American Communist-Sponsored Groups: National Defense Committee (1920 - 1923)

ORGANIZATIONAL HISTORYThe National Defense Committee (...for the Defense and Relief of Class War Prisoners, known as the "D" in underground party lingo) was the first "mass organization" of the American Communist movement dedicated to legal defense. In the summer of 1919, a wave of raids leading to document seizures and arrests was launched, with an emphasis on organizations in New York City. Mailing lists and correspondence files were a particular target of government raiding parties -- groups including New York policemen, "patriotic" volunteers, and employees of the New York "Joint Legislative Committee Investigating Seditious Activities" (the so-called Lusk Committee) and "Radical Division" of the Bureau of Investigation of the US Justice Department. By the fall of 1919, the radical political activities of some 60,000 individuals were listed and categorized, according to the congressional testimony of Attorney Gerneral A. Mitchell Palmer.

On January 2, 1920, a massive operation of coordinated raids was implemented -- the so-called "Palmer Raids" -- resulting in several thousand arrests of political radicals and union activists. Non-citizens were particularly targeted due to the lack of applicable laws with which to charge the native born. The mass arrests created a gargantuan legal problem for the American radical movement, as thousands needed to meet bail, to obtain legal assistance and financial aid for dependant families. While the individual organizations (CPA, CLP, IWW, etc.) came to the immediate aid of their members as best they were able, a certain amount of duplication of legal effort entailed in the vast number of cases quickly became apparent.
The National Defense Committee was established in 1921 as a non-party organization dedicated to raising funds, coordinating legal efforts, and distributing relief among among the thousands of American prisoners and their affected families. The NDC was headed by Edgar Owens, a founding member of the Communist Labor Party from Illinois, and maintained a central office located at 7 Bank Street, New York City. Also listed on the group's 1921 letterhead as officials of the organization were Max Bedacht, I.E. Ferguson, L.E. Katterfeld, and C.E. Ruthenberg -- Ferguson and Ruthenberg being in prison at the time. In addition, there was a "Finnish Auxiliary Defence Committee" as part of the NDC organization, headed by Henry Askeli and Elis Sulkanen.


1. Convention --- Chicago, IL --- Jan. 9-10, 1921.
The National Defense Committee held a secret convention in Chicago, attended by 63 delegates from around the United States, including 2 from Canada. Meeting in a small hall attached discretely to the back of a saloon, the gathering sat in a 13 hour marathon session, starting at 2 pm on Jan. 9 and concluding at 3 am Jan. 10. Among the ranks of delegates was a secret informant for the Bureau of Investigation, the Mason City, Iowa delegate using the party-name "Mike Benton." The informer "Benton" provided a comprehensive report of the gathering to his handlers.

The organization involved itself in the legal cases of radical political defendants without regard to their organizational affiliation, including former mermbers of the Communist Party of America (Harry Winitsky), those who left the CPA to form the United Communist Party (C.E Ruthenberg, Isaac E. Ferguson), those from the Communist Labor Party/United Communist Party (Ben Gitlow, Jack Carney), and those from the Industrial Workers of the World (Gus Alonen, Carl Paivio).
The NDC raised and spent about $21,000 during its first year of operation, exclusive of money raised for bail.
In April of 1922, the Administrative Council of the Workers Party of America appointed a subcommittee to solidify the connection between the new "legal political party" and the legal defense apparatus. A set of theses was adopted establishing a local structure for the organization, assuring that there would be no co-mingling of funds, creating a card-and-stamp system for 5 cent assessments of party members for defense needs, and formally establishing the post of "Secretary of the National Defense Committee," to be apointed by the CEC of the WPA. Edgar Owens was retained in this position due to his experience with the task and "widespread satisfaction" with his work.

[fn. Comintern Archive, RGASPI f. 515, op. 1, d. 146, ll. 63-64.]
The National Defense Council was ultimately supplanted by another mass organization known as the Labor Defense Council, which emerged following the high-profile Bridgman, Michigan raid of August 1922. Initially the organizations were to run in parallel, with the LDC to be dedicated to raising funds among the labor unions for the Bridgman defense, while the NDC was to raise funds from other sources and to confine its fundraising to "all other channels except the unions." In its fundraising appeals, the LDC was to touch "generally only" on the Bridgman case.
Over time this duality could no longer be justified, and the NDC was liquidated in favor of the more effective LDC.

[fn. Letter from Abram Jakira to Boston DO "J. Klein," Oct. 13, 1922. RGASPI f. 515, op. 1, d. 103, l. 32.]