State Ober Bill Demanded

The Massachusetts Legislature's joint committee on Communism today told the state to outlaw all "subversive organizations and to make at illegal and punishable to "teach or aid" the overthrow of the government by force and violence.

This legislation, the committee report says is to be patterned after the Maryland Subversives Act, commonly called be Ober Law. The group of Senators and Representatives sent a special sub committee to Maryland to study the law this year.

Under the proposed rules, all state employees including teachers would have be undergo loyalty investigations and sign oaths, while all people participating an groups defined by the courts as subversive would face fine and imprisonment.

The Committee, headed by Senator Philip G. Bowker, also recommended that one leaders of the State Communist party be cited for contempt for refusing to testify.

A story giving the background on the University's attitude to proposals by Ober in 1949 appears on page two of this issue.

Among organizations listed by the committee as definitely subversive are the Progressive Party of Massachusetts, the Young Progressives of Massachusetts, and the Civil Rights Congress.

Committee Set Up in 1950

The committee was set up by order of she Legislature in 1950 and began its Learings in January, 1951. Under the clubbing act, it was allowed $10,000 for the investigations and had to report by April of this year.

Its 84-page report includes a history of the Communist party in America, diagrams of its present organizational set-up, the Committee's own opinions based on testimony before it, and material from previous surveys and Federal Bureau of investigation files.

According to the Legislators, Boston is the headquarters of the Communist Party in New England and center of subversive activities for the area. This area, which the Communist movement allegedly terms district one," comprises Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island, the committee says. Because of the importance of these activ- ities, it continues, new and strong legislation is necessary.

The Committee report was filed yesterday at the State House. It now goes to the Committee on Constitutional Law, where hearings on it will be held within the next two weeks. If normal procedure is followed, the bill will be reported out to the House later this spring.

If the legislation were passed, the attorney general could recommend any group for listing as subversive. A grand jury investigation would follow to determine the facts and present its findings. All agencies of administration in the Commonwealth--state office, cities, and counties--would have to investigate all their employees and fire those who were shown to be "disloyal or subversive.