occupied this very building, joined in the activity of the unemployed citizens leagues, and attempted to obtain for its own credit whatever credit could be obtained, whereas in the other instance, by devious means, they got the other organizations to cooperate with the unemployed councils in the march on Olympia.

Mr. DENNETT. That is true.

Mr. TAVENNER. The Communist Party reversed its tactics.

Mr. DENNETT. That is true. We were very flexible people. We could do almost anything with our tactics.

Mr. TAVENNER. Therefore, the Communist Party's objectives were accomplished in both instances.

Mr. DENNETT. That is right. And what was even more important to the party was to be able to carry a great big newspaper story in the Daily Worker to the effect that the revolution was starting because the workers had seized the County-City Building in King County, State of Washington, and held it for 3 days.

Mr. TAVENNER. Was that used as Communist propaganda over the entire United States?

Mr. DENNETT. It was.

Mr. TAVENNER. Up until the time you made that speech at the direction of the Communist Party it appears to me that this was a cooperative effort between the unemployed councils and the unemployed citizens leagues in the march on Olympia. Am I correct in that?

Mr. DENNETT. It was; through the people's councils.

Mr. TAVENNER. But manipulated through the people's councils where you had influence?

Mr. DENNETT. Correct.

Mr. TAVENNER. Then after arriving on the scene, you, at the direction of the Communist Party, made this attack on the leadership of the unemployed citizens leagues.

Mr. DENNETT. And the people's councils.

Mr. TAVENNER. Was the purpose of this attack to utterly destroy any effectiveness of those organizations in the accomplishment of the general purpose of the march?

Mr. DENNETT. Looking back on it from this distance, it certainly appears to me that that was its objective.

Mr. TAVENNER. When you returned to Bellingham what reception did you receive from these organizations which had in good faith supported this march on Olympia?

Mr. DENNETT. There was a great deal of tension; open threats were made that if I showed my head around anywhere I would have my head knocked off.

However, I was not so easily scared as that. So I showed my head. The people's councils had a practice of, which I considered to be most democratic, reporting to their membership.

Following the hunger march they called a mass meeting for the purpose of reporting what had been happening, what their success was. And these very leaders of the people's councils whom I had denounced in Olympia presented themselves and reported to their membership. In the process of reporting naturally they reported my part in the affair, and their report aroused a great deal of bitterness among the members of the organization.

When I appeared in attendance at the meeting those who were present near me moved about 6 or 8 feet away, leaving me a conspicuous figure out in the open spaces. And some of the remarks were directed toward me in that meeting.

I felt at the time that something was wrong with the situation, of what I had done. But I wasn't sure what. I knew, however, that if I didn't face it all would be lost. So I chose to face it and take whatever consequences might happen.

The consequences came very soon. When the meeting adjourned, as I attempted to leave the building four members of the organization surrounded me and marched me around behind the building where they proceeded to give me a physical beating.

I never have been much of a fighter as such. Physically I am not equipped to do so. So I merely rolled up into a ball and let them do as best they could.

In the meantime some of my friends came to my assistance, and the police intervened to stop anything from proceeding too far.

However, I did surprise everyone by appearing and I did unnerve them because they didn't believe that I had the nerve to show up after what I had done in Olympia. And as a total consequence of it all, I finally recruited most of the people who beat me up into the Communist Party.

I felt they were good, militant people, and they were the kind of people we wanted.

Mr. TAVENNER. How long was that before you left Bellingham? Mr. DENNETT. Right now I can't fix a real date on that. I would have to look at the newspaper files to be certain of the date. It wasn't too long, however, because our influence had grown, and it wasn't very long after that.

Mr. TAVENNER. Was there any other activity of the Communist Party while you were at Bellingham which would be of value to this committee as far as you know in making the committee aware of the tactics and methods used by the Communist Party to advance its objectives?

Mr. DENNETT. Offhand, right now I think of nothing further with respect to Bellingham.

Mr. TAVENNER. I see before me several pamphlets which apparently relate to the various hunger marches which are among the documents which you made available to the staff. Will you examine these, please, and state whether or not they were used in any connection with the matters you have been describing?

(Documents handed to the witness.)

Mr. DENNETT. Yes. These were what we called popular pamphlets, to popularize the hunger marches. They were brief penny pamphlets which we tried to sell in mass lots. In other words, if we could find someone who would contribute a dollar we would make a hundred of these things available and try to hand them out in large numbers. They were given to nearly all persons who participated in hunger marches, and they were an elementary introduction to the orientation which the Communist Party had to the whole economic situation.

Mr. TAVENNER. The purpose is not clear of the use of those documents by the Communist Party.

Here were those members who had agreed to take part in the hunger marches. Why was it necessary for them to have such material?

that only the front cover and the back cover of each be incorporated in the transcript of the record.

Mr. MOULDER. They will be so marked and admitted.

Mr. TAVENNER. In other words, you were going beyond the real immediate purposes of the hunger march, and were trying to sell the participants a bill of goods through these pamphlets.

Mr. DENNETT. That is true.

Mr. TAVENNER. Will you hurriedly look through these documents, please, and call the committee's attention to a few items which would substantiate your testimony on that point?

Mr. DENNETT. Well, here is this one on the March Against Hunger, by Israel Amter, in which some of the subheadings tell the story.

There is one, "Struggles Force Relief." The implication is very plain that the only way they can get the relief is to engage in mass struggles. And in too many instances that was true from their own experience.

"Large Bodies of Workers Represented": There was always a tendency to exaggerate the number who actually participated.

"Marchers Enter Washington": the inference that the workers could get to Washington and be represented by marching on Washington; not by trying to be elected.

"Marchers Hold Conference Surrounded by Police": referring to the attempt to thwart the efforts of the workers.

"Workers' Congress v. Bankers' Congress": the meeting of the unemployed representatives in Washington, trying to hold a comparison between their efforts and that of the Congress itself.

"Mass Action, Basis of Struggle": a repeat of an earlier point.