COMMUNIST CASH HELPED FINANCE MAYDAY SHOW

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP80-01601R000300320009-8
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 9, 2016
• Document Release Date: November 14, 2000
• Sequence Number: 9
• Publication Date: May 27, 1971
• Content Type: NSPR

STATINTL
Approved For Release 2001/03/04: CIA-RDP80-01601
JACKSON, t,TCH.
CITIZEN PATRIOT
MAY 2'? 9,t~
E - 40,052
-- 44,#303
I
WASill NG'T'ON--?Is there a Communist
money man under the bed--or in the
bedrolls--of some of the more militant
anti-war outfits? B o t h federal I a w
enforcement agencies and intelligence
people say you bctcha life there Is.
Unfortunately, none of these spokes-
men will be quoted by name, which is at
the very least annoying. But some of
their not-for-attribution statements make
enough horse sense to merit public clis-
closure, especially since the recent May-
day high jinks attracted a sizable horde
of protesters, and because in this day
and age even demonstrations don't come
cheap.
So it is not unreasonable to try for size
a couple of items gleaned . from the
involved governmental outfits:
1. "About a million dollars In peace
contributions" has been traced through
disbursing Swiss and Swedish banks to
Communist Russia, Czechoslovakia, Red
China, Cuba and Communist-oriented
Chile. Some of this money reportedly
was spent in Washingtan during the
/recent disorders..
V 2. A Central Intelligence Agency man
says t Ilt'asiilnv[nii ioni=loolci y 'cost the
demonstrators more than. $500,000--"and
those people can't lay their hands on that
kind of money without help from
abroad." ;
These items would seem to support the
views of Atty. Gen. John Mitchell, the
only official at this writing who has been
willing to be quoted on alleged Commu-
nist involvement. Mitchell has said some
of the .leaders of the antiwar protest had
"Communist-oriented or related back-
grounds," and there was "no doubt" that
some of the money that helped finance
recent demonstrations came form "Coin-
munist sources."
All this suggests the danger of disiuis-
sing out of hand current hearings of the
H o u s e Internal Security Committee
investigating the National Peace Action
Coalition, which organized the April 24
march, and the People's Coalition for
Peace and Justice, which ran the subse-
quent mini riots. The house Committee,
headed by Rep. Richard Ichord, 1.-Mo.,
has never been noted for even-handed-
ness or a capacity for coldly objective
reasoning, but this time it might have
something to digits teeth into.
p
! 611 7 i'ZI _N;1 A. T
At any rate, the committee was not
overstepping its responsibility or con?
stituted duty in authorizing subpocanas
for the financial records of those twc
"peace" organizations. It is, if the read-
er will forgive an old-fashioned expres-
sion, in the American tradition for Con.
gross to wonder, publicly, where lobby-
ing outfits get their dough.
For instance, most of us desire to dis-
cover whether a lobby pressuring menl-
bers of Congress to pass certain legis-
lation--concerning, say, the oil indus-
try--is financed by petroleum's fat cats.
When a businessman testifies in favor of
giving X billion bucks to an under-
developed foreign country, it is the pee
pie's right to know if the handout wi'
enhance his holdings in that country. W
find fascinating, and an aid to voting, t1
disclousre that a certain candidate is I.
hock to Big Labor.
So there is no reason-for Congress to
deny to the public a lo.ok-sec at the finan-
cial affairs of characters who make a
career of wrecking public property and
harassing innocent bystanders. No rea-
son, that is, unless the "peace" outfits
have something naughty to hide-as lob-
byists so often do.
I don't know whether these organiza-
tions have pangs of guilt, but I did note
with interest the initial response of Brad-
ford Lyttle, a spokesman for the People's
Coalition, Etc. Of the House committee's
demand for the Coalition's records,
Lyttle declared,"We"ll give them noth-
ing, and we will refuse to testify."
However, if our assorted police and intel-
ligence folks are right about finding
Commie money floating around on cer-
tain occasions, Lyttle's will not be the
last word on this matter.
Approved For Release 2001/03/04: CIA-RDP80-01601 R000300320009-8