history as it were, by imitating a profligate Roman patriciate which habitually charged the early Christians with their own moral decay."

Owing to the dogmatic stand taken by the leaders of this party, it plays no very significant part in the general revolutionary movement in this country.

The national headquarters of this organization are located at 45 Rose street, New York City.

CHAPTER VIII

Investigation into Radical Activities in Upper Part of the State

While a large part of the work of this Committee of necessity concerned itself with conditions existing in the City of New York and vicinity, a fairly comprehensive survey of radical activities existing in the upper part of the state of New York was made. This survey was by no means exhaustive, owing to the limited resources and limited time at the disposal of this Committee.

The upper part of the State, for purposes of convenient reference, was divided into certain zones, and annexed to this chapter are maps of these zones with a reference to the centers of radical activity in each particular zone. The extent of the activity in each place indicated on these various zone maps, of course, varies. In the case of some cities indicated, such as Utica, Rochester and Buffalo, there is considerable well-organized revolutionary radical activity. In the case of other towns and cities indicated on these various zone maps, the revolutionary activities are more or less sporadic, and the sole reason for referring to them on the maps is that there is some activity that requires attention.

As a general rule, the revolutionary radicals sought to gain a foothold in industrial centers, and numerous unjustified strikes may be traced directly to the efforts and the propaganda of Communist and Socialist agitators.

In this chapter we will briefly summarize the results of our investigations in the various sections of the State indicated on the attached zone maps marked, respectively, Zone A, B, C, E, G, and H.

ZONE A

Zone A includes the counties of Erie, Niagara, Chautauqua and Wyoming. For purposes of convenience in reference we will include Buffalo, Niagara Falls, Tonawanda, North Tonawanda, and Depew as one group.

Buffalo has been a center of radical activity for some time, and until a wholesale round-up, conducted by agents of this Committee and of the District Attorney of Erie County on the 29th day of December, 1919, practically disrupted their organization, there was a large and growing Communist movement in that city. The headquarters of the Communist Party in Buffalo were situated in the Teck Theatre Building, and the organizer of the party

was one George Till. He is an American citizen and has been a revolutionary radical leader for some time. The membership of the party in the late part of 1919 was some 600, and the organization was rapidly increasing in numbers, owing to the agitation carried on by Till and his followers, until his arrest and indictment on the charge of criminal anarchy was brought about by this Committee. Mr. Moore, the District Attorney of Erie County, worked in the closest co-operation with this Committee and caused the indictment of eighteen members of the Communist Party Local on the charge of violating the Criminal Anarchy Statutes of this State.

The literature, books, pamphlets and propaganda found in Buffalo were practically the same as that found in New York City and were, of course, part of the same general scheme of creating industrial unrest, class hatred and revolutionary aims as was found in New York City.

The Committee ascertained that there were in Buffalo the following branches of the Communist Party: The Central branch, which met in the Teck Theatre Building, 760 Main Street, Buffalo; the English-speaking branch, at 7 South Niagara Street, Tonawanda; the Ukrainian East Side branch, which also met at the Teck Theatre Building; the Russian branch, which met in the same place; the Bulgarian branch, which met at 194 Oak Street; the Williamsville branch, which met in the homes of various members on each Sunday of the month; the German branch, whose headquarters were at Sycamore and Smith Streets; and the Polish branch, of Depew, which met at 77 Main Street, Depew.

There were found in this section also other revolutionary organizations, among them a branch of the W. I. I. U., and some forty-five members of the Union of Russian Workers, of whom twenty were arrested by the Department of Justice and held for deportation.

The membership in the various branches of the Communist Party was ascertained to be as follows:

Central branch, 220; Polish branch, 150; Russian branch, 90; Ukrainian and Black Rock, 60; North Tonawanda, 36; Ukrainian East Side, 32; Bulgarian, 22; Williamsville, 16; Lithuanian, 15; German, 10.

Information came to the Committee of the presence of an anarchist group at Niagara Falls. This group was composed

exclusively of Spaniards, who are working "under cover" and concerning whom very little information was available. It will be recalled that in February, 1919, a certain number of men were arrested, suspected of plotting against the life of President Wilson, and of that number two were from Niagara Falls and probably belonged to the small group of Spanish anarchists who make their headquarters in that city.

Several branches of the Workers' International Industrial Union, better known as the W. I. I. U., were found in Buffalo. The Polish branch, No. 1, held its meetings at 1036 Broadway, Buffalo, and the English branch met at Harigari Hall, 431 Genesee Street.

The Social Labor Party also had a section there, known as Section Erie County, and meeting at Fleming's Hall, 431 Genesee Street. Practically the whole Socialist organization in Buffalo went Communist, and a conservative appraisal of the number of revolutionary radicals to be found in Buffalo and vicinity would be about 2,000.

At Niagara Falls there was also found a branch of the Union of Russian Workers, but not particularly well organized, and composed of but twelve members.

A circular, entitled "Your Shop," and marked "Propaganda Leaflet No. 3 of the Communist Party of America," was distributed by the tens of thousands in the various industrial plants in and around Buffalo, and was but one of a series of leaflets which preached the doctrine of class hatred and discontent and urged the workers to seize the industries in which they were employed and expropriate them for themselves. A copy of this leaflet appears in full in Chapter V of the subsection dealing with the Communist Party.

Boris Rein

It was ascertained by the investigators of this Committee that there were in Zone A thirty-one towns and cities in which were found evidences of revolutionary radical activities. stein, who is one of the members of the International Propaganda Committee of Soviet Russia in Moscow, came from Buffalo and left this country without a passport. The daughter of Boris Reinstein is married to a Dr. Kabanoky of Buffalo, who is very active in revolutionary radical circles in that city.

In the rural communities in Zone A, such as Mayville, Sheridan, Findlay, Findlay Lake, Clymer and Jamestown, in Chautauqua County, and Warsaw and Casteel, in Wyoming County,

radical activity is conducted almost exclusively by correspondence. Small schools or classes are conducted in these various communities, and an attempt is made to gain proselytes to the cause of revolutionary radicalism.

The Jamestown strike of the summer of 1919 was conducted by the Workers' International Industrial Union, which is known as a syndicalist organization and is practically conducted on the same lines and on the same principles as the I. W. W. As pointed out in another section of this report, it discards the theory of a fair day's pay for a fair day's work and advocates the seizure of industries by the workers themselves.

The numbers running from 1 to 31 on the map of Zone A indicate the towns in which radical revolutionary activity is extant to some appreciable extent. It must not be thought, however, that the fact of a town's being indicated as a center of radical activity on these maps necessarily means that that activity has assumed any large or dangerous proportions.

ZONE B

Zone B includes the counties of Monroe, Orleans, Genesee, Livingston, Ontario and Wayne. The principal center of activity in Zone B is Rochester. The headquarters of the Communist Party in this city were in Labor Lyceum at 580 St. Paul Street, better known as Dynamite Hall, that being the term commonly used throughout the city in describing this radical headquarters. The organizer of the party in this city was one C. M. O'Brien, who is now under indictment, charged with Criminal Anarchy, and who was arrested by the agents of this Committee, acting in co-operation with the local police and the District Attorney, on the night of December 29, 1919.

A description of Dynamite Hall and the activities there conducted is to be found in another chapter of this report dealing with the general subject of subversive education.

There have been several large strikes in Rochester during the past year, particularly in the Bausch & Lomb Optical Works and in the clothing industry, and there are indications that both of these strikes were fomented by the leaders of radical revolutionary organizations. One Komorowsky, who was a delegate to the Communist Party Convention at Chicago in September, 1919, was one of the leaders of the Bausch & Lomh strike.