Mr. Tavenner. Have you been a member of the Communist Party since 1951?
Mr. Cohen. No, sir.
Mr. Tavenner. I believe you are one of the few, if not the only person in the United States, who registered as a member of the Communist Party upon the adoption of the Internal Security Act of 1950.
Mr. Cohen. It wasn’t a thing of which I was ashamed. I felt I was in the party. I felt that what I was doing was the right thing. I had no conscientious qualms about belonging to it. I felt what we were doing was right. And everything that I saw—nothing I saw led me to believe that it was subversive. I felt it was—what we were doing was in the interest of the workingman.
Mr. Tavenner. Our purpose in subpenaing you was to ask you certain facts we think are within your knowledge regarding Communist Party activities. You have indicated a full desire, a willingness to give the committee the facts that you have. You have given a a written statement to the staff.
Mr. Cohen. Yes, sir.
Mr. Tavenner. I am not going into any of those matters now because they are here available for us. But, out of fairness to you, I want to give you the opportunity to make any further statement you desire regarding your own attitude toward the Communist Party.
Mr. Cohen. Do you feel that I haven’t stated my position enough in that brief?
Mr. Tavenner. We would ask you additional questions if we had time to do it, and we may do that later. But for the present I want to be certain you have an opportunity to tell the committee anything further that is on your mind that might be of some benefit to yourself.
Mr. Cohen. Well, I felt that my desires on leaving the party were that I was in it primarily because of its connection with the trade-union movement. It helped the Guild in the early days to organize.