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)

380 COMMUNISM IN MOTION PICTURE INDUSTRY (I) Albert Maltz himself, in testimony before the California Committee on Un-American Activities on October 13, 1944, admitted that he had been and still was national vice president of the Leasne of American Writers, although the organization, he said, was not functioning at the time of his testimony. He also admitted that he was president of the Hollywood chapter of the League of American Writers. 42. The Hollywood Writers Mobilization was the name given to the Hollywood League of American Writers after the League of American Writers could no longer conceal its Communist domination. The original pledge of the league to defend the Soviet Union and to use "art as an instrument of the class struggle" is now the basis upon which the policies of the Hollywood Writers Mobilization are founded. The issiie of Variety for July 10, 1944, listed Albert Maltz as one of the speakers at a meeting of the Hollywood Writers Mobilization, held July 7, 1944; at this meeting the "Mobilization agreed to serve as a story department for the Overseas Film Branch of OWI. The Guild Bulletin, oflicial organ of the Screen Writers Guild, in its issue No. 71, dated October 1, 1944, page 5, announced that Albert Maltz was one of the Hollywood Writers Mobilization members writing scripts for OWI. Variety for October 18, 1944, said that Albert Maltz would serve on a special research committee which the Hollywood Writers Mobilization was setting up to investigate whether the California Committee on Un-American Activities had ignored mandates of the legislature. Albert Maltz personally testified that he was a member of the Hollywood Writers Mobilization wiien he appeared before the California Committee on Un-American Activities on October 13, 1944. 43. The New Theatre was the official monthly magazine of the League of AVorkers Theatres, a section of the International Union of Revolutionary Theatre, with headquarters in Moscow. The league was used to present Communist propaganda plays and to raise funds for Communist purposes ; it was succeeded in January 1935 by the New Theatre League, which had similar aims. The magazine, New Thtiatre, was cited as a Communist front by the Special Committee on Un-American Activities on March 29, 1944. The New Theatre League was cited for its Communist character by the Special Committee on Un-American Activities on March 29. 1944, and by Prof. John Dewey's Committee for Cultural Freedom in April 1940. In the January 1936 issue of New Theatre, the statement, "We are proud that among those who have associated themselves with us in the creation of the New Theatre are :" is followed by a list of names including that of Albert Maltz. The New Theatre League, in a press release dated November 8, 1935, stated that Albert Maltz had been awarded first place in a play contest for a one-act antiwar or "anti-Fascist" play, sponsored by the New Theatre League and the American League Against War and Fascism (which organization has been referred to above). Mr. Maltz' prize-winning play was entitled "Private Hicks." This play was praised in the Daily Worker for February 7, 1939, page 7, which stated that Private Hicks owed its start to the New Theatre League. The Daily Worker for January 8, 193G, page 3, reported that the New Theatre League was producing The Black Pit, written by Albert Maltz. The New Theatre of Philadelphia, in an announcement distributed by that organization during a Paul Robeson concert at the Philadelphia Academy of INIusic on March 7, 1941, stated that tlie theater organization would produce Zero Hour, written by Albert Maltz and George Sklar. The Daily Worker for June 10, 1938, page 7, listed Albert Maltz as a guest at a meeting of the New Theatre League. Mr. Maltz has contributed to New Theatre magazine, according to the issue for May 1935. page S. 44. The Theatre Union was one of the affiliates of the League of Workers Theatres, which in turn was tied to the Moscow-directed International Union of the Revolutionary Theatre. Theatre, Union reflected the current line of the Communist Party in its propaganda and was used to raise funds for Communist purposes. A leaflet of the organization listed Albert Maltz as a member of the executive board of the Theatre Union. 45. Frontiei Films produced and distributed pro-Communist films, including a film on the Connnunist-led strike at the Allis-Chalmers plant in Milwaukee. The organization was headed by the following contributors to the Communist press: Kyle Crichton, alias Robert Forsythe ; Irving Lerner; Clifford Odets ; Edwin Rolfe, and George Seldes. It was cited for its Communist character by the Special Committee on Un-American Activities on March 29, 1944, and by Prof. John Dewey's Committee for Cultural Freedom in April 1940. The Daily Worker for April 6, 1937, page 9, listed Albert Maltz as a staff member of Frontier Films.