Investigation of Communist activities in Seattle, Wash., Area, Hearings, Part 2

by United States. Congress. House. Committee on Un-American Activities

Mr. Tavenner. Yes, I think you should.

Mr. Dennett. I am unable to give that in exact numbers, but I can give you a proportionate situation which may indicate something of value.

It was our estimate and the result of our study from the election returns of the candidates that we endorsed and the propositions that we supported——

Mr. Tavenner. When you say “we” are you speaking of the Communist Party or the Washington Commonwealth?

Mr. Dennett. The Washington Commonwealth Federation.

It was our estimate that it was capable of influencing and obtaining the vote of one-third of the members who voted in the Democratic Party slate or side of the ticket. And because of that fact and because we were in a higher state of mobilization than the rest of the Democratic Party, when primaries came along we could exercise a more direct influence in the primaries than anybody else because our members in the Washington Commonwealth Federation had a greater zeal and a greater devotion to carrying out their objectives than the other Democrats who frequently relied upon making their decisions in the general elections.

Mr. Moulder. What do you mean by other Democrats?

Mr. Dennett. Those who voted in the Democratic Party who were not members of the Washington Commonwealth Federation through affiliation.

Mr. Moulder. How many Communists would you estimate were members of the Washington Commonwealth Federation?

Mr. Dennett. The nearest I can give you by indication of that is that in the period 1937-38, the high point of membership in the Communist Party, as I recall the reports made to the district bureau by the organization secretary, was in the neighborhood of 5,500 members of the Communist Party in the Northwest, in the 3 States of Oregon, Washington, and Idaho, and Alaska, the Territory of Alaska. Those 5,500 members of course, were scattered throughout all the other organizations in the Northwest. And I am firmly of the belief that fully 90 to 95 percent of that were members of the Washington Commonwealth Federation through affiliations of one kind or another.