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.