I See by the Papers...

Great Scott! There was a summer camp in Alexander Valley where kids were brainwashed with Commie propaganda! Under a banner front page headline the Press Democrat reported July 20, 1929, "...boys and girls of tender years are taught the principles of communism and hatred of the American government."

There were 36 kids there, ages from 8 to 17, and after morning exercises and swearing allegiance "to the Soviet flag, red with a symbolic sledge and sickle, the children paraded behind their flag and sang the Internationale," the PD continued. Then came "weird ceremonials and class instructions on the river beach," including an exercise where an instructor took rocks which "he pounded in his hands until one crumpled, [showing] how the 'workers' should crush the 'capitalist' government of the United States." On a bulletin board was a poster reading, "Down with the Boy Scouts."

"Bay Cities' Pioneer Camp #1" was near the Alexander Valley Bridge and just one of many summer camps on the river.¹ According to the PD story, there was "a near-riot" when women and girls from another one nearby "paraded behind the youngsters of 'Pioneer Camp,' waving the American flag and singing The Star-Spangled Banner."

The PD story was picked up by both the AP and UP newswires and proved quite popular, appearing in papers nationwide and usually on page one. While the item was sometimes cut down to a paragraph or two, the editors always mentioned the camp was on the Russian River. (Oscar Wilde: "The public have an insatiable curiosity to know everything, except what is worth knowing.")

Hearst's San Francisco Examiner lied to readers (no surprise, there) by claiming "authorities immediately raided the place and seized propaganda pamphlets and other evidence," but what the District Attorney actually said was he could do nothing under state law. He passed the matter to the U. S. District Attorney in San Francisco while sending County Detective John W. Pemberton to investigate. A Press Democrat reporter tagged along and the piece that appeared the next day revealed that much of the original article was either made up or grossly exaggerated. That story apparently relied only upon hearsay from Arthur H. Meese, commander of Healdsburg's American Legion Post.

The rest of this article can be read at the SantaRosaHistory.com website. Because of recurring problems with the Blogger platform, I am no longer wasting my time formatting and posting complete articles here. I will continue to create stubs for the sake of continuity, but will be publishing full articles only at SantaRosaHistory.com.

- Jeff Elliott