Investigation of Communist activities in Seattle, Wash., Area, Hearings, Part 2United States. Congress. House. Committee on Un-American Activities
History
Investigation of Communist activities in Seattle, Wash., Area, Hearings, Part 2
United States. Congress. House. Committee on Un-American Activities
Communism -- Washington (State) -- Seattle
Mr. STENHOUSE. I don’t know, sir. At that time I was very active in the
United Auto Workers. I felt that the United Auto Workers was doing a
fine job in increasing production for the war. Their no-strike pledge
was very loyally kept, and there were people there who always attended
meetings, who were always ready to try and get other people to come to
the union meetings, who were ready to do jobs for the union in the way
of promoting blood-bank drives, and so on, getting people to register
to vote, and the sort of things that I was interested in. Some one of
these people who I had some knowledge of their actions asked me if I
would go to such a meeting, and I said I would.
Mr. TAVENNER. Were the other members of this group of Communist Party
persons employed in the same business in which you were employed?
Mr. STENHOUSE. Well, as far as I remember, there were possibly 2 or 3
of the group who were at the Bendix plant. I am not sure now. It is
hard to differentiate.
Mr. MOULDER. You say you were interested in the same things that they
were interested in, that is, getting people interested in elections and
going to the polls to vote.
Mr. STENHOUSE. Sure.
Mr. MOULDER. Do you recall whether or not at that time the Communist
Party had candidates for whom you could cast a ballot?
Mr. STENHOUSE. We weren’t interested in it. We were voting Democratic.
I was a Democrat.
Mr. MOULDER. The point I was trying to make, if you were interested in
that party why did you join the Democratic Party? I don’t understand
why you affiliated yourself with a party that had no candidates for
whom you could vote.
Mr. STENHOUSE. I didn’t deliberately go out to affiliate myself with
it. Somebody who was interested in it also, as a Democrat--and these
things that were part of the war effort--suggested that I go to one
of these meetings. And he had become a person I had some respect for
because of his apparent adherence to the things that the majority of
the American people were doing at that time. I accepted the idea and
went to the meetings.
Mr. MOULDER. Were they Communist Party organization meetings?
Mr. STENHOUSE. I don’t understand you.
Mr. MOULDER. Are you talking about Communist Party meetings?
Mr. STENHOUSE. No. I am talking about union meetings and how it came
about that somebody invited me to go.
Mr. MOULDER. I am referring to the Communist Party meetings.
Mr. STENHOUSE. There were many meetings at that time, Mr.
Chairman--union meetings; many union meetings I attended. I was very
much impressed with the union.
Mr. MOULDER. Were the union meetings you attended Communist Party
meetings?
Mr. STENHOUSE. I think we have got at cross purposes someway here.
I was trying to explain how it came about that somebody invited me
to go to one of these discussion group meetings, and it was through
the association with somebody whom I had some regard for in his union
activity that I accepted an invitation.
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