COMMUNIST SUBVERSION, USA, 1958

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP78-00915R001000230005-0
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: C
• Document Page Count: 5
• Document Creation Date: November 11, 2016
• Document Release Date: July 20, 1998
• Sequence Number: 5
• Content Type: REPORT

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COMMUNIST SUBVERSION,,' USA, 1958
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COMMUNIST SUBVERSION, USA, 1958
Led by William Z. Foster and Eugene Dennis, who have received
unqualified Soviet endorsement in recent months, the Communist Party
has been making vigorous preparations for a nationwide extension of its
infamous activities. Although underground, operations have been dras-
tically curtailed, stringent security measures still are, and will continue
to be, mandatory. The following is a brief outline of the operational
pattern, as it is developing today.
Organizational Expansion -- The national headquarters of the Com-
munist Party, USA currently is located in a Communist-owned building
at 23 West 26th Street, New York City. There are twenty-two Party dis-
tricts throughout the country. Some of these maintain official headquarters
in office buildings, others function from private dwellings. Districts cover
part of one state, one entire state, or two or more states. The Party is
further divided into state, county, city, and section organizations as appro-
priate. The basic unit is the club which may be constituted on an election
subdistrict, neighborhood, profession, industry, or shop basis. Members
are obliged to execute the Party's program, circulate its publications,
advance their knowledge of Marxism-Leninism, and attend club meetings
regularly.
On September 26, 1958, the Communist Party observed its 39th
anniversary by holding a mass rally at Carne Hall in New York City.
Some twelve hundred members and sympathi er s attended.-acoo-rding to
.the FBI. Congratulatory messages were received from the Communist
Parties of the Soviet Union, China, France, Argentina, Pere}, Colombia,
Bolivia, Canada, Tunisia, India, New Zealand, and Japan. ~I'his meeting,
like most rallies sponsored by the Communist Party and its fronts, was
open to the general public, which made it relatively easy to cover. It is
obviously more difficult to penetrate secret sessions held on Communist-
controlled premises.
Meetings of the National Committee of the Communist Party, USA,
are held periodically in closed sessions. To cover these, the Government
relies mainly on informants and surveillances, both physical and technical.
Immediate Party plans call for a vast expansion of aboveground operations
throughout the nation. Its Seventeenth National Convention is tentatively
scheduled for September 1959.
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Front Activities -- The two principal front organizations in`this
country) today are the National Council of American Soviet Friendship
(NCASF) and the American Committee for Protection of Foreign Born
(ACPFB), both of which can be traced back',to the early thirties. The
NCASF held a mass meeting in Carndie Hall on November 14, 1958,
commemorating the anniversary of the "Soviet Revolution, and the ACPFB
held its twenty-sixth annual conference on December 6-7, 1958 in New
York City. During the past eight years, the Communist Party dissolved
most of its front groups as a result of Government pressure, among these
the Labor Youth League, principal Communist youth organization in the
United States. Steps are being taken to rebuild the Party's front structure.
In this connection, the April 1958 issue o#-'Political Affairs;" monthly
theoretical organ of the Communist Party, contained an article entitled
"A Call to Youth." It appealed for establishment of a "broad liberal rep-
resentative movement in this country" with a "vanguard force based on
Marxist-Leninst principles to present the Socialist position, to dispel4
the bourgeois illusions, and to correctly influence the American youth'
movement." The article expressed a desire for a peaceful transition to
socialism but added, "we also recognize that the day of transition has
often been relatively peaceful -- but the day !after has been another story. "
Election Activity -- The Communist Party in 1958 ran several can-
didates for public offic e, in this country all under non-Communist designa-
tions. Two illustrations will suffice. Holland Roberts, identified as a
Communist member as late as March 1958, was a candidate for State Super-
intendent of Public Instruction in. the California primary elections held on
June 3, 1958. He ran on a nonpartisan socialist coalition ticket. Roberts
spoke on thirteen radio stations and appeared on television in Los Angeles
and San Diego. He finished third in a field of four but received more than
350, 000 votes. This is especially noteworthy when one considers that
Roberts was publicly known as the head of Communist front organizations
for years and was described in the West boast Communist newspaper,
,,People's World. on March 22, 1958 as one of the nation's leading Marxist
educators.
Benjamin J. Davis, a Negro member of the National Committee of the
Communist Party was an unsuccessful candidate for the post of State Senator
?
in New York during the Novemberr,,ti~elections on a so-called "People's Rights
Party" ticket. Davis, who served a prison term for violation of the Smith
Act, received an infinitesimal amount of votes. During his campaign he
used the facilities of radio, press and open forums. Under certain condi-
tions radio stations are obliged to provide "equal time" to political parties.
The Communists and other subversives are well aware of this and take
maximum advantage of this privilege.
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Education -- Among front organizations dissolved by the Communist
Partywere its foremost schools, the Jefferson School of Social Science
located in New York City and the California Labor School in San Francisco.
Thousands of students received Marxist-Leninist indoctrination in these
institutions over a span of many years. At this point, the Party is planning
to reactivate its educational programs on a nationwide scale.
Hyman Lumer, National Education Director of the Communi t Party,
USA, speaking at a meeting of district leaders on June 4, 1958, aid that
since an end had currently come to the "persecution" of the Party and its
members, the Communist Party, USA, is planning to step up the production
of books, leaflets, and periodicals bearing the label of the Communist
Party. Lumer said that the Party hopes that the distribution level will
achieve the heights of the middle forties.
In addition to educational facilities open to the public, the Party
operates secret leadership training schools',for Communist functionaries.
Elaborate security precautions always have'',been observed in selecting
candidates and sites for these secret school's and this practice can be
expected to continue.
Literature -- The following publications are the principal organs
of the Communist Party, USA:
Approximate
Name
Frequency
Circulation
41Political Affairs''
monthly
7, 000
"Main StreamT'
monthl
4
000
..........
y
,
11The Worker"
weekly
12,000
'1PeopleYS World'
weekly
8,705
In addition to the aforementioned, the Communist Party and its front
organizations issue thousands of leaflets and pamphlets on a continuing
basis. For example, the landing of U. S. Marines in Lebanon last July
immediately stimulated a nationwide Communist protest. The nation was
flooded with leaflets demanding immediate recall of U. S. troops from the
Middle East. Protest rallies were staged across the country and the United
Nations headquarters in New York City was picketed.
Some 250, 000 leaflets reportedly have been irculated in recent months
by the Communist Party entitled, "A People':srogram for Jobs and
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Security" which outlines the Partyls position regarding current economic
conditions. Another theme whi ch has been treated in an endless stream
of Communist leaflets since 1948 is "peaceful coexistence." During a
discussion of this topic at a closed Party meeting held last January in
Baltimore, Maryland, George Meyers, a top national Communist Party
official, admitted that the use of this slogan was strictly a tactic to
conceal the true revolutionary aims of the Communists. Meyers was
sentenced to prison for violation of the Smith Act in 1952. Upon release,
he said to newspaper and television reporters who met him at the gate,
"It's good to be out with my wife and children. I may as well tell you
right off the bat that I continue to stand on the same Communist convic-
tions with which I came in here." This quotation appeared in the east
coast newspaper -`fDaily Workers? now defunct, on March 26, 1956.
Travel -- Since the relaxation of travel restrictions, sever 1 pro-
minent Communist Party members and sympathizers have publicO.ly ex-
pressed an intention to visit the Soviet Union and other Iron Curtain
countries. During the month of December 1958, the Communists were
raising funds to send George Morris, Labor Editor of The Worker? on
, a
a tour of the Soviet Union and the Soviet satellites. Rockwell Kent
well-known artist, and Paul Robeson, a prominent Negro singer, recently
journed to the Soviet Union. Both have been long identified with the Com-
munist movement. Elizabeth Gurley Flynn and James Jackson, members
of the National Committee of the Communist Party, may visit the Soviet
Union in the near future. There is some indication they may be designated
the Party's official observers at the Twenty-first Congress of the Communist
Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU) scheduled to be held in January 1959.
Other Subversive Groups -- The principal organization fitting this
category is the Socialist Workers Party (SWP), a small Trotskyite group
which is more outspoken in its advocacy of force and violence than the Com-
munist Party, USA. The SWP runs c.ndidates for public office, conducts
public meetings, operates secret schools, and like the Communist Party,
USA, simultaneously engages in overt and covert operations. The leader-
ship takes advantage of every legal loophole and currently is planning to
expand its activities throughout the country along lines milar to the Com-
munists. Lacking the support of the Soviet Union, however, it makes but
a feeble imprint on the American scene.
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