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

COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES IN THE PEACE MOVEMENT 2121
Mrs. CoNTENTE. I have to stand on my previous answer, Mr.
Doyle.
Mr. Doyle. I didn't mean to try to lead you out.
Mrs. CoNTENTE. I realize that.
Mr. Doyle. But it was very surprising to me. There must be
something about the Women Strike for Peace that the women don't
want Congress to know about.
Mrs. Contente. I am not here to make any speeches, but I feel
that the emphasis is on the wrong thing entirely. It isn't that we
don't want j'ou to know, because if the women who participate, or
who are concerned with the questions involved, didn't want anyone
to know, all this information would not be public.
We are concerned that we don't invade anyone's privacy of thought
and we don't want anyone harassed and we don't want to be involved
in the situation where we have to become informers on pther people
who may or may not be—I have no idea—and I cannot under those
circum.stances do anything else except take the fifth amendment.
Mr. Doyle. I understand I think. Thank you. Pardon me.
Counsel.
Mr. NiTTLE. Mrs. Contente, we are principally concerned with the
activities of certain persons which are not so public in Women Strike
for Peace, and I think you might have gathered that from the interrogation
of prior witnesses.
Mrs. Contente. Yes, I did. I listened very intently.
Mr. Nittle. It is the committee's information that you were a
member of a delegation organized by the New York group of Women
Strike for Peace which departed from Idlewild Airport on April 1,
1962, to attend the disarmament conference at Geneva, Switzerland.
Were you a member of the delegation and did you attend the
Geneva conference?
Mrs. Contente. I am afraid, sir, that based on what I said before
regarding the pertinency of this question, I have to decline to answer.
Mr. Nittle. Did you personally assume the expenses of your travel
to Geneva?
Mrs. Contente. I think the same answer will have to prevail.
Mr. Nittle. Were any part of the expenses of travel to Geneva
assumed by the New York group of Women Strike for Peace?
Mrs. Contente. I will have to give you the same answer, take the
fifth amendment, to avoid any self-incrimination.
Mr. Nittle. Could you tell us whether the New York group of
Women Strike for Peace initiated the arrangements for the appearance
of a delegation at Geneva on behalf of Women Strike for Peace?
Mrs. Contente. I believe, sir, that I will have to give you the same
answer.
Mr. Nittle. It is the committee's information, Mrs. Contente,
that you, together with your husband, Ira Contente, giving your address
as 1063 Ward Avenue, Bronx, New York, in 1946 signed a Communist
Party Independent Nominating Petition for Robert Thompson,
a leading Communist Party functionary who sought the office of
Governor of the State of New York.
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