Mr. TAVENNER. When and where were you born, Mr. Freyd?
Mr. FREYD. I was born in Seattle in 1893.
Mr. TAVENNER. Will you tell the committee, briefly, what your formal educational training has been.
Mr. FREED. I went through the public-school system, high school of this city, and University of Washington.
Mr. TAVENNER. When did you complete your educational training at the University of Washington?
Mr. TAVENNER. Will you tell the committee, please, how you have been employed since 1935?
Mr. FREYD. I had no regular employment until the outbreak of the war, and I worked in various war plants until I was incapacitated by an accident in 1943.
Mr. TAVENNER. What was your business between 1930 and the outbreak of the war?
Mr. TAVENNER. During that entire period of time?
Mr. TAVENNER. Were you engaged in any work of any kind during that period?
Mr. FREYD. Well, there was no work available that I could find.
Mr. TAVENNER. Do you mean you were unemployed until 1941, December 1941?
Mr. TAVENNER. Where did you live in 1940?
Mr. TAVENNER. Did you engage in any work without remuneration?
Mr. TAVENNER. During the period from 1935 to 1940?
Mr. TAVENNER. Were you connected with the Civil Rights Congress?
Mr. FREYD. I think I should invoke the fifth amendment on that question as I feel that it may tend to incriminate me.
Mr. MOULDER. To clarify the response, do you decline to answer by invoking the fifth amendment of the Constitution, or do you refuse to answer for fear it will tend to incriminate you?
Mr. FREYD. And also the first amendment, which guarantees freedom of speech and of the press and the right of people to assemble peaceably.
Mr. TAVENNER. The witness who preceded you a few moments ago, Mr. Eugene V. Dennett, described his disagreement with the Communist Party in connection with its policy toward the Civil Rights Congress. He told the committee that the Communist Party had organized the Civil Rights Congress, but that he disagreed with the policy of forming an organization which would defend only Communists. And, for that reason, he incurred the wrath of his superiors in the Communist Party.
He further testified that he was told by the leadership of the Communist Party that it didn’t have time to protect the civil rights of people generally, but it was only interested in the civil rights of members of the Communist Party.