THE STRANGE LE WORLD OF HARVEY MATUSOW

In 1952 the Committee on Un-American Acti. vities was in its prime. The capitalist Press was feeding off the daily inter. rogation and presecution of trade union activists, civil servants, academics, actors, directors, and musicians.

Broad sections of the leftwing movement lived in fear of receiving a subpoena compelling them to appear before the committee and its battery of television, radio and Press representatives. Many principled people refused to testify. Others left the country to take up in Europe.

Every now and again the committee turned up a coup witness, someone who was prepared to talk to the committee and name names. At 10.47 a.m. on February 6, 1952, such a witness entered the chamber. Representative John S. Wood, the committee's chairman, brought the room to a hush when he said: "The committee will be in order.' Turning to the committee's full-time staft member, Mr Frank Tavenner, he inquired: 'Who do you have this morning?' Tavenner: Harvey M. Matusow.

Wood: Will you stand and be NY. I attended Biarritz American University in France, while 1 was in tne Army, ana Lity А понту and ritu College of New York for about a year and a half after the war. Tavenner: Will you please outline for the committee, briefly, what your employment background has been, including any periods of active duty in the armed services of the United States?

Matusow: Well, in 1944, I was inducted into the infantry, United States Armv. I served in the Army until 1946. I then held a job at Grey Advertising Agency in New York City. I did some radio and television work for Noel Wesley Productions, in New York.

I worked for People's Songs, Inc., in New York City; the Jefferson School, Communist leftercor Jefferson Book Shop, the Tavenner: Mr Matusow, the 'Daily Worker' of May 31, 1949, at page 6, lists you as a member of the Communist Party in New York City. Were you a member of the Communist Party at the time referred to in the 'Daily ierrea ill Worker'?

Matusow: I was.

Tavenner: When did you join the party, the Communist Matusow: I joined the Communist Party in October 1947, in New York City.

Tavenner: How long did you remain a member of the Communist Party, and under what a rassrera circumstances was your membership in the Communist Party terminated?

Matusow: I was a member of the Communist Party until January 19, 1951. 1 was expelled from the Communist Party for, as the party termed it, being an enemy agent. I was suspected as being an OSS Tavenner: Were you working in an undercover capacity for dha- Ru thic nint the Proce Dy pomi riess benches were straining to hear every word from the young man in the witness box. This was good copy. Matusow gave evidence for the next day and a half. It was sensational stuff.

He described in exhaustive detail the mechanism of youth AUDA TN recruitment of the American Communist Party. He named the leading members of the youth groups, gave their addresses, the names of their organizations and their modus operandi.

At the same time he implicated a number of well known artists. • 'There was Paul Robeson Junior. I might say all the people I will list here attended party caucuses and classes with me at the camp that were only open to Communist Party members.

He told me that he was educated in the and had come back to the Cornell University. He was very active in the Communist Party in Harlem. Paul Robeson Junior is now very active in the Labour Youth League and one of their leaders in Harlem, nationally. They used his name quite a bit ... he was very much in favour of the system of the Soviet Union and did say he would like to see more of that over here' • 'I joined People's Songs in September of 1947 and immediately became active in organizing a Bronx chapter of the organization. There was Communist Party cell within People's Songs. Pete Seeger. He is a member of the singing group, The Weavers. Irvin Silber. Wallv Hallie. Tean Fox.

The officers Leonara jacuusun. lit ulcers whose names I have just read were all members of the Communist Party cell operating in People's Songs .. • 'Well, People's Songs took the question of American folk music and square dancing and brought it, you might say, to the big city. Many people, such as Pete Seeger and a name I didn't mention before, Woody Guthrie, who wrote the song, "So Long, It's Been Good To Know You", and who was a member of the group, had done such field trips and research on the question of folk music, and they had quite an extensive library on folk music, and they attracted the young hoot-nannies, or a wing-ding, which was a small scale hootnannie' • 'Pearl Bernstein and Elmer Bernstein. Mr Bernstein has since been to Hollywood and I believe he had done the music for one motion picture that I saw. I don't recall the title right now, but it is a pic- archy. ture that has • been released within the last six weeks. He did the musical score for that picture. I also met Mr Bernstein at a similar place to Camp Unity in New Mexico' Testifying about the New Mexico camp, he said: 'Some of the guests there were Elmer and Pearl Bernstein, who were mentioned before having worked at Camp Unity, and as members of the Communist Party of New York. They were guests at the ranch on their way to California where he did the music Abram Baron, for one or more pictures; one that I know of.

'I was on my way to California at the time ... I was out there and I spent a week borne, James there, and after spending a week there, I just stayed on, and during all that period furnished reports to the FBI on the activities at the ranch.' • 'Earl Robinson. Mr Robinson was the composer of Ballad for Americans and a number of Hollywood scenarios, the music for some pic- james tures out there. He had at one time been employed at Camp Unity, which we mentioned. I also met Mr Robinson in New tours, and at that time = he was identified to me as a member of the Communist Par rty."

During the rest of the first day's hearing Matuson v rattled off dozens of names committee and provid led brief sketches of their par ty work and their place in he hierHere are just some people he named: Cri aig Vincent, Ernie Lieberm an, Lee Hays, Horace Grenne :, Cisco Huston, Ben Bordofs ky, Ben Pascoff, Sidney Fin kelstein, Morris Schappes, Jack ‹ Foner, Herbert Kruckman, Clara Ostrowsky, Dolly Mas on, Nettie Rubenstein, Samue el Sillen, George Squier, Willia im Vila, John W. Darr, Richal rd Morford, James Durkin, Alpheus Hunton, Ferdinand C • Smith, Milton Wolff, William . L. Patterson, Norma Aarons on, Carl sallinger, Rose Ethel Beach, Harold Bernz, Joe Bucholt, Sue Buckingham, Diez : Callen, an Clain, Jesus Roger Daniels. Bernice Diskin, , Louis Drucker, Sam Engle :I, Seymour Finkel, Enid Fog gel, Jean Fox, Mort Freeman, Lillian Gates, Harry Gay, Vic ki Gottlied, Adolph Green 1, Jack Halpern Hutchinson, Greenspan, Michael Q Betty H Juill, Liz aufricht, Richard Ireland, Leonard Jacob Ison, loe Taffe, Oscar James, Jer rry JaroSir. Terry Kramer, Si Clint Jenks, rry Kelam Lannot beein taken industry hos much detail. There are still many communists in industry and key industry.

Doyle: Do you mean that we ought to consider er sing e Communist Party could not law that member of occupy certain strategic positions in American industry because he is a Communist? Matusow: That is correct, sir There were further delicacies for the committee. Matusow testified that Party members were told to use the first and fifth amendments of the US Constitution if called to give evidence. He said:

•Well, that is definitely the line, anybody who is subpoenaed is instructed, definitely, to use the statement, I believe, "I refuse to answel on the grounds that it might incriminate me"...

Doyle: Then, do I understand that that answer, as given by those who are still communists, when they come before the committee, who perhaps have been known to us as communists, generally speaking, the reason they give that answer IS because they have been instructed to do so by the American Communist Party leaders?

Matusow: That to my knowledge is correct. This sweeping statement had the diabolical effect implying Communist Party membership for all those repleaded guilty to six charge: of perjury in 1955 when hi stated that his evidence to the Un-American Activities Sub. committee was false.

He was sentenced to six years' jail, but this was late reduced Explaining why he committee, from letter was gave false testimony to the produced Matusow McCarthy which stated: would do anything for a buck' In his diary he wrote: 'At first it was a strange feeling to see my picture in the newspapers, but then, like a dop addict, I began to crave for publicity, a never-ending chain • publicity and more that only brings more and more dishonesty.' settle in Britain Matusow again become the centre of wide publicity. In 1966 he became chairman the London Film-makers' Co-operative; 1968 he was a founder member of the International Society for the Abolition of Data Processing Machines; 1969 he formed a pop group called the Jews Harp Band; 1970 staged an exhibition at " ral New Arts Lab called Drak Touch, a feelie' show His Roundhouse production this year-ICES (International Carnival of Experimental Sound)-received impressive coverage in the capitalist Press and was attended by London's 'swinging set'.

Matusow is making buck!

Monday A new series of articles bi with the situation in Ceyk On October 29 the revisionist "Unified Secretariat of the Fourth International' issued a statement headed "Healyites Smear Bala Tampoe® Intended as a reply to the articles on Ceylon published in 19, 20 and 21, the statement was published in 'Intercontinental i Press' a journal edited ing member of the American Socialist Workers Party.

In the course of this series we are reproducing this statement because it reveals a great deal of the political techniques of those revisionists who comprise the Unified Seceteriat.

We are also publishing documents of the Ceylon Commission set up by the "Unified Secretariat' in 1969. These are reproduced from the American journal 'Spartacist' of autumn this year.

Although we have definite and clearly-defined political differences with the 'Spartacist' group, there can be no doubt that these documents are genuine.

As such they are of interest to all who are concerned with the development of Trotskyism and the struggle against revisionism in the Fourth international.

They reveal a political scandal of enormous proportionsa besmirching of the name of Trotskyism almost without parallel. ( But the worst culprits are not Bala Tampoe and his associates in Ceylon. The most degenerate political renegades are the leaders of the Unified Secretariat-Ernest Mandel, Livio Maitan and Pierre Frank. By their dishonesty and political corruption, these people play into the hands of the Stalinists who have always such crimes as theses lyingly accused Trotskyists of Equally guilty IS Joseph Hansen of the SWP which, for legal reasons, cannot be member of the Unified Secreack Gale dealing especially dal, then they are just as guilty a political crime as Mandel and company.

In May of this year-following a visit to Ceylon by a member or supporter of the Spartacist group-Edmund Samarakkody, a former member of the Lanka Sama Samaja Party (Revolutionary) LSSP(R) and of the Unified Secretariat's International Executive Committee, wrote to 'Spartacist' and forwarded the documents of the 'Ceylon Commission', together with a minority report submitted by its Indian member.

Together with the Unified Secretariat statement, we reprint here Samarakkody's letter and the two Commission reports.

May 26, 1972 Dear Comrade Gordon, I received your letter May 12, 1972.

Regarding your inquiry on the authenticity of the two typewritten documents entitled 'Report of the Commission on Ceylon of the Ninth World Congress of the Fourth International' and '[Indian delegate's] Report-Ceylon Question' both of which I handed to Comrade Bill L. when he was recently in Ceylon, I may inform you as follows:

I attended the Ninth World Congress of the Fourth International (United Secretariat) held in Europe from April 11 to 19 1969 as a member of the International Executive Committee elected at the Eighth Congress in 1965. At this Congress (Ninth Congress) a Commission was appointed to inquire into the circumstances leading to, and the politics of split in the LSSP(R) in 1968 and the request of the RSP that it be recognized as the Ceylon section of the Fourth International. The Commission/ consisted of the following: [two delegates from North America, one from Switzerland, a senior delegate each from China and India, and a delegate from Japan designated who, however, was not present].