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180 COMMUNISM IN MOTION PICTURE INDUSTRY
Mr. RusHMORE. It was founded by the Communist Party and at its first convention in May 1935, was addressed by Earl Browder, Mike Gould, and a numl)er of other prominent Communists.
I n:^i<T:ht add, when I spoke of this meetinj^ last week, Robinson was a sponsor of this organization 10 years after he started joining the others.
And it is interesting to note that among the other sponsors of this Communist front group, which is going along, as of a week ago, are Albert Maltz, another Hollywood writer; Howard DeSilva, actor; Howard K. Sorrell, the union leader, so-called, in Hollywood ; Howard W. Kenny, the attorney in California, and a number of other Hollywood people.
Mr. Stripling. You mentioned that John Howard Lawson asked the party to send writers to Hollywood. Can you name some of the writers that you sent to Hollywood ?
Mr. RusHMORE. Well, I didn't send any writers.
Mr. Stripling. I am sorry. I didn't mean to infer that you did. I am speaking of the party.
Mr. RusHMORE. That would be the job of the cultural commission with Jerome and Trachtenburg approving it.
One writer I know went out there, and I am sure that' he was sent by the cultural commission, was Alvah Bessie, whom I met several times at the Daily Worker, upon his return from Spain, where he was a commissar in the International Brigade in Spain.
There are some others who went to Hollywood, who were Communists. Albert Maltz I have named. Michael Blankforth.
Mr. Stripling. Did these people independently go to Hollywood, or did they have to have the permission of the cultural commission ? In other words, were they sent there or did they go there on their own ?
Mr. RusHMORE. They would be sent there, because every writer who was a member of the Communist Party liad to submit any manuscript to his cultural commission for approval before it goes to the publisher and, therefore, any writer going to Hollywood, who is a party member, a loyal party member, would have to have the approval of the cultural commission.
Mr. Stripling. Do you know Clifford Odets ?
Mr, RusHMORE. I saw him at the Daily Worker several times. I might add that at the Daily Worker it was a hard-and-fast rule that only party members trusted by the party could get within the gates.
Mr. Stripling. Mr, Rushmore, are you familiar with the flip-flop which Mr. Albert Maltz had to perform in the New ]\Iasses for criticizing certain party strategy?
Mr. Rushmore. I followed that with some interest. That was long after I left the Communist Party. But it indicated how complete this control is over a wi^er who still stays within the ranks. Maltz came out with only a minor criticism of a particular party policy, and he was blasted for several weeks by various Communist editors and some Communist writers. He was forced to recant completely and apologize.^^
Mi\ Stripling. Those are all the questions I have at this time, Mr. Chairman.
The Chairman. Mr. Wood ?
" See pp. 152-162.