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Nestor, Barbara (audio interview #10 of 10)
INTERVIEW DESCRIPTION - By the time of this ninth interview with Barbara Nestor she seemed to have recovered more fully from her illness. Although there did not seem to be any memory difficulties, there are a few occasions when she repeats information provided in previous interviews. The audio quality of the interview is fair, though there are a few areas in the second tape where the recording includes a series of skips. 4/4/1975
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- 2021-01-21
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- SUBJECT BIO - Barbara Nestor, the mother of Dorothy Healey (former chair, Southern California District, CPUSA), was a radical activist in her own right. Born in Hungary, she was raised first in St. Louis and then in Denver, Colorado. She became a socialist when she was only sixteen, and joined the Socialist Party in 1915. During WWI, she engaged in anti-war agitation. In 1919, when the Communist Party was formed in the US, she joined. After moving to Oakland, California in 1921 with her husband, Joe Rosenblum, and her children, she maintained a high level of activity, particularly with the International Labor Defense, and often risked arrest. She did not re-join the Communist Party until 1936, five years after she moved to Los Angeles. The interviews about the Los Angeles years detail the kind of rank and file organizing in which she engaged. Nestor's oral history sheds light both on her own thinking and on the influence she had on the development of her children's radicalism. Her interviews also reveal a great deal about her relationship with her daughter, Dorothy Healey and her grandson, Richard, for whom she had primary caretaking responsibilities, especially during the 1950s and the Smith Act trials. TOPICS - longshoremen's murder trial; government informants; Dorothy's Smith Act trial; atmosphere of fear; and recruitment policies of the CP;recruitment policies of the party; government informants; security measures of the party; McCarthyism; involvement in southwest section; and activities as an older woman;
- *** File: refbnestor22.mp3 Audio Segments and Topics: (0:00-2:36)... This interview opens with Nestor singing a song that was popular during the Spanish-American War. She discusses her attitudes towards war, indicating that it was nothing more than organized murder. [She digresses with comments on current events and her opinion of an interview with former chief of staff, H.R. Haldeman.] (2:36-11:45)... Nestor talks about the trial of Frances's husband, Britt Webster, and five other longshoreman accused of murder, repeating the earlier story about Claude Smallman staying at her home in an attempt to avoid arrest . She details the circumstances surrounding the case, in which authorities claimed that the six longshoreman killed a man during a strike in San Pedro. Her son-in-law ultimately committed suicide, but not before Frances divorced him. (11:45-19:16)... During the murder trial of the six longshoreman, Nestor was called to the stand as a witness because Smallman stayed at her home. The secretary of the Communist Party at the time was a stool pigeon and Nestor called him a liar for testifying that he had been in her home. She discusses how this man became involved with the party and gained trust among the members. (19:16-22:20)... The trial was an anti-labor case; in addition to the murder charge, the prosecutors charged the defendants for violating picketing ordinances and the Smith Act. However, the evidence was insufficient and the men were acquitted. During the trial, the prosecutors accused the men of being communists. Not all of them were members of the party, but were Communist sympathizers. This was a political trial similar to Dorothy's in 1951-52. Nestor comments on Slim Connelly's decision to join the party, indicating that had he not stuck to his principles he may have not become a target for the government. (22:20-26:14)... Shortly after Dorothy's arrest, Nestor took Richard to New Mexico for three weeks and then returned for the trial. The Communist Party organized a committee that delivered meals to Dorothy and the other communists every day for several months. Most of the women on the committee were Jewish members of the American League Against War and Fascism. Nestor, along with Richard, attended the trial almost every day. (26:14-30:49)... During Dorothy's trial, Nestor acted as a communication link for the party. In addition to running errands and delivering messages, people often contacted her to obtain news of the trial. She explains that comrades who attended the trial often changed seats to confuse the prosecutor and his witnesses. When Dorothy's bail was set at $100,000 Nestor went before an FBI committee to protest the exorbitant amount. She describes a confrontation she had with one of the agents before this meeting regarding his attitudes towards socialism. He was insulted when she told Richard that he was one of the enemies simply because he was trying to do his job. (30:49-33:14)... Nestor describes another incident involving two FBI agents who justified their activities because they needed the work. She digresses regarding newspaper writer who reported on the events of the trial every day. Although he was progressive, he had a drinking problem and she believes he was drunk most of the time. (33:14-40:14)... During the trial, Nestor learned of several Communists who were actually government informants. She suspected one man, named Lancaster, of being a government agent from the time he became a member of the Communist Party. During the trial, he testified against Nestor because her home was a headquarters for party activities. Nestor contends that she never spoke about a violent revolution, but of world peace. Although she expressed her suspicions of Lancaster to the party, most people trusted him because he was brought into the party by Frank Spector. She discusses her attitudes towards party recruitment policies, indicating that people generally viewed recruitment as a "feather in your cap." end of tape *** File: refbnestor23.mp3 (0:00-5:18)... Nestor continues the discussion of her decision not to recruit John Claybees into the party. She believes that if a person has influence and access to certain people outside the party, this is lost when they the party. She describes her family's relationship with Claybees and his wish to will money to Dorothy. Dorothy advised those interested in bequeathing money or property to her that she would turn it over to the party. Anna Louise Strong also wanted to give Dorothy two cottages, but this was not looked upon favorably by the party, and the property was granted to someone else. (5:18-12:13)... Nestor believes that the recruitment policies of the Communist Party made them vulnerable to government informants. She repeats a story about discovering a stack of undelivered pamphlets in a member's closet, which made Nestor suspicious. After she reported the woman to the party, they slowly distanced themselves and did not tell her about meetings and activities. (12:13-18:01)... Note: there are a series of skips from 16:12 to 16:29. Both government informants, Lancaster and the Youngquists were members of her Southwest Section, though at different times. She discusses her experiences with them and describes the system in the party of reporting and investigating suspicious comrades to the chief of security. In addition to his own investigations, he also had a mole in the FBI who often tipped him off to government agents. Although she tried to warn the party that Lancaster was possibly a government informant, party members discounted her fears because he appeared to be a dedicated comrade. (18:01-21:50)... Party members were very fearful during the McCarthy years. Suspicious of wire taps, when party members wanted to share sensitive information during meetings, they wrote it down on a piece of paper. She discusses her suspicion of Pettis Perry, a Black man with whom she had argued over the party stand on self-determination in the Black Belt. (21:50-24:42)... When she was suspicious of members, Nestor made it a practice not to accompany them to party activities. She discusses the atmosphere within the party that discouraged criticism of the Soviet Union. In the case of her confrontation with Perry, who was a staunch advocate of the Soviet Union, she was very careful not to criticize or attack him because people frowned upon any criticism of Blacks. (24:42-31:31)... Note: there are several skips in this segment of the recording. Nestor argues that during the Korean War the party did not stress the connection between John Foster Dulles, Joseph McCarthy, and the government. She digresses into a discussion of a disgruntled steelworker who became embittered with the party. She does not know how many, if any, disenchanted communists cooperated with the government against the party. She recalls that two of Bernard's schoolmates from UC Berkeley were communists who went to work in government positions after they graduated. However, she does not believe that either one of these individuals became government spies. (31:31-34:34)... Regardless of the atmosphere of fear cultivated because of McCarthyism, Nestor did not limit her activities within the party; her entire neighborhood knew what her political beliefs were. By the 1950s, even at the age of seventy, she remained active. It was not until she was eighty-five that she began to limit her physical activity. She stopped distributing the People's World in the late 1960s. She never really liked doing it, and believes that no one reading the paper would understand the movement from just reading this source. (34:34-40:31)... Until approximately 1972, Nestor was still active in the southwest section, but began to limit her activities recently because it is difficult to find transportation to meetings. She views herself as a dissident force in the party, constantly questioning policies. When she moved to Los Angeles, she was first a member of another chapter and then transferred to the Southwest Section when she moved to her current home. At the time, there were several members in the group, but it has dwindled down to a mere fraction of what it was. The decrease in numbers began in the 1950s when twenty two members left the party en masse. She recalls that Dorothy was often criticized for remaining friends with these people because the party viewed them as enemies. end of tape
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4820755538605939-refbnestor23.mp3 | 2023-10-19 | Public | Download |