Investigation of Communist activities in Seattle, Wash., area. Hearings, Part 3

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

Mr. Velde. But at that time did you not realize that the International Labor Defense had been cited by your Government as being subversive?

Mr. O’Connell. Congressman, at that time I was 27, 28 years old. My political experience, particularly as far as Socialists were concerned, as far as Communists were concerned, and all of that, I had no training or study in Marxism-Leninism.

As a matter of fact, I had very little knowledge of what the differences were, what their division of opinion was, or anything of the kind.

My feeling was that both of them were for socialism and I didn’t know what their particular division was.

Mr. Velde. What I am getting at is this: As a Member of Congress, following your defeat as a Member of Congress, you certainly were interested in the committees of Congress, you certainly were interested in what the Attorney General of the United States was doing. It seems to me that you should have been cognizant of the fact that the International Labor Defense was cited as a subversive organization.

Mr. O’Connell. This is the first time today—no, for instance, this committee had cited the International Labor Defense at that particular date. Now, I learned later——

Mr. Velde. Now, Mr. O’Connell, there have been a lot of witnesses appear before this committee with a lot less intelligence than you, with a lot less knowledge of political activities of our Government, and, of course, we realize that there were a lot of those people who became involved in the Communist Party and the Communist Party manipulations.

But I just cannot understand how you, as a Member of Congress, would not be cognizant of the fact that the International Labor Defense was cited as a subversive organization.

I don’t question whether you believed it was, or was not; or whether you believed that the Attorney General or this committee was right.

Mr. O’Connell. I said that I later knew, but at the particular time involved here, Congressman, it had not been, in my first connection with it, had not been cited by the committee as such.