Part 14

Mr. DENNETT. Communist Party functionaries, people who fall into the category of professional revolutionists, people who devote their lives and dedicate themselves to the Communist cause and do as they are told without question.

At that particular time 2 outstanding people came to the Northwest. In fact, 3 came at one time. One of them was another person who had just returned from the Soviet Union having spent 2 years’ study at the Lenin Institute. His name was Hutchin R. Hutchins, a Negro who had done some outstanding work here before going to the Soviet Union. But when he returned here he ran into difficulty.

Then there was Mr. Lowell Wakefield, who had achieved national prominence for having discovered the Scottsboro case in the South, and had carried a large part of the responsibility of conducting the organization of the defense of the Scottsboro boys.

It was Lowell Wakefield who got hold of the mothers of these boys and prevailed upon them to go on national speaking tours in behalf of their boys under the auspices of the Communist Party.

Mr. Lowell Wakefield was an especially able man because he could raise finances and organize mass meetings and do almost impossible tasks, at least tasks which the rest of us seemed to be very inept at. He was very skillful.

Another person who came at that time was Mr. Alan Max. I noticed from the masthead of the Daily Worker a couple of years ago that Mr. Alan Max was the editor of the Daily Worker. Mr. Alan Max spent considerable time here then.

I became very well acquainted with each of the men. However, they were unable to solve the problems that were rising here in this district, and the central committee was not satisfied with even their efforts.

Following a national hunger march some time in 1933 a Mr. Morris Rappaport,[1] better known to us as Rapp or Rapport.

Mr. TAVENNER. Will you spell his last name, please.

Mr. DENNETT. Our use of it was R-a-p-p-o-r-t, and I believe the full spelling is R-a-p-p-a-p-o-r-t or something like that.

Mr. Rappaport came into the district with a great deal of suspicion and alarm on the part of us local people because we thought he was an easterner who didn’t understand the ways of the West. We were quite surprised to find that he had originally come from the West. He came from California. And he, like Mr. Noral, had been a part of the Foster delegation or a part of the Foster faction. Although he had not been a delegate to the Sixth World Congress in Moscow, he learned a great deal more about it than Mr. Noral did because when he came here he had an unlimited reserve of energy and tremendous flexibility in application of the party line and party policy. He was not the least bit afraid of anything. When a veterans’ organization here in town tried to raid a school and destroy it here, Mr. Rappaport had the courage to be among those present when it was attacked, and he caused a great deal of publicity.

That publicity attracted the attention of people who didn’t like invasion of civil rights. Mr. Rappaport capitalized on that quite beautifully.

Mr. TAVENNER. What was it about the functioning of the Communist Party in the Northwest which presented unusual problems to the national organization in New York, causing it to send these top functionaries of the party to aid in the solution of its problems in this area?

Mr. DENNETT. I think it was because our party had already reached masses of people that were larger proportionately than they found in other places.

Mr. TAVENNER. Do you mean that the organizational effort had been so successful in this area that it presented immediate problems to the Communist Party?

Mr. DENNETT. It certainly did. As a matter of fact, you see, there is a period, following the national elections in 1932, when the new administration began to take those steps which caused industry to resume functioning, in which there was a change taking place in the composition of our organizations. People were not all unemployed; some were leaving the unemployed organizations. Our problem was: How can we continue to exercise influence on them when they cease to be unemployed. And we were confronted with the necessity of entering the trade unions. We had to get into the trade unions one way or another or we were going to lose completely our influence among these people.

So the problem was, and the national office or central committee was continually asking: What progress are you making entering these unions?

Mr. Foster, of course, was naturally very much concerned because of his prior experience in trade-union work. And our reports were quite unsatisfactory. We were not able to make the progress that they demanded. They thought it was a matter of inadequate leadership here, and when they sent Mr. Rappaport they certainly picked a good one because he did lead us in that direction. He did know what to do.

Mr. TAVENNER. How did the arrival of these Communist Party functionaries influence or affect your activities at Bellingham?

Mr. DENNETT. As soon as Mr. Rappaport got here he used a very simple technique of determining what had to be done by way of shake-up. He started changing section organizers in every section in the area, jarring people loose from their established positions, making them get a new orientation, making them begin to do new things. He was quite pleased with the successes I had in Bellingham, and, feeling that he was in need of a district agitprop director and knowing that I had once been a district agitprop director, knowing also that there was beginning to be a little ground swell of opposition to me in the Bellingham area, he thought it wiser to take me out of there. So he ordered me back to Seattle as district agitprop director, and I was replaced by some of the newer elements which I had recruited in Bellingham.

Mr. TAVENNER. I have found among the documents which you have made available to the staff a “Statement Issued by the Communist Party of Bellingham Section on the Immediate Questions Facing the Working Class.” It is signed by V. Haines, section organizer.

Was that your party name?

Mr. DENNETT. That is true.

Mr. TAVENNER. Examine this document, please, and state whether or not there is anything in it which has a bearing on the organizational setup from the standpoint we are now discussing.

(Document handed to the witness.)

Mr. DENNETT. Yes. I have my original copy of that here.

This was an effort on my part to provide orientation to the members, to take the official party line and apply it to the local conditions. It was an effort to give the Communists in the Bellingham area something by way of interpretation so that they would know how to apply the party line and have confidence that they were following the Communist Party line.

I don’t know how much detail you want to go into on that. But that was the general purpose of the statement.

Mr. TAVENNER. I desire to introduce the document in evidence, Mr. Chairman, and ask that it be marked “Dennett Exhibit No. 8.”

DENNETT EXHIBIT NO. 8

STATEMENT ISSUED BY THE COMMUNIST PARTY OF BELLINGHAM SECTION ON THE IMMEDIATE QUESTIONS FACING THE WORKING CLASS

The present epoch through which the class struggle is now passing is a “Transition period.” It is a period in which the International Proletariat must prepare to embark upon the second round of wars and revolutions. A period in which the working class will definitely settle the conflict between the exploiting class and those who are exploited, in a number of nations, and it is necessary that the workers of all nations unite their efforts in this period so as to conserve the strength of the working people.

The End of Capitalist Stabilization has been reached. There is nothing left for the Capitalist Class except to wage a more vicious attack on the living standards of the Working People. Profits can only be obtained by wringing them from the lifeblood of the toiling masses. The living standards of the workers has reached such a low level that huge masses would suffer extinction should this level be reduced. And yet such is the program of World Imperialism. That is all it has to offer. But the class consciousness of millions and millions of toilers has been awakened to such a degree that they will openly resist any further attack on their living standards. They will burst forth in open rebellion.

To meet this condition of World Revolt, the Ruling Classes throughout the world are turning more and more to Fascism--a system of open dictatorship of the present group of exploiters--a system more brutal, more ruthless, and exceedingly more destructive of the materials needed for the sustenance of human life. Fascism is therefore the main enemy of the Workers of the World.

A system of Fascism will not bring about a stabilization of Capitalism, but will instead bring a whole train of persecutions, and inflict the most abject misery upon the toiling masses. It will mean the continuous lowering of the living standards of the working people, and with them large sections of the petty bourgeoisie. The inexorable laws of Capitalist Development will continue to bring new crises in spite of the repressive measures of Fascism. During the Present Economic Crisis the Fascist nations have suffered along with the other Capitalist Nations, and they are now staggering under the strain, thereby intensifying the present World Crisis of Capitalism. Only in the Soviet Union where there is the open dictatorship of the Workers and Farmers, where Socialism is being definitely planned and organized and put into operation is there any escape from Economic Crises. The experiences of the Soviet Union during the World Crisis of Capitalism stands out as a Beacon Light to the toiling masses throughout the world as a living example of the Working Class way out of the Crisis.

In contrast to the Soviet Union, the Capitalist nations are attempting to introduce Fascism in various forms of FORCED LABOR CAMPS and Peonage systems. A notable example of which is proposed for the United States by the Roosevelt Government in the name of Unemployment Reserves, which in reality are Forced Labor Camps designed as ARMY RESERVES in preparation for a new Bloody Conflict among the Imperialist nations for a re-division of world markets and for a war of intervention against the Workers and Farmers Government, the Soviet Union.

This program is that of Fascism the world over, and it reached such a degree of misery to millions and millions of workers in Germany that the Social-Democratic Parties there appealed to the Communist International to cease its attacks on the Social Democrats and join in a struggle against Fascism.

The Executive Committee of the Communist International answered this appeal by making a statement that, during this period of struggle against Fascism, it will be the policy of the Communist Parties to refrain from attacking the Social Democratic Parties and other Political groups which join the United Front, so long as they actively struggle against Fascism.

In issuing this answer the Communist International called attention to the fact that it has consistently urged a United Front of all working class groups so as to carry on a more powerful resistance to the spread of Fascism. The answer contained an appeal to all sections of the Communist International to take steps to build the United Front of the International Proletariat in their respective nations. Accordingly the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the U. S. A. has further appealed to all districts of the Communist Party to carry out this new policy of the Communist International.

Therefore the Communist Party of the Bellingham Section of District 12, issues this call and appeal to the Socialist Party, and all organizations desiring to enter the Class struggle on the side of the working class in a solid United Front and actively struggle against the forces of Fascism.

To do this the Communist Party proposes that joint meetings be held between the various groups and the Communist Party, from which meetings or conferences, programs of struggle can be adopted which will be designed for the betterment of the conditions of the Working Class.

This appeal is made by the Communist Party with the purpose of arresting the spread of Fascism and pushing forward the cause of the International Proletariat.

Issued by the Section Buro of the Bellingham Section of the Communist Party U. S. A., District 12.

V. HAINES, _Section Organizer_.

FOR THE REORGANIZATION OF THE SECTION

1. The method for reorganizing the Party in the Sections of the Communist Party has been tersely put by stating “turn the face of the Party to mass work.”

In the mass work are to be found the political problems which are facing the workers. There will be found the material which will make possible the “all-sided political exposures” which are a necessary prerequisite to good Party-Mass work.

2. In order to accomplish a reorientation of the party in Whatcom County, it is necessary that Party Units be organized in the most natural manner possible at the present time.

This can be done by neighborhood groupings, consequently it will be the policy here to organize the Party on the basis of geographical position. But this will not do away with the orientation to other forms of organization, that is the shop unit, and fractions.

3. The Unit meetings should be at regular times at regular places for the present until the units are closer knit together. But for this policy to be a success, the meetings must be kept secret. Loose talk about unit meetings in the presence of other persons must stop.

4. Each week the Section Committee will discuss the most important political problem before the Section and will issue material which will serve to bring written discussion before the membership and point out the Party line on each question.

5. At each Unit meeting some leading comrade should lead the discussion--that is, bring the report from the Section, open up the subject similar to what was done in the Section Buro.

6. The discussion in the Unit should be organized in such manner that each member of the Unit will participate, raising such problems as suggest themselves to him.

7. The Unit organizer should sum up the discussion at the close. (This is not ironclad. It may sometimes be better for the comrade from the Section Buro or Section Committee to make the summary. The main thing is that a summary is made in which the Party Line is again made clear. This will fix the Party line in each comrade’s mind so as to last.

“The Communist’s ideal should be a tribune of the people, able to react to every manifestation of tyranny and oppression, no matter where it takes place, no matter what stratum of class of the people it affects. He must explain the historical role of the Proletariat” (Lenin).

INSTRUCTIONS FOR UNITS

Hold Meeting on Friday, April 14, to consider the following:

1. The Reorganization Program for the Section--(Special Outline enclosed).

2. Elect Buro--Three most politically and theoretically developed comrades in Unit.

3. Political discussion on the meaning of the New Policy of the Communist Parties in regards to the Socialist Party and other Social-Democratic groups.

NOTE OF EXPLANATION

The Party organization is flexible. Forces can be shifted from place to place, etc. But the Party line is quite well defined and there are sharp differences between that which is approved by the Party Line and that which is disapproved by the Party Line. The Party line does not change except under rare and unusual occasions.

The Sharp change in the International Situation has brought forth a change in the attitude of the Communist Parties to the Social-Democratic Groups, this includes the Socialist Party of America.

The whole membership of the section should have read the statement of the ECCI in the Daily Worker some two to three weeks ago where the change of policy was explained.

The Communist Party will maintain vigilance against those who attempt to break the United Front and thereby betray the position of the working class by complete and ruthless exposure. But there is a truce existing at the present time between the Communist Parties and the Social Democrats. The Bellamy Club should be included with the Social-Democrats.

ON THE ORGANIZATION OF THE BURO

Departmentalize the work into the following categories which are indispensable now.

1. Unit Organizer--The most dependable person.--Come to Liberal Club Sat. at 2 P.M.

2. Dues Secretary--Know list of membership--Come to Liberal Club Sat. at 1 P. M.

3. Fraction Secretary--Get list of all organizations to which the membership belongs. Come to Liberal Club Sat. at 3 P. M.

Comradely yours,

SEC. ORG.

Mr. TAVENNER. Is there any further comment you desire to make concerning that document?

Mr. DENNETT. Evidently I only have part of that document in my own copy.

Mr. TAVENNER. I believe there is a resolution appearing at the end of the document which you apparently do not have.

Mr. DENNETT. There is one note of explanation at the bottom, which reads as follows, and I think it speaks for itself:

The party organization is flexible. Forces can be shifted from place to place, etc. But the party line is quite well defined and there are sharp differences between that which is approved by the party line and that which is disapproved by the party line. The party line does not change except under rare and unusual occasions.

The sharp change in the international situation has brought forth a change in the attitude of the Communist Parties to the social-democratic groups. This includes the Socialist Party of America.

The whole membership of the section should have read the statement of the ECCI in the Daily Worker some 2 or 3 weeks ago----

Mr. TAVENNER. What is ECCI?

Mr. DENNETT. Executive Committee of the Communist International--

where the change of policy was explained.

The Communist Party will maintain vigilance against those who attempt to break the united front and thereby betray the position of the working class by complete and ruthless exposure. But there is a truce existing at the present time between the Communist Parties and the Social-Democrats. The Bellamy Club should be included with the Social-Democrats.

That was a local organization in the Bellingham area which I had not mentioned before. It was a group who had studied Edward Bellamy’s Looking Backward and his other Socialist books and pamphlets.

I believe that statement sufficiently illustrates what we were undertaking to do, and it is consistent with what was going on all over the country. The only thing is we met with more success than others did.

Mr. TAVENNER. You described the activities of the unemployed councils in Bellingham, and you have told us that they were Communist-organized groups. Will you tell the committee, please, who the Communist Party members were who took the lead in that work, in addition to yourself, of course?

Mr. DENNETT. Well, I think I mentioned earlier--if I didn’t, I should at this time--that there was a young woman by the name of Helen Quist who represented the Young Communist League, who went to Bellingham at approximately the same time I did, and who gave invaluable help in the organization of both the Young Communist League and the Communist Party. She was a member of both, and she was my closest and ablest assistant for quite a period of time in Bellingham.

Mr. TAVENNER. Will you spell the name, please?

Mr. DENNETT. Q-u-i-s-t, Helen Quist.

When I arrived, the local leadership of the Communist Party consisted of a person by the name of Martin Olson. And I hope that if there are any Martin Olsons who hear of that that they will not worry too much because there are so many Martin Olsons in this area.

But this particular Martin Olson was an unemployed logger at that time.

Mr. TAVENNER. In light of your statement then, can you give further identifying information in regard to Mr. Olson so that there will be no confusion as to the “Olson” referred to?

Mr. DENNETT. All I can say is that he was a man of small stature, was an unemployed logger at that time. That is about all I can use for description.

There was a person by the name of George Smith in Bellingham. He at that time operated a little hotel which he owned.

Mr. TAVENNER. What was his activity?

Mr. DENNETT. He was just a member of the sectarian group that just sat around and were satisfied that as long as they had a pure line everything was rosy. The fact that they didn’t do anything about it didn’t seem to disturb them too much. They were satisfied that they were following the straight and narrow path.

Mr. TAVENNER. What do you mean by straight and narrow path?

Mr. DENNETT. They sat around and agreed among themselves that the Communist Party line was absolutely right.

Mr. TAVENNER. I wanted to be sure that the path you mentioned was the Communist Party path.

Mr. DENNETT. True. There was another person by the name of Arthur Sinclair. I have heard since that he subsequently was deported to Canada.

There was an older fellow by the name of Engstrom, but I do not recall his first name.

Mr. TAVENNER. Let me suggest this to you: If any of the persons whose names you are giving withdrew from the Communist Party, or if you have any facts indicating a change of affiliation, I think you should give those facts to us.

Mr. DENNETT. Well, I have no knowledge of any of these people whom I have mentioned having done so.

There were a couple of women who were certainly the most reliable people for us in the sense that--remember we were in difficult times, and eating was a difficult problem. And both of these women did work outside, and they had a loyalty to their neighbors and friends. Bellingham, you have to understand, is a comparatively small town. People in it live much closer together than they do in a larger city. Neighbors are a little better acquainted with each other. Consequently, any suffering in the neighborhood arouses a deeper response among people who are better acquainted than it does among total strangers.

And these women extended themselves greatly to aid those of us who didn’t have any adequate income or any adequate subsistence. I understand that both of these women have since left the Communist Party. Do you want me to name them now?

Mr. TAVENNER. Was that in 1932?

Mr. DENNETT. Yes; it was.

Mr. TAVENNER. Mr. Chairman, I suggest we take that testimony an executive session, if he is convinced that they have left the party.

Mr. MOULDER. I suggest that you withhold the names and not announce them; this information will be given to the committee in executive session.

Mr. DENNETT. That answers all about the persons who were there at the time of my arrival.

Before I left the following persons were developed into leadership----

Mr. TAVENNER. Before telling us about that, have you given us the names of all others in the Communist Party group who were there when you arrived?

Mr. DENNETT. Yes; all of those whom I have named were officers. They held functioning positions.

Mr. TAVENNER. Will you proceed, then, with a description of the identity of those who were developed into leadership after you arrived.