Nathaniel Weyl

“ WEYL. Well, I did not ever see him show a Communist party card, but I was active in the National Student League, which was a Communist front organization. And there was what is called in the Communist movement a top fraction, which is the group that guides or directs the policies of the whole organization and consists only of Communist party members. ”

“ First of all, are you familiar with an organization known as the American Student Union?
Mr. WEYL. Yes.
Mr. COHN. Did the Communists have any connection with that organization?
Mr. WEYL. They did, Mr. Cohn. There were two student organizations in ’32–’33, one of which was completely Communist controlled, the National Student League, and the other was controlled by socialist groups. That was the Student League for Industrial Democracy. These two organizations merged into the American Student Union, I think it is. ”

“ When I left Columbia, finishing my undergraduate work in ’31, it was socialist—controlled, and when I returned from England, in the fall of ’32, it was under Communist control.
The CHAIRMAN. The thought that occurs to me is this: that you were not a Communist when you left. You were when you returned. I was just wondering if you would have any way of knowing definitely when you left whether it was under Communist control. You were not a Communist yourself, did not know who the Communist members in the club were. ”

“ Mr. COHN. Mr. Surine, do you have any reference in the ‘‘Guide to Subversive Organizations’’ concerning the International Labor Defense?
Mr. SURINE. Yes.
Mr. COHN. I wonder if we could have that, Mr. Chairman?
Senator POTTER. Yes.
Mr. SURINE. This was the official citation by the House Committee on Un-American Activities, including the citation of the attorney general. Rather than read all of the citations, I will just mention it was cited by the attorney general as subversive and Communist and suggest that this be made part of the record. ”

“ Weyl will back me up on this—that the principal thing that has made them valuable to the Communist party is that they have been able to get good names and some well meaning dupes to belong to a front. I might say in all this investigating I have been doing over the past three years, I have never been impressed by the fact that a man belonged to one particular Communist front. ”

“ At the time that both Henderson was expelled and Harris was expelled, the Communist elements maintained their being expelled was because they were liberals, and that the expulsion has nothing to do with their Communist or radical activities. The university maintained they were expelling them because of their Communist line or extremely radical activities. ”

“ I want to find out how active he was in it, who his close associates were in it, and if you find that he belonged to a number of them.
Senator JACKSON. Where there is a pattern established.
Senator POTTER. That it is by design rather than happenstance. ”