The Un-American Activity of Peacemongering

December 6, 1962, Vol. VIII, No. 7

HUAC Summons 'Peace' Women

Several New York housewives have been subpoenaed to testify before the House Un-American Activities Committee next week on possible Communist infiltration of the peace movement. The American Civil Liberties Union calls the Committee's action "still another in the long list of abuses of the First Amendment by the House Un-American Activities Committee."

According to the New York clearing house of the Women Strike for Peace, the local women subpoenaed are participants in their organization "and other peace groups."

The ACLU, in a statement to The Voice on Tuesday, defended the WSP program as one "carried out in public for everyone to see and judge. It is an effort by people interested in the maintenance of peace to petition government officials to consider WSP proposals, certainly an activity amply protected by the First Amendment and hardly evidence of a 'Communist plot.' The Union certainly will press its view on the Committee and the public."

In their statement, New York participants in WSP declared that they are a "grass-roots movement" and "not an organization, and we do not ask of any woman her race, religion, or politics...Any woman who sees the threat to all mankind and who will work to achieve general and complete disarmament under effective international control is welcome to work with us."

The women are scheduled to appear before the Committee next Tuesday and Wednesday, December 11 and 12. It is reported that subpoenas have also been issued to members of peace groups in other cities across the country.

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