Mr. Tavenner. And you function within the American Newspaper Guild?
Mr. Cohen. That is right.
I felt it did a worthwhile job there. And a great many people—Communists and non-Communists—benefited thereby. After the war the situation changed.
Mr. Moulder. The witness is excused.
Mr. Tavenner. I am not sure that he is through.
Mr. Cohen. I am ready to quit talking at any time.
Mr. Tavenner. This is your time to talk if you want to.
Mr. Cohen. After the war I felt that we were in a—we were extending the neighborhood branches, and that the trade union, the time for trade union action was past. We didn’t function in trade union matters. My working hours were changed, and I no longer was—I rarely attended meetings. I really lost what contact I had.
And the act that finally culminated in my leaving was the fact that I wanted to take a trip abroad, and under one of the provisions of the McCarran Act it required that no Communist should be granted a passport.
And so I wanted to visit scenes of where I had been during the war, and I explained to the party that I wanted to leave. And it startled them, I admit, reasonably. But I succeeded in resigning. And there have been no repercussions since.