United States. Subversive Activities Control Board

The United States Subversive Activities Control Board was created in 1950 in conjunction with enactment of the Internal Security Act of 1950. This act, known as the McCarran Act after its author Senator Pat McCarran, did not outlaw the Communist Party but sought to secure its control through regulation (or perhaps more likely, its dissolution rather than submit to such control). It required registration with the United States government of domestic "communist-action organizations" (defined as organizations substantially under the control of "the world-wide communist movement") and of domestic "communist-front organizations" (defined as organizations substantially under the control of "communist-action organizations"). The Attorney General might petition the Subversive Activities Control Board to order the registration of specific organizations under one or the other of these rubrics. The Board, made up of five members appointed by the President and confirmed by the Senate, was in turn empowered to hold hearings to determine whether these were indeed "communist-action" or "communist-front" organizations, and if so, to order them to register as such. Registration entailed annual provision of financial records and membership lists.

The Communist Control Act of 1954 added a third task for the Board: that of determining "communist-infiltrated" organizations, principally labor unions. "Communist-infiltrated" unions were not to be required to register, but were deprived of the collective bargaining rights guaranteed to other unions.

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