The House Committee on Un-American Activities is a standing 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, as amended April 3, 1968, by House Resolution 1099 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, * * (s) Committee on Un-American Activities, to consist of nine Members. RULE XI POWERS AND DUTIES OF COMMITTEES 19. 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 designated by any such chairman or member. 28. 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 June 27 and 28, 1968, a subcommittee of the Committee on UnAmerican Activities met in Washington, D.C., to continue hearings on subversive influences in riots, looting, and burning. The hearings, part 6 of the series, concern events related to the San Francisco, Calif., riot of September 1966. The subcommittee was composed of Representatives Edwin E. Willis (D-La.), chairman; William M. Tuck (D-Va.); Richard H. Ichord (D-Mo.); John M. Ashbrook (R-O.); Albert W. Watson (R-S.C.); and John C. Culver (D-Iowa) in the absence of Mr. Willis. Edward S. Montgomery, in the employ of the San Francisco Examiner since 1945, was called as a witness. As an investigative reporter, he had received numerous awards, including a Pulitzer Prize in 1951 for the best local reporting. PRERIOT PHASE With reference to the importance of radical and subversive propaganda disseminated in the San Francisco area prior to the September 1966 riot, Mr. Montgomery made the observation that- there are social aspects that cause a riot, but the propaganda distributed in the riot area of San Francisco prior to the riot was very inflammatory. In my opinion, it would lead to the condition in the Negro community, making them more receptive. Discussing Communist Party activities related to riots and propaganda of a racial nature, the witness quoted Northern California Communist Party Chairman Albert J. "Mickey" Lima as saying in a speech at Stanford University in May of 1964, "Communists are definitely involved in America's civil rights revolt." He quoted party General Secretary Gus Hall as saying on May 7, 1968, that while Communists do not dominate urban race riots, "we are a factor in their direction" and that "Wherever there is struggle and movement the general fact can be accepted that party members are playing militant roles." Mr. Montgomery read from a May 4, 1965, column written by NAACP Executive Director Roy Wilkins and published in the San Francisco News-Call Bulletin. Mr. Wilkins stated, "Once again the Communists are seeking to use American Negroes to help bring about a revolution." After developing the history of attempted Communist exploitation of Negroes, Mr. Wilkins concluded: It remains to be seen whether this legitimate movement, representing the aspirations of millions of Negroes who are Americans, first and always, can be perverted and made a tool to serve communism. The witness disclosed that he had knowledge of a meeting "during the past summer" in the Finnish Hall in Berkeley, "a district meeting of Communist chieftains." Present were Gus Hall; Mickey Lima; Lima's aide, Roscoe Proctor; and others. According to Mr. Montgomery, these Communist Party leaders were disturbed at losing too many Negro party members to more militant organizations; thus, they decided that "a concerted effort should be made in the Bay area to bring as many Negroes back into the Communist fold as possible." Mr. Montgomery stated that "propagandizing of the Communist Party and front groups has been evidenced over a period of years" in the areas of civil rights and alleged police brutality and that he had made a study of such propaganda appearing in the San Francisco edition of the People's World, official Communist Party organ on the West Coast, from January 1, 1962, until May 1968. Numerous exhibits from issues of the paper were introduced into the record. Referring to the San Francisco situation, Mr. Montgomery said— the Communist Party official newspaper, the People's World, for a number of years prior to the riot published a continuing barrage of inflammatory antipolice, racist, antigovernment racist articles, and I think it set the foundation for a gradual buildup of animosity within the minority groups toward law and order, toward the so-called Establishment, the term they like to use. According to the witness, several groups were involved in racial agitation and propaganda in the San Francisco area prior to the September 1966 riot. Among these organizations, in addition to the Communist Party, were the following: the Direct Action Group; Ad Hoc Committee To End Discrimination; Progressive Labor Movement (later known as Progressive Labor Party); Committee to Defend Resistance to Ghetto Life (CERGE), a Progressive Labor front; W.E.B. DuBois Clubs; Communist Party U.S.A. (Marxist-Leninist); and Anarchist League of Los Angeles. The Direct Action Group, according to Mr. Montgomery, was formed at about the time the Communist Party inaugurated all-out support for integration picketing. Among its activities was a demonstration at a drive-in chain in San Francisco and Berkeley, an activity which resulted in some 93 arrests. Composed primarily of students at San Francisco State College and City College, the group had as its spokesman Jeff Cole, son of identified Communist Lester Cole of the Hollywood Ten. The witness testified that the Ad Hoc Committee To End Discrimination had held numerous demonstrations in the San Francisco area during 1964 and early 1965, including a violence-scarred action at the Sheraton-Palace Hotel which resulted in the arrests of 167 persons, 91 of them alleged members or adherents of the Communist Party. According to Mr. Montgomery's eyewitness account, this demonstration was led by Tracy Sims and Michael Eugene Myerson, both of them members of the Communist Party's W.E.B. DuBois Club. Mr. Montgomery submitted a detailed listing of people associated with the Ad Hoc Committee's activities. Included in this list were children of Communists and notorious fellow travelers, as well as activists in such groups as the DuBois Clubs and Young Socialist Alliance. Among the organizations involved in Ad Hoc Committee activities were the DuBois Clubs, Young Socialist Alliance, Student Peace Union, Young People's Socialist League, Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, Freedom Now, SLATE, SCOPE, and National Committee To Abolish the House Committee on Un-American Activities. Introduced were numerous examples of Progressive Labor's revolutionary and racially inflammatory propaganda, including leaflets, flyers, and several articles from two official PLP publications, Progressive Labor and Spark. These exhibits contain appeals for revolutionary violence, coupled with attempts to incite hatred and fear of the police. One flyer distributed widely in the Bay area in August 1964 stated, "The only path for winning freedom from oppression is by organizing for revolutionary struggle. Mr. Montgomery introduced exhibits to document the activities of the Committee to Defend Resistance to Ghetto Life (CERGE) in the San Francisco area. Stating that CERGE had been created as a defense front by PLP to defend PLP Vice President William Epton after the 1964 Harlem riot, the witness read from CERGE documents appealing for support for Epton, an avowed Communist and revolutionist, as well as from a leaflet advertising a CERGE meeting held in San Francisco on March 27, 1965, at which one of the speakers was PLP official William McAdoo. Documents provided by the witness reflected the concern of the DuBois Clubs with the propaganda issue of alleged police brutality and racial agitation, although it was pointed out that the clubs have concentrated primarily on the issues of poverty and Vietnam. Included in these exhibits were antipolice literature and material urging support for an activity of the Ad Hoc Committee To End Discrimination. A leaflet distributed by the People's Armed Defense Groups, organized by the Communist Party U.S.A. (Marxist-Leninist), called on readers to "Oppose the Reactionary Violence OF THE RULING CLASS With the Revolutionary Violence OF THE PEOPLE." The witness testified that this document was widely distributed in the San Francisco area. Mr. Montgomery stated that the Anarchist League of Los Angeles distributed inflammatory propaganda stickers bearing the phrases "BURN, BABY, BURN," "SUPPORT YOUR LOCAL ANARCHIST," and "WARNING: YOUR LOCAL POLICE ARE ARMED AND DANGEROUS!" He said this material was given wide circulation in various areas of San Francisco and in the Negro area of West Oakland. Two other documents distributed prior to the riot, according to the witness, were hippie flyers, the first of which said in part: "A race riot seems just about inevitable. Lots of people on both sides want it to happen, & they're all the kind of people who generally get what they want." The second stated, "this is about the riots our black brothers have planned for the city. There isn't much hope that they won't occur." According to the Golden Gater, San Francisco State campus newspaper, for July 22, 1966, James Garrett, Black Students Union leader and former SNCC leader in the Los Angeles area, is alleged to have stated that he was willing to do anything necessary to realize the black nationalist goal of an all-black society, including "killing as the white man has done so often." Mr. Montgomery said: I know of my own knowledge that Jerry Varnado [BSU coordinator] made two trips to an Army surplus store *** in Reno ***. Within a period of 10 days he had acquired and paid cash for nine hand weapons, either .9 millimeter or .38 caliber. RIOT PHASE The spark that set off the riot occurred on the afternoon of September 27, 1966, when a police officer, after two encounters and repeated warnings, shot and killed a young Negro, one of three suspects who fled when the officer discovered them in a stolen car. The witness said that by evening it [this incident] had become quite a cause of discussion throughout the Hunter's Point area, and the agitators on the various street corners-groups were there, and they began gathering in size and numbers. The police became alarmed. Looting and violence broke out, but were at least partially contained by the police the same evening. Violence increased in the Hunter's Point area on the second day. As the rioting spread to the Fillmore area, also on the second day, Chief Cahill was forced to call in the highway patrol and National Guard. The disturbances were characterized by looting, firebombing, window-smashing, and pelting of police and firemen with such objects as rocks and bottles. There were also instances of sniping at police, including one of gunfire from the second floor of the Bayview Community Center, Hunter's Point area headquarters for the local War on Poverty youth activity. Mr. Montgomery testified that 457 persons were arrested, 326 of whom were brought to trial. Of this number, 205 were convicted, 91 had their cases dismissed, and 2 forfeited bail. Damage to property and loss from theft exceeded $136,000. Of the 161 persons injured during the riot, 58 were policemen, 27 were firemen, 2 were highway patrolmen, and 5 were otherwise employed by the city of San Francisco. Of a total population of 750,000, some 100,000 of whom are Negroes, some 4,000 persons were involved at the peak of the riot. According to the official police estimate, the preponderance of the 4,000 was Negro; however, most of the Negroes in the Hunter's Point and Fillmore districts were not involved. POSTRIOT PHASE Mr. Montgomery supplied numerous additional examples of Communist Party propaganda from the pages of the People's World to illustrate the party's continuing exploitation of the police brutality theme. He stated that the DuBois Clubs have continued to publish racially oriented and antipolice propaganda in their magazine, INSURGENT. Similar material has appeared in Progressive Labor Party leaflets and books and in the pages of Spark, official PLP West Coast newspaper. PLP consistently refers to the riots as a "rebellion" and a "battle between the cops and the ghetto people ***." Documents introduced into the record indicated considerable activity by the Progressive Labor Party through a front group called the Mission Tenants Union, an organization intended to operate among Negroes and Mexican Americans. According to documentary evidence supplied by the witness, the MTU has agitated and propagandized on such issues as police brutality and draft resistance in collaboration with the following organizations: Mission Committee Against the War, Students for a Democratic Society, Progressive Labor Party, |