IWCF 050 Trial by Fear

Communists for the FBI, starring Dana Andrews and an exciting tale of danger and espionage. I was a Communist for the FBI. From the actual records and authentic experiences of Math Savetics. How many of the incidents in this unusual story. Here is our. Star, Dana Andrews. That's Mat Sivetics two for nine fantastic years lived as a communist for the FBI. We are so accustomed to trial by jury that we forget it is one of our God given privileges, guaranteed by our Constitution and the Bill of Rights. In our way of life, a man is innocent until he found guilty. But unfortunately, there are other ways of life, dark devious ways in which men and women are not tried in the court of justice, but in a temple of fear and terror. No jury deliberates the crime, for the trial is a crime in itself. This is the story of one such trial and a terrible sentence that was passed. In a moment. Listen to Dana Andrews as Mat Samatic undercover Man. Now Here is Dana Andrews as Mat Sabbatic Undercoverman. This story from the Confidential File is marked file by fear. Commies and cats have a lot in common. They can slink in the shadows, unseen, but all seeing. When they strike, they strike fast and sure. When they have time to toy with a victim, the torture is deliberate and slow. Like homeless alley cats, these kamis sought the darkness of abandoned cellars for meeting places. We were huddled in one such dungeon now, watching the cat's toy with a mouse. My eyes were just becoming accustomed to the dim light of the cellar under the warehouse on Front Street. I'd never been here before. As far as I was concerned, Comrade. Elliott didn't have to bother inviting me again. It was a cold, dank place. In the gloomy half light, the shadows of the men looked like grotesque monsters. I saw now that Comrade Peterson had three goons with him. They weren't monsters at all, just ordinary looking plug uglies entertaining a friend. Oh, the fist was Peterson's. The jaw was the jaw of a thin, white faced man I've never seen before. Comrade Peterson had this squad well organized asavetic. Yeah, what's it all about? Early. Don't wait and watch. It should be most instructive. All right, comrades, still work. The dunes were well organized, all right. They all leaped on their victim and succeeded. They hit him with fixt and SAPs, and when he fell to the floor, they used the shoes on him. So they're digging my nails into my pods. You've uh never been here before, have you? Savetic? No, I didn't know the party allowed spectators in the execution, James, I detect sarcasm in your tone, Comrade. Oh, it's just a statement of fact. Comrade Elliott, do you expect that man to come out of it's alive? Maybe? Maybe not? What did he do? He was a trader? Are we all a trader? To the party sthetic? There's a difference. Hello, hello Martin. Yes, this is Charlie. Oh Charlie. We were beginning to worry about you. Where are you calling from? I'm booth in my hotel. I just finished my report and I'm checking on the drop. He was po box two three one, same name. How's everything? Someone got it last night from a goon squad. My report has the detail. Yes, we know about the man. A report makes gruesome reading of it. Well, they. The toughest part of this job of mine was the business of filing detailed reports for the FBI. They took time, too much time, time for alert comis to go suspicious till this report had to be written. So I tapped it up in my hotel room, sealed it in an envelope. Then I walk out into the hall of my briefcase. Though you were a communist twenty four hours a day, sometimes you spent. Eight hours a day at. A job where the party placed you, and sometimes you even made a living at it. A job that made me seem legitimate was that of insurance salesman. I reached the letterbox, which was near the elevator. I was about to place my letter in the slot and mailing a letter svetic. I was anything wrong and mailing a letter? Elliott? I told you last night, Comrade Svedic, you're inclined to be sarcastic. You know Comrade Peterson, don't you you saw him at work last night? Yes? I certainly did. Hello, come right, wait, I see. This letter is addressed to mister George Harrison, Box two three, one City, Personal sthetic no business, insurance business insurance business. Eh, that's right, addressed to a post office box. Now listen you too. If you've got any suspicions, open the letter and read it heavy. It does feel like an insurance policy, that doesn't it, Peterson? Well? Well, what go on? Open it if you think that. That's thick enough to be an insurance policy. Oh no, no, it isn't an insurance policy at all, Peterson. It's a private report to the FBI that make you feel better, and that satisfy your suspicions. All right, all right, Svedik, forget the sarcasm. Then suppose you forget this foolishness. If you have any reason to suspect me of anything, let's have it. Out right now. I'll take it easy here, Madge, your letter. Thanks. I still don't like your snatching a letter out of my hand. And I still don't like your tone. Comrade Spati, Perhaps you'll tell us what you're doing here in the hotel. I just left an insurance prospect room seven to two, if you'd like to check on it. I see if quite a coincidence meeting here, isn't it? Is it? My insurance business takes me all over? How about you and Comrade Peterson, our business takes us all over too, right, Peterson, Yeah. All of us, good wife and now comrades vedical. If they had called my bluff, if they had opened that letter, I'd have been the next guest to be entertained by the goon squad. That report was dynamite, and I. Was glad to be rid of it, or at least almost rid of it. I still had one copy to dispose of, a copy to be placed in a safety deposit box at the bank in case the original went astray. It's too late to do it now, but the first thing the next morning, I set out to get the job done. It was the kind of morning that made you forget about reds and treachery and vicious intrigue. The sun was warm, the air was crisp and clear. The bank was just a short walk down the street, but a quick glance over my shoulder convinced me that I needed a ride. Comrade Elliott was just a few paces behind me. Just at that moment, a bus came to a stop, and I got on. The bus wouldn't take me anywhere near the bank, but it could take me away from the kami who was tailing me and Eliot. My Kami shadow was looking after it ruefully from the sidewalk. Getting up there, I got off at the next stop. There was a large department store in this corner. I went through the revolving door. And opped the auto entrance, where I caught a cab First National Bank pleader. I knew I was safe. I'd been too fast for Comrade Elliott. I leaned back to enjoy the taxi ride. Her driver. I went into the bank, walked over to the window where I'd have to sign a slip to gain access to my safe deposit box. Now were several people ahead of me. Then another person joined the line. I felt a tap on my shoulder. I wheeled around. Hello, Spetti, we meet again. By Yeah, by a coincidence, isn't it? Yeah? Isn't it another coincidence? Your next meding? My thanks. I just wanted to get the twenty dollar bills change. You're in the wrong line speedic huh oh, yeah, sure enough statements in safety deposit boxes. I just wanted to cash. Excuse me. I stepped over to the next line, the twenty dollars bill in my hand. I hadn't shaken Elliott at all. Perhaps he had a car somewhere, and I wondered if you'd swallowed the story about the wrong line, stood there watching me with his steel gray eyes, waiting for me to get my change. All set, All set. I didn't have any small change with me. Here's my last bit of change on the bus. Yes, I saw you on the bus, but you drove up here in a taxi. No, the bus was too slow. I wanted to get to the bank before clothes. You know, comrade, you behave like a capitalist. You take taxis to a bank just to get some change. Is there anything in the communist manifesto that says we shouldn't take a taxi or get change at a bank. You're sarcastic again, comrades, I tell you the truth, Comrade Elliott, I didn't like you following me. You said it was a coincidence, coincidence? How long are you going to keep that up? All right, I wasn't a coincidence. I want to. Talk to you about what about a special. Cell meeting tonight? At seven? Special meeting? Why didn't I hear about it? Hearing about it? Now, let's go. I have a car waiting. The meeting is a vital concern to you, Svetic, especially you. Me, Why me? Oh yeah, what the devil happened? I'm sorry, Peterson, A comrade here became surprisingly elusive. I wanted to be sure I found him. Well, you found him, and I found you. Now let's go right, you too, Well, I'm sorry. I got a few errands. No a sthetic. The errands can wait, the party cannot. The meetings tonight still early. I want to be sure you don't miss it, Svetic. Come on, all right, comrades, All right, let's call a meeting garden. Now. Now, I suppose all of you are wondering why we're meeting like this, non schedule meeting, last minute announcements, that sort of thing. Well, our cell convenes tonight, Comrades to root out a trader. Our reasons for suspicion were discovered suddenly. Hence we meet suddenly, and one of us is about to be disciplined suddenly, Comrades, one member of this cell is an undercover agent for the FBI. It wrong? Yes, what is it? Sethetic? Are you sure of your evidence? After all? To a cue of the comrade, unjustly with. It, never fears the punishment will fit the crime. But every member of the selliment check, double check, and checked again. That's how we found our trader. Unfortunately, the FBI places its spies at the most inconvenient station for us. This time, however, we're about to show some inconvenience to that spy. Comrade Savetic, would you mind stepping forward? Please? Now back to Dana Andrews, starring as mat Sevetic. And I was a communist for the FBI and the second act of our story a special cell meeting to ferret out an FBI agent, a spy, a traitor. An enemy to the cause of the Commis. Now the Reds were ready to point their finger to place the agent on trial, a trial in which the sentence is pronounced before any evidence is presented. The ancient Romans had filed like that when Nero talked Christians to the lions. Today's Commis don't use lions. They have their goon squads. Nothing. What's the Red boom boys in action? I knew what would happen to that agent, and I knew too who that agent was. From the way our cell leader, Comrade Ralph stared at me. I was sure that he knew too. Sit over here, Comrade so leegg near me. Thanks unnaturally, Comrade, the spy in our midst will be submitted to the usual liquidation ceremonies. Comrade yes, Comrade elect how long, it doesn't matter. His reign of secrecy ends tonight, Peterson, your men already always. I turned around and looked through the connecting door. He opened. The goon squad was there all right, in full force, the same three men with the heavy square faces and battered ears and thick callous knuckles. All of us in the room stared, and then the door closed. Elliott, Yeah, locked the outer door. Sevetics stopped fidgeting. Station Yeah. Comrade Hugo, Yes, you're assigned to Comrade Dora today. What is your report? Comrade Dora is not to be suspected, Comrade Ralph. I want to report, Hugo, a report, not medatorial comments. There's nothing to report. You're instructed to trace Dora's activities. Did you or did you not obey these instructions? Yes? Of course I did, then report on them. Please yeah, quiet, all of you are quiet. Report Hugo. Comrade Dora went to work at the mill as usual. She was five minutes early. She spent in conversation with fellow workers go on. She took a five minute break in the middle of the morning. Lunchtime, she joined Comrade Anna and the cafeteria. I sent a message to her about this meeting on a paper napkin. A napkin was destroyed. Yeah, she burned it. Then she reported sick and was dismissed from work for the day. No conversations with strangers, no telephone call. No, how do you know? Because I work in the same section of the floor with her, I was able to observe her at all time. Comrade Malo, Yes, give me the report on Comrade Philip. And I was stationed at the Swiss board in our office. I was able to monitor all calls, including those made by Comrade Philip. And what calls did he make? Ordinary business calls? One calls was an insurance agent, one to his wife. What about those ordinary business calls? Their content was no concern to the party, Comrade. The party is concerned with everything. Mylow. At least calls were innocious or not salesman's reports, dickering without the town clients, checking the status of the market, that sort of thing. Did Philip have any visitors? Only from persons previously cleared by body. I say, Comrade Philip is a pop suspicion. Good, Comrade Elliott, Yeah, not a minute your report. Wait a minute, there's no time for interruptions to that. I have a question to ask. Has it anything to do with the business at hand? Everything? Obviously, Comrade Ralph, you've assigned picked men to follow and report on members of this cell. Obviously, May I ask why that? Too? Is obvious? That not? To me? It isn't well it should be after my announcement of a few minutes ago. You said there was an undercover agent here. Yes, you mean, exclusive of the picked man you set out to spy on her. I don't like your choice of language, or comrade, I appeal to you. Some of you are suspected of a grave party crime. Yours fid upon and Comrade Ralph is collecting the reports. But what about the men who spied upon you? Are they not to be suspected? How do we know they're about. Suspec I was fighting fire with fire, trying to create a diversion, trying to stop Comrade Elliott. From giving his report on me. I was fighting fire with fire of all that, hoping to build myself a smoke screen. If I didn't get burned first, I wanted to throw it out. In every member of the Commission before Comrade Elliott gave his report on me, for I was afraid of that report all of. Your planet, I say, althetic am I to understand that you question my men, the men who gathered. Reports for me. If you suspect it unimpeachable party workers like Comrades Dora and Philip, why couldn't your men be suspected to come? Yes, Comrade Dora, may I say comments that I have nothing to hide. From the moment I joined the party, I. Became a communist heart and soul. I've never faltered now. I have never questioned the policy of the policy. I'm proud to have been investigated and exonerated. I say, long live the Worker's Republic. What is it I agree with? Comras I soon. I intend to post push for me. I intend to serve a party with at. This was beginning to sound like a revival meeting. Instead of hallelujahs, the Red chanted Party slogans they shouted saying fought to demonstrate their hysterical dedication to the cause. Maybe, maybe, maybe, if the excitement not enough. If Comrade Ralph was scrubbed along with his wild demonstration, he might forget the question Comrade Elliott about me? All right, Comrade by. Cora ah ah, then we'll continue. Comrade Elliott, here your report on Comrade Sevedic, please, That is, if Sevedic has no further obstruction as taxics for this meeting. I followed Sevedic to the bank. He seemed upset when he saw me. Claimed he'd gone to the bank for change, but he'd taken a taxi to do it. He stood in the wrong line. Yes, Comrade Savedic is an unpredictable man. All right? Is there more to report on him? No, Comrade Peterson, your report on Comrade Elliott. Check the at actions all week. I've gone to his personal belongings. I've checked his phone calls twice this week. Comrade Elliott has attempted to establish contact with a local FDI or comrades that supports the evidence the Control Commission has on the good Comrade Elliott. Anything to say, Elliott, nothing, nothing at all. One moment, one moment, Sebetic. H stand up. His business is far from over, you know, Peterson, Bring in the disciplinary squad. Please. The goons were walking in, walking across the room, headed straight for me. Your instructions, comrades, You'll take Elliott to the car waiting behind the building. You'll drive him to the Hilton Avenue underpass and take the long way to the usual place. Spend his little time in that miserable cellar as possible, but. Make the job complete. As for Comrade Savedic, you Savedic will see that these instructions are carried out. Irony, bitter, diabolical irony. It ties logic into nuts, and it twist your nerves till they snapped. It turns truth into terror. Comrade Elliott, the man I thought was my enemy, was actually my ally. I was so sure he'd been putting the finger on me that I couldn't see that he was under the fun of the comigoons. But now that I knew it was too late. What could I do? How could I prevent the inevitable from happening? I looked at the grim, heavy faces around me, Peterson, the number one muscle man, the three brass knuckle virtue Woss who. Committed mayhem to his order. I looked at Elliot, but he was staring out the car window, his face. Expression as he under parasmatic warehouses just beyond it. You and know the way to the cellar. I've been there before, you know, yeah, I know you better. Stop here, alright, Elliott out. We headed toward the warehouse, through the deserted rooms and into the damp, dismal basement execution chamber. I had called it. And now Elliott was about to become the latest victim. Escape. There wasn't any and Elliott knew that as well as I did. Didn't here who this fire though? I turned on the light. Somebody, do you need a light for this job? Paterson? That it helps? Yeah, I'll never. Mind the light, gentlemen. We have life lights for that over here, Ellien. You guys stayed put. You've got the brass knuckles, but we have the guns. Who are your cups, Holly, Civilians, We work out of the same office. But you can't hold us for anything. We haven't done anything. We can hold your sthetics. We can hold Peterson in this town. What we haven't done it yet? For murder. The last guy you worked on in this massage parlor didn't pull through. Remember, Come on. Martin and the other FBI men had waited a long time for the Reds to return to the dungeon scene. Of their other crimes. They've been waiting ever since they received my report, the report I almost didn't mail. Naturally, I was hauled in for questioning too, but I hadn't figured in the killing, so I was released, still alive, still unsuspected by the Reds. But for how long? One day I might walk the same path that Elliott did. And maybe I wouldn't be as lucky. Maybe, well, you can't help thinking thoughts like that when you live with treachery, when you mix with commis, when you walk alone. Dana Andrews will return in just a moment. This is Dana Andrews's friends. A great number of years ago, Daniel Webster stood up in Congress and made a speech about the Declaration of Independence. Whatever may be our fate, he said, be assured that this declaration will stand all. That I have, and all that I am, and all that I hope in this life. I am now ready to stake upon it, live or die, the vive or perish. I am for the declaration. It was Webster's attitude, friends, that made our country free. That attitude is the only attitude that can keep it free. In the story you just heard, named dates. And places are fictitious to protect innocent persons. Many of these stories are based. On incidents in the life of Matt Savedic, who worked undercover for the FBI. Next week, another fantastic adventure. Join us then, mont you