We use Optical Character Recognition (OCR) during our scanning and processing workflow to make the content of each page searchable. You can view the automatically generated text below as well as copy and paste individual pieces of text to quote in your own work.
Text recognition is never 100% accurate. Many parts of the scanned page may not be reflected in the OCR text output, including: images, page layout, certain fonts or handwriting.
COMMUNISM IN MOTION-PICTURE INDUSTRY 1705 Mr. Taykxxer. The organization to which you referred, I believe, was the Communist Part} \ Dr. Schoen. I believe you mentioned that organization in the question. Mr. Tavenner. Well, is that the organization to which you referred? Dr. Schoen. Well, you referred to it and then I also did in answer- ing the question. Mr. Tavenner. Let me ask you a question relating to an organiza- tion which has been known as a Communist front or, at least, it has been said that it has, the Worker's School. The committee has infor- mation that a class of the Worker's School was held on June the 18th 1913, at the Unitarian Church here in the city of Los Angeles, and at that lecture, Communist Party literature w T as brought there to the church by John Howard Lawson and was distributed by you. Now, I am not raising any question at all about the propriety of your attend- ing such a lecture, but I am anxious to know the circumstances under which Communist Party literature was delivered there and distrib- uted, if you know. Dr. Schoen. This is a similar question. Therefore, I also decline to answer it on the basis of the fifth amendment which, incidentally, I consider to be closely related to the first amendment, which pro- tects the right of free speech. The right of free speech doesn't mean much without also the right to remain silent in regard to one's politi- cal beliefs and associations. Mr. Tavexxer. The committee understands that a similar meeting was held on July 4, 1943, at the same church and that you engaged again in the distribution of Communist Party literature. Is that true or not ? Dr. Schoen. That is substantially the same question; therefore, although I regret having to repeat myself, the same answer. Mr. Tavexxer. According to the People's World of May 13,1943, a meeting was to be held on the 15th of May at the Danish Auditorium in Los Angeles, publicizing I Am An American Day. According to information in the possession of the committee, the meeting was ad- dressed by Elizabeth Gurley Flynn, a national committee member of the Communist Party, and" by Steve Nelson, who, at the time, was the Communist Party organizer for Alameda County, Calif. Did you attend that meeting, and, if so, did those two persons address that meeting? Dr. Schoen. Mr. Tavenner, this, I believe, is still more or less the same question and, as I hope I have indicated by now, my answer is also the same. This, I believe, represents questions again relating to beliefs and associations, and on the basis of the fifth amendment I refuse to answer on that basis. Mr. Tavenner. Are you familiar with an organization known as the Dewey Davis Club of the Communist Party which, we understand, was a group within the Communist Party to which doctors and dentists were invited to join? Dr. Schoen. We are still being repetitious. Same question; same answer. Mr. Tavexxer. Were you at any time, particularly and especially in 1946, a member of the Dewey Davis Club of the Hollywood section of the Los Angeles County Communist Party ?