(Testimony of Resumed)
Mr. Mcvickar.
such as a membership in a trade union, in connection with one's work, that this membership is ordinarily considered to be involuntary, may be considered involuntary.
However, the instructions are also that all of these cases must be referred to Washington with the facts for a determination to be made, and, of course, it might well be that under some unusual circumstances if there was some indication of voluntariness, that, you know, such a membership would render the person excludable.
Mr. Coleman.
Now you referred to Department instructions. Are those instructions found in the confidential appendix, appendix A to the visa regulations of the Department in 22 CFR 42.91A28 note 3, last issued on December 9, 1960?
Mr. Mcvickar.
Yes; I believe so.
Mr. Coleman.
Would you be kind enough to read into the record the instruction referred to?
Mr. Mcvickar.
I am reading here from the Department of State's report to the Commission, and it cites the text of that. Do you wish me to read it over?
Mr. Coleman.
Yes.
Mr. Mcvickar.
All right, it says this looks like it is "Note 3.3. Membership in mass organizations rank and file membership in proscribed mass organizations, in Communist and Communist controlled countries may in general, if police repression or political or economic discrimination is or was the coercive factor bringing about such membership, be considered involuntary within the meaning of section 212 (a) 28I (i) of the act unless the alien actively participated in the organization's activities or joined or remained connected with it because of political or ideological conviction. When an alien is refused a visa because of voluntary membership in a proscribed organization of this type the report submitted to the Department pursuant to appendix A22 CFR 42.13 on note 1 should show the circumstances leading to the decision."
I should note that the text of that is confidential, as a part of confidential appendix A.
Mr. Coleman.
After you interviewed Marina and took the facts, that you determined that her membership in the Soviet Trade Union for Medical Workers was involuntary?
Mr. Mcvickar.
It appeared to be involuntary.
Mr. Coleman.
Suppose Marina had told you that she was a member of the Komsomol, what would you have done then?
Mr. Mcvickar.
That comes under a more complicated type of instruction. The membership in the Komsomol may be found to be involuntary and is on occasion found involuntary. But you have to investigate more carefully under the regulations into the nature of the membership, because whereas if a person is a member, works in a factory, everybody in the factory belongs to the trade union.
But if you are going to the university, not everybody is a member of the Komsomol, although a high percentage of them are.
If you are going to say high school, why their membership in the Komsomol is even more in the nature of a minority, and so I had experience in this same matter considering visas for a number of different wives of American citizens, and when the Komsomol was involved, why the results varied considerably.
In some cases it was found that membership in the Komsomol was completely routine and merely because the people really were hoping to get a decent education and a good job and didn't participate in it actively.
In another case I recall, particularly a girl who had been one of the leaders in the Komsomol, and this was clearly beyond the definition of involuntary, and this was part of, was a consideration which entered into the denial of her visa in Washington.
Representative Ford.
In that case, the latter one, there was a denial?
Mr. Mcvickar.
There was a denial, yes, but this was because---and it is a difficult thing to be in a position to say that somebody's wife shouldn't go with him to the States, but this was the law and the question was looked into with a great deal of detail, and based largely upon this particular other person's statements in a number of interviews, why it is clear, the facts.
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