Evening star., 1952-02-01
i Led Three Lives s
Reds Work Hard on Congressional Elections
and Their Kiss-of.D Death Policy Works

1Ell0W. plGkGQ w O4lC Va t1kS
campaign flyers. Take this line,
More Equitable Tax Laws I
presume by that you mean that
the heavy taxes should be reduced
for the man with a small income,
and passed on instead to big busi-
ness. I'm all for it. and ! think
the voters are. too. War profits
should he taken to pay the. costs
of war, from the big industrial
cliques, the private monopolies and
the international bankers. These
huge taxes can't be taken in SIS
and SO lots from the pay en-
velopes Of the working man."
Spells out Campaign.
s.That's what ! do mean In q
way, y Roche interjected. but ]
tried to brush aside this hedge.
'"The only thing is that you
ought to say 50. spell 1t out. Peo-
pie want to know exactly what you
mean. Take your stand on fair
employment practices. It isn't
enough to say you support FEPC.
You have to come out in favor Of
strong laws to prevent discrimina-
tions on the basis Of race. color or
religion. And you ought to urge
strong anti-lynch laws. A strong
stand can help you"
Roche seemed a little hesitant,
$50 tossed in a palliative. "I'm a
businessman myself and naturally
I don't want to see business stran-
|gled. Actually, I'm a registered
Republican, a liberal Republican,
but I'll have to turn to the Demo-
cratic Party in this district"
'Well," Roche said. you're the
advertising man and you know
how to do these things. I'll be
very grateful for anything you can
do to help in writing this stuff up,
II just don't have the time to do
Everything"
That was what we were waiting
to hear. and my party comrades
were juhilant. From then on / had
carte blanche to Roche's campaign
headquarters.
Crash, Imitation Seen.
To the Communist Party, the
biggest political consideration of
the period from 1946-1948 was the
economic crisis in the United
States which the party was certain
would come. and was determined
to foster. It would be signaled by
imitation and eliminated by a
sweeping depression as the Ma
ton tried to struggle back to a
peacetime economy. The party
anticipated that the depression
would be more devastating than
the 1929 crash, and would thus
serve the party's advantage. 1t
might well bring the great oppor-
tunity for Socialist revolt, and the
Communists were confident that
it would be the prelude to their
seizure Of power.
Roche was a moderate with re-
Spect to OPA price-control meas
ures. He recognized the need for
them but he wanted them to be
rigidly limited in both time and
effect. He urged temporary con-
trolls that would be relaxed as soon
as the situation would permit. Here
he clasfed with open party policy.
which was cIamoring for a more
and far-reaching con-
troll program.
Wedge Of Dissension.
We endeavored to strengthen
Roche's platform plank on this
issue. II. was an ideal wedge of
dissension to drive between pro-
duction and the consumer dollar.
It was the kind of thing that
struck home. But Roche stood by
his principles, and for a time would
not be moved to follow our direc-
ton.
Then one day an angry picket
line, composed of placard-waving
housewives, many of them pushing
baby carriages. materialized in
Maiden Square and begand parad-
ing, shouting the singing slogans
that were blazoned on their pla-
cards. They cried for stronger
price and rent laws to drive prices
down.
What Roche didn't know was
that the picket line scheme was
concocted behind his back in the
party Planning Committee. Wom-
an members of the party were
directed to round up non-Com-
munist housewives in Maiden and
whip them into the buyers strike.
In the secret committee, we worked
the campaign up into slogans and
printed them on placards. We
contrived the timing Of the dem
onstration, arranged the route
so 1t would concentrate on Roche's
headquarters and the immediate
surroundings. and primed the
party workers in Roche's head
quarters to be ready to make the
most Of the incident.
When Roche was no longer of
any use to us we abandoned him
as unceremoniously as we had
taken him up. Even before elec-
tion day we began to pack up and
drift away. BY election night, al
most every Communist was gone
from his headquarters, and none
was around to console him when
the returns brought him a thump-
ing defeat.
Otis Hood came out from the
district headquarters to give us
% post mortem on the election
work. 1.-THE victory Of the Re
publican Party in the congress
sional elections was a severe blow
to the American people" he said
with evident glee in his perennial
round-faced smile. "It means
that the control of the Govern
ment will be more firmly than
ever in the hands Of big busi-
ness" Then, with that incon-
gruous facility for turning defeat
into apparent victory, he added:
''This confirms the view Of the
National Board of the Communist