Ogden Standard-Examiner | 1920-04-25 | Page 1 | Flareup Develops at Communist Hearing

JOHN REED IS HELD FOUNDER OF 1 PARTY (Secretary Wilson Takes Ques- tion of Deportations Under i Advisement Idenies GOVERNMENT ENDORSES RADICALS Communists Called Gang ofj Cut Throat Aliens, at Hearing , i WASHINGTON. April 24. Secre- tary of Labor Wilson after an all-day argument, took under advisement tonight to-night the question whether membership member-ship In the communist labor party in ' Itself constituted grounds fordeport- :atloh of aliens. Durlng'the hearing there was a flare-up over statements attributed to federal Judge Antftrstm of Boston, that the. -government .Vopcratqs, same i part. oC: tho -communist' party in this jsgy p trvr.'JL .&w :ln bu rnHai oh- o f--Xe I w-York, w-York, upholding it, and J. Hoover of tho department of justice, declaring it an "unjustifiable misconception of the facts." 1 Reed Is Blamed i Armed with voluminous communist 1 literature, Hoover attempted to show : by quotation of lengthy excerpts the I relationship between the communist i labor party and tho third, interna-' interna-' tlonale. 1 Asserting that John Reed, last reported re-ported detained In. Abo, Finland, for affiliation with the Bolshevlkl. was ! the founder of the communist labor I party. Hoover declared it was like (all other communist organizations, "a gang of cut throat aliens who have I come to this country to overthrow the government by force." Fifty per cent of tho influence bo-hind bo-hind tho recent strikes, Hoover said, was directly traceable to the com-1 com-1 munlst organizations. j Difference In Parlies In endeavoring to distinguish bc-j bc-j tweun tho communist party and the communist labor party, Hale declared J the application blank of the commun-ist commun-ist labor party mado the applicant bound to bo -guided by" the principles princi-ples of the party. An applicant for membership in the communist party on the other hand, he said, pledged support as "an active worker." Tho platform of the communist party. Hale asserted. was , nothing ! more than the socialism of Karl 1 Marx and argument for "action of i masses" was tho subject to a political interpretation. Attorney General Palmer tonight denied de-nied tho statement by Hale at today's ! hearing that Louis C. .Fraina, described de-scribed as socretary of the communist commun-ist party of America, was an agent of ! tho department of justice. Fraina, he said, had never rendered any service to the department. Palmer Witness. Discussing the department's activities activit-ies in connection with the raids and deportation proceedings, the attorney general said; "Certain statements have recently appeared in the public press to the effect ef-fect that the department of justice has had its agents actively identified in tho formation of the communist party and the communist labor party, and was to a large extent responsible for the agitation and unrest caused by thoso two organizations through their propaganda. There is no foundation whatever for this charge. Of course, the department of justice has used confidential information ever since Its bureau of investigation was established, estab-lished, but the informants are under strict instructions not to engage actively act-ively in any organization under their investigation. There is no instance In the administration of the department of ' justice where any confidential informant in-formant has ever actively engaged in( the councils of the communist party or the communist labor party. One of tho specific instances charged to tho confidential Informants of the department de-partment of justice is to the effect that they were instrumental in the holding ot meetings of the communist party I on January 2, 1920. That was tho regular reg-ular meeting night of tho communist party throughout the country, which held its meetings on tho first Friday of each month." oo