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

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COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES IN THE PEACE MOVEMENT 2117
treasurers, together with accountants, fund raisers, and so forth.
When you volunteered on January 22, 1962, to serve as co-treasurer,
had Posner Exhibit 1 been adopted as the official plan of organization
of your group. Women Strike for Peace?
Mrs. Neidenberg. I stand on the fifth amendment, my privilege
not to answer.
Mr. NiTTLE. Are you presently serving in the capacity of cotreasurer
of Women Strike for Peace?
Mrs. Neidenberg. I decline to answer for the same reason.
Mr. Nittle. It is the committee's information that an Elsie
Neidenberg, then of 389 Mulry Lane, Lawrence, Hempstead, Long
Island, on August 27, 1946, signed a Communist Party Independent
Nominating Petition for the New York election. I hand you a photostatic
copy of that petition, marked for identification as Neidenberg
Exhibit No. 1, upon which the signature of Elsie Neidenberg appears.
Are you the Elsie Neidenberg whose signature appears upon that
petition?
Mrs. Neidenberg. I don't see the pertinency of this question to
any inquiry the committee is authorized to make, and to be required
to answer is an infringement of my constitutional rights.
(Document marked "Neidenberg Exhibit No. 1" and retained in
committee files.)
Mr. Nittle. You will note that the petition states in its printed
form that
I intend to support at the ensuing election, and I do hereby nominate the following
named persons as candidates * * * and that I select the name COMMUNIST
PARTY as the name of the independent body making the nominations * * *.
Mrs. Neidenberg. I again state that I don't see the pertinency of
this question to the inquiry and I decline to answer and invoke my
privilege under the fifth amendment.
Mr. NiTTLE. Were you a member of the Communist Party at the
time you executed that petition?
Mrs. Neidenberg. I decline to answer and give the same reasons.
Mr. NiTTLE. Are you now a member of the Communist Party?
Mrs. Neidenberg. Same answer. I cannot answer and I invoke my
privilege.
Mr. Doyle. Counsel, are you going to state to the witness the
pertinency of that question? She has raised that point.
Mrs. Neidenberg. I must say, Mr. Doyle, if I may, that I heard
the open hearings this morning and I heard what both you and the
counsel here had to say, but I still don't see or didn't feel that, in
this particular instance where I am concerned, what I may or may not
have done has anything to do with the peace movement today, if
this is what the inquiry is about.
Mr. Doyle. Do I understand then that you don't think that
whether or not you were a member of the Communist Party is pertinent
to our hearings?
Mrs. Neidenberg. I don't think so and I also, as I said, take the
privilege of the fifth amendment not to testify against myself at the
same time.
Mr. Doyle. Having explained to you, or raised for your further
information, why I feel that the question is pertinent, I instruct you
to answer the question.