MEMORANDUM FOR GENERAL CUTLER FROM ALLEN W. DULLES

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP80R01731R000900110036-6
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: S
• Document Page Count: 10
• Document Creation Date: December 15, 2016
• Document Release Date: March 6, 2003
• Sequence Number: 36
• Publication Date: January 1, 1954
• Content Type: MF

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-L January =;i54
MEMORANDUM FOR: eneral Cutler
rhe Whii:e House
FROM: Allen W. Dulles
I attach a memorandum with regard to ?JdedRas
taken by Communist members. Also a reprint of the
Communist Party Manual on Organization, published and
circulated in 1935. Particularly see pages 104 and 105 of
this pamphlet.
In countries such as the United States where the
Coramtmist Party has been driven underground the type of
pledge or oath taken by Communist members is not clear-
cut. Obviously the Party desires to avoid waking available
documentary or other evidence establishing Communist
membership. In this respect the situation is very different
than it was in 1935 when the enclosed Party Manual was
published.
As the FBI may have additional information regarding
the situation prevailing in the United States, as this is their
special bailiwick, I am sending a copy of this letter ani memo-
randum to them for any possible comment.
Ends.,
AWD: at
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4. January 1954
VIA LIAISON
MEMORANDUM FOR: Hon. J. Edgar Hoover. Director
Federal Bureau of Investigation
SUBJECT:
Communist Party Oaths and Pledges
Pursuant to an urgent request received yesterday from
al Cutler. I have sent him this morning the attached memorandum
brief survey of Communist Party practices with respect to
oaths and pledges taken when Joining the Party. While this memoran-
dum is based largely upon practices abroad, it also refers to the
ituation in this country, and in this connection I have pointed out
that this phase of the matter is particularly within the competence
of the Bureau. Please see the attached copy of my covering letter
to General Cutler.
1 Incl..
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Allen V. Dulles
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January 195-i
1. Current practices of Communist Parties concerning oaths
and pledges are briefly described beloW.
2. _A person joining the Communist Party generally submits
to the Party's statutory conditions for admission. These conditions
include:
Activity in an organizational unit;
b Payment of member ship due s;
c) Adherence to the decisions of the Pirty;
d) Adherence to the discipline of the Party.
An excerpt from the 1953 statutes of the CP Norway is attached A)
as an illustration.
3. The act 0, affiliation is generally consummat6d through the
issuance of a Party membership card at which time the person
joining declares explicitly or implicitly his adherence to the Party
statutes. In the case of secret Party membership the affiliation
process is kept on a most confidential basis between the member and
special administrative organs of the Party.
4. All statutes of Communist Parties set out in general policy
terms the revolutionary aims of the Communist Party an its
subservience to the USSR. Sections 2 and 3 of the statutes of CP
Finland are attached (B) as an illustration.
5. Currently there is no evidence of any other special oaths or
pledges made at the time of admission to the Party. Tae only
available illustration to the contrary is represented by the pledge
read by Earl Browder as Secretary General of the CP USA in 1935
to 2, 000 workers who were initiated into the Party in the New York
District in 1935. The pledge is attached under C.
6. Ceremonial pledges of Communist Party leaders have been
given in the past. At the Seventh World Congress of the Communist
International at Moscow in 1935, delegates from the CI-USA, including
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some of the present leaders of the Party, took an oath of Tealty.
"To Comrade Stalin, leader, teacher, and iriend of the proletariat
and oppressed of the whole world" whom they assured that "the
Communists will always and everywhere be faithful to the end and
to the great and invincible banner of Marx, Engels, Lenin, and
Stalin" and that "under this banner, Communism will triumph
throughout the world."
(Source: Subversive Activities Control Board, 83rd Congress.
Document #41, April 23, 1953)
7. Similarly, in February and March 1949 individual leaders
and/or executive bodies of Communist Parties in France, Italy,
Australia, Belgium, Argentina, Norway, Eng13nd, Canada, Denmark,
Mexico, U.S.A., Austria, Japan, Cuba, Uruguay and others, pledged
that in case of war between the Soviet Union and their homelands the
Communist Party would oppose this war and not fight against the
Soviet Union.
8. These formalised pledges represent explicit re-statements
of the basic allegiance of Communist Party leaders to the aims of
world revolution.
9. At the World Youth Festival in Berlin, 5-19 August 1951, at
the conclusion of the German Youth (FDJ) mass meeting, the German
youth leader Honnecker recited a formal pledge to defend the peace
camp and the Soviet Union, if necessary with arms. The attending
crowd repeated the pledge.
10. We believe that the national and international Communist
Party achieves control over its members and leaders through
indoctrination and enforcement of discipline. During this process
loyalty to the aims of world revolution is achieved. Special oaths
and pledges represent only a small factor in this process.
?REF
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SECRET
ATTACHMENT A
be a member of the Norwegian Communist Party who
a. accepts the Party's program,. the Party lines and laws.
b, submits to the Party resolutions and works actively to
accomplish the Party resolutions.
0. regularly pays the dues that are due from him according
to his subscription class.
Each member should belong and work in one of the Party's basic units. All
Party members who have the opportunity should be members of a trade union.
2. Application for membership is sought through one of the Party's basic units.
The application tikes place by filling out the Party's registration form
and must be recommended by two of the Party members.
The application is handled by the Executive Committee of the Party unit and
is submitted to a decision at the memberdhip meeting. The final admittance
into the Party unit tnkes place at a membership meeting where the new member
is present.
An applicant who is denied admission is given the opportunity to appeal his
case in the higher Party units.
The membership book is kept by the District Executive Committee which can
overrule the Party units' resolution for accepting or re-entrance of a
member.
Re-entrance of an earlier member must be immediately reported to the Central
Executive Committee. The Central Executive Committee can overrule a
District Executive Committee's resolution on membertikip.
3. When moving to another Party unit's territory, the Party member must
transfer his membership book to the Party unit concerned.
SECRET
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NIKA
ATTA0HTIAT__12
Pexte
Section 2
The Finni4 Communist Party is the furtherest advanced organized
massesection of the Finnish workine class and the highest fart of the
class orgerAeation thereof, uniting likewise within its racks the working
Peasantry and the elite of the educated classes.
The ideology of the Party shall be the proletarian class ideology,
the Marxist-jmniniat theory. Its activity shall be based on the doctrine
of Marx, Engels, Lenin and Stalin.
The immediate purpose of the iarty shall be to lead the working
class of our country, the working peasantry, and that section of the
intellectual workers which is nnst aware of its poeition and ite
into the struggle for the democratization of our people's political,
economic and culturel conditions, for the crushing of capitalist and
for the -Creation, as the first step towards Communism, of a Socialist
society where the exploitiAg classos and the exploitation of one man
by another shall be abolished as shall also the differences among the
working classes and whence developaent will lend to the second phew?
of Communism,. perfected Communism.
3ection 3
To accomplish its purposes the Party shall carry on an unwavering
class struggle against capitalism and cultivate social enlightenment in
order to win over to its side- the majority of our pecele and this atte4.4
the gnal hereinbefore mentioned.
The Party shall carry out its mass activity by emerging meetings
demonstrations, lectures, and readings, by publishine nemseapere and
literature, and by engaging in publishing activity.
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ATTACH:KM C
I now take my place in the ranks of the Communist Party,
the Party of the working class. I take this solemn oath to give the
best that is in me to the service of my class. I pledge myself to
spare no effort in uniting the workers in militant struggle against
fascism and war. I pledge myself to work unsparingly in the unions,
in the shops, among the unemployed, to lead the struggles for the
daily needs of the masses. 1 solemnly pledge to take my place in the
forefront of the struggle for Negro rights; against Jim,Crowlem and
(lynching, against the chauvinist lies of the ruling class. I pledge
myself to rally the masses to defend the Soviet Union, the land of
victorious Socialism. I pledge myself to remain at all times a vigilant
and firm defender of the Leninist liner of the Party, the only line that
insures the triumph of Soviet Power in the United States."
Our Party application carries this declaratien:
wrhe undersigned declares his adherence to the program and
statutes of the C.I. and the Communist Party of the U.S.A. and agrees
to submit to the discipline of the Party and to engage actively in
its work."
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5 January 1954
MEMORANDUM FOR: Director, Central Intellip,ence
SUBJECT: Communist Party - Oaths and PledF es
(BRAZIL).
1. Reference is made to a Security Office memorandum
dated 30 November 1953, subject "Communist Party - Oaths and
Pledges" which was forwarded to you under separate cover.
. In January 1951, the Communist Party of Brazil distributed
to all Brazilian Communist cells a pamphlet in which was set forth
the following oath to be taken by an accepted candidate, and which
oath would make the candidate a member of the Party:
"I promise the most devoted loyalty and complete
dedication to the sacred interests of the working class
and the people. I promise, too, to work actively for
the defense of democracy and for peace and the
decisive downfall of fascism, for the disappearance
of all forms of national oppression and exploitation
of man, until socialism is established. With this
objective I solemnly swear to remain faithful to the
principles of the PCB; to fight to the extent of my
ability, which I will always try to increase, for its
(the PCB's) unity, and for its growth; to work
tirelessly in the fulfillment of its propram."
WeLECIS
Director of Security
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i. January 1954
MEMORANDUM FOR: Director of Central Intelligence
SUBJECT: Communist: Oaths and Pledges--
Memorandum of 4 January 1953.
1. After hurriedly completing reference memorandum, the
attached item was discovered. It represents the oath of a
candidate member made at admission to the Communist Party
of Brazil.
2. You may wish to transmit the item as an addendum
although it does not affect the general conclusions presented.
3. The attachment is Article 8 (eight) of the Statutes of CP
Brazil distributed in January 1951 and was disseminated as
Attachment
:)E(RET
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AT
Art. 8. To become a member, the candidate must be proposed
by a member who has been a militant member for at least a year.
The proposal for admission, signed by the candidate and the person
proposing him, will be introduced by the person proposing, to the
cell to which he belongs for discussion and decision. The accepted
candidate will be considered a member of the Party after he has
repeated the following oath before the members of that group:
"I promise the most devoted loyalty and complete dedication
to the sacred interests of the working class and the people.
I promise, too, to work actively for the defense of democracy
and for peace and the decisive downfall of fascism, for the
disappearance of all forms of national oppression and
exploitation of man, until socialism is established. With
this objective I solemnly swear to remain faithful to the
principles of the PCB; to fight to the extent of my ability,
which I will always try to increase, for its (the PCB's) unity,
and for its growth; to work tirelessly in the fulfillment of its
program.
(Source: Statutes of CP Brazil, 1951).
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