Important offices and many local offices of the Washington Pension Union have been held by Communist Party members, and the activities and policies of the pension union have always been supported by the Communist Party. Many issues have been brought into the pension union by the Communist Party and gained wide support by so doing. The Communist Party in this district viewed the Washington Pension Union as really its most important single front organization. It is called mass organization by the Communist Party. They don’t use the term “front organization.” They call it a mass organization. It was the largest and most influential and second only to the Washington Commonwealth Federation, which was a federation of organizations, and the Washington Pension Union was an affiliate of the Washington Commonwealth Federation, in which the Communist Party likewise had a dominating influence. I think I should read a little further. Mrs. Hartle also testified that---- Mr. O’CONNELL. May I say I had no connection; I was not an officer of the Washington Pension Union. Mr. TAVENNER. I was going to discuss that question, whether or not you were affiliated in any way with the Washington Pension Union. Mr. O’CONNELL. I think as executive secretary of the Democratic Party and as executive secretary of the Progressive Party I made speeches to State conventions of the Washington Pension Union, as did practically all the political leaders of the State of Washington, regardless of the party. I think during a period after my employment as executive secretary of the Democratic Party at the request of a local in Everett I was sent there to make a speech and I think I was--I am pretty sure I was paid expenses and I may have been paid a fee for the speech I made to the group at Everett at that time. Mr. TAVENNER. Was that a convention of the Washington Pension Union? Mr. O’CONNELL. No, as I remember it, the Everett meeting was some kind of a large local meeting that they had, some kind of an event or celebration or something of that kind that I spoke at. It is hard to recollect. It is a long time ago and I have made a lot of speeches all over the State of Washington in those years and to a lot of groups. Mr. TAVENNER. Did you work closely with the leadership of the union in the political positions that you held, first, as secretary of the State Democratic Party and later as secretary of the Progressive Party? Mr. O’CONNELL. I don’t know if you would say I worked closely. We were naturally anxious in both the Democratic Party and in the Progressive Party to get the votes of the senior citizens of the State of Washington, and the only pension organization, the only senior citizens organization at that particular time anyway I can remember was the Washington Pension Union.