Attorney General's List of Subversive Organizations

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The United States Attorney General's List of Subversive Organizations (AGLOSO) was a list drawn up on April 3, 1947

Communist fronts, the Ku Klux Klan and the Nazi Party.[1]

History

Creation

The Attorney General's list was first known as the Biddle list after President

subversive front organizations in 1941. The original list had only eleven organizations but was greatly expanded by the end of the decade to upwards of 90 organizations.[2]
It did not list individuals.

Communist groups, which emerged both in the pre-war and the post-war list, are marked by one ". In the meantime, even some trade unions that excluded members of openly communist groups from their membership lists were dissolved, partially also by government resolution.

Thousands of Americans with progressive or radical political beliefs signed petitions for, or became members of, these groups without being aware of the Communist ties of the group. Many were later

McCarthy era
. Some others, though, were found through HUAC investigations and Venona cable intercepts, to be actively involved in Soviet sponsored espionage and related activities.

Biddle list

Biddle List of 5 February 1943
  1. American League Against War and Fascism
  2. American League for Peace and Democracy[citation needed
    ]
  3. American Patriots, Inc.
  4. American Peace Mobilization
  5. American Youth Congress
  6. Communist Party USA
  7. Congress of American Revolutionary Writers
  8. League of American Writers[3]
  9. Michigan Federation for Constitutional Liberties
  10. National Committee for the Defense of Political Prisoners
  11. National Committee for Peoples Rights[citation needed]
  12. National Federation for Constitutional Liberties
  13. National Negro Congress
  14. Protest War Veterans of the USA
  15. Washington Book Shop Association
  16. Washington Committee for Democratic Action
  17. Workers Alliance

(Source: New York Times of 5 December 1947)[4]

AGLOSO of 4 December 1947

On December 4, 1947, US Attorney General Tom C. Clark released the "Attorney General's List of Subversive Organizations" (AGLOSO).

As reported by the New York Times on the same day, the list included groups from the Biddle List plus new groups plus eleven (11) school.

Edward Barsky of the Joint Anti-Fascist Refugee Committee—denied the government's accusation.[5]

The next day, the New York Times reported a second batch of groups who rejected the government's accusation:

American Youth for Democracy, Harrison L. Harley of the Samuel Adams School for Social Studies, and Walter Scott Neff of the Abraham Lincoln School.[6]

AGLOSO of 4 December 1947
  1. Abraham Lincoln School of Chicago, IL
  2. American League Against War and Fascism
  3. American League for Peace and Democracy[citation needed
    ]
  4. American Patriots, Inc.
  5. American Peace Mobilization
  6. American Polish Labor Council
  7. American Youth Congress
  8. American Youth for Democracy
  9. Armenian Progressive League of America
  10. Civil Rights Congress including: Civil Rights Congress for Texas, Veterans Against Discrimination of Civil Rights Congress of New York
  11. The Columbians
  12. Communist Party USA including Communist Political Association, Citizens Committee of the Upper West Side (New York City), Committee to Aid the Fighting South, Dennis Defense Committee, Labor Research Association, Southern Negro Youth Congress, United May Day Committee, United Negro and Allied Veteran of America
  13. Connecticut State Youth Conference
  14. Congress of American Revolutionary Writers
  15. Council on African Affairs
  16. George Washington Carver School of New York, NY
  17. Hollywood Writers Mobilization for Defense
  18. Hungarian-American Council for Democracy
  19. International Workers Order
  20. Jefferson School of Social Science of New York, NY
  21. Joint Anti-Fascist Refugee Committee
  22. Ku Klux Klan
  23. League of American Writers[citation needed]
  24. Macedonian-American People's League
  25. Michicagn Federation for Constitutional Liberties
  1. National Committee for the Defense of Political Prisoners
  2. National Committee to Win the Peace
  3. National Council of American-Soviet Friendship
  4. Nature Friends of America
  5. National Federation for Constitutional Liberties
  6. National Negro Congress
  7. New Committee for Publications
  8. Ohio School of Social Sciences
  9. Philadelphia School on Social Sciences and Art
  10. Photo League of America
  11. Proletarian Party of America
  12. Protest War Veterans of the USA
  13. Revolutionary Workers League
  14. Samuel Adams School for Social Studies of Boston, MA
  15. School of Jewish Studies of New York, NY
  16. Seattle Labor School
  17. Socialist Workers Party including American Committee for European Workers Relief
  18. Tom Paine School of Westchester, NY
  19. Tom Paine School of Social Science of Philadelphia, PA
  20. Walt Whitman School of Social Science of Newark, NJ
  21. Veterans of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade
  22. Washington Book Shop Association
  23. Washington Committee for Democratic Action
  24. Workers Alliance
  25. Workers Party
    including Socialist Youth League

(Source: New York Times of 5 December 1947)[4]

Later history

The Attorney General's List of Subversive Organizations (AGLOSO) was expanded by President

Richard Vail, an Illinois Republican, and John Wood, a Georgia Democrat. They readied their first version of the list for Attorney General Tom C. Clark within a few days.[7] It appeared in the Federal Register on March 20, 1948.[8]

United States armed forces could not join or associate with any group on the list under threat of discharge from military service.[9]

List as of 1959

  • Abraham Lincoln Brigade
    April 29, 1953
  • Abraham Lincoln School for Social Science April 29, 1953
  • Action Committee to Free Spain Now April 29, 1953
  • Alabama People's Educational Association April 29, 1953
  • American Association for Reconstruction in Yugoslavia April 29, 1953
  • American Christian Nationalist Party April 29, 1953
  • American Committee for European Worker's Relief April 29, 1953
  • American Committee for Protection of Foreign Born
    April 29, 1953
  • American Committee for the Settlement of Jews in Birobidzhan Inc September 28, 1953
  • American Committee for Yugoslav Relief, Inc. April 29, 1953
  • American Committee To Survey Labor Conditions in Europe July 15, 1953
  • American Council for a Democratic Greece (formerly known as the Greek American Council; Greek American Committee for National Unity), April 29, 1953
  • American Peace Crusade
  • American Polish League
  • Black Dragon Society
  • Cervantes Fraternal Society
  • Committee to Abolish Discrimination in Maryland
  • Committee to Aid the Fighting South
  • Committee to Defend the Rights and Freedom of Pittsburgh's Political Prisoners
  • Committee for a Democratic Far Eastern Policy
  • Committee for Constitutional and Political Freedom
  • Committee for the Defense of the Pittsburgh Six
  • Committee for Nationalist Action
  • Committee for the Negro in the Arts
  • Committee for Peace and Brotherhood Festival in Philadelphia
  • Committee for the Protection of the Bill of Rights
  • Committee for World Youth Friendship and Cultural Exchange
  • Committee to Defend Marie Richardson
  • Committee to Uphold the Bill of Rights
  • Congress of African Women
  • Dai Nippon Butoku Kai
  • Daily Worker Press Club
  • Detroit Youth Assembly
  • Elsinore Progressive League
  • Families of the Baltimore Smith Act Victims
  • Federation of Greek Maritime Unions
  • Florida Press and Education League
  • Freedom Stage, Inc.
  • Friends of the Soviet Union
  • Garibaldi American Fraternal Society
  • German American Bund
  • Harlem Trade Union Council
  • Hellenic-American Brotherhood
  • Hungarian Brotherhood
  • Independent Socialist League
  • Industrial Workers of the World
  • Japanese Association of America
  • Jeannette Rankin Brigade
  • Jewish Community of Cortlandt
  • Jewish Culture Society
  • Jewish People's Committee
  • Johnsonites
  • Knights of the White Camelia
  • Ku Klux Klan
  • Labor Youth League
  • League of American Writers
  • Mario Morgantini Circle
  • Michigan Council for Peace
  • Michigan School of Social Science
  • Nanka Teikoku Gunyudan
  • National Negro Congress
  • Nationalist Action League
  • Oklahoma League for Political Education
  • Peace Information Center
  • Peace Movement of Ethiopia
  • People's Educational and Press Association of Texas
  • People's Rights Party
  • Revolutionary Workers League
  • Russian American Society
  • Silver Shirt Legion of America
  • Veterans of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade
  • Virginia League for People's Education
  • Youth Communist League

Abolition

The list went through several revisions until President

Richard M. Nixon abolished it in 1974.[10]

Impact

The list's impact was immediate but not all important. Its purpose was to provide a guide for the loyalty boards mandated by EO 9835. The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) began using it immediately, but it was only one of many lists they used. The HUAC maintained its own list. Membership in an organization on any such list was reported to the Justice Department and loyalty boards.[7]

The list was quickly adopted by other public and private groups, which used it to discriminate without any notice, charges, or hearing.[11]: 26–27 

See also

Footnotes

  1. ^ a b c d "Prelude to McCarthyism: The Making of a Blacklist". Goldstein, Robert Justin, Prologue, U.S. National Archives. Retrieved 6 February 2007.
  2. ISBN 978-1-4000-8105-9
    , pp. 55-60, notes).
  3. ^ Mitgang, Herbert (1987-09-28). "Policing America's Writers". The New Yorker. Retrieved 2022-02-16.
  4. ^ a b c "Groups Called Disloyal". New York Times. 5 December 1947. p. 18. Retrieved 16 June 2020.
  5. ^ "Accused Groups Deny Disloyalty: Five Organizations Listed by U.S. Insist They Are Not Subversive, Assail Clark". New York Times. 5 December 1947. p. 18. Retrieved 16 June 2020.
  6. ^ "Accused Groups Condemn 'Purge'; Foster of Communist Party Hits Federal Charges -- One Body R~calls 'Palmer Raids'". New York Times. 6 December 1947. p. 13. Retrieved 16 June 2020.
  7. ^ a b "Hoover and the Un-Americans". O'Reilly, Kenneth, Chapter 8:Counter Intelligence, University of Pennsylvania. Retrieved 6 February 2007.
  8. ^ Attorney General's list, Federal Register 13, (20 March 1948) Archived 7 April 2014 at the Wayback Machine
  9. ^ Defense Department Form 98, Revision 1 June 1959
  10. ^ Pear, Robert (1980-10-27). "Immigration Service Keeps List Of 'Proscribed' Groups in Nation; Basis for Listing Groups". New York Times. pp. A19. Retrieved 6 February 2007.
  11. ISBN 9789819921881
    .
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