17 AMTER'S COMMUNIST CANDIDACY AND C. I. O. POLITICAL ACTION COMMITTEE In recent years, hardly a Communist has run for public office without his having the endorsement and support of numerous officials of the C. I. O. Our committee's files are full of illustrations of this phenomenon, but, considering the limitations of space in this report, we cite only one of them. In the 1942 elections Israel Amter ran for governor of New York on the Communist Party ticket. He was publicly supported by 28 officials of unions affiliated with the C. I. O. In that instance, political action by these C. I. O. leaders was definitely and avowedly Communist. Israel Amter is one of the original American Communists. He has held many important positions in the Communist Party and has run for many offices on the Communist Party ticket. When Amter was district organizer of the Communist Party in New York, he appeared as a witness before a committee of the House of Representatives in Washington, D. C. His brand of Americanism is accurately reflected in the following excerpt from the transcript of his testimony: Mr. BACHMANN. Briefly, tell the committee what you are going to do with the real estate and property, banks, and churches, in this country, when you take them over? Mr. AMTER. I think that should be clear from Mr. Foster's answer, that it is necessary to wreck them. The CHAIRMAN. Do you owe allegiance to the Soviet Union-the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics? Mr. AMTER. The workers of this country, especially the class-conscious workers, look upon the Soviet Union as the workers' country, the workers' fatherland. The CHAIRMAN. Do you owe any allegiance to the American flag? Mr. AMTER. We regard the American flag as the British worker must regard the British flag-as a flag of the capitalist class of oppression. Amter's Communist record and views, adequately reflected in the foregoing testimony, did not deter the 28 C. I. O. leaders from supporting him for public office on the Communist Party ticket in 1942. Nor did their advocacy of his candidacy in any way discredit their official positions in the C. I. O. This year, these C. I. O. leaders are putting their "political action" into Sidney Hillman's C. I. O. Political Action Committee. Their names and union connections are as follows: Ben Gold, president, International Fur and Leather Workers Union. Eugene Aranow, organizer, International Fur and Leather Workers Union, Local 61. Norma Aronson, organizer, United Office and Professional Workers of America, Local 16. Anthony Baratta, organizer, International Fur and Leather Workers Union, Local 80. Nicholas Carnes, business agent, United Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Employees of America, Local 1250. Albert Casale, business agent, United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers of America, Local 1225. Milton Finn, organizer, United Automobile, Aircraft and Agricultural Implement Workers of America, Local 259. Harold Fishstein, business agent, Watch and Jewelry Workers Union, Local 147. Julius Fleiss, business agent, Furriers Joint Council. Joseph Garaffa, organizer, United Furniture Workers of America, Local 76B. George Glotzer, member executive board, Retail Drug Employees Union, Local 1199. Morris Gumpel, organizer, International Fur and Leather Workers Union, Local 64. Lyndon Henry, organizer, International Fur and Leather Workers Union, Local 88. Michael Hudyna, manager, Lamb and Rabbit Workers Union, Local 85. Tom Jasper, assistant manager, International Fur and Leather Workers Union, Local 125. Esther Letz, secretary, United Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Employees of America, Local 65. Sam Machlis, vice president, United Gas, Coke and Chemical Workers of America, Local 121. James Merrill, New York port agent, National Maritime Union. Clarina Michaelson, organizer, United Furniture Workers of America, Local 1445B. Bevo Miller, business agent, National Maritime Union. Michael Moritz, chairman legislative committee, United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers of America, Local 1225. Sam Nessin, business agent, United Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Employees of America, Local 830. Jack Ostrower, organizer, International Fur and Leather Workers Union, Local 80. Max Perlow, manager, United Furniture Workers of America, Local 76B. John Quillian, chairman executive board, International Fur and Leather Workers Union, Local 125. Kenneth Sherrill, vice president, United Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Employees of America, Local 65. Alex Sirota, manager, United Furniture Workers of America, Local 140. Ferdinand C. Smith, secretary, National Maritime Union. 18 PEOPLE'S WORLD AND C. I. O. POLITICAL ACTION COMMITTEE The People's World is the newspaper of the Communist Party which serves the west coast. It is published at 583 Market Street, San Francisco, and also maintains offices in Los Angeles, Oakland, and Seattle. Harrison George, editor in chief of the People's World, has been a leader in the Communist Party for many years. During the present year, the People's World has put on a drive for funds. In this financial campaign, the Communist newspaper has the support of numerous C. I. O. leaders on the west coast. Some of them have constituted themselves the C. I. O. Trade Union Committee for "People's World" Fund Drive, with offices in room 525, at 206 South Spring Street, Los Angeles. Like its sister newspaper, the Daily Worker, this Communist journal on the west coast has never made any secret of its advocacy of communism. For years, it was filled with the same kind of subversive, seditious, and treasonable material as that which was printed in the Daily Worker. The members of the C. I. O. Trade Union Committee for "People's World" Fund Drive are all prominent leaders in their respective unions, and all of them are active in the work of the C. I. O. Political Action Committee. Their public endorsement of the People's World is not the only evidence of their attachment to the Communist Party, but it is sufficient evidence to indicate where their political loyalties lie. The names and union connections of this committee are as follows: Leo Turner, international representative, United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers of America. H. Alexander, agent, National Maritime Union of America. John Allard, secretary, district council, United Automobile, Aircraft and Agricultural Implement Workers of America. Revels Cayton, vice president, California State C. I. O. Pat Comorre, business agent, Newsboys Union. Helen Daggett, organizer, C. I. O. Women's Auxiliary Council. James L. Daugherty, national representative, Utility Workers Organizing Committee. Armando Davila, business agent, United Furniture Workers of America. Arthur Kearns, international representative, United Automobile, Aircraft and Jay Miller, business agent, International Fur and Leather Workers Union. Phillip Nash, international organizer, International Longshoremen's and Warehousemen's Union. Charles Pfeiffer, secretary-treasurer, International Longshoremen's and Warehousemen's Union. Jose Salazar, organizer, United Cannery, Agricultural, Packing and Allied Workers of America. Irene Sparks, president, United Office and Professional Workers of America, Los Angeles. Estoly Ward, international representative, International Union of Mine, Mill, and Smelter Workers. 19 IRENE BROWDER AND C. I. O. POLITICAL ACTION COMMITTEE Irene Browder is the wife of Earl Browder, general secretary of the Communist Party in the United States. Like her husband, Mrs. Irene Browder has run afoul of the laws of the United States and is now under an order for deportation to her native Russia. Mrs. Browder came to the United States illegally. It is probable that the date of her arrival in this country was sometime in 1933. It was a common practice at that period for Communist leaders all over the world to travel on fraudulent passports. That was the basis of the charge for which Earl Browder himself was convicted and sentenced to Atlanta Federal Penitentiary. Irene Browder also traveled on a fraudulent passport. William Nowell, former Communist Party leader, who studied in Moscow, testified before the Special Committee on Un-American Activities that he personally knew Irene Browder as an O. G. P. U. agent of the Soviet Government. (The O. G. P. U. was the secret service of the Soviet Government, which terrorized so many millions of Russians.) Naturally the Communists in the United States have carried on no little agitation against the enforcement of Mrs. Browder's deportation order. The International Labor Defense, legal arm of the Communist Party, has taken the principal role in this agitation. In its activities on behalf of Mrs. Browder, the International Labor Defense has had the assistance of numerous prominent leaders of the C. I. O. Currently associated with the International Labor Defense in the case of Mrs. Browder are the following leaders of the C. I. O. Political Action Committee: Edward B. Barlow, secretary, American Communications Association, Local 9. Lou Brooks, national research director, United Farm Equipment and Metal Workers of America. Richard Cardamone, chairman, American Communications Association, Local 34. Harry F. Conner, port agent, National Maritime Union of America, Philadelphia. William Cortor, patrolman, National Maritime Union of America, St. Louis. Horace B. Davis, editor Maryland C. I. O. News. W. J. Decker, secretary, Industrial Union Council, San Diego. Hilda Diamond, president, United Office and Professional Workers of America, Local 39. Frieda A. Feith, president, United Office and Professional Workers of America, Local 7. Ishmael P. Flory, international representative, International Union of Mine, Mill, and Smelter Workers. Nat Ganley, business agent, United Automobile, Aircraft, and Agricultural Implement Workers of America, Local 155. Kenneth Hartford, midwest regional director, American Communications Association. Donald Henderson, president, United Cannery, Agricultural, Packing, and Allied Workers of America Leon Lazor, business agent, Aluminum Workers of America, Local 26. Frederick N. Myers, vice president, National Maritime Union of America. Francis O'Connor, business agent, United Furniture Workers of America, Local 136B. Paul Schnur, secretary, Industrial Union Council, San Francisco. Frank Siegel, regional director, United Office and Professional Workers of America Frank Slaby, representative, United Automobile, Aircraft, and Agricultural Implement Workers of America, Local 76. Morris Stern, secretary, United Shoe Workers of America, Local 65. |