The Hollywood Ten in History and Memory Review By: Arthur Eckstein Film History, Vol

The Hollywood Ten in History and Memory Review by: Arthur Eckstein Film History, Vol. 16, No. 4, Politics and Film (2004), pp. 424-436 Published by: Indiana University Press Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3815610 . Accessed: 29/08/2013 11:57

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This content downloaded from 192.80.65.116 on Thu, 29 Aug 2013 11:57:27 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions FilmHistory, Volume 16, pp. 424-436, 2004. CopyrightC John LibbeyPublishing ISSN:0892-2160. Printedin UnitedStates of America

The HollywoodTen in history and memory

ArthurEckstein

Starting in 1947 the House Committee on WardBond.3 And 'fronts'came intoexistence, too- UnamericanActivities (HUAC)pursued a series people who offeredstudios scriptswritten by black- of officialinquiries into the penetrationof the listedscreenwriters but presentedas theirown work, film industryin Hollywoodby the Communist in exchange for official credit for the script plus Partyof the United States of America.There were (often)a cut of the payment;a famous example of majorpublic hearings in 1947 and 1951, and smaller such a 'front'was PhilipYordan, himself a quite hearingsthroughout the mid-1950s.In the course of famous screenwriter.4 these inquiriesdozens of 'friendly'Hollywood wit- As a resultof the blacklistsystem some film nesses denounced hundreds of people as secret careers were totallydestroyed: for instance, that of members of the CommunistParty, while dozens of MickeyKnox, 'the nextJohn Garfield',a risingstar of 'unfriendly'witnesses refused to discuss theirpoli- the late 1940s - as one can see in his performance tics with the Committee. Those who were either in the great gangster filmWhite Heat (1949)-and if publiclyor privatelydenounced as members of the you have never heard of MickeyKnox, that is the AmericanCommunist Party (CPUSA) found it almost point.Many other careers sufferedsevere setbacks: impossibleat least for a decade to get employment for instance, that of the actor HowardDa Silva.5 in the motion-pictureindustry. The most famous Actors and directors suffered more severely than victimsof the resultingblacklist were the 'Unfriendly screenwritersbecause they could not act or direct Ten' or 'HollywoodTen', the originalgroup of 'un- under assumed names, whereas screenwriters friendly'witnesses - mostlyscreenwriters - who re- could use the 'front'system, whichallowed the most fused to give politicalinformation about themselves talentedof them to continueto writescripts. Butthe before HUACin October1947.1 CPUSAhad made its largest inroads in Hollywood The blacklistfunctioned in part officially,as among screenwriters,and many screenwriters'ca- shown by the jointpublic announcement of the mo- reers sufferedgreatly or ended. tion picturefirms in November1947 that henceforth Itis usuallynot a good idea to attackprofes- no studio would knowinglyemploy any member of sional writers.They tend to write,and to writewell - the CommunistParty, or the members of any other to get in the last word. Thathas certainlybeen the group which advocated the overthrowof the United case withthe blacklist.None of the HUACcommittee States governmentby revolution.The blacklistalso or staff (which originallyincluded Congressman occurred unofficially,through instrumentssuch as RichardM. Nixon) has writtenmemorably on the the irresponsiblered-baiting newsletter Red Chan- events of 1947 and 1951, let alone on the later, nels, which named whole swathes of people as smallerinvestigations. A few of those who appeared subversives;this led, for example, to the ruinof the career of the left-wingbut non-Communistactress MarshaHunt.2 The blacklistoften functionedin se- .ArthurEckstein is a Professor of Historyat the Uni- cret:jobs justdried up. Meanwhile,'fixers' came into versityof Maryland.His books and scholarlyarticles existence, who deal withthe ancientworld but he has also writtenon got people unofficially'pardoned' by he was anti-Communist and the film Americanfilm and popularculture. Recently, organizations industry co-editorwith Peter Lehmanof TheSearchers: Essays managers, and thereforeemployable again; one fa- and Reflections on John Ford's Classic Western mous 'fixer'was the fiercelyanti-Communist actor (WayneState UniversityPress, 2004).

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as 'friendlywitnesses' before HUAChave written lawyersonthe Ten's defense team who were not importantmemoirs, often defending theirconduct, themselves members of the Party.Bosworth says sometimes expressing self-doubt:for instance, the that her fathervigorously defended people as long directorsEdward Dmytryk and EliaKazan, and the as he possiblycould affordit financially,because of actor SterlingHayden.6 But such figuresare farout- his deep allegience to the principlesof the First numberedby the self-justifyingand bittermemoirs Amendment.But the experiencealso made himvery of those who were denounced: for instance, Norma wary of the AmericanCommunists, because they Barzman;Walter Bernstein; Alvah Bessie; Herbert were not in fact independent individualsbut were Biberman;Conrad Bromberg;Lester Cole; Lillian men understern Partyintellectual discipline; and he Hellman;Howard Koch; Ring Lardner, Jr. (and now found them continuallydeceptive as to their inten- his daughterKate); Donald Ogden Stewart;Dalton tions and motives. Crumwas repelledby the Com- Trumbo;Ella Winter.7 munists' 'rude, plodding dogmatism, their habit of As a resultof the publicationof these works, secrecy'- and thatincluded the behaviorof the Party but morefundamentally because of the culturalshift lawyersassigned to workwith him on the case. Itis in Hollywoodto dominationby a bien pensant Left BartleyCrum's conundrum which summarizesthe that started around 1960 and accelerated in the issue addressed in this paper.9 1970s, the UnfriendlyTen are now lionizedas Ameri- HUACand its staff were 'very bad people, can 'rebels'and martyred'non-conformists'. Mean- doing very bad things ... The closest thing to Nazis': while,the angerwithin the currentfilmmaking elite at that'sthe whole story,according to WalterBernstein those who originally'named names' inthe 1940s and in his interviewwith Paul Buhle in 1997; Bernstein 1950s has been unremitting.A particularview of what therebyalso condemns as utterlyevil anyone who occurredthen is now unalterablein Hollywood,held cooperated against the Communists.10The place- by people who have littleknowledge of what it actu- ment of primarypolitical and moralblame on HUAC ally meant in the 1940s to be a Communist- that is, for what happened to people duringthe blacklistis a Stalinist.Two examples demonstratethe current obviouslycorrect. The lawyersdefending the original politicalsituation. On October27, 1997, on the fiftieth HollywoodTen had an excellent pointthat the First anniversaryof the originalHUAC hearings, there was Amendment'sguarantee of freedom of association a gala celebrationof the Ten, witha huge audience meant that Congress had no right to investigate of the Hollywoodcreative elite, and withmajor stars CommunistParty membership unless it firstpassed appearingas membersof the Ten in a re-enactment legislationoutlawing the Party.Yet despite the ap- of parts of the HUAChearing. The evening was parent unconstitutionalityof the procedure, the capped by an appearance of some of the surviving House of Representativesfound the UnfriendlyTen Ten themselves - to thunderousapplause. Then in guiltyof contempt of Congress for their refusalto 1999 the Academy of MotionPicture Arts and Sci- answer questions about theirpolitical associations ences decided to award a lifetimeOscar to Elia and beliefs; and the contempt citationwas upheld Kazan.Kazan was the directorof outstandingfilms by the courts. The result was that the Ten were such as A StreetcarNamed Desire, VivaZapata, On sentenced to from six months to a year in Federal the Waterfront,and East of Eden ('he taught Marlon prison for failureto answer HUAC'squestions. It Brando how to act') - but he had also 'named seems quite outrageous now - and of course this names'. There was an enormous controversyover was only the officialpunishment; the unofficialpun- the award,which was ferociouslyopposed by survi- ishment, the blacklisting,lasted far longer and in- vors and supportersof the Ten; in the end, Kazan's volved far more people. appearance at the 1999 Academy Awards- even A furtherdark element in the story is that J. thoughhe was escorted to the podiumby RobertDe ParnellThomas (R - New Jersey),the Congressman Niro and MartinScorsese - was greeted by many who ranthe 1947 hearings,was a ruthlessbully who members of the Academywith stony silence.8 refused 'hostile' witnesses the right even to give A morebalanced view from a participantin the statements concerning the Constitutionalgrounds terribleevents that began in October 1947 comes behindtheir unwillingness to answerquestions, while from Patricia Bosworth, the daughter of Bartley he let friendlyanti-Communist witnesses read state- Crum, one of the lawyers for the UnfriendlyTen. ments beforethe Committeefor as longas they liked. Crumwas one of only two lawyersout of the seven The tinyThomas browbeatthe 'Unfriendlies'unmer-

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Fig.1. Walter reveals anotherside of the story- and one that has Bernsteinand been almost totallylost in the pieties about the Ten MartinRitt on the which have over the Itis setof The Front emerged past half-century. the mainissue Iwish to address: the sternintellectual (1972),their semi- controlwhich the HollywoodParty excercized over autobiographical its members.This intellectualcontrol makes the de- accountof the pictionof the Ten as somehow romantic'rebels', or blacklistera. 'non-conformists',or championsof free speech, into nonsense. Theywere often quite the opposite. To cite two examples from Barzmanherself. In the mid-1940s, while still in Hollywood,she and her husband became fascinated by psychoanalysis of the classic Freudiankind; it was then a big fad among the Hollywoodcreative community, and they had a troubledmarriage. So they wished to become involvedin therapy- butthe Partyhad a ruleagainst its members going into psychoanalysis. The Party leadershipwas opposed to psychoanalysison ideo- logicalgrounds, because Partyleaders saw itas 'the cifully,yelling and banging his gavel at them. Ironi- tool of the class enemy to justifyinequities of society cally, he ended up in the same federal prison in by attributingthem to flaws in personalityrather than Danbury,Connecticut as Ring Lardnerand Lester the system'.13Barzman also cites a second impor- Cole, two of his victims:after the 1947 HUAChear- tant reason for the Party's opposition to psycho- ings Thomaswas convictedof fraudon the govern- analysis,one adduced as well (surprisinglyenough) ment of the United States (payrollpadding, and by VictorNavasky, the most famous criticof HUAC takingkickbacks). The situationat Danburywas de- and the blacklist:'since it is a ruleof psychoanalysis servedlyuncomfortable for the thuggishand corrupt thatthe patientreveals everything,the Party'ssecu- Thomas,who triedto avoidhis fellowprisoners Lard- rity as a secret organizationwould be compro- ner and Cole. But for Lardnerand Cole it was a mised'.14 We see here, then, that the Party in delicioussituation - as they made veryclear to him. Hollywoodnot only attemptedto controlthe minds Thereare other darkly-comicmoments asso- of its members, but we are remindedthat it was a ciated with the blacklist.Norma Barzmanand her secret organization.15 husband Ben Barzman,screenwriters and members As anotherexample of the reach of Partycon- of the Party,were blacklisted.Yet her recentmemoir trol, Barzmanremarks that in the 1940s Partycou- - often a wonderfulread - is charmingeven about ples in Hollywoodwent in for adoption of children one of the grimmestfacts of the blacklistees'expe- fromAppalachia. This was done not so much out of rience:being followed by the FBIand the localpolice. humanitarianismas to help provecorrect the theory Shortlyafter the firstHUAC confrontation, a neighbor of Stalin'scurrent favorite geneticist, T. D. Lysenko: warned the Barzmansabout police surveillanceof that environment(and the exercise of will) could theirhouse; the neighborwas GrouchoMarx, ges- quicklytriumph over heredity.The theoryappealed ticulatingwith his famous cigar, his eyebrows twid- to Stalinbecause it reinforcedthe Stalinistdoctrine dling: 'Hottoday! But for you, two kindsof heat, know that the emergence of 'the new Socialist Man'as a what I mean? But I can only give you ice-cubes in result of a stern socialist system imposed by the support.'Groucho was immediatelyfollowed by Mar- governmentfrom above was certainto happen rap- ilyn Monroe, getting out of an old white Cadillac idly.Among HollywoodParty activists who faithfully convertibleand sashaying up the Barzmans'drive- followedthis ideological line and adopted were the way to warn them in her famous breathy little-girl screenwriterAlbert Maltz (This Gun for Hire, 1942, a voice: 'Gosh, did you knowthere are cops watching founding film noir) and his wife Margaret,and the your house? Did you guys commit a murder or screenwriterHerbert Biberman and his wife the ac- something? Oh - Gimmea gin and tonic!'12 tress Gale Sondergaard. According to Barzman, But Barzman,perhaps unintentionally,also there were several others - though Maltz,for one,

This content downloaded from 192.80.65.116 on Thu, 29 Aug 2013 11:57:27 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions The Hollywood Ten in history and memory 427 was not a good parent.So fardid whateverwas the Moreover,these radicalshifts and reversalsin currentParty ideology reach intothe privatelives of the policy of the AmericanParty did not occur as Partymembers.16 reflectionsof developmentson the Americansocio- At this point in the discussion we should also economic scene itself, and were not reactons to begin to distinguishanalytically among the victimsof them. On the contrary:they had their source in a the blacklist. It is the UnfriendlyTen (and those foreigncountry and its interests, in the specific re- aroundthe Ten)whom Hollywoodmemory has cho- sponses of the governmentof the USSRto events in sen to canonize as martyrs- has chosen to make Europe.One classic case is of course the American into admirableAmerican 'rebels' and innocent,vic- Party'sfaithful support of the Hitler-StalinPact of timizedheroes. Inthe orderof prioritiesfor our sym- 1939-1941: Stalinas an allyof Hitlerwas a startling pathy,I thinkthis is the opposite of where sympathy reversalafter years of proclaimedParty dedication forthe blacklistvictims should lie.17 to ferocious'anti-Fascism'. Instead the lineswtiched Many people on the Left in the 1930s and from'anti-Fascism' to 'peace', i.e. a ferociousdedi- 1940s were attractedto the variouspositions advo- cation to keeping the US from aiding the nations cated at one timeor anotherby the CommunistParty fightingHitler ('The Yanks are NOTcoming!'; 'we'll of the USA. Some merely became involvedin the be for peace untilthe cows come home!'- to quote manyfront-groups with nice-sounding names which HerbertBiberman). Yet just as the Party'sstaunch the Partysecretly controlled (e.g. the Progressive 'anti-Fascism'ended the moment that Stalin be- Citizens of America, or the HollywoodAnti-Nazi came Hitler'sfriend, so the Party'sstaunch belief in League);some actuallydid join the Partyitself. Yet 'the peace movement'ended the momentthe Soviet the vast majorityof even those who joinedthe Party Unionwas attacked by the Nazis on 22 June 1941. only lasted a relativelyshort time in it before leaving. Nowthe waragainst Hitlerfinally became justified.20 Why did they leave? Because the Party'schoking Thismeans thatmost of the Ten, as long-term atmosphereof intellectualcontrol drove them away, Communist Party militants,were people who (to or because the Party'sposition on whateversocial paraphraseLillian Hellman) were preparedindeed to issue had originallyattracted them suddenly re- cut theirconsciences to fit the politicalfashions of versed on orders fromthe Soviet Union.Tragically, the moment. Such obedience to a notoriously many of these lefists were persecuted later by the changeable politicalline, such inabilityto stick to government,and/or blacklisted in Hollywoodby the loudly proclaimedprinciples if the Partysuddenly industry.18The main point I wish to make, however, went back on those principles,is a fact. So one thing is that the average lengthof stay in the 1930s even these men were not, and that is rebels:it is wrongto forthose leftistswho didjoin the Partywas onlyabout see them that way and give them that honorable three years.19 appellation.21Moreover, the poltical fashions to The Ten, however,do not and cannot repre- whichthey cut theirconsciences were the needs of sent the relativelytransient population that made up the Soviet State, not Americanneeds or interests. the Partyrank-and-file. The latterwere social ideal- Thus the very natureof theirlong-term Communist ists or radicalsrelatively loosely tied to the Partyand Partymilitancy points to theirdependence upon the committedto specific issues ratherthan to the or- wishes of a foreigngovernment.22 ganizationitself; they made up the Party's(relatively It is well to rememberthat this situatonwas unstable)mass base in the heydayof the 1930s and not uniqueto the AmericanParty, but ratherwas a 1940s. Withthe Ten, by contrast, we are dealing fundamentalcharacteristic of all CommunistParties mostly with long-termParty militants,cadres and throughoutthe Stalin era. On all majorissues the functionaries. Bessie, Biberman, Cole, Lardner, 'national'Communist Parties were controlledfrom Lawson,and Polonskyhad all been in the Partyfor Moscow, either directlyor via the Comintern.The ten years or morewhen the firstHUAC investigation subservienceto Soviet interestsand ordersdemon- came in 1947, and Trumboonly a littlebit less. The strated by the CommunistParty of France is the very fact that they had not wavered at any point, classic example of the phenomenon- and it helps despite the series of radicalshifts and reversalsin to underlinethe type of politicsactually engaged in Partypolicy since 1935, sets themapart from the vast by the historical(as opposed to the mythical)Ten. If majorityof CP members - and the vast majorityof Americanhistorians of the CPUSAwere thoroughly blacklistvictims. trainedin foreign languages, the parallelsbetween

This content downloaded from 192.80.65.116 on Thu, 29 Aug 2013 11:57:27 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions 428 ArthurEckstein _~~~4~~= 3P g Fig.2. Jules Dassindirecting UpTight (1968), hisblaxploitation remakeofThe Informer.

the behavior of the American Party and all other blacklisted directorJules Dassin (Riffifi;Never on 'national'Parties around the worldwould be clearer, Sunday)is the same: and would the CPUSAinto its international put proper The tried hardto Commu- context. wouldsee how the sudden and Party very present They closely nist or Socialistideas as an advance in Amer- radical of the American were ex- policy-shifts Party ica's that was in fact rooted in those of other'national'Communist development actly every Party, Americantradition. failedin this. The for the of all these were de- Well,they policies organizations American couldn't it.The associa- decisions made in Moscowon people buy pendent upon policy tion withthe Soviet Unionwas too I the basis of the interestsof the Soviet Union.But of powerful. rememberone 'Defendthe Soviet Un- course most American historians of slogan, any subject ion'. Itwas not 'Defend the Socialist Idea' or nowadays are not trained in foreign languages, 'Defend a FairerSystem', it was 'Defend the which results in a bias towardsseeing everythingin Soviet Union' ... Itwas a tough slogan to sell, a purelyAmerican context and perspective.23 impossible. The counter-productivepolitics into which AmericanCommunists were constantly forced by But the unbreakable association with the having continuallyto be the fervent guardians of USSR,the subservienceto whateverthe currentline Soviet(i.e. foreign)interests, and membersof a Party of Stalin'sdictatorship happened to be, the overrid- whose policywas determinedin Europe,not Amer- ing CPUSA purpose to 'defend the Soviet Union' ica, has recentlybeen acknowledged even by Paul underany and all circumstances (includingconflict Jarrico,one of the Ten - not that he ever deviated withthe UnitedStates): these were policies dictated from the Party line at the time.24Similar is Alvah to the CPUSAfrom Moscow, and accepted willingly Bessie, another of the Ten, who has ruefullyre- by Partyheadquarters in New York.In what sense marked:'It began to be obvious that the Partywas was this 'rebellion'within the honorableAmerican not speaking the language of the Americanpeople. tradition?26 It took me almost twentyyears to find this out ... The HollywoodTen were not, as it happened, Prettystupid of me.'25And the opinionof the famous spies for the USSR. But they belonged to a Party

This content downloaded from 192.80.65.116 on Thu, 29 Aug 2013 11:57:27 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions The Hollywood Ten in history and memory 429 which- as even left-wing'revisionists' now acknow- ist dogma into otherwise bland Hollywoodfilms- ledge - plantedspies forthe Soviet Union(a foreign though they laterdenounced this suspicion as fas- country)as a matterof course throughoutthe US cist propaganda.32The intentis quite clear, for in- government.Even EllenShrecker, the chroniclerof stance, with Ring Lardner,Jr.: he gleefullytells the the blacklistas it functionedin educationalinstitu- storythat duringhis blacklistperiod in the 1950s he tions, has admittedthat EarlBrowder, the leader of worked as a secret screenwriterfor the BritishTV the CPUSA during its most 'liberal' period series TheAdventures of RobinHood, and slipped (1941-1945: the Second PopularFront), was in fact frequentanti-capitalist messages intoa show whose a keytalent scout and recruiterof spies forthe Soviet settingwas medievalEngland. His purpose, he says, Union,'routing volunteers to the KGBand identifying was to subvertthe younger generation'sbeliefs in secret Partymembers who could be of use'.27 free enterprise.33But in Hollywoodin the 1930s and Butalthough only one HollywoodCommunist 1940s the stern anti-ideologicaldomination of the is knownto have been a long-termNKVD spy (the studio moguls meant that Communistwriters could minorHollywood producer Boris Morros), that does only slip in a few bits here and there, and such bits not mean thatthe HollywoodCommunists would not could not have much effect. Rather,as Partyleader have spied for the Soviet Union if they had been Fostertold the Hollywoodsection of the Partyduring asked. Indeed,the recentlydecoded 'Venona'docu- his visit in 1945, influence on film productionin ments suggests that WalterBernstein, one of those Hollywoodat this pointwas intendedby the Partyto blacklisted, had offered informationto the NKVD be primarilynegative: Communistswere to block more than once.28This should not cause surprise: and prevent the productionof any films with an when ArthurKoestler (secretly) joined the Commu- anti-Communistbent, or witha theme detrimentalto nist Partyof Germanyin 1932 he remaineda news- the interestsof the Soviet Union.34 paper reporter,but he accepted as a matter of Hence the importanceof secrecy. MostParty course thathe wouldbe asked to spy on his employ- members in Hollywoodwere secret Partymembers, ers in the Ullsteinnewspaper corporation- people operatingunder noms de guerre.The strict cell struc- who had saved himfrom penury during the Depres- tureof the HollywoodParty, and the secret meetings sion.29 of the cells, kept many people from knowingmore Althoughnot involved in spying, the Hollywood than a dozen fellOwParty-members. The director Partyorganization was neverthelessspecially impor- EdwardDmytryk worked with the producerAdrian tant to CPUSAheadquarters in New York.This is Scottfor two years beforehe knewScott was a fellow shown by the fact thatthe Hollywoodsection was not Party-member.35The Partywas not organized this underthe supervisionof the Los Angeles or Califor- way by accident, or merelyout of a traditionalcon- nia Partyorganizations, as one might expect, but spiratorialor paranoidmindset- thoughthat mindset reporteddirectly to the Center.30Its importanceis obviouslyexisted and was fundamental.There were shown too by the fact thatwhen inthe springof 1945 twospecific reasons forsecrecy: (1) so thatopinions the hard-lineStalinist William Z. Fosterexpelled the on film productionswhich were presented during 'liberal'Browder from the Partyand took over as theirdaily work in the studios by secret Communists GeneralSecretary at Stalin'sbehest, one of the first on the basis of the currentpolitical line could mas- places he visitedwas the HollywoodParty.31 querade merelyas independentartistic opinions - The reason for the special importanceof the since film-makersdealing withthe secret Commu- Hollywoodsection is not far to seek: the Soviet nists would not knowthey were dealing with Com- governmenthad an earlyunderstanding of the cru- munists; and (2) so that secret Communist cial powerof filmas propagandain a mass society operativescould control(secretly) the bien pensant (both Leninand Stalin had spoken on this issue). frontorganizations mostly populated by liberalsand CommunistInfluence in Hollywoodfilm-making was ordinaryleftists. thereforeseen as both culturallyand politicallyim- An example of the latteris the HollywoodCiti- portantin spreading ideas among the masses that zens Committeeon the Arts,Sciences, and Profes- would help prepare for the Revolution,or which sions (HICCASP)- most of whose membershipwere would- at the least - help preventpopular support liberalsand independentleftists, not Communists, for oppositionto the USSR. but where the cruciallyinfluential post of executive Partymembers boasted of 'sneaking'in Marx- secretaryof the organizationwas held by a secret

This content downloaded from 192.80.65.116 on Thu, 29 Aug 2013 11:57:27 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions 430 Arthur Eckstein _ s se srdj9s a waia - aa~p s a~

Fig.3. John But I thinkthere was another mistake,which HowardLawson, was probablyspecial to Hollywood,and that authorofAction was that our membershipwas covert. Secret. inthe North There are historicalreasons Atlantic(1942) good why party andthe CPUSA's members did not advertisetheir membership artisticenforcer in the Party.But in Hollywoodit was a disas- inHollywood. trous course.40

Jarricothen says thatbeing a secret organization is what laid the Hollywoodsection of the Party open to informersand denouncers in the firstplace; afterall, there could have been no 'namingnames' if Partymembership had not been kept secret. One must rememberwhat 'naming names' was: the naming of (alleged) secret members of the American CommunistParty.41 But one can go fartheron the impact of secrecy. It means that CP members were constantly workingin the interests of the USSR, and at the dictates of the USSR, while constantlyengaged in Communist.36The Communistsoperated likecuck- lyingto and manipulatingtheir friends and co-work- oos, as EdwardDmytryk says, layingtheir eggs in ers abouttheir motives, for they misrepresentedtheir other birds' nests.37Moreover, there is evidence to politicalpositions as independent radicalopinions suggest thatsome prominentHollywood people who when in realitythose positionswere dictatedto them wantedto jointhe Partywere forbiddenby the Party fromelsewhere. Itwas a cult.Those who denounced to become members,but were trustedto wield influ- the Reds have always been denounced as rats and ence over Hollywoodindividuals and organizations betrayers- but surelythere is a deep betrayalhere on behalf of Partypolicies all the same- influence as well. Moreover,Communist relations with non- all the more effectivefor coming frompeople known Communistswere based on a smug sense of intel- not to be in the Partybut merely'leftists'.38 lectualand politicalsuperiority.42 Paul Jarrico,one of the Ten, has given us a Alongwith the secrecy and manipulation,how- balanced summaryof the impactin Hollywoodof the ever, - with all that entailed in terms of personal Party'spenchant for secrecy. Onthe broadestbasis, behavior towards others - there was 'democratic the politicalsituation of the CPUSAchanged dra- centralism',i.e. the rule of the Partyover its mem- maticallywith the coming of the ColdWar. It was one bers' intellectuallives. We have already referredto thing to be a Communistin the 1930s, when the this briefly,and again, one must disaggregate the USSRwas onlyon the distanthorizon for most Ameri- transitoryrank and file (manyof whom left because cans, or duringthe Second WorldWar, when the they could not put up withsuch discipline)from the USSR and the UnitedStates were allies and so the long-termParty militants who constitutedmost of the AmericanCommunist allegience to a foreignregime Ten. Thoughthe Ten were all intellectuals,they ac- was prettymuch a moot point.But after 1945, as the cepted as a matterof course that there were books UnitedStates became involvedin a fierceworldwide one was forbiddento read.43Though the Ten were struggledirectly with the USSR,and Americanswere all intellectuals,they accepted the principleof Party being called upon to give theirlives to fightagainst disciplinelaid down by the Party'sAmerican cultural Communisminternationally, then even Jarricoad- commisar(there was one), V.J.Jerome: mitsthe logic of seeing Communistsand Communist sympathizersas a potentialfifth column.39 This fun- I asked, 'Comrade Jerome, what if a Party damentalpolitical situation was made worse, Jarrico decision is made that you cannot go along says, by the fact thatthe CPUSAobviously followed with?' slavishly whatever the political line was from the Andhe said, 'Whenthe Partymakes a decision USSR.And then he adds: it becomes youropinion'.44

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Anotherblacklistee, Leonardo Bercovici, has pared to it'.48Yet after this, Maltzfor many years expressed amazementat John HowardLawson, the remained a Party stalwart,and faithfullyfollowed sternand rigidleader of the Hollywoodsection of the every shiftin the Partyline. He believedthat in June Party. Here was a man who was a very talented 1950 South Koreahad attackedthe North.In 1958, writer,yet he devoted himself 'to becoming a com- in accordance withthe Khrushchevthaw, he wrotea missar; it was a pity ...'. Bercovici concluded that positivereview of Pasternak'sDr. Zhivago; but when Lawsonsimply had 'an authoritariancharacter'. But the hardlinerscame back intopower in the Kremlin, a momentlater, in discussing the HollywoodParty's he issued yet anotherpublic recantation of his pre- roboticobedience to whateverline came out of New viously published views, now proclaimingthat he York(i.e. Moscow), Bercoviciasked himself, 'How had re-readthe book and found it shallow. Is this could Jack have submitted ... ?'45 man reallysupposed to be seen as an 'American The degree to which personal intellectual rebel'and a 'non-conformist'?49 opinionand creativitycould be dismissed by Party Moreover,it is especially importantto remem- Diktatwas most famouslydemonstrated in the case ber that Maltz'sexperience with a 'thoughtcontrol of AlbertMaltz. In February 1946 Maltzpublished an committee' of the HollywoodParty was not at all article,'What Do We Expectof Writers?',protesting unique:John HowardLawson ran a verytight Stalin- the Party'siron demands on artistsand theirwork: ist ship. In 1945 EdwardDmytryk and AdrianScott artistscould not merelybe Partypolitical pamphlet- were expelledfrom the Party,after two sets of similar eers propoundingthe particularParty position of the inquisitions,for refusingto accept the crude propa- moment,but rather they mustbe allowedto deal with ganda of Lawson'shand-picked screenwriter, John the deepest and most permanentissues of human Wexley, for their film Cornered.50Robert Rossen life - as was naturalfor them. Further,works of art faced a smilarinquisition over Allthe Kings'Men in should be judged not merelyby the politicsof their 1949. The HollywoodParty objected to this classic creators,- as the CPUSAalways did - but ratherby film'stheme of 'PowerCorrupts' (too close to Stalin, the artisticand ethical values and human insights apparently),and forced him into an excruciating containedin the worksthemselves. 'criticism'session. Ratherthan submit and recanthis Thisplea forartistic and criticalfreedom led to work,Rossen angrilyresigned fromthe Party.What a firestormreaction from CPUSAheadquarters in is stunningis that the savage 'jurors'in the Rossen New York.Maltz was attacked for 'revisionism'in inquisitionwere -the Tenthemselves!51 Budd Schul- Partypublications; far worse, in Hollywoodhe was berg had a similarexperience earlierwith his novel subjected to a personal inquisitionalprocedure led WhatMakes Sammy Run: he also latertestified in by the dourJohn HowardLawson. Almost no mem- frontof HUAC,and - likeRossen - became subject bers of the HollywoodCP section came to Maltz's to continuous vicious attacks for 'naming names' defense: those who did were themselvesthreatened and being a 'rat'and 'stool-pigeon'.In Schulberg's withexpulsion.46 It took two brutalsessions of 'criti- case the attacksincluded pop-psychology analyses cism/self-criticism'in frontof a committeeof Holly- of his alleged relationshipwith his father,and they wood Party members to get Maltz to recant his have continuedto this day.52 position. Most of those involvedin the browbeating AbrahamPolonksy summed up the grimsitu- of Maltzwere writersthemselves - includingAlvah ation in a 1997 interview: Bessie and HerbertBiberman (two of the Ten).Two months after his firstplea for artisticfreedom Maltz The Party style of Marxismdidn't have a publisheda 'self-criticism'and complete recantation chance here [in Hollywood],or in New York of his plea for artisticfreedom.47 either, among intellectuals.The leadership's One can hardlyimagine a more humiliating behaviorviolated the whole intellectuallife of experience for an intellectualand 'non-conformist' Marxism.53 than what Maltzwas put through.He was laterone of the HollywoodTen, and wentto prisonrather than Despite this fine statementon behalf of intel- testifyto the natureof his politicsor 'name names'; lectual freedom, Polonsky throughoutthe 1930s, but he told GerdaLerner that his 1946 CPUSAinqui- 1940s and 1950s went along faithfullywith whatever sitionwas 'the most unsettlingexperience of my life, the currentParty line happened to be- includingthe infinitelyworse than going to prison;nothing com- condemnationof Maltz.If he had personalpredilic-

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tions towards'liberalism', - as in the Maltzcase - he moralposition to complainabout being revealed in eventuallysuppressed them in the name of Party 1947 to be a secret Communist.At least he got to disciplineand unity.54 face his accusers at HUAC.The people whom he There is a furtherdisturbing aspect of the denounced in 1944 did not even know he had de- behaviorof veteranCP membersin Hollywoodin the nounced them. 1940s, as comparedto theirreputation as martyred Furthermore,it is clearthat Trumbo's invitation victimsof 'stool pigeons'. The fact is that when the to the FBIto come hear him 'name names' was not politicaloccasion demanded, these men were per- an isolated act by an individual.On the contrary:it fectlyprepared to be 'stoolpigeons' themselves. The fits intothe broadercontext of the CPUSApolicy of most notoriouscase is DaltonTrumbo. The Ten and informingon politicalenemies in the early 1940s. their supporters have castigated as the vilest of This is another fact which has been conveniently human beings those people who in the late 1940s forgotten.Once the Soviet Unionhad been invaded, and 1950s were forced by governmentsubpoena to the Partywent no-holds-barredafter anyone who appear beforeHUAC and 'namenames'. Butin 1944 opposed the war for whatever reason. The most Trumbopersonally invited the FBIto his house to turn famous case involvesthe SocialistWorkers' Party of over to them the names of people who had asked Minnesota,a Trotskyistgroup which the federalgov- himfor copies of his novelJohnny Got His Gun. ernmentbrought up on SmithAct charges in mid- This fiercely anti-warnovel, writtenin early 1941. It is not simplythat the CPUSAand its prop- 1939, had of course been a big hitwith Communists aganda organs loudlysupported the prosecutionof and their satellites duringthe period of the Hitler- the Trotskyistson the basis of theirpolitical beliefs - StalinPact (the 'peace movement'period); but after though of course they did. The fact is that Earl June 22, 1941 it became a politicalembarrassment, Browder,the GeneralSecretary of the Party,actually and Pearl Harboronly added to the problem.The sent the federal prosecutorsa (secret) 24-page in- novel dropped out of circulation- so people who dictmentdossier, withadvice on how the Trotskyists opposed WorldWar II despite PearlHarbor wrote to mightbe convictedof violentrevolutionary intent.57 Trumboto find out where they could get copies. A bit later the Partyorgans also loudlysup- Trumbovolunarily denounced these people to the ported the Smith Act prosecutionof anti-Semites; FBI as 'defeatists, pacifists [!], and anti-Semites', demanded the prosecutionof isolationistCongress- and after meeting with FBIagents at his house, he men who wished to limitthe Americanwar-effort to turnedover all the names of these people to them, the protectionof Americanterritory (remember 'The along withtheir correspondence with him. Needless Yanks Are NOT Coming!'?);and demanded the to say, he did not notifythe people whose names he SmithAct prosecutionof NormanThomas, the So- had named of what he had done, and that the FBI cialist leader, because he opposed the war on was now in possession of this information.55 grounds of pacifism.58We must assume that at the Andthere is more.A few years later,when the time, all these positionswere heartilyapplauded by Communistswere underpressure, the historianAr- the Hollywoodsection of the Party.Dalton Trumbo's thurSchlesinger suggested in printthat people such 'namingnames' to the FBIin 1944 - and indeed the as Trumbowere so ruthlesspolitically that they would categories of people whose names he gave over- never uphold the civil rights of those with whose fits perfectlywith then-current CPUSA policy.59 politics they disagreed, such as Trotskyistson the In 1947 the weapon of governmentprosecu- left and Ku Klux Klansmenon the right. Trumbo tion (or persecution)on the basis of politicalbelief responded with a haughtypublic denial (filledwith was finallyturned upon the Communiststhemselves, sneers at Schlesinger)that he would ever allowthe focusing firston the Hollywoodsection of the Party governmentthe rightto investigatea person's politi- and its secret membership.The Communistswere cal beliefs. But of course we now knowthis printed enraged: it was a violationof basic Constitutional rebuttalof Schlesingerwas a lie:Trumbo had already rightsto freedomof opinion!It did them no good at had helped the FBI to do so - and at his own the time (neitherdid the protestsof the Trotskyistsin initiative.56 1941, which the CPUSAhad disdained). But in the Is such a man to be viewed as a hero of long runthose innocentof the Stalinistnature of the freedom of speech? Obviouslythe 1944 incident, Partyand innocentof the historyof its policies were and Trumbo'slater lying about it, puts him in a poor seduced. Theyhad no way of knowinghow muchthe

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1947 prosecutionsfitted in with the previousgovern- the FBI,would seem to have writtenhis own fitting ment prosecutions of non-Communistdissenters, epitaph: whichthe Communists- one prosecutions including Idealistsare or in of the most members of the Ten - had worthy unworthypeople only prominent relationto what their ideals are. or and even abettedat the time.60 Ignorant applauded voluntarily emotionalidealists on Allthe above incidentsand theirvictims have purely frequentlybring which culminatein the defeat been and thus the Ten have been allowed great tragedies forgotten, of the ends towardwhich theirardor led to as innocent victims of an very emerge center-stage them.63 irrationaland oppressive government.Were the Ten victims - men victimizedfor their beliefs? Yes, of course theywere. Was this an exampleof oppressive Appendix: The Lost Future? governmentaction? Yes, of course itwas. Andit was Didthe destructionof the CommunistParty in led, in the case of J. ParnellThomas, by a crookand Hollywoodand the drivingout of the screenwriters a bully.Was it a completelyirrational action, though? and directorsand actors associated withthe Party Here the waters become murky.Once the United resultin a culturalHolocaust from which the United States had entered a long-termconfrontation with States has never recovered?This is a positionthat the Soviet Union,it was rationalto see the Commu- has recentlybeen widelyargued by scholars on the nist militants,including those in Hollywood,as pre- left.64Though the scripts he managed to get to the senting something of a fifthcolumn danger. Even screen made himfamous, and though he had twice Paul Jarrico, one of the Ten, admits as much.61 as many scripts that were never produced (in part And the accusation of potential subversion because of the blacklist),Ring Lardner, Jr. is dubious was certainlya charge which Communistshad not about this idea: hesitated to hurl their ene- publiclyagainst poltiical It is a for a writerto fantasizethat mies in nor had hesitatedto inform temptation 1941-1945, they his unshot could have made more the FBIin secret about those enemies and to 'name scripts and moviesthan the ones names' on the to the original provocative themselves, grounds (given that ran the to theater exhibition.A that were to the gauntlet FBI) they seeking protect country. sober reviewof the files in case shows that But on the other it is that the founda- my hand, unlikely this would be a delusion. tions of American governmentwere going to be shaken by the doings of a couple of hundredHolly- Lardnercontinues that it is unfairto compare wood screenwriters,directors and actors. Finally, even the good scriptsthat were nevermade intofilms then, were the Ten innocents- nothingmore than a with the films that actuallydid get made, because batch of persecuted liberals?62Here surelythe an- those good scriptsare stillin a 'pure'state, and have swer is 'No'.The Ten were victimsof US government not yet undertakenthe painfuljourney through the oppression, but they were not innocent:most were transformativeprocess of studio production.In that stern Stalinistmilitants and prefectlycapable of un- process the writerwould be only one partnerout of leashing that very same sort of inquisitionamong many in the creationof the finaloutcome, and not themselves against anyone who deviated from the usuallythe most importantpartner.65 In other words, currentParty line. to make very large culturalclaims on the basis of Does that justifythe HUAChearings and the screenwriters'complaints about what was neverpro- subsequent blacklists,even of the militantCommu- duced is dubious method. nistswho made up the HollywoodTen? No, of course Leonardo Bercovici, when pushed by Paul not. Martyrsthey are - but they are not innocent Buhleto agree to the 'lostfuture' line, also denies its martyrs.We should reservethe bulkof oursympathy validity.The problemBercovici sees regardingthe for those people who were only transientmembers thesis is slightlydifferent: even rigidStalinists such of the Party,or neverjoined the Partyat all, but ran as John HowardLawson ended up - if they were intotrouble for participationin liberaland leftistfront good writersin the Hollywoodsense, whichLawson groups whose secret controlby the Partywas un- was - writingmostly pure-entertainment pictures. In knownto them (again,in good partbecause CPUSA fact, the more talentedthe screenwriter,the bigger membershipwas secret). As forthe Tenthemselves, the stars he or she workedwith, the moremoney was DaltonTrumbo, in his 1944 'namingnames' letterto investedby the studio,and hence the moreoversight

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on the script and film production the studio exer- is a wonder that they got any creative artistic work cized. Thus as long as the production system re- done at all; he gives this as the reason he left the mained in control, the increasing absence of Party.66Thus unless there had been a true revolution Communist and other radical screenwriters from the both in the method of Hollywood film production production process after 1948 probably did not itself, as well as a revolution in the nature of strict make a great deal of difference to what finally Communist Party oversight over and demands upon emerged. Maurice Rapf adds that the pressures its membership, there is littlereason to think that the from the Party to do organizing and political work Hollywood blacklist short-circuited a renaissance in were so severe on Communist screenwriters that it American Marxistcultural production.67 Notes

1. For discussion of the entire sequence of HUAC Press, 1965);Lester Cole, Hollywood Red (PaloAlta, investigationsof Hollywood(not only 1947and 1951 CA:Ramparts Press, 1981); LillianHellman, Three: butcontinuing in 1953 and again in 1955-58), along An UnfinishedWoman. Pentimento. Scoundrel Time, withthe listof the specific denouncerss,and the list withnew commentaries by the author(Boston: Little, of the hundredsdenounced, see RobertVaughn, Brown, 1979); HowardKoch, As Time Goes By: OnlyVictims: A Studyof Show Business Blacklisting Memoirsof a Writer(New York:Harcourt, Brace, (NewYork: G.P. Putnam'sSons, 1973);the listscan Jovanovich,1979); Ring Lardner, Jr. I'd Hate Myself be found at 275-292 (the authoris the prominent inthe Morning:AMemoir (NewYork: Thunder's Mouth actor;the book is based on his Ph.D.dissertation at Press/NationBooks, 2000); DonaldOgden Stewart, the Universityof SouthernCalifornia). The original By a Strokeof Luck:An Autobiography(New York: groupof 'Unfriendlies'in 1947 numbered19, butonly PaddingtonPress, 1975);Dalton Trumbo, The Time 11 were actuallyconfronted publicly by the Commit- of the Toad.A Storyof the Inquisitionin America, and tee. two relatedpamphlets (New York: Harper and Row, 1972);Ella Winter, Not to Yield(New York: Harcourt, 2. See the 1997interviewwith Hunt in Patrick McGilligan Brace, 1963). andPaul Buhle (eds), TenderComrades: A Backstory of the HollywoodBlacklist (New York:St Martins 8. For an account of the fiftiethannivesary attack on Press, 1997), 318-320. The interviewswith black- HUACand on those who informed,with Billy Crystal listees collected in McGilliganand Buhle are an as actor LarryParks, John Lithgowas SterlingHay- invaluableresource for the historyof the period. den, KevinSpacey as Paul Jarrico,and including appearances by the actual PaulJarrico, Ring Lard- 3. See forJohn Ford: A Life Joseph McBride,Searching ner, Jr. and AbrahamPolonsky, see conveniently York:St Martins 475-477. (New Press, 2001), Kenneth Lloyd Billingsley,Hollywood Party: How 4. Patrick McGilligan,Backstory 2: Interviewswith CommissionSeduced the AmericanFilm Industry in Screenwritersin the 1940s and 1950s (Berkeley, the 1930s and 1940s (Rocklin,CA: Forum/Prime, 1991),341-343 forthe screenplayswritten by black- 1998), 1-10. On the scene at the AcademyAwards listees for whichYordan originally claimed and re- inMarch 1999, see convenientlyBillingsley, 283-289. ceived credit. 9. PatrickBosworth, Anything Your Little Heart Desires: 5. MickeyKnox: see his interviewin McGilliganand An AmericanFamily Story (New York:Simon and Buhle: 349-388. On the blacklistingof Da Silva Schuster, 1997). 224-240 and 376 (the quote). For (1951),see brieflyAlfredLewis Levitt interview (1997), his rolein defending the Ten, Crum from 1947 onward in Ibid.,460. Da Silva did not returnto the screen was continuallypersecuted by the FBI.Though a untilhis magnificentperformance as the psychiatrist practicingCatholic, a liberalRepublican, and then a in Davidand Lisa(Richard Perry, dir.; 1962). leaderforTruman against the Communist-supported HenryWallace, Crum was spied on formore than six 6. Edward Odd Man Out:A Memoirof the Dmytryk, years,and his passportwas threatenedseveral times Blacklist SouthernIllinois (Carbondale: Press, 1995; on grounds of his alleged potentialfor subversion: EliaKazan, A Life(New York: Knopf, 1988); Sterling Bosworth1997: 323. Hayden,Wanderer (New York: Knopf, 1963. 10. Bernsteinin McGilligan-Buhle,48. 7. Norma Barzman,The Red and the Blacklist:The 11. Lardner,9-10. IntimateMemoir of a HollywoodExpatriate (New York: Thunder'sMouth Press/Nation Books, 2003); Walter 12. Barzman,96-99. The Barzmansleft the US for a Bernstein,Inside Out: A Memoirof the Blacklist(New ratherplush exile in France,wherethey stayed for20 York,Knopf, 1996); Alvah Bessie, Inquisitionin Eden years. The best chapterin the book tells how they (NewYork:Macmillan, 1965); Herbert Biberman, Salt workedas 'script-doctors'onthetroubled production of the Earth:The Storyof a Film (Boston: Beacon of El Cid (AnthonyMann, dir.: 1961), a filmwhich

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eventuallyemerged as the most intelligentof all 22. Thefundamental situation was laidout longago: see movieepics, TheodoreDraper, The Roots of AmericanCommu- nism York:The cf. 13. Barzman,85 (quotingher eventualpsychiatrst). (New VikingPress, 1957); Harvey Klehr,The Heydayof AmericanCommunism: The 14. Ibid.;Victor S. Navasky,Naming Names (NewYork: DepressionDecade (NewYork: Basic Books, 1984). he VikingPress, 1980), 131. Draper'sconclusions (supported by Klehr)have 15. PaulJarrico in a 1983 interviewnoted withoutmuch since been decisivelyconfirmed by the opening of comment that it was a Partyrule that no one who the Sovietarchives following the fallof the USSRin was in analysiscould be a memberof the Party:'It 1991, whichdemonstrate how totallycontrolled the was a securityrule'. This comes rightafter he asserts CPUSAwas fromMoscow: see HarveyKlehr, John thatthe claimsof Partythought-control over its mem- Haynes, F.I. Firsov,The Secret Worldof American bership are greatly exaggerated. See Jarrico in Communism(New Haven: Yale UniversityPress, McGilliganand Buhle,344-345. 1995) and Klehr,Haynes, Anderson. 23. On life in the FrenchCommunist J. 16. Barzman,72. Lysenkoismwas only abandoned by Party,see, e.g. Jenson and G. TheView From Inside: A French the Soviet governmentas a theory of genetics in Ross, 1965. Barzmanalso notes withamusement the re- CommunistCell in Crisis(1985). Thus to point out that AmericanCommunists ate and en- markablesimilarity of furniture, books, toys and (Cen- hot-dogs as ifthis meant 'American' tralAmerican) artwork in the children'srooms of the joyedbaseball, something at some fundamental is houses of herselfand her comrades (110). politicallevel, wrongheaded. Lots of FrenchCommunists enjoyed soccer - but 17. Mostof the original19 Hollywoodfigures who refused the PCF adhered withtotal rigidlyin its policies to to testifyvoluntarily to HUACin 1947 eventuallywent whateverwas the currentline of the Soviet Union. to jail;but only 11 (includingBertolt Brecht) appeared 24. See Jarrico'sinterview in McGilliganand Buhle,398. at the famous public hearingoverseen by Parnell Thomasin WashingtonDC in October1947. Brecht 25. Bessie interview(1983) in McGilliganand Buhle,98. left the US the very next day, denouncing it as a 26. Dassin interview(1983), in McGilliganand Buhle, concentrationcamp, and settled in Stalin's East 209. he a most Germany,which pronounced satisfactory 27. Thenumber is nowat least300 members environment. Party (Klehr, Haynes,Anderson, 1998). For Browder'srole as a 18. The most famous non-CommunistHollywood leftist providerof spies forthe USSR,see Shrecker's'The who was persecuted is probablyEdward G. Robin- Spies Who Loved Us?', The Nation,24 May 1999 son; anotherexample is MarshaHunt (above, n. 2). (who also now accepts that the use of American Communist massiveamounts of eco- 19. Thusthe Partyin the 1930s was experiencingclose spies provided technicaland informationto the USSR to a 100 per cent turnoverin its rank-and-filemem- nomic, military andaccelerated the Soviet of an atomic bership every three or four years. On the average development bomb two size of the Partyin this period(33,000 in the 'good by years). year'of 1936), and the shortaverage lengthof stay, 28. HarveyKlehr and John Haynes,The American Com- see HarveyKlehr, John Haynes,K.M. Anderson, The munistMovement: Storming Heaven Itself (Boston, SovietWorld of AmericanCommunism (New Haven: 1999),238-240. Bernstein,naturally, remembers this Yale UniversityPress, 1998), 348 (employinginfor- incidentdifferently - butit is difficultto disbelievethe mation drawn from Soviet files on the American obvious meaningof the NKVDagent's report. Party). 29. See ArthurKoestler, The Invisible Writing (New York: 20. Thuswhen RingLardner, Jr. writesin his autobiog- Macmillan,1954), 20. raphythat 'I felt any way of helpingspread knowledge 30. See, e.g. John Brightinterview (1983) in McGilligan about the horrorsof Nazismwas a wartimecontri- and Buhle,145. bution',he means he sought anyway to do thisafter 31. See the comments of Barzman,65 (it is a situation 22 June 1941: see Lardner,107, and comparewith of whichshe is proud). Lardner,101 (the 1939-1941 period of the Hitler- Stalin Pact and 'the peace movement').Similarly, 32. See Barzman,104 (Joseph Losey). afterlate 1945, Lardneraccepted the new CPUSA 33. Lardner,141. This writer,a child in the 1950s, re- position that the primarypolitical task was now- members TheAdventures of RobinHood (starring once again - to 'avoidwar', 113-114. Translation: RichardGreene) very well. the UnitedStates mustbe preventedfrom opposing 34. Bessie, in McGilliganand Buhle,103. the expansionistactions of the Soviet Union. 35. Dmytryk,11. 21. As in the titleof PeterHanson's recent book, Dalton 36. 12-14. Trumbo, Hollywood Rebel (Jefferson, NC: Ibid., McFarland,2001). 37. Ibid.,12.

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38. An example is Betsy Blair,the wife of Gene Kelly, 53. Polonskyinterview (1997), in McGilliganand Buhle, BetsyBlair, The Memory of AllThat: Love and Politics 494. in New and Paris York,Hollywood (NewYork, 2003), 54. remainedan activemember of the at 132-133.There were also CP Polonsky Party super-secret members, least intothe 1960s. It is unclear if he who never even attended cell when, ever, prominentpeople left. meetings but who knewwhat to say: an example is DorothyParker, according to Lardner,100. 55. See the draftof Trumbo'sletter to the FBIin Dalton Additional Letters of Dalton 39. Jarricoin McGilliganand Buhle,345-346. Trumbo, Dialogue: Trumbo,1942-1962 (New York:E. Mann, 1970), 40. Ibid., 346. 26-31. 41. Ibid. 56. Schlesinger'sarticle in SaturdayReview of 16 July 42. On manipulation,secrecy and betrayal, see the 1949, and Trumbo'sletters to the editorin response: commentsof the UnfriendlyTen's lawyer Bart Crum, Trumbo,Additional Dialogue, 124 and 135-136. in Bosworth,p. 4. Similar(covering the same events) 57. Partof the CPUSAprosecution dossier, entitled 'The is Dmytryk,36-38. Smugness: John Howard FifthColumn Role of inthe UnitedStates', Lawson,Herbert Biberman, and AlbertMaltz were Trotskyites can be found in The Rise and Fallof the most notorious. PhilipJaffe, AmericanCommunism (New York:Horizon Press, 43. For instance,there was ArthurKoestler's Darkness 1975), 50-52. at Noon, which AdrianScott, laterone of the Ten, 58. See Klehrand 127. warned EdwardDmytryk not to read - on pain of Haynes, denunciationand expulsionfrom the Party(Dmytryk, 59. See Trumbo,Additional Dialogue, 30: 'I share with 14). the men of yourorganization a sincere desireto see 44. Bright,in McGilliganand Buhle,150. the end to allsuch seditiouspropaganda as criminal slanderof the Commander-in-Chief,defeatism, 45. Bercoviciinterview in and Buhle, paci- (1988), McGilligan fism,anti-Semitism and to assist 37. strategiesdesigned the Germancause. Which,of course,was whyI called 46. See the bittercomments of Jules Dassin (1983) in on you when I possessed evidence of such activity.' McGilligan-Buhle,212. 60. John HowardLawson: 'You believe in freedom of in the Feb. 47. The complete texts of Maltz'sarticle 12, speech for Communistsbecause what they say is 1946 issue of NewMasses, the majorattack on Matlz true, You do not believe in freedom of speech for bythe Communistfunctionary Mike Gold in TheDaily fascists because what they say is a lie'. Dmytryk, Worker,and Maltz'srecantation-article in TheWorker 114. in Aprilcan be convenientlyfound in Billingsley, 295-311. 61. Jarricoin McGillianand Buhle, 345-346. The way some post-modernscholars like to describe this 48. Lernerin Barzman,73. situationis to say, approvingly,that the American 49. On Maltzand Pasternak'sDr. Zhivago, see Dmytryk, Communists'had transcended the nationalistmeta- 22-23. narrative'. 50. Dmytryk,18-21. Lawsonkindly told them that they 62. This is how the CPUSAsought to depict things might perhaps be rehabilitated'when you decide (Dmytryk,36). Overthe long term, of course, they you can accept Partydiscipline' (21). Dmytrykalso were successful. claimsthat it was the treatmentof himselfand Adrian 29 Scott that led Maltzto write the plea for artistic 63. Trumbo, (Trumbo'semphasis). freedomin TheNew Masses. 64. See Buhleand Wagner,2001 (a maintheme of the 51. Rossen's response to the thought-controlcourt of book); or Navaskyin the introductionto Lardner's 1949 was: 'Stick the whole Party up your ass!' memoir(Lardner, viii-ix). Rossen himself had run with the (Dmytryk,115). 65. Lardner,174. Fora more generalstudy of the phe- wolvesagainst Maltz in the Partyinquisition of spring nomenon, see Thomas Schatz, The Genius of the 1946 interviewin and (Bernstein McGilligan Buhle, System.Hollywood Filmmaking in theStudio Era (New Now he had had 46). enough. York:Knopf, 1988), 52. Example:Walter Bernstein in McGilliganand Buhle, 66. Rapfinterview (1986) in McGilliganand Buhle,527. 45. Dmytrykonly denounced the Partyafter serving Lardner,98, expresses somewhat similarfeelings his term in Federal prison as one of the Ten for aboutthe amountof politicalwork Communist writers contemptof Congress. As withRossen and Schul- were expected to be doing. berg,the attackson his characterhave been contin- ual: see, e.g. Bernsteinin McGilliganand Buhle, 67. Thisis the negativeverdict of Bercovici,in McGilligan 46-47 (Rossen);53-54 (Dmytryk). and Buhle.42.

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