Mr. Tavenner. You also told us that the component parts of the Washington Commonwealth Federation began to pull away from that organization.
Mr. Dennett. That is true.
Mr. Tavenner. What was the reason for that?
Mr. Dennett. The main reason was the conflicting international policies.
You will recall that in that historical period there were rapid changes taking place.
Mr. Tavenner. I am trying to return to the point where we broke off testimony on that subject.
What became your activity in the field, in this general field upon the weakening of the federation as a result of the change in international problems you described yesterday?
Mr. Dennett. With the rise of the CIO following the split in the labor movement I was elected to be the secretary of the Seattle CIO Council, and subsequently became the executive secretary of the Washington State CIO Council.
Mr. Tavenner. Can you give us dates, please?
Mr. Dennett. In 1937 the American Federation of Labor started expelling from its ranks those unions which had advocated the industrial form of organization. I was in a union which did advocate the industrial form of organization, but we were not one of those that attracted primary interest. Therefore, they did not expel our union right away. They never did expel it in fact. However, since we were supporting the industrial form of organization, I advocated that our organization be among the first to swing to the CIO. That was the Inlandboatmen’s Union of the Pacific.