Report on blacklisting: II. Radio-television ([1956])

Record Details:

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Another witness who testified against the Radio Writers Guild leadership, Welbourn Kelley, cited denunciations of the American Legion and the (Catholic) Brooklyn Tablet at union meetings as examples of the strength of the pro-Communist faction. Clearly, in the cases mentioned by Milton and Kelley, there were many anti-Communists who opposed the Mundt-Nixon bill, the Taft- Hartley bill or who were critical of the American Legion and the Brooklyn Tablet. Unfortunately, these distinctions have often been ignored. "Inno- cent" liberals who participated in Communist fronts and actual Party members were often lumped together as the "pro-Communist faction" in the debates that raged within the talent unions. Because of this, many who were never Communists but have been black- listed claim they are being punished for yesterday's union "mili- tancy." What did happen is that many pro-union people in the entertainment field frequently found themselves in agreement on union issues with an unidentified Communist faction. And it is the latter fact, not unionism per se, which forms the basis of charges against them. During the early days of the Radio Writers Guild, there was a split on the question of how labor-oriented the organization should be. One group considered the Guild part of the general trade-union movement. Another thought that the Guild should be a profes- sional organization, remote from the struggles of manual workers. Some Communists and many non-Communists were in the group favoring unionism. Among those who sought to make the Guild into a professional association were a number of the people who were later to form AWARE, Inc. How deep this early disagreement went can be seen from the testimony of Ruth Adams Knight. Miss Knight, a veteran radio writer, recalled an incident in 1943. She had come back to New York after a long absence and was told by a friend that the Guild 147