RULES OF PROCEDURE FOR SENATE INVESTIGATING

COMMITTEES

WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 4, 1954

UNITED STATES SENATE,

COMMITTEE ON RULES AND ADMINISTRATION,

SUBCOMMITTEE ON RULES,
Washington, D. C.

The subcommittee met at 10: 40 a. m., pursuant to recess, in room 318 of the Senate Office Building, Senator William E. Jenner (chairman) presiding.

Present: Senator Jenner (chairman).

Also present: Senator Wallace F. Bennett, of Utah; Boris S. Berkovitch, counsel to Subcommittee on Rules; W. F. Bookwalter, chief clerk of the Committee on Rules and Administration; and Judge Robert Morris.

The CHAIRMAN. The committee will come to order.

The first witness, Benjamin Mandel, will you please come forward. Will you be sworn to testify, Mr. Mandel?

Do you swear the testimony given in this hearing will be the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help you God?

Mr. MANDEL. Yes, sir.

TESTIMONY OF BENJAMIN MANDEL, DIRECTOR OF RESEARCH, SENATE INTERNAL SECURITY SUBCOMMITTEE

The CHAIRMAN. Mr. Mandel, you have prepared a statement for the record, have you not?

Mr. MANDEL. That is correct.

The CHAIRMAN. The statement will be placed in the record at this point.

(The statement referred to is as follows:)

THE COMMUNIST POSITION TOWARD CONGRESSIONAL INVESTIGATING COMMITTEES Statement before Subcommittee on Rules of the Senate Committee on Rules and Administration, on Wednesday, August 4, 1954, by Benjamin Mandel My topic today is the attitude of the Communists toward congressional investigating committees. My observations are based upon my experience with the research staff of the House Committee on Un-American Activities from 1939 to 1944; as research director of that committee from 1947 to 1951, and as research director of the Senate Internal Security Subcommittee from 1951 to the present day.

In principle, the Communists are opposed to Congress and are dedicated to its destruction. In this connection, I read from the constitution and program of the Communist Party of America dated 1921:

"It is the task of the proletariat to destroy the entire machinery of the bour geois state, not excluding its parliamentary institution."

For tactical reasons, however, this position was changed in the early days of the international Communist movement by Lenin, its chief theoretician. He declared, for the guidance of Communist Parties throughout the world, “Criticism-the sharpest, most ruthless, uncompromising criticism-must be directed, not against parliamentarianism or parliamentary action, but against those leaders who are unable-and still more against those who do not wish-to utilize parliamentary elections and the parliamentary tribune in a revolutionary manner, in a Communist manner." In other words, Communists were instructed to utilize congressional bodies for Communist purposes. Thus, Communists have found it expedient for their purposes to use some congressional committees. In 1934, they had this to say about the Senate Special Committee on Investigating the Munitions Industry:

"Revealing disclosures were made before the committee, in spite of soft-pedaling in questioning witnesses, refusal to make public certain big names involved and suppression of several cablegrams to E. I. du Pont de Nemours & Co. in order to avoid grave political repercussions in a South American country' (p. 193).

"United States Government munitions salesmen: Hearings revealed the United States Army and Navy, the Commerce Department, the State Department and other governmental agencies and officials being used by munition manufacturers as sales agencies in reaping their profits throughout the world (p. 194).

"Naval shipbuilding profits exposed: Senate munitions committee later investigated naval shipbuilding. It reached among other conclusions, the following: "The Navy has never examined the underlying costs or profits of the private builders. It makes no pretense of doing this. It has no staff for it' (p. 196) (Labor Fact Book III, published by the Labor Research Association).

I am quoting here from the Labor Fact Book which is published by the Labor Research Association. I will give the citations referring to the Labor Research Association: 1. "Cited as subversive and as an 'affiliate' of the Communist Party and as an organization which seeks 'to alter the form of government of the United States by unconstitutional means' (Attorney General Tom Clark, letter to Loyalty Review Board, released December 4, 1947)."

It is interesting to note that on the legal staff of the Senate Committee Investigating the Munitions Industry was none other than Alger Hiss.

In 1942, in regard to the House Committee on Interstate Migration, Earl Browder, then executive secretary of the Communist Party, had the following words of praise:

"The recent report * on October 20, proposes a completely centralized national administration of industry and manpower. *** Committee proposals are truly national, and deserve the support of capital equally with that of labor, of the farmers equally with that of the small industrialists, businessinen and middle classes. It shows the only way in which our economy can be mobilized to meet the strains of all-out war without a breakdown * * (One Year Since Pearl Harbor, address delivered in Detroit, November 12, 1942, by Earl Browder, vol. XXI, No. 11, December 1942; The Communist, a magazine of the theory and practice of Marxism-Leninism).

It is significant to note in this connection that on the staff of the House Committee on Interstate Migration were the following individuals who invoked the fifth amendment in regard to their Communist affiliations when they appeared before the Senate Internal Security Subcommittee: Henry H. Collins, Herbert Schimmel, Frederick Palmer Weber and Charles Flato.

The Senate Committee on Education and Labor had a subcommittee investigating civil liberties from 1936 to 1940. Labor Fact Book No. IV published by the Labor Research Association had this to say in regard to the work of the above subcommittee:

"The 122-page report on espionage, made public December 21, 1937, is one of the most revealing documents ever issued by a Government agency in the United States."

Senator Robert M. La Follette, Jr., who headed this subcommittee, wrote a most enlightening article in Collier's on February 8, 1947, on the tactics of the Communists in his subcommittee. He said in part:

"I know from firsthand experience that Communist sympathizers have infiltrated into committee staffs on Capitol Hill in Washington. Frequently they have been associated with desirable legislation and worthy objectives, but always

ready to further their own cause at the expense of the legislation they were advocating. A few years ago, when I was chairman of the Senate Civil Liberties Committee, I was forced to take measures in an effort to stamp out influences within my own committee staff.

"During the late Congress, the staff of the subcommittee of the Senate Committee on Education and Labor was infiltrated by fellow travelers. The staff ' of the * * * Subcommittee on Wartime Health and Education was diligent in its efforts to take matters into its own hands, and probably did great harm to the cause of improved health in this country by its reckless activities. I was appointed a member of this subcommittee, but I resigned from it later-partially because of the pressure of other duties (the congressional reorganization bill was taking much of my time) and partially because I did not want to be associated with a program of a staff in whom I could not have complete confidence.

*

*

"Later, the staff released a report and recommendations on health legislation under highly irregular procedure that prompted severe criticism on the floor of the Senate. The report was a favorable recommendation on a highly controversial national health program. It was released with the implication that it had the approval of the sub and full committees. "Similarly, the Subcommittee on War Mobilization (of the Military Affairs Committee) and the Special Committee on Small Business had staffs that many Senators believed had been infiltrated by fellow travelers. One of the important ways in which fellow travelers on committee staffs have carried on their activities is through the illicit use of committee information. In general, committee staffs participate in executive sessions and have access to committee files, which frequently include private documents which the committee has obtained under subpena on recommendation of the staff. · Unscrupulous employees can give out this information to friends, as a private spying system against their enemies, as an advance tipoff of committee thinking, or as a means of bringing pressure to bear where it might effect a desired course of action. * * Even more insidious is the practice of coloring the information that is disseminated so that local organizations, partyline newspapers, periodicals, and circular letters can incite and inspire any desired reaction by high-pressure propaganda techniques. This device is most effective under conditions where the legislation or parliamentary situation is highly complex."

Here again we note that the Senate Subcommittee on Civil Liberties included on its staff the following persons who have invoked the fifth amendment before congressional committees in regard to their Communist affiliations: John Abt, Allan Rosenberg, Charles Flato and Charles Kramer.

The work of the Senate Subcommittee on Technological Mobilization was highly praised in the official theoretical magazine of the Communist Party, Political Affairs for December 1942, page 977, January 1943, pages 12 and 55; February 1943, page 126; March 1943, page 238; July 1944, page 665; September 1944, page 808; and October 1944, page 905. Here again we find that on the staff of this subcommittee were the following individuals who invoked the fifth amendment before the Senate Internal Security Subcommittee in regard to their Communist affiliations: Henry H. Collins, Frederick Palmer Weber and Charles Kramer. The Senate Special Committee To Study Problems of American Small Business, referred to above by Senator LaFollette, included on its staff Harry Magdoff, Alfred van Tassel and Henry H. Collins, who, similarly, invoked the fifth amendment.

The Senate Subcommittee on Wartime Health and Education, also mentioned by Senator LaFollette, included on its staff Charles Kramer, fifth amendment witness.

The Daily Worker of June 19, 1950, page 7, and February 6, 1951, page 4, has praised the work of the House Select Committee on Lobbying Activities.

I can say that, without exception, however, every congressional committee which has undertaken the task of investigating the Communists has been uniformly subjected to attack, abuse and defiance by the Communists. Take, for example, the Special House Committee To Investigate Communist Activities in the United States in 1930. In regard to this committee, the Communists spoke as follows: "The outcry in 1930 against pretended 'religious persecution' in Russia, and the attempts to raise embargoes against Soviet pulpwood, manganese, wheat, and other products on the false charge of 'dumping' earlier in the same year, and on the charges of 'forced labor' in 1931, were merely additional preparations for this attack. So also was the appointment by Congress of the * Committee To 'Investigate Communism' ***" (Labor Fact Book I, prepared by Labor Research Association, p. 185).

Speaking of the Committee for the Investigation of Nazi Propaganda Activities and the investigation of certain other propaganda activities which also dealt with Communist activities, the Party Organizer issued by the Central Committee of the Communist Party, United States of America, in its issue of February 1935, on page 1, said:

"The Daily Worker has already exposed the Hitler methods used by the ** committee, which, under the cloak of investigating fascism, directed its fire against communism ***. It is our task to conduct the most vigorous campaign against all attacks against our party, to mobilize the large masses of workers, to put a stop to the attacks of *** the * investigating committee, who, under the banner of American 'democracy' are raising high the swastika."

William Z. Foster, chairman of the Communist Party, denounced the House Committee on Un-American Activities for its "pro-Fascist campaign of thought control" (History of the Communist Party U. S. A. by William Z. Foster, page 377). In a special pamphlet dealing with this subject, Mr. Foster said, "The Red-baiting by the so-called House Committee on Un-American Activities signalizes a danger that should put every worker and progressive in the country on guard. For the objective of this committee is to create a national anti-Red hysteria, under cover of which the reactionary trusts and monopolies can work their sinister purposes unmolested * The purpose of this committee is the same as that of its notorious predecessors associated with the hated names of Dies, Coudert, Fish, Lusk, etc. The *** committee, like the Fish, Dies and other Red-baiting committees that went before it, uses the Hitler method. That is, it centers its attack upon the Communist Party, makes a scapegoat of it, smears it as the national villain and blames all our economic and political troubles upon it ***. It must be abolished." It is interesting to note how this Communist approach has been picked up and repeated by the liberal press, organizations and individuals.

We come now to the Senate Permanent Subcommittee of the Committee on Government Operations. Quoting from The American Way to Jobs, Peace, Democracy: "This draft program is offered by the Communist Party as a statement of its proposals for meeting the critical problems now facing the American people. *** McCarthyism is on a rampage. It is trying to browbeat into submission every independent point of view, every thinking person. It burns books and destroys art and culture. It aims to smash the labor movement, to further enslave the Negro people, to stir up racism and anti-Semitism, to gag the young generation, and to wipe out all vestiges of liberty. McCarthyism seeks to turn America into a land of yes-men, a land where patriotism is replaced with jingoism, independent thought with conformity, courage with servility. *** the McCarthys and McCarrans are not merely publicity-seeking demagogues. They are the conscious creatures of powerful ultra-reactionary monopoly interests. McCarthyism is the ugly face of American Hitlerism, American fascism. * * Thus the danger of McCarthyism, of American fascism, is real, grave and growing. To defeat this menace, to safeguard the democratic rights and precious liberties of the American people is the first task of the hour. * * * Basing itself on these fundamental propositions, the path to socialism in the United States which is advocated by the Communist Party envisions: the unity of the majority of the people to block the present imminent threat of McCarthyism, thereby upholding and defending the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. ***”

The Communist Daily Worker does not overlook the Senate Internal Security Subcommittee. In its issue of August 31, 1953, it declares: "Did you think the west coast longshore strike of 1934 was won because of the unprecedented unity of all labor culminating in the San Francisco general strike? Nonsense. It was due to 'Communists' in Government. *** Did you think the Nye committee's exposure in the thirties of the munition makers' profits was a useful public service? *** All such notions are nonsense, all due to 'Communists' in Government. At least that's the substance of what you will find in the report of the Senate Internal Security Subcommittee, headed by Senator William E. Jenner (Republican, Indiana). The report would have been laughed off as the work of political lunatics had it been issued a few years ago. But it was issued last week and has rapidly become the new platform of the McCarthyites. It is no longer laughed off because it is a logical culmination of the big lie of the menace of communism, a lie which has not only been fervently spread by the McCarthys, Jenners and Veldes-but also by liberal and conservative Democrats, as well as right-wing labor leaders."

For its purposes, the Communist Party did not limit itself to speaking in its own name against such congressional committees. It mobilized its controlled front organizations which included among their supporters a number of individuals who were, themselves, under investigation and who invoked the fifth amendment. For example, the National Federation for Constitutional Liberties, which has been cited as subversive by the Attorney General, demanded that "the Department of Justice investigate Martin Dies" (pamphlet "Investigate Martin Dies" by the National Federation of Constitutional Liberties). On the executive board of this organization were the following individuals who invoked the fifth amendment before the Senate Internal Security Subcommittee in regard to their Communist affiliations: Edwin S. Smith, Alice Barrows and Nathan Witt, who was its counsel.

The New York Joint Legislative Committee to Investigate Procedures and Methods of Allocating State Moneys for Public School Purposes and Subversive Activities in 1941-42 was denounced by the committee for the defense of public education of which Bella V. Dodd was chairman. She later, before the Senate Internal Security Subcommittee, admitted her membership in the Communist Party. This front committee charged the State legislative committee with seeking to "dump buckets of red paint on education and on one of its stanchest advocates, the teachers unions. The committee is doing this in an effort to provide the basis for crippling New York's educational system by cutting the budget, curtailing free higher education and destroying the principles of academic freedom." (Pamphlet Senator Coudert's Star Chamber, published by the committee for defense of public education.)

The American Committee for Democracy and Intellectual Freedom had as its secretary M. I. Finkelstein, later known as Moses Finley who appeared before the Senate Internal Security Subcommittee and invoked the fifth amendment in regard to his Communist affiliations. The American Committee for Democracy and Intellectual Freedom, according to the Daily Worker of January 8, 1940, circulated a nationwide petition among college faculties demanding the unqualified discontinuance of the House Committee on Un-American Activities.

The Civil Rights Congress, which has been cited as subversive by the Attorney General, published a pamphlet entitled "America's Thought Police," "Record of the Un-American Activities Committee with a foreword by Henry A. Wallace," which charged that the House Committee on Un-American Activities seeks to "destroy the free channels of expression, and to wipe out all dissenting opinion by destroying the freedom of organizations, be they labor, racial or political. The activities of the committee present a deadly parallel with the pattern that Hitler applied to continental Europe ***. In California, the Tenney committee patterned after the House committee, has been doing locally what the House committee has done nationally, and only recently a 'little Dies' committee was established by law in the State of Washington."

The list of supporters of the Civil Rights Congress is studded with the names of individuals who have invoked the fifth amendment before congressional committees, notably: Gene Weltfish, Palmer Weber, Maurice E. Travis, Dashiell Hammett, and many others.

The National Council of the Arts, Sciences and Professions published a pamphlet entitled "Treason in Congress" by Albert E. Kahn which called for an elaborate promotion campaign against the House Committee on Un-American Activities and support of House Resolution 46 calling for the abolition of the committee. This pamphlet said of the committee:

"Its sordid and sinister practices are part of a nationwide pattern of mounting war hysteria, frenzied witch hunts, repressive legislation and police measures against the American people."

The National Council of the Arts, Sciences and Professions included, among its supporters, the following persons who had invoked the fifth amendment in regard to their Communist affiliations when they appeared before congressional committees: Alice P. Barrows, Edwin Berry Burgum, Angus Cameron, Barrows Dunham, Melber Phillips, Rose Russell, Julius Schreiber, Bernard J. Stern, Gene Weltfish and others.

In determining the attitude of the Communists toward congressional committees investigating Communist activities, it is well to be acquainted with certain basic guides for Communist witnesses. The International Labor Defense, described by Attorney General Biddle as "the legal arm of the Communist Party", has given this strict directive in a pamphlet entitled "Under Arrest! Workers Defense in the Courts":

"What to do when arrested *** The arrest is made by a policeman, a State 49144-54-pt. 9-2