Communist Activities in California
Saul Wachter
In January 1953 Saul Wachter sent greetings to a publication called Freedom on the second anniversary of that magazine. Others whose names were publicly printed with Wachter's were: Virginia and
The publication Freedom was published monthly by Freedom Associates, 53 West 125th Street, New York 27, New York. Its editorial board consisted of Paul Robeson, Chairman; Revels Cayton, Shirley Graham, Alphaeus Hunton, Modjeska M. Simkins, Louis E. Burnham, and George B. Murphy, Jr. It is interesting to note that the printer's symbol number 178 which appears on the publication in order to identify the place where it was printed and the local of the printer's union, is also found on virtually every other piece of Communist Party propaganda printed in the New York area.
On January second, 1953, the elder Wachter attended a meeting sponsored by the Committee to Secure Justice in the Rosenberg Case at Willard High School at Berkeley. It will be noted that Vincent Hallinan, the father of three of the student members of SLATE, also attended this meeting. The Committee to Secure Justice in the Rosenberg Case has been repeatedly identified as a Communist front organization. Other persons who attended were: J. B. Galbreath, Mary Lou Charter, Rose Eden, Alfred Geron, Sarah Lapides, Mickey Lima, Dave Hipolito, Ozzo Marrow, Barbara Martin, Ray Rose, Billie Wachter, Steve Murdock, Pele Murdock, Mike Frieden, McCoy Hopson, James Allen Johnson, Buddy Green, Ray Thompson, Sheldon Baumrind, Jean Ball Johnson, Eloise Brown, James Cameron Forsyth, William Lowe, Lionel Martin, Roy Noftz, Ida Wood, Nat Yanish, Virginia Maher, Morton Newby, Ted Kalman, Mrs. Francis Tanby, Ann Adams, Lee Coe, Robert Dennis Crowley, Mike Dorsey, Eleanor Johnson, Ralph K. Johnsen, William Wiitala, Bertram Edises, Vincent Hallinan, Genola Burks.
On February thirteenth, 1953, Saul Wachter attended a meeting sponsored by the East Bay People's World Committee, The People's World being the Communist newspaper generally circulated throughout the State of California. This meeting was held at 8 P. M. in Finnish Hall, 1819 10th Street, Berkeley. Wachter was actually seen to enter the place where the meeting was held and to remain during the entire program. Other individuals were seen to leave cars parked in the vicinity and to enter the hall and remain until the program was over, the cars being registered to the following individuals: James McFadden, Oakland; Henry S. Dedrick, San Francisco; John W.
On the evening of July seventeenth, 1953, Joseph Clark, Moscow representative for the California Communist paper, The Daily People's World, lectured on his experiences in the Soviet Union to an audience in the Herman Sons Hall, 2016 Seventh Street, Berkeley. In addition to Saul Wachter, occupants were observed leaving automobiles registered to the following people, entering the place where the lecture was given and remaining until it was concluded: John D. King, Inc., Oakland; L. C. Clark, Berkeley; James McFadden, Oakland; A. C. and Alice H. Scott, Hanford; G. H. Rand, San Francisco; Pacific Publishing Foundation, Inc., San Francisco; Patrick Hancock, Hayward; Robert Arnald, Oakland; Everett L. Nuttle, Oakland; Ralph K. and Jean B. Johnsen, Berkeley; Tyler S. Brooke, San Lorenzo; Mark A. Overholtzer, Oakland; Paul J. and Mary Ortiz, Daly City; Elizabeth McMullen, Oakland; Alfred Morris, Oakland; G. B. King, Emeryville; Michael Meyer Schneider, Berkeley; William and Elsie Beltram, Oakland; James A. Wesley, Albany; Wayne and Ruth Hultgren, Oakland; Irving A. Snider, Richmond; Ida Wood, Oakland; William E. and Helen M. Cook, Richmond; Marilyn N. and James B. Shiels, Berkeley; Leon Henriques, El Cerrito; Lloyd K. Vandever, Berkeley; Grace N. Griffiths, Berkeley; W. M. and Florence McCanvlish, Oakland; Robert and Clara Raglund, Berkeley; Rose S. and Roger Paine, Richmond; Donald J. McClurg, Albany; Shell Development Company, Emeryville; Carl Brooks, Berkeley; Helen Davie Rytkonen, Kensington; Roy R. Noftz, Oakland; Theresa L. Lackey, Berkeley; William K. Mitchell, Berkeley; Walter J. Green, Richmond; Lloyd C. and Violet Street, Oakland; Jack Wolfman, Berkeley; Paul Weyer, Oakland; Frank J. Woods, Antioch; Alfred Sultan, Richmond; Marshall Norful, Berkeley; Audrey D. Belt, Richmond; Edises & Treuhaft, Oakland; Alvin J. Beckham, Oakland; Leona and Homer Chastain, San Pablo; Raymond and Betty Whitt, Hayward; William Wiitala, Albany; Luise Cames, Berkeley; R. C. Valpreda, Berkeley; Wilhelmine A. Loughrey, Orinda; Walter C. Permann, Oakland; Roger St. Helen, Berkeley; John Marks, San Leandro; Herbert S. Cohn, Oakland; Edward P. and Alice M. Beechert, Berkeley; G. B. Sonio, Mt. Eden; Joseph and Margery Eisler, Oakland; Frances and Claude E. Sechrest, Oakland; George R. Riba, Berkeley; Mayer Frieden, Oakland; Evelyn Sainsbury, Oakland.
On December fourth, 1953, Saul Wachter attended a meeting sponsored by the East Bay Committee for American Activities in the Willard High School Auditorium, Telegraph Avenue and Ward Street, Berkeley. This meeting was started about 8 o'clock in the evening, and
We do not wish to imply that all of the individuals who attended each one of these meetings were Communists. But we do wish to state most emphatically that most of them were and that a liberal proportion of the remaining minority were ardent Fellow Travelers. We wish to point out that each of these meetings was conceived, dominated, and operated entirely by the Communist Party, and that at most of them Wilhemena Lowry, who operated the Communist book store in Berkeley, sold Party propaganda from a table located near the entrance to the hall where the program was presented. Those individuals who are familiar with previous reports issued by this Committee will also note that the same old names of Party enthusiasts crop up over and over again with monotonous regularity, going faithfully from one front organization to another, passing out literature, carrying signs in picket lines, dutifully screaming epithets at mass demonstrations, and doing all of the incredible chores the Party demands, thus isolating themselves completely away from other types of activity.
The Hoover Report discloses that F. B. I. agents had succeeded in penetrating deep into the top command of the Party and were thoroughly informed of the preparations for the riots. The F. B. I. knew, for example, that the son of a Sonoma County Communist was a student at San Francisco State College and had mobilized both faculty and student support at that institution. It knew that similar help would come from Santa Rosa Junior College. It learned that support had been mobilized at Stanford, at San Jose State College, and
The plan was first to wage an intensive and prolonged propaganda campaign to make certain that large numbers of non-Communists, already conditioned against the Committee, would be present at the hearings, and then to provoke a carefully planned series of incidents that would turn the spectators into an enraged mob. Key Communists were to act openly—Saul Wachter, Archie Brown, Merle Brodsky, and Bertram Edises. Others were to operate inconspicuously: nudging, exhorting, prodding and otherwise inciting the crowd to violence.
Title: Report of the Senate Fact-Finding Subcommitteee on Un-American Activities in California, no. 11, 1961
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