So we don't have an interlocking relationship between the two networks, but we have a parallel relationship. However, since many of the leaders of the Progressive Labor Movement, now Progressive Labor Party, such as Milton Rosen and William Epton, were former members of and officials of the Communist Party, U.S.A., they received their training in tactics in the Communist Party, U.S.A. We find a similar pattern of activity in their new roles as leaders of the Chineseoriented Communist groups. Sometimes, however, the Chinese-oriented groups are much more militant, much more outspoken in their explanations of what they intend to do. Basically the operations are the same. It is just that the Communist Party, U.S.A., being somewhat more under the gun, so to speak, having gone through a series of trials for their activities, the Smith Act trials, they are a little more careful in their phraseology and more careful in their operations in an attempt to avoid prosecution. The Progressive Labor Movement has been much more flambovant. The tenants group operation goes back many years. This is a copy of the internal magazine of the Communist Party in 1947 called Contact, and issued by the National Organization and Education Commissions, Communist Party, U.S.A., which described at that time in 1947 in an article by John Lavin, who was Harlem organizational secretary of the Communist Party, the setting up of an organization called the United Harlem Tenants and Consumers Organization, which was designed for agitation in those days around the consumer and tenants issues. (Document marked "Romerstein Exhibit No. 17" and retained in committee files.) Mr. ROMERSTEIN. The Worker of 8/15/1948 printed a front page picture of pickets of another consumer organization picketing against high food prices. So this was an area of agitation in those days; and of course the agitation continues to date, both on the part of the official Communist Party, U.S.A., and the Chinese-oriented counterpart, the Progressive Labor Party. As I indicated before, the agitation does continue to this day. The Communist Party, U.S.A., for example, this past summer issued this leaflet entitled "End Police Riots and Bloodshed on New York City Streets," the indication being of course that the riots are police organized. It is not anybody fighting with the police or trying to burn down buildings. It is the police going out and indiscriminately attacking the community, according to the Communists. Here is a description of the alleged situation in the New York and New Jersey area. It says "Negro cabbie beaten by police. Guardsmen wreck ghetto homes." No indication of a riot going on and that the reason why guardsmen were going into homes was to root out snipers. Regarding New York, it says, "Puerto Rican shot dead-Tactical cops club Puerto Ricans." No indication that a real riot was going on and that only the timely intervention of the tactical police force and other factors were able to prevent this riot from becoming one of our major riots. (Document marked "Romerstein Exhibit No. 18" follows:) ACT NOW! ROMERSTEIN EXHIBIT No. 18 ACT NOW! ACT NOW! End Police Riots and Bloodshed on New York City Streets We demand that the Mayor call a special meeting of the City Council • Abolish the anti-labor, racist Tactical Police Force. • Stop all police brutality. As a first step, disarm all off-duty police. • Provide jobs and job training at once for all unemployed at union pay • Demand a return of Federal tax money. Billions are spent for an WE NEED FEDERAL FUNDS, NOT FEDERAL TROOPS! People of New York! We who are white bear a The trade union movement, in the interests Our tax money now used to kill innocent WRITE OR WIRE THE MAYOR AND CITY COUNCIL TO TAKE IMMEDIATE ACTION AND HOLD PUBLIC HEARINGS! Issued by: COMMUNIST PARTY OF NEW YORK STATE, 33 Union Square West, New York, N.Y. 10003 Mr. ROMERSTEIN. This is a book issued by James Jackson, who is one of the top leaders in the Communist Party, U.S.A., entitled U.S. Negroes in Battle: From Little Rock to Watts, in which he analyzes a number of the riots which have taken place, including the riot in New York in 1964. Many of these chapters in the book are articles he wrote at the time of the incident. Interestingly enough, the book was published by Progress Publishers in Moscow in the year 1967. Progress Publishers is an official Soviet publishing house which publishes in foreign languages, in this case English, and was formerly called the Foreign Languages Publishing House in Moscow. (Document marked "Romerstein Exhibit No. 19" and retained in committee files.) Mr. Tuck. Irrespective of whether or not they have an interlocking directorship, they do have a common allegiance. Most of them are organized through agencies of the Communist Party; is that correct? Mr. ROMERSTEIN. Yes, sir, most of the fronts do have interlocking directorates with their parent body, the Communist Party. They are organized to carry out the work of the Communist Party. We have two separate Communist parties in existence, the official Communist Party and the Progressive Labor Party. They are rivals to some extent. There is no interlocking between their parallel organizational structure, but there is an interlocking between each party itself and its fronts. Now we have developed information about interlocking between the two Communist parties and various black nationalists and black power groups. But the two parties themselves do not interlock. The statement that was read by Mr. Mehaffey yesterday was extremely interesting. The Communist Party is attempting to gain new inroads into the black power movement. They have discovered that there is a certain amount of pro-Peking orientation in the black power movement and they would like to win these people back to Moscow. The Communist Party, U.S.A., has now openly come out in favor of violence in cities, has now openly come out in favor of rioting, whereas usually the Communist Party is more circumspect and more careful how they phrase things. The latest directive says that people have a right to riot in the cities. Progressive Labor continued its agitational activity after the Harlem riot. This is an issue of Challenge, April 27, 1965, that was referred to in the testimony of Mr. Luce that was put in the record yesterday. It contains a picture showing the headquarters of the Harlem Defense Council, which was simultaneously the headquarters of the Harlem Progressive Labor Club with a sign "Self Defence," indicating they had a karate training school at their headquarters. The sign, "KETSUGO DOJO H.D.C." indicates this is a karate training school of the Harlem Defense Council. (Document marked "Romerstein Exhibit No. 20" follows:) Mr. ROMERSTEIN. Then, too, another shooting incident took place in Brooklyn which did not result in a riot. Progressive Labor tried once again to create that climate of opinion. They put out a "Wanted for Murder" poster, "Wanted for Murder, Liebowitz, the Cop." He had shot a man who was using a knife in a street altercation. (Document marked "Romerstein Exhibit No. 21." See p. 1055.) Mr. ROMERSTEIN. One factor that we found and that we constantly find in much of this agitation is sometimes very subtle but sometimes very flagrant falsehoods, deliberate falsehoods, attempting to incite a riot situation. For example, Progressive Labor knew the truthbecause they had sent Detective Hart to attend a meeting of the Malcolm X organization, and Detective Hart had reported back to them that Malcolm X had stated that he had information that there was a plot against his life on the part of certain members of the Black Muslim organization which he had broken away from. Nevertheless, in the spring of 1967 Progressive Labor issued a leaflet entitled "Democratic Circus Comes to Harlem," in which they state, "Malcolm was gunned down by bullets paid for by the C.I.A." (Document marked "Romerstein Exhibit No. 22." See pp. 1056, 1057.) Mr. ROMERSTEIN. At a later date we find Stokely Carmichael telling an audience that Malcolm X was shot by white Cuban counterrevolutionaries in the payroll of the CIA. The fact is that the men who assassinated him were identified as members of the Black Muslim organization and have been tried and convicted of murder. The case is now on appeal. We had one major altercation in the New York area this past summer. This was the Puerto Rican riot situation in East Harlem. To a great extent, for a number of reasons, we have not had major disturbances in the New York area. This was a relatively minor disturbance compared to some of the riots which have taken place in other cities. I believe that one of the factors entering into the relative tranquility of New York was the fact that out of 16 summer weekends, it rained 14 of them. In addition—and I believe that the New York City Police Department deserves a good deal of credit for this-the police department has developed a considerable amount of intelligence information concerning the people who might attempt to trigger off a riot. They have developed this information over a period of years, so that they are very close to the situation and they know what the problems will be. In addition, the community relations operations of the New York City Police Department have been developed to a very great extent. They are able to go to community leaders, phone community leaders when problems are developing, in order to quiet down a difficult situation. These I think are basically the factors, in addition to the fact that the tactical police force, which is a highly mobile, highly trained unit, is immediately moved in in any crisis situation and very often, by the use of the minimum force necessary to cope with the immediate situation, is able to prevent it from becoming a major problem. However, this relatively minor skirmish in Harlem was immediately picked up by the columnists. And The Worker of July 30, 1967, headlines, "Cops' Murderous Attack Told by Harlem Witness." (Document marked "Romerstein Exhibit No. 23." See p. 1058. Exhibits Nos. 21, 22, and 23 follow :) |