The Secret World of American Communism (Annals of Communism Series)

381 Pages·1995·14.85 MB·English

by  Mr. Harvey Klehr

ANNALS OF COMMUNISM
Each volume in the series Annals of Communism will publish selected and previously
inaccessible documents from former Soviet state and party archives in the framework of
a narrative text that focuses on a particular topic in the history of Soviet and interna-
tional communism. Separate English and Russian editions will be prepared. Russian
and American scholars select and annotate the documents for each volume; together
they explain the selection criteria and discuss the state of relevant research and scholarly
interpretation. Documents are chosen not for their support of any single interpretation
but for their particular historical importance or their general value in deepening under-
standing and facilitating discussion. The volumes are designed to be useful to students,
scholars, and interested general readers.
EXECUTIVE EDITOR, ANNALS OF COMMUNISM
Jonathan Brent, Yale University Press
AMERICAN EDITORIAL ADVISORY COMMITTEE
Ivo Banac, Yale University Czeslaw Milosz, University of California
Jeffrey Burds, University of Rochester at Berkeley
William Chase, University of Pittsburgh Norman Naimark, Stanford University
Victor Erlich, Yale University General William Odom, Hudson Institute
Sheila Fitzpatrick, University of Chicago and Yale University
Gregory Freeze, Brandeis University Daniel Orlovsky, Southern Methodist
J. Arch Getty, University of California University
at Riverside Mark von Hagen, Columbia University
Robert L. Jackson, Yale University Mark Steinberg, Yale University
Leon Lipson, Yale University Piotr Wandycz, Yale University
RUSSIAN EDITORIAL ADVISORY COMMITTEE
K. M. Anderson, Russian Center for the S. V. Mironenko, State Archive of the Rus-
Preservation and Study of Documents sian Federation
of Recent History (RTsKhIDNI) 0. V. Naumov, Russian Center for the Pre-
N. N. Bolkhovitinov, Russian Academy servation and Study of Documents of Re-
of Sciences cent History (RTsKhIDNI)
A. 0. Chubarian, Russian Academy of R. G. Pikhoia, State Archival Service of the
Sciences Russian Federation
V. P. Danilov, Russian Academy of Sciences A. N. Sakharov, Russian Academy
F. I. Firsov, formerly of Moscow State Uni- of Sciences
versity and Comintern Archive in the T. T. Timofeev, Russian Academy
Russian Center for the Preservation and of Sciences
Study of Documents of Recent History E. A. Tiurina, Russian State Archive of the
(RTsKhIDNI) Economy (RGAE)
V. P. Kozlov, State Archival Service of the General D. A. Volkogonov, Russian Acad-
Russian Federation emy of Sciences
V. S. Lelchuk, Russian Academy of Sciences
SERIES COORDINATOR, MOSCOW
N. P. Yakovlev
The Secret World of
American
Communism
Harvey Klehr, John Earl Haynes,
and Fridrikh Igorevich Firsov
Russian Documents Translated by Timothy D. Sergay
Yale University Press
New Haven and London
TO OUR WIVES
Elizabeth Klehr
Janette Haynes
Lidta Mikhailovna Firsova
Copyright 0 1995 by Yale University.
All rights reserved.
This book may not be reproduced, in whole or in part, including illustrations, in any
form (beyond that copying permitted by Sections 107 and 108 of the U.S. Copyright
Law and except by reviewers for the public press), without written permission from
the publishers.
Designed by James J. Johnson and set in Sabon and Melior Roman by The Composing
Room of Michigan, Inc. Printed in the United States of America by Vail-Ballou Press,
Binghamton, New York.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Klehr, Harvey.
The secret world of American communism / Harvey Klehr, John Earl Haynes,
and Fridrikh Igorevich Firsov.
p. cm. -(Annals of communism)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-300-06183-8
I. Communism-United States-History-Sources. I. Haynes, John
Earl. 11. Firsov, Fridrikh Igorevich. 111. Title. IV. Series.
~~83.K55719 95
320.5'32'0973-dc20 94-3596
CIP
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
The paper in this book meets the guidelines for permanence and durability of the
Committee on Production Guidelines for Book Longevity of the Council on Library
Resources.
Publication of this volume was made possible in part by a generous gift to
Yale University Press from the Daniel and Joanna S. Rose Fund, Inc. We are
grateful for their vision and support.
Yale University Press gratefully acknowledges the financial support given
for this publication by the Foundation for Cultural Initiative (Moscow),
the John M. Olin Foundation, the Open Society Fund (New York), and the
Smith-Richardson Foundation.

Contents
List of Documents Reproduced in Facsimile xi
Preface xiii
Acknowledgments xvii
A Note on the Documents xxi
Glossary of Individuals and Organizations xxiii
Chronology of American Communism xxxi
c H A P T E R o N E Background 3
A Brief History of the American Communist Party, 4
The Clandestine Activities of the CPUSA, 14
The Question of Joseph McCarthy, I 5
The Historiographic Debate, 17
c H A P T E R TWO Clandestine Habits:
The 920s and the Early 1930s
I
The Comintern and Covert Operations, 20
John Reed and Clandestine Funding of American Communism, 2.1
Julius and Armand Hammer, 2.6
Other Secret Communications, 3 I
vii
...
VIII Contents
The Pan-Pacific Trade Union Secretariat, 42
Earl Browder and Undercover Operations in Asia, 42
Harrison George and the Secret Work of the PPTUS, 49
Agnes Smedley, Comintern Agent, 60
c H A P T E R T H R E E The Secret Apparatus of the CPUSA:
The Early Years
The CPUSA Establishes Its Secret Apparatus, 71
J. Peters and the Secret Apparatus, 193 2-1 93 8, 73
Rudy Baker Replaces J. Peters, 83
The Washington Communist Underground, 193 3-1943, 96
The Ware Group and the La Follette Committee, 96
Peters and the Washington Informant Group, 1943, 106
Copying Confidential State Department Letters, 1936, IIO
c HA P T E R F o u R The Secret Apparatus Branches Out 119
The Secret Apparatus under Rudy Baker, 1938-1940, I 19
Fighting Ideological Deviationists and Other Enemies, 124
Weeding Out Internal Enemies, I 25
Stealing the Files of Party Enemies, 128
Enforcing Ideological Conformity, I 32
Max, the Agent Who Wouldn't Go Home, 1939-1942, 147
Fighting Deviationists and Bad Elements in the Spanish Civil War, I 5 I
The Surveillance of Bertram Wolfe, I 93 7, I 5 3
The Death of Albert Wallach, 1938, 155
"Suspicious Individuals and Deserters" in the Abraham Lincoln Battalion, 183
c H A P T E R F I v E Other Faces of the Secret World 188
Ann Cadwallader Coles, a Southern Artist in the Secret World, 188
American Communists and Soviet Radio Propaganda, 193 7-1942, 195
Williana Burroughs, New York Teacher and Soviet Radio Propagandist, 199
American Students in the International Lenin School, 102
American Communists in Red Army Uniforms, 1936, 203
Contents ix
c H A P T E R s I x The American Communist Party, the Secret
Apparatus, and the NKVD 205
The Brother-Son Network in World War 11, 205
The Brother-Son Network and Soviet Atomic Espionage, 216
Morris Cohen, Atomic Spy, 217
Recruiting Japanese Cadre for the Comintern, 226
Earl Browder and the NKVD, 23
2
Earl Browder as an NKVD Talent Spotter, 1940, 2.33
Margaret Browder, NKVD Agent, 1938 , 23 8
Irene Browder, Commissar with "Emergency Powers," 243
Earl Browder's "Back Channel" to the White House, 249
c H A P T E R s E v E N The American Communist Underground
Fights World War I1 2.5 9
The CPUSA, the OSS, and Soviet Intelligence, 259
Recruiting Veterans of the International Brigades for the OSS, 1941-1945, 259
Eugene Dennis, William Donovan, and the Infiltration of the OSS and OWI, 266
Reporting on the American Embassy in Moscow, 1942-1943, 286
c H A P T E R E I G H T Soviet Intelligence and
American Communists, 1942- 1945
NKVD and GRU Inquiries about Americans, 294
Judith Coplon, Soviet Spy, 294
Albert Feierabend, Soviet Agent, 296
Edmund Stevens, Pulitzer Prize-Winning Reporter, 299
Veterans of the International Brigades, 303
OSS and State Department Employees, 307
Elizabeth Bentley and the Perlo Group, 309
The Credibility of Whittaker Chambers, 3 17
CHAPTER NINE Conclusion
Appendix A The Archival Record
Appendix B Organization of the American Communist Party
Selected Readings
Index