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COMMUNISM IN MOTION-PICTURE INDUSTRY 1531 Mr. Townsend. I know I didn't ask them to take this stand, this came voluntarily from Warner Bros. Mr. Doyle. This morning you stated you wondered if there were ways you could help cure conditions. You stated there had been two wars, there had been a depression, we were then at war with Germany, and we were allies of Russia. Do you remember the portion of the testimony to which I am directing your attention now ? Mr. Townsend. Yes, I do. Mr. Doyle. What made you come to the conclusion, if anything, that within the structure of the existing political party framework you couldn't give expression to your own problems and viewpoints? What was it that made you reach out to find some other avenue ? Mr. Townsend. Simply that I got the feeling that this other group was working more actively at that moment toward the goals. And this is true, they were at that time because it happened to suit the policy of the Soviet Union. Mr. Doyle. Did the depression have any definite effect on your thinking? Mr. Townsend. On my thinking ? Mr. Doyle. Yes. Mr. Townsend. Yes, of course. I think it had an effect on the think- ing of a lot of Americans. Mr. Doyle. You stated, "I feel I should cooperate with the Con- gressmen. If I don't cooperate now I would share the responsibility of conditions that might develop." What conditions do you have in mind that might develop over which you would feel a portion of responsibility if you did not come in and make a clean breast of it, as you have done today, and help clean up the mess ? Mr. Townsend. I am thinking of conditions such as say a time of national emergency, say a possible war between the United States and the Soviet Union, which I hope will not take place. In such an emergency my fear is that people who are at present members of the Communist Party, who are used to taking directives, will continue to take directives, and if they are asked to commit an act of violence some of them may. Mr. Doyle. Am I to understand then that the import of your an- swer is, or does it go this far, that your belief is that generally speak- ing the members of the Communist Party would, if there was war between Soviet Russia and the United States of America, that gen- erally speaking the members of the American Communist Party would share sympathy and possibly action with the Soviet Union in preference to the United States ? Mr. Townsend. As I said before, I think that members of the Communist Party in America must have a double allegiance. In time of crisis if they are asked to make a choice they will choose their first allegiance, which I am convinced will be to the Communist Party, which is to the Soviet Union. Mr. Doyle. I asked you that question because following the party line, according to your testimony, it logically leads to the bearing of arms of a Communist for the Soviet Union against the United States of America, doesn't it? Mr. Townsend. You mean a Communist would tend to work within this country against the country? Mr. Doyle. Yes.