Chapter IX: Front Matter (9)

The communist propaganda machine with its tactics of infiltration and division has long fostered the false claim of widespread influence in the Jewish communities of America. One of the most malicious myths that has developed in the United States is that persons of the Jewish faith and communists have something in common. The people who gave the world the concept of our monotheistic God and the Ten Commandments cannot remain Jews and follow the atheism of Karl Marx and the deceit of the communist movement.

It is a matter of record that numerous Communist Party leaders call themselves Jews and claim a Jewish origin. This does not, however, make them Jews, any more than William Z. Foster’s Catholic background and Earl Browder’s Protestant background give them any standing in present-day Catholic and Protestant communities in the United States.

One highly placed Party leader recently pointed out that it was necessary for communists working in Jewish groups to represent themselves as Jews. This, of course, is a tactical maneuver. Such a technique, the leader urged, “can be duplicated.”

Typical of communist claims which have led to the false myth indicating that Jews have an affinity for communism are the remarks of Paul Novick, the editor of the _Morning Freiheit_, a communist paper published in Yiddish in New York City. Novick said: “The development of Yiddish literature in the United States went hand-in-hand with the growth of the Socialist movement at the beginning of this century and of the Communist Party after the October Revolution.” On the same occasion Novick then went on to brand the followers of Judaism for “... degeneration sown among the Jews by reaction....” and then condemned their opposition to “... the progressive movement, against the Soviet Union and against Communism....” Novick revealed his true loyalties in December, 1956, in an article in the _Morning Freiheit_ after the display of Soviet brutality in Hungary with the apology that there was an anti-Semitic and fascist element in the Hungarian uprising, and insisted that, “... we must not only approve the Soviet actions in Hungary, but really appreciate it!”

The widely read Jewish newspaper, _Jewish Daily Forward_, on February 16, 1957, effectively identified Novick in a story captioned “Editor of Communist ‘Freiheit’ Is Bitter Enemy of the Jewish People.” Here it was asserted that after the Hitler-Stalin pact the _Freiheit_ justified and praised it, which caused writers to leave and Novick made sure that those who remained wrote without error following the pro-Hitler line. The newspaper further revealed that Novick had gone out of his way to prove that the communist dictators in Czechoslovakia were correct in arresting Rudolph Slansky (and thirteen former communist leaders, eleven of whom were Jews) and that the arrested Moscow Jewish doctors were involved in a conspiracy to poison Stalin. The _Jewish Daily Forward_ article flatly said that “anti-Semitic poison just poured out” of Novick.

One Party member, after having been in the Party for twenty-five years and having held high Party offices, explained to our agents that when he joined the Party he had renounced the existence of God, that he had tried to impose on others his atheistic views, and that he was “not a religious Jew.” He flatly said that most Party members he knew who claimed to be Jews did not follow their religion; they did not attend the synagogue, although they did not work on religious holidays; and the comrades who claimed to be Jews took no part in organized Jewish religious activities.

Some of the most effective opposition to communism in the United States has come from Jewish organizations such as B’nai B’rith, the American Jewish Committee, the American Jewish League Against Communism, the Anti-Defamation League, and a host of other Jewish groups.

The reasons for the extensive activities of the Communist Party in seeking to infiltrate and make extravagant claims for its work in some Jewish organizations and those of other minority groups are readily apparent. In the Soviet Union, the proving ground for Marxism-Leninism, communists are confronted with a minority problem of staggering proportions. Only 58 per cent of the population in the Soviet Union is Russian whereas 42 per cent is non-Russian and consists of 168 national minorities.

The Bolsheviks prior to 1917 sought to win support from minorities by defending their rights and developing such propaganda come-ons as “self-determination of nations,” “national cultural autonomy,” and so on. Once in power, the communists soon forgot their promises but continued to pay lip service to minority rights. The Soviet Union still retains the “legal fiction” that it is a voluntary federation of union republics, each of which is free to secede if it wishes. In fact, Article 17 of the Soviet Constitution of 1936 states, “The right freely to secede from the USSR is reserved to each constituent republic.” No “republic,” however, has ever tried to secede, and the possibility is remote indeed, as long as the Red army responds to the will of the dictators in the Kremlin as it did in Hungary.

A more important reason for communist interest in minorities in the United States is, of course, the opportunities they provide for exploitation and propaganda. The large number of communist fronts using the word “Jewish,” as well as publications that the communists dominate, is for the obvious purpose of conveying a false impression of strength among those who embrace the Jewish faith. This also accounts in part for the literary interest communists devote to the problems of Jews. Prior to issuing the _Communist Manifesto_, Karl Marx, the atheist, wrote a treatise called, “On the Jewish Question” which sets forth his views regarding Judaism and Jewish culture.

From that time to this in dealing with those of the Jewish faith, the communists invariably do so in terms of discussing “the Jewish question.” In fact, by this propaganda technique the communists deliberately try to make the Jews a “problem,” which is denied by the record of good citizenship and civic responsibility of adherents of Judaism in the United States. As an example: The American Jewish League Against Communism stated as early as 1948 that “Soviet Russia’s million and a half Jews are the forgotten people of the world.” The League lists among its proudest achievements that “... it was the first American organization to expose and document the communist anti-Jewish policies.”

A true follower of the Jewish faith, like those of other religions, cannot embrace communism. Marxism-Leninism is irrevocably opposed to all religious beliefs and all forms of worship, whether they be Catholic, Protestant, Jewish, or Moslem. One of Lenin’s basic teachings is, “We must combat religion—this is the A.B.C. of _all_ materialism, and consequently of Marxism.... The Marxist must be a materialist, i.e., an enemy of religion....”

In theory and practice the communists make no distinction among any of the world’s greater religions, as the leading Soviet crusader against religion, E. Yaroslavsky, makes clear:

... the priests of every cult have their own way of deluding
the masses: the Jewish rabbi, the Roman Catholic priest,
the Russian Orthodox priest, the Mohammedan mullah, the
Evangelist, Baptist and other ministers of religion, each
has his own way of fooling the people.... As to differences
between one religion and another, they are of little, if any,
consequence....

If there was ever any doubt that the communists were even lukewarm toward the Jewish faith, it was resolved by Yaroslavsky, onetime head of the League of Militant Atheists in the Soviet Union, who said:

The Jewish synagogues were not granted any privileges
whatsoever by the Russian state, but they were fully supported
by the Jewish bourgeoisie. The Jewish rabbinate, like its
sister priestcrafts, drew close to the side of the rich
because the Jewish church had also incorporated in its _credo_
the justification of the existence of exploiting classes in
society....

Karl Marx described Judaism as “anti-social” and an expression of Jewish “egoism.” Marx, better than any other communist leader, illustrates the gulf between Jewish tradition and communism. He could not be loyal to both, so in accepting the communist ideal, he was not content to reject Jewish tradition; he had to malign it and seek to destroy it with such bitterness as: “Money is the jealous God of Israel, by the side of which no other god may exist.... Exchange is the Jew’s real God.”

The unrestrained emotional outbursts of Hitler against the Jews were reminiscent of the Marxian tirades against Judaism.

The Marxian denunciation of Judaism is not limited to invective. From the earliest days when communism came to power in the Soviet Union, communists have conducted a systematic campaign to cripple and destroy organized Judaism. On January 23, 1918, the Soviets issued a sweeping decree “On the Separation of the Church from the State, and of the School from the Church.” All church property was nationalized; churches were denied rights of legal recourse; the teaching of religion was banned in public and private schools; the right of people to attend religious services on workdays was revoked; and records of births, marriages, and deaths were taken from the churches and put under the exclusive control of civil authorities.

While religious services were still allowed, the clergy was reduced to the status of second-class citizenship; a campaign of terror was launched leading to the arrest and imprisonment or execution of priests, rabbis, ministers, and other church leaders on such vague charges as “counter-revolutionary activity” or “crimes against the people.” Physical destruction of church property was conveniently explained as the “spontaneous” acts of “aroused” peasants and workers to conceal the real perpetrators, Soviet officialdom.

The main target, of course, was the Orthodox Church, which had long been the state church of Russia; but all other faiths suffered, including that of the Jews. The reports of refugees as compiled by Wladyslaw Kania in the book, _Bolshevism and Religion_, published by the Polish Library in New York City in 1946, prove the hypocrisy of the Soviet claim of minority protection with accounts as follows:

The Jews are morally persecuted, the young Jewish population is
being brought up in un-religious ways....

* * * * *

The Jews in Russia are living only on the memories of the happy
past....

* * * * *

... during the Jewish feast Purim ... the Jews, Soviet
citizens, assembled for evening prayer. One of the neighbors
reported them to the NKVD. The premises were raided and the
host arrested and sentenced to ten years’ imprisonment.

* * * * *

The rabbis have been deported; “kosher” meat, etc., though
promised, does not exist.... The synagogues and houses of
worship have been closed....

General Walter Bedell Smith, after his three years as Ambassador to the Soviet Union, reported that in June, 1948, about thirty churches were open in Moscow, which included one Jewish synagogue for an estimated 300,000 Jews. During World War II General Smith reported, “But two religions—the Jewish and the Roman Catholic—did not gain even temporary benefits from the wartime policy of greater religious tolerance; in fact, on balance, it is probably safe to say that attacks upon them have been stepped up rather than relaxed in recent years.”

Communist reports on the state of Jews in the Soviet Union make little reference to Judaism as practiced. For example, the forty-seven-page communist propaganda pamphlet, written by Paul Novick and J. M. Budish, entitled _Jews in the Soviet Union_, makes only this single reference to Judaism:

Then, there are Jewish religious activities. I visited the main
synagogue in Moscow during Yom Kippur. It was over-crowded,
with people outside listening to the cantor through loud
speakers.... I visited synagogues in Kiev, Vilna, Berditchev,
Zhytomir. There are about 300 organized religious communities
in the U.S.S.R....

The accuracy of this report is highly questionable, bearing in mind the cold, systematic communist program of extinguishing religion. Among the tactics employed by the Communist Party of the Soviet Union has been the liquidation of the traditional Jewish school system, including the primary school (Hedder), the secondary schools (the Talmud Torah), and the rabbinical school (the Jeshiva). Thus, when the present generation of Soviet Jews passes on, there will be no more rabbis.

This attack on Judaism becomes apparent when the role of the rabbi is considered. He is not merely a preacher; he is the teacher of Jewish moral law, the ritualistic laws governing the home, family, and individual; he presides at such religious ceremonies as the marriage, sits in ritualistic courts and supervises circumcisions and the preparation of kosher meat. Hence, in abolishing the rabbinical schools, the Soviets are gradually seeking the extinction of Judaism without a pogrom. Judaism cannot exist unless Hebrew is taught so that rabbis can study the Torah and Talmud in the original language in which they were written.

Communist practice and communist theory are in direct conflict. Communism, as we have seen, is essentially an international class movement and therefore regards national loyalty, other than communist loyalty, as a potential menace. The communists use “national rights” as a propaganda device and support national movements only when it serves the interests of the Soviet regime.

The communist propaganda line directed to Jewish people follows three general themes:

1. The Soviet Union offers the Jewish people complete freedom.
As one apologist put it: “There is one spot on the earth where
the Jewish people are not under increasing pressure, one spot
where the Jews have full equality.... That is the socialist
Soviet Union.”

2. The Soviets have created a national homeland for Russian
Jews in the Jewish autonomous region of Birobidzhan (or
Birobidjan), where they claim Jewish culture is flourishing.

3. In World War II the U.S.S.R. saved thousands of Jews from
certain death from the Nazis.

Standing by themselves, these claims admittedly make an impressive appeal. If true, they would even justify the extravagant claim of Alexander Bittelman, who recently was released from prison upon completing a federal sentence for conspiring to advocate the overthrow of the government of the United States by force and violence. Bittelman, long one of the chief interpreters of communism to the Jewish people, has described the Soviet Union as the “saviour of the Jewish people.” The record, however, demolishes this propaganda line as a collection of half-truths, exaggerations, and outright deceptions.

At best, Soviet tolerance toward Jewish culture was never anything more than a temporary political tactic. And even then the Soviet claims were contemporaneous with the 1917 revolution, when the communists were seeking support from all quarters. Stalin’s _Marxism and the National Question_, the acknowledged communist classic on the subject, though consisting of 222 pages, contains only twenty pages written after 1927, with the most important single part having been written in 1913. By the late 1930’s alleged concessions to the cultures of the various minority groups gave way to a policy of forcible denationalization rivaling the brutal “Russification” tactics of the Czars.

To illustrate: In 1917 there were a total of forty-nine Yiddish or Hebrew newspapers in the Soviet Union. By 1921 these had increased to sixty-two; but no less than fifty were communist-controlled, while the forty-nine not under communist control in 1917 had dwindled to twelve in 1921.

Jewish literature suffered a similar fate. From 1928 to 1933 books published in Yiddish rose from 238 to 668, but there was a marked decline in books dealing with Jewish history and tradition. In 1932 there were thirty-six books in Yiddish classified as history—of these, sixteen were memoirs chiefly of old Bolsheviks; six were studies on the Communist International; six dealt with the revolution and history of the Communist Party; five consisted of speeches of Stalin and other communist leaders; and only three actually dealt with matters pertaining to Jewish culture. These related to the labor movement and were an attempt to rewrite history to conform with Marxist-Leninist doctrine.

The Soviet purge trials of 1936-37 should have made clear to the world the communist objective mercilessly to crush the leadership of any minority groups whose cultural resurgence conflicted with the advance of Marxism-Leninism. To cite an example: of the ten representatives of minority groups who served on the draft committee for the 1936 Soviet constitution, only one was alive at the end of 1937. The other nine were branded as “spies,” “enemies of the people,” and were shot, committed suicide, or had disappeared.

The sad fate of the Jewish school system in the Ukraine proves the lie to the Soviet propaganda claim of furthering Jewish culture. In 1925, government reports reflected a total of 39,474 students in the Ukrainian schools where Yiddish was the language of instruction. In 1931 the number of such students reached its peak of 90,000. By 1940 this figure had declined to 50,000, and the Jewish schools were completely suppressed when the Nazis took over the Ukraine in World War II. Since the war the efforts of Jewish educators to have the Soviet government construct new schools have apparently failed.

One of the most crippling communist attacks on Jewish culture has been prohibition of the use of Hebrew, the traditional language of Judaism. As a tactic the Soviets launched a program of “compulsory Yiddishizing” to destroy the influence of Hebrew among Russian Jews. Yiddish is a jargon based on a German dialect. It is unrelated to Hebrew. Many Jews, particularly Asiatic and Mediterranean Jews, do not know it at all. A similar program of suppression of Jewish institutions shifted to the satellites after World War II, where Jewish schools were abolished, Jewish organizations banned, and even athletic clubs bearing Jewish names were forced to change their names on twenty-four-hour notice.

The second propaganda claim of the Soviets in establishing the Jewish homeland of Birobidzhan should be closely analyzed. Solomon M. Schwarz, in his exhaustive study, _The Jews in the Soviet Union_, exposes the Soviet propaganda for the falsehood that it is. The so-called Jewish homeland was set up at a time when the threat of Japanese and Chinese invasion of the U.S.S.R.’s Far Eastern frontier was not idle. Thus, the Jewish homeland was conceived as a means of populating the vast spaces in the Far East of Russia, and also provided a convenient place to settle Jews not wanted in other parts of Russia.

By 1933 the Soviets envisioned a population of 60,000 Jews in Birobidzhan. During its first six years 19,635 Jews arrived, while 11,450 left, leaving a net gain of only 8185. By 1939, after eleven years, the Soviet Jewish homeland could claim no more than 30,000 Jews and by 1951 around 40,000 which was a small community surrounded by Asiatic peoples completely separated from the mainstream of Jewish life. Furthermore, it is in the maritime provinces of Siberia, where the climate is unsuitable for those accustomed to European life.

The third communist propaganda claim, that of rescuing Jews from Nazi extinction, is also a deception. In the first place, for two years prior to the Nazi invasion of Russia, when Moscow was allied with Berlin, _there is no record of any Soviet protest against the Nazi slaughter of Jews_, so far as is known. The good-neighbor policy between the communists and the Nazis, initiated by the Stalin-Hitler pact, is clearly established by the following report sent by the German Ambassador to Moscow to the German Foreign Office, where it came to light after the war: “... The Soviet Government is doing everything to change the attitude of the population here toward Germany. The press is as though it had been transformed....”

Later the Foreign Office was advised that:

... the Soviet Government has always previously been able in a
masterly fashion to influence the attitude of the population in
the direction which it has desired, and it is not being sparing
this time either of the necessary propaganda.

Then, too, the silence of the Soviet leaders on the outbreaks of Nazi anti-Semitism completely misled Eastern European Jews as to the real character of the Nazi threat and hence, some 2,000,000 Russian and Eastern European Jews made no attempt to escape the Nazis during the early months of the German invasion of Russia. And even after the Nazi onslaught, there was a shocking failure on the part of the Soviets to reveal Nazi atrocities against the Jews.

For example, the Soviet government in 1942 condemned the “bloodthirsty, criminal plans of the fascists” aimed at exterminating Russians, Ukrainians, Byelorussians, and “other peoples” of the Soviet Union, with no direct reference to the Jews. As late as 1945 the Soviets in a report on the German concentration camp at Auschwitz (Oswiecim), where more than 4,000,000 persons were exterminated, did not even use the word “Jew,” although they constituted the majority of those whose lives were so brutally taken.

Not only did the communists in the Soviet Union fail to make any special effort to save Jewish people during the war, they showed no concern over their fate.

If further evidence is necessary to prove the falsity of communist propaganda directed toward the Jewish people, it is only necessary to look at the communist campaigns against Zionism. The communist propagandist, Paul Novick, reflected the communist line both in the Soviet Union and the United States when he wrote:

Ever since its inception Zionism has been an instrument of the
Jewish bourgeoisie to hamper the struggle of the Jewish masses
... a means of diverting the attention of the Jewish workers
from the class struggle and of keeping them separated from the
progressive forces of other nationalities....

In the Soviet Union, Zionism is ruthlessly suppressed. In the United States communists have a more complex problem and avoid direct public attacks on the Zionist movement, so as not to alienate that large section of Jewish people who favor Zionism. The communist attacks are more subtle and are directed essentially at individual Zionist leaders. The aim, of course, is to discredit the Zionist movement without antagonizing its rank-and-file members. The Party line changes from time to time when it is expedient, but the communist objective of eventually destroying Zionist influence among the Jewish people, without alienating its rank-and-file members, has never changed.

Khrushchev more recently reiterated the Party line against the Zionist movement when he was asked what the Soviet Union would do if the Zionists settled in Soviet territory and demanded a state of their own. He replied with communist contempt, “We have thrown them out of our country.”

Communist Party leaders in the United States exhibited some concern over the Soviet campaign against Jews which was brought to light by an anti-Zionist article in _Pravda_ on September 21, 1948, by Ilya Ehrenburg, which referred to the state of Israel as a “bourgeois country.” This article declared that in Russia there was no artificial division between Jews and their Russian comrades but that Jews led lives in common with other peoples of Russia. The proper solution to the “Jewish problem,” according to Ehrenburg’s article, is the abolishment of “nationalism” among Jews and the integration of Jews into the existing society rather than their having a distinct life apart from other people.

It is known that when the information in the Ehrenburg article reached the United States, there were considerable concern and confusion in the offices of the _Morning Freiheit_ as to whether the article represented a fixed Soviet policy. The fact that _Pravda_ is under Soviet Communist Party control causes Party leaders in this country to give careful consideration to anything it publishes. The matter was resolved by directing an inquiry to Itzik Feffer, a friend of Stalin in Moscow, to secure the correct Soviet line on the Jewish question. The report came back to the United States that Ehrenburg merely was reflecting his own ideas, along with some of the younger communists of Jewish origin, and did not represent the correct policy of the Soviet Union. The then foreign editor of the _Morning Freiheit_, Moise Katz, in an article appearing in the January, 1949, issue of _Yiddishe Kultur_ criticized the ideas appearing in the Ehrenburg article.

Events, however, were to prove the correctness of Ehrenburg’s statements, which became the fixed policy of the Soviet Union, and the Jewish Anti-Fascist Committee, of which Itzik Feffer was a member, was abolished. In the meantime the National Committee of the Communist Party intervened and, according to reports, straightened out the _Morning Freiheit_ on the new Soviet line. A letter of apology over the signature of Moise Katz then appeared in the _Freiheit_ on March 29, 1949. This incident was discussed in communist circles and the word leaked out that three writers were discharged from the _Freiheit_ for “bourgeois nationalism.”

When Khrushchev denounced Stalin at the Twentieth Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union in Moscow in February, 1956, news of the long-pent-up acts of oppression against Jews in the Soviet Union began to leak out. It is, of course, significant that Khrushchev made no mention of the mistreatment of the Jews in his exposure of Stalin, whom he had so loyally served over the years.

Within a few weeks, as noted in Chapter 3, the disclosures of anti-Semitism came in the Warsaw, Poland, Yiddish-language communist newspaper _Folks-Shtimme_ on April 4, 1956, regarding the Soviet purges of Jewish leaders and culture under Stalin. Later, on April 13, 1956, the _Daily Worker_ expressed regrets and then admitted “... we were too prone to accept the explanation of why Jewish culture had disappeared in the Soviet Union in the late 1940s.” With the agility of “whirling dervishes” the communists then sought to develop a justification for the Soviet communist leaders’ action.

World public opinion over the Soviet communist leaders’ injustices mounted and as Khrushchev turned on the “smiles” and started visiting other countries, he was confronted with the accusation of anti-Semitism in Russia.

In England, Khrushchev characterized “anti-Semitism” as “nonsense” to which he would not listen. To a French delegation he protested that he was not anti-Semitic but that the Yiddish language is fading away in Russia as the Jews in the Soviet Union are learning to speak Russian. A new low in deception was reached when Khrushchev claimed that, in the early years of the revolution, “Jews occupied a disproportionately large number of high Soviet positions because the country had few trained people.” He then asserted that the Kremlin had received protests from “the various Soviet Republics that too many Jews held desirable positions.” The New York _Times_ story on June 10, 1956, then reported that Khrushchev “... reportedly pressed Lazar M. Kaganovich, only high-ranking Soviet leader of Jewish origin, to confirm his statements, which Mr. Kaganovich finally did, saying one word, ‘correct’....” And now there are no top communist leaders in the Kremlin of Jewish origin since Khrushchev ousted and denounced Kaganovich last summer.

The president of B’nai B’rith, Philip M. Klutznick, answered the communist propaganda claims when he made the factual observation that only in Soviet Russia and its satellites is “Jewish life languishing and approaching extinction.”

The Communist Party of the United States at its February, 1957, convention sought to hoodwink the American public by a series of statements to the press of how it had declared its independence from Moscow. This deceit was established in no unmistakable terms by the handling of a resolution dealing with anti-Semitism in Russia. The resolution was submitted by Professor Morris U. Schappes in typical communist language: “Resolution: On Jewish question, some aspects.”

The resolution stated: “This matter concerns us as Communists in a country which includes 5,000,000 Jews.” It then points out,

Since the Jewish question is international in scope, we
communists must be alert to the problem and its world-wide
aspects. The Jewish question is a specific question that
requires specific attention.... The liquidation of the
outstanding Yiddish writers and Jewish communal and political
leaders, and the snuffing out of organized Jewish cultural life
have been known for some time....

He, of course, was referring to anti-Semitism in Russia.

The resolution called for the creation of a Jewish Commission, a return to Leninist policy, and a request “... to make this subject one for fraternal discussion with the Communist Party in the Soviet Union,” which, of course, negates the view of independence of the communists in the United States.

The resolution was soft-pedaled and disposed of, as was a similar resolution dealing with Soviet terrorism in Hungary, by being referred to the National Committee of the Party. _Pravda_, on February 16, 1957, had this to say: “The 16th Convention of the Communist Party, USA, confirmed the loyalty of the American communists to the principles of Marxism-Leninism....”

Party leaders, however, in the face of the overwhelming evidence of communist hate for the followers of Moses, still are attempting to deceive unsuspecting persons of Jewish origin and, as this is being written, communist tacticians are at work on a program of infiltrating Jewish groups by seeking for the answers to such questions as:

—How to avoid the extremes of negating Israel and of accepting
its actions uncritically.

—How to work in religious groups while keeping ourselves and
our children free of the religious doctrine of these groups.

—How to avoid the extremes of taking on all issues and avoiding
all issues.

—How to balance Jewish work with our interests as Marxists in
general trade union, minorities and people’s movements.

The vigilant and patriotic members of Jewish organizations have demonstrated their alertness to counteract the infiltration tactics in Jewish institutions by communists who were born Jews. Where communist infiltration tactics have succeeded in Jewish organizations, it has been because of a failure on the part of leaders and members alike to be vigilant and thwart the communist tactic of infiltration into the Jewish community just as it has sought to infiltrate every other organization.

A _Pravda_ editorial on July 6, 1956, should remove all doubts as to the antipathy of communism to those who worship God regardless of their faith:

As for our country the Communist Party has been and will be
the only master of the minds, and thoughts, the spokesman,
leader and organizer of the people in their entire struggle for
communism.

_Part VI_

THE COMMUNIST UNDERGROUND

20.

_How the Underground Works_

The communist above-ground, as we have seen, constantly seeks to represent itself as a legitimate political organization working for the best interests of America. When large segments of the people are hoodwinked into believing this fraudulent claim, it becomes easier for the Party to carry on its revolutionary propaganda through mass agitation, infiltration, and fronts. Without some degree of public acceptance, the Party is doomed to an isolated impotence.

Communist tactics require that above-ground activities be pushed as far as possible. However, when the Party begins to abuse its constitutional privileges and the government takes steps to protect itself from outright treason and subversion, more and more Party activities are shifted underground, that is, to the illegal apparatus. As Lenin taught, the Party must always have two levels, above-ground and underground. Both must exist at the same time. One without the other is incomplete.

In times of “nonprosecution”—that is, when “hostile” governments are not attacking—the Party, like a submarine, will surface, carrying on the bulk of its work above ground. But a portion (the underground) will always stay submerged, concealing the Party’s illegal activities, such as aid to Soviet espionage; endeavoring to place concealed members in sensitive positions in government, education, and industry, maintaining clandestine communication networks.

In event of an emergency, this undercarriage quickly expands, providing the Party with well-prepared and extensive undercover operations. Within days, hundreds of above-ground comrades can be absorbed. The Party submerges, the above-ground shrinks.

The Party will submerge only as long and as deep as absolutely necessary, always preferring surface operations (with a supporting underground). That’s why it desperately fights all legislation curtailing its activities. Only to prevent annihilation will it go completely underground. This action reduces contact with the masses, wastes energy on nonproductive security measures, and decreases effectiveness. Except for outright liquidation, it is practically impossible to drive the Party completely underground or completely above ground.

As we saw in Chapters 4 and 5, the Party experienced two periods of intensified underground activities: (1) shortly after its founding, and (2) in the mid-1951 to mid-1955 period. Both were caused primarily by prosecutive action of state and federal governments.

To understand the underground we must realize that it is a maze of undercover couriers, escape routes, hide-outs, and clandestine meetings. It’s not the place for the beginner, the half-indoctrinated, or the doubtful. Only the most loyal members are selected. These men and women are carrying on the Party’s deceitful work away from the watchful eye (so they hope) of the FBI and other governmental agencies.

It was early in the morning. The taxi had been summoned to a number on James Street. The driver looked. On the corner stood an attractive woman, dressed in a polka-dotted blouse and navy blue skirt. From her shoulder dangled a brown purse.

“Take me to Elm and Cherry Streets,” she said, jumping into the cab.

When the taxi arrived at the destination, the woman changed her mind. “Take me to the Surplus Store,” she instructed. The driver complied, now almost doubling back to where he had started. The woman, however, still wasn’t satisfied. She asked to be taken to another location. There she alighted.

A few minutes later she hailed another cab and went straight to her destination, a railroad station on the east side of town, some fifteen miles away, even though she was then only a short distance from a terminal where she could have caught the same train.

This wasn’t the Case of the Woman Who Changed Her Mind, but the shift of a Party underground leader to a new hide-out. Why the strange gyrations? She was endeavoring to make certain she wasn’t being followed.

In a northern state a scene similar to the Girl in the Polka-dotted Blouse was being enacted. A woman with black curly hair, dressed in a smart gray herringbone suit and wearing a large-brimmed hat, boarded a southbound train. She carefully surveyed the passengers, then took a seat near the rear. She was carrying on her left arm a blue tweed suit and a hook-weave black coat. In her right hand she held a brown suitcase trimmed in light tan. It was a long ride, all afternoon and night. Upon arrival she sped to an address in an older section of town. A knock, the door opened, and she disappeared inside. The woman was a high-ranking Party leader reporting for a new underground assignment.

These two women, neatly dressed and looking like ordinary travelers, were but two of many hundreds involved in Party underground work from 1951 to 1955. Many were away from home for months, even years, living under assumed names in obscure rooms; moving under cover of darkness from one city to another; scurrying along streets late at night; eating irregular meals. Life in the underground for most is hard work, drudgery; not romance, adventure, and fun.

How are comrades chosen for underground work?

As we have seen, only the most trusted and dedicated of Party members are chosen. A study of the case histories of twenty-five top Party leaders active in the underground during 1951-55 disclosed that all had been in the communist movement for over twenty years. Their average age was somewhat over forty.

Party “loyalty” is determined by an elaborate “verification” system. A prospect is compelled to execute a questionnaire asking for detailed information about his family, former employment, education, Party history. One questionnaire, for example, requested a member to analyze the “political position” of relatives, and then asked, “Have you had any extra-marital relations since you’ve been married? If so, with whom and how often?” Many times, older comrades must vouch for the prospect.

To enter the underground usually means simply disappearing quickly, abruptly, without warning. Whispers float: “Where’s Gordon?” The answer: “He’s gone under” or merely the telltale sign, a clenched fist with the thumb pointed down.

It was a Monday morning. Everybody came to work except one, a woman who had been with the firm for many years. Nobody thought anything about it. Probably she was sick. But the next day, the next week, the next month, she didn’t return, although she had almost a hundred dollars in wages coming to her. At her apartment it was the same story. She had quickly moved out. Nobody knew where she had gone.

She had entered the communist underground.

These departures are carefully planned. Above-ground comrades will handle any pending personal matters, such as storing the member’s furniture, moving his family, caring for his car. Sometimes departures have been so rapid that hot meals have been left on the table.

Once underground, the member is made ready for assignment. This means, first of all, assuming a new identity; that is, being made into “another person.” As a general rule this involves the securing of a new name, date, and place of birth, even changing physical appearance. One functionary, for example, lost between thirty-five and forty pounds, giving him a gaunt appearance. Others were told to gain weight. Still another grew a mustache, donned glasses, and dyed his hair black. Identification marks, such as moles and warts, have been removed by surgery. One underground official boasted that he could walk down Main Street every day and even his wife could not recognize him!

In addition, the member must be supplied with fake identification papers, Social Security cards, drivers’ licenses, library cards, bank-deposit books. If he is stopped on the street he must be able to prove his “identity.” Likewise, he should acquaint himself with his adopted place of birth, know something about its newspapers, streets, and stores. Does it have a baseball team? It’s usually best to pick a small town, for there is less chance of meeting somebody from there.

Frequently the member, in his new pose, will attempt, at least on a temporary basis, to secure employment. His underground work will be conducted in the evenings and on week ends. Some of the comrades are on the Party’s payroll, but most are not. One member became, in the words of her employer, an “efficient, affable, and able” secretary. Little did he dream that she was a communist on special underground assignment. In another instance a comrade, when hired for a job, said she was born in a Southern city, had attended a certain grade and high school, and had previously worked in another city. Later FBI investigation revealed that her story was a complete falsehood. Her job was only a front for secret communist work.

That’s why the underground is a nightmare of deceit, fear, and tension, where one has to tell falsehoods, fabricate a background, adopt a new name, and live in fear of being recognized by old friends or acquaintances.

Suppose the Girl in the Polka-dotted Blouse, in order to carry out an assignment, must pose as a widow or the estranged wife of a sea captain, or as the retired owner of a ladies’ dress shop? Think of the problems that would arise. What types of stories must be improvised? What kind of personal possessions must be purchased to keep up the cover?

The Party has thoroughly studied these problems. Let’s look at a secret study issued for the instruction of women underground comrades, like the Girl in the Polka-dotted Blouse. Here’s the advice:

1. Suppose you are posing as a widow (after having been married
some twenty years) and you have now come to this city “to get
away from it all and try to forget.”

_Answer_: Well, you shouldn’t come in (as to a rooming house)
empty-handed, with only a handbag. You “must make some show
of previous accumulation,” for example, have “a few personal
‘precious’ things,” such as “picture(s), little mementoes.”
Where can you get them? “In any 5-10c store.”

2. Suppose you have an inquisitive landlady who has access to
your apartment.

_Answer_: You might first say (to cover up the scarcity of your
personal belongings) that, being so sad over becoming a widow,
you “haven’t had the heart to unpack everything yet.” If you
stay longer, you better buy a dustmop and some other items, “so
that the story of having been a housewife for so many years
will ring true.” And by all means have some luggage, preferably
“beat-up” luggage. “The more luggage a woman moves in with the
better is she accepted on the strength of her story.”

3. What if you’re underground in a small town? What about
social life? People are sure to become suspicious if you stay
seven nights a week at home. Moreover, unlike a man, it doesn’t
look right to go to a late movie alone.

_Answer_: Take a short trip out of town. This not only takes
away suspicion but gives you something to talk about.

4. Then there is the problem of extra expense incurred by women.

_Answer_: A woman must have more luggage (she’s expected to
have more clothing, etc.). Then she must use a taxi; she can’t
carry her own suitcases. Also there is the problem of “personal
upkeep.” Suppose you are a blonde and you come into town as a
brunette. As the study points out, you have to keep that up, to
a tune of about six dollars for each trip to the beauty parlor
and two dollars extra for eyebrow dye.

Attention to detail must be exacting, even to the clothes worn on given occasions. Here’s a sample of a “How I was Dressed” diary kept by the Girl in the Polka-dotted Blouse:

—wore dark grey dress, high heels, walked to the movie ...

—wore low heels, two-piece blue suit, red tam ...

—wore high heels, white blouse and blue hankie. Carried
umbrella, looked like rain.

In meeting noncommunists she doesn’t want to be a strawberry blonde one day and the next week a natural brunette. If she is representing herself as a “poor widow,” she probably should wear the same dress every time, not come in a variety of outfits.

Assignments in the underground vary. A select few are engaged in highly secret disciplinary work. Security is most important. The telephone and mails are to be avoided. Never carry Party documents or names on your person. Disciplinary squads may stop members and search their purses. Woe if a compromising slip of paper is found bearing a name or telephone number.

Security precautions also affect the above-ground Party. No membership books (or cards) are issued; large clubs are broken up into small groups; records are destroyed. In a Western state a Party member was instructed to go to the post office for mail. He was to carry a brown paper sack and, upon leaving, proceed to the restroom of a nearby building. There another Party member, carrying an identical brown sack containing nothing but rubbish, would meet him. They would exchange sacks. In this way, so it was thought, the person with the mail could not be detected.

Then there are couriers who carry secret messages, often in code. In addition, they bring supplies and funds, meet Party leaders in hide-outs, contact mail drops. Couriers are of various types: (1) Party officials “just going through,” (2) Party members, such as salesmen and truck drivers, whose occupations allow them to travel without suspicion, (3) “professional” couriers who are trained to operate on a full-time basis.

Some comrades are given special assignments, such as stock-piling supplies (paper, ink, printing presses, funds). Others, working with above-ground comrades, secure, for future underground use, extra drivers’ licenses, birth certificates, car titles, etc. In addition, comrades operate hide-outs and escape routes or hide Party records. The underground from 1951 to 1955 actually harbored Party leaders who were criminal fugitives, having been convicted by United States courts.

Depending on local conditions, the organizational structure of the underground varies from area to area. As a general rule, because of security reasons, the leadership is rotated. The Party may feel that a member is going “stale.” If so, he may be shifted to another assignment or temporarily “furloughed upstairs” (meaning allowed to reappear in the “open”). A reserve leadership is always ready, in case the functioning leaders are arrested or otherwise incapacitated. This reserve may consist of other underground comrades or members still “upstairs.”

On the West Coast, for example, a clandestine communist group using the code name of “Mollie” had full responsibility for carrying through not only underground but also many above-ground functions. For security reasons underground contacts are always downward, not to a higher level. This means that top officials can contact those in lower levels, but the latter (who seldom even know the identity of their superiors) cannot contact above themselves. In event of an “enemy breakthrough,” only the identity of those on the level “broken through,” or lower level, will be revealed.

As we have mentioned, the closest cooperation must exist between the underground and above-ground apparatuses. The former cannot operate as a self-contained unit. It must constantly be serviced from above; otherwise it would die of suffocation. As we noticed in Chapter 17, communist fronts serve as periscopes to the “upper world” through which funds, supplies, and instructions are funneled. The deeper the Party goes underground, the greater the reliance on fronts.

The overriding consideration of the underground is security, not to be discovered by the FBI. Let’s see how this affects the Party’s operations.

Hide-outs

Generally speaking the underground uses three types of hide-outs: (1) _temporary_, an abode for a courier or Party member en route to another destination. This will probably be a room in the home of a “politically reliable” individual; (2) _emergency_, a home or apartment where a member, perhaps feeling he is being watched or suddenly becoming sick, can hide on an emergency basis. It is not to be used too frequently; (3) _permanent_, or “deep freeze,” where one or more comrades can remain for extended periods, maybe a month, or even a year, with all necessities being provided. Farms or cabins in remote areas make excellent “deep freezes.”

Here are some of the requirements demanded for a “safe” hide-out. They illustrate the Party’s attention to detail.

1. The owner must be absolutely loyal to the Party.

2. If an apartment, there must be no doorman or elevator operator. A walk-up apartment of three or four stories is preferable.

3. If a family home, the members must be thoroughly reliable. There should be no children, relatives, or maids.

4. The proprietor should not be too closely identified with the Party, either as a sympathizer or member.

5. The hide-out must be located where there are no curious or talkative neighbors.

6. The quarters must be sufficiently large to accommodate extra guests. Excessive cramping attracts attention.

7. The neighborhood should be well known to the owner and one in which some trusted friends reside. In this way any inquiries in the vicinity will immediately come to their attention.

Meetings

Elaborate security must surround all underground contacts, whether between just two people or groups. Here are a few points the underground has to remember:

1. Don’t use the same meeting place too frequently. It might excite suspicion.

2. If a meeting is held at a home, a member of the family (who, of course, is thoroughly reliable) should be there to answer the door in case an outsider knocks. He can handle the situation and also serve as a lookout.

3. If large numbers are involved, times of arrival and departure should be staggered. Everybody should not arrive or depart at the same time.

4. If the comrades don’t know each other, a predetermined means of identification (a code word, piece of clothing, etc.) should be used.

5. Bring no more documents (books, papers, etc.) than absolutely necessary. Avoid note-taking. Make effective use of memory.

6. Upon departure, a “rear-guard” comrade should thoroughly check for any incriminating items. Have any papers been left on the floor? Is there a telephone number scratched on the wall? Has someone forgotten his coat, which might contain Party data?

In one instance six weeks allegedly were spent in bringing twenty people to a national underground conference.

If two comrades don’t know each other, advance arrangements must be made, usually by notes, to effect identification for a meeting. Here is one example. The note read:

On Friday, April 6, 8 P.M. at NE corner, Oak and 9th Sts.—my
courier will be standing with a _Field and Stream_ magazine.
Bill’s courier will approach her and ask, “Mrs. Polk, what time
is it?” She will reply, “I’m sorry, my watch is stopped.”

Note the use of a magazine and code words for identification. Just in case the first contact didn’t work out, there were alternative instructions. The note continued:

In case no one shows, she will be on the SW corner, Walnut and
10th, same magazine, Friday, 13, 8 P.M., same question and
answer. She will wait around only ten minutes each time.

Noncommunists probably will find it difficult to understand the reckless abandon, personal risk, and sheer physical endurance displayed by communists to conceal their underground activities. Here are a few of the tactics employed by communists to determine if they are being followed:

_Driving cars_:

1. Driving alternately at high and low rates of speed.

2. Entering a heavily traveled intersection on a yellow light,
hoping to lose any follower or cause an accident.

3. Turning corners at high rates of speed and stopping abruptly.

4. Suddenly leaving a car and walking hurriedly down a one-way
street in the direction in which vehicle traffic is prohibited.

5. Entering a dark street in a residential area at night,
making a sharp U-turn, cutting into a side alley, and
extinguishing the car’s lights.

6. Driving to a rural area, taking a long walk in a field, then
having another car meet them.

7. Waiting until the last minute, then making a sharp left turn
in front of oncoming traffic.

8. Stopping at every filling station on the highway, walking
around the car, always looking, then going on.

_On foot_:

1. Leaving subways, buses, and trains at the last minute, even
holding the door open and jumping off.

2. Entering hotels, bus terminals, and department stores where
there are many exits.

3. Stooping over in the aisles, then suddenly rising and
looking around to see if anybody is searching for them.

4. Doubling back after rounding a corner.

5. Putting a coin in a pay telephone booth, dialing a number,
then rushing to the adjoining booth to see if anybody is trying
to listen.

6. Leaving a taxicab, but instructing the driver to go around
the block and pick them up again.

7. Using store windows as mirrors to see behind them.

8. Walking slowly to a corner, then starting to run down an
alleyway.

Always there is the fear of being followed. One Party couple registered at a motel, then the husband parked the car several miles away. He walked back and climbed through a side window. Maybe in this way he could conceal his night’s lodging!

A woman in a Midwestern city kept riding streetcars, buses, and taxis for thirty hours, stopping at no time except for meals. In communist language she was “_dry-cleaning_”; that is, making certain that she was not being followed.

The pressure becomes terrific. As long as a comrade feels he is “dirty” (that is, he suspects the “enemy,” meaning the FBI, is near), he must keep up his “dry-cleaning.” He can make his “meet” or enter a hide-out only when he’s certain he is “clean.”

Two dry-cleaning techniques are of special interest. One is the _switch-point_ operation: The communist leader is driven to a certain location in a car (called a “drop car”). There he alights and enters another car (called a “pickup car”). Before entering the second car, however, he will walk across a parking lot, over a bridge, or through a department store—the object being to lose any pursuer. In the double switch, the pickup car drops the Party leader at a second switch, where he will be picked up by a third vehicle and then taken to his destination.

In the _scramble_, members (as on leaving meetings) enter automobiles. The drivers start the motors. Suddenly the doors of the cars will open and the comrades will get out, including the drivers. They scramble, meaning they quickly take seats in the other cars, whereupon all autos will move away in different directions. It’s hard for any “pursuer” to tell who went in which car.

The underground creates intense strains on family life. The undeviating demands of the Party (its interests must come first, regardless of personal consequences) leave deep scars.

For years many families are separated. On some occasions a midnight contact or a few days of furlough are permitted. Children grow up without seeing their fathers. In one instance a child was stricken with polio. His underground father did not leave his Party work to come to the child’s bedside. Mothers are often hard pressed to give answers to the question, “Where’s Daddy?” Some “explain” that Daddy is away on a trip, in another town, or dead. One little boy, whose father was gone, said: “I wish my father was in jail. Then I could at least see him.”

Normal family relationships are disrupted. The Party may promise financial assistance to the families of underground comrades, but many times the support is miserly or does not come at all. Heart-rending results ensue: