Jurisdictional disputes in the motion-picture Industry : hearings before a special subcommittee of the Committee on Education and Labor, House of Representatives, Eightieth Congress, first-session, pursuant to H. Res. 111 (1948)

2366 MOTION-PICTURE JURISDICTIONAL DISPUTES ber 1942, calling for national legislation against the Communist Party, Mr. Sorrell protested, saying "If this didn't come from a union man I would say it was subversive." This was reported in the People's World, official west coast Communist organ for September 28, 1942. 3. Herbert K. Sorrell has supported or defended a number of prominent individual Communists. He was an endorser of Mrs. LaRue McCormick, when she was a candidate for State senator in California, on the Communist Party ticket in 1942, according to the People's World for October 31, 1942, page 3 and October 24, 1942, page 5. He signed a petition demanding the release from prison of Earl Browder, then general secretary of the Communist Party of the United States, according to the People's World for September 24, 1941. Harry Bridges, who led the disastrous San Francisco general strike of 1934, has been identified as a Communist Party member by the Daily Worker, official organ of the Communist Party. The People's World for January IS, 1945, reported that Herbert K. Sorrell did work with a Bridges victory committee, then being organized by Bartley Crum in Los Angeles to fight the threatened deportation of Harry Bridges. Mr. Sorrell was a member of a California sponsoring committee of the Harry Bridges Defense Committee, according to an otficial letterhead of the organization dated August 24, 1939. He also was a signer of letter sponsored by the Harry Bridges Defense Committee, according to an official list of the signers, and according to an article in the Worker of July 19, 1942, page 4. Herbert K. Sorrell was a sponsor of the Schneiderman-Darcy Defense Committee, according to an undated letterhead of the organization. William Schneiderman was a Communist Party organizer and Sam Darey was a Communist Party secretary for Pennsylvania. Mr. Sorrell also was an endorser of the Committee for Citizenship Ri'-!:hts, which was avowedly organized to oppose the threatened revocation of citizenship of William Schneiderman, according to letterheads of the organization dated January 10, 1942, and January 27, 1942. The Los Angeles Times for May 25, 1941. reported that Herbert K. Sorrell would be a sponsor of a testimonial banquet at the Wilshire Bowl in Los Angeles on June 2, 1941, in honor of Leo Gallagher, a Los Angeles attorney, who is registered member of the Communist Party, and candidate on the I'arty's ticket for California Secretary of State in 193S. 4. Herbert K. Sorrell has also been affiliated with organizations which specialized in the defense of Communists. Official literature discloses that Mr. Sorrell was a sponsor of the Southern California branch of the National Federation for Constitutional Liberties. The National Federation for Constitutional Liberties, noted for its defense of Communists, was cited as a Communist front by the Special Committee on Un-American Activities in reports of June 25, 1942 and March 29, 1944, and by the Committee on Un-American Activities in reports of June 12, 1947, and September 2, 1947. Attorney General Francis Biddle said, in speaking of the organization : "The defenses of Communist leaders such as Sam Darcy and Robert Wood, party secretaries for Pennsylvania and Oklahoma, have been major efforts of the federation" (Congressional Record, September 24, 1942). Mr. Soi-rell was also a sponsor of the Sleepy Lagoon Defense Committee according to committee stationery put out in June, 1944. The Sleepy Lagoon Defense Committee was an auxiliary of the International Labor Defense, properly termed by Attorney General Biddle as the "legal arm of the Communist Party." 5. Herbert K. Sorrell has supported the official west coast Communist organ, People's World, on numerous occasions. According to the issue of the publication for July 9. 1943, Mr. Sorrell was one of the endorsers of a prowar conference held on August 4, 1943, in order to raise funds for the paper's operation. The publication for June 29, 1943, page 1, reported this message from Mr. Sorrell : "Even the labor leaders who don't agree with .vou, read the People's World to know what is going on." The People's World for July 24, 1944, page 4, listed Mr. Sorrell as a supporter of the "current $75,000 victory Spanish drive of the People's World." G. Among tlie recent strike activities of Herbert K. Sorrell was a strike called in the motion-picture studios by the Screen Set Designers, Local 1421, on Mai'ch 12, 1945. The Peoiile's World, official west coast Communist organ, criticized Mr. Sorrell editorially on March 15, 1945 for conducting a strike during wartime. The publication said that the responsibility of the union leadership involving the strike was particularly heavy since the Conference of Studio Unions and its leader, Herbert K. Sorrell, had established a record of progressive and patriotic unionism. The editorial continued, "therefore when this group sanctions strike action it seriously compromises its own prestige, and delivers a heavy blow at the nonstrike policy." Hollywood Closeup, a publication of the International