Immersed In Red

by Mike Shotwell

  Whoever, with intent or reason to believe that it is to be used to the injury of the United States or to the advantage of a foreign nation, communicates, delivers, or transmits, or attempts to communicate, deliver, or transmit, to any foreign government, or to any faction or party or military or naval force within a foreign country, whether recognized or unrecognized by the United States, or to any representative, officer, agent, employee, subject, or citizen thereof, either directly or indirectly, any document, writing, code book, signal book, sketch, photograph, photographic negative, blueprint, plan, map, model, note, instrument, appliance, or information relating to the national defense, shall be punished by death or by imprisonment for any term of years or for life, … [emphasis added].

  The code also states another provision that affects Ethel’s and the other conspirators’ roles. “(c) If two or more persons conspire to violate this section, and one or more of such persons do any act to effect the object of the conspiracy, each of the parties to such conspiracy shall be subject to the punishment provided for the offense which is the object of such conspiracy.”

  It seems fairly evident that the Rosenbergs violated just about every sentence in the long description above. And the punishment, albeit harsh, is spelled out in no uncertain terms. If the additional data known today were known in 1950, it is also likely that Morton Sobell and others would have joined the Rosenbergs at Sing-Sing.

  The sons of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, Michael and Robert Meeropol, were adopted by relatives at the ages of six and eight; hence, their surname was changed. They have continued a lifelong pursuit of their parent’s innocence, putting forth their vehement positions through books, articles and speaking engagements. They began in the 1970s with the assertion that their parents were framed and completely innocent because, “Everyone was saying they were innocent” and “it was part of my reality.” But those early assertions steadily eroded over the decades as a result of the Venona and Vassiliev data, not to mention the dramatic admissions of Morton Sobell. This new information was above and beyond the evidence proffered at the trial from witnesses, members of the ring, and from the Greenglass side of the family.

  Robert Meeropol, in repayment to the progressive community that “helped him survive,” is still deeply involved with progressive politics. He formed the Rosenberg Fund for Children (RFC), “to help children of targeted activists in the US today.” Since the second Sobell confession, he has reluctantly accepted the fact that their father was a spy and did not tell the truth to his sons. Rosenberg’s last letter to them stated, “Always remember that we were innocent and could not wrong our conscience.”

  But even with that blow, the brothers continue soldiering on. Their current argument is that “whatever atomic bomb information their father passed to the Russians was, at best, superfluous; the case was riddled with prosecutorial and judicial misconduct; their mother was convicted on flimsy evidence to place leverage on her husband; and neither deserved the death penalty.” Their mother, they concluded in particular, had not been a spy, but rather had been framed by the false testimony of her brother, and should never have been tried, much less executed.

  Their uncle, David Greenglass, originally testified that Ethel had typed up the bomb and detonator information that was then turned over to Julius. But before his death in 2014, he reversed himself, saying “I frankly think my wife did the typing, but I don’t remember.” His justification for his trial testimony was that he was trying to save his wife, choosing instead to implicate his sister. The Meeropols believe this is what exonerates their mother, claiming this “false” testimony was part of the “frame-up.” But this singular typing incident was only one in a sea of treacherous involvement over many years, which was well documented by the Venona decrypts, KGB documents, and the original evidence.

  Today there is really no question as to Ethel’s involvement and subsequent guilt, nor is there any question as to the impact of these treasonous activities against our country. But, as Radosh says, the question as to whether she should have been executed may be debated for years to come, but not her innocence.

  I can empathize with the Merropols, suffering such a devestating loss of their parents under the harshest of circumstances. However, their continued attempts at a defense in the face of such a perponderance of evidence, have served to strain their credibility, even as they continue to villify the American government for their travails.

  Other present-day Rosenberg defenders have continued down this shameful path. In the Monthly Review of February 9, 2011 (a magazine founded by Orville’s communist friends, Leo Huberman and Paul Sweezy), Radosh cites an article written by leftist activist Staughton Lynd, who offers the incredible defense that the “trial was a sham,” and that the Rosenberg’s had, “obligations as communists, and as citizens of the world … that even if they were guilty, they must be viewed as unadulterated heroes,” and that, “If the Rosenberg’s helped the Soviet’s get the bomb, that might have been justified.”

  Staughton Lynd, glorified by the left in the late 60s and early 70s, traveled with Tom Hayden and the Communist Party historian Herbert Aptheker, to Vietnam in 1965–66. The group returned, extolling the virtues of Vietnamese Communism and calling for the immediate US withdrawal from the war.

  After years of agitating and lobbying by the Meeropols, the New York City Council, on September 29, 2015, issued a proclamation declaring September 28 (the hundredth anniversary of Ethel’s birth), “Ethel Rosenberg Day of Justice in the Borough of Manhattan,” and presenting formal statements, including that she was “wrongly executed,” it was a “rush to judgment,” and that this was a “terrible stain on our country.” Radosh’s reply in The New York Times (Oct. 1, 2015), was apropos,

  The real stain is on New York city’s gullible representatives, Revelations over the past 20 years--the Venona decrypts of KGB transmissions to its American agents in the 1940s, and KGB files released by a Russian defector who now lives in Britain, Alexander Vassiliev--showed concretely Ethel’s involvement in her husband’s espionage ring … she helped recruit her sister-in-law, Ruth, who in turn brought her husband – Ethel’s brother— David Greenglass into the ring that passed secrets to KGB courier Harry Gold. It is sad when New York officially honors a woman whose loyalty was to the Soviet Union … who martyred herself by refusing to tell the truth, leaving two orphan sons, because she was a firm believer in Joseph Stalin and his totalitarian dictatorship [emphasis added].

  Radosh also refers to a statement made by historian Gordon S. Wood who reflected on “the differences between critical history and popular memory, between what historians write and what society chooses to remember.” When it comes to the Rosenberg case, many of the old left cannot find it within themselves to let go of their deeply ingrained opinions; they have simply been vociferously expounded upon for too many years, making their distorted and innacurate views the reality they wish to remember.

  Viewing the traitorous behavior of the Rosenbergs and their band of vipers from a distance, one only has to return to the requirements of the Communist Party in the 30s and 40s, that incorporated Lenin’s following statements and directives: “… for revolution it is essential, first, that a majority of the workers … should fully understand the neccessity for revolution and be ready to sacrifice their lives for it [emphasis added].

  A professional revolutionist is a highly developed comrade … who gives his whole life to the fight for the interests of his own class … [emphasis added].

  From these comrades, the Party demands everything. They accept Party assignments - the matter of family associations and other personal problems are considered, but are not decisive. If the class struggle demands it, he will leave his family for months, even years. Nothing can shake him [emphasis added].”

  It is likely Ethel Rosenberg could have saved her own life by confessing her involvement and reporting the names of other espionage cell members, many of them close friends. But she chose martyrdom by following the dictate
s of Lenin, Joseph Stalin, and the Soviet cause. The fact still remains that the Rosenbergs led one of the most devastating espionage conspiracies in American history, threatening US security and damaging our international affairs.

  Caryl Chessman: The case of Caryl Chessman was not involved with the HCUAA or Senate hearings as the Rosenberg case was, but it had a parallel significance to the radical left as it related to the fairness of the US judicial system.

  Chessman was born in 1921, and spent most of his life in and out of prison. In January, 1948, one month after his latest prison release, he committed a series of armed robberies, which also included kidnapping, sexual assault, and rape. He was apprehended and convicted on seventeen of the eighteen counts against him and condemned to death under the “Little Lindbergh Law,” in place at the time. The law defined kidnapping as a capital offense under certain circumstances. The left saw his case as another wonderful example of the unfairness of the American judicial system. The goal was keeping it in the headlines; the longer, the better. Orville, my mother, Dr. Fritchman, the Unitarian church members, the ACLU, liberal publications and radicals from all over the world joined in protest to save the life of “the red-light bandit,” proclaiming the death penalty “cruel and unjust.”

  This prolonged fight, over twelve years, resulted in my own participation during high school. I remember being fired up over the political fervor and offered spirited arguments in favor of Chessman’s innocence and the dreadful injustice being dealt him.

  While in San Quentin awaiting execution, Chessman acted as his own attorney, claiming his innocence, and securing multiple stays. The longer the case went on, the more world-wide attention it garnered. Unfortunately lost in the political swirl was the plight of the victims; the rapes, the robberies, the abductions and the terrorization of these innocent citizens seemed to be in the distant background.

  Also missing from the discussion was the routine lack of an authentic judicial system in the ever-admired Soviet Union. Where was the American left’s outrage at the show trials, at the gulags with their slave labor, and the millions of executed? Regardless of one’s support for or against the death penalty, Chessman’s trial, appeals, and procedure followed the law as it was written at that time. No such series of appeals and stays would have been possible for Chessman had he been a resident of the beloved USSR. The hypocrisy was glaring.

  * * *

  CHAPTER 10

  COMMUNIST GOALS AND THE NEW SOCIETY

  What did the communists target and why? From Orville I learned about the communist tactics of attacking the institutions of America through the continuous and effective use of agitation, a term they used with abandon as it was an important and essential tactic emphasized by the Soviet Comintern. The goal was to create chaos, disharmony, and a disturbing undercurrent of unease in all sectors of American life. When people feel that their world is out of control, the communist plan goes, they will clamor for the government to swoop in and relieve their anxieties and fix the perceived problems. That government “fix,” however, would be under the control of Moscow. The 1921 Comintern (Communist International) Guidelines on the Organizational Structure of Communist Parties, in the Methods and Content of their Work, IV, No. 20, On Propaganda and Agitation, states,

  In the period prior to the open revolutionary uprising our most general task is revolutionary propaganda and agitation … without particular concern for the concrete revolutionary content of our speeches and written material [emphasis added].

  In other words, the targeted institutions had no particular weighting in terms of what to attack first; an overall, comprehensive campaign was the tool, and disguise was paramount. Any opportunity that presented itself was fair game. What was important was to keep banging the pan with a hammer to drown out anything else, until people were worn down. The targets included the military establishment; “right-wing Hollywood types,” the “racist society,” the “religious nuts,” prayers invoked within any official or semi-official capacity; the corrupt political system that tried to exclude communists; “right-wing” newspapers with their “reactionary” writers; the schools; US foreign and domestic policies; patriotic displays showing love for flag and country; the Pledge of Allegiance; and on to infinity.

  With regard to the military a balance had to be struck: a revolution would require arms and weapons, but the propaganda position also opposing war had to be maintained. The Comintern Guidelines, Section IV, On Propaganda and Agitation, No. 30, states the two positions,

  For propaganda work in the army and navy of the capitalist state, a special study must be made of the most appropriate methods in each individual country … The proletariat rejects in principle and combats with the utmost energy all military institutions of the bourgeois state and of the bourgeois class in general. On the other hand, it utilizes these institutions (army, rifle clubs, territorial militias, etc.) to give the workers military training for revolutionary battles … every possibility for the proletariat to get weapons into its hands must be exploited to the fullest.

  The brave new communist society/marriage and family: What was the picture of the brave new society as revealed to me in my youth? First, it was to be a society where “want” would be unknown. Everyone would work for the good of the society, each to their own capacity. Of course, Orville and those in his group would be elevated to the ruling clique, because of their work for the party, and their superior intellects. The society would be perfect as envisioned by Marx and Engels. It wouldn’t be shackled by false religion, greedy capitalists, or the negativity of American imperialistic ambitions. In addition, group living versus nuclear families was heralded as the mode of the future. Growing up in collective farms with multiple parents and all working for the good of the community was ideal, just like in Russia where sanity surely prevailed. There would be no more unfair land ownership, or fences cutting people off from their neighbors. Besides, what gives anyone the right to own land? Racism would simply melt away and be a non-issue. No want, no greed, no need for prisons, no need for a military, no striving to get ahead at the expense of others. My mother oft stated that the white race would meld together with the “genetically stronger, darker races,” and after a few generations the population would be a “lovely shade of brown.” This seemed to say that when all the whites were gone, the problems of the world would fade away. It also said to me that my very existence as a white person was a large part of the problem. I doubt, though, that she saw herself as being in the same position.

  The press: The reading population of the US, as in most countries, can be heavily influenced by the editorials and columns that are published in newspapers and magazines. Certain publications and writers invariably rise in importance and popularity, and can become the mouthpiece and authority for large segments of the population. Their insights and nuances can be vitally important in shaping what the public perceives as the truth.

  In order for leftist ideology to have succeeded, there had to be a strong element of the press that supported it and put air under its wings. There were plenty of writers, newspapers and magazines that stepped into the fray and righteously supported the ideals of the communist world. As early as 1901, Lenin is quoted in his What is to be Done? Plan for an All-Russian Political Newspaper, “A newspaper is not only a collective propagandist and a collective agitator; it is also a collective organiser.”

  Another Lenin quote is also telling about how he uses newspapers, “He who now talks about the ‘freedom of the press’ goes backward, and halts our headlong course towards Socialism.”

  It is worth repeating the Comintern Guidelines on the Methods and Content of Their Work, III. No. 12, which describes the importance of the press and literary work in furthering communist goals, “Communist nuclei are to be formed for day-to-day work in different areas of party activity: for door-to-door agitation, for party studies, for press work, for literature distribution, for intelligence gathering, communications, etc. [emphasis added].”

  Amon
g the publications that were the mainstay of the left movement, the following stand out as prime examples: I.F. Stone’s Weekly, New Masses (a Marxist weekly periodical), The Nation, the National Guardian, The New York Times, and the all-important communist organ, the Daily Worker. These and others were avidly read by my mother, stepfather, and our family friends. The articles from these publications were held up as evidence and justification for leftist ideology.

  The Daily Worker was the official Communist Party organ and was required reading by all members. It was published between 1924 and 1957, and laid out on a daily basis the Soviet Comintern thrust and direction in the quest to crush capitalism. It was instrumental in dispersing the massive Soviet disinformation campaigns. The paper maintained a series of correspondents in Moscow, including communists Vern Smith and Janet Ross. In the mid-30s, Smith regularly depicted the Soviet Union in the most favorable light. In so doing, the publication defended Stalin’s Great Terror (Purge) (1936–38), and upheld the Moscow show trials in which evidence was fabricated against “the accused,” and extorting their “confessions.” Smith also endorsed Moscow’s suppression of the Hungarian uprising. He attacked all opponents of Stalinist socialism, including Trotsky, who was assassinated in Mexico on Stalin’s orders in 1940. In the 30s, the paper proudly proclaimed that “Communism is Twentieth Century Americanism,” and characterized itself as the heir to the tradition of Washington and Lincoln; a further example of communists being portrayed as the ultimate American patriots.

  The American Marxist magazine, New Masses, which was published from 1926 to 1948, was closely associated with the Communist Party. The magazine was touted as a major force of the American cultural left from 1926 onwards. Whittaker Chambers was the editor in 1931, until he was ordered into the communist underground the following year. By the late 1930s, New Masses strongly backed the Popular Front movement (communist coalition) and became an official organ of the Communist Party.