Where did Oswalds communist card go?

[Gerry Down]

The earliest reports coming from the DPD on the afternoon of the JFK assassination was that Oswald was a card-carrying member of the communist party. Duran and Mirabel, from inside the cuban consulate, also said that Oswald had a membership card of the communist party with him while he was inside the cuban consulate. Peter Dale Scott discusses this issue at length beginning at 33 minutes on this video:

The question then is - where did this card go after the JFK assassination, who took it and prevented it from being entered into evidence as one of the WC exhibits?

What's unusual here is that as Peter Dale Scott outlines, the DPD, the FBI and the CIA must have known about this card. So how did so many separate bodies collude to cover up after the JFK assassination the fact that Oswald had such a card?

[Jon Banks]

Oswald never identified as a Communist. In some of his writings he seemed to ridicule the American Communist party and the Soviets.

He identified as a Marxist-Leninist. Communism is based on Marxism but not all Marxists identify as Communists.

[Gerry Down]

Oswald never identified as a Communist. In some of his writings he seemed to ridicule the American Communist party and the Soviets.

He identified as a Marxist-Leninist. Communism is based on Marxism but not all Marxists identify as Communists.

He did write to the communist party. He even asked them for advice (Aug 31st 1963 letter). Those letters are in the 26 volumes. He seems to have had a love-hate relationship with the CPUSA.

[Jon Banks]

He did write to the communist party. He even asked them for advice (Aug 31st 1963 letter). Those letters are in the 26 volumes. He seems to have had a love-hate relationship with the CPUSA.

I think he was playing games. Whether he was doing it for his own amusement or doing it as part of an "operation" involving anti-communist characters like Guy Bannister remains an open question.

His writings and the things he told people close to him after he returned to the US from Russia suggest he had become disillusioned with Soviet style communism after living in the USSR. Also, the CPUSA was very close to the Soviets.

[Gerry Down]

There seems to be an awful lot of smoke here on the card issue. A bit too much for there not to be fire somewhere.

On the other hand, if the DPD found a communist card on Oswald after the JFK assassination (or at his rooming house), it would appear there would have been too many DPD officers that would know about it in order to keep it quiet afterwards. That's where the idea that Oswald had a communist card falls down.

[Steve M. Galbraith]

The earliest reports coming from the DPD on the afternoon of the JFK assassination was that Oswald was a card-carrying member of the communist party. Duran and Mirabel, from inside the cuban consulate, also said that Oswald had a membership card of the communist party with him while he was inside the cuban consulate. Peter Dale Scott discusses this issue at length beginning at 33 minutes on this video:

The question then is - where did this card go after the JFK assassination, who took it and prevented it from being entered into evidence as one of the WC exhibits?

What's unusual here is that as Peter Dale Scott outlines, the DPD, the FBI and the CIA must have known about this card. So how did so many separate bodies collude to cover up after the JFK assassination the fact that Oswald had such a card?

Duran said Oswald showed her a "labor card" from Russia but nothing about a communist party card. She said he told her he was a member of the CPUSA - that was a lie.

From her testimony:
CORNWELL - Did anything else occur on the second visit, any other conversation, or any other event?
TIRADO - No, but I told you, it's uh, he said that he was a friend of the Cuban Revolution. He show me letters to the Communist Party, the American Communist Party, his labor card, and uh, he's working in Russia, I don't remember exactly, but he said on his application, his licence number...
CORNWELL - Marriage license?
TIRADO - (Spoke in spanish.) Se dice serup los recortes del
CORNWELL - Okay, we had to pause for a second to turn the periodico tapes over. As I recall, you were explaining the kinds of things he brought with him.
TIRADO - Yes, it was his labor card, form Russia, his us, marriage pact, yes, that he was married with a Russian, and uh, a clipping that he was with two policemen taking him by his arms, that he was in a meeting to support Cuba. And a card saying that he was a member of the Fair Play for Cuba in New Orleans.

Mirabel said this about the "card": "In fact, I noticed that he presented a card or credentials as belonging to the Communist Party of the United States. I understand, or it is also my understanding, that the Communist Party of the United States stated that he never belonged to the party. I was surprised by the fact that the card seemed to be a new card."

A "card or credentials." And the CPUSA said he was never a member. So if he had a card, which I don't think he did, it was probably fake.

Azcue said Oswald presented documents attesting to his membership in the CPUSA but not a card.

Oswald insisted after he returned from the Soviet Union that he was not a communist or a supporter of the Soviet Union. He said he detested the Soviet system as much as he detested the American political and economic systems. In fact he wrote that the CPUSA had betrayed its cause by being subservient to Moscow. 

I deleted the link to the video.

[Steve M. Galbraith]

Oswald never identified as a Communist. In some of his writings he seemed to ridicule the American Communist party and the Soviets.

He identified as a Marxist-Leninist. Communism is based on Marxism but not all Marxists identify as Communists.

That's not how I read it. He said he was a communist when he first arrived in the USSR (and when he was in the US before). After becoming disenchanted with that system and leaving he then insisted that he was a Marxist but not a Marxist-Leninist or a communist. He rejected the Leninist version of Marxism - Marxist-Leninism - that he believed the USSR had turned into.

He said this in a letter to his brother (1959):
"Ask me and I will tell you I fight for communism. This word brings to your mind slaves or injustice. This is because of American propaganda. Look this word up in the dictionary or better still, read the book which I first read when I was 15, "CAPITAL", which contains economic theories and most important, the "Communist Manifesto."
 "I will not say your grandchildren will live under communism, look for yourself at history, look at a world map! American is a dying country, I do not wish to be a part of it, nor do I ever again wish to be used as a tool in its military oppressions."

Granted, he may have said that because he knew the Soviets were reading his letters. But the accounts of others say he described himself at that time as a communist and supporter of the Soviet Union. Again, it was later that he turned against it and the CPUSA.

[Jon Banks]

That's not how I read it. He said he was a communist when he first arrived in the USSR (and when he was in the US before). After becoming disenchanted with that system and leaving he then insisted that he was a Marxist but not a Marxist-Leninist or a communist. He rejected the Leninist version of Marxism - Marxist-Leninism - that he believed the USSR had turned into.

He said this in a letter to his brother (1959):
"Ask me and I will tell you I fight for communism. This word brings to your mind slaves or injustice. This is because of American propaganda. Look this word up in the dictionary or better still, read the book which I first read when I was 15, "CAPITAL", which contains economic theories and most important, the "Communist Manifesto."
 "I will not say your grandchildren will live under communism, look for yourself at history, look at a world map! American is a dying country, I do not wish to be a part of it, nor do I ever again wish to be used as a tool in its military oppressions."

Granted, he may have said that because he knew the Soviets were reading his letters. But the accounts of others say he described himself at that time as a communist and supporter of the Soviet Union. Again, it was later that he turned against it and the CPUSA.

I mostly agree. I shouldn’t have said he “never” identified as a communist.

He may have done so before living in the USSR (and while living there to stay on good terms with his hosts) but after coming home to the US in 1962 he expressed disillusionment with Soviet style communism and wasn’t a fan of the American communist party.