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 1443 (Because of an exploding flash bulb there was a slight interruption in the proceeding.) Mr. Tavenner. I was about to ask you, Mr. Ashe, that during the course of your vast experience as a functionary in the Communist Party, what was taught the membership with regard to the use of force and violence Mr. Ashe. I will be glad to explain it. Mr. Tavenner. In the accomplishment of the ultimate purposes of the party ? Mr. Ashe. The Communist Party, it must be clear, on the occasion when I attended this one meeting at a beginners' class, they had a teacher there who himself was not too clear upon the question of force and violence. It was rather amusing to me because I was going there to learn. So when this question came up he appealed to me to explain to the comrades, and 1 will try to explain to you as best I can. As I recall it, it is 15 years ago now, the explanation was that the Communist Party does not believe in the use of force and Violence. The Communist Party, vanguard of the working class, also the rear guard—the Communist Party, the vanguard of the working class, will lead the workers to the point where the capitalist class in dismay— capitalist class, of course, means this country, it doesn't mean a class, this is just Communist double talk—the capitalist class in its effort to preserve itself will use force and violence to crush the movement of the working class. At this point we Communists will use force and vio- lence to insure that our gains are not lost. This is the way they explain force and violence, but the leadership knows better. This is just for public consumption. And any Communist in this room that doesn't know that the Communist Party believes in the use of force and vio- lence to overthrow our Government better get out of the party awfully fast, because that is exactly what the Communist Party stands for and always has stood for. You can go back to your Communist Party classics and you can get chapter and verse on it in a dozen different places. The Communist Party has never repudiated those classics. They surreptitiously use them yet for their guidance, ana for the coun- sel that it gives the Communist Party leadership. The Communist Party takes the position that they cannot come to power except that they use force and violence to crush the Government that stands in its way. They uproot the courts, they throw out the Constitution, including the first and fifth amendment behind which the Communists are now hiding. They infiltrate and take over the Army and the Navy with new leaders and throw out the old. They root out every last semblance of any leadership that could conceiv- ably be considered as having any remnants or any feelings of sym- pathy for so-called bourgeois democracy. They feel they have to have' a violent revolution in order to purge the country of the so- called unreliable elements, which actually are the loyal elements who are committed to defending our present system of government. This is the Communist Party position on force and violence and they can't deny it. It's in the record. Mr. Tavenner. Mr. Ashe, do you have anything further you desire to say with regard to the circumstances under which you severed your connections with the Communist Party, or have you explained that as fully as you desire ? 81595—51—pt. 4 3