Evening star., 1948-05-03
Dy NewboId Moves, L.

sVSWUS t<SySSg ~.
More than 400 persons paid SC
cents admission-plus 1914 in con-
tributions-to attend last nights
Communist mass meeting in the
auditorium Of the National Press
Club.
They saw . good show. A stocky
young man in . sports jacket, bow
tie and gray flannel stacks even
obliged them by staging q short
lived One-man demonstration
against the otherwise orderly pro-
cedings.
His reactionary outburst-a rather
strained performance-came just
after Gerhard Eisler, who has been
called the Kremlin's principal agent
in this country, began to make 4
speech. Esler was saying he had
not come to Washington to over
throw the Government, because he
was not an American.
IF I were An American I would
be = Communist working to over
throw your Government. But 1 am
q German :"
Leaves without Trouble.
It was at this point that the
young man shouted something un-
Ineligible from the back Of the
hall. Eisler stopped talking and
peered owlishly over his steel
trimmed glasses as the youth strobe
down the aisle.
Hes q fake" the intruder rosred
Anybody who can listen to him is
an enemy Of the country. You're
all q bunch Of phonies.
With almost miraculous speed 1t
Ernest p. Myers and four other
burly policemen appeared In the
auditorium doorway. Like Eisler and
others on the speakers platform,
they listened quietly until the young
man finished shouting. Then 1t.
Myers pointed with his thumb at
the door just once, and the young
man walked out of the room. He
rang for an elevator, adjusted his
bow tie and disappeared into the
night.
The speakers lost no time In reg
lstering their gratitude for the in
terruption. Esler said he would
talk whether people like it or not
He urged his audience to prevent
a situation In your country where a
man like that who howls and doesn't
know what he Is bowling about to-
morrow becomes q storm trooper
trampling down everything worth
while"
Police are Criticized,
William T. Taylor, Communist
Party leader for the District and
chairman Of the meeting, took an
other slant in discussing the in
c1dent. He said there are 200
policemen in Washington assigned
to watching Communists-"and they
can't keep order at q meeting like
this when one man tries to raise a
fuss"
Those cops stood there" he said
"snd tried only to see if they could
help create trouble"
Mr.. Taylor, who Is colored, said
the police would have done a more
efficient job for their masters" on
the Board of Trade.
All in all, though, 1t was a GOOD
meeting-even pleasant. The crowd
ranging in age from bobby -soxers to
bewhiskered grandfathers, was
amicable, well-dressed and respon-
sive. Perhaps third Of these at
tending were colored. A pink
checked corporal, wearing an 88th
Blue Devir' Division patch on his
shoulder, sat in the front row. The
first order of business was the sing
ing of The Star Spsngled Banner" !"
Outside the hall q polite young man
presided over counter loaded down
with Communist literary dainties.
Mrs. Flynn Makes Speech.
'"The Tooth anniversary Of Marx
ism." he called. Get your dialectic
reading matter here"
The best speech of the night was
that of the grand old lady" of the
American Communist movement,
Mrs. Elizabeth Gurley Flynn. A
member of the party's National
Committee, she took as her text the
Mundt-Nixon Subversive Activities
bill, and she sank her teeth into it
in a shouting denunciation worthy
Of Billy Sunday in his prime.
She said the bill means that any
group which fights for District
suffrage, or low-cost housing or
reasonable streetcar fares, must reg
lister as q Communist front organ
ization, since the Communists favor
these things.
Flatly she asserted Communists
will never register in the manner
provided In this legislation.
I'VE are not going to be labeled
as agents Of any foreign govern
ment," she said. I'VE are not going