Hearings regarding the communist infiltration of the motion picture industry. Hearings before the Committee on Un-American Activities, House of Representatives, Eightieth Congress, first session. Public law 601 (section 121, subsection Q (1947)

COMMUNISM IN MOTION PICTURE INDUSTRY 297 Dynamite (M-G-M) ; The Sea Bat (M-G-M) ; Blushing Brides (M-G-M) ; Ship From Shangliai (M-G-M); Bachelor Apartment (Radio Films); Success at Any Price (RKO-Radio), 1934; Goodbye Love (RKO-Radio), 1934; Treasure Island (M-G-M), 1934; Party Wire (Columbia), 1935; Blockade (United ArtistsWanger), 1938; Algiers (United ArtistsWanger), 1938; They Shall Have Music (United Artists-Goldwyn), 1939; Four Sons (20th Century-Fox), 1940; Earthbound (20th Century-Fox), 1940; Sahara (Columbia), 1943; Counterattack (Columbia), 1945. The files of the House Committee on Un-American Activities show that — 1. Rena M. Vale, a former member of the Communist Party and a screen writer, testified before the Special Committee on Un-American Activities on July 22, 1940, that Mr. Lawson had been identified to her as a Communist Party member when she met him at a Communist Party fraction meeting. She further testified that Mr. Lawson during the meeting gave advice on inserting the Communist Party line into drama. The State legislative committee investigating un-American activities in California has cited Mr. Lawson as "one of the most important Marxist strategists in southern California," in its 1945 report, page 118. The California report notes on the same page that Rena M. Vale also testified before the State legislative committee and that the witness identified Lawson as a member of the Communist Party fraction of the Screen Writers Guild who had given advice on the Communist Party program in the writing of the play. Sun Rises in the West. The State legislative committee states further, in its 1947 report, page 260, that Mr. Lawson directed a Communist bloc of about 65 members in local 47, the Hollywood local of the American Federation of Musicians, AFL, between the years 1937 and 1940. 2. The Communist Party has been publicly defended by John Howard Lawson. The Daily Worker, in an article on April 16, 1947, page 2, and reprinted in the Sunday edition of April 20, 1947, page 8, announced that Mr. Lawson was one of the signers of a statement opposing any legislative "attempts to restrict the activities of the Communist Party. The organization sponsoring the statement was the Civil Rights Congress, which the House Committee on Un-American Activities, in a report published September 2, 1947, declared to be "dedicated not to the broader issues of civil liberties, but specifically to the defense of individual Communists and the Communist Party." The Civil Rights Congress is now defending such persons as Gerhart Eisler, an agent of the Communist International convicted of passport fraud, and Eugene Dennis, Communist Party general secretary, convicted of contempt of Congress. The Civil Rights Congre.ss is the successor to the International Labor Defense, foi'mer legal arm of the Communist Party, according to former At1;orney General Francis Biddle. John Howard Lawson also came to the support of the Communist Party on another occasion, according to the Daily Worker for March 18, 1945, page 2. Mr. Lawson was listed in this issue as one of the signers of a statement hailing a War Department order allowing military commissions for Communists. Sponsor of the statement was the National Federation for Constitutional Liberties, which was cited as a Communist front organization by former Attorney General Biddle. Biddle pointed out the organization's defen.se of such prominent Communist leaders as Sam Darcy and Robert Wood, party secretaries for Pennsylvania and Oklahoma, respectively. The organization was also cited as a Conuuunist front by the Special Committee on Un-American Activities on June 25. 1942. and March 29. 1944. 3. John Howard Lawson has given his support to a number of individual Communist.s. The People's World, official west coast Communist organ, reported on October 22, 1942, page 2, that Mr. Lawson was backing Mrs. LaRue McCormick, a candidate for the California State Senate on the Connnunist Party ticket. Mr. Lawson was one of the signers of a statement in defense of the Comintern agent Gerhart Eisler, according to the Daily Worker for February 28, 1JM7. page 2. The organization sponsoring this statement in behalf of Eisler was the Civil Rights Congress. Mr. Chairman, would it be agreeable if Mr. Gaston read the remainder of this memorandum? It is single-spaced, nine pages, and if I have to question additional witnesses today it is going to be quite a burden on my voice. I ask that he be permitted to read it. The Chairman. All right, Mr. Gaston; you may proceed with it.