COMMUNISTS: Catch a Comrade by the Toe

This week the deadline went by for all Communists to register under the McCarran antisubversive law, and not one U.S. Communist stepped forward to sign up. Nobody was really surprised. Hardly had the bill been passed over the President’s veto than the New York Daily Worker called for a “people’s veto,” cautioned the comrades against registering.

On the afternoon of Deadline Day, the President finally created a Subversive Activities Control Board, which, under the law, is to determine whether suspected Reds should sign on the dotted line. He named a Republican, Washington Attorney Seth W. Richardson, as its chairman. The Department of Justice was also busy. It arrested 15 aliens charged with Communist activity, said it was after 71 more, many of whom could be deported.