Never has the American communist movement expressed itself in more revolutionary, violent, and bitter terms than in the early 1920’s. Party leaders shunned the cautious, evasive double talk of today’s communists. They believed in violent revolution and said so. The underground communist press was filled with revolutionary statements. One journal tried to outdo the other in the use of violent language. The Party was controlled, just as it is today, by a very few. Moreover, policy, at all times, was subject to the approval of the Kremlin, acting through the Comintern. Loyal Americans should always remember that the Communist Party, USA, has never existed as an independent organization. Soviet control was instituted at the very beginning. Acceptance of the twenty-one points confirmed the imprisonment. Party business of the underground apparatus and the above-ground Workers Party was supervised by the Secretariat, a group usually consisting of three of the most trusted leaders. A larger group, the Political Committee of some seven to ten comrades, handled many of the Party’s day-to-day affairs, such as manipulating a strike, designating a new Party official, planning infiltration tactics. The Secretariat, elected by the Political Committee, however, handled the most confidential matters, items not even brought to the attention of the Political Committee: the safeguarding of records, receipt of subsidies from abroad, maintaining contact with Russian espionage agents. These activities were too confidential even to be mentioned in minutes. Relations between the Comintern in Moscow and American communists were almost like those between feudal lord and serf. Moscow wanted to know everything: the background of Party leaders, how a certain strike was getting along, the strength of the Party in various localities. The “reps” did not hesitate to criticize. In one Political Committee meeting a letter from the Comintern “rep” was read. It contained the following criticisms: —Lack of information received relative to the Party convention; —The Party’s campaign on a certain issue, though going well, was not strong enough. The “rep” recommended a pamphlet be written; —Editorials in the _Daily Worker_ [the Party’s newspaper] were politically incorrect; —The Party had not taken a correct position against certain enemies of Russia. The minutes of the meeting indicate that a motion made to accept the letter was “carried unanimously.” The Comintern’s influence was felt in practically every communist meeting. Every move of the American Party was watched from Moscow. No wonder a joke making Party rounds went as follows: Why is the Party like the Brooklyn Bridge? Because it is suspended on cables!