Mr. Dennett. They certainly couldn’t sell it under that label to the American worker. They rejected it.
Mr. Tavenner. A label is for the purpose of describing an item; is it not?
Mr. Dennett. I can accept your statement; I think you are right. I think that confirms our experience.
Mr. Moulder. This was in a period, the conditions and circumstances of which offered a ripe opportunity for the exploitation of labor in this country by the Communist organizations.
Mr. Dennett. That is very true. And you must understand that we met with an uneven success.
I have described to you that in the Northwest we did meet with great success among the lumber workers, among the miners, and among the fishermen. We did meet with great success there because a very large number of those workers originally had been with the Industrial Workers of the World. And they weren’t afraid of a Red label. Wherever you found workers who were not afraid of a Red label they could accept such organization in good faith. But in most of the industrial centers in the East except in places where desperation was at the breaking point they did not meet with success.
I am thinking now of the situation which obtained in the textile mills of Lowell, Lawrence, and Haverhill following the First World War. In those places the Industrial Workers of the World were successful in offering leadership to those workers. And it is true that in some parts of the South, contrary to the usual idea, in some parts of the South the Red leaders were quite successful in organizing.
I remember vividly the Gastonia strike, and that was completely Red leadership. There is no question about it. They were the only ones that had the tenacity to stay with it under such adverse circumstances. But they stayed with it and they met with great success. They organized thousands and thousands and thousands of workers.
Mr. Tavenner. Would you say, generally speaking, the rank and file of labor would not accept the Communist Party if the Communist Party label were on it?
Mr. Dennett. That is true. They wouldn’t accept even the red cards which were used.