Eugene V. Dennett papers, 1928-1988

Eugene Dennett was born in 1908 in Revere, Massachusetts to a working-class family. His parents named him for the Socialist leader, Eugene V. Debs. Dennett attended Oregon Normal School and taught school until 1931. In the 1930s he joined the Communist Party under the name Victor Haines and in 1931 became Agitation and Propaganda Director for the Communist Party, Northwestern District Buro in Seattle. As a result of conflict with the District Organizer, Dennett was sent to Bellingham in 1932 as Party section organizer. He eventually drifted away from active participation in the Communist Party because of his political disagreements with the district leadership. In 1934 he joined the Civilian Conservation Corps and edited CCC camp newspapers at Yale, Washington and Metaline Falls, Washington. He was discharged from this job in 1935 because of his radical pro-labor leanings.

Dennett moved to Seattle, found a job on a ferry boat, joined the Ferryboatmen's Union (later renamed the Inlandboatmen's Union ), and took part in strikes in 1935 and 1936. He was a ship delegate and chaired a "Committee of Nine" which was assigned the task of interpreting and applying the decision of the Governor's review and arbitration commission following settlement of the strike in 1936. When the IBU joined the Maritime Federation of the Pacific Coast , Dennett was elected one of the IBU's delegates to the Federation's Puget Sound District Council and to the Federation's third convention in 1937. He also served as IBU delegate to the Seattle Central Labor Council from 1936 to 1937.

After rejoining the Communist Party in 1936, Dennett was active in the Washington Commonwealth Federation and served as WCF Vice President from 1938 to 1940. In 1937 he managed Hugh DeLacy's successful campaign for Seattle City Council. In 1938 he was elected the first Executive Secretary of the new Washington State Industrial Union Council (CIO), serving two years before he and other left-wing executive board members were removed at John L. Lewis' orders.

Dennett next went to work at Bethlehem Steel, Seattle, and joined the Steel Workers Organizing Committee. Meanwhile, Dennett and his wife, Harriette, led a large Communist Party unit in a working class Seattle neighborhood during the early years of World War II. In 1943 Dennett was drafted into the Army. After the war, he returned to Bethlehem Steel. His disagreements with the Communist Party led to his expulsion in 1947 on charges of being an FBI agent. He continued his activity in Steelworkers Local 1208, holding the office of Recording Secretary and serving on the local's Grievance Committee. After conflicts with the union hierarchy and Bethlehem management he was expelled from the union in 1954. In 1955 he was subpoenaed by the House Un-American Activities Committee. Following his initial resistance, Dennett testified before the Committee about his past associations with the Party. He continued working at the mill until 1966 when a confrontation with management and health problems induced him to retire.

Dennett worked several years as a longshoremen's cargo checker on the Seattle docks until his retirement in 1972. In 1979 he visited China as a member of a U.S. Booksellers Delegation to the PRC. He died in 1989.

For further biographical information, see Eugene Dennett's autobiography, Agitprop, The Life Of An American Working-Class Radical, 1990.