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COMMUNISM IN HOLLYWOOD MOTION-PICTURE INDUSTRY 2075 Union. I found that I had no answers for the questions he asked, I found no way to justify or reconcile a police state, a controlled press, one-party elections and secret police with the concepts of freedom and democracy, both of which are the main requirements for what I considered to be a decent society. Also, I discovered that the words "democracy" and "freedom" were just words as far as the Communist Party was concerned. I found nothing democratic in the way the meetings were held. Nothing was ever voted upon by the membership, we were merely told what the line at the moment would be and that was that. I began to find their rigidity of thinking intolerable. I found that anyone who in any way differed with whatever the party line happened to be at the moment was immediately and automatically termed either a Trotskyite, a Fascist, a reactionary, or a confused liberal. As I understand what the structure of the party was, the way it was explained to me, was that the mass of the members were the bottom of a pyramid and as these members elected other members the pyramid got smaller and there was a guy at the top, Earl Browder. But it never worked that way as far as I was concerned. The masses didn't vote on something and then the guy at the head carried out the orders of the people the way the President of the United States' does. It came from this guy at the top and trickled down and there it was, and that was that. You got the feeling that if you did vote on some- thing it wouldn't make a lot of difference anyway. Mr. Wheeler. When did you completely sever your relationship or your membership in the Communist Party, or the Communist Political Association ? Mrs. Frank. Some time early in 1945 after I hadn't gone to meet- ings for months, Harold Buchman came to my house and asked me why I had stopped. Mr. Wheeler. What did you tell him? Mrs. Frank. I told him I decided to quit the party. Mr. Buchman agreed it was my right to do so and after he left the house I never again had anything to do with the Communist Party or the Commu- nist Political Association. Mr. Wheeler. Miss Ray, have you ever been a member of the Holly- wood Independent Citizens Committee for the Arts, Sciences, and Professions. Mrs. Frank. No, sir. Mr. Wheeler. Have you ever been a member of the American Youth for Democracy ? Mrs. Frank. No, sir. Mr. Wheeler. Were you ever a pupil or instructor at the People's Educational Center? Mrs. Frank. I took two courses in history at the People's Educa- tional Center. Mr. Wheeler. Do you recall the instructor? Mrs. Frank. I recall what he looks like but I don't remember his name. Mr. Wheeler. What did he look like? Mrs. Frank. He had an English accent and he wore old-school ties and he was a very round guy, had quite a potbelly and wore peculiar vests. I don't remember his name.