Evening star., 1952-02-04
/ Led Three Lives
counterspy Meets Respected Businessmen
Among Elite Members Of Red Porty Cell

Among Elite Memb'
By Herbert A. Philbriek
Chapter XIV: Who Is A Red?
I was frozen in the doorway
rooted to the spot. There on the
sofa, slouched in a shadow and
mot at first apparent. watching
me with a slow smile on his mas
sive face, was a man, an old
friend, the last man in the world
ever expected to find at a meeting
|of a Communist Party cell.
The big man in the unkempt
suit regarded me with a level gaze
The satchel suddenly felt like q
lead weight in my right hand
My left arm stiffened to resist
Norma's gentle tug. Incredulity
swept over me. ! felt a tingline
along the nape of my neck as
though my hair was rising.
Here was a respected, prominent
Boston businessman, the vice
president and second in command
of the largest firm Of its kind in
New England; a man with an
area-wide and even Nationwide
reputation for his business spe-
cialty. I had met him several
times in business clubs at whose
luncheons he usually occupied a
place at the head table. A vast
man. shaggy. unkempt, affable,
slow-moving. factual. His wife
was active in civic affairs and In
the church. His children were
college students. The top position
he held in his firm gave him wide
esteem along State street. The
job he did was looked upon as a
tremendous asset to New England s
commercial and industrial life.
He was a contributor of frequent
lead articles to trade journals in
his field.
Gripped by Fear.
I started to perspire. The con-
verSation in the room died and in
the silence I felt eyes turned upon
me. The surprise. the acute en-
barrassment. the panic. of my
discovery that this man was an
intimate Of Communists, gave way
to fear-fear that I had stumbled
upon a carefully guarded secret of
the Communist Party, and that
for some reason I stood now on
the verge of betrayal as an FB1
undercover agent.
! dropped the Satchel of PAM
pllets and books heavily just in
side the door and reached for my
handkerchief. I wiped the sweat
from my face and around my
collar and recovered my breath.
"Golly." I grasp to Norma in an
effort to explain my obvious dis
comfort, "I'll bet those fiendish
stairs will help keep your figure.
How do you manage to haul your
groceries up here2"
Well" I grasped the hand that
he extended as he remained
seated. I'm certainly glad to see
you here, comrade. I must admit
I'm SlIrnriSed
Meets Other Members.
II suspected you knew each
other" Norma said. I had con-
troll of myself once more. "Now
meet these other people. Teddy,
Jackie, Faith, Butch, Peg, Helen
this is Herb" There was only one
among them whom I knew we'll.
Teddy, a pert, pretty career-girl.
was an executive assistant to one
of the leading Communist
figures in the Progressive Citizens
Of America. In this position she
was a veritable pipeline Of infor-
nation from the top level of the
Pea to the Communist Party.
She had access to Pea plans.
platforms and decisions even be-
fore the membership. She knew
thoroughly the organizations
sources of income and political
contacts. Now she greeted me
with a superior little smile.
A Communist is all things to all
people. Some regard him as an
intellectual, essentially harmless,
but intense, spouting Marxism in
abstruse terms. Another thinks
of a Communist as a tough listed
labor leader swinging a club on the
picket line; others as a sinister
professor. a Suave diplomat, a
swarthy saboteur, a bomb throw
ing assassin. But every non-C Com
munist, no matter what his station
in life, is usually quite sure Of one
thing-there are no hardened. dis
ciplined Communists in his imme-
diate circle of friends and ac-
quaintances.
Sudden Awakening.
No one he knows well and likes
could possibly be among those who
attend secret meetings and listen
to discussions of revolution, ,vio-
lence, and the rise of the proletar-
lat. Each man has a few friends
he regards as radical" perhaps.
But none Of them, he is sure, would
go so far as to conspire. None
breaches civil strife, or believes in
it. Those who do that sort Of
thing live in a world apart. They
are shadowy figures in the
darkness of unreality, fictional
who OCCASIONALLY break
into the headlines as atom spies
or Communist couriers, but they