As national chairman of the American Coalition's National Security Committee, I am registering, in its behalf, approval of the Mundt-Nixon bill (H. R. 5852), which was passed by the House of Representatives in May 1948, and now under consideration by the Senate Committee on the Judiciary. It is our opinion that the resolution under consideration is a step in the right direction, and it therefore has our endorsement. At the January convention of the American coalition, however, we called for even more definite action, that of outlawing the Communist Party (American section). It is understood that the opposition to such action is based on the supposition that the Communist Party would go into hiding and would operate underground. The fact is that the majority of the party's real activities have always been conducted underground. The party heads have recently announced that, in the event II. R. 5852, now under consideration by the Senate Committee on the Judiciary, is enacted, the party will go further underground. We have in our possession a complete and official Communist plan of underground and public organization. This provides for legal and illegal apparatus at all times. This is also required in the officially published conditions of admission to the Communist international (section 3). Similar apparatus is emphasized for use in America. We quote: "It is their duty to create everywhere a parallel illegal organization machine which at the decisive moment will be helpful to the party in fulfilling its duty to the revolution. In all countries where the Communists, because of a state of siege and because of exceptional laws directed against them, are unable to carry on their whole work legally, it is absolutely necessary to combine legal with illegal activities." Article 36 of the constitution of the Communist International provides: "The Communist parties must be prepared for transition to illegal conditions. The executive committee of the Communist International must render the parties concerned assistance in their preparation for transitions to illegal conditions." This section also provides for like transitions of the so-called fronts, which are more definitely named Communist fractions in the official document of the organization. In our opinion, H. R. 5852 will drive the real Communist Party machine completely underground, and it will legalize, not illegalize, the Communist movement as a whole. Those few who will register under it will serve as the legal apparatus. Those who do not will constitute the illegal apparatus. To outlaw the party and its fractional organizations, better known as fronts, all organizations and members thereof must be declared unlawful, and not just a part of it as provided for under H. R. 5852. It is not our opinion alone that to outlaw the Communist movement would be the death blow to it in the United States. It is also the opinion of the high-ups in the Communist Party itself. This would cut off the party completely from the public. If all such activities are made unlawful, it will make possible the arrest and conviction of all leaders and members. To make it legal to promote the Red menace by registration does not in our estimation completely solve the problem. We urge outlawing the party by Congress, but if Congress does not acquiesce in this view, the passage of H. R. 5852 will be a step in the right direction. Respectfully submitted. AMERICAN COALITION OF PATRIOTIC, CIVIC AND FRATERNAL SOCIETIES, SOCIETIES COOPERATING WITH THE AMERICAN COALITION Americanism Defense League. American League for Good Government, Inc. American Vigilant Intelligence Federation. American War Mothers. American Women's Legion. Associated chapters, Order of DeMolay of Pennsylvania. Associated Farmers of California, Inc. California Society, Order of the Founders and Patriots of America. Colonial Order of the Acorn, New York Chapter. Congress of States Societies. Connecticut Daughters of the American Colonists. 78257-48- -30 Daughters of America, National Council. Daughters of America, District of Columbia Council. District of Columbia Commandery, Naval and Military Order of the SpanishAmerican War. District of Columbia Society, Order Founders and Patriots of America. Eugenics Society of Northern California. First Motor Corps Unit No. 12, Massachusetts State Guard Veterans. Fraternal Patriotic Americas, State of Pennsylvania, Inc. General Court, Order of the Founders and Patriots of America. General Society of the War of 1812. Illinois Society of War of 1812. Junior Order United American Mechanics, New Jersey. Junior Order United American Mechanics, New York, Inc. Junior Order United American Mechanics, Pennsylvania. Ladies of the Grand Army of the Republic. Massachusetts Society, Order of the Founders and Patriots of America. Military Order of the Loyal Legion of the United States, Commandery in Chief. New York Society, United States Daughters of 1812. Order of Colonial Lords of Manors in America. Order of Independent Americans, Inc., State Council of Pennsylvania. Order of Three Crusades 1092-1192, Inc. Pennsylvania Society, Order of the Founders and Patriots of America. Philadelphia Protestant Federation. Regular Veterans Association. Rhode Island Association of Patriots. Rhode Island Daughters of the American Colonists. Rhode Island Society, Order of the Founders and Patriots of America. Society of Colonial Wars in the District of Columbia. Society of Colonial Wars in the State of New York. Society of New York State Women. Society of Old Plymouth Colony Descendants. Society of the Daughters of the United States Army. Society of the Sons of the Revolution in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War. Southern Vigilant Intelligence Association, Inc. State Council (District of Columbia), Sons and Daughters of Liberty. State Council (Massachusetts), Sons and Daughters of Liberty. Tax Evils Committee of Council Bluffs, Iowa. The Federation of Huguenot Societies in America. The Wheel of Progress. Veterans of Foreign Wars of United States, Department of Delaware. Wisconsin Chapter, Daughters of Founders and Patriots. Women's National Defense Committee of Philadelphia. Women of Army and Navy Legion of Valor, U. S. A. Military Order of the Loyal Legion of the United States, Commandery of the District of Columbia. Military Order of the Loyal Legion of the United States, Commandery of the State of New York. Military Order of the Loyal Legion of the United States, Commandery of the State of Pennsylvania. Military Order of the World Wars. National Camp, Patriotic Order Sons of America. National Commandery, Naval and Military Order of the Spanish-American War. National Constitution Day Committee. National Council, Sons and Daughters of Liberty. National Society, Daughters of the Revolution. National Society, Daughters of the Union, 1861-1865. National Society for Constitutional Security. National Society for Constitutional Security, Chapter I. National Society of New England Women. National Society, Patriotic Women of America, Inc. National Society, Service Star Legion. National Society, Sons and Daughters of the Pilgrims. National Society, Sons of the American Revolution. National Society, Sons of the American Revolution in California. National Society, United States Daughters of 1812. National Society, United States Daughters of 1812, State of New York. National Society, Women Descendants of the Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company. National Woman's Relief Corps. New Jersey Society, Order of the Founders and Patriots of America. New Jersey State Society, Daughters of the Revolution. New York City Colony, National Society of the New England Women. VETERANS OF FOREIGN WARS OF THE UNITED STATES, DEAR SIR: Your committee hearing as of May 28 involving the opinions and activities of one William Z. Foster, so-called top Communist in the Nation, has only served to prove that our country has been foolhardy in nurturing these unnatural citizens of the world with our own peculiar back-breaking brand of tolerance. Their very answers to civil questions by a duly authorized committee smacks of an alien influence. The United States has once again brought the world out of a catastrophic mess, and loyal Americans, having returned home, find their land being subjected to the most vicious and lying propaganda imaginable. Imperialistic, indeed! It is more than evident, Senator Wiley, that the hour has arrived calling for resolute action by our more able statesmen, in ridding our country of this pseudo liberal dross that, with more than intimations, threatens to sabotage any necessary war efforts by our people. Senator, let the politicians make use of delaying actions; let them seek sensationalism in the headlines; let them ally themselves with political and social abnormalities. In your own heart and mind you know the course that must be run. Recommend that this bill, the Subversive Activities Control Act, be taken out of committee for the Senate vote. Please do not continue to be the instrument by which the Communists in our land gain undeserved attention, through all the publicity their malicious natures desire and the Senate Judiciary Committee affords them. I shall appreciate any advice or information you may have to offer that will aid the speedy passage of this bill and that will enable those Congressmen and Senators noted for their fence-straddling to realize the power of their own true convictions. Sincerely, HUGH J. O'DONNELL, Chairman, Americanism Committee. STATEMENT OF HARRY SEE, NATIONAL LEGISLATIVE REPRESENTATIVE, BROTHERHOOD OF RAILROAD TRAINMEN, BEFORE SENATE JUDICIARY COMMITTEE, RE H. R. 5852 Mr. Chairman and members of the committee, my name is Harry See, and I am national legislative representative of the Brotherhood of Railroad Trainmen, with offices at 130 Third Street SE., Washington, D. C. Our headquarters are located at Cleveland, Ohio. The Brotherhood of Railroad Trainmen has no sympathies with the activities of Communists and is very much opposed to communism. However, we are fearful that the discretionary powers given the Attorney General in this bill, in determining whether any organization is a Communist organization, are so broad that it would be possible for that official to label and smear any organization. As I understand the bill under consideration, there is no provision which would give any organization the right to a fair and impartial court trial, because an organization could be branded communistic by evidence brought out at a hearing by the Attorney General, where he served as prosecutor, judge, and jury. Many prominent citizens, including President A. F. Whitney, of the brotherhood, addressed a telegram to the chairman of this committee, under date of May 23, in which it was stated: "We believe the Senate Judiciary Committee should take no action on this bill without full opportunity for public examination of its constitutionality, its tendency in practice to drive Communists underground and make martyrs of them, its dangers to free expression by non-Communist groups representing minority views, and the adequacy of existing legislation to protect the United States against overt acts that threaten national security * * Having in mind the statement made by Governor Dewey, of New York, that there are already 27 laws on the statute books that outlaw "every conceivable form of subversion," we urge that your committee take no action on this bill until a thorough investigation has been made of the laws mentioned by Governor Dewey and the constitutionality of the proposed legislation. NATIONAL COUNCIL OF JEWISH WOMEN, INC., The Honorable ALEXANDER WILEY, Washington, D. C. SIR: On May 14 the National Council of Jewish Women took the following stand on the Mundt-Nixon bill. We forward it to you for inclusion in the record of the hearings: The National Council of Jewish Women, at its last triennial convention, “reaffirmed its abiding faith in the processes of democracy and its unalterable opposition to all forms of totalitarianism and dictatorship." As an organization that has steadily opposed communism, as well as all forms of totalitarianism, we nonetheless must express our strong opposition to the Mundt bill, now before the House of Representatives, which proposes to "control" subversive activities in this country. We wish to dissociate ourselves emphatically from those opponents of the bill, Communist or otherwise, who are themselves practitioners of antidemocratic methods of infiltration, misrepresentation, and domination. We do not sanction the activities of groups and individuals who, under the protection of our democratic Government, utilize the avenues of free speech and free association to pervert democracy itself for totalitarian objectives. We do believe, however, that our democracy must be protected and strengthened by democratic means. The Mundt bill proposes to "control" dangers to democracy by totalitarian methods; and thus it allies itself with the spirit of the very forces it purports to expose. The very real danger inherent in the legislation is the fact that it would sacrifice the sacred rights guaranteed to American citizens by the Constitution. It empowers the Attorney General to be both "judge" and "prosecutor"; it defines guilt by "association" rather than by proof of personal treasonable action: and, in essence, abridges freedom of speech and publication. Both by its specific encroachments on the rights of citizens and by its failure to define its objectives precisely, the proposed legislation is an infringement on the Bill of Rights. The Mundt bill is potentially more dangerous than the actual evil it purports to correct. We therefore urge the defeat of this legislation. Respectfully yours, Mrs. JOSEPH M. WELT, STATEMENT OF THE CONGRESS OF INDUSTRIAL ORGANIZATIONS IN OPPOSITION TO THE MUNDT BILL (H. R. 5852), SUBMITTED BY NATHAN E. COWAN, CIO LEGISLATIVE DIRECTOR PRELIMINARY STATEMENT The Congress of Industrial Organizations is strongly opposed to the Mundt bill, both because it seriously threatens the existence of bona fide labor unions and because it substantially curtails civil rights guaranteed to every American by the Constitution. We object to the Mundt bill because it violates the very freedom of speech, press, and essembly which it purports to safeguard. Under this bill, organizations and individuals are punished, restrained, and regimented solely on the basis of political opinions rather than on the basis of overt acts of disloyalty. The threat to labor organizations and the principles which protect labor which is posed by this bill cannot be overstated. Labor has learned through years of bitter experience that liberty is indivisible and that repression is contagious. The hysteria, the intolerance, and the repression which followed the First World War initially singled out and victimized isolated minorities, but overnight these forces of repression made a shambles of the rights of labor and the liberties of its leaders. The Palmer raids and the flowering of antilabor injunctions in the twenties were a product of the same forces in our national life. Strike-breaking, labor espionage, persecution of labor leaders were an integral part of the same pattern which produced the orgy of witch hunting and repression of which all good Americans are ashamed today. ANALYSIS 1. Nature and purpose of the Mundt bill The Mundt bill, designated as the Subversive Activities Control Act of 1948, imposes a number of requirements, disabilities, and punishments upon certain types of organizations and their members. The impact of the legislation upon these organizations is to repress seriously the rights of freedom of speech, press, and assembly. This purpose is not incidental. It is deliberate. It is important to stress this simple fact about the bill. This is a piece of legislation passed not in wartime but in peacetime which has as its purpose policing, regulating, and repressing not acts and conduct but thought and expression. The sponsors of the bill deny that the purpose of the bill is to legislate political conformity and to eliminate political dissent. They seek to justify this claim on the ground that the bill proceeds only against organizations and does not prevent individuals from maintaining abstract views concerning the subjects dealt with in the bill. No one can be persuaded by this defense of the bill. If the right to freedom of thought or freedom of speech has any meaning, it must necessarily include the right to form organizations for the purpose of giving fullest effect to the basic rights of freedom of thought and freedom of speech. What the sponsors have in effect said is that our people can enjoy the rights of freedom of speech and thought only in the privacy of their homes; that they may not form organizations through the exercise of the right of freedom of assembly in order to give a realistic form to their civil rights. The Constitution would be a feeble shield if it failed to protect the rights of our people to enter organizations for the purpose of more effectively enjoying the rights of freedom of speech, press, or assembly. The alleged necessity for legislation, as described in the bill, is the existence of a so-called system of totalitarian dictatorship which, the bill claims, threatens our country as a result of the activity of the "world Communist movement." The CIO is familiar with the indiscriminate use of this terminology by the House Committee on Un-American Activities. Both CIO and CIO-PAC have been repeatedly and wrongfully denounced as "Communist", "Communist front" and "totalitarian" organizations. In its 1944 report, the House Un-American Committee denounced CIO-PAC as representing "a subversive Communist campaign to subvert the Congress of the United States by its totalitarian program." The bill is not just another law. This bill is in fundamental conflict with our constitutional form of government and with the premises of a democratic society. II. Organizations affected by the bill The bill deals with two types of organizations-"Communist political organiza tions" and "Communist front organizations." A "Communist political organization" is defined as having "some, but not necessarily all, of the usual and ordinary characteristics of a political party." The bill lists certain considerations which lead to the "reasonable" conclusion that such an organization is under the control of a foreign government. This "reasonable" conclusion is based upon "some or all" of certain enumerated considerations. These include the nature and the extent of an organization's activities, including the expression of views and policies; the extent to which the organization's policies are formulated to effectuate the policies of a foreign government or are the same as those of a foreign government; the extent to which it supports or advocates the basic principles of communism as expounded by Marx and Lenin; the extent to which it fails to disclose or resist efforts to obtain lists as to its membership or records other than membership lists. When these and other enumerated considerations are present, the Attorney General is authorized to find that the organization involved is an illegal "Communist political organization." It seems apparent from the definition of a "Communist political organization" that an organization and its members may be condemned solely on the basis of |