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1418 COMMUNISM IN MOTION-PICTURE INDUSTRY Mr. Ashe. State secretary of the Socialist Party of California. Mr. Tavenner. How long were you State secretary of the Socialist Party? Mr. Ashe. Approximately 10 months, approximately a little longer. Mr. Tavenner. Over what period of time was that? Mr. Ashe. I would say from about February or March of 1933 until possibly December or January of 1933 or 1934. Mr. Tavenner. During the period when you held that position where did you reside ? Mr. Ashe. At the Socialist Party headquarters in Hollywood, known as Commonwealth House. Mr. Tavenner. During that period of time were you acquainted with the activities of the Communist Party in California? Mr. Ashe. Not at the outset, except by hearsay. Mr. Tavenner. What was the occasion, for your learning of the activities of the Communist Party? Mi". Ashe. I learned of the activities of the Communist Party directly on joining the Communist Party in September of 1933. Mr. Tavenner. Then if I understand you correctly, that while you were State secretary of the Socialist Party of the State of California you were also a member of the Communist Party? Mr. Ashe. At a later date, yes. I joined the Communist Party and the instant I joined the party I was assigned back to the Socialist Party to work within the Socialist Party and to help capture it and channel Socialist Party members into the Communist Party, which I did do. Mr. Tavenner. You spoke of the effort made by the Communist Party to capture membership from the Socialist Party. Will you describe to the committee what that effort was and how it materialized? Mr. Ashe. Prior to my actually coming into the Communist Party the Socialist Party—or the Communist Party through Sam Darcy, the district organizer of the Communist Party, issued a call to the Socialist Party to meet with the Communists on the basis of certain minimum demands and for purposes of establishing a united front. I believe the issue at the time was the threat of fascism, in which I was greatly interested and in which the Socialist Party showed very little real interest. Mr. Tavenner. Was that effort to bring the Socialist Party in as a part of the united front successful ? Mr. Ashe. To some extent, yes. The State executive committee of the Socialist Party resisted it. I was the only member of the State executive committee, I believe, that voted in favor of the united front. Subsequently I was expelled, or rather removed as State secretary of the Socialist Party, but I wasn't expelled at that time. Mr. Tavenner. Upon the failure of the Communist Party to obtain an approval by a majority of the executive committee of the Socialist Party to the Communist front—I mean to the united front plan, what plan did the Communist Party adopt to capture the Socialist Party? Mr. Ashe. Well, of course, at first they tried to establish a united front from above through the leadership. This failing, they then re- sorted to what was called the united front from below. In other words, they reached out and appealed to the individual rank-and-file Socialists who were discouraged with the lack of initiative on the