The testimony produced at hearings of the Dies Committee has proved that there is no truth in the often repeated charges of anti-Semites that American Jewry is linked to Communism, Chairman Martin Dies said today.
He made the statement while questioning Benjamin Gitlow, Jew who was formerly general secretary of the Communist Party of the U.S., but who left the party ten years ago “when it began to smack of dictatorship.”
Jews do not lead the Communist Party either here or in the Soviet Union, Gitlow said, and pointed out that there are few Jews now in important posts in Russia.
The very presence of Gitlow, a Jew who deserted the Communists, was proof that Communism and Judaism are not synonymous, Dies said.
Gitlow estimated that “not more than 15 to 18 per cent of the Communists in America are Jews,” or were until the Hitler-Stalin pact was signed.
Many Jews have quit the Communist party here since the signing of the Hitler-Stalin pact, Gitlow told the J.T.A. correspondent here during an intermission in the Dies hearing on un-American activities. “Most of those who have resigned are the intellectuals and leaders. Unfortunately, there are still some who follow the party line.”
Gitlow branded Stalin as a “Red Fuehrer” in his testimony before the committee. He said he broke with the Comintern — where he held membership in the presidium–when it became apparent that communism as practiced in Russia was more a dictatorship than a democracy. In his interview with the J.T.A. representative, Gitlow charged that the Communist party was withholding figures on the number of Jews who had forsaken communism since the pact was signed.
JTA has documented Jewish history in real-time for over a century. Keep our journalism strong by joining us in supporting independent, award-winning reporting.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
