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)

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COMMUNISM IN MOTION PICTURE INDUSTRY 391 It has been cited ft)r contempt of Congress. Alvah Bessie took part in this meeting and made an ehxpient plea for money, stating that $r)()0,00() was needed to carry out the program of relief undertaken by the connnittee. He stated that a $(JO.0O0 hospital was to be built in Mexico and that the money was to be used to take care of Loyalists wherever they might be. During the taking of the collection, Bessie took off his necktie and said he woiUd auction it olT to the highest bidder. He stated that the tie had a history, that when he was in Spain in 1!)37 and 1!)88 with the Abraham Lincohi Brigade, he Jiad purchased the tie at Barcelona, Spain. The Joint Anti-Fa.scist Refugee Connnittee, together with the Council on African Affairs, held a diyner at the Ambassador Hotel, Los Angeles, Calif., February 4, 1945. Alvah Bessie attended this meeting and introduced the featured speaker of the evening, Paul Robeson, who is devout Soviet apologist. Virginia Wright in her column in the Los Angeles Daily News, June 11, 1945, stated that Alvah Bessie, Warner Bros, screen writer, would be the principal spealvor Saturday night in tlie garden cabaret to be held for tlie benefit of the Spanish niaquis at 63t) R. Reese Place, Bnrbank. Tliis article stated tliat : "Some 50,000 Spanish maquis, remnants of tlie men who fought for the Spanish Republic then joined with the United Nations in liberating France, are now destitute in Europe. "It is of these Alvah Bessie speaks with knowledge. He was one of the groups of Americans who fought in Spain as part of the famous Lincoln Brigade." It was further indicated that the program was planned by the Bnrbank chapter of the Joint Anti-Fascist Refugee Committee. 18. The Daily Worker for September 27, 1942, published a class schedule for the Workers School. 35 East Twelfth Street, New York City. This was at the time the official school of Communist Party conducted at party headquarters. Alvah Bessie is listed as teaching a course "Literature and the world we live in." ■ On page 17 of a booklet entitled "Workers School" announcing courses for the winter term, 1943, Alvah Cecil Bessie was listed as lecturing on literature and the world we live in, which is stated to be a course of 12 lectures (and discussions) that will attempt to relate the world in which we live to some outstanding achievements of literary art of our time. The announcement states that leading dramatic writers (Steinbeck, Smolokov, Richard Wright, Lillian Hellman, Clifford Odets. and others) will be used as a point of departure for discussions of the history of social institutions as they have been reflected by the writers of all times. 19. The School for Writers, 1717 North Vine Street, Hollywood, Calif., which was sponsored by the League of American. Writers, in a prospectus for the summer term of 1943 shows Alvah Bessie as teaching a course in short stories. The note* on the facility on the back of this prospectus carries the following information concerning Bessie : 20. A letterhead on recent literature put out by the American-Russian Institute of Southern California lists Alvah Bessie as being on the board of directors. This organization has conducted active pro-Soviet propaganda. 21. In a pamphlet entitled "Informed Speakers Offer You Facts on the U. S. S. R." there appeared the following information: "The American Council on Soviet Relations has a speakers' bureau to supply just such information. We can provide your organization with speakers who by study or by personal experience know the Soviet Union." Alvah Bessie was listed as an available speaker. A lO-ceii't pamphlet by Alvah Bessie, The Soviet People at War, was published b.v the American Council on Soviet Relations, 112 East Nineteenth Street, New York. This organization has been cited as a Communist party by the Special Committee on Un-American Activities on March 29, 1944, and by the Committee for Cultural Freedom, headed by John Dewey in April 1940. A pamphlet entitled "Hear About the U. S. vS. R." was published by the National Council of American-Soviet Friendship. This pamphlet explains the speakers" bureau of the organization and is addressed particularl.v ^ organizations who might be interested in securing a speaker on various Russian topics. Alvah Bessie, author of Men in Battle, was listed as an available speaker. 22. The Daily Worker for December 29. 1942, carries an article captioned "Allied notables hail IWO booklet on war." The article states that numerous acknowledgments from prominent leaders in all walks of life were putting into the International Workers Order offices in New York City on receipt of a fraternal de luxe limited edition of Tliis Is Your Enemy, written by Alvah Bessie, American novelist. The International Workers Order arranged a symposium for November 22. 1&43, to be held at the Studio Carpenters Hall, 5164 Santa Monica Boulevard,