Even in death a member may become a pawn to enhance the Party. The passing of a prominent comrade invariably is the occasion for a “state funeral.” The departed member is now a valuable showpiece and his passing is exploited to the fullest extent. On such occasions the deceased lies in state on the day of the funeral, with “mourners” passing the bier. A large, blown-up photograph of the deceased, draped in black, hangs at the rear of the stage. An honor guard of from two to four comrades stands at attention wearing red armbands. There is seldom a religious quality to the music, eulogies, or the “mourners’” conduct. At the “state funeral” of Mother Ella Reeve Bloor in 1951 the “mourners” talked, laughed, and smoked. The eulogies are numerous and recount the contributions made by the deceased to the Communist Party, to the advancement of socialism, and state how the Party can learn from the life of the departed. At Mother Bloor’s funeral in New York City, for example, Pettis Perry, a member of the National Committee, said: This is not farewell to you, Mother Bloor. We pledge to follow in your footsteps.... We will build your Party and our Party and some day we will have a nation and a society built on the brotherhood of man.... At the funeral of Peter V. Cacchione, an elected member of the New York City Council, nineteen speakers delivered eulogies. Gilbert Green, then chairman of the Party in Illinois, speaking for the National Committee, observed that the deceased fell in the struggle as “a soldier in the cause of human freedom,” and vowed that the remaining comrades would take “the banner from his hands.” After such services a cortege of automobiles laden with mourners journeys from the funeral hall to the cemetery. As Mother Bloor was lowered into her grave at Harleigh Cemetery in Camden, New Jersey, Walter Lowenfels, then the Philadelphia correspondent of the _Daily Worker_, read Walt Whitman’s poem, “The Mystic Trumpeter.” At the Cacchione interment Henry Winston, a member of the National Committee, delivered these parting words, “We are confident, as you were, dear Pete, in ultimate victory.... We will carry out your heritage.” Through it all runs the hope, not of life everlasting, but of communism everlasting—if the members can be stirred up to work harder. 12. _Making Communist Man_ In the last chapter we examined life in the Party—the constant hustle, collecting of dues, registration of members, holding of conferences, issuing of instructions. These activities, however, have a meaning more sinister than just keeping the Party going, a meaning that we over-look at our peril. It is this: the Party is a vast workshop where the member is polished and shined, his impurities melted out, his loyalty to communism strengthened. He is made into _communist man_.