Evening star., 1952-02-01
By Herbert A. PhilbHek
CHAPTER XII.
The Party Takes Over .

The Party Takes Over . 3
Campaign.
Anthony NJ. Roche will be ouI
man."
Spoken in the shrouded secrecy
of a Communist cell meeting In
Maiden, Mass, in late 1945, this
decision was the oral evidence to
me that the Communist Party had
abandoned all sense Of political
principle and wrapped itself in
stead in a cloak Of political pre-
tense.
Anthony M. Roche was a Dem
ocratic candidate for Congress
from the 9th congressional dis
trict Of Massachusetts, in the 1916
of year election. The Roche CAM
|paign was an example Of what can
happen on the local level to an
anti Communist candidate in an
anti Communist community when
Ia handful of ardent Communists
seeks to use him as q propaganda
outlet. He had no opportunity to
give his assent when the COM
|munist Party branch Of Maiden
moved In on his campaign. He did
not even know it. He had no idea
that he had been carefully hand
picked ahead Of time to serve as q
|grindstone for the sharpening o1
contradictions"
Chicanery in Politics.
Roche had no Communist SYM
|pathies-far from it. He was q
liberal spokesman Of organized
labor and a determined anti Com
|muniSt, too astute and independ-
|ent to be made into a party dupe
Yet despite his aStuteness and his
hostility to Communists, he was
|tricked into their employment BY
the same methods that can b,
and are brought to bear on candi.
dates for Office in any political
subdivision of the United States
Roche happened to be a Demo-
crat. But in view of the objec-
tives of the Communist Party in
the political arena before and
after the Browder era, a Repub-
lican candidate would be equally
vulnerable to Communist Chi
canery. Political principles don't
matter. The Communist Party
can make use of them all.
I was one of the five Maiden
Communists who worked from the
beginning on the Anthony Roche
campaign Of 1916. With other
comrades in the district. I plotted
behind doors. which carefully
barred Roche and his advisers, te
take over his campaign in spite
of his own anti Communist posi-
ton. Beyond certain funda-
mentals. we were not concerned
with what Roche stood for. He
was picked not only in spite Of,
but even because of his anti
communism. We . didn't care
whether he won, and in fact we
never expected him to win. All
we wanted was one foot on his
campaign platform.
National Participation. =
It was at q special meeting In
the unkempt, bug infested walkup
apartment of Alice Gordon that !
was first tipped of that the Conn
munist Party had decided ION a
national level to make a special
effort in the 1916 congressional
elections. -
''It is necessary" Alice said, "for
the party to bring full clarity to
the membership concerning the
elections ahead. This
is the first postwar congressional
election. We are going to partici-
pae to the fullest extent.
I'm a very few places we will put
up our own candidates. In some
localities we will give open support
to other party nominees-De Lacy
in Washington, Bobrowicz in Mil
waukee, Marcantonio in New York.
But in most instances it will not be
necessary or even desirable to give
open support to the candidates,
particularly those of the Demo-
cratic Party. If we did that, we
would indicate support of Truman,
whom, Of course, we do not back
The campaign will enable us to
achieve a greater activation of the
entire party, all party members,
and all party organizations. But
it cannot be a policy of reliance
on the Democratic Party"
All Labor Embraced.
At first Roche was aloof. He
did not want. for example, the
support Of one segment of organ
lied labor to the exclusion of the
others. So we formed a hypo-
thetical Independent Voters for
Roche Group with the idea Of en-
bracing all labor. Chief among
those who backed him publicly,
with the tacit approval of the
party Planning Committee, were
Nat Mills, a member Of the CIO
United Electrical Workers, Local
201; Paul r. Emerson, an AFL
carpenter; Nathan Smith, an in
dependent union member, and
Franklin P. Collier, who was listed
as a member of the Mel
rose Committee for Fair Employ
ment Practices Legislation.
Had it occurred to Roche to
investigate his new friends he
would have discovered that Frank
Collier was the manager of the
Progressive Bookshop in Boston
if he was familiar enough with
the Communist propaganda outlet,
But If he was like the average
Bostonian he would not have
known that any such store existed
or he would have been unaware OF
its character. Had he inquired
far enough he might have found
q few who would guess" that Nat
Mills might have been a member
OF the Communist Party.
! first typed up a two-page
memorandum of campaign sug-
geStions. Foremost among them
was a recommendation that Roche
enlist in his encourage q man with