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

COMMUNISM IN MOTION-PICTURE INDUSTRY 1441 self has so stated on the witness stand. She was active in, I believe^ the writers' project in Los Angeles, the WPA writers' project, which at that time was largely, if not completely, dominated by the Com- munist Party. I believe she held some minor function in her unit. Mr. Tavenner. You have testified that you left the party in 1939. Mr. Ashe. That's correct. Mr. Tavenner. Did the severence of your connection with the party occur suddenly or was it a type of action that took some time to develop ? Mr. Ashe. No, it was not. I think it might be interesting to some of the Communists here, who are also looking for an escape hatch, to find one way of getting out of the party and severing their con- nections. I was considered, in 193G, one of the leading members of the Com- munist Party. In 1936 I was already becoming very, very badly dis- illusioned with it. I felt as early as the end of 1936 that the Communist Party was a betrayor of the working class, and I think so today. In the fall of 1936 I asked to be relieved of all responsibility. I was quite ill and I was being badly exploited by the party, working about 16 to 18 hours a day. They refused to relieve me but they did promise that by the time the election campaign was over, if I could hang on until then, that they would in fact allow me to drop out of all full-time activity, give me a chance to rest. Late that fall I was more disillusioned than ever. I asked to resign. Some of the leading members of the Communist Party told me that I would not be permitted to resign and they made it very explicit and very clear to me. From that time on I made up my mind that I was going to bide my time and I was going to find a way to get out of the party. I was going to get out on my own power, and I did. In 1936, when I went on the road for the Motion Picture Artists' Committee, I thought this was my opportunity. However, I didn't reckon with the leadership of the Communist Party. The minute I came back from this trip I was again surrounded by the leadership. I supposed they sensed my defection and I was made a branch organ- izer of the forty-fourth assembly district branch. This was not a full-time position. It was a branch that had at that time about 80 members. I functioned here until February of 1939 when the North American Committee to Aid Spanish Democracy, later known as the Spanish Refugee Committee—in fact, it was known as that in 1938 and 1939, asked me to become the west coast organizer for it and to re- organize and to reactivate the local offices they had throughout the west coast, which had fallen on evil days. The interest in Spain, and particularly in the plight of the refugees, was on the wane. I still honestly believed that some help could be given to these people. I realize now that I was victimized along with those who donated their funds, but I didn't know it at the time. I did see in this an oppor- tunity to leave the party. I took to the road in a car, February 14, 1939, and from that day to this I have not paid a dime to the Communist Party and never intend to. I have never been in a Communist Party meeting since February 14, 1939, nor have I taken direction or dictation from any Communist Party functionary or leader.