Communist infiltration of Hollywood motion-picture industry : hearing before the Committee on Un-American activities, House of Representatives, Eighty-second Congress, first session (1951)

436 COMMUNISM IN MOTION-PICTURE INDUSTRY I know, although I can't identify it specifically, but I remember of at least one instance where it was decided that the person should not be asked to be a party member; that he would actually be more effective if he worked—and, as a matter of fact, to be perfectly fair, I want to say this person who was being discussed probably had no idea he was being discussed by the Communist Party members or that they were even considering asking him, or he was working with Communist members and therefore it was better under certain cir- cumstances that he never be allowed to know or be asked to become a member of the Communist Party. Mr. Wood. Mr. Jackson. Mr. Jackson. Mr. Dmytryk, I share the belief as it has been ex- pressed by the other members of the committee, that certainly what you have had to say today has contributed a great deal in the way of more perfect understanding on the part of the committee members and of the American public as to the physical operations of the Com- munist Party organization, with particular reference to Hollywood. I would like to have some comments on this. Much has been said with respect to the outlawry of the Communist Party, and of legis- lation directed to the outlawing of the party. Objections have been made to such proposal on the grounds that it might tend to drive the Communist Party underground. Would you care to make any comment so far as the operations of the party are concerned? Mr. Dmytryk. I would like to read a wire I got here, and the im- portant part of this wire is simply that it relates an interview on Louella Parsons' program last Sunday night between Louella Par- sons and a man named Matt Cvetic. I believe he is the man who wrote a book called I Was a Communist For the FBI. Now, in the course of this interview Louella Parsons asked him: "What about the argument that these trials drive the Reds further underground?" This is the same argument you are talking about, the question of outlawing the party. He replied, "Don't fall for that. The Reds try to put that idea across to discourage these trials, but the truth is the Commies always work underground. Anything that brings them in the open hurts them." Then he says, "That is why Hollywood must support Parks and Hayden to encourage more people to speak out." Parsons then asked how smart personalities like Parks and Hayden could be gotten in the party. He replied: "The really frightening cleverness of the Communists is how they understand ap- pealing to people's best emotions—their tolerance—their broadmind- eclness, and'then use those good emotions for their own end." I think I have gone into that in some detail. To give you my own ideas on that, I think actually this committee—and I am glad you asked me that question, since I think I am a constituent of yours, I Mr. Jackson. Almost everyone who sits in "the chair" is. Mr. Dmytryk (continuing). I can talk to you, and you have to listen to me. So I hear. I think that you as a member of this com- mittee, let me say, have a great responsibility to the people of the United States. I think the people of the United States in general have been forced into a very contradictory position. On the one hand people say—important people, people in authority, and important columnists, and people of that sort—that the Communist Party is a legal party; that anyone has a right to belong to the Communist Party.