Communist infiltration of Hollywood motion-picture industry : hearing before the Committee on Un-American activities, House of Representatives, Eighty-second Congress, first session (1951)
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4262 COMMUNISM IN HOLLYWOOD MOTION-PICTURE INDUSTRY that a professional unit of the party should be organized in Los Angeles. Mr. Ashe, according to his testimony, organized the Com- munist Party unit, known as "The One Hundred," from which an- other Communist Party unit designated "The One Hundred Fifty" was formed. The members of various professions were recruited into these pro- fessional units of the Communist Party on the basis that their identity would not be exposed. One of the purposes of this hearing is to ascertain whether this organizational work begun by Mr. Ashe has developed into an organized effort on the part of the Communist Party to establish Communist Party cells within various professions in the Los Angeles area, the extent and nature of such alleged Communist Party penetration into the various professions, and the purpose and objectives of the Communist Party in such alleged activities. Testimony will also be introduced at this hearing relating to the motion-picture and radio-entertainment field. Two public statements have come to the attention of the committee which it is felt are de- serving of public mention at this time, and incorporated into the rec- ord of this proceeding. I will read from a public release as follows: Following is an official statement by the Hollywood American Federation of Labor Film Council: "The Hollywood AFL Film Council, composed of American Federation of Labor unions and guilds representing more than 27,000 workers in the Hollywood motion-picture studios, condemns in the strongest possible terms certain widely circulated statements by the so-called Citizens' Committee To Preserve American Freedoms and the so-called Southern California Council To Abolish the Un- American Committee. "These two groups are attempting to fool the public into thinking that A. F. of L. unions, and specifically A. F. of L. unions in the motion-picture industry, are supporting their attacks on the House Un-American Activities Committee. The unions are doing no such thing. These A. F. of L. unions are strongly anti- Communist. "The same interests which try to use the name of the A. F. of L. are planning a picket line on Tuesday, September 30, to protest the hearings which will be conducted at the Federal Building in Los Angeles by the House Un-American Activities Committee. The hearings seek to help our Nation fight Russian im- perialistic communism in all its aspects. "No A. F. of L. union in the motion-picture industry will support nor be repre- sented in the picket line. None of our unions and guilds will have anything to do with any picket line or any other line which seeks to undermine our America in the interest of Stalinist Russia." I read also a statement made by the Motion Picture Industry Coun- cil. The heading of it is "Once and for All." Once and for all, let it be made clear that the guild, union, and management groups of Hollywood, represented in the Motion Picture Industry Council, re- pudiate any attacks upon the House Committee on Un-American Activities made by the alleged Citizens' Committee To Preserve American Freedoms or any other organizations seeking to give the impression, directly or indirectly, that—by op- posing those who would expose Communists wherever they may be—they speak in behalf of the motion-picture industry. This so-called Citizens' Committee has implied, in a trade-paper advertise- ment, that it seeks Hollywood support in its attacks upon the House Committee on Un-American Activities. We denounce the actions of this Citizens' Committee. We condemn its tactics. We repudiate its view, as we have repudiated similar views in the past by the Arts, Sciences, and Professions Council. Representing virtually all of the major guild, union and management' groups of Hollywood, the MPIC, through them, speaks for the overwhelming body of local American citizens who compose the motion-picture industry.