Mr. TAVENNER. You probably are familiar with our practice here and in other similar committees in conducting hearings regarding the general Communist question, to ask each witness as he appears the question whether he is now or has ever been a member of the Communist Party, and I would like to ask you that question.

Mr. FEDERMAN. I don't happen to be acquainted with the procedure. I am not a lawyer. I am a businessman. I am not acquainted with the method of questioning. Are you asking this question, sir?

Mr. TAVENNER. Yes. I would like to ask you the same question: Are you now or have you ever been a member of the Communist Party? Mr. FEDERMAN. I don't hesitate to answer the question, sir, and I will answer it, but I would like to answer it under protest. It seems to me that as an American citizen I have a constitutional right to any opinion in any matter, and it is not my obligation to divulge that opinion to anybody. I don't believe this committee has a right to ask that question of anybody. I think it is unfortunate to ask this question in connection with this testimony. There seems to be no connection between the two.

Mr. Wood. The question has been propounded to every witness. Mr. FEDERMAN. I think it would prejudice my testimony. However, I will answer it. I have never been a member of the Communist. Party.

Mr. TAVENNER. Do you have a prepared statement?

Mr. FEDERMAN. Yes, I have.

Mr. TAVENNER. I will ask you to file it with the reporter and to make such comments about it as you desire, or if you prefer, to read it. Mr. FEDERMAN. I would like to read it, if you don't mind. Mr. WOOD. How long will it take?

Mr. FEDERMAN. Ten or twelve minutes. Is that all right? There may be some questions you would care to ask in connection with it. Mr. WOOD. I believe, if you don't mind, since the witness who was subpenaed has come into the room, we will ask you to step aside for a little while until we hear the other witness.

Mr. FEDERMAN. Very well. I will.

Mr. WOOD. Thank you.

(The following statement was filed with the committee by Mr. Simon Federman.)

TESTIMONY ON H. R. 7595 SUBMITTED TO THE HOUSE COMMITTEE ON UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES, MAY 4, 1950

On behalf of the American Federation for Aid to Polish Jews we respectfully wish to state that we are unreservedly opposed to the Subversive Activities Control Act, H. R. 7595, on the grounds of its premise and implications, as well as its inevitable consequences. We disapprove of this bill, first as a relief organization operating for the benefit of the Polish Jews overseas, and second, as a Jewish organization active in American life, and third, as patriotic American citizens devoted to the democratic ideals and principles of these United States of Amerca.

As a relief agency, the American Federation for Aid to Polish Jews, one of the oldest and most reputable Jewish organizations in this country, has for 42 years conducted activities designed to render material and financial assistance to Polish Jews abroad, espcially in Poland, and to this day we are engaged in sending aid to the tragically reduced Jewish community there. The continuance of this humanitarian practice, if the above bills are passed, may be interpreted in such manner that our organization would fall within the definition of a subversive organization, for section 3, paragraph 4, of the act defines a Communist front organization as one which is primarily operated for the purpose

of giving aid and support to a Communist foreign government and section 14, paragraph C, characterizes a Communist front organization by the extent to which its funds, resources or personnel are used to further or promote the political objectives of a Communist political organization, Communist foreign government or the world Communist movement. The classification of our organization as a subversive group would not merely result in the obligation to register it with the Attorney General, but would, in effect, cause the cessation of all relief work and therefore completely destroy our Federation as a charitable institution. There can be no doubt that our financial sources would dry up and our membership would dissolve without a trace. The enactment of the bill would thus end the existence of our organization, as it would also wreck any philanthropic institution whose activities similarly extend to proscribed countries (Rumania, Hungary, the Ukraine, Latvia, and others), with even such distinguished organizations as the United Jewish Appeal, the Joint Distribution Committee, and the Organization for Reconstruction and Trade not immune to the danger of being branded as subversive.

Furthermore, the members of our organization see in the proposed bills a distinct threat to American liberties which they have come to love and cherish. Many of our members originated from Poland where they lived, first under the whip of a despotic Czarist regime, then-after Poland was restored to independence in 1918, under a semi-Fascist Polish Government of Pilsudski, Bek, and Grabski. That Government practiced racial and religious bias and subjected its citizens to economic oppression and political persecution, ruling over them through administrative decree and completely flouting universally accepted judicial procedure. Having suffered indescribable hardships and indignities in their native land, these immigrants came to the United States and found here long yearned-for and safeguarded rights of free thought, free speech, free assembly, and unhindered participation in political life. Very soon they became integrated into the American pattern of life, contributing to its progress with their enthusiasm, strength, and abilities, and when emergency arose, sending their sons to lay down their lives in the defense of their adopted fatherland. In time they grew passionately fond of their American citizenship and developed a fierce pride and jealousy of their civil rights. But now they are worried. The projected bills bring back to their memory the nightmarish experiences in their "old" country, where their lives were controlled by arbitrariness and whims of government officials, and where lawlessness prevailed. For here, section 13 of the bill provides for the setting up of a politically appointed board of three people, any one of whom, personally or through an examiner designated by it, or even through the head of a civilian corporation, would be given terrifyingly broad powers of deciding life-and-death matters for the American people. This board would be able to cause the imposition of fantastic penalties of tens of thousands of dollars and tens of years of imprisonment, with loss of right to Government employment, with denial of the privileges to travel abroad, and to enjoy certain tax exemptions, and all this for crimes so vaguely and loosely defined as to make it virtually impossible for any organization or individual in this country to escape conviction. Similarly reminiscent of foreign Fascist practices is the measure proposed in section 11, which requires an organization designated as subversive to place on its literature and correspondence, and into its radio broadcasts the self-incriminating statement that brands it as a Communist organization and therefore, an enemy of the country. Such requirement, which is equivalent to the yellow badges imposed by the Nazis on the Jews, would consign people altogether innocent of overt crimes to the position of outcasts. Our organization recognizes in these bills the potential rule of terror in this country, operating through intimidation, suppression of our civil liberties, and the elimination of all political opposition.

The American Federation for Aid to Polish Jews objects to the proposed bills for yet another reason. Our members. American Jews of Polish decent, have sustained the greatest personal loss in the recent world conflagration when all of their relatives, with very few exceptions, perished in the Hitler massacre, made possible by conditions of war. Realizing that a new war would spell the final extermination of the remaining Jews in Poland, in the rest of Europe, and even the new-born State of Israel, we are deeply concerned with the preservation of peace in the world. We are interested and firmly convinced of the possibility of peaceful relations between the United States, Poland, the Soviet Union, and the other countries behind the so-called iron curtain, and are supporting all forces in American life working toward that end. But then, this activity may be interpreted, according to section 14, as "policies not deviating from those of foreign govern

ments of foreign organizations" or, as "giving aid and support to Communist political organizations or Communist foreign governments or world Communist movements," according to section 3, since advocacy of peace happens to be the stated position of the Governments of Poland and of Soviet Russia, and the stand of the Communist Party. Our organization would thus be declared a Communist front. In this case we would be brought to task as a result of guilt by association, a procedure repugnant to the best American legal traditions and contrary to the decision of the United States Supreme Court.

Our opposition to the bills stems from still another source. We must reject the bills because their basic premise adds to the threat of a new world conflict, with all the dreadful consequences to the peoples of the world generally, and the Jewish people in particular. The entire reasoning of the measures is hinged on the thesis that a foreign dictatorial power is employing the vilest methods to subjugate the whole world, to overthrow the Government of the United States, and to impose its sinister rule on all of us, soliciting for this purpose the aid of countless organizations and individuals, trained to penetrate and control the guileless and unwary American people. It is clear that the acceptance of such premises would leave our Government with no alternative other than to declare a war on our external enemy combined with a campaign of ruthless ferreting out the internal foes. In contrast to this conclusion, we of the American Federation for Aid to Polish Jews, are convinced that our country is in no immediate danger from the outside and, in fact, is strong enough to face any hostile forces, if such exist, without recourse to hysterical alarm or such draconic measures as the two bills in question.

Moreover, the American Federation for Aid to Polish Jews fears the implications of the bills as an organization that is active on the general American scene. Along with the rest of the Jewish people who are mourning the loss of 6,000,000 of their number at the hands of the Nazi monster, we view with the deepest concern the progress of the resurrected Nazi group on the road to restored power in Germany. We are disturbed by the revived anti-Semitism in that country, by the recurring excesses against the Jews forced to live there, and we accordingly have taken our place beside all those enlightened Americans who are opposing the tolerated renazification of Germany, both as a danger to the Jewish people, and as a menace to the future of humanity. In addition, as Jews we know the full meaning of racial and religious discrimination which has cost us so dearly bigotry from American society. We, therefore, support such measures as FEPC, bills against anti-Semitism, Jim Crowism, and other progressive legislation. But these views are also held by organizations considered subversive, and for this reason alone our Federation would be designated as a Communist organization, with all the drastic consequences that follow such classification. Here, too, we would be charged with guilt by association.

Finally, as patriotic Americans who are loyal to the noblest moral principles inherent in American traditions, we find it obnoxious to have any American organization or individual condemned and criminally prosecuted not for violations of law, but for alleged purposes and for unorthodox thoughts as intended by section 2 of the act, with the entire procedure handled in the administrative way, without benefit of judge and jury which now are guaranteed even for small misdemeanors. We dread the prospect of a situation wherein a Government agency will be empowered to judge which political parties should exist or which organizations should function. We also fear that on this continent a state will be created in which thousands of American citizens would be spying on each other out of misguided patriotism or in self-protection; where the population would be in constant fear of expressing a thought or sentiment because it may prove later to be similar to those of subversive groups. In this manner, the American people will be completely deprived of their basic rights of free thought and free speech, and would be excluded from the process of suggesting a reform or voicing a criticism of the status quo, or offering an improvement in the policies of our Government. A police state will thus be established in our country, under the pretext of resisting foreign dictatorship and protecting our democratic way of life.

In expressing our firm opposition to the proposed bills the American Federation for Aid to Polish Jews prays and trusts that the House of Representatives will recognize the dangers inherent in such legislation, and will repudiate H. R. 7595, thus averting the destruction of our country as a land of democracy and freedom.

STATEMENT OF THE AMERICAN BAR ASSOCIATION

Mr. JOHN S. WOOD,

AMERICAN BAR ASSOCIATION, New York, N. Y., March 21, 1950.

Chairman, Committee on Un-American Activities, House of Representatives, Congress of the United States,

Washington, D. C.

DEAR MR. WOOD: I thank you for your letters of March 2 and March 9. My continued absences from the office on bar association trips has prevented my giving earlier attention to your letter.

At the request of the Senate Committee on the Judiciary, the American Bar Association has, through its bill of rights committee, delivered on opinion to the Senate committee on the constitutionality of the proposed Subversive Activities Act. I appreciate your invitation to appear before the committee but my engagements will not permit my doing so. Of course, the opinion which has been rendered is available to your committee through the Senate Judiciary Committee if you are interested in having it.

Sincerely yours,

HAROLD J. GALLAGHER.

The following is a portion of a letter from Mr. William A. Schnader, chairman of the standing committee on bill of rights of the American Bar Association to the Honorable Pat McCarran, chairman, Committee on the Judiciary, United States Senate, concerning the constitutionality of S. 2311, a bill to protect the United States against certain un-American and subversive activities. H. R. 7595, a bill introduced by the Honorable Richard Nixon, of California, and referred to the House Committee on Un-American Activities, is a companion bill to S. 2311, introduced in the House on March 7, 1950. Therefore, the constitutionality of S. 2311, as prepared February 24, 1950, by William A. Schnader, applies equally well to H. R. 7595. The letter reads in part as follows:

"S. 2311 is entitled 'A bill to protect the United States against certain unAmerican and subversive activities, and for other purposes.'

"Section 2 of the bill details 11 findings by Congress as a result of evidence adduced before various committees of the Senate and of the House. The first, second, and eleventh of these findings are as follows:

"(1) There exists a world Communist movement which, in its origins, its development, and its present practice, is a world-wide revolutionary political movement whose purpose it is, by treachery, deceit, infiltration into other groups (governmental and otherwise), espionage, sabotage, terrorism, and any other means deemed necessary, to establish a Communist totalitarian dictatorship in all the countries of the world through the medium of a single world-wide Communist political organization.

"(2) The establishment of a totalitarian dictatorship in any country results in the ruthless suppression of all opposition to the party in power, the complete subordination of the rights of individuals to the state, the denial of fundamental rights and liberties which are characteristic of a representative form of government, such as freedom of speech, of the press, of assembly, and of religious worship, and results in the maintenance of control over the people through fear, terrorism, and brutality.

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"(11) The recent successes of Communist methods in other countries and the nature and control of the world Communist movement itself present a clear and present danger to the security of the United States and to the existence of free American institutions, and make it necessary that Congress, in order to provide for the common defense, to preserve the sovereignty of the United States as an independent nation, and to guarantee to each State a republican form of government, enact appropriate legislation recognizing the existence of such world-wide conspiracy and designed to prevent it from accomplishing its purpose in the United States."

"The intervening findings relate the identity between the sole political party and the government in a totalitarian dictatorship; the fact that the world Communist movement is directed and controlled by the Communist dictatorship of a foreign country; that the Communist dictatorship in that foreign country, in furthering the purposes of the world Communist movement, causes the establishment of and utilizes in various countries political organizations which are con

stituent elements of the world Communist movement; that such political organizations are not free and independent organizations but are mere sections of a single world-wide Communist organization and are controlled and directed by, and subect to the discipline of, the Communist dictatorship of that foreign country; that the political organizations thus established in various countries endeavor to carry out the objectives of the world Communist movement by bringing about the overthrow of existing governments and setting up Communist totalitarian dictatorships which will be subservient to the Communist totalitarian dictatorship of that foreign country; that such political organizations seek to attain their objectives by conspiratorial and coercive tactics instead of through the democratic processes of a free elective system; that, in addition, these Communist organizations operate to a substantial degree through organizations commonly known as Communist fronts, which are generally maintained in such a way as to conceal the facts as to their true character and purposes and their membership; that to attain the obectives of this Communist movement, travel of members, representatives, and agents of the movement from country to country is essential; that in the United States the participants in the world Communist movement, in effect, repudiate their allegiance to the United States and transfer it to the foreign country which controls the world Communist movement; and that, in pursuance of communism's stated objectives, the most powerful existing Communist dictatorship has by the foregoing methods, already caused the establishment in numerous foreign countries, against the will of the people of those countries, of ruthless Communist totalitarian dictatorships, and threatens to establish similar dictatorships, and threatens to establish similar dictatorships in still other countries.

"S. 2311 seeks in a number of ways to protect the security of the United States and the existence of free American institutions against the clear and present danger which the Congress believes to exist:

"1, Section 4 (a) provides that

"It shall be unlawful for any person knowingly to combine, conspire, or agree with any other person to perform any act which would substantially contribute to the establishment within the United States of a totalitarian dictatorship the direction and control of which is to be vested in, or exercised by or under the domination or control of, any foreign government, foreign organization, or foreign individual.

"For the purposes of section 4 (a), 'totalitarian dictatorship' is defined as6% 4 * a form of government, not representative in form, characterized by (1) the existence of a single political party, with such identity between such party and its policies and the government and governmental policies of the country in which it exists as to render such party and the government itself indistinguishable for all practical purposes, and (2) the forcible suppression of all opposition to such party.'

"We pause here to point out that, by definition, a totalitarian dictatorship would necessarily put an end by force to the rights of free speech, press, and assembly. "2. Except with special authority, it is unlawful for any officer or employee of the United States or of any Federal agency to communicate to any representative of a foreign government or to any officer or member of a Communist organization information obtained in the course of his official duties or employment of a kind which has been classified by or with the approval of the President as affecting the security of the United States (sec. 4 (b)).

"3. It is made unlawful for any agent or representative of any foreign government or any officer or member of a Communist organization knowingly to obtain, receive, or attempt to obtain or receive, from any officer or employee of the United States, or any department or agency thereof, any information which such officer or employee is prohibited from revealing (sec. 4 (c)).

"4. Every Communist political organization and every Communist-front organization is required to register with the Attorney General, and in connection with registration to file a registration statement containing certain detailed information. Any organization registered with the Attorney General must annually file with him a report bringing the information included in the registration statement up to date, and each Communist political organization so registered is required to keep accurate records of the names and addresses of its members and of persons who actively participate in its activities. Organizations of both types are required to keep accounts of moneys received and expended (sec. 7). There is no criminal sanction for a violation of this section unless there is in effect a final order of the Subversive Activities Control Board, requiring the organization to register (sec. 16).