PUBLIC LAW 601, 79TH CONGRESS The legislation under which the House Committee on Un-American Activities operates is Public Law 601, 79th Congress [1946]; 60 Stat. 812, which provides: Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United Stater of America in Congress assembled, * * * PART 2-RULES OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES RULE X SEC. 121. STANDING COMMITTEES * 17. Committee on Un-American Activities, to consist of nine Members. (q) (1) Committee on Un-American Activities. (A) Un-American activities. (2) The Committee on Un-American Activities, as a whole or by subcommit tee, is authorized to make from time to time investigations of (i) the extent, character, and objects of un-American propaganda activities in the United States, (ii) the diffusion within the United States of subversive and un-American propa ganda that is instigated from foreign countries or of a domestic origin and attacks the principle of the form of government as guaranteed by our Constitution, and (iii) all other questions in relation thereto that would aid Congress in any necessary remedial legislation. The Committee on Un-American Activities shall report to the House (or to the Clerk of the House if the House is not in session) the results of any such investi gation, together with such recommendations as it deems advisable. For the purpose of any such investigation, the Committee on Un-American Activities, or any subcommittee thereof, is authorized to sit and act at such times and places within the United States, whether or not the House is sitting, has recessed, or has adjourned, to hold such hearings, to require the attendance of such witnesses and the production of such books, papers, and documents, and to take such testimony, as it deems necessary. Subpenas may be issued under the signature of the chairman of the committee or any subcommittee, or by any member designated by any such chairman, and may be served by any person designated by any such chairman or member. LEGISLATIVE OVERSIGHT BY STANDING COMMITTEES SEC. 136. To assist the Congress in appraising the administration of the laws and in developing such amendments or related legislation as it may deem neces sary, each standing committee of the Senate and the House of Representatives shall exercise continuous watchfulness of the execution by the administrative agencies concerned of any laws, the subject matter of which is within the jurisdic tion of such committee; and, for that purpose, shall study all pertinent reports and data submitted to the Congress by the agencies in the executive branch of the Government. RULES ADOPTED BY THE 86TH CONGRESS House Resolution 7, January 7, 1959 RULE X STANDING COMMITTEES 1. There shall be elected by the House, at the commencement of each Congress, * (q) Committee on Un-American Activities, to consist of nine Members. RULE XI POWERS AND DUTIES OF COMMITTEES 18. Committee on Un-American Activities. (a) Un-American activities. (b) The Committee on Un-American Activities, as a whole or by subcommittee, is authorized to make from time to time investigations of (1) the extent, character, and objects of un-American propaganda activities in the United States, (2) the diffusion within the United States of subversive and un-American propaganda that is instigated from foreign countries or of a domestic origin and attacks the principle of the form of government as guaranteed by our Constitution, and (3) all other questions in relation thereto that would aid Congress in any necessary remedial legislation. The Committee on Un-American Activities shall report to the House (or to the Clerk of the House if the House is not in session) the results of any such investigation, together with such recommendations as it deems advisable. For the purpose of any such investigation, the Committee on Un-American Activities, or any subcommittee thereof, is authorized to sit and act at such times and places within the United States, whether or not the House is sitting, has recessed, or has adjourned, to hold such hearings, to require the attendance of such witnesses and the production of such books, papers, and documents, and to take such testimony, as it deems necessary. Subpenas may be issued under the signature of the chairman of the committee or any subcommittee, or by any member designated by any such chairman, and may be served by any person designated by any such chairman or member. 26. To assist the House in appraising the administration of the laws and in developing such amendments or related legislation as it may deem necessary, each standing committee of the House shall exercise continuous watchfulness of the execution by the administrative agencies concerned of any laws, the subject matter of which is within the jurisdiction of such committee; and, for that purpose, shall study all pertinent reports and data submitted to the House by the agencies in the executive branch of the Government. V SYNOPSIS America's historic mission, sometimes lost sight of in the fast pace and distance of the modern world, we can again recall with pride in the story of Captain Nikolai Fedorovich Artamonov, former Soviet Naval Officer, which is briefly told in the pages of this hearing. That mission-the haven of a free land-the receiving of oppressed and suffocated spirits from alien soil, is one of the most significant facts of our past. The calendar date is different, and the oppression today eferred to possesses a refinement absent from primitive prototypes, but the stinking essence is the same. And the cold ambition for world domination, so meaningless and yet so recurrent from Genghis Khan to Hitler to Khrushchev, is again eflected in Soviet preparation of their youth and their military. Captain Artamonov reminds us of this. We see further, not only the ordering of physical power, designed y Soviet Russia for the conquest of the world, but the preparation and employment on a massive scale for conquest by semantics-by words and ideas, corrupted, distorted, and perverted from their natural meaning and purpose. The strange mixture of fact and fiction, conlusions without established premise, variations upon theme, all mixed to a cabalistic jargon of Communist dialectic, leads us to conclude hat the originators and purveyors thereof are afflicted with a disorder f the mind and soul. This underworld of half-truth and intellectual antasy has conditioned the Communist mind like Pavlov's dog. But all this contains the seeds of its own destruction. Communism nnot survive the light of truth or prolonged inquiry. The intelligent ind upon which these arts are practiced will in time rebel as maturity reached. That is also the teaching of Captain Artamonov, for this illiant naval officer fought his way to the truth, and then put those Ise theories and the country of their habitation behind him. However, the issue is a deadly one. The Communist evil is capable greater evil, before it will be abandoned by sane people. This is so the story of Captain Artamonov as he tells us of Soviet plans r surprise attack and total destruction. Essentially, his message one of enlightenment and warning. May we understand, we who ve ears to hear. 1903 |