We can include the whole letter. That is the only portion which relates to Leon Josephson.

The CHAIRMAN. We will place the letter in the record at this point. Mr. STRIPLING. Those are all the questions I have of Mr. Beal. (The letter above referred to is as follows:)

When our group was finally let out of jail on bail to await the decision on our appeal, Clarence Miller, who was made secretary of the National Textile Workers Union, began a campaign among the group to jump bail and go to the S. U., as he claimed at that time by our going to jail was of no political value, as the party and the I. L. D. had let the case and, politically speaking, the issues die out for the lack of publicity. The idea of skipping bail was not Miller's original idea but was first raised by William Dunne, then a member of the Polit Buro of the C. P., and others, among them Juliet Stuart Poyntz, then secretary of the I. L. D., and Clarence Michaelson, while we were still in jail awaiting trial.

The secretary of the Party made a decision that we were to serve our time, which for four of us meant 20 years apiece.

After many meetings with the Executive Committee of the C. P., where we were not given the permission to appeal to the C. I. on this question, Miller and his wife Edith, Leon Josephson, and others raised the fare, arranged passports for us, and also made arrangements for us to be taken care of on the way. Five of us left for the S. U., where we arrived July 1, 1930, at Leningrad.

In Leningrad we were housed in a former home of an aristocrat near the Marina Theater.

I quite remember our first meal in one of the large hotels there, where I was first time in my life served horse meat. For me it was so disgusting that I couldn't eat the rest of my meal, though, on the whole, my stay in Leningrad was not so bad. We were shown quite some consideration there. We were supplied cigarettes, even though they were quite hard to get, and entertainment. Then after a week or ten days' stay we were sent to Moscow, where we were met by a committee in two cars. Here is where my troubles began. We were introduced to some of the leading comrades, who told what heroes we were and how proud they were of us. Then we were sent to the room with four other men. especially in 1930 was it so. ones with a lot of bones, so that it was almost impossible to eat. After a few days we were sent out to speak in various places. I was sent to Magnitogorsk, a new city, which was before only a flat Siberian plain with a few mud huts in which the natives lived.

men.

house of political refugees, where we five shared a This is not the worst yet. The food was terrible; They only served us fish, either very

or small

Here I was kept in a barracks which was over a block long with over a hundred The beds being boards laid over wooden horses with straw mattresses and pillows, and in this room I lived for over two weeks. The windows were so made that it was impossible to open them, due to fear of sand being blown into the beds.

The food here was much worse than in Moscow and was so filthily served that a bowery joint would seem a paradise in comparison. This was so only in the workers' restaurant.

But after trying to live in this way for a week I raised this question and was given the privilege of living among the engineers and there was some improvement both in food and sleeping quarters, where we had at least a place to take a bath. For the workers it was difficult to get cigarettes and even enough food. But after raising this question I was given the privilege of buying in the store conducted for the small group of American engineers.

After two weeks I returned to Moscow, where I raised the question of what I should do. I was told that I would be sent to the Lenin School. This being August 1930. Then I was sent out to Ivanovo-Voznesensk, which is also known as the Red Manchester, on account of many textile plants. Some of them are very modern. That is, they have the latest machinery.

One day I attended a meeting with the assistant director of one of the largest and most modern textile combinates there. I was through this plant several times, and what I found there was enough to disgust any worker. While discussing production, I asked him what was the percentage of spoiled goods. He gave us the following figures: First year production, 92 percent damaged goods; second year production, 45 percent damaged goods. I told him it was too much, and he said in explanation that it was a new plant and a majority of the workers were always

leaving his mill and went to another industry. This is a result of the low wages and the bad food supply allowed. The wages were from one ruble 66 k. to 3.75 k. for skilled This was in 1930, when you get almost two rubbles for a dollar on the official exchange; but on the "black exchange" or private exchange in this district you could get almost 100 rubles for a dollar.

In the nearby villages it was much worse, especially in regard to food. Coming back to Moscow, I asked that since the question of my going to school was not definitely settled that I be sent to work in the meantime. This was done and I was sent to a textile factory to work as a color mixer for the print machines at magnificient wage of 64 rubles per month. Then after almost two months of work I was given á raise of eight rubles. But even with this wage increase it was impossible for me to live, and many is the time that I went to bed hungry; but after a strenuous with the same people who called us heroes a few months before that I couldn't exist on this wage, I was given a subsidy of 90 rubles a month.

During this time and until I left I only had a worker's card, which entitled me to buy two pounds of bread daily, one and a half kils of sugar (approximately 31⁄2 pounds) per month, one cake of soap, a few ounces of tea, and a kilo of cereal per month. Prices were reasonable compared to what they are at present, but according to wages then eixsting they were pretty high. Bread, white, 10 k. per pound; black, from 3 to 6 k. per pound, according to quality. Sugar was 95 k. for 11⁄2 kilo; soap, 35 k.; tea, 40 k. per portion; cereal, 35 k. a kilo. This is very high when we take into consideration that average wage for workers was not more than 80 rubles per month.

Seeing these conditions, I again raised the question that I should go to school but was again sidetracked. Food at the restaurant in this shop was of the plainest kind, and you could only eat one meal a day at the shop. Prices ranging from 30 to 60 k. per meal. The service was very bad, first for the lack of dishes and cutlery. We only had a half-hour for lunch, and with our hands dirty being dirty because of having such a short period, we did not have enough time to wash our hands; and the spoons, being as soft as tin, very often broke when trying to use it as a knife and fork We had to eat with our dirty hands.

About this time discrimination set in. We can see it the way they handled our group. First Miller was allowed to stay in the Lux Hotel and had already special privileges in regards to food. Not only tha, but he was censored for being an opportunist and careerist, and that, according to the C. P. principles, should bar anyone from holding any leading position; but did this stop Miller from so doing? On the contrary, it looked as if this censor was done to blind us from the fact of discrimination; and besides, because Miller could pull political strings, he got what he wanted, and the majority got just what the natives got, which is nothing, or nearly so, in comparison to the big boys got.

I again raised the question of what I should do, but was again told to wait. I raised the question of medical treatment. I was the only one that was wounded during the shooting which took place in defense of the union headquarters on the night of June 7, 1929. And ever since then I have been moving my bowels with blood. But those supposed to be comrades instead of trying to find really what was the matter with me just sent the first time to a doctor who didn't even examine me and who sent in a report that in perfect health. How could a doctor really send in such a report is beyond my understanding. When he asked me any questions, I couldn't answer, because at that time I didn't know Russian; and he couldn't understand me when I tried to tell him what was the matter with me, because he didn't understand English. The thing they should have done was to have sent an interpreter along. So, instead of getting better, I was getting weaker. While these questions were being discussed, I was finally sent to work in the Ammo Automobile Works, which was at that time being rebuilt.

I was given a job as an apprentice on the cylinder-grinding machine with the wages of 72 rubles monthly. The conditions in this shop were of such nature as to warrant writing about. First I want to say many an American skilled worker was sent to work in this plant. But the result was that many of them could not work due to the bureaucracy existing there. Many of these bureaucrats were party members and working as engineers, often interfered in production as well as in the rebuilding of the factory, as this example will clearly show.

Mr. Taylor was sent over on a contract for a year. Taylor's experience, as he was for a number of years chief engineer of the lay-out department, Esen Motor Corporation, showed that he knew his work, but did it stop this bureaucracy from interfering with him? On the contrary, everything was done to hinder him. They would not let him use his experience or knowledge for the good of the shop,

but even went so far that Mr. Taylor could not work for weeks at a time, thereby causing a loss in gold that was being paid Mr. Taylor and for which the workers paid in the sense of less food for themselves and others, that they needed, which was exported so that Mr. Taylor could be paid.

The CHAIRMAN. Mr. Vail.

Mr. VAIL. No questions.

The CHAIRMAN. Mr. McDowell.

Mr. MCDOWELL. Mr. Beal, are you a native of North Carolina? Mr. BEAL. No, sir.

Mr. McDOWELL. Where were you born?

Mr. BEAL. I was born in Lawrence, Mass.
Mr. McDoWELL. That is all.

The CHAIRMAN. Mr. Nixon.

Mr. NIXON. How many workers in all were in New York City at the time that they were arranging for you to go to Russia? How many people were involved in this Gastonia strike-did you say there were seven of you?

Mr. BEAL. There were seven, but we were never all together at one time; as a general rule some of us were out speaking. When we could get together, we would meet.

Mr. NIXON. How many were sent to Russia?

Mr. BEAL. We all went to Russia.

Mr. NIXON. Seven went to Russia?

Mr. BEAL. Yes.

Mr. NIXON. You went twice, did you not?

Mr. BEAL. Yes.

Mr. NIXON. And this Harrison went twice?

Mr. BEAL. Yes.

Mr. NIXON. Did any of the others go more than once?

Mr. BEAL. I don't know about the others. One of them came back and served out his time in North Carolina prison.

Mr. NIXON. That accounts for three. Where are the other four now?

Mr. BEAL. They are in Russia, so far as I know.

Mr. NIXON. Have you ever heard from them?

Mr. BEAL. No.

Mr. NIXON. You haven't heard from them for the last 10 years? Mr. BEAL. No.

Mr. NIXON. Were they good friends of yours?

Mr. BEAL. Yes; all but one. One I wouldn't consider a very good

friend.

Mr. Nixon. Normally you would expect to hear from them, would you not?

Mr. BEAL. No; not while they were in Russia; I couldn't get any mail from there.

Mr. NIXON. Well, you haven't heard from Harrison?

Mr. BEAL. No.

Mr. NIXON. He was a pretty close friend of yours?

Mr. BEAL. All the others were good friends.

Mr. NIXON. Who paid your way from Gastonia to New York when the seven went to New York City?

Mr. BEAL. The International Labor Defense took care of all that. Mr. NIXON. Who paid for your passage to Russia?

Mr. BEAL. Well, Edith Miller gave me the money.

Mr. NIXON. During the period after you returned from Russia and spent some time in the United States, who paid for your expenses then? You didn't have any income at that time, did you?

Mr. BEAL. No. I stayed around at friends' homes.

Mr. NIXON. Friends' homes?

Mr. BEAL. Yes.

Mr. NIXON. But you were receiving funds from time to time from the International Labor Defense?

Mr. BEAL. No; not when I came back from Russia. When I came back from Russia, neither time did I get any financial help from the party. I wouldn't go near the party headquarters.

Mr. NIXON. When you were making arrangements to go to Russia for the first time, the seven of you knew apparently from your testimony, that Leon Josephson was the man who was making the arrangements?

Mr. BEAL. Yes, we knew that Leon and Edith Miller were working on it.

Mr. NIXON. You considered him the man who was handling this thing for you?

Mr. BEAL. Yes.

Mr. NIXON. Previous to the trial you said Mr. Josephson consulted with you and told you how to testify on certain things?

Mr. BEAL. Yes.

Mr. NIXON. Did he tell you to tell the truth when you went to the witness stand?

Mr. BEAL. He didn't say anything about telling the truth or telling lies. The main thing was he was carrying out the party's program. 'Mr. NIXON. He didn't seem to be particularly interested that you tell the truth?

Mr. BEAL. He wasn't so anxious-the whole party, I know now, were not so anxious that we get freed; they were anxious for the publicity that they received from it. The more publicity they received the better it was for them.

Mr. NIXON. In other words, Josephson wanted yoù to go on the stand and declare that you didn't believe in God?

Mr. BEAL. Well, he argued with me on that. Previously Edith Miller had been on the stand and she refused to be sworn in because of that, and so there was some dispute in the party, whether any of us that went on the stand should be sworn in by saying, "So help me God," or something like that, that had something to do with God; so I argued with them that I didn't see any reason why we shouldn't, and that was when Leon came in and was talking it over with me and said he didn't see why I should, because it is time now for the southern workers to wake up and become educated.

Mr. NIXON. In other words, to summarize it, Mr. Josephson's advice to the witnesses in that trial was to state certain facts, which would serve the purpose of the Communist Party, whether those facts happened to be the true facts of the case or not?

Mr. BEAL. He was the legal mind of the party. He was representing them in that sense, and he carried to us in the prison cell the program that the party wanted carried out. And as I was almost the only one to go on the stand he talked to me. Mr. NIXON. Why did you go to Russia the second time?

Mr. BEAL. I went because I saw no use of staying here and going to prison all by myself. I stayed in this country waiting for about 6 months to see if the other boys could get back. I didn't want to go down there to North Carolina, to prison, by myself, I wanted to go with the other boys. Then 6 months, or a year later, the whole Gastonia case had been quite forgotten, and my going back there at that time would be sort of an anticlimax. So I decided to see what was really going on in Russia, because I had been there only about 6 months altogether on my first trip. I decided to go back on another trip.

Mr. Nixon. Did you do any work there?

Mr. BEAL. When I was there I had charge of the foreigners, the Americans, specialists, skilled workers, from this country.

Mr. NIXON. That were in Russia?

Mr. BEAL. Yes. I took care to see that they had good conditions, that is, housing conditions, and got out a newspaper.

Mr. NIXON. Do you know Al Gotlieb?

Mr. BEAL. No.

Mr. NIXON. Do you know Sam Liptzen?
Mr. BEAL. No.

Mr. NIXON. That is all.

The CHAIRMAN. Mr. Vail?

Mr. VAIL. Were you directed to report to anyone in particular when you reached Russia?

Mr. BEAL. Well, yes; every Party member that leaves here has to report to the representative of the Communist Party when he gets to

Russia.

Mr. VAIL. It was through them you received this assignment for this occupation that you followed over there?

Mr. BEAL. Yes.

Mr. VAIL. That was in the same field in which you were engaged over here, in the textile trade?

Mr. BEAL. Well, not necessarily so. When you get over there they assign you to anything that they think is best for you and for them. In my case they decided it was best that I tour the country and do some speaking.

Mr. NIXON. One more question, Mr. Chairman.

The CHAIRMAN. Mr. Nixon.

Mr. NIXON. You indicated in your testimony that you did not believe that the Russian Government was interested in promoting the interests of the workers and in realizing the socialist ideal. Do you think the Russian Government is interested in that today?

Mr. BEAL. I think they are less interested today.

Mr. NIXON. What are they interested in then, if not in that?
Mr. BEAL. I don't know, today.

Mr. NIXON. What do you think, today?

Mr. BEAL. I don't know, today, only what I read in the papers. Mr. NIXON. When you were in Russia, if they weren't interested in that, what, in your opinion, were they trying to do?

Mr. BEAL. Well, what was Hitler interested in? After all, it seemed to me that they have been interested in having power for themselves. Mr. NIXON. The few people at the top? In other words, you see no difference between the Russian situation and the situation in Germany, substantially?