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2360 COMMUNISM IN HOLLYWOOD MOTION-PICTURE INDUSTRY Mr. Walter. Did you advocate the abolition of this committee at that time ? Mr. Blankfort. I advocated a change in procedure. That was my chief criticism. Mr. Walter. Was that because you were fearful that the committee would continue its investigation of Hollywood? Mr. Blankfort. No ; I don't think I was fearful that the committee would continue its investigation. I was fearful that the investigation would not be fair, let us say, or reasonable. Mr. Tavenner. Attached to the letter which I handed you is an article, a photostatic copy of an article appearing in the Daily Worker of December 29, 1948, which says: A group of distinguished writers, clergymen, actors, and other notables, called upon the Eighty-first Congress to abolish the Un-American Activities Committee. The request was made in a statement released by the National Council of the Arts, Sciences, and Professions. Signers of the statement included— and giving the list of names, a person by the name of Michael Blankfort. Mr. Blankfort. Doesn't that come from the same list ? Mr. Tavenner. Yes; the same list refers to the same incident. Mr. Blankfort. Yes. Mr. Tavenner. But I want you to look at the article from the Daily Worker and state whether or not you saw that article. Mr. Blankfort. I can answer that without looking at it. I never saw the article. I have never seen the Daily Worker. Mr. Tavenner. Then, as far as the use of your name in that par- ticular article is concerned, or the article referred to, it was done without your permission? Mr. Blankfort. To the best of my knowledge, yes. Mr. Walter. Have you ever seen the article before ? Mr. Blankfort. No, sir. Mr. Walter. What do you propose to do now that your name has been used without authority to find out why people had the temerity to use your name without permission? Mr. Blankfort. I don't think these organizations are still in exist- ence. If they were I would write them a letter and tell them, and express my view on this. Mr. Jackson. You can write the Hollywood Chapter of the Arts, Sciences, and Professions. It is still in existence. Mr. Blankfort. I have. Mr. Tavenner. They are still in existence. Mr. Blankfort. I have. I cannot tell you the date, but I perhaps could find out when I did and resigned from my membership. Has that committee ever been classed subversive? Mr. Tavenner. Yes, it has been. The National Council of the Arts, Sciences, and Professions was cited as a Communist front by the Committee on Un-American Activities on April 26, 1950. The Holly- wood chapter is an affiliate of that national organization. Mr. Blankfort. You understand, Mr. Tavenner, I did not say I had not been a member. Mr. Tavenner. I understand that. Mr. Blankfort. I don't want that to—I think you understand better than I do that when you are a member of an organization, I never