IWCF 72 - The Inhuman Element

The Communist for the FBI. Starring Dana Andrews and an exciting tale of danger and espionage. I was a communist for the FBI. The Communist for the FBI. From the actual records and authentic experiences of Matt Siverik come many of the incidents in this unusual story. Here is our star, Dana Andrews, as Matt Siverik, who for nine fantastic years lived as a communist for the FBI. After nine years in the Communist Party, you're bound to get the idea. I did. It's a game, a vicious game of follow the leader. The problem is the followers never become leaders, and the leaders are all doomed to disaster. So nobody wins when you play the red game, and everybody, everybody loses. In a moment, listen to Dana Andrews as Matt Svetik, Undercover Man. Undercover Man. Now here is Dana Andrews as Matt Svetik, undercover man. This story from the confidential file is marked, The Inhuman Element. The Inhuman Element. No cell meeting this time. No secret discussions in a hidden room. No malicious business to transact. Not tonight. Tonight is a night decreed by the commies as a social evening. Tonight the assignment is frivolity, whether you feel frivolous or not. Food, drinks, all you want. But don't want more than your party's superior. Laughter? Sure, laugh all you want. But let your cell leader laugh first, or you may find yourself laughing at the wrong thing. That's Comrade Critts, Melvin Critts, number one correspondent for the big party publications. They're letting him laugh all he wants tonight because he's the guest of honor. This is a farewell party for him. He leaves on a new overseas assignment tomorrow. Where? I wish I knew. It might help if I knew. Hey, don't look so gloomy, Savinic. You couldn't possibly miss me that much. How long do you expect to be gone, you know? Oh, two weeks, ten days, something like that. I'm copping the fattest news beat of the decade. Come here. Okay. Know where the party's sending me? No. Orient. Fine. Come here. Hi-Sai. Huh? H-A-I-S-A-I. Hi-Sai. Red Gorilla Leader? Yup. What about him? Well, I'm getting the first and only interview with him. But nobody even knows who or where he is. Leaders do. High side works for them, you know. Sure, but how are you going to find him? The propaganda committee is fixing it for me. The first exclusive interview with the mysterious leader of the Red Gorilla Raiders. Hey, excuse me. What's wrong? It's a refreshment problem again. Another cripsy for old Mel Cripsy. Now I knew, but I didn't understand. High-sized guerrilla raids were the scourge of the American settlements in that part of the Orient, and High-Sci himself was that anonymous commie leader you'd read so much about, unidentified even after two years of calculated terrorizing. That mystery, that semi-legendary standing of his, was high-sized greatest strength. Why should the commies want to reveal his identity now? The next morning, posing as an indignant comrade, I paid the propaganda committee a visit. State your business, Wittig. We haven't much time for petty problems. Would you call the welfare of the party a petty problem, Comrade Logan? The point, the point. Get to the point. I don't like the assignment you've given Comrade Cripps. You don't like it? And just what do you know about it, sir? I know that you're sending him to an interview with Hi-Sai. Hi-Sai's greatest strength lies in his mystery. To reveal his identity now would be to. Just a moment. One moment. Did Comrade Cripps tell you this? Yes. He talks too much. Only to those he can trust. I wonder. Well, he told no one but me. We've been close friends for years. He felt he had to confide in someone in case anything happened. All right, all right. What else do you know, Svetik? I know I don't like the assignment. It's... Your likes and dislikes are of no concern to the Propaganda Committee, Comrade. Maybe not. But remember, I was sent to this area by the Regional Policy Board. They'd be most interested in any report I might file. Oh. The board knows all about it, comrade. The entire upper echelon of the party is involved in this. We could never establish contact with Hi-Sai without their help. Oh. Oh, I see. Our national board in New York has been in touch with the party nerve center in Europe. They, in turn, have issued orders to the Orient to let Cripps through, to lead him to Hi-Sai's headquarters. Wherever that may be. Oh, hi, Logan. Why? If we felt we could benefit by your judgment... we would have consulted you. Remember, Logan, you were judged by the minor members of the party, too. A foolish project like this might... Foolish? A project endorsed by party leaders all over the world? No, Svetik. Hi-Sai has become a symbol, a large symbol. This news story will link him closer to every communist, will make our comrades realize that Hi-Sai is working for them. Oh, is that the reason for the news story, Logan? Is Hi-Sai becoming too big for the party? That's all, Svetik. I am a busy man. Oh, that is the reason for all this, isn't it, Logan? The party's getting worried about Hi-Sai. The news story will tell the world that he's still just a puppet. That he's still linked directly with the cause. And if this theory of yours were true, Svetik... Wouldn't you approve? No. No? No. I'd be afraid that the news story would reveal too much about Hi-Sai. It might lead to his capture. Don't underestimate your superiors, comrade. We know what we are doing. Even if you and our enemies do not. Beaker? Beaker, this is Red. Hi. Got troubles? Listen, the party's sending Mel Cripps to the Orient, into Red territory. Cripps? The news guy? Yeah. With his Red complexion, he won't be able to get a passport. They'll probably fix a phony one for him. That'll be easy to stop. I'll just talk to him. No, no. Let him go. Why? Look, the whole party is doing a lot of international string pulling to get him over. They've arranged for him to interview Hi-Sai. You know, the guerrilla leader? Huh. Neatest trick of the week. We've been trying to find Hi-Sai for over a year. Well, this may do it. Let Cripps get his story. There may be some clues in it. Clues to Hi-Sai's identity. Well, we can use a few more clues, all right. What's the commie angle to all this? I don't know for sure, but I have a hunch. The party's worried that Hi-Sai's getting too big. They want to show the Reds that Hi-Sai isn't just an independent guerrilla leader. That he's working closely with the party. That figures. Maybe I'd better get word to Central Intelligence. Let them check the crypt stories. Check them while they're still warm. Then the CIA may be able to tag Hi-Sai before he holds up. Right, Matt. Thanks. Within a week, Mel Cripps had filed his first story. The commie press in America and all over the world hailed it as a tremendous scoop for the party. But the American government wasn't interested in scoops. They wanted Hi-Sai. The stories kept coming in for five days, cleverly written, liberally sprinkled with tantalizing facts about the guerrilla leader's headquarters, his henchmen, even a carefully worded physical description of Hi-Sai himself. The stories made it Pretty clear that Hi-Sai was working for the party all right. But they also cleared up some points about Hi-Sai's identity. Speaker. Speaker, this is Red. Been trying to reach you, chum. About the Hi-Sai stories? Yeah. Happy? No. What's wrong? We dug enough clues out of the articles to put together a good picture of Hi-Sai. Great, then you... No, not great. We're pretty sure who Hi-Sai is now. In fact, the whole world will know him soon. So? So. According to what we know now, Hi-Sai is actually one of our own anti-communist leaders. What? It's George DePaul, a wealthy American planter over there. Well, DePaul's been fighting Hi-Sai. Yeah, that's what we thought. But from what we found in these articles, he is Hi-Sai. Every clue, every carefully guarded fact points right to him. Well, at least we know the truth about him now. Yeah. Whittle and the natives over there figured out. They trusted DePaul. He was their friend. Now, well, now they'll suspect every American who. Matt, are you sure this isn't another commie trick or something? No, Baker, they wouldn't send Mel Cripps that far for a trick. You'd better see that something is done about Carmen DePaul, though, and fast. Logan. Carmen Logan. Logan! What the devil are you cackling. About? Oh, dear. Delightful. A masterpiece, Frederick. An absolute masterpiece. The high-size stories, no doubt. Look, repercussions are being followed already. Here, read it. Read the headlines. It just came out. Anti-American riots in the Orient. Anti-communist natives turned on their American benefactors today as rioters stormed the plantation of... George DePaul, intent upon. Delightful. Utterly delightful. You enjoy seeing a comrade torn apart by a mob? Comrade? DePaul is high-sci, isn't he? Oh, Svetty, you're as gullible as those natives. Wait a minute. Isn't he high-sci? Well, of course not. But... The articles, they were all. Wait, did Paul is Hi-Sai's worst enemy? And now his own friends, his own friends are. Out to tear him to pieces. Wait a minute. Wait a minute, make sense, Logan. Logan, you told me the party was sending Cripps right to Hi-Sai himself. And it was done. And Cripps saw Hi-Sai. And he wrote what he saw. Yes, yes, indeed. Then what are you. He wrote it as he saw it, all right. But, uh, we, uh, did some editing and some rewriting here before publishing the stories. To... to... to make the world think Hi-Sci was George the Poor. But that was the whole idea, Sweatic, right from the start. We knew American intelligence would be checking the stories with uncommon interest. Did Cripps know that? Did he know his stories would be rewritten by... by... You? No, but he won't mind. It's rather pleasant to see anti-communists fighting anti-communists. I wouldn't have it any other way, would you, Conrad? Hmm? Oh, would you? Now back to Dana Andrews starring as Matt Siverik in I Was a Communist for the FBI and the second act of our story. A direct propaganda hit for the Reds. An international bullseye. And I could have stopped it. I should have known better. I should have recognized the twists and turns. But no. Instead, I assured the FBI that the Hi-Sci articles were true. I'd help turn American allies against a sincere American leader. Yes, Logan. I'm worried about you. I'm flattered. For two days, those demonstrations in the Orient have been going on. We're turning anti-communists into anti-Americans. But you don't seem the least bit pleased. I'm confused, I guess. At all? When is Cripps due home? Just confused, Svetik. Why the suspicions, Logan? You know more than you should. That can be dangerous, Svetik. But I've only drawn... Remember this. If anything occurs to reverse our favorable situation regarding the high-side project, I'll have good reason to hold you responsible. Why me? As I say, Svetik, it's dangerous to know more than you should. Too dangerous. From bad to worse. It would be suicide now for me to try to contact the FBI. Logan would be checking every move I made. All I could do was stand by, making noises like an ardent red, grinning like a satisfied commie, while American authorities and hot-headed natives built a case against an innocent man. And then, two nights later, there was more frivolity by assignment. A welcome home party for Mel Cripps. Maybe Cripps would be the answer. Maybe I could turn his reporter's instincts against the party. Maybe. Maybe. Maybe his training as a newshound would work for me. I'm a jolly good fellow. I'm a jolly good... Are you mad, old boy? Well, welcome home, Mel. Oh, old melancholy Matthew. Ha, ha. A long face at my farewell party and an even longer face at my welcome home shindig. It's a fine way to treat a pal. Oh, I'm sorry, Carmen. Because I've been thinking too hard. Oh, now you're the analytic type. Have you analyzed my series on the high side yet? Yes. I didn't like it. No kidding? No. How come? It wasn't your series. Well, sure it was. No. You reported the facts, but the propaganda committee changed them. To suit the party. What's wrong with that? You're a good reporter, one of the best. A good reporter's first concern is the truth. I, uh, well, I just wish you'd been given an assignment that didn't need revising. Listen, Svedek, I'm a reporter for the Communist Party. My first concern is the Communist cause. The only truth I know is the inevitable proletarian revolt. Careful, Svetik. Steady. That's two strikes in a row. Strike one, not seeing through the commie's overall scheme. Strike two, overestimating Cripps as a newsman and underestimating him as a red. One more strike and I'd be out. And before the evening was over, Comrade Logan was doing the pitching. In here, Svetik. Something wrong, Logan? Sit down. Now, what were you and Cripps talking about? Huh? Oh, nothing special. Small talk, mostly. I don't believe you. Well, ask him. Say, what's wrong with you? What did you expect us to be talking about? He told you nothing. About what? Logan, that suspicious mind of yours is beginning to back up on you. He told you nothing about his latest assignment? No. Has he got a new assignment? He just got back. He's leaving tomorrow for one of our satellite nations. From his conversation, did he seem to suspect the true nature of. He didn't even mention it. Why should he suspect? Yeah. Why should he suspect anything? Your trusted friend.... Isn't coming back, Svedek. Cripps? Why? What's he done? It's unfortunate, but he's the only lower echelon party member who knows the real identity of Hi-Sai. That knowledge is a threat to party security. But Cripps is too loyal ever to tell what he knows about Hi-Sai. Loyal, yes. And human. Would you prefer a machine, Logan? Yes. But having none. We must purge ourselves of the most dangerous human elements. That's all, Svedek. Not a word of this to Cripps, comrade. Or you'll join him on his one-way journey. Look, Logan. Cripps probably has notes on his original story about Highside. Maybe even a copy of the unedited dispatch. Yes. Yes, that may be. And if he does have them, and they should fall into... Enemy hands? Yes. Good thinking, Switty. Good, good. If he has any notes on the real high side, the one person he'd give them to is you. Well, I could try. The simple, direct approach. In the interests of the party. He couldn't refuse that. And if he does? I'd have three men stationed in the street beneath his apartment window. If he gives you trouble, just flip the window shade up or down as a signal. When friendliness fails, violence usually succeeds. Come on in. Door's unlocked. Morning, Crips. Well, Matt boy, come on in, come on in. You give me a hand with this packing, huh? You've hardly had a chance to unpack, Mel. Another tripsie for old Mel Cripsie. Say, hand me those ties, will you? There you are. Thanks. There. One more suitcase to go. You look pretty happy about this trip. Why not? This is even a bigger story than the high-sign news beat. This time, I'm the first American reporter to penetrate that particular section. Of the Iron Curtain. Ha, ha. Hey, American. Well, technically, anyway. Say, speaking of that high-sign story, Colin, you don't happen to have any copies of the original dispatch, do you? Oh, you mean before they made George DePaul a goat? Sure, why? Well, it might be dangerous to keep it around. If it gets into the wrong hands, it would be pretty. Hey, you're right. You're right. Let me see. Ah, here it is. Boy, oh, boy. What the American government would do to get this little piece of paper. Let me see it. Sure. Now, wait a minute. I don't think the party wants this information bandied about among its members. No, don't be silly. Let's see it. Oh, no, no. You better not, Matt. Why invite trouble? I don't know. What are you looking for? Match. Got one? Match? Match? Oh, now, wait a minute, Mel. Oh, here's one. Here's one. Once this copy is burned, it... Now, cut it out, you idiot. Hey, what are you doing? You burn that copy and the party will burn me. Logan sent me here to get that dispatch from you. Why? For the files. Give it to me, Mel. I warn you, I... Oh! Let go! Let go of the medic! Give me that copy, Chris. The medic! Give it to me! Break it! Here, take it, take it. That's better. Now, get on with your packing. Yeah, yeah, sure. Comrade. Hold it, Svetik. What are you. Oh. That gun, a souvenir from high side? Stand still. Now take that dispatch out of your pocket and drop it on the table there. Do it! And if I don't? My trigger finger gets some exercise. You always shoot people in broad daylight, windows open, shades up? No. Okay, smart guy. Just stay put. Happy now? Thrilled. I like seclusion. Let's have that dispatch, Savitik. Right now. Okay, I'll count five. Think you'll need some help? One. Two. Stand still! Three. This is your last go around. I want that copy. Four. Okay, comrade, this is what happens to traitors. Hey, what puts the gun away, Cripps? Wait a minute, wait a minute. I care of him, comrade. Will you let me go? What are you doing? Well, the corner phrase, Logan. You came just in time. So I see. Cripps, is this how you treat a comrade, a trusted friend, sent here in the interest of a party? You sent him here? I told you that, Cripps. Did you find any notes or copies of the dispatch, Svetik? Well, he doesn't have them anymore. Oh? That true, Cripps? You gave our vital secret away? I gave the only copy I had to Svedek. Tell him, Svedek, show them. Is it true, Svedek? You saw the gun, Logan. What do you think? All right, comrades. Take comrade Cripps away. All right. Wait a minute, wait a minute. This is a frame-up. What are you doing? I gave the copy to. Svedek, I tell you. Take the traitor away before he attracts all the neighbors. Now, wait a minute. I tell you, I'm not a traitor. The party's my life. I swear, I gave the copy to Svedek. I'm not a traitor. Well, Sir Vedic, want to join us in seeing Comrade Cripps to his final assignment? No, thanks, Logan. I've seen enough. Your trusted friend, eh? I hope you're convinced, Sir Vedic. Trust and friendship are human elements. As you see, Comrade, humanity and communism don't mix. Yeah, I know, Logan. I know. When Logan had gone, I put the original, unedited copy of the dispatch into one of Mel Cripps' personal envelopes and addressed it to the FBI. Its content would identify the real High Sigh without a shadow of a doubt. George DePaul would be cleared of the false charges against him, and High Sigh would be brought to justice fast. Outside, I dropped the letter in a mailbox and walked away. The streets were empty, heavy with early morning silence. The city wasn't awake yet. The nation wasn't fully awake either. Nor was the world. Until the city, the nation, and the world were fully awake, I knew I must. Walk the empty streets in silence. I must walk the silent streets alone. Dana Andrews will return in just a moment. This is Dana Andrews, friends. One of the fundamental differences between tyranny and democracy is that in a tyranny, the people must follow the leader. In a democracy, the leader must follow the people. In the story you've just heard, names, dates, and places are fictitious to protect innocent persons. Many of these stories are based on incidents in the life of Matt Svetik, who worked undercover for the FBI. Next week, another fantastic adventure. Join us then, won't you? Thank you.