Investigation of Communist Activities in Seattle, Wash., Area, Hearings, Part 1United States. Congress. House. Committee on Un-American Activities
History
Investigation of Communist Activities in Seattle, Wash., Area, Hearings, Part 1
United States. Congress. House. Committee on Un-American Activities
Communism -- Washington (State) -- Seattle
But during the
Congress questions may come up which have not been foreseen in the
directions of the Party Committee. What is to be done? Should the
committee meet immediately? And how can this be arranged, when
questions may arise at any moment which are absolutely unexpected
and which must be reacted to at once? For such cases the Party
Committee must nominate a special group of three comrades or a
plenipotentiary representative, who could decide in the name of
the Party Committee. At the meeting of the fraction it should be
explained that for the leadership of the work of the fraction the
Party Committee has nominated a group of three comrades consisting
of such and such comrades, or such a plenipotentiary, and that
the intervention of these comrades, their propositions, should be
looked upon by all fraction members as official directions of the
Party Committee and carried out without any argument. In this way
uninterrupted guidance of the Party Committee is guaranteed in the
work of the fraction.
Mr. DENNETT. I would only say that the existence of a
document of that kind probably was more responsible for Mr. Browder’s
insisting that the central committee disavow all previous documents
which had been issued prior to, I think, 1938. That one was issued
much earlier. This was issued in the period just as the depression was
starting. In fact, the depression had not reached its maximum at the
time that document came out, and it anticipated the depression was
coming, and laid out plans how to take advantage of the depression for
revolutionary purposes.
Mr. TAVENNER. I notice under section 17 of this document a
reference to the voluntary character of the person’s membership in the
Communist Party. This reference reads:
The Communist Party is a voluntary organization, but every worker
who voluntarily joins the ranks of the Communist Party accepts
iron party discipline. If that discipline seems very hard to him,
even unbearable, then the party should not shut its doors upon him.
Mr. DENNETT. At the time I first came into the Communist
Party the most common expression I heard in that connection was that
you couldn’t leave the Communist Party voluntarily. And I think
that document intends to convey that impression because individuals
who become members of the Communist Party become privileged to
knowledge and information about their associates which, if they
leave the Communist Party, may fall into the hands of persons who
are unsympathetic to the Communist Party. And they were fearful that
whenever anything like that would occur it would hurt the working
class. As a matter of fact, most people in the Communist Party are
probably just blaspheming me up one side and down the other for
testifying here to you on these matters for that very same reason.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account