Warren Commission (09 of 26): Hearings Vol. IX (of 15)United States. Warren Commission
History
Warren Commission (09 of 26): Hearings Vol. IX (of 15)
United States. Warren Commission
Kennedy, John F. (John Fitzgerald), 1917-1963 -- Assassination; Oswald, Lee Harvey
Mr. GREGORY. He was in some kind of factory. Evidently, according to
him, it had something to do with radio equipment, because I remember
asking him once about thievery in the Soviet Union, because I always
read or had thought that factory workers take what they need and barter
because they don't get enough or are not able to make enough money to
buy all they need. And he said that he himself had stolen a radio and
phonograph. From that I know it was some kind of a shop and he ran
some kind of a machine. Because he told me of some incident when he
had to--the shop had to be changed, or they moved the equipment into
another building, and the first thing they moved was the picture of
Lenin and later they moved the equipment. It was heavy equipment, and
they set the machines so that the men could work facing Lenin. And
then they decided Lenin had to be hung in the most favorable place
in the shop, and the Commissar came in and inspected the next setup
and decided Lenin wasn't in the right place, and, therefore, they had
to come back in and completely remount all the machinery and turn it
around to face Lenin's new position.
He brought that up as a--I would ask him about what the people in
the Soviet Union think of a person who is a member of the Communist
Party. And he seemed to classify all members of the Communist Party as
opportunists who were in it just to get something for themselves out
of it, and he brought up this incident here because it was a Communist
Party man who came in and said you have to put Lenin back there, and
therefore you have to completely re-do all the machinery. He thought
it was stupid. And he said all the members of the Communist Party
were always the ones that shouted the loudest and made the most noise
and pretended to be the most patriotic, but he seemed to have quite a
disgust for the members of the Communist Party.
Mr. LIEBELER. He indicated quite a disgust for them?
Mr. GREGORY. Yes; he thought they were opportunists and it was my
impression that he thought they were ruining the principles which
the country should be based on. In other words, they were not true
Communists. They were ruining the heaven on earth which it should be,
in his opinion. That might have been a personal interpretation on my
part.
Mr. LIEBELER. Did he tell you anything more than the kind of place that
he worked and what he did?
Mr. GREGORY. Just that he worked in a shop that I mentioned. I remember
his main complaint about his life there was that he didn't get enough
to eat, that he had to go, either he or Marina, would have to go stand
in line in order to get anything, and he seemed to have only potatoes
and cabbage while he was there. And he would always speak about how
poorly he ate. That seemed to be his great objection to the Soviet
Union, that he didn't eat very well.
Mr. LIEBELER. Did he indicate that the same was true of other Soviet
citizens, or----
Mr. GREGORY. Yes.
Mr. LIEBELER. They all had the same trouble?
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