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

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1540 COMMUNISM IN MOTION-PICTURE INDUSTRY Mr. Potter. You contributed to them ? Mr. Townsend. Yes. My opinion would be that- Mr. Potter. That they controlled the mass organization? Mr. Towxsexd. My opinion would be "Yes." Mr. Potter. You mentioned in your direct testimony there were 50 members, or 50 Communists, in the Screen Writers' Guild. You failed to mention what the size of the Screen Writers' Guild was as a Whole. Mr. Towxsexd. Mr. Jackson. I believe, just asked that question. I told him that the membership, I believed, at that time was between 900 and 1,000. Mr. Potter. And that was the highest percentage of membership of the Communist Party in the guild ( Mr. Towxsexd. To my knowledge; yes. I think that was the peak of Communist membership. Mr. Potter. It is interesting, Mr. Townsend, that the Communist Party members are today great advocates of peace, and I think that probably you were in the party during the Hitler-Stalin pact. Mr. Towxsend. No; I wasn't, Mr. Potter. That was before your time in the party. At that time they were very much interested in peace; and then, with the attack upon Russia by Germany, overnight they became warmongers; they were for opening up the second front. Mr. Towxsexd. Yes, sir. Mr. Potter. At the conclusion and during the military alliance be- tween the Soviet Union and the United States, during World War II, there was a great effort on the part of the Communist Party in the United States to aid in prosecuting the war effort, and because of that effort many people considered that their aims were much more to the aims of our own Government, But then, at the conclusion of World War II, what happened? The Soviet Union, the Communist Party members then received their instructions to put on the so-called peace drive and become very militant, So the clamor for peace today is a political expediency which the Communist Party is trying to impress the American people that they, and they alone, are interested in peace. Mr. Towxsend. Sure. Mr. Potter. I dare say that every American citizen today would like peace, and there are many of us, and I would say the vast major- ity of the American people are just as opposed to fascism as they are to communism. And many of those people have contributed just as much to the defeat of fascism, and we are just as determined to defeat another form of dictatorship which is just as vicious, and that is of communism. Mr. Townsend. I think we could use right now a great rise of the anti-Fascist spirit we had a few years ago for this same fight. Mr. Potter. I am curious to know whether you are familiar with the publication entitled "The Communist Party, a Manual on Organi- zation," which was written by J. Peters back in 1935. Now, in some Communist organizations this has served as more or less of a Bible for the Communist Party members. Are you familiar with that \ Mr. Towxsexd. I don't believe I have ever seen this document. Mr. Potter. I would like to read the role and aim of the Commu- nist Party as enunciated in their own manual, and you will see if this