I Was a Communist for the FBI: Matt Cvetic

Although short (5’5”) and pudgy, Cvetic made a good first impression. Despite his small stature he derived a commanding presence from his keen eyes and sharp grooming. He had the confidence of a salesman, which he was from time to time during his spotted career before going to work for the FBI. Matt was the proud son of immigrant parents who had managed to find a good life in the Pittsburgh area. He had six brothers and four sisters. He married Marie Barsh on August 15, 1931. They had twin sons, Matt Jr. and Richard. Matt and Marie divorced in 1946. He had a reputation for liking women.

Cvetic attended Roman Catholic schools but probably did not graduate from high school. He did claim to have completed many correspondence courses, mostly in the law enforcement profession. He began his work at what became the U.S. Employment Service in Pittsburgh in 1937. Circumstances alter careers and this is certainly what happened in Cvetic’s life. He was recruited by the FBI in 1941 and thus his life changed forever. Unfortunately, in the end, he left behind little more than creditors.

It is interesting to speculate what exactly were the character qualities and flaws that interested the FBI in Cvetic. His recruitment was aggressive. It took Cvetic two years to gain the confidence of the CP in Pittsburgh to finally gain membership. He then progressed from an unpaid FBI informant to a paid one.

While it is obvious now that Cvetic was certainly capable of using deception, intimidation, intrigue, ingratitude, perjury, treachery, and other tools, it is not clear at all how the FBI decided on Cvetic or knew he had these abilities. He was ideal for the role he was to play. He became a man of instinct and not thought. His unquestioning self-confidence carried him through many tough spots.

Cvetic’s appearances beginning in 1950 at UHAC and court hearings were mixed. His critics blame him for vacillating on almost everything, and all too often, remaining on the surface of things. He was seen too often only as an exhibitionist who waved his ego in public.  But how will we ever know how much of this was at the instruction of the FBI? We won’t ever know for sure. His moments in the sun were brief and illusory.

The purpose of the hearings was to identify current or former members of the Communist Party. Usually it was an ex-communist who appeared before the committee and named names or suggested they knew whether others were communists or not. When the committee received a list of names using this method, these individuals were called upon and were interrogated about their communist affiliation. It was a very simple process. Again, depending upon how cooperative the witnesses, another list would usually result. And so on.

Of course, some witnesses refused to answer the questions by asserting their 1^st Amendment or 5^th Amendment rights. Witnesses in this category knew they could be charged with contempt of Congress and end up in jail, therefore nearly everyone avoided this trap. The object of the exercise was to get witnesses to name names. The committee’s justification was that unless a person named others, how was the committee to know how sincere the witness was when claiming they no longer had ties to the party?

Imagine the excitement when Cvetic delivered a list of 300 plus names! The media hysteria that followed was exactly what FBI Director Hoover wanted. The process of criminalizing membership in the party was completed when Cvetic, under oath, told stories about the structure of the party, what it was trying to do, and who was helping them do it. The subversive aspects of the party were revealed by Cvetic and he got attention in the national press for his efforts.

Of all the hundreds of individuals who had appeared before UHAC and other committees, Cvetic had the most profound knowledge of the background of the party, its members, and even the philosophy of Karl Marx. Cvetic put a face on the anti-God and anti-religion attitude of communism. It was Hoover’s line that communism was anti-American. Cvetic revealed the inner workings of the party’s security apparatus and how they spied on each other, including him. Instead of some innocent ‘dupe’, the committee had a first-hand account of membership in the party from an official FBI undercover agent. In many ways, Cvetic was the confirmation Hoover needed to convert the skeptics. Cvetic’s testimony stressed that the Communist Party was not just a political party but also an agent of a foreign power that had unfriendly intentions. This was crucial testimony at the time.

Cvetic lit a fuse. He was the brave undercover FBI agent who had to make his own luck for nine years. The task confronting Cvetic, by his own admission, was beyond his own imagining. His public appearances helped convince the public there was something real to fear from the Communist Party, and that the only certainty was that the problem would get worse. As for the cynics and critics of Cvetic, about all we can ask is: Why is anybody not the best possible person he might be?