Evening star., 1952-02-03
I Led Three Lives
Red CoIonizers Move Ii on Defense Plants;
FBI Undercoyer Man Gets 'FIouter, Role

by trade. shifted his work to the
yards and shops Of the Boston g.
Maine Railroad. The United Once
and Professional Workers Union
Of the CIO had a delegate pres
ent, who was informed that its
decisive" area was in the imam
cial business, and that its critical
point Of concentration was in the
big life insurance companies, not
ably the John Hancock Life Insur-
ance Co. Of Boston.
The heaviest colonization pro-
gram carried out In the New Eng
land district under Schirmer's di-
rection was in the General Elec-
trio plant, which coincidentally
was one Of the biggest defense
plants in the region. ! promptly
reported the colonization plan to
Hal Leary at the FBI.
Back to Political TreadmilI.
BY the spring Of 1947 my work
shifted back to the political tread
mill, and a period of Illustration
and comparative inactivity. The
Communist Party moved along
with the old Political Action Com
mittee into the coalition Progress
Sive Citizens of America, the
third-party movement. DR.. Har-
low Shapley Of Harvard was elect
ed honorary chairman Of the or
ganization that was eventually to
become the Progressive Party. An
gus Cameron. at that time editor
IN chief of Little, Brown 81 Co..
was the chairman, Ruth Emery
the secretary and Marjorie Lam
sing was the executive director.
! did not have position on the
executive committee of this group
as I had in the PAC, but I
was asked to serve on the pub
licity committee, and this was
sufficient to the purposes Of the
Communist Party to get me in
with sufficient cover"
Hal Leary repeated in para
phrase the same admonition he
had given me in connection with
the Anthony. Roche campaign.
I'VE are not interested in the
Progressive Citizens of America
as long as it remains q normal
political movement. But we are
interested in what the Communist
Party is doing and is planning to
do in it,"
Attends Scores Of Meetings.
La an effort to run this down for
the bureau I attended scores Of
afternoon, teas. rallies, receptions
and soirees, many Of them inti-
mate little gatherings held in mid
die and upper class homes in
fashionable suburban areas and
town apartments.
I was uneasy for two reasons.
was moving away from my CEN
trail interest in all of these activi-
ties-counter-spy work for the
FBI in the Communist Party.
And was afraid that inactivity
was making me careless and un-
dermining my usefulness. After
one Of these lengthy and dull
meetings became SO disturbed
that called Leary and made an
appointment to meet him.
II want you to meet Don Rich
ards" Hal said right of, without
ceremony. Hes going to be your
contact man from now on"
One morning in late summer
when we were starting work on al
campaign for Wallace,s
in Boston at the end
1f September, a special messenger
brought into the office an en-
1elope with the letterhead Of the
Pea. It turned out to be al
memorandum on q routine matter,
typewriter, but scrawled across
the bottom Of it was a penciled|
notation In q hand which I rec
ognized.
"Insuferable DiIettante."
Call F.. H." was all it said.
Fanny Hartman. Before was
able to comply, over the wire
came the Harvard-accented voice
Of one of the top leaders Of the
Pea asking me to meet him for
lunch at Marliave's to discuss
some of the arrangements for the
Wallace appearance. This man,
whom I shall call Harry, was, to
my view, an inSuerable, overeda-
Gated bore; rich. a dilettante who
dabbled in writing of sorts and