustrations which you have described, in one instance the Communist
Party occupied this very building, joined in the activity of the
unemployed citizens leagues, and attempted to obtain for its own credit
whatever credit could be obtained, whereas in the other instance, by
devious means, they got the other organizations to cooperate with the
unemployed councils in the march on Olympia.
Mr. DENNETT. That is true.
Mr. TAVENNER. The Communist Party reversed its tactics.
Mr. DENNETT. That is true. We were very flexible people. We
could do almost anything with our tactics.
Mr. TAVENNER. Therefore, the Communist Party’s objectives were
accomplished in both instances.
Mr. DENNETT. That is right. And what was even more important
to the party was to be able to carry a great big newspaper story in the
Daily Worker to the effect that the revolution was starting because the
workers had seized the County-City Building in King County, State of
Washington, and held it for 3 days.
Mr. TAVENNER. Was that used as Communist propaganda over the
entire United States?
Mr. DENNETT. It was.
Mr. TAVENNER. Up until the time you made that speech at the
direction of the Communist Party it appears to me that this was a
cooperative effort between the unemployed councils and the unemployed
citizens leagues in the march on Olympia. Am I correct in that?
Mr. DENNETT. It was; through the people’s councils.
Mr. TAVENNER. But manipulated through the people’s councils
where you had influence?
Mr. DENNETT. Correct.
Mr. TAVENNER. Then after arriving on the scene, you, at the
direction of the Communist Party, made this attack on the leadership of
the unemployed citizens leagues.
Mr. DENNETT. And the people’s councils.
Mr. TAVENNER. Was the purpose of this attack to utterly
destroy any effectiveness of those organizations in the accomplishment
of the general purpose of the march?
Mr. DENNETT. Looking back on it from this distance, it
certainly appears to me that that was its objective.
Mr. TAVENNER. When you returned to Bellingham what reception
did you receive from these organizations which had in good faith
supported this march on Olympia?
Mr. DENNETT. There was a great deal of tension; open threats
were made that if I showed my head around anywhere I would have my head
knocked off.
However, I was not so easily scared as that. So I showed my head. The
people’s councils had a practice of, which I considered to be most
democratic, reporting to their membership.
Following the hunger march they called a mass meeting for the purpose
of reporting what had been happening, what their success was. And these
very leaders of the people’s councils whom I had denounced in Olympia
presented themselves and reported to their membership. In the process
of reporting naturally they reported my part in the affair, and their
report aroused a great deal of bitterness among the members of the
organization.
When I appeared in attendance at the meeting those who were present
near me moved about 6 or 8 feet away, leaving me a conspicuous figure
out in the open spaces. And some of the remarks were directed toward me
in that meeting.
I felt at the time that something was wrong with the situation, of what
I had done. But I wasn’t sure what. I knew, however, that if I didn’t
face it all would be lost. So I chose to face it and take whatever
consequences might happen.
The consequences came very soon. When the meeting adjourned, as I
attempted to leave the building four members of the organization
surrounded me and marched me around behind the building where they
proceeded to give me a physical beating.
I never have been much of a fighter as such. Physically I am not
equipped to do so. So I merely rolled up into a ball and let them do as
best they could.
In the meantime some of my friends came to my assistance, and the
police intervened to stop anything from proceeding too far.
However, I did surprise everyone by appearing and I did unnerve them
because they didn’t believe that I had the nerve to show up after what
I had done in Olympia. And as a total consequence of it all, I finally
recruited most of the people who beat me up into the Communist Party.
I felt they were good, militant people, and they were the kind of
people we wanted.
Mr. TAVENNER. How long was that before you left Bellingham?
Mr. DENNETT. Right now I can’t fix a real date on that. I
would have to look at the newspaper files to be certain of the date.
It wasn’t too long, however, because our influence had grown, and it
wasn’t very long after that.
Mr. TAVENNER. Was there any other activity of the Communist
Party while you were at Bellingham which would be of value to this
committee as far as you know in making the committee aware of the
tactics and methods used by the Communist Party to advance its
objectives?
Mr. DENNETT. Offhand, right now I think of nothing further
with respect to Bellingham.
Mr. TAVENNER. I see before me several pamphlets which
apparently relate to the various hunger marches which are among the
documents which you made available to the staff. Will you examine
these, please, and state whether or not they were used in any
connection with the matters you have been describing?
(Documents handed to the witness.)
Mr. DENNETT. Yes. These were what we called popular pamphlets,
to popularize the hunger marches. They were brief penny pamphlets which
we tried to sell in mass lots. In other words, if we could find someone
who would contribute a dollar we would make a hundred of these things
available and try to hand them out in large numbers. They were given to
nearly all persons who participated in hunger marches, and they were an
elementary introduction to the orientation which the Communist Party
had to the whole economic situation.
Mr. TAVENNER. The purpose is not clear of the use of those
documents by the Communist Party.
Here were those members who had agreed to take part in the hunger
marches. Why was it necessary for them to have such material?
Mr. DENNETT. Because in many instances people would
participate in these events because they were in need of relief
themselves, but they had no conception of what the economic problems
were, and they had no conception of the political objectives that we
had.
And we were quite anxious to take that occasion, when they were rubbing
elbows with us, to make certain that they took some elementary steps of
understanding in our direction.
[Illustration: DENNETT EXHIBIT NO. 5
THE MARCH
AGAINST
HUNGER
_By_ I. AMTER
]
Mr. TAVENNER. Mr. Chairman, I would like to introduce in
evidence three pamphlets entitled “The March Against Hunger,” by I.
Amter, “The Highway of Hunger,” by Dave Doran, and “Our Children Cry
for Bread,” by Sadie Van Veen, and ask that they be marked “Dennett
Exhibits 5, 6, and 7” respectively, with the understanding that only
the front cover and the back cover of each be incorporated in the
transcript of the record.
[Illustration:
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