SUBVERSIVE INFLUENCES IN RIOTS, LOOTING, AND BURNING PART 3 (Los Angeles-Watts) 90-1 HEARINGS BEFORE THE COMMITTEE ON UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES NINETIETH CONGRESS For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office COMMITTEE ON UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES UNITED STATES HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES EDWIN E. WILLIS, Louisiana, Chairman WILLIAM M. TUCK, Virginia RICHARD H. ICHORD, Missouri JOHN M. ASHBROOK, Ohio DEL CLAWSON, California RICHARD L. ROUDEBUSH, Indiana FRANCIS J. MCNAMARA, Director ALFRED M. NITTLE, Counsel (II) committee of the House of Representatives, constituted as such by the rules of the House, adopted pursuant to Article I, section 5, of the Constitution of the United States which authorizes the House to determine the rules of its proceedings. RULES ADOPTED BY THE 90TH CONGRESS House Resolution 7, January 10, 1967 RESOLUTION Resolved, That the Rules of the House of Representatives of the Eighty-ninth Congress, together with all applicable provisions of the Legislative Reorganization Act of 1946, as amended, be, and they are hereby, adopted as the Rules of the House of Representatives of the Ninetieth Congress RULE X STANDING COMMITTEES 1. There shall be elected by the House, at the commencement of each Congress, * (r) Committee on Un-American Activities, to consist of nine Members. RULE XI POWERS AND DUTIES OF COMMITTEES * 18. Committee on Un-American Activities. (a) Un-American activities. (b) The Committee on Un-American Activities, as a whole or by subcommittee, is authorized to make from time to time investigations of (1) the extent, character, and objects of un-American propaganda activities in the United States, (2) the diffusion within the United States of subversive and un-American propaganda that is instigated from foreign countries or of a domestic origin and attacks the principle of the form of government as guaranteed by our Constitution, and (3) all other questions in relation thereto that would aid Congress in any necessary remedial legislation. The Committee on Un-American Activities shall report to the House (or to the Clerk of the House if the House is not in session) the results of any such investigation, together with such recommendations as it deems advisable. For the purpose of any such investigation, the Committee on Un-American Activities, or any subcommittee thereof, is authorized to sit and act at such times and places within the United States, whether or not the House is sitting, has recessed, or has adjourned, to hold such hearings, to require the attendance of such witnesses and the production of such books, papers, and documents, and to take such testimony, as it deems necessary. Subpenas may be issued under the signature of the chairman of the committee or any subcommittee, or by any member designated by any such chairman, and may be served by any person desig nated by any such chairman or member. 27. To assist the House in appraising the administration of the laws and in developing such amendments or related legislation as it may deem necessary, each standing committee of the House shall exercise continuous watchfulness of the execution by the administrative agencies concerned of any laws, the subject matter of which is within the jurisdiction of such committee; and, for that purpose, shall study all pertinent reports and data submitted to the House by the agencies in the executive branch of the Government. SYNOPSIS On November 28, 1967, the subcommittee of the House Committee. on Un-American Activities met at 10 a.m. in Room 311, Cannon House Office Building, Washington, D.C., in continuation of hearings on subversive influences in riots, looting, and burning, with particular reference to "the Watts riot of 1965 in Los Angeles and activity conducted by certain groups prior to, during, and after the riot." Committee counsel noted that the riot in the Watts area broke out on August 11, 1965, and lasted for 7 days. Its toll was 37 deaths, an unknown number of injured, over 4,000 arrests, 600 buildings destroyed, and an estimated property damage of $40 million. TESTIMONY OF JAMES C. HARRIS The first witness was Detective James C. Harris of the Los Angeles district attorney's office. Mr. Harris testified that an organization called Communist Party U.S.A. (Marxist-Leninist), a group whose headquarters are located in Los Angeles, had "concentrated on agitation in the Negro community." Detective Harris noted that the leader and founder of the group, Michael Isaac Laski, a former student at UCLA, had organized a "Marxism Discussion Group" there in 1960. Later, in 1964, Laski served as West Coast organizer of the Provisional Organizing Committee to Reconstitute the Marxist-Leninist Communist Party U.S.A. (POC), a Communist Party splinter group. The POC, the Los Angeles detective declared, organized a front group for the purpose of racial agitation: Freedom for the People, an organization which rejected integration as a solution to the Negro's plight in America. Michael Laski also instituted a labor-type group, the Automobile Maintenance Workers' Union, which organized employees of Los Angeles carwash businesses. Another POC front was the Watts Action Committee, an organization whose "purpose was to promote animosity towards the police and other law enforcement personnel." Prior to and through the 1965 Watts riot, Laski agitated in the predominately Negro Watts section of Los Angeles in the name of the POC. In September 1965, following the Watts riot and after having been expelled from the POC, Laski and a handful of his followers from that organization formed the aforementioned Communist Party, United State of America (Marxist-Leninist). The main program of this new group, according to the witness, continued to be "primarily agitation in Watts." He continued: They have utilized charges of police brutality, the Vietnam issue. They have advocated a Chinese political philosophy and the formation of what they call the People's Armed Defense Groups in order to oppose alleged police brutality. |