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In 1931, the Communist Party sent him to Moscow to attend the [[Lenin School]], where the [[USSR|Soviets]] trained top [[Communist International]] cadres in "military strategy, including civil warfare, sabotage, secret codes, and conspiratorial organization."<ref>Subcommittee to Investigate the Administration of the Internal Security Act and Other Internal Security Laws, Committee on the Judiciary, United States Senate, 86th Cong., 1st Sess., [http://books.google.com/books?id=ZPZ4slgisQ0C Proposed Antisubversion Legislation] (Washington: U.S. Govt. Print. Off., 1989), p. 642</ref> In 1933 he served as a [[Comintern]] agent in [[Shanghai]], China. In 1937, he obtained an illegal and fraudulent U.S. passport (again under the false name "Joseph Fleischinger") to travel to [[Spain]], where he served as a lieutenant colonel in the Soviet-dominated [[International Brigades]] in the [[Spanish Civil War]]. There, he befriended Kitty Dallett (widow of Commissar Joe Dallett, killed in Spain), who would in 1940 marry [[J. Robert Oppenheimer]], a physicist at the Berkeley Radiation Lab who would be in charge of the Manhattan Project. That year, the Soviets sent Nelson as Communist Party organizer for the Bay area in California, with an underground assignment to obtain [[atomic]] [[espionage]]. According to an FBI surveillance log:

In 1931, the Communist Party sent him to Moscow to attend the [[Lenin School]], where the [[USSR|Soviets]] trained top [[Communist International]] cadres in "military strategy, including civil warfare, sabotage, secret codes, and conspiratorial organization."<ref>Subcommittee to Investigate the Administration of the Internal Security Act and Other Internal Security Laws, Committee on the Judiciary, United States Senate, 86th Cong., 1st Sess., [http://books.google.com/books?id=ZPZ4slgisQ0C Proposed Antisubversion Legislation] (Washington: U.S. Govt. Print. Off., 1989), p. 642</ref> In 1933 he served as a [[Comintern]] agent in [[Shanghai]], China. In 1937, he obtained an illegal and fraudulent U.S. passport (again under the false name "Joseph Fleischinger") to travel to [[Spain]], where he served as a lieutenant colonel in the Soviet-dominated [[International Brigades]] in the [[Spanish Civil War]]. There, he befriended Kitty Dallett (widow of Commissar Joe Dallett, killed in Spain), who would in 1940 marry [[J. Robert Oppenheimer]], a physicist at the Berkeley Radiation Lab who would be in charge of the Manhattan Project. That year, the Soviets sent Nelson as Communist Party organizer for the Bay area in California, with an underground assignment to obtain [[atomic]] [[espionage]]. According to an FBI surveillance log:

{{cquote|In December 1942, Julius Robert Oppenheimer was the subject of a discussion between Steven Nelson and Bernadette Doyle, organizational secretary of the Communist Party for Alameda County, California. At this time, Steven Nelson stated that Dr. Hannah Peters<ref>Organizer of the professional section of the Communist Party for Alameda County (Kenneth D. Nichols, [http://www.mphpa.org/classic/JRO/02.htm Indictment of J. Robert Oppenheimer], Manhattan Project Heritage Preservation Association, Inc.)</ref> had been to visit him and she had stated that Dr. Oppenheimer because of his employment in a special project could not be active in the party.... Bernadette Doyle answered Nelson by saying that she believes the matter should be taken up with the State Committee regarding the 'two Oppys' inasmuch as they were regularly registered and everyone knew that they were Communist Party members.<ref>FBI report: FBI file: Oppenheimer, Vol. 1, p. 3, reproduced in M. Stanton Evans, ''[http://books.google.com/books?id=vz42rDYmf3wC Blacklisted by History: The Untold Story of Senator Joe McCarthy and His Fight Against America's Enemies]'' (New York: Crown Forum, 2007), ISBN 978-1-4000-8105-9, p. 317</ref>}}

{{cquote|In December 1942, Julius Robert Oppenheimer was the subject of a discussion between Steven Nelson and Bernadette Doyle, organizational secretary of the Communist Party for Alameda County, California. At this time, Steven Nelson stated that Dr. Hannah Peters<ref>Organizer of the professional section of the Communist Party for Alameda County (Kenneth D. Nichols, [http://www.mphpa.org/classic/JRO/02.htm Indictment of J. Robert Oppenheimer], Manhattan Project Heritage Preservation Association, Inc.)</ref> had been to visit him and she had stated that Dr. Oppenheimer because of his employment in a special project could not be active in the party.... Bernadette Doyle answered Nelson by saying that she believes the matter should be taken up with the State Committee regarding the 'two Oppys' inasmuch as they were regularly registered and everyone knew that they were Communist Party members.<ref>FBI report: FBI file: Oppenheimer, Vol. 1, p. 3, reproduced in M. Stanton Evans, ''[http://books.google.com/books?id=vz42rDYmf3wC Blacklisted by History: The Untold Story of Senator Joe McCarthy and His Fight Against America's Enemies]'' (New York: Crown Forum, 2007), ISBN 978-1-4000-8105-9, p. 317</ref>}}

In April 1943 the [[FBI]] monitored a meeting in Nelson's home.<ref>Robert Louis Benson and Michael Warner, eds., ''[https://www.cia.gov/library/center-for-the-study-of-intelligence/csi-publications/books-and-monographs/venona-soviet-espionage-and-the-american-response-1939-1957/venona.htm VENONA: Soviet Espionage and the American Response, 1939-1957]'' (National Security Agency/Central Intelligence Agency, 1996), Preface</ref>  An FBI report stated:

In April 1943 the [[FBI]] monitored a meeting in Nelson's home.<ref>Robert Louis Benson and Michael Warner, eds., ''[https://www.cia.gov/library/center-for-the-study-of-intelligence/csi-publications/books-and-monographs/venona-soviet-espionage-and-the-american-response-1939-1957/venona.htm VENONA: Soviet Espionage and the American Response, 1939-1957]'' (National Security Agency/Central Intelligence Agency, 1996), Preface</ref>  An FBI report stated: