 Our next testifier will be Gregory Goddells and he is an author with ML today. Marxism Leninism today is the electronic journal of Marxist Leninist thought. Gregory, you got to unmute. Okay. You can hear me. Yep. Great. This is a great event and this is a needed event. I can't speak to how how needed this is. In my opinion, probably the greatest obstacle to progress in our time. Today is to overcome the 20 evils of anti communism and racism. I think they are the obstacles to our moving forward. I appreciate the invite. Too often when you study anti communism in the United States, it's relegated to the celebrities, the Hollywood 10 professors that were repressed, or liberals who were painted with the same brush and were unfairly treated as though they were persecuted and persecuted accordingly. Very few stays are devoted to the small people, the little people that in fact were communists. And they're often name was victims, there were thousands, maybe 10,000 of them in the course of the Cold War. And this work where I live is an area that was hit particularly hard for several reasons one reason because the Communist Party here had a large working class character. It represented many ethnic groups and had strong black membership and leadership in the area. In addition, of course, this is a center Pittsburgh's center of corporate America. And that made it a particularly hot area. For that reason, commentator like David caught in his book, the great fear the anti communist purge under Truman and Eisenhower described Pittsburgh as the epicenter of the repression and a chapter entitled Helen Pittsburgh. And among all the victims, I wish I could. Most along forgotten, I did have the privilege of meeting. Many of those victims, I came to Pittsburgh in 1969. They suffered job losses, public shaming, lost the friends in the relationships. Some went to jail. I can't mention more than a few but I'd like to give you the flavor I think their names should not be missing from history. Unfortunately, they, they, they have been. One was Becky Horowitz. She was a housewife her husband was a plumber in the Communist Party. I'm going on for ballot status for the Communist Party in the, in the 30s. The Pittsburgh press, one of our then local newspapers, I competed for this kind of activity, printed the names the addresses and the occupations of all the petitioners. And that was put in out to the public, in order to embarrass these people. She was arrested for falsifying petitions because the authorities had then gotten people to attest that. They offered things if they would sign a petition, they were threatened bullied to sign a petition. The Communist Party in Western Pennsylvania decided not to contest these arrests because they did not want to embarrass, or bring forth charges against the people that were making them even though they were victimizing people Becky and her case, she had a young son in school, went to jail for six or eight months, based upon the this this anti communism. A couple of wonderful, wonderful people that I met when I moved here that had the most integrity that I've ever experienced Alan Thomas and Joseph Sonny Robinson. They both worked at crucible steel in Pittsburgh, they're both steel workers, both elected union officials. They had, they had things planted in the lockers, the police came in, they arrested them, they fired them, they lost their jobs. They were left to find some kind of other employment. In the case of Alan, funny, funny incident, the appeal this to this union. And he petitioned the union on a third occasion. They asked him if he supported the second front. If you follow World War two politics you know the second front was when most people in this country wanted to see the US attack the Germans and form a second front is to fight the Germans, when the Soviets were carrying the burden of the war. And of course he says he was really for a second front in Mississippi. And that went over like a lead balloon and he was not allowed to get back his job. Another old comrade was Leon swimmer a baker. He was a young man, and along with a number of progressives and communists decided they were going to integrate a pool in Pittsburgh pools were all all the public pools were segregated. And I went to Highland Park a small area in Pittsburgh, and they jumped in the pools were chased out. Leon was beaten beaten badly as a consequence of this, but but that's it was one of the shiny moments of his life in his fight. And maybe the most egregious example is Lou Bortz. Absolutely wonderful human being a veteran of Spanish Civil War veteran of World War two that is living as an appliance repair man. And it's called before the McCarthy hearings, not you act not the House on American Activity Committee, but the McCarthy hearings appeared without a lawyer was charged with planning the assassination of Senator McCarthy. The same day he appeared Jewish American, the Rosenbergs were executed. So you can imagine the atmosphere at that time. As a result of this, of course he lost his jobs. He tried to lost his family, alienated his friends, hacked out a living. These were all victims of other personalities in Pittsburgh his name should never be forgotten forgotten. And they were the snitches they were the, they were the informers hardy Matuso Joseph Masai, Matt's vetic. As time proceeded as these as the courts generated and went through these, these cases, they are all identified as liars alcoholics unreliable and so on, but the damage was done to these people and hundreds of other people in Pittsburgh. I had the pleasure of meeting them. I had the pleasure of knowing these people and they were some of the greatest people I ever met, but what they went through was unconscionable, but more and conscionable is the fact that the legacy their legacy and the legacy of others remains undefended, unnoticed, unacknowledged. I'm reminded of a Pittsburgh songwriter folk singer that you all know I'm sure Anne Feeney, a people singer who died recently, and she had a song she has a song she's dead but she has a song about what she asked, who was jailed for justice. And she had written another stanza and that stanza would have been who has been persecuted scandalized, who has been lost their job lost their family their friends, who has been jailed for for and surveilled by the FBI, who has an FBI number. I'm very proud to say that, having known these people. I got my own note FBI numbers so I am a moralized to, and the files of the FBI, and proud to be. And I asked that people now so called progressives today, who are seeing the FBI as heroes. Seeing them as heroes, revisit this era revisit this history, and learn who the FBI really is. Thank you. Thank you so much, Gregory, and it's great to see you. We've chatted and I really love your writing on ml today. Thank you. And yes, I'm asking you in the chat if people would do this if you have a brief comment you want to make if you have any stories like the last couple that we've heard we want to hear just get the flavor of McCarthyism. And of course it wasn't just in Washington DC they took it on a road show and it was all over the United States be persecuting. I want to I'm not sure ladies running the show. If you have pictures to put up right now. But in case you don't I'm just gonna. Okay, good. Ladies are good. I don't even need my book my copy. This is an amazing, amazing book I just spent three straight days reading a conspiracy so immense. And it was one of the things that spurred me to, you know, to a few of us to start this a few years ago so it's a frightening frightening book.