In Time of War Citizens’ Freedoms Are Under Siege

Dorothy Jones, a noted Washington state sociologist, spoke recently about her new novel, “When Shadows Fell,” at Village Books.

Following September 11, 2001, events in America have assumed a familiar and ominous tone—reminiscent of the wholesale revocation of civil rights, in the name of national security, during the McCarthy era, 50 years ago.

My recently published novel, “When Shadows Fell,” is based on my experiences as a political activist in Los Angeles during the 1950s. The book brings the reader into the heart of the repression and intimidation of those years and into the internal lives of leftists of the period—their day-to-day lives, personal relationships, ideological differences and conflicts.

I recovered the memories that led to “When Shadows Fell” through a writers’ group assignment to produce an essay about an intensely painful period in my life—my years as a grassroots communist. This is what I wrote:

When I opened my front door, one of the two men standing before me said, “We’re from the FBI and we’d like to talk to you.”

My two children had been standing beside me at the door. They heard my hasty reply to the agents: “I don’t care to talk to you.” They watched me try to close the door while one of the agents blocked me with his foot.

“We know you’re a card carrying commie and you’d better talk to us or you’ll be in deep trouble,” he’d said in a sharp voice.”

I shoved the door closed.

“Are they going to put you in jail, Mom?” my seven-year-old son had asked, his lip quivering. I was about to reassure him when my five-year-old daughter, her voice shrill, interrupted. “Will they kill you, Ma, like they did that Ethel Rosenberg woman?”

Two days after the visit from the FBI agents, a friend called to warn me that the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Un-American Activities (HUAC) was issuing subpoenas to left-wing social workers and psychologists—and I was among the chosen. I was divorced, partially supporting two young children, and working for a government institution.

If I appeared as a witness, I’d have to either finger my friends and associates or stand on the First Amendment and risk jail or stand on the Fifth Amendment and lose my job. I hid at my mother’s house and instructed the children to conceal my whereabouts if anyone asked.

“You mean lie?” my incredulous son asked. And I managed to say, “yes,” contradicting the moral code I’d so urgently impressed on them.

The onslaught seemed endless, month after month, year after year—bomb drills at the schools that made my son vomit, bomb shelters in our neighbors’ yards that gave my daughter nightmares, the burning of books like “Robin Hood” in the kids’ school, investigations that cost friends their careers and sometimes their freedom. Arrests and jailings, revocation of citizenship and deportations, and shunning by some friends and neighbors who were overcome with fear...

After Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev’s 1956 revelations about Josef Stalin’s atrocities and the Soviet and American parties’ silences in the face of them, I left the Communist Party; but the terror of those years of repression, fear, and assault on our liberties haunted my dreams for years.

Finally, the terror had faded, and I was convinced that I’d experienced an anomaly; that my children and their children would never have to face anything remotely resembling that period. Therefore, I was startled at the intensity of my response when I fulfilled my writing assignment.

One of the members of my group applauded: “You’ve just outlined your next novel,” she said.

I began to consider the idea. The experience was certainly important to me, but would it be to others? I conducted some informal interviews to elicit the reactions of people in my children’s and grandchildren’s generation, and, was amazed at the extent of their ignorance about the McCarthy era. Apparently the text books and media to which they were exposed overlooked this vital chapter in U.S. history.

This awareness furnished a compelling reason to write the book. The work began; and as it neared completion, in the aftermath of September 11, the book took on even greater significance as I saw history repeat itself with new legislation and executive initiatives that could have been lifted right out of the 1950s by substituting the words, “terrorists” and “combatants,” for “communist” and “subversive.”

In a revived assault on human rights, the new Anti-Terrorist and USA Patriot Acts legalized searching the homes of suspects without having to show probable cause that a crime had been committed—or without having to inform the subjects until after the search has been completed.

Under the new laws, the government is allowed access to people’s bank records, credit card purchases, email, chat rooms, websites visited, cell phones, and books read. Government agents are now permitted to infiltrate houses of worship. Due process for suspects and war criminals has been eroded by the new laws, which permit indefinite detention and deportations on the basis of evidence kept secret.

Two more assaults on freedom come from the executive proposal for a Terrorism Information and Prevention System (TIPS) which would create a class of volunteer snoops—your friendly neighborhood meter readers, mail carriers, and delivery persons in the role of local spies—and a another executive proposal requiring national ID cards—domestic passports for everyone.

Intimidation is spreading like a summer forest fire throughout the land of the free—silencing dissent through a generalized fear of being labeled unpatriotic or subversive.

I finished “When Shadows Fell” with the hope that it would encourage people to draw on our history, to enable a balance between security and democracy in these troubled times. Now, as in 1952, our cherished constitutional freedoms and basic human rights are in a battle for survival.

As an anonymous patriot cautioned at the dawn of our nation, the price of liberty is eternal vigilance. Now, as much as at any time in our history, we must heed that warning.

You can learn more about Dorothy Jones and her book, “When Shadows Fell,” at her website: http://www.dorothyjones.net. The novel is available at Bellingham’s Village Books (1210 Eleventh Street), and through Dorothy’s website.