The District Goes Radical in the 1960s
FBI Finds Commies at Al Lasher's
1740 University Ave., now part of Al Lasher's Electronics, where the FBI in 1950 and 1951 spied on Jessica Mitford at meetings of the East Bay Chapter of the Civil Rights Congress. (photo: Hal Reynolds, 2013)
Born to an aristocratic but quirky family in England, and a cousin of Winston Churchill, Jessica Mitford, known to her friends as Decca, was a member of the Communist Party USA. In 1950 the FBI spied on her during meetings at Al Lasher's Electronics. Mitford was best known for her groundbreaking book "The American Way of Death" (1963).