Communist activities in the peace movement (Women Strike for ...

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2058 COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES IN THE PEACE MOVEMENT nist Party in New Orleans and that William Obrinsky was also a member of that branch. Dr. Obrinsky invoked the fifth amendment when asked if he had known Dr. Sorum, if he (the witness) had resided in New Orleans, if he had belonp;ed to the Professional Branch of the Communist Party in New Orleans, and if he was currently a member of the Communist Party. The witness was handed a news item from the Staten Island Advance of December 20, 1961, reporting a public debate on civil defense in which he had participated and had strongly opposed the creation of a bomb or fallout shelter program. The witness declined to inform the committee how he had secured a place on the panel of debaters, whether he had done so upon instructions from anyone kno\\m to him to be in a position of leadership in the Communist Party, or whether he had done so in response to Communist Party directives to infiltrate the peace movement. Dr. Obrinsky continued to exercise his privilege under the fifth amendment by refusing to say if he had been under the discipline of the Communist Party while chairman of the Staten Island SANE group, while an organizer or member of the Staten Island Community Peace Group, or while a public debater against a civil defense bomb shelter program. John W. Darr, Jr., of New York City, was also a witness at the committee's public hearings on December 13, 1962. He was responsive to the committee counsel's request that he state his name and address, but then declared that he would not cooperate further. He also declared that he would not invoke the self-incrimination clause of the fifth amendment as the reason for not cooperating. Mr. Darr not only refused to answer questions pertaining to his chairmanship of the board of directors of the Greenwich Village Peace Center, located at 1 33 West Third Street, New York City, but also refused to examine a letterhead of that organization introduced by the committee counsel on which the name "John Darr" was so identified. The witness thereafter refused to answer a series of questions put to him about his role in, and the activities of, the Green\vich Village Peace Center. In addition to refusing to answer the questions asked by the committee counsel, Mr. Darr refused to respond to the subcommittee chairman's direction that a number of them be answered. Other refusals by Mr. Darr were in relation to queries about whether he had participated in the formation of the GreeuAvich Village Peace Center in response to Communist directives and whether he was currently a member of the Communist Party. The committee counsel cited for the record the 1956 Report and Order of the Subversive Activities Control Board following its hearings in proceedings under the Internal Security Act of 1950 in the case of Herbert Brownell, Jr., Attorney General of the United States V, The National Council of American-Soviet Friendship, Inc. This SACB report declared that Mr. Darr had been identified as having been a member of the Communist Party while serving on the board of directors of the National Council of American-Soviet Friendship, Inc., an organization which the SACB, as a result of its hearings, found to be a Communist front and accordingly ordered to register as such with the Attorney General. The witness refused to answer—and refused the chairman's direction to answer—when asked whether he had ever been a member of the Communist Party.
COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES EST THE PEACE MOVEMENT 2059 The final witness at the committee's pubhc hearings on December 13, 1962, was Mrs. Dagmar Wilson, of Washington, D.C., a graduate of a high school in London, England, trained in the Art Department of London University, which she attended for 4 years, and now generally recognized as the leader of the Women Strike for Peace. Mrs. Wilson disclaimed the role of being the official leader of the group, but testified that it was her initiative which started the movement. She said that she considered the recognition of herself as the leader of the WSP to be more honorary than official. The witness testified that "nobody is controlled by anybody" in Women Strike for Peace, but said that there was constant communication among the participants. Mrs. Wilson told the committee that, although some individual groups in different locahties preferred to use a different name, the generally accepted name for the national movement had been Women Strike for Peace. She said further that the group subsequently decided to communicate with peace organizations in other nations and, as a result, on January 15, 1962, changed its name to Women's International Strike for Peace (WISP). She testified that she could not recall specifically at whose suggestion the name had been changed, but she said she was "pretty sure" that it had not been the recommendation of any member of the New York group of Women Strike for Peace. The committee counsel then produced information that, a few days prior to January 15, 1962, a number of cablegrams had been sent from foreign countries addressed to the "Women's International Strike for Peace" at the New York City address. Mrs. Wilson was asked why cablegrams were designated for the Women's International Strike for Peace and sent to a New York address prior to the time that "International" was supposed to have been inserted in the movement's name by its leadership or coordinators in Washington, D.C. Mrs. Wilson responded that a woman who resided in New York had volunteered to make contact with women in other countries, and that that woman's address was therefore the one to which the cabled replies were sent. The committee counsel informed Mrs, Wilson—who claimed not to know—that committee investigation showed that the woman who had made the contacts and received the cables from women in foreign countries was also a member of the Central Coordinating Committee of the New York group of the WSP. Counsel also informed Mrs. Wilson that the chairman of one of WISP's work committees, the International Committee, was also a member of the Central Coordinating Committee of the New York group. In view of this information, the witness agreed with the committee counsel that the international contacts made by WISP rested in the hands of the New York group of the movement, rather than with the Washington group. When asked if it was not a fact that she did not really^exercise effective leadership or control over the New York group, Mrs. Wilson rephed: "I think I already explained that. I mean we aU act on our own." She would not say, in response to counsel's question, that the New York group had played the dominant role in activities of the Women Strike for Peace.
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Page 9 and 10: COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES IN THE PEACE M
Page 11: CONTENTS Page Synopsis 2047 Decembe
Page 14 and 15: RULES ADOPTED BY THE 87TH CONGRESS
Page 16 and 17: 2048 COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES IN THE PE
Page 18 and 19: 2050 COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES EST THE P
Page 22 and 23: 2054 COIMMUNIST ACTIVITIES IN THE P
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2108 COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES IN THE PE
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V . COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES IN THE PEA
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ii INDEX G Gage-Colby, Ruth I*aee 2
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iv INDEX Communist Party of the Uni
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: i INDEX Women's InternationalfStr
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