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COMMUNISM IN HOLLYWOOD MOTION-PICTURE INDUSTRY 3501 Your name appears as one of the signers; Will you tell the com- mittee who solicited your signature and the circumstances? Mr. Odets. This, I can. I am sorry, I can't and because I don't remember. Mr. Tavenner. The date, as you see, is March 5,1941.. Among those who state that they are not Communists in that article are Theodore Dreiser, Tom Mooney, Albert Maltz, Frederick V. Field, Samuel Ornitz, and Doxey Wilkerson and also Dr. Dirk J. Struik. Can you point out the reason for the signing of such a statement by those per- sons claiming not to be members of the Communist Party, being dis- interested individuals on the subject of communism? Mr. Odets. No; I can't tell you about that because I don't know about it. I see there are three or four or five hundred signatures here, and many of these people obviously are not. A large majority of them are not, in my opinion. Mr. Tavenner. And some who are obviously members of the Com- munist Party, who say they are not. Mr. Odets. Well, these people apparently have since been proven to be Communists. I don't know either w T ay. Mr. Tavenner. I show you a photostatic copy of the letterhead of the Citizens' Committee for Harry Bridges dated April 24,1941. Your name appears as a sponsor. Will you tell the committee how your sponsorship of this group was obtained ? Mr. Odets. I would guess that I was written to or telephoned some- time when I was in California. I have no memory of this. Mr. Tavenner. You have no further recollection? Mr. Odets. No. I am sorry; I don't. Mr. Tavenner. Are you of the opinion that the effort to deport Harry Bridges constituted an attack on organized labor as well as an attack on the rights of minorities as claimed in that letter? Mr. Odets. I don't know what the letter claims. I have no opinion about it. I know very little about Harry Bridges and what he is about. Mr. Tavenner. Well, if you authorize the use of your name, which you say you may have done to that letter, you should have some opinion regarding the contents which you authorized to go out over your signature. Mr. Odets. I am just trying to see what this says. I was looking at this letter, it says: Mr. Bridges has been tried a second time on the pretext of a new law passed after an exhaustive hearing and acquittal by Dean Landis. I would sign this on the basis of the Landis report which was an exhaustive one. Now my memory comes back on it. Mr. Tavenner. That may be your view on that point, but my ques- tion related to its being an attack on all organized labor as well as on the rights of minorities. That was the view taken in that letter. I am interested in the reason for such an assertion. Mr. Odets. I did not make that assertion. I cannot defend it because I am not really familiar with the subject. I cannot defend that assertion. Mr. Tavenner. No doubt you are familiar with the Communist slogans which became popular during the early days of the European war, when the war between Germany and England was an "imperialist war,'' when the Communist Party took the position and prepared