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)

2368 MOTION-PICTURE JURISDICTIONAL DISPUTES testified before the Committee on Un-Americau Activities on October 28, 1947, that Herb3i't K. Sorrell had conducted four jurisdictional strikes in the motion picture industry ; a brief strike in 1944 ; an S-month strike called on March 12, 1945; a 2-day strike called on July 2, 1946; and the current strike called on September 26, 1946. Mr. Brewer stated that he believed the strikes were part of Communist plots to control the motion-picture industry as a whole. Mr. Brewer said part of the plan "as we see it, was for Communist forces, led by Mr. Jeff Kibre, Communist agent sent to Hollywood in 1935, and his successor, Herbert K. Sorrell, to infiltrate and control Hollywood technical labor * * *." Walter E. Disney, part owner of the Walt Disney Studio, told the Committee on Un-American Activities on October 24, 1947, that Herbert K. Sorrell, in trying to "take over" Disney artists, threatened to strike against Disney, to smear him and to "make a dust bowl" out of the Disney plant. Mr. Disney testified that at one time Herbert K. Sorrell said to him : "You think I am a Communist, don't y<m?" and added, "Well, I used their money to finance my strike in 1937." Mr. Disney stated that Herbert K. Sorrell put William Pomerance in as business manager of the screen cartoonists. The pro-Communist affiliations of William Pomerance are contained in an attached report. 7. Former Attorney General Biddle has said that "the (Communist) Party took control of the Workers Alliance as a medium through which to organize the unemployed, 'to develop widespread militant mass struggles,' and 'to build the revolution' through an association 'in a militant class-conscious unemployed organization.' " The Workers Alliance was cited as a Communist front by the Special Committee on Un-American Activities on January 3, 1940, June 25, 1942, and March 29, 1944; by the California Committee on Un-American Activities in its 1943 report, page 69 ; by Professor Johny Dewey's Committee for Cultural Freedom in April 1940 and by Attorney General Tom Clark in a report released December 5, 1947. Herbert K. Sorrell was the speaker at a mass demonstration sponsored by the Workers Alliance in Hollywood on March 7, 1940, according to People's World for March 8, 1940. 8. Herbert K. Sorrell has been active in a number of Communist-front organizations which supported Soviet foreign policy. The Conference for Democratic Action has been cited by the California Committee on Un-American Activities (1943 report, p. 91) as a Communist front, .succeeding the American League for Peace and Democracy. The American League for Peace and Democracy was an organization which was founded by the Communists during the years prior to the Stalin-Hitler pact. It supported Soviet foreign policy for a united front after the Fascist aggressors, and the organization was cited as a Communist front by the Special Committee on Un-American Activities on January 3, 1940, June 25, 1942, and March 29, 1944; Attorney General Biddle referred to it as an organization "established in the United States in an effort to create public sentiment in behalf of a foreign policy adapted to the interests of the Soviet Union." (Congressional Record, September 24, 1942.) Herbert K. Sorrell was a sponsor of the Conference for Democratic Action, held at Fresno, Calif., according to a letterhead of the organization, dated January 15, 1940. 9. The American Peace Crusade was organized by the American Peace Mobilization. Attorney General Biddle has stated that '"The most conspicuous activity of the American Peace Mobilization was the picketing of the White House, which began in April 1941, in protest against lend-lease and the entire national defense program * * *. On the afternoon of June 21. 1941, he (Frederick V. Field, national secretary) suddenly called off the picket line around the White House" (Congressional Record, September 24, 1942). A leaflet of the organization dated July 1940, listed Herbert K. Sorrell as a supporter of the American Peace Crusade and another leaflet undated listed Mr. Sorrell as "an officer of the American Peace Crusade." 10. The Yanks Are Not Coming Committee was an official part of a campaign of the American Peace Mobilization. The slogan "The Yanks Ai'e Not Coming" was issued by Mike Quin, writer for the official Communist papers, the Daily Worker and People's World. It was during the period of the Stalin-Hitler pact that the Communists organized the American Peace Mobilization, which picketed the White House, denounced President Roosevelt as a war monger, opposed lendlease, and supported strikes in many war industries, and this organization has been cited as a Communist front by the Committee on Un-American Activities on March 29, 1944 ; by Attorney General Biddle, in a memorandum published in the Congressional Record of September 24, 1942, and by Attorney General Tom Clai'k in a report released December 5, 1947. Herbert K. Sorrell was a speaker at a demonstration of the Yanks Are Not Coming Committee held at the University of