Mr. MOULDER. Mr. Johnston, you were on the stand yesterday to testify in answer to questions propounded to you by Mr. Wheeler, and the Chair asked you the question or a similar question, as to whether or not you approved or disapproved of Communist infiltration, influence, and domination of the labor union of which you are a member. And you said that you hadn’t had time to give the question any thought or consideration. We felt that by giving you sufficient time and recalling you today you could give us an answer to that question. (The witness confers with his counsel.) Mr. JOHNSTON. Mr. Chairman, I feel that the wording of that you just now mentioned was not the wording of the question yesterday. It was a little different. But, in answer to the question you just now raised to me, there is only one thing I can do under that, and that is to--if I answer that either way it would tend to incriminate me, and I have to invoke the fifth amendment. Mr. MOULDER. We will rephrase the question in this way: Do you approve or disapprove of Communist domination of any union? (The witness confers with his counsel.) Mr. JOHNSTON. Purely as a matter of opinion, I do not approve of any group, whether it be to control the trade-union movement--I feel it should be a free union. Whether it is Communist, Fascist, National Manufacturers Association or what-have-you. That is purely my opinion on it. Mr. MOULDER. Do you object to a Communist holding an official position in any labor union? Mr. JOHNSTON. On that one I will have to, as in the past, invoke the fifth amendment. Mr. MOULDER. Would you vote for or against a candidate seeking office in a local laborers’ union if he were a Communist? Mr. JOHNSTON. Mr. Chairman, I feel that, under our rights--and I know the majority of unions, as I understand them--we vote by secret ballot, the same as in our elections for the honorable representatives elected by your people in your district, by secret ballot. And that is a right that we are able to keep to ourselves. Mr. MOULDER. Any questions? Mr. TAVENNER. No, sir; I have no questions. Mr. MOULDER. The witness is excused. Mr. SYKES. Can I make a short statement here? I think it might be helpful to the committee. It will take about a half minute. Mr. JOHNSTON. Is that in regard to me? Mr. SYKES. No. STATEMENT OF JAY G. SYKES, ATTORNEY AT LAW, SEATTLE, WASH. Mr. SYKES. Several witnesses here have invoked the fifth amendment upon being asked the question: “Have you ever been a member of a labor union?” And I know that the use of the fifth amendment in answer to that question may have created some misunderstanding in the mind of the public and the mind of the committee. I would like to make it clear that the invoking of the fifth amendment to this particular question is not meant to imply, nor should it be implied, that I or my clients think there is anything at all incriminating, in itself, in membership in a labor union.