I certainly hope that the Supreme Court, upon his appeal--while he certainly has the right of appeal--will affirm the decision of the United States district court.
Mr. Dennett, you will return promptly at 1:30. The committee will stand in recess until 1:30 o’clock.
(Whereupon, at 12 o’clock noon, the subcommittee was recessed, to reconvene at 1:30 p. m.)
Mr. MOULDER. The committee will be in order.
Is Mr. Jerry O’Connell in the hearing room?
Mr. MOULDER. Will the officer standing at the door call for Jerry O’Connell in the corridor.
TESTIMONY OF EUGENE VICTOR DENNETT, ACCOMPANIED BY HIS COUNSEL, KENNETH A. MacDONALD--Resumed
Mr. TAVENNER. Mr. Dennett, you were describing to the committee the formation of the unemployed councils in Bellingham and the success which the Communist Party had in having its members become members of that organization. You also described for us in a general way the extent of influence that the Communist Party had in those organizations, in those councils, by reason of having its own members become members of the councils.
I ask you why the Communist Party was interested, and why it made a fight to get its own members into these unemployed councils. What was the purpose of it?
Mr. DENNETT. Our purpose was at that time to find some way of prevailing upon the unemployed organizations to adopt a program we were advocating.
At that particular time it consisted mainly in fighting for the adopting of the slogan of demanding unemployment insurance. And I think that that is a point which must be remembered by everyone.
Many people accept unemployment insurance today as a principle, but they don’t know that its origin in the United States, at least, came because the Communists seized upon that as a means of winning the support of the masses of unemployed people.
And any ordinary person should have known in that period, if you look back from now, they should have known that that was a necessary step to be taken. But at that time the resistance to it was terrific.
Mr. TAVENNER. Are you saying it was the desire of the Communist Party, by these methods, to win support of the masses?
Mr. TAVENNER. To win support in what way?
Mr. DENNETT. To win them to an interest--I should say, first, an interest in the Communist Party; then to lead them along the path of struggling against the capitalist system which would ultimately, they hoped, result in the replacement of the capitalist organization of a Soviet form of society.