This proposed bill for the first time specifies and defines clearly a Communist. There is nothing in the law at the present time that specifies and defines a Communist, and it is believed that this definition is not only highly important in the administration of this proposed bill but will be of far-reaching consequences in future legislation dealing with Communists. It is manifest that in the absence of such a definition, the administration of the law would be so uncertain, difficult, and expensive, and would involve such hardship, as to make it practically of no value. In the absence of such a definition, the courts might define Communist in the classical or dictionary manner to mean one who subscribes to a doctrine that advocates a system of common ownership of property and the abolition of private property, of common ownership of the means of production. Such a judicial interpretation of the word "Communist" would omit the element of force and violence in the establishment of such a system, and would do great violence to the eternal principles of American liberty. But with such a definition it can be clearly ascertained by the Secretary of Labor, or by any court having jurisdiction thereof, that an alien or organization either does or does not come within the meaning of this act.

Section 2 of this act also safeguards any alien if he shall prove that he became a member of such organization on account of fear, duress, compulsion, misrepresentation, or fraud. There was evidence submitted to the committee that Communist organizations in some sections of the country had compelled or coerced the employees of certain factories to become members of their organizations. Therefore, the committee deemed it advisable and just to permit the alien to prove (the burden of proof being upon him) that he became a member of such organization on account of fear, duress, compulsion, misrepresentation, or fraud. In the absence of this provision, such alien would probably have the right to make such proof, but your committee considered it advisable to affirmatively give such alien such right in order that no injustice might be done in the enforcement of this act. The necessity for strict legislation to compel the exclusion and expulsion of alien Communists was shown by the printed hearings on this subject. Alien Communists are actively engaged in many industrial centers in an effort to stir up strife, riots, and insurrections. They organize clubs, distribute literature, and stage parades, and protest meetings. Some of them openly and publicly denounce the Government of the United States and the principles of constitutional liberty and advocate and urge the destruction of our institutions by force and violence. Many of them prosecute their nefarious activities with secrecy and prey upon ignorance.

Certainly it is the duty of Congress to protect our institutions of freedom and our public officials from the insidious attacks of such alien Communists who come to our country not as a matter of right but as a matter of privilege, and who enjoy all the blessings of constitutional government, but who refuse to share any of the responsibilities of citizenship, and, in fact, seek to destroy the Government that afforded them an asylum and extended to them its protecting arm. Under the wise provisions of our Constitution there is no justification for recourse to force and violence in accomplishing necessary and wholesome changes. Although we woud not tolerate any effort to abridge freedom of thought, speech, and conscience, we have a right as a government to insist that those who are seeking to bring about innovation shall confine their activities to lawful and constitutional methods and shall resort to the "ballot" and not the "bullet." Only in this manner can we combine liberty of speech and freedom of action with the authority of law and security of property. This vital combination is Indispensable to the happiness and welfare of any people and without it civilization will disintegrate into chaos and barbarism.

[S. Rept. No. 808, 72d Cong., 1st sess.]

EXCLUSION AND EXPULSION OF ALIEN COMMUNISTS

JUNE 8 (calendar day, JUNE 11), 1932.—Mr. PATTERSON and Mr. HATFIELD, from the Committee on Immigration, submitted the following report to accompany H. R. 12044

The Committee on Immigration, to whom was referred the bill (H. R. 12044) to provide for the exclusion and expulsion of alien Communists, having considered the same, reports it to the Senate favorably without amendment and with a recommendation for its immediate passage.

This bill proposes to amend sections 1 and 2 of the act approved October 16, 1918 (40 Stat. 1012) entitled "An act to exclude and expel from the United States aliens who are members of the anarchistic and similar classes", as that act was amended by the act approved June 5, 1920 (41 Stat. 1008) entitled "An act to amend the act entitled "An act to exclude and expel from the United States aliens who are members of the anarchistic or similar classes"" (U. S. C., title 8, sec. 137). The bill as reported does not remove any of the provisions of the act or acts amended by this bill. The only changes made in the present law are certain additions of new provisions.

Section 1 of the bill adds new matter made necessary by changed conditions which have developed since the present law was enacted. The present law reads, in effect, "That the following aliens shall be excluded from the United States: (a) Aliens who are anarchists.' This bill simply adds after the word "anarchists" the new words "or Communists." Under the present law alien Communists are not excludable or deportable as such. They may be excluded or deported upon some other ground but not simply because they are Communists. That there is an urgent need for a law that will permit the deportation and exclusion of alien Communists is so apparent that discussion is unnecessary.

Section 2 of the bill adds an entirely new subdivision at the end of section 1 of the law as amended, and this new matter is added in order to define and clarify what classes of aliens may be considered as Communists, and, as such, subject to exclusion and expulsion and which aliens may be safeguarded from the provisions of this act. This new matter in the bill consists of lines 10 and 11 on page 1 and all on page 2.

The proposed bill will not affect any alien who merely subscribes to a doctrine which advocates a system based upon common ownership of property and abolition of private property, unless such alien believes in, advises, or advocates the establishment of this system by force or violence. This definition will therefore exempt any organization or alien who, although subscribing to the doctrine of a system of common ownership of property and the abolition of private property or the common ownership of the means of production, does not believe in, advise, or advocate the establishment of this system by force or violence.

Representatives of the Department of State and the Department of Labor assisted in the preparation of this proposed bill and consulted experts in the framing of the definition of a Communist as contained in said bill. Therefore, this bill has the approval and endorsement of both Departments. The fact that the law does not now make an alien Communist, as such, subject to exclusion and expulsion renders it very difficult for the Government to reach that type of alien Communist that it is highly important to exclude or deport.

The enactment of this proposed bill into law will not only render alien Communists, as such, subject to exclusion and expulsion, but it will relieve the Government of much difficult proof that it is now required to make. When this proposed bill becomes a law it is believed that the courts will take cognizance of the fact, and relieve the Government of proof, that the Communist Party and its affiliated or subsidiary organizations and others of a similar nature, in their various programs or platforms, believe in, advise, advocate, or teach the various things specified in section 2 of this act, and as a matter of administration the Secretary of Labor could hold that certain organizations were Communist organizations within the meaning of this act, with the necessary conclusion that members of such organizations come within the meaning of this act, and as such are excludable or deportable.

In reference to other organizations teaching, advising, or advocating the same thing, and yet whose programs or platforms are not generally known or published, it is believed that the Government will only have to make proof that such organization, or organizations, come within the meaning of this act, and that thereafter such organization or organizations will be included within the number of Communist organizations within the meaning of this act, concerning whose teachings or advocacy the courts will take judicial cognizance, and it is apparent that this will greatly simplify the administration of the law and facilitate the exclusion and deportation of such alien Communists as come within the meaning of this act.

Section 2 of this act also safeguards any alien if he shall prove that he became a member of such organization on account of fear, duress, compulsion, misrepresentation, or fraud. There was evidence submitted to the committee that Communist organizations in some sections of the country had compelled or coerced the employees of certain factories to become members of their organizations. Therefore, the committee deemed it advisable and just to permit the alien to

prove (the burden of proof being upon him) that he became a member of such organization on account of fear, duress, compulsion, misrepresentation, or fraud. In the absence of this provision, such alien would probably have the right to make such proof, but your committee considered it advisable to affirmatively give such alien such right in order that no injustice might be done in the enforcement of this act.

The necessity for strict legislation to compel the exclusion and expulsion of alien Communists was shown by the printed hearings on this subject. Alien Communists are actively engaged in many industrial centers in an effort to stir up strife, riots, and insurrections. They organize clubs, distribute literature, and stage parades and protest meetings. Some of them openly and publicly denounce the Government of the United States and the principles of constitutional liberty and advocate and urge the destruction of our institutions by force and violence. Many of them prosecute their nefarious activities with secrecy and prey upon ignorance.

Certainly it is the duty of Congress to protect our institutions of freedom and our public officials from the insidious attacks of such alien Communists who come to our country not as a matter of right but as a matter of privilege, and who enjoy all the blessings of constitutional government, but who refuse to share any of the responsibilities of citizenship, and, in fact, seek to destroy the Government that afforded them an asylum and extended to them its protecting arm. Under the wise provisions of our Constitution there is no justification for recourse to force and violence in accomplishing necessary and wholesome changes. Although we would not tolerate any effort to abridge freedom of thought, speech, and conscience, we have a right as a government to insist that those who are seeking to bring about innovation shall confine their activities to lawful and constitutional methods and shall resort to the "ballot" and not the "bullet." Only in this manner can we combine liberty of speech and freedom of action with the authority of law and security of property. This vital combination is indispensable to the happiness and welfare or any people and without it civilization will disintegrate into chaos and barbarism.

The alien Communists in the United States do not fear our police, our courts, or our jails; the only thing that they fear is deportation back home, where they do not have the same freedom of speech and civil, economic, and political liberties. If these Communists, who come here of their own free will and accord, do not like our laws and free institutions and principles of government, all they have to do is to go back home; but if they insist on remaining here and spreading their doctrines of hate against our traditions, ideals, and free institutions, and urging the overthrow of our republican form of government by force and violence, then it is clearly the duty of the Congress to enact laws to deport alien Communists. Investigation has demonstrated that 70 percent of the Communists in the United States are aliens, 20 percent are naturalized citizens, and only 10 percent native born, black and white. The actual deportation of a few hundred of the leaders among the alien Communists would do more to combat the spread of revolutionary Communism in the United States than any other legislative action that could be taken at the present time.

EXCLUDE AND DEPORT ALIENS WHO ARE FASCISTS OR COMMUNISTS

JUNE 5, 1935.-Ordered to be printed

Mrs. O'DAY, from the Committee on Immigration and Naturalization, submitted the following

MINORITY VIEWS

[To accompany H. R. 7120]

This bill is objectionable primarily because it is merely a new manifestation of the type of repressive legislation which has always proved a tragic failure in this country. It is a new form of the Alien Act of 1798 which raised so great a storm of protest from the country, led by Jefferson and Marshall, that it was never enforced. Its enactment would lead to the imposition of a new system of espionage over our aliens similar to that which was in effect during and after the World War with notoriously sterile results. The bill is founded upon the fallacy that ideas and beliefs may be effectively changed or suppressed by legislation. Another fallacy which contributes to its proposal is that we can cure or substantially help our economic difficulties by getting rid of aliens who compete for jobs with our own citizens. Unfortunately this bill is not the sole manifestation in this Congress of such sentiments, which are, it may be emphasized, not shared by the enlightened conservative opinion of this country. There are now pending a great variety of repressive measures, ranging from a bill which would prevent any alien from holding a job (H. R. 3048) to bills which would imprison any of our citizens advocating doctrines not shared by the majority (e. g. H. R. 6427). If all this mass of bills should be enacted there would be no appreciable difference between this country and the countries of the Communists and Fascists against whom this bill is aimed. It will not do to say that because the Communists and Fascists in their own countries have blotted out all civil liberty, we must oppose them by adopting the same methods. To so reason is obviously to reason in a circle. Moreover, it may be noted that measures of this character have represented one of the early steps in the growth of all forms of fascism in Europe.