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 1541 was the aim of the Communist Party when you were a member, and I quote now : 1 As the leader and organizer of the proletariat, the Communist Party of the United States of America leads the working class in the fight for the revolution- ary overthrow of capitalism, for the establishment of the dictatorship of the proletariat, for the establishment of a Socialist Soviet Republic in the United States, for the complete abolition of classes, for the establishment of socialism, the first stage of the classless Communist society. The aim of the Communist Party as enunciated here, would you say that was the aim as you experienced it in the Communist Party? Mr. Townsend. No; this was not enunciated to me, nor most of the people who joined the party out here. We discovered this gradu- ally later. Mr. Potter. This was the hidden aim that didn't come out Mr. Townsend. I would say so; yes. When I went into the party I certainly didn't realize this. Mr. Potter. Did they ever mention to you your responsibility to defend the Soviet Union? Mr. Townsend. I don't recall if that ever came up; no. Mr. Potter. Also in this same manual there is a note that Browder gave to 2,000 workers in New York, and this is a pledge which they took. In the pledge there is one sentence which I will read, and I quote: I pledge myself to rally the masses to defend the Soviet Union, the land of victorious socialism. It says nothing about defending the United States of America. Mr. Townsend. I don't hear that in there; no. You are not con- sciously leaving it out, I suppose ? Mr. Potter. No. It is not in here. So I say I am wondering if, particularly during the period of the so-called wartime alliance be- tween the Soviet Union and the United States, if many of the aims of the Communist Party, such as are basic party policy, weren't hidden from the average Communist member. Mr. Townsend. Yes; indeed they were. Certainly they were. Mr. Potter. It is also interesting to note that when you were dis- cussing a while ago, I believe with Mr. Doyle, the so-called lack of freedom of discussion in the Communist Party, that here is a para- graph from this same manual on party discussion and freedom of criticism. Let me read you this paragraph, and I quote: We cannot imagine a discussion, for example, questioning the correctness of the leading role of the proletariat in the revolution, or the necessity for the prole- tarian dictatorship. We do not question the theory of the necessity for the force- ful overthrow of capitalism. We do not question the correctness of the revolu- tionary theory of the class struggle laid down by Marx, Engels, Lenin, and Stalin. We do not question the counterrevolutionary nature of Trotskyism. In other words, you can't question the teachings of Marx or Engels or Lenin or Stalin in your party circles ? Mr. Townsend. That's right. I would say that this leaves very little area for democratic discussion; wouldn't you ? Mr. Potter. I would say it would. Mr. Townsend, I have no further questions, but I would like to compliment you on your presentation here today, and I am most 1 See appendix, printed in a separate volume for complete text of this document.