It has come to my attention that there are those who claim that Harry Hay was a "friendly" witness before the House Un-American Activities Committee of the U.S. House of Representatives back in the 1950s, which is to say, that he cooperated with anticommunist witch-hunters, implying both personal disgrace on him and motivations for his eventual departure from membership in the Communist Party USA.
This of course is untrue, though I must hasten to add, LGBT-world's long efforts to remove Hay's lifelong self-identification as a Marxist and his proud roots in the American Communist left have not helped little matters like the facts stand on their own. What is a committed, class-conscious LGBT historian to do?
Well, the record won't speak for itself, but rather than make you wait the months and years for the evidence to surface, buried in footnotes, instead I offer what follows: the full transcript from Harry Hay's testimony to HUAC. The facts will show clearly forth from the evidence: Hay was a hostile witness, repeatedly citing the 1st and 5th Amendments to the US Constitution (just like dear old Uncle Pete Seeger) in his refusal to answer questions.
***** Begin transcript from Congressional Record:
(header, p. 1851. Hay testimony, 1872-1875)
INVESTIGATION OF COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES IN THE LOS ANGELES, CALIF., AREA--PART 4
SATURDAY, JULY 2, 1955
United States House of Representatives, Subcommittee of the Committee on Un-American Activities, Los Angeles, California.
PUBLIC HEARING
A Subcommittee of the Committee on Un-American Activities met at 9:10 a.m., pursuant to recess, in room 518 Federal Building, Los Angeles, Calif., Hon. Clyde Doyle (chairman of the subcommittee) presiding.
Committee members present: Representatives Clyde Doyle (chairman); Morgan M. Moulder, and Gordon H. Scherer.
Staff members present: Frank S. Tavenner, counsel, and William A. Wheeler, investigator.
Mr. Doyle: Will the committee please convene? May the record show there is a quorum present: Mr. Scherer of Ohio, Mr. Moulder of Missouri, and Mr. Doyle of California acting as chairman. Are you ready, Mr. Tavenner?
Mr. Tavenner: Yes, sir. I would like to recall Mr. Wereb at this time. Mr. Wereb was sworn yesterday.
[snip, start again at p. 1872]
Mr. Tavenner: Mr. Harry Hay.
Mr. Hay: May I beg alowance of this committee to have counsel sit on the right hand side. I have very poor hearing in the left.
Mr. Doyle: Yes, indeed. Counsel should always be in the right. Let’s adjourn for 5 minutes before you are sworn in.
(Brief recess.)
Mr. Doyle: Do you solemnly swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help you God?
Mr. Hay: I do.
Mr. Doyle: Thank you. Let the record show that the committee reconvenes after the recess and that a legal quorum of the committee is here, Mr. Scherer, of Ohio, Mr. Moulder, of Missouri, and Mr. Doyle, of California.
TESTIMONY OF HARRY HAY, ACCOMPANIED BY COUNSEL, FRANK PESTANA
Mr. Tavenner: Will you state your name, please, sir?
Mr. Hay: My name is Harry Hay.
Mr. Tavenner: It is noted that you are accompanied by counsel. WIll councel please identify himself.
Mr. Pestana: Frank Pestana, P-e-s-t-a-n-a.
Mr. Tavenner: When and where were you born, Mr. Hay?
Mr. Hay: April 7, 1912, in Worthing, England.
Mr. Tavenner: When did you first arrive in this country?
Mr. Hay: My father and mother were American citizens at the time of my birth and the family returned to the United States at the end of 1916.
Mr. Tavenner: Therefore you are an American citizen.
Mr. Hay: Yes, sir.
Mr. Tavenner: Do you now reside in Los Angeles?
Mr. Hay: We came here to Los Angeles in 1916, and we have been here ever since.
Mr. Tavenner: What is your occupation, please, sir?
Mr. Hay: I am a production control engineer.
Mr. Tavenner: In what industry?
Mr. Hay: We make burners and boilers for basic industry.
Mr. Tavenner: Will you tell the committee, please, what your formal educational training has been?
Mr. Hay: Yes; I would say that in the beginning the position of production control engineer up until about 1947 or 1948 did not have regular university training so that my education for that is partl formal and partly applicatory in the field. I will do the best I can in that field, 6 years of grade school, 3 years of junior high school. Because I was graduated from high school before I was 14 I went through 3 years and dropped back and took 2 additional years of electives so I had 5 years of high school. Two years at Stanford; financial difficulties made it impossible for me to continue, so that in preparation for the type of work I do now, I had approximately 2 years in historical research, 1 year in record research, 1 year in market analysis, 1 year in actual practice as a foundry man, 3 years, 1 year in architectural--
Mr. Tavenner: I didn’t mean for you to go into the detail of stating your curriculum.
Mr. Hay: I suggested these things because to speak of yourself as a production control engineer without a degree sometimes seems a little strange. Would you like me to stop now?
Mr. Tavenner: If you have covered in a general way, that is sufficient. If you have not, I don’t want to limit you.
Mr. Hay: I would simply want to mention 3 years as a small tool analysis and material planning and 2 years in production planning.
Mr. Tavenner: Have you also engaged in the profession of teaching in addition to the other occupation which you mentioned?
(The witness conferred with his counsel.)
Mr Hay: Mr. Chairman, I must decline to answer that question on the first and fifth amendments.
Mr. Tavenner: Have you had any training in music?
(The witness conferred with his counsel.)
Mr. Hay: I must decline to answer that question on the first and fifth amendments.
Mr. Tavenner: Investigation by the committee discloses that under the schedule of classes for the winter of 1950 of the California Labor School you were an instructor of a class in music and the people’s struggle through the centuries. Did you actually teach such a course in the California Labor School?
(The witness conferred with his counsel.)
Mr. Hay: Mr. Chairman, I am compelled to answer by declining to answer your question for the reason of the first and fifth amendments.
Mr. Tavenner: Do you know whether the Communist Party in Los Angeles on a county level selected those who were to teach in the California Labor School?
Mr. Hay: I beg your pardon. Is that the whole question?
Mr. Tavenner: Yes.
Mr. Hay: Would you repeat it?
Mr. Tavenner: Yes, I will try to repeat it. Do you know whether or not the Communist Party in Los Angeles on a county level selected those who were to teach in the California Labor School?
Mr. Hay: I decline to answer that for the reasons previously stated.
Mr. Tavenner: Were you given instructions by the Communist Party to conduct classes on any occasion?
Mr. Hay: I decline for the same reasons, sir.
Mr. Tavenner: Mr. Wereb, who appeared as a witness yesterday, and also this morning, stated that you had been sent by the educational director of the Communist Party in Los Angeles to the Hawthorne Club of the Communist Party to give a course of instruction. Was that an accurate statement by him?
Mr. Hay: Mr. Chairman, you are asking me to give an opinion, I believe, in this case. I wish to state that I have neither opinions nor recollections to give to stoolpigeons and their buddies on this committee.
Mr. Tavenner: Let’s put the question in a different form. Were you instructed by the educational director of the Communist Party to conduct classes in the Hawthorne group of the Communist Party?
Mr. Hay: I decline to answer that based upon the first and fifth amendments.
Mr. Scherer: You called Mr. Wereb a stoolpigeon. Is anything he said about you untrue?
(The witness conferred with his counsel.)
Mr. Hay: I decline to answer that based upon the first and fifth amendments.
Mr. Scherer: It certainly comes with ill grace to tag a man like Mr. Wereb as you have and then refuse to say whether what he said about you was untrue or not.
Mr. Hay: Mr. Chairman, this is your opinion. You may keep it.
Mr. Scherer: It certainly is and it is opinion founded on a little testimony and a little experience on this committee.
Mr. Hay: Mr. Chairman, some of the altercation that went on with the last witness-- I might suggest a question in that direction.
Mr. Doyle: May I have that statement? What do you say, please?
Mr. Hay: In effect, Mr. Chairman, what I said a moment ago was that some of the altercation concerning the last witness in this chair might suggest a difference of opinion on the matter.
Mr. Doyle: Altercation? I wasn’t aware that there was any altercation with the last witness.
Mr. Scherer: I think I know what he means.
Mr. Tavenner: Mr. Hay, did you in January or February of 1947 conduct a Marxist school in Los Angeles?
Mr. Hay: I decline to answer that question based on the first and fifth amendments.
Mr. Tavenner: Were you a member of the Communist Party in 1947?
Mr. Hay: I decline for the same reasons, sir.
Mr. Tavenner: Are you now a member of the Communist Party?
Mr. Hay: No.
Mr. Tavenner: Were you a member of the Communist Party in 1950?
(The witness conferred with his counsel.)
Mr. Hay: I decline to state on the first and fifth amendments, sir.
Mr. Tavenner: Were you a member of the Communist Party in 1954?
Mr. Hay: I decline to state on the first and fifth amendments.
Mr. Tavenner: Were you a member of the Communist Party yesterday?
Mr. Hay: I decline to state on the first and fifth amendments.
Mr. Tavenner: Well, is it just on Saturdays that you are not a member of the COmmunist Party?
(The witness conferred with counsel.)
Mr. Hay: I decline to answer that, Mr. Chairman, on the first and fifth amendments.
Mr. Tavenner: Were you a member of the Communist Party this morning when you entered this hearing room?
(The witness conferred with his counsel.)
Mr. Hay: I decline to state on the first and fifth amendments.
Mr. Tavenner: Is it a plan of the Communist Party that when a COmmunist Party member is called to testify before this committee that he is to deny membership for the period of time he is on the witness stand?
(The witness conferred with his counsel.)
Mr. Hay: On the advice of counsel I decline to answer that one on the first and fifth amendments.
Mr. Tavenner: I have no further questions.
Mr. Doyle: Any questions?
Mr. Scherer: No questions.
Mr. Moulder: No questions.
Mr. Doyle: No questions. Thank you very much.
(Whereupon the witness was excused.)
