Opinion ID: 1373806
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: necessity for legislation

Text: The need for legislation to control Communist activities in the United States cannot be questioned. Over 10 years of investigation by the Committee on Un-American Activities and by its predecessor committee has established (1) that the Communist movement in the United States is foreign-controlled; (2) that its ultimate objective with respect to the United States is to overthrow our free American institutions in favor of a Communist totalitarian dictatorship to be controlled from abroad; (3) that its activities are carried on by secret and conspiratorial methods; and (4) that its activities, both because of the alarming march of Communist forces abroad and because of the scope and nature of Communist activities here in the United States, constitute an immediate and powerful threat to the security of the United States and to the American way of life. The Communist program of conquest through treachery, deceit, infiltration, espionage, sabotage, corruption, and terrorism has been carried out in country after country and is an ever-growing threat to the national security of this and other countries. There is ample evidence that one of the primary objectives of the world Communist movement, directed from within the most powerful existing Communist totalitarian dictatorship, is to repeat this pattern in the United States. There is incontrovertible evidence of the fact that the Communist Party of the United States is dominated by such totalitarian dictatorship and that it is one of the principal instrumentalities used by the world Communist movement, in its ruthless and tireless endeavor to advance the world march of communism. The findings which support these conclusions, and the vast quantity of evidence on which they are based, are set forth in detail in the numerous reports which this committee and its predecessors have printed and circulated. Corroboration has been supplied by independent and exhaustive research by other committees of Congress. Concern over this threat is not limited to the legislative branch of our Government. At the present time 30 of the 70 major countries in the world have outlawed the Communist Party. Many other countries have adopted various legislative decrees against communism, and since 1947 the trend has been toward declaring all Communist activities illegal. Panama was the latest to take such action. This action came in April of this year.... Concern over the Communist threat has not been overlooked by the different State legislatures. At the present time 33 States have laws against the displaying of the `Red' flag; 12 States have criminal anarchy laws; 16 have criminal syndicalism laws; 22 have sedition laws; 16 have laws against the Communist Party candidates appearing on the election ballot; 19 States exclude Communists from public employment; 28 States require loyalty oaths of all employees; and 20 States require teachers to take loyalty oaths.
Communist Control Act of 1954, August 24, 1954, chapter 886, § 2, 68 Stat. 775, 50 U.S.C.A., § 841. Sec. 2. The Congress hereby finds and declares that the Communist Party of the United States, although purportedly a political party, is in fact an instrumentality of a conspiracy to overthrow the Government of the United States. It constitutes an authoritarian dictatorship within a republic, demanding for itself the rights and privileges accorded to political parties, but denying to all others the liberties guaranteed by the Constitution. Unlike political parties, which evolve their policies and programs through public means, by the reconciliation of a wide variety of individual views, and submit those policies and programs to the electorate at large for approval or disapproval, the policies and programs of the Communist Party are secretly prescribed for it by the foreign leaders of the world Communist movement. Its members have no part in determining its goals, and are not permitted to voice dissent to party objectives. Unlike members of political parties, members of the Communist Party are recruited for indoctrination with respect to its objectives and methods, and are organized, instructed, and disciplined to carry into action slavishly the assignments given them by their hierarchical chieftains. Unlike political parties, the Communist Party acknowledges no constitutional or statutory limitations upon its conduct or upon that of its members. The Communist Party is relatively small numerically, and gives scant indication of capacity ever to attain its ends by lawful political means. The peril inherent in its operation arises not from its numbers, but from its failure to acknowledge any limitation as to the nature of its activities, and its dedication to the proposition that the present constitutional Government of the United States ultimately must be brought to ruin by any available means, including resort to force and violence. Holding that doctrine, its role as the agency of a hostile foreign power renders its existence a clear present and continuing danger to the security of the United States. It is the means whereby individuals are seduced into the service of the world Communist movement, trained to do its bidding, and directed and controlled in the conspiratorial performance of their revolutionary services. Therefore, the Communist Party should be outlawed. March 20, 1959. Petition for rehearing denied.