INFORMATION DIGEST

• Document Type: SPECIALCOLLECTION
• Collection: MHCHAOS
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 03257883
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: U
• Document Page Count: 32
• Document Creation Date: December 20, 2024
• Document Release Date: December 24, 2024
• Publication Date: July 1, 1976

Approved for Release: 2024/12/20 C03257883
3.3(b) (1)
6.2(d)
DD/A Registry
74, -33o/
MEMORANDUM FOR: Legislative Counsel
ATTENTION � � Mr. Patrick Carpentier �
FROM � � Robert W. Gambino
Director of Security
VIA Associate Deputy Director
SUBJECT Information Digest
JUL 1976
31000
for Administration
1. Reference is made to the attached list of eleven
questions from Congresswoman Bella Abzug in regard to the
newsletter Information Digest. Our records indicate that for
approximately eight months in 1972-1973 this Office was pro-
vided copies of the newsletter by John R. Norpel, a staff
member of the Senate Internal Security Subcommittee. This
Office has never subscribed to the newsletter nor provided
any funds to anyone associated with the newsletter.
2. Attached as Tab A are specific answers �to the eleven
questions posed in Congresswoman Abzug's letter. Attached as
Tab B is a memorandum for the record dated 31 December 1975
which was originally prepared for the Review Staff (with �an
information copy to OLC) in connection with a Senate Select
Committee request that the Agency provide a comprehensive
report on all aspects of the Agency's relations with the
Legislative Branch. This memorandum details the relationship
between Mr. Norpel and the Office of Security. As you will
note, Mr. Norpel also had fairly extensive dealings with your
Office when he was associated with the Senate Internal Security
Subcommittee.
E2 IMPDET
CL BY 063344
OS 6 2931/1 A
Approved for Release: 2024/12/20 C03257883
Approved for Release: 2024/12/20 C03257883
atutit I
Robert W. Gambino
Att.
Distribution:
Orig & 1 - Addressee
1 ADDA
2
Approved for for Release: 2024/12/20 C03257883
Approved for Release: 2024/12/20 C03257883
TAB
Approved for Release: 2024/12/20 C03257883
Approved for Release: 2024/12/20 C03257883
ANSWERS TO THE SPECIFIC QUESTIONS
IN CONGRESSWOMAN ABZUG'S LETTER
OF 25 JUNE 1976
Question 1
What CIA entities subscribed to Information Digest (also
periodically called Intelligence Report), and during what periods?
Answer
The Office of Security never subscribed to
Information Digest.
Question 2
From what sources other than the publisher did any CIA
entity receive, on a regular or irregular basis, Information
Digest (or any surrogate), and during what periods?
'Answer
During the period from approximately September
1972 until April 1973, the Office of Security
received copies of Information Digest from a staff
member of the Senate Internal Security Subcommittee.
This staff member voluntarily provided these copies
in the belief that the information therein would
be of interest to the Office of Security.
Question 3
What monies were paid by CIA entities, and to which addresses,
for subscriptions or contributions to Information Digest (or any
surrogate or agent thereof)?
Other than the subscription price, is CIA aware of any
other government funds or monies which were used in any way to
support the activities of Information Digest? If so, please
provide a detailed description of such payments.
Approved for Release: 2024/12/20 C03257883
Approved for Release: 2024/12/20 C03257883
Answer
No money was paid by the Office of Security
for or to Information Digest. We are not aware
of any other government funds or monies which
were used in any way to support the activities
of Information Digest.
Question 4
To what divisions within the CIA, and to what regional
offices, was the Information Digest (or any surrogate) distributed
on either a formal or informal basis?
Answer
The Information Digest was maintained within
the Office of Security and was not distributed
to any other components.
Question 5
How was information supplied to CIA entities by the
Information Digest (or any surrogate), or information derived
from Information Digest, utilized? To what entities, both
internal and external to the CIA, was this information dis-
seminated by CIA?
Answer
Material from Information Digest was used as
part of the data base which was accumulated to
assess the threat posed to Agency personnel and
facilities by the dissident activities which
were in vogue at that time. The only known
dissemination of any items from Information
Digest was through their inclusion in the
Situation Information Reports (SIR's) which were
prepared by the Office of Security for internal
Agency consumption. A portion of the SIR's was
a calendar of forthcoming events, and this
portion was regularly given to the Secret Service
but there was no other regular dissemination made.
2
Approved for Release: 2024/12/20 003257883
Approved for Release: 2024/12/20 C03257883
Question 6
What is the legal authority, if any, upon which CIA
relied to pay monies to Information Digest? to utilize its
data? to disseminate to other agencies fFis material?
Answer
The CIA paid no monies for Information Digest.
The data was only used for reference purposes
and was not of itself the basis for any action
by the Office of Security.
As stated above, the only regular dissemi-
nation outside the Agency was to the Secret
Service and the only type of information
disseminated was that which concerned planned
dissident activities. The Secret Service was
interested in this information in connection
with its mission to protect the President of
the United States.
Question 7
How is information received from Information Digest
currently stored? Has the data been integrated�into active or
inactive files maintained by CIA on particular individuals or
groups? In what manner or form may the information derived from
Information Digest be retrieved?
Answer
The Office of Security has a one volume
file labeled "Information Di est" which con-
tains all copies of the In ormation Digest
which have been received. These issues are
dated from 8 September 1972 until 27 April
1973. The names of individuals and groups
mentioned in the newsletter have been heavily
indexed and may be retrieved by a check of
Security indices.
3
Approved for Release: 2024/12/20 C03257883
Approved for Release: 2024/12/20 C03257883
Question 8
What information, if any, did CIA, its entities, or agents,
supply to Information Digest (or any surrogate), or its agents?
Please describe in detail the nature of any such information
given or shared; the legal basis for such exchange; and the
identity of CIA entities which supplied such information.
Answer
None
Question 9
If a formal or informal relationship existed between CIA,
its components, or agents to supply information to Information
Digest or its agents, by whose authority within the CIA was
such relationship initiated and approved?
Answer
No such relationship existed.
Question 10
Is the CIA aware of any instance in which a governmental
entity supplied information on individuals or organizations to
Information Digest or its agents? Please provide details of
any such arrangements.
Answer
No
Question 11
Does CIA currently subscribe to or receive publications
similar to Information Digest; and if so, for what purposes?
Answer
No
4
Approved for Release: 2024/12/20 C03257883
Approved for Release: 2024/12/20 C03257883
TAB
Approved for Release: 2024/12/20 C03257883
Approved for Release: 2024/12%20 C03257883
31 December 1975
MEMORANDUM FOR THE RECORD
SUBJECT: Office of Security Legislative Relations
(Senate Internal Security Subcommittee,
John R. Norpel, Jr.)
1. During the late 1960's and until circa early 1972,
personnel of the Senate Internal Security Subcommittee (SISS)
to include the Research Director/SISS, John R. Norpel, Jr.,
were in continuous contact with the Office of Legislative
Counsel (OLC) exchanging information of mutual concern to the
SISS and the Agency. On several occasions the SISS requested
and received Agency information bearing upon "peace movements"
and possible international Communist involvement in U.S. anti-
war activity. These SISS information requests apparently were
based on SISS interest in domestic dissident, and specifically
"New Left" activity, which was the general topic of SISS hearings
and publications during this period. Concurrently, personnel
of the SISS volunteered information to the OLC about domestic
dissident and "New Left" activities when SISS personnel felt
the information was germane to Agency interests.
2
3
OLC brought the information concerning the source to the atten-
tion of Richard Ober, Chief, Cl/SO, but there is no indication
in the Cl/SO file concerning the confidential source that he
was ever utilized as a directed Source by Cl/SO.
E2 IMPDET
CL BY
Approved for Release: 2024/12/20 C03257883
untAtt�
� Approved for Release: 2024/12/20 C03257883
5. Circa early 1972, the Office of Security, specifically
the Operational Support Division/Special Activities Branch
(OSD/SAB), in their continuing activities relative to domestic
dissident activities affecting the security of Agency personnel
and installations (Project RESISTANCE),]
2
Approved for Release: 2024/12/20 C03257883
Approved for Release: 2024/12th0 C03257883
which were indexed
into Office of Security indices for further reference to
specific domestic dissident personalities and organizations,
particularly in reference to Project RESISTANCE interests.
The information provided [ was not normally formalized
into memoranda but was incorporated into weekly "Situation
Information Reports" (SIR's) prepared by OSD/SAB. OSD/SAB did
not provide with copies of the SIR's or other Agency
originated documents. was well aware that the Agency,
and the Office of Security in particular, was interested in
domestic dissident activity, particularly when that activity
affected Agency security of facilities and personnel.
7
3
Approved for Release: 2024/12/20 C03257883
TuAft-e- ,>&
Approved for Release: 2024/12/20 C03257883,,
kf
John Rees: His Newsletter
Supplied Data on Antiwar Activit
By Paul W. Valentine
Washington Post Staff Writer
John H. Rees, a shadowy, British-
born figure active in antiwar circles
here in the early 1970s, was a police
informant' who surreptitiously gather-
ed data for an elaborate private �intelli-
gence newsletter he has circulated to
local police and the 'fBI, CIA � and
Congress. ,
Thus, through Rees' newsletter, "In-
formation Digest," the names of thou-
sands of persons associated with the..
� antiwar movement went into police ,
.. files and in some cases formed the
basis for specific political dossiers.
The digest still is published 'today. .
: Secretive and eccentric, Rees, 49,
used false names and sometimes mas-
queraded as a Catholic priest. He was
known variously as John O'Connor,
' John Seeley or just "Father John"
, among activists in the movement.
He lived in a commune with his
Logise, also known as Sheila
O'Cennee, and operated a radical
; "boek store," financed by police, near
A- Dupont Circle to attract youthful dis-
sidentnd provide cover for himself.
District 4D Columbia police also in-
stalled a bugging device at another
location used by the Rees couple and
.recorded meetings, planning sessions
and- eeneral conversation there- 'in
weeks just prior to the massive May-
day demonstrations here in 1971.
Details of Rees' operation were dis-
closed earlier this month by New York
State legislative investigators- in a re-
port on the New York state police in-
telligence apparatus and its utilization
of Information Digest.
Most details outlined in the report,
, published by the New York State Gen-
eral Assembly office for legislative
oversight and analysis, have been in-
dependently corroborated by official
and private sources here. Addeional
information about Rees' activities also
has been collated from these and
other sources.
- Rees also is one of several central
,figures in a recent investigation by
� the U.S. Attorney's office here into
:allegations of illegal surveillance tac-
tics by the intelligence division of the
:D.C. police department during the
antiwar years. The investigation ended
inconclusively with no action regime
mended against these suspected of in-
, voivemen t
Rees sold or gave away his biweekly
mimeographed newsletter to as many
as 43 recipients, most of them law
enforcement agencies stich as the D.C.
police ami Maryland and New .1e.eck
state police.
The .113I and CIA recelVed Informa-
tion Digest unsolicited from Rees and
deny supporting it financially,j
Staff members of the Senate Inter-
nal Security subcommlttee and the
now defunct House Internal Security
Committee (HISC) also received the
newsletter.
Rees still maintains a link with Con-
gress through_ his wife who is on the
staff of Rep. Lawrence P. Me-DonaId,
-(D-Ga.), an archconservative and mem-
ber of the national council of the
John Birch Society.
Also on MciDonald's staff is Herbert
Romerstein, a veteran HISC investi-
gator who is one of few persons now
maintaining direct contact with the
furtive Rees.
Rees' newsletter, �which contains
numerous reports on rightwing, anti-
war and leftist organizations, also has
. been sold to 'several news organs in-
cluding one "major broadcast net-
work," according to Romerstein who
woUld not elaborate.
Activists in Washington's leftist com-
munity who have seen samples of Rees'
newsletter are alarmed at its detailed
descriptions of internal meetings and
its sophisticated analysis of leftist
politics.
They said this suggests that Informa-
tion Digest is not the product of a
single freelance polite informant and
his wife but is part of a much larger
intelligence network involving police
and private individuals.
"It's just the tip of the iceberg,"
said one, veteran movement observer.
"The material in there reflects a so-
phisticated data collection system that
would take � a whole bureaucracy to
run."
� In some editions of Information
Digest, Rees refers to a "filing/index-
ing service" he maintains. He also
provides for recipients a confidential
telephone number and a Baltimore
post office box number through which
he can be contacted.
Leftist activities contended that this
suggests that he not only gives but
receives information from police ,agenc-
les and that Information Digest. is
some type nf _central clearing house
for a nationwide intelligence exchange
system. .
Romerstein denied this, saving the
"radical left is trying to make some-
thing out of nothing."
He said Be-,e a journalist by train-
ing, relies largely on published mat-
erial�radical newspapers, leaflets and
ather iitcrgture�and' on exchanging
information with fellow journalists.
"He may nave informants in iiorne
of the radical organizations," Homer.
stein said, "but they're private. not
government."
Romerstein would not diseuss how
Information Digest is financed except
to say That Rees "never made any
money on it."
Rees apparently provided the digesi
ree to some law enforcement agencies.
[The CIA acknowledged recei vin e,
a "some (unsolicited) copies," according
to a letter last Feb. 2 to New Yore
state legislative investigators.
"We do not know why we were put
on the mailing list," the letter said.
". . . and can only assume a shetgoli
approach was used in distributing it,
to various federal and state aeencietse"
The FBI said it has no record r of
receiving the newsletter, but. William
F. Haddad, director of the New Yore
state legislative oversight office, said
FBI officials told him they received it
on an unsolicitied basis.
Haddad said there is no .Fividence
that the publication receives lederel
financial support.
In the Nov. 19, 1971 edition of lii
formation Digest, Rees made a plea
for money, noting that it cost $50 in
supplies and postage for each kale',
plus "the ever increasing overlicatt
maintaining a filing-indexing are aice
Of the general findings in Ilaiee
report, Romersten said: -Some
right and some are wrong, and I'm nie
going to say which is which."
He said, "I'm not going to let Had-
dad clean up his act. Pm soeakiee fie
Rees now, and he doesn't want ilatidad
squirming off the hook."
Rees now lives in almost teiai
onymity and refuses to tale wee se
porters.
Last winter, he agreed to
briefly in a motel room
investigators looking into De:
intelligence activity. but he terse
little information, He wind�
tell them where he lives, a s
citing fear that his life itoM,l lie ea
clangored.
Rees' wife, now workirrt as
searcher in Rep_ AlcDatialif.-,
also refuses to talk to renortrs.
Several members and molooe.:
the National .I.awyers God, ;, on
time leftist loge) LISSiStana,
tion mentioned prominecti
formation Digest. -said I.ouitm
worked in the Guild's Washinetee
fice in 1972 and neisi while ben 10
was working as
"She it,aa ton very
called a ea as
Approved for Release: 2024/12/20 003257883
Approved for Release: 2024/12/20 C03257883
officer. "She was kind of an office co-
ordinator . . She put together a
(Guild) membership list complete with
home addresses and phone numbers
, . . She maintained and updated our
donors' list, things like that"
In 1971 and 1972, Rees and his wife
lived at 1016- Longfellow St. NW, a
commune with a floating population hi
a quiet cul-de-sac near carter Barran
Amphitheatre.
John Rees also set up the "Red
House Book Store" at 1247 20th St. NW
near Dupont Circle. The store was
stocked with radical tracts and under-
ground newspapers but few books. D.C.
police funds were used to pay the rent
for the eight or nine months the store
existed.
Sources close to the investigation of
D.C. poliee intelligence activity say
there is no evidence that the locations
on Longfellow Street or 20th Street
were bugged. But police did install a
listening device at a third location
used by the Rees couple and recorded
numerous conversations there, the
sources said. The sources would not
identify the location.
In one bizarre development, Robert
Merritt, a former FBI informant, told
The Washington Post that after the
Red Douse Book Store was set up, the
FBI apparently din not know the store
was a D.C. police front and instructed
him to obtain informal or about it.
"I stele mail and some ielephone warn-
bets from that place and gave them to
my FBI contact," Merritt said.
Samples of hundreds of pages of
Information Digest examined by The
Post indicate that. Rees and his in-
formants penetrated numerous internal
meetings of both rightwing and left-
wing organizations, gathering political
literature and the names; addresses and
biographical backgrounds of participants.
Also included were repeated analy-
ses 'purporting to show how Communist
and other Marxist cadres were inter-
woven With memberships of what os-
tensibly were "peace" and "antiwar"
groups.
The Feb. 19, 1971 issue of Informa-
tion Digest, for example, displays a
massive list of supporters of the Na-
tional Peace Action Coalition (NPAC),
an umbrella organization which spon-
sored many demonstrations during the
antiwar years.
An analysis of the list; Rees sold,
shows that the "Trotskyist dominated
NPAC has made significant ... inroads
into the groups and constituencies
usually regarded as the preserve of
the Moscow- controlled Communist
Party USA."
At the other end of the politieal
spectrum, Information Digest contains
detailed notes. on such worms as the
Ku Klux Klan. Minutemen. Aryan
Brotherhood and the Posse Comitatus.
The March 7, 1975 ;.,q1P of I niormai
tion 1')if4e4 reported that each "central
01;:::::inizatim;" menthe,- ie
Soeialist liberation Froni ii
can Nazi Party soiooff on te
Coast, was ordered to ohtaie
equipment including .45 antaim,
tail, 12-aauge shotgun, .308
riqe, Jen- mask and bulletpre.
The report dad not say what the
ment was intended foi.
D.C. police officials ecknowl
ceiving Information Digest ee
antiwar period hut ill itt sac
Rees was an informant for lin
Mont. V.10, cite a general r.
not disclosing the eamee ot ini
Rees' atele as a salaried imorte
confirmed hy nest Larou ;
sources.
-We were geting it then ((as
antiwar years 1." said In.q>. Al I7
guson, former head of the depa-z
intelligence division, but wit
paying tor it . . We had
employee (paid informant) we;
it by . . 1 alwas s assume
-
his own report."
Ferguson said he terminal,-
formaint in 1973 as 111(, atOiv -
went cooled and the oci
stopped receiving informatioti
Insp. Robert Zink. eurrein
peace ut 1 visi sP,
excerpts from ItVorl:Aa!inn
have been diaced ie
Jilt iwar 001-, andi-.1n,a
h cii ate coutii lea he rat-fail
�el
,r! f",,1
Approved for Release: 2024/12/20 C03257883
�
JApproved for Release: 2024/12/20 C03257883
,
f2-7'N C7r"*.
042748\
APRIL 27, 1973
TABLE OF CONTENTS
PAGE
*CORPORATE TARGETS: Characterizations of nationally active
_
groups who are involved in anti-corporate activities 1-4
WILL/AM H/NTON: Profile of the publicist for Maoist communism,
nationally active 5-7
MAYDAY 1973: Plans of Maoist-Marxist-Leninist groups for a
May Day rally in New York City 7
*CPUSA's NEW FRONT: Report on a projected Communist Party,
U.S.A. front, the National Defense Organization Against
Racist and Political Repression (NDO), New York based,
nationally active, supported by notes of a California
pilot project and an analysis of NDO's potential 8-15
ICSC: Characterization of the Irish Community Support
Committee, San Francisco based, with potential national
activity planned 15
INVESTIGATIVE NOTES: Information, supported by filed
documentation, on a variety of radical groups. In the
past, brief notes such as these were a regular feature
of the Information Digest. It is intended to resume
their publication in an attempt to disseminate informa-
tion as quickly as possible on topics which either have
been the subject of I.D. reports, or are of less than
general interest 16-17
I* SENSITIVE - do not disseminate in this form.
�
Approved for Release: 2024/12/20 C03257883
Approved for Release: 2024/12/20 C03257883(
CORPORATE TARGETS*
*SENSITIVE
The last issue of the Information Digest [4/16/731 provided a calendar
of corporate annual meetings this spring at which issues of "social respon-
sibility" will be raised by various activist groups.
The groups organizing anti-corporate activities this year which range
from proposing resolutions to picketing and sit-ins include the following:
CHURCH PROJECT ON U.S. INVESTMENTS IN SOUTHERN AFRICA - 1973 (475 River-
side Drive, New York, N.Y. 10027): The Church Project is a cooperative
grouping of boards and agencies of six Protestant denominations (American
Baptist Churches, Protestant Episcopal Church, United Church of Christ,
United Methodist Church, United Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A., Unitarian-
Universalist Association) and of the National Council of Churches and inde-
pendent Episcopal Churchmen for South Africa.
The participants in the Church Project are filing resolutions on
southern Africa individually with the corporations in which they own stock.
The Church Project is handling media presentation and proxy solicitations
(focusing primarily on institutional investors) in behalf of all the
resolution proponents.
Financial support for the Church Project comes from the participants.
The Project has one full-time employee, a ittSmith, assisted by 10 people
from the participating groups.
r\D
The Church Project grew out of a coalition formed in 1971 to promote
corporate responsibility in southern Africa4and to work for majority rule
in the countries of southern Africa. In 19W, five church agencies filed
shareholder resolutions concerning South Africa, Southwest Africa and
Angola with five corporations.
The number of participating groups this year has expanded (the most
recent additions being agencies of the United Church of Christ (UCC) and
Episcopal Churchmen for South Africa) as has the number of corporations
involved. Participants who have filed resolutions this year calling for
disclosure of activities in South Africa include:
The Women's Division, Board of Global Ministries, United Methodist
Church (Caterpillar Tractor).
The World Division, Board of Global Ministries, United Methodist
Church (Eastman Kodak).
American Baptist Board of Education and Publication (First National
City Bank).
Agencies of the United Church of Christ (Ford Motor Co.).
The Board of Christian Education of the United Presbyterian
Church, U.S.A. (General Electric).
Domestic and Foreign Missionary Society of the Protestant Episcopal
Church in the U.S.A. (IBM).
April 27, 1973 -1-
Information Digest
Approved for Release: 2024/12/20 C03257883
(cont.)
sid
(7(04.3W- (--t4/ la)
a
Approved for Release: 2024/12/20 C03257883(
CORPORATE TARGETS (coNT.)* SENSITIVE
PSO is comprised of, and supported by, a small group of Standard Oil
stockholders led by a James Hoy, an entomologist with the U.S. Department
of Agriculture. Hoy has stated that PSO will not solicit proxies in behalf
of its resolutions, but will seek media exposure to gain support from
small shareholders.
PSO is a member of the Western Corporate Action Alliance, which
includes the California chapter of the National Organization of Women (NOW),
Women's Job Rights, Berkeley Interracial House, the Glide Foundation and
the Center for New Corporate Priorities.
M. FAE McCREA AND JOHN M. McCREA (P.O. Box 172, Monroeville, Pennsyl-
vania 15146): The McCrea's are seeking "to affirm the political nonpartisan-
ship" of the U.S. Steel Corp. John McCrea, an associate professor of
chemistry at Indiana University, claims that in 1969, while he was employed
by U.S. Steel, he was pressured to contribute in an election campaign.
Last year the McCrea's resolution to ban any U.S. Steel political activities
received nearly 7% of the vote. They have not actively solicited proxies.
--THE FxNep_rpumATIgN,(loo East 85th Street, New York, N.Y. 10028):
The 'Field Foundation policy is to actively press management for change in
cases where the,operations of corporations in which it holds stock adversely
affect groups t) which it has made grants.
In 1972, the Field Foundation present -resolutions to the Pittston
Company and Kennicott Copper relating to thadhealth and safety of mine
workers.and to the environment. The resolugions were aimed at operations
in the Appalachian Mountains, an area of ma4Or activism for the foundation.
This year, Field has submitted three resolutions to Pittston requesting
the company to supply information on the outstanding claims from the Buffalo
Creek flood last year, to initiate annual reports on mine safety practices
and efforts to correct ecological damage, and to provide transcripts of its
annual meetings.
The Field Foundation proxy efforts are managed by its executive
director, Leslie Dunbar.
CLERGY AND LAITY,CONCERNED (235 East 49th Street, New York, N.Y.
10017): Clergy and Laity Concerned (CLC) was organized in 1965 by New
York clergymen in opPosition to the war in Vietnam. Its prime focus has
been on ending the wiar. Its activities have included "Project Unsell,"
a national advertising campaign to "help unsell the war;" publication
of the bi-weekly newspaper, American Report; sponsorship of daily four-
minute "American Report" radio spots; and a nationwide campaign which
has included demonstrations at plants as well as a shareholder resolution
to force Honeywell to end the production of antipersonnel bombs.
April 27, 1973 -3- (cont.)
Information Digest
Approved for Release: 2024/12/20 C03257883
(Approved for Release: 2024/12/20 C03257883
CORPORATE TARGETS (coNT.) *s ENSITIVE
The National Council of Churches of Christ in the U.S.A.
(Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing Co.).
Participants filing resolutions on fair employment practices in
southern Africa include agencies of the UCC (Mobil Oil and Newmont Mining).
The Department of Education and Social Concern of the Unitarian-Universalist
Association has filed a resolution with EXXON Corp. on new investmeht in
Angola; and three participants have filed resolutions to stop operations
in South West Africa - Episcopal Churchmen for South Africa (American Metal
Climax and Newmont), UCC agencies (Continental Oil), and Domestic and
Foreign Missionary Society of the Protestant Episcopal Church (Phillips
Petroleum).
/PROJECT ON CORPORATE.RESPeNIBILITY '(1525 18th Street, N.W., Washington,
D.C. 20036): The Project on Corporate Responsibility (PCR) was founded
in 1970 by "public interest lawyers seeking new ways to make corporations
more socially accountable." Until recently, its principal vehicle has
been the shareholder resolution. Late last year PRC established a Center
on Corporate Responsibility to conduct litigation, research and educational
efforts on a variety of issues.
PCR is best known for its "Campaign GM'!" This attack on General
Motors, PCR's earliest effort, included 1971 proposals, to place "public
Interest representatives" on the GM Board, ad to require GM to disclose
its policies on minority hiring, air pollutlen control and auto safety.
PCR broadened its scope in 1972 and pret�nted resolutions to Ford,
Chrysler and AT&T, proposing expansion of tir boards of directors, and
to six drug companies seeking more detailed 'labeling of the drugs they
sell overseas.
This year, PCR is seeking disclosure of political contributions and
lobbying activities by Eastman Kodak, GM, International Telephone & Tele-
graph and Union Oil of California.
PCR has also filed resolutions that IBM, Levi Strauss and Xerox all
circulate shareholder nominations for director in their proxy materials.
The PCR is actively soliciting support this year from institutional investors
and other shareholders. Philip W. Moore directs PCR's proxy activities.
PROJECT STANDARD OIL (6075 East Alta, Fresno, California 93727):
Project Standard Oil (PSO) is primarily concerned with the policies of
Standard Oil of California on environmental matters, and in particular
with that company's contributions to campaigns against environmental pro-
tection issues raised in California referenda.
April 27, 1973
Information Digest
-2- (cont.)
Approved for Release: 2024/12/20 C03257883
Approved for Release: 2024/12/20 C03257883(
CORPORATE TARGETS (CONT,)* SENSITIVE
CLC has also petitioned EXXON and General Electric concerning their
military and defense production with regard to the war in Southeast Asia
and on provisions for a transfer to "civilian-oriented production."
CLC is not formally soliciting proxies, but it will conduct a publicity
campaign on behalf of its Honeywell resolution. CLC now claims some 50
local chapters and a membership of over 40,000. It now has a national
staff of 7, headed by Executive Director Rev. Richard R. Fernandez.
CLC has worked closely with the People's Coalition for Peace and
Justice, and its various predecessors - all directed by the Communist
Party, U.S.A. (CPUSA). CLC members and officials have traveled extensively
to Hanoi, Stockholm and Paris and worked diligently to further the cause
of the North Vietnamese communists and the Vietcong.
DOMESTIC AND FOREIGN MISSIONARY SOCIETY OF THE PROTESTANT EPISCOPAL
CHURCH IN THE U.S.A. (815 Second Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10017): The Episcopal
Church, acting through its Executive Council Committee for Social Responsi-
bility in Investments, has proposed resolutions for the past three years
to prevent corporate actions they claimed upset the ecological balance in
Puerto Rico. This year's resolution is diabted at American Metal Climax
and is identical to last year's resolutionhich received about 3 percent
of the shareholder vote. N.)
Rev. Everett W. Francis is directing Episcopal Church's share-
holder efforts, and the Corporate Information Center of the National Council
of Churches is actively soliciting proxies on behalf of this proposal.
NOTE: It must be appreciated that these are thumbnail sketches
only of the radical activist groups. Additional informa-
tion is available on file.
April 27, 1973 -4 -
Information Digest
Approved for Release: 2024/12/20 C03257883
Approved for Release: 2024/12/20 C03257883
WILLIAM HINTON
The chief publicist for America's Maoist communists.eincee1966..is
vigespus 54-year-old Fleetwood, Pennsylvania farmer, WilliamiHowar
"-Hinton. In a series of lecture tours criss-crossinglAnM*74111ffna
as to d his audiences of the wonders of Chinese communism and 'helped
to create a climate in which the violence-prone American Maoist groups
such as the Revolutionary Union (RU), the October League (OW, the
Vneceremos Organization (V0) and the Attica Brigade (AB) could gain
an increasing acceptance.
Born on February 2, 1919 in Chicago, the son of Carmelite Chase and
Sebastian Hinton; he received his B.S. in 1941 from Cornell University
and studied also at Harvard. Hinton was married to and divorced from a
Bertha Sneck; he is now married to a Joanne Raiford and has four children
(Carmelite, Michael, Alyssa and Catherine). Hinton has written several
books on China including ranshen, The Iron Oxen, Turning Point in China
and Hundred Days Par.
Hinton's first visit to China was made in 1937 when he crossed Man-
churia en route to Russia from Japan where he had been working for six
months as a newspaper reporter. 'Maybe in 1937 there were still boy
adventurers just like in the comic books].
In 1941 and 1942, Hinton was a farm manager at the Putney School
in Putney, Vermont. In 1943, he was drafted under the Selective Service
System but was sent to a camp for conscientious objectors. In 1944 he
applied for military service but was rejected and returned to the Putney
School.
e-e
In 1945 and 1946, Hinton was a propagandianalyst in China for the
Office of War Information. On his return to the U.S. he worked briefly
for the National Farmers Union before returni' to China in 1947.
In China Hinton worked successively for the United Nations as a
tractor technician, for the communist revolutionary government in Shansi
Province and for the communist government in Peking. In 1956, he returned
to the U.S. and worked for seven years as a truck mechanic in Philadelphia.
Since 1963, Hinton has been a grain farmer in Pennsylvania.
In 1971, Hinton returned to Peking for a six-month period during
which time he worked in a steel plant and met with Premier Chou En-lai.
In 1972, he was identified in Congressional testimony as a covert member
of the Revolationary Union (RU).
During the time that Hinton was a tractor instructor at Northern
University in South Shansi Province, the university was a guerilla institu-
tion; and in 1948 more than half of the students were involved in the
"land reform movement," a Maoist phrase encompassing state seizure of
the land and property and the faecing of all farmers into monolithic state
collective farms. As an "observer," Hinton took an active role in this
program and described it in violent detail in Panshen.
April 27, 1973
Information Digest
-5- (cont.)
Approved for Release: 2024/12/20 C03257883
Approved for Release: 2024/12/20 C03257883,
WILLIAM HINTON (coNT,)
In 1954, Hinton testified before the Senate Internal Security Sub-
committee. During the course of his testimony he had frequent recourse
to the protection of the Fifth Amendment. He refused to say anything
concerning membership in communist groups, his associations with communists
or his activities on their behalf.
Senator William E. Jenner, then (1954) chairman of SISS, described
Hinton's family in the following terms:
"... One sister, Jean, was a friend of the notorious Nathan
Gregory Silvermaster under him at the old Farm Security Admin-
istration. Another sister, Joan, was an atomic research
assistant at the Los Alamos project where she had access to
classified material. Like her brother William, Joan also went
to China and stayed there after the Communist triumph. She
got a job through another American, Gerald Tannenbaum, who
was executive director of the China Welfare Fund headed by
Mine. Sun Yat-sen.... In China, Joan married Erwin (Sidney)
Ehgst, who was also an old UNRRA man. Today the Engst'S are
Somewhere in the depths of Inner Mongolia serving the Commun-
ist cause. Joan came out of obscurity long enough to make
a bitterly anti-American speech at the Communist-inspired
fraud known as the Asian and Pacific Peace Conference, re-
garding which the ubcommittee also expects to reveal a great
deal.
hool, which is run by William Hinton's
mother and where/12e himself was employe(, is a story in itself.
One of its faculty members was Edwin S.Amith. Smith later
became a registered propagandist for thg-poviet Government.
He distributed photographs attempting 6-4,+11 veithat the United
States practiced germ warfare in North . ;Another person
closely associated with Putney wasraillen Let The
sub-
committee found, after a 15-month inquiry, that Lattimore was
a 'conscious, articulate instrument in the Soviet Conspiracy.'
"Lattimore buil thefPacific Operations Branch of OWI
[Office of "r_infor 0,2n]for which Hinton later worked in
Chungking. 7,2ohnI..C,Faikhank.)ras at the top of OWI's Chinese
organization.Qpenjamin )(izer ran the Chinese branch of UNRRA
[United Nations Relief an Rehabilitation Administration] for
which Hinton also worked.
"Lattimore, Fairbank,.and Kizer all were key figures in
the Institute of Pacific Relations. All three were named as
Communists in sworn testimony before us.
April 27, 1973
Information Digest
-6- (cont.)
.5
-47)
Approved for Release: 2024/12/20 C03257883
Approved for Release: 2024/12/20 C03257883(
WILLIAM HINTON (coNT.)
NOTE: The Putney School, founded by HintonLs_mother,
is still providing "progressive" education. During
the mid-1960's, it was one of the most favored
training organizations for the U.S. Peace Corps.
Mother Hinton, now, in her 80's, is still active in
espousing communist causes, and visited the People's
Republic of China with the rest of her family in
1971.
k
Joan Hinton Engst, by marriage related to the
Wicenbaum family active in CPUSA politics, remains
in China. According to radical, undocumented sources,
Jean Hinton is living in Putney, Vermont. Hinton's
daughter, Carmelite, now also living in China, took
_ (�
an active and leadership role, according to her father,
in the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution as a
member of the Red Guard.
,
WV;
t e�-�
-
During his years as a Maoist propagandist in the U.S., William Hinton
has helped organize and develop the Revolutionary Union (RU), the Committee
of Concerned Asian Scholars (CCAS), and most recently U.S. - China Friend-
ship Associations which are now mushrooming across the U.S.
MAYDAY 1973
Maoist communist groups in the eastern U. will gather in New York
City on Sunday, April 29, for a rally and maich sponsored by the November 4
Coalition.
Plans for the May Day event call for the Maoists to assemble in three
locations (Harlem, South Bronx and Central Park) at 12 noon and march to
Randalls Island for a 2 pm rally.
The groups reported to be taking part include: Attica Brigade (AB),
Revolutionary Union (RU), Puerto Rican Workers Organization, Black Workers
Congress (BWC), October League (OL), I WOR KUEN, Puerto Rican Student
Union, Columbia Anti-Imperialist Student Committee, Taxi Rank & File of
New York City, Final Warning, Outlaw, Guardian, Unemployed Workers Organ-
izing Committee (UWOC), Puerto Rican Socialist Party (PRSP), the U.S.
Committee to Aid the NLF, On the Move, and Park Slope People Against
the War.
Other groups which are supporting the demonstration and march are
Vietnam Veterans Against the War (VVAW), El Commette, the Asian Coalition,
The Support Committee for the Philippines, and the African Information
Service.
April 27, 1973 -7-
Information Digest
Approved for Release: 2024/12/20 C03257883
Approved for Release: 2024/12/20 C03257883
CPUSA's NEW FRU*
*SENSITIVE
Plans are now being completed for a national conference in Chicago,
May 11-13, 1973, to launch a, National Defense Organization Against -
--Racist and Political. RepreSsion -(NDO). This conference is seen as an
'attempt by the CommUnist Party, U.S.A. (CPUSA) to develop a new national
front in which the issues of prisons, police brutality, political repres-
sion and attacks on the legal system can be welded into an entity; and
which will attract a broad base of support from minority, religious and
non-aligned radicals.
_
This conference is of major importance because it is CPUSA's
_ _
attempt to replace its series of antiwar coalitions IPeOble's Coalition
for Peace and Justice (PCPJ),,:New Mobe, etc.) with a new multi-issue
organization.
The NDO is presently operating from Room 425, 150 Fifth Avenue, New
York, N.Y. 10011 [212/243-8555 & 8556]. The conference call is signed
by Angela Davis, Carlos Feliciano, Billy Dean Smith, Rev. Ben Chavis and
Fr. Philip Berrigan.
The letter which is being circulated with the conference call, dated
5/22/73, states in part:
"In recent months many people have expressed outrage at the
unabashed encouragement of racism issuing from government
circles. We have all watched with dismay Nixon's attack on
the living standards of working and poor people and his
efforts to eliminate and curtail our democratic rights.
Our job, however, is not only to criticAge the rising repres-
sion. We must also actively and persistently prevent its
further acceleration, and the further diAerioration of our
rights and liberties. One of our essealal weapons in this
fight must be a defense organization which can mount national
and international campaigns against racist and political re-
pression. We need a defense organization which can serve as
a shield between people's struggles and the government's
apparatus of repression. ...
Those of us who are writing to you are women and men--Black,
Brown and white--who have spent many months in this country's
wretched prisons as a consequence of our political beliefs
and activities. We have challenged the policies and practices
of the government--such as the savage aggression against the
people of Indochina, and the official attempts to suppress
the liberation struggles in Puerto Rico, Africa and around
the globe. Our work in our communities was seen by the govern-
ment as a serious threat to the status quo of racism and
poverty at home. We are but a few; there are hundreds more
�Like us who have been forced to spend long terms in prison. ...
April 27, 1973
Information Digest
-8- ;cont.)
Approved for Release: 2024/12/20 C03257883
Approved for Release: 2024/12/20 C03257883
('
CPUSA FROJ (coNTX
*SENSITIVE
As sponsors and as active participants in organizing this
conference we want to impress upon you the gravity of this
growing repression and the importance of your support of
our efforts to fight back. ..."
The cnforenc3 call itself appeals to "progressive men and women
throughout the U.S. - to working people, black, brown, red and white;
to stu.:7entS and professionals, to clergy and church people, to members
of groups and clubs."
Full of the traditional rhetoric used by the CPUSA, the call includes
the following statements which provide clear indications of the NDO's
targets and tactics:
"WE ARE CONCERNED ABOUT THE PRESENT. We are alarmed about the
appeal to racism which daily emanates from the White House. The
new Nixon offensive against the liberation struggles of black
people, Ch1canoz, Puerto Ricans, Asians and Indians has become
more ruthless than ever before. In the barrios and ghettos,
police vicicnce is steadily mounting.
rE J1 CONCERNED about the drastic efforts to suppress growing
movements of workers, poor people, women, and those who resist
foreien wars of aggression.
Fabricated 'conspiracies' and othet:frame-ups are employed to
behead and crush our movements forbhange. And those who have
already become the victims of poliati%forces and courts are more
greatly oppressed behind the prisoneWalls.
WE ARE CONCERNED because the Nixon4Upreme Court decisions. are
turning back the clock on civil rights and civil liberties.
Extensive police and army intelligence networks, legalized wire-
tapping, 'no-knock' laws and other repressive legislation have
already eroded our rights.. Chicanos, Latinos, Africans, Asians,
Arabs and other nationals are unjustly deported for their political
activities. Workers rights to organize and strike are beaten
doten by anti-labor legislation and executive orders.
WE ARE CONCERNED ABOUT OUR FUTURE. Nixon is calling for the
roin3titutiop of the death penalty and the elimination of
insanity as a lc-al defense. He demands that 'offenders' be
'punished without pity' and takes a hardline no-amnesty position
on war resisters. These are all ingredients of his campaign
for en 'end to permissiveness' and are grim signposts of the
intense repression which lies ahead. ...
BUT WE HAVE LTARNED THAT THESE FORCES OF RACISM AND REPRESSION
CAN BE DEFEATED. We know that victories can be won. They have
been won in the movements for the freedom of Angela Davis, Bobby
April 27, 1973
Information Digest
-9- (cont.)
Approved for Release: 2024/12/20 C03257883
Approved for Release: 2024/12/20 C03257883
CPUSA FRONT (coNT,)*
*SENSITIVE
Seale and Erika Huggins. Members of the Black Panther Party
in New York, Los Angeles, Detroit and New Orleans have been
set free. Los Siete de la Raza, the Harrisburg defendants,
the Soledad Brothers and Carlos Feliciano have been acquitted,
thanks to the work of people's defense campaigns. ...
The repression of this period is calculated, organized and
systematic. In its center is the seed of fascism, which, if
allowed to sprout, would strangle us all. To successfully
confront and bring a halt to this systematic, nationally
organized repression, we need a national apparatus to organize
our resistance.
WE NEED A NATIONAL DEFENSE ORGANIZATION."
Support for the NDO is being generated by a number of diverse groups
who met in New York City on March 17 for a national pre-conference meeting
organized by Charlene Mitchell, CPUSA candidate for the U.S. Presidency
in 1968. The efforts made in Southern California provide a typical pilot
project for NDO's regional organizing.
LOS ANGELES MOT PROJECT
On February 24 at Los Angel CityCollege�some _278. persons attended
the founding of thec.Upl.ted Defense Against Repression, Southern California
(UDAR). A constitution and by-rawb,v'efeTbdopted; decisiOnd made to publish
a bi-lingual newspaper, The Defender;\a 46-p6aon assembly elected; and
a Statement of Principles adopted as fdllowst
"We defend the democratic and the ealstitutional rights
of all persons and organizations victi4:0d as a result of
struggles for peace, freedom and economc'security or singled
out for attack as a result of racist and/or political repression.
We recognize that in most instances the victims of
repression are the poor and the workers and most especially
those from the Black, Drown and other minority communities.
We help the activist and the victim of repression form
defense committees. We develop public meetings, engage in
mass public education, provide legal defense.
We publish educational material, hold cultural events and
work with like-minded defense groups on defense issues.
We seek to wipe out from the statute books repressive
legislation, undermining the Bill of Rights, and to enact pro-
gressive legislation, seeking to extend the democratic rights
of the people, particularly in the fields of arrest, trial
and imprisonment.
April 27, 1973
Information Digest
-10- (cont.)
Approved for Release: 2024/12/20 C03257883
Approved for Release: 2024/12/20 C03257883 (
CPUSA FHA' (coNT,)*
*SENSITIVE
We maintain a counseling service on immigration, naturali-
zation and matters relating to military service.
We work with a panel of attorneys.
We operate a bail fund.
We publicly solicit and urge financial support for our
program."
Among the 130 organizations represented from 41 Southern California
cities were:
American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees
(AFSCME) Locals 1108 and 2070
American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Long Beach
Bay Area Cultural Club
Black Students Union (BSU) - Los Angeles City College
Commission on Racial Justice of the United Church of Christ
(UCC-CRJ)
Centro de Accion Social Autonomo (CASA)
City Terrace Jewish Cultural Club
Chicago Cultural Club
Committee of the Arts Against Repression (cAAR)
Communist Party, Southern California (CPUSA)
Catholic Human Relations Council
Committee to Defend the Bill of 4ghts - Los Angeles, Eastside,
Mexican, Northwest, Valley an4\yestside branches
Emma Lazarus Clubs - City CommitteA
Fur Workers Union
Hollywood Jewish Cultural Club
International Longshoremens and Warehousemen's Union (ILWU)
Los Angeles Jewish Cultural and Fraternal Clubs
La Raza Unida - San Fernando Valley
Movimiento Estudiantil Chicano de Aztlan (MECHA) - L.A. City College
Medical Committee for Human Rights (MCHR)
National Lawyers Guild of Southern California (NLG)
Peace and Freedom Party - Long Beach (PFP)
Peoples World, Southern California Committee
Students for a Democratic Society (SDS)
Southern Conference Educational Fund - Los Angeles Friends (SCEF)
Social Service Union - Local 535, SEIU
Teamsters Union
United Steel Workers of America - Local 2869
US Organization
Vietnam Veterans Against the War (VVAW)
Venceremos Organization (VO)
Waiters Union - Local 17
Young Workers Liberation League (YWLL)
April 27, 1973
Information Digest
-11- (cont.)
Approved for Release: 2024/12/20 C03257883
Approved for Release: 2024/12/20 C03257883 (
CPUSA FRONT (coNT.)*
*SENSITIVE
Workshops held at UDAR's founding meeting included sessions on
Prisons and Prisoners, Immigration and Deportation, Police Brutality,
Repressive Legislation, Repression in the Armed Forces, and Structure
and Organization.
The day following UDAR's conference (2/25/73), the new group's Assembly
met at 1251 South St. Andrews Place, Los Angeles. Members of the UDAR
Assembly are:
Max Aragon
Louise Bauers
Ethel Bertolini
Gregory Binion
Maxine Bracy
Laurie Chen
Rose Chernin
Bert Corona
Fr. Mark Day
Rev. Alvin Dortch
Charles Dubois, Sr.
Jad Doucette
Rev. Edgar Edwards
Fred Firestone
Lucy Fried
Clifford Fried
Maria Gaitan
Mike Holman
Robert Klonsky
Chukla Lawton
Herbert Magidson
Alex fiestas
Leah Nudell
Nareshimah Osei
Natalia Ramirez
Frederic Rinaldo
Javier Rodriguez
Frank Ramos
Billy Dean Smith
Joseph Allen "Mongo"
Francoise Spaulding
Earl Satcher
Elections held at this first meeting, awd at a second Assembly meeting
on 3/11/73, resulted in the following app4cments:
Honorary Chairpersons: Rose Chernin antkRev. Mark Day
Vice Chairpersons: Bert Corona, Alvin)Dortch, Bill Takahashi
Executive Secretary: Robert Klonsky
Treasurer: Lori Chin
Administrative Secretary: Maria Caftan
Field Organizer: James W. Harrison, aka Nareshimah Osei
Editor of The Defender: Frederic Rinaldo
NOTE:
Smith
Keta Miranda -
Valerie Mitchell
Otha McKinney
Nathan Shapiro
Bill Takahashi
William Taylor
Mauricio Terrazas
Audrey Tieger
Delfino Varela
Sabina Virgo
Frank Wilkinson
Nancy Windbush
Jerry Wright
Mike Wolfson
This listing includes several identified members of
who had previously been active with the Los Angeles
Action Council (LAPAC).
CPUSA
Peace
(:)f_particular interest is the involvement of Robert
\Klonsky, whose radical activities in recent yeatC-haVe-
ba-en eclipsed by those of his son, Mike, founder of the
Ma6ist communist October League, Marxist-Leninist (OL).
Robert "Bob" Klonsky, 65, was Organizational Secretary
for CPUSA in Pennsylvania and Deleware in the '50's
and a Smith Act defendant in 1953.
April 27, 1973 -12- (cont.)
Information Digest
Approved for Release: 2024/12/20 C03257883
Approved for Release: 2024/12/20 C03257883
CPUSA FRONT (CONT. )*
*SENSITIVE
ANALYSIS
The founding convention of the NDO, in addition to launching a
new national communist-dominated coalition, will bring into sharp focus
the disunity of the radical left in the U.S.
At this time there is no indication that the Socialist Workers Party
(SWP) and other Trotskyist splinter groups are in any ways involved with
the NDO. One Maoist group, Venceremos, attended the Los Angeles conven-
tion: however, the primary Maoist organizations, with which Venceremos
has ideological problems, were not present. According to reliable radical
sources, these groups have not yet decided how the NDO will affect their
operations or what their involvement should be.
The conflict between the various communist groups over support of
the NDO is of particular importance to observers of the National Lawyers
Guild (NLG) and the other communist groups which once were totally domin-
ated by CPUSA, but which now have a numbe- of members belonging to the
Maoist tendencies.
In an internal document of restricted circulation, the NLG has brought
the NDO to the notice of certain of its members, stating:
"To be sure, the concept of a nationwide defense organiza-
tion is a weighty one. Whether or not the NLG should associate or
or align itself with this particular attempt to establish such
an organization is a decision which cap_pnly be made after wide-
,�
spread discussion....
We [the National Office staff] will meet April 19 with
members of the New York City chapter w4ckhave previous ex-
perience either with the New York Def.:en-Se Committee or the
Angela Davis Defense Committee. We would then like to con-
vene a meeting in New York City of the regional vice-presidents
or designated regional representatives who, having discussed
the issue at length with people in their region, will be pre-
pared to speild an unlimited amount of time in intense political
discussion, out of which a Guild decision on participation
in the conference will come.
... this request requires your immediate attention. There
are clearly several important political problems to be en- .
countered before a decision can be made...."
The concept of the National Defense Organization is, of course,
typical of CPUSA's "united front" tactic. However, the advent of the
Maoist organizations, their present aggressive recruiting campaigns
and abundant funds will cause the new CPUSA front many problems.
April 27, 1973
Information Digest
-13- (cent.)
Approved for Release: 2024/12/20 C03257883
Approved for Release: 2024/12/20 C03257883t,
CPUSA FRONT (coNT.)*
ANALYSIS (cont.)
Probably the greatest problem for the NDO will center around the
various groups attitudes toward violent revolutionary actions.
Vioience as a communist tactic:
*SENSITIVE
An April 19 article in the Daily World by Rick Nagin entitled, "The
Guardian rushes in where Engles refused to tread," is of particular
importance in the anticipated quarrels which will develop around the
NDO. Nagin's article complains of misrepresentation of CPUSA's position
on violence by Nike iflonsky, founder of the October League, and by
Irwin Silber, executive editor of the Guardian, at a New York Guardian
Forum organized by that newspaper and a number of Maoist groups.
The Daily World reminds its readers that the program of the CPUSA
states:
"The people must be prepared to meet any eventuality.
While we seek a peaceful path, as preferable to a violent
one, this choice may prove to be blocked by monopolist reaction.
Socialism must be sought, therefore, by whatever means circum-
stances may impose."
The Daily World continues:
"Klonsky and Irwin Silber, however, elevated 'armed struggle'
to the level of a principle, evidently based on Chairman Mao's
saying that 'Political power grows out of the barrel of a gun.'
"The working class must prepare for 40imed struggle,' Silber
urged, though he did not say whether thisiVould be introduced
as a resolution to trade unions or should-hi:. adopted by the
strikers at the Farah pants plant....
"Perhaps Silber is only romantically associating himself
with armed struggle 'in principle' and does not mean this to be
taken seriously in any concrete situation. If so, this is the
height of irresponsibility, as too many gifted, dedicated people
have already died partly because of such 'general' calls to
'pick up the gun.'
"Perhaps, the new Maoists are only speaking of some undefined
future date when socialism is on the order of the day. Yet, they
object to the Communist Party's recognition that even under such
conditions a peaceful transition may be possible....
"Under present world conditions the possibility of a relatively
peaceful revolution is even greater than during the lives of Marx,
Engels and Lenin. This is because the anti-imperialist forces in
April 27, 1973
Information Digest
-14- (cont.)
Approved for Release: 2024/12/20 C03257883
Approved for Release: 2024/12/20 C03257883
CPUSA FRONT (coNL) *SENSITIVE
the world today, when they are united, now outweigh the forces
ot imperialism and may be able to block ruling class attempts
to drown a revolution in blood.
It is exactly in this context that the danger of Maoism
and ether divisive forms of narrow nationalism and middle class
radicalism lies. These forces vacilate and at any moment may
line up with the basic anti-Soviet, anti-Communist, anti-demo-
cratic thrust of U.S. imperialism.
The latest example of this line-up is, in fact, the effort
to form a Maoist party in the U.S., a 'new communist party.'
The Chinese Maoists are actively involved in this and the U.S.
government would, at the very least, welcome any effort to counter
the growing influence of the Communist Party.
In the recent period nearly a// the groups involved in
the Guardian forum have sent delegations to China to confer
with important officials of the Chinese CP....
Unfortunately, the Guardian, the Maoist groups hovering
around it and the various other anti-Communist 'left' sects
seem committed to a course that constitutes an attack on left
unity and can only drive working people away from radical ideas
and the fight against monopoly."
With these arguments being openly discussed, the possibility of
communist violence becomes a probability as each faction vies with its
rivals for a leadership role as the "revolutionary vanguard."
And at the NDO founding convention, the questions of whom to defend,
and for what acts, will be of critical importance.
ICSC
i',..-:
The Irish Community SuppOrt Committee (lics.(), 1215 Noe Street, San
� _., Francisco, Ca. 94114, was-formed-this year by ctivists from the Irish
Community Defense Committee (ICDC). ICDC was Ormed in October, 1972,
in response to the convening of a federal grand jury to investigate ac-
tivities including the supply of weapons in support of the Irish Repub-
lican Army (IRA).
IcSC has broader aims than the ICDC, a part of the Northern Ireland
Civil Rights Association (NICRA). These include "(/) direct support for
the struggle in Ireland; (2) educational efforts to inform Americans about
the true character of the struggle in Ireland and (3) defense of individ-
uals and groups harassed or prosecuted for their assistance to the Irish
struggle."
ICSC is planning to publish a regular newsletter, or7Tanize a speakers
bureau, and hold "regular protests against British terrorist activities,
and United States government support of British imperialism."
April 27, 1973 -15 -
Information Digest
Approved for Release: 2024/12/20 C03257883
Approved for Release: 2024/12/20 C03257883
ADDENDA TO PAGE 15*
*SENSIT/VE_
- - -
\
Since the material on the National Defense Organization onx� was
written, documentation has been obtained-that-the first list of sponsors
includes the following:
Rev. Ralph D. Abernathy
John J. Abt, Esq.
Eqbal Ahmed
Hursel Alexander
Herbert Aptheker
Max Aragon
Ramon Arbona
Fred Bell
Jane Benedict
Rev. Dan Berrigan
Rev. Phil Berrigan
Julian Bond
Anne Braden
Carl Braden
Allan Brotsky, Esq.
Margaret Burnham, Esq.
Haywood Burns, Esq.
Rev. Ben Chavis
Prof. Noam Chomsky
Bob Chrisman
Virginia Collins
Walter Collins
Rep. John Conyers, Jr.
Marvel Cooke
Bert Corona
Richard Criley
Ricardo Cruz
Margo Dashielle
Angela Y. Davis
Sallye B. Davis
Rep. Ronald V. Dellums
Dave Dellinger
Ethel Dotson
Armida Duran
Rev. Alvin Dorteh
Rev. Edgar Edwards
Chuck Eppinette, Jr.
Alicia Escalante
Al Evanoff
Arthur 0. Eve
Stanley Faulkner, Esq.
Abe Feinglass
Carlos Feliciano
Rev. Richard Fernandez
Rev. W.V. Finlator
Rev. Allen Fisher
Harold Ford
Odell Franklin
Rudolf� "Corky" Gonzales
Pat Gorman
Jesse Gray
Fr. James E. Groppi
Gene Guerrero
Rev. Edward Guinan
Larry Gurley
Jose Guiterrez
Fannie Lou Hammer
Jim Houghton
Leaman Hood
Al Hubbard
Nancy Jefferson
Rev. Iry Joyner
Ola Kennedy
Rev. Muhammad Kenyatta
Rev. Charles Koen
Prof. Frederick W. Kraus
William Kunstler,
Anna Langford
Sidney Lens
John Lewis
John Line
Alfredo Lopez
Walter Lowenfels
Prof. Beatrice Lumpkin
Fr. Lawrence Lucas
Prof. Salvador Luria
Bradford Lyttle
Conrad Lynn, Esq.
Sr. Elizabeth McAllister
Al McSurley
Margaret McSurley
Rev. Richard McSorley
John T. MeTernan, Esq.
Mako East & West Players
Peggy Smith Martin
Rev. Paul Mayer
Rev. William H. Melish
George Merritt
Kate Millett
Howard Moore, Jr., Esq.
Claudia Marcum
Rev. H.C. Mulholland
George P. Murphy, Jr.
Charlene Mitchell
Ernie MacMillan
Adrienne Nelson
Fr. Joseph O'Rourke
Nareshimah Osei
Dr. Helen Chavis Othow
Prof. John Papademous
Sidney Peck
Don Perdue
Seymour Posner
Jesse Prostem
Suzanne Post
Rev. Harold Quigley
Rev. George Reddick
Anton Refrigier
Fred Rivaldo
Antonio Rodriquez, Esq.
Javier Rodriquez
Carlos Russell
Irving Sarnoff
David Scribner, Esq.
Pete Seeger
Judi Simmons
Modjeska Simkins
Billy Dean Smith
Joseph "Mango" Smith
Martin Sostre
Jack D. Spiegel
Dr. Benjamin Spock
Rev. Henry Starks
Amy Swerlow
William Tate
Jarvis Tyner
April 27, 1973
Information Digest
-15a-
Approved for Release: 2024/12/20 C03257883
(cont.)
Approved for Release: 2024/12/20 C03257883i
ADDENDA (coNT. )*
Jackie Vaughn, ill
Joe Walker
Paul Walker
Prof. James Warf
*SENSITIVE
George W. Webber
Charles White
Dave White
Prof. Fred Whitehead
Frank Wilkinson
Rev. Cecil Williams
Ronnie Williams
Henry Winston
The May 11-13 conference will be held at the Pick Congress Hotel
(Florentine Room), Chicago, Illinois, with Angela Davis as the keynote
speaker.
Workshops already planned include:
Friday, May 11
7-11pm: Registration; Workshop selection, Housing arrangements
Planning Committee meets with plenary session chairpersons;
workshop leaders and plenary speakers.
Saturday, May 12
9:30 - 11:00 am Opening Plenary and Keynote Address.
11:00 - 12:30 pm Workshops on Prisons and Prisoners, Police Brutality,
Immigration and Deportation, Repressive Legislation,
Repression in the Armed Forces (including Repatriation
and Amnesty), Repression and Labor, Repression of
Political Organizations and Individuals.
12:30 - 2:00 pm
Lunch Break
2:00 - 3:30 pm Plenary Session - Proposal on structure and workshop
developments.
3:30 - 6:00 pm Continuation of workshops.
6:00 - 7:30 pm Dinner Break
7:30 pm MASS RALLY
Sunday, May 13
10:30 - 2:00 pm Final session of workshopsw.
1:30 - 4:30 pm Closing Plenary resolutiohs, workshop reports,
12:00 - 1:30 pm Lunch Break
5:00 pm
April 27, 1973
Information Digest
business and announcements.
New National Steering Committee meets.
-15 b-
Approved for Release: 2024/12/20 C03257883
Approved for Release: 2024/12/20 C03257883
�
INVES IGATIVE NOTES -
,
( Jim arsoa-,of_Berkeley, California, recently elected president of
the4AT1ON LAWYERS GUILD-INLG), has chosen an "interim advisory body."
Merbers incthde Ron Romines and Conci Bokum, Santa
Leeds, Dorort'Weipberg, Matt Zwerling, Steve White,
Rhine, Eve/Pell, Paul Rupert and Daniel Boone, Bay
Litt, JoanOnderson,'Heil Herring and Cathy Stout,
Clara Valley; Wini
Al Brotsky, Jennie
Area; Dan Lund, Paula
Los Angeles.
A People's Law School operated by the SEATTLE NLG chapter, March/
April, 1973, included the following instructors: Phil Katzen, Doug Honig,
Wayne Nelson, Dan Sever, Lar Halpern, Jim Herrick, John Caughlan, Phil
Mortenson, Jeff Spence, John Rassier, Howard Ratner, Rochelle Kleinberg,
Ruth Nordenbrook, Chris Mrak, Sasha Harman and Bob Czeisler.
Speaker at the CHICAGO NLG chapter luncheon on March 2 was Renault
Robinson, leader of the Afro-American Patrolman's League of the Chicago
Police Department. Robinson called for reforms within the Department and
suggested that police brutality suits are the most effective means of
facilitating this reform. He discredited indictment by the U.S. Attorney's
office as a viable means of reform because "the Justice Department stymies
so many of thene indictments in Washington."
The NEWARK LAW COLLECTIVE (NLC), 108 Washington Street, Newark, New
Jersey 07102 (201/622-4545), consisting of Stuart S. Ball, Edward Carl Broege,
Anne W. Elwell, Craig H. Livingston and Paula G. Roberts, is seeking new
and additional members. The NLC is "house-counsel" to the N.J. Gay Activist
Alliance (GAA), the N.J. chapter of the Puerto Rican Socialist Party (PRSP).
and "insurgent labor caucuses."
DAN 4JGEL,YBerkeley, California radical activist since 1964 who as
a embertr of the NLG Southeast Asia Military Law Project was arrested last
year by the Philippines Constabulary for his involvement with anti-Marcos
guerillas, has been appointed administrator of the Berkeley Rant Control
Board at a salary of $19,200. [Siegel cl.eys that he will donate "much"
of this salary to his "favorite politicalopd social causes."] On May 4,
his appeal to the California Supreme CourNyigainst the refusal of the
California State Bar to grant him a licens4 to practice law will be heard.
A BALTIMORE, MARYLAND rally on AprifX3 galling_f new-trial for
convicted Black Panther Party (BPP) killerIrving "Ochi Young,listened
to NLG lawyer Harold Buchman; Bernard Brown;-NatiOilal As iation for justice;
Maryland State Representative Walter Dean, Jr; and U.S. Rep esentative
Parren J. Mitchell. Star of the rally, William Kunstler, was zi no-show;
but sent a tape recording from the Virgin Islands where he is presently
defending some more murderers who claim to be revolutionaries.
The NLG National Office is organizing a LEGAL DEFENSE/OFFENSE COMMITTEE
to operate this summer in Rapid City, South Dakota on behalf of the American
Indian Movement (AIM). Leadership in South Dakota is being provided by NLG
lawyers Mark Lane and Ramon Roubideaux. Other NLG members taking a leader-
ship role in this project are Beverly Axelrod, Sharon Baker, Jeffrey Goldstein,
Mary Judd, John W. Keller, Eleanor Korngold, Fran Olsen and David Rockwell.
April 27, 1973
Information Digest
-16- (cont.)
Approved for Release: 2024/12/20 C03257883