We were confronted with the necessity of making an immediate switch demanding nonintervention.
Mr. Tavenner. What do you mean by we?
Mr. Dennett. The Communist Party.
So our insistence upon nonintervention contradicted our prior insistence upon collective security. This presented no end of trouble, especially to those who had to meet the public and had to answer to the public for the consistency of their program and policies from one day to the next. It ultimately led to the disaffection of Mr. Howard Costigan. And the chief reason that Mr. Costigan disaffected at that time was because of his loyalty to Franklin D. Roosevelt as then President of the United States, who came out in bitter denunciation against the Soviets for attacking Finland, which left him in the position of having a consistent policy because he had complained bitterly against Mussolini’s march into Ethiopia. He had also been critical of the Japanese invasion of China. He had also been critical of each military venture where one country had attempted to impose its will upon another by military means.
So Costigan felt that he was on sounder ground to continue his support of Franklin D. Roosevelt, and he did so with as much effort as he dared, without bringing down the wrath of the Communist Party on him at that particular moment. However, the Communist Party sensed that he was beginning to disaffect, and we proceeded to isolate him from everything we could. I mean the Communists proceeded to isolate Mr. Costigan.
Mr. Tavenner. Was this the period when the Communist Party was crying from the rooftops that the President of the United States was a warmonger?
Mr. Dennett. Yes, it was. I am a little bit fearful that if anyone looks at the record very carefully they will find that I made a few speeches on that subject myself.
Mr. Tavenner. In other words, as a result of the international situation the Communist Party had gotten itself into a position which adversely affected its interests locally.
Mr. Dennett. That is very true.
Mr. Tavenner. What was the result of that adverse effect upon the Communist Party locally?