Anna's
PERIODIC
PAIN
Menstrual pain had
Anne down but Jr.
'f
Midol brought quick
comfort. Midol acts three ways to
bring faster relief from menstrual
distress. It relieves cramps, eases
headache and chases "blues."
00
KITH
-Areis ' dIJUll V
Weekly
Good
Reading in
ANYTHING !
holds
fast
all day!
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' Use On Dentin Ctwner, tee
IBTTBR . . . by MoKlltON
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onrcrj nirnea io smiles for a vindicated Joe Poskonka who was given a hero's welcome by neighborhood kids,
MM
(Last week, Mr. Poskonka described
how he had gone to the FBI with a
story of Communist domination of
the United Packinghouse Workers,
of which he was an official. He had
agreed to stay in the Union and re
port Communist activities to the
FBI. In doing so, he had become
publicly identified as a Communist,
and both he and his family who
weren't in on the secret hod been
subjected to all sorts of insults and
indignities. The worst of these came
when during a Congressional hear
ing in the midst of the Korean War
he was named as one of the "top
Communists in the Chicago area."
This story appeared in all Chicago
newspapers and was read by his
friends, neighbors, and co-workers.)
Right after the newspaper story
identifying me as a "top Com
munist" appeared, I had my worst
time as a spy for the FBI. The hard
est incident for me to accept hap
pened one night in a bar when I was
standing with my back to the room.
A soldier, in uniform hit me in the
back of the neck without warning.
He'd just come back from Korea and
wasn't feeling very sympathetic to
ward Communists. When I spun
around, he really clobbered me.
As I got slowly to my feet, he stood
over me and said: "You Communist
so-and-so!'' I crawled out of the
place and cried like a baby.
At work, the men in my depart
ment tacked the story on the bulle
tin boards and called me "Comrade."
By JOSEPH A. POSKOKKA
None of them would work with me.
These men were not members of
the Packinghouse Workers Union
and still had some freedom.
"J"1'"88 g0t WOrse at home' too
One night, as I lay awake wondering
how much longer I could stick it
out, I heard -a crash and tinkling
glass on our back porch. When I got
out there, whoever had thrown the
bricks through our windows had
disappeared. But it happened again
several times.
Then some of our neighbors de
cided they wanted us out of the home
we'd lived in for 26 years. It really
hurt when a petition was circulated
to try and force us to move. We nev
er saw the petition, but some of
the people pushing it made sure our
children heard about it. Enough
people refused to sign so that it was
never put up to us. It's a miserable
feeling, though, to know you're not
wanted. '
The day after my name was
cleared, my youngest daughter, Es
ther, came home waving a news
paper and said she was going to take
it to the people who had started the
petition.
' "I'm going to shove this paper un
der their door," she shouted, "to
make sure they see it!"
But that was still in the future.
Right now, I had a new problem. I
lost my job and couldn't find an
other. I was laid off at Armour and
Company in June, 1957, along with
a lot of other people. My lack of
seniority, not my politics, dictated
this layoff. I continued going to all
my Communist meetings during this
period until I was called back to
work early in 1958. But when I re
ported, my supervisor said: "Joe,
if you punch in, I'll fire you." And
that was that.
It was then my past really began
catching up with me. There was work
in other companies but not for me.
I'd apply and they'd tell me to re
port for work. Then, when I showed
up, there was always some reason
why there wasn't a job after all.
My wife was working to keep our
home together, but this was my re
sponsibility, not hers. For the first
time I had some misgivings. I was
still attending Party meetings and
was still known as a Communist,
both inside and outside the Party.
That was why I couldn't get a job.
Several times I asked the FBI to
take the wraps off me. I was no
longer afraid of retribution from the
Party; I was more afraid of seeing
my family go hungry. The Govern
ment wanted me to testify as a sur
prise witness when my testimony
would be of greatest value. I was all
for that, too, because the more my
appearance was played up in the
newspapers, the more people would
realize what I'd been doing.
But somehow the right occasion"
didn't seem to come along. Three
times I thought I was going to throw
off the Communist shackles at trials
of people I knew to be Communists.
But each time they decided they
didn't need my testimony, and the
time dragged on.
Then, on May 7, 1959, came that
wonderful subpoena from the
House Un-American Activities Com
ic
family Wttfcly, July IS, IS
f