The Naked Communist

by W. Cleon Skousen

  Anyone familiar with the format of defense followed by suspected Communists who were hailed before Congressional investigating committees will immediately recognize the Party's trade mark on the trite pretension of abused innocence recommended by Elizabeth Bentley. When one considers its relatively naive and childlike simplicity it is almost a cause for national chagrin that it confused and deceived such an amazing number of people for such an inexplicable number of years. As with practically all of the others Elizabeth Bentley's suggestions paid off handsomely for Silvermaster and he soon gained support from many powerful and unexpected sources.

  After three months of "fighting back" the Under-Secretary of War became convinced from hearing various pleas that an injustice had been done to Silvermaster and therefore ordered his dismissal cancelled. Silvermaster was allowed to resign and return to his old job in the Department of Agriculture with a clean slate. Elizabeth Bentley concludes by saying, "After a sigh of relief that must have echoed throughout the entire Russian Secret Police apparatus, we went back to our normal routine."

  According to the sworn testimony of Elizabeth Bentley, she worked with three major spy cells. The first was the "Ware Cell" -- the same group Chambers had handled. In addition she handled the "Silvermaster Cell" and the "Perlo Cell." She said these three cells were charged with the task of supplying her with an almost endless stream of information for transmittal to Moscow. She testified under oath that the members of the Silvermaster Cell and the Perlo Cell were as follows (the departments in which the members were working during the time she had contact with them are also listed):

  The Silvermaster Cell

  1. Nathan Gregory Silvermaster served as Director of the Labor Division of the Farm Security Administration; was detailed for a short period to the Board of Economic Warfare.

  2. Solomon Adler served in the Treasury Department as an agent to China.

  3. Norman Bursler worked in the Department of Justice as a special assistant.

  4. Frank Coe worked as Assistant Director, Division of Monetary Research, Treasury Department; special assistant to the United States Ambassador in London; assistant to the Executive Director, Board of Economic Warfare; Assistant Administrator, Foreign Economic Administration.

  5. William Gold, known also as Bela Gold, worked as assistant head of the Division of Program Surveys, Bureau of Agricultural Economics, Department of Agriculture; Senate Subcommittee on War Mobilization; Office of Economic Programs in Foreign Economic Administration.

  6. Mrs. William (Sonia) Gold worked as research assistant, House Select Committee on Interstate Migration; labor-market analyst, Bureau of Employment Security; Division of Monetary Research, Treasury Department.

  7. Abraham George Silverman served as Director of the Bureau of Research and Information Services, U.S. Railroad Retirement Board; economic adviser and chief of analysis and plans, Assistant Chief of Air Staff, Materials and Services, Air Force.

  8. William Taylor worked in the Treasury Department.

  9. William Ludwig Ullman worked in the Division of Monetary Research, Treasury Department; Material and Service Division, Air Corps Headquarters, Pentagon.

  The Perlo Cell

  1. Victor Perlo (also connected with the Ware Cell), worked as the head of a branch in the Research Section, Office of Price Administration; served the War Production Board handling problems relating to military aircraft production.9

  2. Edward J. Fitzgerald served on the War Production Board.

  3. Harold Glasser served in the Treasury Department, loaned to the government of Ecuador; loaned to the War Production Board; worked as adviser on North African Affairs Committee in Algiers, North Africa.

  4. Charles Kramer (also connected with the Ware Cell), worked for the National Labor Relations Board; Office of Price Administration; economist with the Senate Subcommittee on War Mobilization.

  5. Solomon Leshinsky worked for the United States Relief and Rehabilitation Administration.

  6. Harry Magdoff worked for the Statistical Division of the War Production Board and the Office of Emergency Management; the Bureau of Research and Statistics of the W.P.B., the Tools Division of W.P.B. and the Bureau of Foreign and Domestic Commerce.

  7. Allan Rosenberg worked in the Foreign Economic Administration.

  8. Donald Niven Wheeler worked in the Office of Strategic Services.

  In addition, Elizabeth Bentley named the following individuals who cooperated in obtaining information from government files even though they were not tied in to any particular cell:

  1. Michael Greenburg -- Board of Economic Warfare; Foreign Economic Administration, specialist on China.

  2. Joseph Gregg -- Coordinator of Inter-American affairs, assistant in Research Division.

  3. Maurice Halperin -- Office of Strategic Services; head of Latin American Division in the Research and Analysis Branch; head of Latin American research and analysis, State Department.

  4. J. Julius Joseph -- Office of Strategic Services, Japanese Division.

  5. Duncan Chaplin Lee -- Office of Strategic Services; legal adviser to General William J. Donovan.

  6. Robert T. Miller -- Head of political research, Coordinator of Inter-American Affairs; member, Information Service Committee, Near Eastern Affairs, State Department; Assistant Chief, Division of Research and Publications, State Department.

  7. William Z. Park -- Coordinator of Inter-American Affairs,

  8. Bernard Redmont -- Coordinator of Inter-American Affairs.

  9. Helen Tenney -- Office of Strategic Services, Spanish Division.

  These lists of names are set forth to illustrate the remarkable and devastating pipelines of information which Elizabeth Bentley says the Soviet underground tapped in Washington during the time she served as the Russian Secret Police pay-master and courier in the nation's capital.

  Elizabeth Bentley worked doggedly for the Soviets until 1944. However, a great shock had come to her in 1943 when Jacob Golos died suddenly of a heart attack on Thanksgiving eve. Just before his death, Golos revealed to her the ruthlessness of his Soviet superiors who were driving him unmercifully and forcing him to engage in activities which were nauseating even to the revolutionary-hardened sense of his own calloused conscience.

  And after Golos' death further disillusionment came to Elizabeth Bentley when she learned that Earl Browder had agreed to turn over a group of American Communists in Washington to a most unscrupulous set of Soviet espionage agents. When she challenged Browder, he reportedly told her, "Don't be naive. You know that when the cards are down, I have to take my orders from them. I just hoped I could sidetrack them in this particular matter, but it didn't work out."

  "But Greg's an old friend of yours," Elizabeth Bentley said (referring to a member of the group). "So what?" replied Browder. "He's expendable." Shortly afterwards Elizabeth Bentley was surprised by a visit from a top Soviet official from Moscow who told her she had been awarded the highest medal of the Soviet Union -- the Order of the Red Star. But she was not nearly as impressed by the proffered honor as she was disgusted and revolted by the kind of individual the Soviet official turned out to be. From that moment on she felt that the Communist leaders in Russia were absolutely incapable of building a great new world -- no matter how much information she sent them.

  The final blow to her idealism came when the Soviets tried to force her to turn over to them a girl-friend who was wanted for the immoral role of an entertainer for high government officials.

  One night, alone, Elizabeth Bentley challenged herself, "What has happened to all of us who started out so gallantly to build a new world?" Deep inside herself she was finally able to admit what had happened. "We had been corrupted and smashed by a machine more merciless than anything the world had ever seen."

  Many weeks later, Elizabeth Bentley finally walked into the FBI ready to do everything in her power to make amends to her native country.

  In some ways it was simultaneously a triumph and a tragedy. For her, personally, it
was a triumph. It was the chance she needed to square herself with her conscience and her country. However, in 1948, when she gave her sworn testimony before a congressional committee, it threatened to become a tragedy. The Communist press was joined by many so-called "liberal" factions to accuse her of being everything from a degenerate to a psychopathic liar or a victim of insanity. It took time and corroborative testimony of many witnesses to finally halt the clamor.

  Elizabeth Bentley and Whittaker Chambers have testified that they were both typical members of a small but extremely dangerous segment of Americans who, through misguided ideologies, swelled the ranks of Communism during the interval between World War I and the close of World War II. The vast majority passed through the same evolution -- first, an ideological conversion followed by a desire to take action; secondly, an exposure to the hard-core realities of Communism in actual operation; and finally, an awakening followed by a dynamic determination to desert the delusion and fight it from the outside.

  Fortunately for America, as well as for its citizens who served the Communist cause, these erstwhile members of the party usually returned to the American way of life more loyal to its principles than when they left. Only a few have still refused to open their eyes and ears to all that has been revealed. This unreclaimed group still labors day and night in a dedicated service to "the cause."

  ___________________

  1. William Bradford, History of Plymouth, pp. 160-162.

  2. For a discussion of this question, see the appendix, "Did the Early Christians Practice Communism?" page 343.

  3. For a discussion of this subject, see the appendix, "What Is Free-Enterprise Capitalism?" page 327.

  4. Final Report of the Subversive Activities Control Board, April 1953, p. 208.

  5. Excerpts from the report of the House Committee on Un-American Activities to the 76th Congress, January 3, 1939, pp. 18-21.

  6. Chambers, Whittaker, Witness, p. 164.

  7. Chambers, Whittaker, Witness, p. 229.

  8. Elizabeth Bentley, Out of Bondage, pp. 173-174.

  9. In 1951 he wrote a book on American Imperialism and on page 220 declared: "The USSR, the People's Democracies, and China lead the world struggle for peace."

  Chapter Eight

  Communism And World War II

  While Communist espionage channels were being perfected in the United States, similar subversive networks were being built throughout the world. Soon Stalin found the state secrets of all the major powers pouring in so fast that he was able to play the world-wide game of power politics like a professional gambler who sits at the poker table carefully planning his strategy as he reads the marked cards held by each of the other players.

  We now know that it was from this supremely satisfying position of political omniscience that Stalin initiated a series of schemes which had their part in precipitating World War II. Defected Russian Intelligence officers have revealed that World War II was fomented and used by the Russian leaders as an important part of the long-range strategy for the expansion of World Communism. This chapter will answer the following questions:

  What is the explanation for Stalin's attempt to reach a secret understanding with Hitler in 1933?

  Why did Stalin claim credit for starting World War II?

  Why did Stalin's pact with Hitler in 1939 surprise Communists throughout the world?

  Was Stalin caught off guard when Hitler scrapped the pact and attacked Russia?

  What was the U.S. attitude during the early months of the Nazi invasion of Russia? What changed that attitude?

  What do you deduct from this statement in 1942 by a Presidential advisor: "Generations unborn will owe a great measure of their freedom to the unconquerable power of the Soviet people"? Did Allied leaders appear to have had a basic understanding of Communist strategy?

  How did the Communist leaders use Lend-Lease to get atomic bomb secrets?

  When did U.S. coexistence with Communism begin? Name the four steps of degeneration through which it passed. On what presumption was Russia made a full partner with the U.S. in shaping the post-war world?

  How do you account for the fact that the United Nations Charter follows the format of the Russian Constitution of 1936 rather than the format of the League of Nations? Would you feel there was any significance in the fact that the general secretary for the organization which drew up the charter was Alger Hiss?

  What was the attitude of the Communist leaders when they emerged from World War II as the second greatest political power on earth?

  The Rise of Adolf Hitler and Nazism in Germany

  It is said that Communism was largely responsible for the rise of Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party. It will be recalled that when the German Kaiser capitulated in 1918 the Communists tried to take over Germany. Anti-communist political groups immediately sprang up and through a frantic coalition they prevented the Communists from seizing power. It was in this anti-Communist atmosphere that Adolf Hitler began his political career. He joined the National Socialists (Nazi) Party which had a strong anti-Bolshevik platform and by 1921 he had become its leader.

  Hitler organized his notorious Nazi Storm Troopers to retaliate against a spreading rash of Communist violence. He had his Brown Shirts trained in street fighting, rioting and the suppression of political opponents by direct physical attack. By 1923 the Storm Troopers numbered 10,000 and Hitler felt strong enough to try and take over the German province of Bavaria. But this uprising failed. Hitler was thrown into prison and while there began expressing his frustrated ambitions in a feverish manuscript on total war called Mein Kampf -- My Battle. In this book Hitler revealed that he was not only bitterly anti-communistic but that he stood for outright violation of the Treaty of Versailles. He said he would fight for the complete restoration of Germany as a world power. He was planning for the creation of a great Nordic empire embracing all the people of German blood in Europe regardless of their national residence. Mein Kampf constituted a threat to every nation bordering on Germany. It also contained a threat against Russia because Hitler declared that the natural course of German expansion would eventually carry the Nazi conquest into the fertile Ukrainian agricultural region and then into the rich Russian oil fields.

  Later as Stalin watched Hitler cudgel and jostle his way into power he recognized in the Nazi dictator a formidable opponent of his own breed and kind. He saw that Hitler was shrewd and ruthless. He was completely amoral. He had no compunction whatever against violence, the purging of his own people, the use of deceit in propaganda, nor the sacrifice of millions of lives to achieve personal power. Materialism had produced precisely the same product in Germany that it had produced in Russia. Although called by different names Nazism and Communism were aimed at the same identical mark and were forged in very similar ideological molds.

  Perhaps this explains why Stalin secretly tried to negotiate a personal understanding with Hitler shortly after the latter came into power during 1933. One of Stalin's leading secret agents, General W.G. Krivitsky, has furnished the details tails of these efforts.1 When Stalin's gestures of friendship were rejected by Hitler; Stalin knew the German Fuehrer could be dealt with only as an outright enemy.

  Stalin then hastened to gain the sympathies of the democracies. He attempted to identify Russia's policies with the political and economic welfare of freedom-loving people in other nations. He called this campaign the "Popular Front." At the Seventh World Congress of the International in 1935, he instructed loyal Communists in every country to combine with any political groups which opposed Hitler and his allies -- even right wing parties which the Communists had previously attacked. Judged by its results, the "Popular Front" was the most successful tactic ever adopted by Communist strategists. It permitted Communists to associate openly with the most conservative and highly respected political groups in capitalist countries.

  The Communists Claim Credit for Starting World War II

  In 1938 Stalin watched closely as Hitler decided to test the tempe
r of the Western Allies by occupying all of Austria. When no serious consequences resulted, the Fuehrer prepared to assimilate other areas along the German borders. At Munich he threatened to blitzkrieg Europe unless England and France let him take over the industrial section of Czechoslovakia. When they agreed, he immediately extended his occupation to nearly all of that valiant little country.

  In 1939 Hitler seized Memelland in Lithuania and then prepared to march into Poland. However, at this point he hesitated. Russia wanted Poland, too. As a matter of fact, Russia held the balance of power in Europe and Hitler did not dare take steps which would start an all-out war in the West unless he could be assured that Russia would not interfere. Hitler, therefore, made overtures to Stalin to sign a nonaggression pact. To the astonishment of the whole world, Stalin accepted! This meant that Hitler could go to war with the assurance that Russia would not interfere.