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er a ees bats ya alg ga Rey ae cae Met - 4 u “Ak Ee Poe ape Mey p er ae ra eit ‘ 25 Ee Py og ; “f : —~“Gelders, Houar —_ ten oe ey ° FE AQLSQ - 27 "librevy and university in the South and te most Southern fibers Ll Readess. Is msthead described it as 41 Journal of liorressi: 2 (oyniont published by tis New South Publishing Company. Although tho nemos of James %,-Ferd, Henry Jinston, Rob,’ R,-tixi? tnd most Southern orgenizers of the Communist Party were included as contributing cditors, few readers knew that the first two issucs of the New South had appcarcd as 'Publisned by the Comminist Farty'. "Even the Communist Party leaders had little or no thought of a + Te 4 a he ar = permincnit organization when the original conference at Birmingran wes callod, The original objectives of the Cemmnist leadership fell far short of whet the Birminghom conference became, The sycccss rs ae ana work of about threo individuals (Joseph Lee and Malcolm Cotton"Bobbs) who had acccss the “tite Housc ond in one esse (Gelders) to Justice Hoseeeinek ef the Unitcd States Supreme Court through his sistcr-in-law, MrseDirr (who incidentislly ws a paid subscriber to the Net South), Gclders, who wes « guest of President and Irs. Rogscevelt at the White fiouse and at Hyde Park, persuaded irs, Rooscvclt to become a speaker ot the conference, The next stcp was to bring Justiée Black into the progr>m through averding him 2 J: fferson fedal, "With Frs, Reosevelt and Justice Black es speakcrs it mas not difficult to support from cvery scction of the South. Then the Communists beran utilizing their various 'mss crganizctions' for porticipatien. John Po“Rayis headed ths Negro Congress and the party's-cornections in NegrS organizations threughout the South, EdwardStrong and tucsBeuthern Negro Youth Consress played the samc role among Hcsro students and in campus greups thot Rev. Valeolm Cotton Dobbs and Howard Lee pl-yed in ‘Ihite youth and studont organizations, The Icft Socialist leadcrs of the Highlendcr Folk School at Lontcagic, Tenn., cooperated actively and wi gly with the Commnist Party, and with less illusions than anyonc clse of its role. (One of them,Janmcs Dombrowski,is now tne cxceutive administrative officiol’of the Southern Conference with Clark -— meee ee mamta — \ Foreman as nominel head,) "To summerize: During the first year of the Southern Confercnec fer Humen ticlfarc the Communists wore able to kecp orgenization.1 control of the apparatus, holding key positions, lorgcely becsuse: (1) Lost promincnt mombers did not know Gelders, Lec, Dobbs and others wore Communist Party members; (2) Thore wes Little in the 2 —— : : ? a os a. ne ‘ - 7 melt « 4am . , . . . ~ ; 7 * He oh ha - woe vee > ~~ ~_- - Be a - “7+ Se, -_. oo - we. rd Pe +: a) ‘yi Bet as FZ. . a : we a oer ° . t: BEE a [ome] —_— ~ ~s *-