Evening star., 1952-02-03
By Herbert A. Philbrick
Chapter XIII:
I Get UNTO . 'Pro-4' cen.

Chapter ALI:
I Get into q PROT" Cell.
In the dingy Ritz Plaza Halls,
up a broad flight Of treadworn
wooden stairs on Huntington
avenue in Boston, the New Eng
land district Communists held an
important party builders" con-
ference on February 2. 1947.
These were the red-necked. cal
Ilous- handed labor leaders of shop,
and industrial branches and cells,
the proletarian zealots with small
theoretical understanding but big
Ibiceps and boiler-factory voices.
Nanny Blum opened with an
address that bore heavily on the
need for increasing the party's
membership, and set the theme of
the meeting. More important
than numbers. Nanny said. was
the influence Of the party In key
industries.
The program also stressed the
importance of "a special sub
report" on Communist work in
the shops, to be given by Joe
Figureido. branch organizer from
the heavily industrialized Fall
River-New Bedford area of Mas
ISachusettS.
FavOrite Character Present.
I saw Boone Schirmer, Margot
Clark, Max Weitzman and a few
others of long acquaintance. One
of my favorite characters was
present, Elba Chase Nelson of
the New Hampshire State or
ganization, the little Russian
Yankee" who always delighted
audiences by her mixture of
regional expression and Marxist
doctrine which came out in her
corn-cracking voice something
like. 1--WE cannot fiddle-faddle
any longer with Fascist imperial
ism"
Fanny Hartman's report was
next. AS a background, she
sketched in the threat of an
American-Soviet war, even though
the official party line held that
war was not inevitable. American
imperialists. she said, were plot
ting a war against the Soviet
Union, and in proof she offered
the statements of irresponsible
private citizens who loosely advo-
Gated drastic atom-bomb measures
to forestall Russian aggression.
The major weapons in their pos
session were the big "key" indus
tries. and it was around these "de-
ciSive" plants and factories that
the Nations war apparatus re-
volved, she said.
Jet Plant Involved.
One of them, she said, was the
big General Electric Co. plant at
Lynn. Mass, where the Govern
ment was then engaged-and this
was news to me-in the manu-
facture of jet engines for aircraft.
Others were the railroad yards;
communications, including radio,
telegraph, telephone and even the
newspapers; the steel industry;
shipyards, textiles, chemicals and
all of the heavy industries which
were involved in the increasing
tempo of the defense establish
ment. Fanny and the other speak.
ers told the conference that it was
necessary for the Com
munist Party to increase its
in these industries in Or
der to .counteract the headlong
rush toward an imperialist war.
Otis Hood took the platform
next and resumed where Fanny
left of. He used a new term, one
I had never before heard in all
of my party activities-"colon
izers." A party colonizer, he de-
clared, was a devoted member
who would willingly give up his
job in a nom essential industry or
profession and move into one of
the decisive" basic industries.
My old friend Nat Mills was
designated as one of the colonizers
at the General Electric plant in
Lynn, together with Don Tormey.
who was already prominent there
as a labor organizer; Don Bollen
and Bob Goodwin. Nat later gave
up his home in Maiden and
moved to Lynn to be closer to his
job. Dave Bennett was assigned
to the steel industry in Massachu-
sets. Gus Johnston, a carpenter