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COMMUNISM EST MOTION-PICTURE INDUSTRY 1421 Mr. Ashe. Definitely. I have received many donations from the various lodges of the International Workers' Order given directly to the Communist Party, knowingly. Mr. Tavenner. Were you assigned to any particular cell of the Communist Party when you first joined ? Mr. Ashe. I was first assigned to a street unit in the Hollywood street section of the Communist Party. This was early in 1934. How- ever, I was traveling a great deal of the time for the party as a speaker, and I daresay I didn't attend more than a dozen meetings all during 1934. Mr. Tavenner. What do you mean by "street section" ? Mr. Ashe. I use that term to differentiate from the section that later was developed there which was known as the studio section. There has been a great deal of confusion about this in the minds of a lot of people. They are two entirely separate and distinct sections. The street section was then organized along strictly territorial or geographical lines. The studio section did not recognize any geo- graphical limitations but was determined by whether a person worked in the studios or not. Mr. Tavenner. But at this particular time to which you now refer, if a person from the studio happened to live within the geographical section, he likely would have been a member of the particular cell? Mr. Ashe. That is true. Mr. Tavenner. That section? Mr. Ashe. That is correct except, back in 1934, I question very much whether there were very many important studio people that were members of any unit of the party in Hollywood. They may have been members at large, or there may have been some other dispensa- tion to take care of them. Mr. Tavenner. Was this street section also commonly known as the downtown section ? Mr. Ashe. No; the downtown section was a different section, en- tirely. The downtown section composed roughly the forty-fourth, forty-fifth, and fifty-fourth assembly districts. It included all of the assembly districts from the Fourteenth Congressional District except the sixty-second. Mr. Tavenner. Now, when did you become exposed publicly as a member of the Communist Party? Mr. Ashe. Immediately upon my return from the Cleveland con- vention of the Communist Party, where I was one of the speakers. Mr. Tavenner. That was in 1934 ? Mr. Ashe. 1934. In fact, I was exposed at that time. Mr. Tavenner. After your exposure, what unit or section of the Communist Party were you assigned to ? Mr. Ashe. It was at that time that I went into this Hollywood unit. Mr. Tavenner. Oh, I see Mr. Ashe. And, as I say, I was there probably until late fall, 1934. I was running for State office, and I didn't attend very many meet- ings. Mr. Tavenner. What State office were you running for ? Mr. Ashe. Secretary of state. Mr. Tavenner. On what party? Mr. Ashe. Communist Party.