HISTORHISTOR YY— PAST AND PERS PECTIVE Reds and the Silver Screen AP Images Seven Hollywood figures arrive at federal When a group of influential communists in Hollywood court in D. C. in 1950: They were there to face refused to testify in Congress about their efforts to charges of contempt of Congress for having refused to testify before the House Committee communize America, they were lauded by leftists. on Un-American Activities. From left to right are Samuel Ornitz, Ring Lardner, Albert Maltz, Alvah Bessie, Lester Cole, , by Steve Byas was “because they believed that the hear- and Edward Dmytryk. ings were unconstitutional.” he high-school American history This resulted in prison terms (for refus- textbook The Americans , in its cov- ing to testify to a congressional commit- a defense of the Hollywood Ten at the Mo- T erage of the communist infiltration tee) and the creation of a “blacklist,” or tion Picture Academy’s theater, entitled of the American motion-picture industry “a list of people whom they in effect con- “Hollywood Remembers the Blacklist.” in the 1930s and 1940s, had this to say demned for allegedly having a Communist Actress Marsha Hunt recalled that Amer- about the House Committee on Un-Amer- background,” which resulted in about 500 ica was “no longer the land of the free” ican Activities (HCUA)’s investigation actors, writers, producers, and directors during the time of the Blacklist. of that influence: “Hollywood did have a having their “careers ruined.” Academia regularly pictures the Holly- substantial number of Communists, for- This is typical of the way the history of wood Ten as heroes. In 2015, the University mer Communists, and socialists.” communists in Hollywood is presented. of Southern California even erected a sculp- But the textbook soft-pedaled the seri- They were only “alleged” to have been ture garden picturing them as victims of the ousness of it all. “Since the Soviet Union communists, and the only “pro-Soviet” hysteria unleashed during the Cold War. had been a U.S. ally during World War II, films produced were made during World Media also assumes that the “good Hollywood studios had produced pro-So- War II when Joe Stalin was our supposed guys” in this whole episode were the viet films. After 1945, when this wartime noble ally. And after all, they did not co- communists and their fellow travelers. alliance cooled, some argued that such operate, because, you know, communists When famed director Elia Kazan (perhaps films proved that subversives were spread- so highly revere the Constitution of the known best for his film On the Waterfront ) ing Soviet propaganda.” . died in 2003, the Philadelphia Inquirer When HCUA issued subpoenas to some And the motion-picture industry itself opined that his reputation was “tarnished of those suspected of planting pro-Soviet continues to perpetuate this mythical ver- by his betrayals.” Kazan had left the Com- propaganda into American movies, the sion of freedom-loving communists as munist Party, and attempted to mitigate its textbook claims that these men, “known as patriotic Americans, dedicated to civil influence in Hollywood. Yet, the Inquirer the Hollywood Ten, decided not to coop- liberties for all. In 1997, upon the 50th compared him to German director Leni erate.” Why did they refuse to cooperate? anniversary of the HCUA hearings, Billy Riefenstahl, who it said had glorified “the According to The Americans narrative, it Crystal and Kevin Spacey were featured in perverted ideals of Naziism.” It was Rief-

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Why Communists Valued Movies Media also assumes that the “good guys” in this whole episode were Writing in the communist newspaper The Daily Worker in 1925, Will Muezenberg the communists and their fellow travelers. explained the importance of the silver screen to advancing the goal of a com- enstahl who masterminded the historic communists. Eventually, Redford’s char- munist world. Muezenberg was an agent film Triumph of the Will , which while it acter comes to realize that Streisand’s of the Comintern, created to spread com- is considered a great artistic achievement, character is the heroic person he wishes munist ideology and promote Soviet inter- was a paean of praise to the National So- he could have been, had he not been so ests around the world. Writing about the cialist movement of Adolf Hitler. caught up in greedily making money. motion-picture industry, Muezenberg said, In recent years, Hollywood has pro- Perhaps the most absurd myth about the “One of the most pressing tasks confronting duced multiple films with the general entire is the associa- the Communist Party in the field of propa- theme that the Hollywood Ten were not tion of Senator Joseph McCarthy (R-Wis.) ganda is the conquest of this supremely im- communists, or alternatively, even if they with it. The way it is usually cast is that portant propaganda unit, until now the mo- were, they were fighting for the Consti- McCarthy, from his position as chairman nopoly of the ruling class. We must wrest it tution and liberty, and were victims of of the House Committee on Un-American from them and turn it against them.” a “Red Scare” perpetrated by Ameri- Activities, created the Hollywood Black- Vladimir Lenin himself, the dictator of cans who were sympathetic to fascism, list. First of all, since McCarthy was a the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics if not actual fascists. Among the many U.S. senator, it should be obvious to a (USSR), said “the motion picture” was films that promote some version of this moderately educated person that he was the most important art form for spreading thesis include The Majestic , Guilty by not going to be a member of any commit- communism to other countries. And his Suspicion , The Front , Marathon Man , tee in the House of Representatives, much successor, the murderous dictator Joseph The House on Carroll Street , Out of the less its chairman. McCarthy took no role Stalin, is reported to have predicted he Hollywood Ten , Fellow Traveler , and The in ferreting out communists in motion could convert the whole world to com- Way We Were . pictures, or any other private industry, but munism if he were given control of the In the 1973 movie The Way We Were , was rather concerned about Soviet spies American movie industry. the character played by Barbra Streisand inside the U.S. government. In 1935, the cultural commissioner of is a Young Communist League member, But regardless of these myths about the Communist Party USA (CPUSA), V.J. heckled in college by some non-commu- McCarthy, there are some legitimate ques- Jerome, planted a branch of the party in nist students, including a character played tions about the issue of communist infil- Hollywood, and went to work to use the by Robert Redford. Of course, when the tration of the movie industry, such as why industry to advance the cause. The CPUSA two wind up in Hollywood, the Redford it matters, how it happened, and what was was a totally controlled subsidiary of the character is a successful screenwriter, but the true story about the Blacklist. Communist Party of the Soviet Union, but his communist wife, played by Streisand, And why would communists be so in- Hollywood Reds used a variety of “front becomes a victim of the hysteria against terested in the content of motion pictures? groups,” often in alliance with socialists and New Deal liberals. Some were fellow travelers who differed from card-carrying members of the Communist Party mainly by not actually paying dues, while others were what Lenin termed “useful idiots.” Within three years of its founding, the Hollywood party had 300 members. Benjamin Gitlow, who was the candidate of the Communist Party for vice president of the United States in 1924 and 1928, later confirmed in his 1940 book, I Confess , the slavish devotion of the CPUSA to the So- viet Union: “We were volunteer members of a militarized colonial service, pledged to carry out the decisions of our supreme rulers resident at Moscow.” Why did communism influence so many in the motion-picture world? Perhaps the example of Joseph Losey offers some ex- AP Images The right “ Left” words: Paul Jarrico testified before the House Committee on Un-American planation. Losey’s efforts as a director in Activities. Jarrico was a prominent screenwriter who was among those placed on the “Hollywood the early 1930s were largely failures. Seek- Blacklist” by studio management, and not hired because of his association with the Communist Party. ing some meaning to his life, he traveled to

34 THE NEW AMERICAN • Nov EM bER 21, 2016 the Soviet Union and was “terribly disil- lusioned” at first. “I couldn’t see any evi- dence of anything much working,” Losey said, contradicting Lincoln Steffens’ infa- mous 1919 comment about his own trip to the Soviet Union, when Steffens opined, “I have been over to the future and it works.” Losey, on the other hand, said, “I saw extreme poverty, dirt and discomfort.” But the Soviet government sponsored both theater and film, and those profes- sionals such as Losey were honored by the communist regime. Losey asked Politburo member Otto Kussinen if he could stay in the Soviet Union, and work in “lumber- ing” for the Soviets. Kussinen demurred, instead encouraging Losey to return to America and put his theater skills to work for the communist cause in the growing AP Images American movie industry, which he did. Temporary left turn: Benjamin Gitlow (left) once led the American Communist Party, and is The Great Depression and its down- shown here with Joseph Zack Kornfedder. The two became strong ex-communists and anti- ward pressure on wages naturally pro- communists who participated in anti-communist programs for the American Legion. vided a fertile recruiting ground for the party. Back-lot workers and stage hands, mission belts for the cause. According to membership of about 5,000. Actor Melvyn no doubt happy to have any job at all as the Kenneth Billingsley, in his book Holly- Douglas joined the Anti-Nazi League, Depression brought business failures and wood Party , “Paul Jarrico bragged that the along with his wife, Helen Gahagan Doug- exceptionally high unemployment rates to Party smuggled its ideology into all sorts las, an actress herself. He explained that it the country, proved more difficult to enlist of movies.” In the movie Tom, Dick, and was “the only organization in California than the writers and the actors. John How- Harry , Burgess Meredith was given the that was speaking out against Hitler.” ard Lawson, a left-wing playwright from line to say, “I don’t believe in every man Douglas was among those who created New York, came to Hollywood, where for himself. I get lonesome.” Some of the the Motion Picture Democratic Commit- he was elected the first president of the screenwriters learned these methods in the tee (MPDC), originally to support Dem- Screen Writers Guild. Communist Party Writers’ Clinic. Another ocratic Party candidates in California. Lester Cole was a young radical in 1926 important role played by wealthier Holly- Later, Communist Party member Dashiell when he heard Lawson speak at a meeting wood actors, directors, and writers was in Hammett became president of the MPDC, protesting the arrest of two radicals, Nic- providing funds for communist efforts, and the communists eventually came to colo Sacco and Bartholomew Vanzetti, for including front groups. One party mem- dominate the group. robbery and murder. Their eventual execu- ber, Maurice Rapf, provided the use of his During this heady time, communists tion became an important cause of leftists family’s beach house and pool in Malibu went to the defense of the communist- around the world, who insisted they were for recruiting parties. supported Spanish government against the executed not for robbery and murder, but By 1935, communist tactics shifted forces of Francisco Franco. Defense of the for being radicals. Cole later joined with from accusing some on the Left, such as communist side of the Lawson in the formation of the Screen President Franklin Roosevelt, of being became an important Popular Front cause. Writers Guild. As writers, actors, and others fascists, to making common cause with The movie The Spanish Earth was even in the motion-picture industry struggled to others on the Left in what were called premiered at the White House for Presi- “make it,” they could expect help along the “Popular Front” movements. In this way, dent Roosevelt and 30 guests. Roosevelt way from fellow Communist Party mem- many progressives began to support com- told director Joris Ivens (who was a com- bers in obtaining acting roles, screenwriting munist goals, not realizing they were munist) that he appreciated the film’s opportunities, and other jobs in Hollywood. “useful idiots,” to use Lenin’s term. In “values.” Ivens said the movie portrayed Once these Reds moved into such key this vein, the party established a Popu- taking land away from large landlords and positions, communist ideology could be lar Front group known as the Hollywood giving it back to the Spanish people. subtly inserted into screenplays. Max Sil- Anti-Nazi League, which was the creation The Communist Party garnered much ver explained to the HCUA in 1951 how of Otto Katz, a Comintern agent. Studio mileage out of its opposition to Hitler, but it worked. Rather than attempting to make owners, many of them Jewish, supported then in 1939, Stalin inked a non-aggression the entire screenplay an advocacy for the league, even renting them offices. Jack pact with the German dictator, and agreed to Marxist-Leninist philosophy, “ordinary Warner of Warner Brothers said, “Hitler divide Poland between them. The day after John and Mary” movies were made trans- was the enemy.” The league swelled to a the pact was announced, Earl Browder, the www.TheNewAmerican.com 35 HISTORHISTOR YY— PAST AND PERS PECTIVE

Eastern Europe, which most historians use According to Kenneth Billingsley, in his book Hollywood Party , to mark the launching of the “Cold War.” The renewed emphasis on the “class “Paul Jarrico bragged that the [Communist] Party smuggled its struggle” led to an attempt to take over the ideology into all sorts of movies.” Hollywood unions in 1946. Herb Sorrell, the communist leader of the Conference of Studio Unions (CSU), called a strike American chief of the party, defended the denied that the Soviet Union had invad- at Warner Brothers. Sorrell was a protégé agreement, arguing the pact was a “won- ed Finland. The screenplay was written of Harry Bridges, the militant boss of the derful contribution to peace and a victory by Howard Koch, who may have been a International Longshoremen’s and Ware- for the enemies of fascism.” party member, but at the very least was a housemen’s Union, who was also a secret Almost overnight, the American Com- well-known “fellow traveler.” member of the Communist Party. munist Party became non-intervention- The tone of the movie was so adula- Sorrell brought in some toughs from ist, even announcing its support for the tory of the communist regime that some San Francisco in his effort to win control America First Committee, in an effort to dubbed it Submission to Moscow . of all the unions in Hollywood, and warned keep America out of any war in Europe. Soviet spy Alger Hiss brought Holly- what would happen if anyone stood in his Screenwriter Millard Lampell joined with wood communist Dalton Trumbo to the way: “There may be men hurt, there may Pete Seeger, Burl Ives, and Woody Guthrie opening of the United Nations in May be men killed before this is over.” in the communist folk-singing group The of 1945, where Trumbo ghostwrote the While Sorrell publicly claimed the strike Almanac Singers in singing such lyrics as, speech delivered there by Secretary of was called over worker grievances, it was “I hate war, and so does Eleanor, and we State Edward Stettinius. Many American really an effort to make Sorrell the union won’t be safe till everybody’s dead.” liberals naively believed that the wartime boss for all of the motion-picture busi- This non-interventionist mood was short- alliance between the United States and the nesses. As the Communist Party’s People’s lived, however, and after Hitler launched his USSR. would survive in perpetuity, and Daily World put it, “The prize will be the invasion of the Soviet Union on June 22, that the Soviet Union’s desire to turn the complete control of the greatest medium of 1941, the party cried out for American in- entire world “red” had ceased. communication in history.” Undoubtedly tervention. Communist screenwriter and ac- As the war in Europe drew to a close, true, as movies can even manipulate the tress Lillian Hellman was emphatic: “The however, the Kremlin directed its Ameri- facts of history. Once someone has seen an Motherland has been attacked!” can lackeys to return to its previous posi- historical figure, for example, “say” some- tion that America was the ultimate enemy, thing on the silver screen, it is almost im- Hollywood and that the “class struggle” should be re- possible to persuade the movie-goer that Promotes the Soviet Union ignited. This was almost a year before Win- the real-life person did not say it. Percep- Hollywood’s communists used the cover ston Churchill declared in Fulton, Missouri, tion then becomes reality. of American entrance into the war to pro- that an “iron curtain” had descended over As Sorrell predicted, the strike turned mote the supposed glories of the Soviet Union. The top communist in Hollywood, John Howard Lawson, wrote the script for Action in the North Atlantic starring Hum- phrey Bogart. Ronald Radosh describes the last part of the film, after German U-boats attack an American ship, in his book Red Star Over Hollywood : “But at the last moment, Soviet planes arrive and save the helpless ship and crew from Nazi dive bombers.” Lillian Hellman’s North Star even depicted a collective farm in the Soviet Union, with deliriously happy Soviet peasants. There were many more films with similar pro-Soviet themes. But nothing could top Mission to Moscow , produced by Warner Brothers. Made in 1943, it was based on the 1941 AP Images book by Joseph Davies, who had been Don’t cross them: Once a self-described liberal, Ronald Reagan’s views began to change after U.S. ambassador to the Soviet Union his run-ins with communists during a communist-led strike at Warner Brothers. He was warned from 1936 to 1938. Davies was so en- by an anonymous caller that his face would be destroyed by acid if he persisted in opposing the amored of Russian communism that he communists in Hollywood. Here he waits to testify before the House Committee on Un-American even defended Stalin’s purge trials and Activities in 1947.

36 THE NEW AMERICAN • Nov EM bER 21, 2016 as Reagan and Robert Taylor, who testi- fied that communists were a major force in Hollywood. Gary Cooper said that he had “turned down quite a few scripts because I thought they were tinged with Communistic ideas.” Finally, 19 “unfriendly” witnesses were called, all of whom were either members of the Communist Party, or fellow travelers. The list included Herbert Biberman, Lewis Milestone, Robert Rossen, Dalton Trumbo, Adrian Scott, Waldo Salt, Samuel Ornitz, Albert Maltz, John Howard Lawson, Gor- don Kahn, Howard Koch, Richard Collins, Bertolt Brecht, Lester Cole, Larry Parks, Irving Pichel, Eward Dmytryk, Alvah Bes-

AP Images sie, and Ring Lardner, Jr. The committee Where loyalties lie: Lillian Hellman was a prominent playwright and movie screenwriter. An eventually heard from only 10 of them, admirer of and a Communist Party member, she was distraught after the thus the name, “the Hollywood Ten.” invaded the Soviet Union in 1941, lamenting that the “motherland” had been invaded. Despite there being nothing illegal about being a member of the Communist Party, it violent. One studio employee was hospi- refused to do that, too, riding in sitting was party doctrine at the time for member- talized after acid was thrown in his face. straight up. He was the only one. ship to be kept secret. Trumbo and Lardner According to actor Kirk Douglas, thou- Reagan also angered Sorrell when the insisted that if they answered any of the sands fought in the street with knives, Screen Actors Guild (SAG), of which Rea- committee’s questions, it would imply le- clubs, battery cables, brass knuckles, and gan was a board member, refused to sup- gitimacy to the proceedings. They decided chains. Jack Warner responded by telling port the strike. While shooting Night Unto they would plead the Fifth Amendment and workers, whether professional or manual Night , Reagan was called to the phone. He argue that the committee was violating their laborer, to sneak into the studio lot through was threatened that if he continued to op- freedom of speech by even asking about a storm drain from the Los Angeles River. pose the CSU strike, they would destroy their political affiliations. One actor refused to sneak in — Ronald his face with acid. After that, Reagan hired The witnesses immediately took a com- Reagan. Reagan had already butted heads guards to watch his children, and began bative tone, with the Hollywood party chief, with the communists. While an unabashed carrying a gun. John Howard Lawson, leading off. Lawson liberal at the time, Reagan was no commu- submitted a written statement that accused nist. Yet, the previous year, he had joined Congress Investigates the committee of getting information from what was later revealed to be a communist Hollywood Reds “Gestapo agents.” In his statement, Lawson front — the Hollywood Independent Citi- Eventually the CSU strike was broken, but said that he believed in “the free exchange zens Committee of the Arts, Sciences and the intensity of the struggle turned many in of ideas.” The committee refused to read Professions (HICCASP) at the end of the Hollywood against the communists who the statement into the record. Lawson only war, and soon wound up on its board. When were behind it. Also taking note of the vio- answered questions about his name and his a resolution was introduced to oppose lence were members of the House Commit- membership in the Screen Actors Guild, communism, one screenwriter opposed it, tee on Un-American Activities. As the Cold mixing in remarks about how the commit- shouting that if it came to a war between War intensified, the role of communists in tee was using “Hitler techniques.” the United States and the Soviet Union, he the motion-picture industry became a mat- The next witness was Trumbo. He also would volunteer on the Russian side. ter of concern to many in Congress. refused to answer questions, and as he was When Reagan rose in support of the res- With the Soviets installing communist- being hustled out of the hearing, he yelled olution, he was denounced as a “fascist” led regimes across eastern Europe, many to the media, “This is the beginning of an and “capitalist scum.” After the group in Congress became concerned about the American concentration camp.” The other voted down another resolution in support role the motion-picture industry was play- witnesses behaved similarly. One witness, of the free enterprise system, he resigned ing in support of a hostile foreign power. Bertolt Brecht, left the country the next from the organization. Some evidently hoped to shed some light day to live out the rest of his life in Com- Now, he refused to sneak in through a on these activities among the actors, di- munist East Germany. storm drain, so Warner Brothers arranged rectors, and writers of the industry, whose When it was all over, the committee for a bus for Reagan and others to use in first loyalty was to a totalitarian system. gave a formal report to Congress, which crossing the picket line. He was advised Using subpoena power, HCUA voted to cite the unresponsive witnesses to lie down on the floor as they entered launched its investigation in September for contempt of Congress, a crime for through the gate of the studio, but Reagan 1947, first with “friendly” witnesses, such which they were sent to prison. Then, at

Call 1-800-727-TRUE to subscribe today! 37 HISTORHISTOR YY— PAST AND PERS PECTIVE a meeting at the Waldorf-Astoria in New York City, Hollywood producers took the advice of their chief counsel, former Sec- retary of State James F. Byrnes, and fired those members of the Hollywood Ten presently under contract. This was fol- lowed by the “Blacklist,” an agreement among studio management not to use writers, actors, and directors who were members of the Communist Party. In the years since, a certain mythology has developed about the Hollywood Ten and the Blacklist. As the history text The Americans saw it, the Ten refused to coop- erate because they considered the hearings “unconstitutional,” and they were being targeted for being “suspected” communists. AP Images But there is no doubt that Hollywood John Howard Lawson was considered the top “Red” or communist in Hollywood. A prominent was riddled with communists — commu- screenwriter, he refused to answer the questions of the House Committee on Un-American nists who were loyal to a hostile, foreign Activities, “taking the Fifth” when asked if he was a member of the Communist Party. power. Despite this, membership in the Communist Party was not illegal. the committees they join,” in response to movie industry to express outrage at the And despite all of the supposed concern being told that membership in communist Blacklist in Hollywood, while simulta- about the Constitution and free speech, or allied groups was more important than neously praising the Hollywood Ten and and the “free exchange of ideas,” it is quite talent, he was forced to publicly recant. such actions as the decision of Mozilla clear that the communists were opposed to The communists insisted on changes Firefox to fire CEO Brendan Eich, just the Constitution and to free speech — un- in scripts if a businessman was shown in because he had contributed money to the less they were the ones doing the talking. a positive light. When they did not like a Proposition Eight campaign in California, In strategy sessions before the hearings, writer, they would spread rumors that he an effort to define marriage as between those under subpoena by Congress were was sympathetic to Hitler, a virtual Black- one man and one woman. asked by their lawyer if they believed in free list in an industry dominated by . As Of course, today the U.S. Communist speech for fascists. Lawson was adamant: Billingsley said in Hollywood Party , “In Party is a shell of its former self, so there “The answer is that you [communists] do Hollywood proper, the Party’s machinery are probably few in the motion-picture in- not believe in freedom of speech for fas- also proved valuable in blacklisting non- dustry who actually carry party cards. But cists,” adding that what communists have Communists.... Party writers would cir- leftist causes are certainly favored in the to say is true, “whereas what fascists say is culate rumors that certain actors, such as pictures. For example, George Clooney’s a lie.” When one considers that the commu- Adolphe Menjou, were sympathetic to Hit- Good Night and Good Luck , a 2005 movie, nists define “fascist” very broadly, basically ler, an effective smear with Jewish produc- glamorized a communist, Annie Lee Moss. as anyone who opposes communism, this ers, who would quickly put out the word to While Clooney has actually admitted that exposes the hypocrisy of the Hollywood other producers. Such actors found them- he knew Moss was a communist, those who communists who claimed to believe in selves out of favor but never knew what saw the movie were not told that. And what “free speech.” After all, to the communists hit them.” The Goldstone Agency (run by about movies that are not made? While not only were Hitler and Benito Mussolini communists) regularly passed over non- multitudes of movies have rightly chroni- examples of fascists, but so were many communist writers in favor of communist cled the horrors of the Hitler era in Nazi prominent Democrats. They even charged ones. Writers were expelled from the Com- Germany, no pictures have been produced that President Harry Truman was leading a munist Party if they failed to promote com- documenting the crimes of Soviet dictator fascist takeover of the United States. munism in their scripts. The party even told Joseph Stalin. On the contrary, Warren Be- Their disregard for a “free exchange members not to read certain books. atty even won an Oscar for his 1981 movie of ideas” was demonstrated in how they And the communist union the Confer- Reds, which heaped praise on a Lenin apol- treated some of their own members who ence of Studio Unions (CSU) had its own ogist, John Reed. dared to question any of the party line. Al- Blacklist of sorts, telling members to boy- It has been said that Hollywood created bert Maltz, later one of the “unfriendly” cott films of certain actors, including Robert an image of the American Old West that witnesses called by HCUA, was a writer Montgomery, John Wayne, , Van never was, but always will be. Perception who mixed left-wing ideas in his nov- Johnson, Clark Gable, Maureen O’Hara, is reality, and the silver screen is a power- els, plays, and short stories. But when Bette Davis, and Barbara Stanwyck. ful tool in shaping that perception. Unfor- he wrote in February 1946 that “writers Despite this blatant hypocrisy, it is typi- tunately, the silver screen is still dotted by must be judged by their work and not by cal today for academia, the media, and the lots of red and pink. n

38 THE NEW AMERICAN • Nov EM bER 21, 2016