Page 22 - Report on the National Lawyers Guild, legal bulwark of the Communist Party

16 THE NATIONAL LAWYERS GUILD
The committee notes, for example, that John Abt, Lee Pressman, and Nathan Witt were associated with the National La^vyers Guild from its inception, and have held positions on the guild's executive boardoronitsvariouscommittees. Abt,Pressman,andWitthave been identified as Communist members of an underground group established by the Communist Party for the purpose of infiltrating Federal Government agencies. This identification was made by Whittaker Chambers, confessed former courier for Communist espion- age agents. The three indviduals so accused subsequently refused to submit to congressional inquiry regarding their Communist activ- ities on grounds of self-incrimination.
On August 28, 1950, Lee Pressman again appeared before the com- mittee. Thistime,heansweredquestionspropoundedtohimbythe committee. In the course of the questioning, Pressman admitted his membership in a Communist group in Washington, D. C, during the years1934and1935. HealsoidentifiedNathanWittandJohnAbt as members of this Communist group. On September 1, 1950, Nathan Witt and John Abt again appeared before the committee and refused to answer all inquiries regarding theii' Communist activities on the ground of self-incrimination.
Another initial memljer of the National Lawyers Guild was Charles Recht, who at the same time was attorney for the Soviet Embassy in the United States. Still another charter member was Joseph R. Brodsky, general counsel and charter member of the Communist Party, now deceased. The National Lawyers Guild, at its 1948 national convention, unanimously adopted a special resolution regard- ing the death of Mr. Brodsky which stated:
His death is an inestimable loss to the profession and to the National Lawyers Guild of which he was a charter member.
Martin Popper, one of the 1949 vice presidents of the guild whom the Daily Worker of June 27, 1943, credits with being a "founder" of the guild, is a faithful Communist Party liner. His many other Communist-front connections include Civil Rights Congress, American Committee for Protection of Foreign Born, Joint Anti-Fascist Refugee Committee, Committee for a Democratic Far Eastern Policy, Ameri- can Committee for Spanish Freedom, Emergency Peace Mobilization, National Federation for Constitutional Liberties, National Council of the Arts, Sciences, and Professions, National Negro Congress, Southern Conference for Human Welfare. Popper recently repre- sented the Chinese Communist government.
Thomas I. Emerson, a law professor at Yale University, was elected president of the National Lawyers Guild at its national convention in New York City in May 1950. Mr. Emerson has been associated with the guild from its very begmning, and served on the guild's executive board during its first year, 1937. The records of the Committee on Un-American Activities show that Mr. Emerson has an unusual affinity for Communist-front organizations and that in addition to the National Lawyers Guild he has associated himself with such groups as Civil Rights Congress, Jefferson School of Social Science, Southern Con- ference for Human Welfare, National Council of the Arts, Sciences, and Professions. He has further associated himself with the Com- munist-blessed Progressive Citizens of America and with the Com- munist-dominated United Public Workers of America.
The present executive secretary of the National Lawyers Guild is Robert J. SUberstein, who has held that same position for many years.