Howard Costigan
In May 1954, Costigan played a similar role on behalf of the House Committee on Un-American Activities during its investigation of radicalism in the Pacific Northwest.
[2] On November 11, 1919, the 15-year-old Costigan was a witness to the so-called Centralia Massacre, an outburst of mob violence in which members of the American Legion participating in an Armistice Day parade attempted to storm the local headquarters of the radical Industrial Workers of the World and were met with armed resistance.
[2] The injustice of the event, which culminated in an IWW member being pulled from jail by an organized band and lynched, was instrumental in moving the young Costigan to himself become involved in radical politics.
[3] According to Costigan's later sworn testimony to Congress "The Commonwealth Builders was an organization originally of protesting and unemployed citizens who were displeased at the fact that they were expected to go up in front of soup kitchens when they preferred working with tools to build themselves and adequate standard of living...
Costigan ran for political office himself for the first time in 1944, when he entered the Democratic primary election for U.S. Congress, attempting to win the seat vacated by Warren Magnuson, who decided to run instead for U.S.
[3] This effort proved unsuccessful, however, with the seat being won by Washington Commonwealth Federation stalwart and secret Communist Party member[6] Hugh DeLacy.
[8] Costigan testified that the Washington Commonwealth Federation had been established in 1935 by liberal and labor groups over the opposition of the Communist Party as a means for advancing Roosevelt's New Deal agenda.
[9] It was only in 1936, according to Costigan's testimony, that the CPUSA warmed up to the idea of using its trade union and liberal connections for the "penetration" of the Washington Commonwealth Federation, including its executive board.
"[10] During his Canwell Committee testimony Costigan named as members of the Communist Party former Congressman Hugh DeLacy,[11] old age pension activists William Pennock and N.P.
[1] In his testimony Costigan detailed his own biography and the formation of the Commonwealth Builders and Washington Commonwealth Federation for the committee and named as members of the Communist Party journalists Lowell Wakefield, Jim Cour, and Ellen McGrath,[15] his former secretaries Sylvia Keen and Irene Borowski,[16] University of Washington professors E. Harold Eby and Mel Jacobs,[17] union officials Karley A. Larsen and Harry Jackson,[17] party functionaries Lou Sass and Henry Huff,[6] woodworkers' union official Mickey Orton,[6] and attorney Jim Molthan,[18] in addition to those already named in the 1948 Canwell proceedings.
[19] Costigan argued to the committee that it was essential for conservatives to allow for "freedom for the expression of progressive and liberal ideas, in an effort to ameliorate conditions that give the Communists adequate soil in which to fortify.
"[20] After 1955 Costigan worked as an independent consultant and writer, counting among his clients the House Committee on Un-American Activities, for whom he helped investigate Communist influence in the motion picture industry.
