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 389 The Very Thouglit of Yon, Warner Bros., 1944 ; Hotel Berlin, Warner Bros., 1945 ; and Objective Burma, Warner Bros., 1945. 1. According to the records of the Committee on Un-American Activities, Alvah Bessie is one of the leading contributors to the Communist publications in the United States. Ht! has been connected witli New Masses, a weekly publication of the Communist Party, as contributing editor, since 1937. During this period he has contributed over 85 articles. As a standard Communist rule, such officials of the Communist press are required to be members of the party. 2. The People's World of O'ctoljer 11, 1939, which is the official Communist organ of the west coast of the United States, devotes an article in praise of the writings of Alvah Bessie. The People's World of August 26, 1943, lists Alvah Bessie as a speaker at a benetit given nnder the auspices of People's World. 3. In the September 22, 1942, issue of the Weekly Review, a publication of the Young Communist League, Alvah Bessie is listed as an instructor at the Workers School in New York City. The Workers School was established by the Communist Party of the United States. Alvah Bessie has also been an instructor at the People's Educational Center (People's World, January 11, 1944, p. 5). 4. Alvah Bessie, according to the November 16, 1943, issue of People's World, was a speaker at a West Side Los Angeles rally sponsored by the International Workers Order. The International Workers Order, a Communist-front organization, has been cited as such by the Special Committee on Un-American Activities on .January 3, 1940, June. 25, 1943, and May 29, 1946. In addition to this citation, it was cited by the House Committee on Appropriations, in a report dated April 21, 1943, and by special legislative committees of the States of Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, and California. Former Attorney General Francis Biddle, in his listing of Communist-front organizations, which appeared in tlie Congressional Record of September 24, 1943, characterized the International Workers Order as "one of the strongest Communist organizations." The People's World of November 10, 1942, lists Alvah Bessie as the coauthor of a pamphlet issued by the International Workers Order in connection with its front-line fighter's campaign. 5. Alvah Bessie was a contributor to the July and September 1937 and January 1938 issues of the magazine Fight, which magazine was the official publication of the American League Against War and Fascism. The American League Against War and Fascism was active in the period 1932 to 1937 in behalf of the Soviet foreign policy. It proclaimed an openly treasonable program. It was cited as subversive by the Special Committee on un-American Activities on January 3, 1940, March 29, 1944, and May 29, 1946. Former Attorney General Francis Biddle cited this organiaztion as established in the United States in an effort to create public sentiment on behalf of a foreign policy adapted to the interests of the Soviet Union. 6. Alvah Bessie was also the sponsor of the organization known as the Artists' Front to Win the War (the official program, October 16, 1942). While in 1942 all Americans wei-e interested in winning the war, the Artists' Front to Win the War echoed the demand of the Communist Party of the United States for the express purpose of placing pressui'e upon the military leaders in this country by a demand for an immediate opening of a second front in Europe at a time when Russia was suffering military reversals. The Artists' Front to Win the War was sponsored by the same persons who, during the Stalin-Hitler pact, were referring to the United States as a war-mongering nation and demanding the discontinuance of America's lease-lend program, which was designed to aid Great Britain in its struggle against Nazi Germany. 7. Alvah Bessie was a sponsor and consistent supporter of the League of American Writers (New Masses, April 22, 1941, and June 17, 1941 ; Daily Worker, September 14, 1942; and People's World, September 23, 1942). The League of American Writers, which was an affiliate of the International Union of Revolutionary Writers, with headquarters in Moscow, was pledged to the defense of the Soviet Union and "use of art as an instnunent of the class struggle." The Special Committee on Un-American Activities has cited this organization as a Communist front in reports of January 3. 1940, June 25. 1942, and March 29, 1944. Former Attorney General Fi-ancis Biddle in his characterization of this organization stated "the overt activities of the League of American Writers in the last 2 years leave little doubt of its Communist control" (Congressional Record, September 24, 1942, p. 7686). 8. Alvah Bessie has openly avowed himself in support of the Soviet L'nion. He has also contributed articles to the magazine Soviet Russia Today, which