Mr. VELDE. Mr. Witness, were you served with the subpena which is marked "Gordon Exhibit 1"?

Mr. GORDON. Yes, sir.

Mr. VELDE. On February 4 of 1953?

Mr. GORDON. Yes.

Mr. VELDE. The witness is excused and the committee will be in recess for 10 minutes.

(Representative Velde left the hearing room during the recess, which lasted from 11 a. m. to 11: 18 a. m.)

Mr. JACKSON. The committee will come to order. Counsel, will you call your next witness?

Mr. TAVENNER. Yes. Mr. David A. Lang, please.

Mr. JACKSON. Do you solemnly swear that the testimony you are about to give before this committee will be the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help you God?

Mr. LANG. I do.

Mr. JACKSON. Will you take that chair, please?

TESTIMONY OF DAVID A. LANG

Mr. TAVENNER. You are Mr. David A. Lang?
Mr. LANG. I am.

Mr. TAVENNER. Are you accompanied by counsel?

Mr. LANG. No, sir; I am not.

Mr. TAVENNER. You are entitled to counsel, if at any time you desire to consult one.

When and where were you born, Mr. Lang?

Mr. LANG. Excuse me, Mr. Tavenner. I would like to ask a question of the committee. Are these gentlemen behind me, are they in the camera? Because I want it clearly understood I am not represented by counsel, and I see there are some of those behind me. Mr. JACKSON. It will be so noted.

Mr. TAVENNER. When and where were you born, Mr. Lang?
Mr. LANG. I was born in New York City.

Mr. TAVENNER. When?

Mr. LANG. In 1915, November 30.

Mr. TAVENNER. What was your educational training?

Mr. LANG. My training was

Mr. TAVENNER. That is, your formal training.

Mr. LANG. I went through eighth grade and went into high school in New York City, DeWitt Clinton High School. I attended DeWitt Clinton for a year and came to California and continued my training in high school here through the 11th grade.

Mr. TAVENNER. When did you come to California?

Mr. LANG. In 1928. I left high school in the 11th grade and went to work.

Mr. TAVENNER. What is your occupation?

Mr. LANG. I am a screen writer.

Mr. TAVENNER. How long have you been a screen writer?

Mr. LANG. I have been a screen writer since 1941.

Mr. TAVENNER. Where have you practiced your profession?

Mr. LANG. I have practiced my profession in the various studios in Hollywood, starting at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.

Mr. TAVENNER. Was that in 1941?

Mr. LANG. That is correct, sir.

Mr. TAVENNER. Prior to 1941 how were you employed?

Mr. LANG. I had various positions. I worked in gas stations. I worked at a tango parlor down on Santa Monica pier. I shipped out to sea for a year. I worked in a dry-goods store.

I was a cartoonist, starting in 1936, for Screen Gents, Inc., and continued as a cartoonist until 1941, when I became a writer in the motion-picture business and was given a junior writer's contract with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.

Mr. TAVENNER. Have you at any time been a member of the Communist Party?

Mr. LANG. Yes; I have.

Mr. TAVENNER. Are you now a member of the Communist Party? Mr. LANG. No, sir; I am not.

Mr. TAVENNER. Over what period of time were you affiliated with the Communist Party?

Mr. LANG. I joined the Communist Party sometime in the latter part of 1942 or early 1943, and I was associated with the party up to approximately the end of 1946.

Mr. TAVENNER. Will you tell the committee, please, the circumstances under which you joined the party, that is, the Communist Party?

Mr. LANG. Well, it was shortly after I became a writer that I realized that many things that had been left undone, so far as my education was concerned, needed filling in. I became very interested in philosophies, history, psychology, and naturally I became acquainted with many men in the profession I was then part of, and in particular with a man who is now deceased, a man by the name of Stephen Morgan. He was not a writer, but through many of the contacts I became part of, I met Mr. Morgan and he was very influential in setting up many of the kinds of things for me to read. He was exciting to listen to. He was very much of a student and I became so imbued with many of the things he talked about, and gradually we moved in toward the philosophies of Marx and Engels, along with Schopenhauer and Hegel, and even so my interest was so great that he and his wife were instrumental in presenting to me the opportunity of becoming a member of the Communist Party.

Mr. TAVENNER. Just how was this opportunity to become a member of the Communist Party presented to you?

Mr. LANG. After many weeks or months of conversations and talks, social gatherings, evenings at home, he realized that I was looking for something more than he could really give me. And he presented it to me in such a way, if I became a member of the Communist Party I could delve further into the beliefs and philosophies of the party and learn what it means and its historical background.

On this basis it intrigued me greatly. At this time I was not aware of this revolutionary involvement. I knew to some extent it had involvements that were not in accord with many of the beliefs of this country, but it never occurred to me that by becoming a member of the Communist Party I could in any way do anything against the beliefs that I had as an American citizen, because I must say at this time I was aware that the Communist Party was a legal party, and it had an enormous influence on my coming to the realization I could

accept it, because I did not feel that I was abrogating any of the ideas that I originally had for my country.

Parenthetically, I wish to add I found, particularly at this particular point, none of these problems had arisen.

Mr. TAVENNER. Will you tell us about your first induction into the Communist Party?

Mr. LANG. When Mr. Morgan presented to me-I asked him to give me some time to think about it, and about a week later I called him and said I had thought about it and I was agreeable.

He then said he would contact the proper authorities within the party and have me cleared. Now, this was a very strange first induction; I had to be cleared. But I agreed to this.

He said also that he would contact me or have someone contact me as to the next move. Three or four days later he did call me and said that I had been cleared and would I contact a woman by the name of Madelaine Ruthven.

Mr. CLARDY. Spell that.

Mr. LANG. I am not positive on the spelling, it is R-u-t-h-e-v-e-i-n,

or a-v-a-n.

Mr. TAVENNER. R-u-t-h-v-e-n is the correct spelling.

Mr. LANG. He gave me her address, somewhere on Canon Drive, and I was to meet her sometime in the late afternoon the following day, and I did.

Madelaine Ruthven greeted me and accepted me as a cleared person to be a member of the party. At that time she told me that I would be expected to pay a percentage of my income, a very small percentage. I think it was somewhere between 2 and 5-no; it wasn't 5-2 or 3 percent, something of that order.

Strangely, too, at this point she made it clear that the party was not necessarily a revolutionary party. This is an interesting point I wish to take up a little later. But she made it quite clear that the Communist Party was not a revolutionary party, and that anything I would hear to that effect was strictly an attempt upon the party by the Trotskyites, reactionaries, because the party was not interested in the overthrow of the Government.

Mr. TAVENNER. Were you assigned to a particular group of the Communist Party, as a result of your contact with Madelaine Ruthven?

Mr. LANG. Yes, sir; I was. I was put in contact with an indoctrination group. This was not a definite group of the Communist Party, in terms of a fraction or a cell. It was formed only for the new people who would become members of the party, to be indoctrinated into the beginnings of Lenin, Stalin, Marx, Engels.

Mr. TAVENNER. Let me ask you this: We have had testimony in some instances indicating that study groups-Marxist study groupswere formed, composed of persons who sometimes were members of the party, and in other instances were not, and that sometimes these study groups were used as a recruiting ground for the Communist Party.

I want to know, in this instance, whether this was a group of Communist Party members who were being indoctrinated-that is, persons already admitted to the party-or whether it was a study group of the character that I mentioned a moment ago.

Mr. LANG. In regard to the group that I joined, they were all members of the Communist Party, just as I was. Now, it is quite true that a number of groups were carried on in this city by members of the Communist Party, but not under the nominal idea that it was anything connected with communism. They were current-events groups, historical groups, reading groups, philosophy groups. A lot of people were brought in who were interested in these subjects, but communism in that case was never brought up until it was discovered that certain individuals within the group wished to go further. Then these people were recruited by the person in charge of the group that had been sent out by the Communists.

Now, in regard to the group I am speaking of, the indoctrination group I was sent to, it was a Communist group and everyone in it had been accepted as Communists.

Mr. TAVENNER. Who conducted the course of instruction or indoctrination?

Mr. LANG. A man by the name of Michael Wilson.

Mr. TAVENNER. Will you tell us a little more about this person and what his occupation was?

Mr. LANG. Michael Wilson was a screen writer. At that time he was not too well known, but had been a functionary within the party for some time. He was quite a bright man. He had exceptional background in the philosophies of the Communist Party.

They had enormous confidence in his ability to teach this particular subject. He was quiet; he listened; he drew you in, because, after all, you were a potential worker. In the event you became proficient you would be sent out to do a good job for them.

Mr. TAVENNER. Where were your meetings held?

Mr. LANG. In this particular case they were held consistently at Mr. Wilson's house.

Mr. TAVENNER. How long did you attend that indoctrination course?

Mr. LANG. I would say between 8 and 10 weeks.

Mr. TAVENNER. How many composed the members?

Mr. LANG. A very small group. I think, offhand, not over 8, 7, or 8 people.

Mr. TAVENNER. After the completion of this 10 weeks' course, were you transferred to another group?

Mr. LANG. Yes; I was. I was then transferred to a definite cell that worked within the Hollywood section. We met in a home somewhere in Beverly Hills.

Mr. TAVENNER. How many of those who were in the studio group with you were transferred to that group?

Mr. LANG. I would say 4 or 5.

Mr. TAVENNER. Can you recall their names?

Mr. LANG. Yes. A man by the name of Carl Foreman, his wife Estelle Foreman.

Mr. TAVENNER. Now, if you will, give further identifying information, if you can, relating to these persons. Carl Foreman, what was his occupation at the time?

Mr. LANG. He was a screen writer. His wife was a housewife. There was another man by the name of Sol Barzman.

Mr. TAVENNER. Do you know what his occupation was?

Mr. LANG. I understood at that time that he was a writer. A man by the name of Lou Solomon.

Mr. TAVENNER. Will you spell the last name, please?

Mr. LANG. S-o-l-o-m-o-n.

Mr. TAVENNER. How do you spell the first name?

Mr. LANG. I believe it would be Louis, L-o-u-i-s. I can't recall anyone else from the original indoctrination group who joined this cell group except that we met at the house of another person who had not been in the indoctrination group.

Mr. TAVENNER. Can you recall whether other persons were transferred from the original indoctrination groups to other groups of the Communist Party?

Mr. LANG. Can I recall that?

Mr. TAVENNER. Recall who they were and if that occurred.
Mr. LANG. Frankly, I cannot, sir.

Mr. TAVENNER. Very well. You were transferred to this new group. What type of people generally composed this new group to which you were assigned?

Mr. LANG. There was another couple at whose home we met, by the name of Leonard, Charles Leonard. At this time he was attempting to become a writer. He had sold an original story, I believe, to Paramount, and on the strength of that broke away from whatever occupation he was involved in and tried to become a writer.

His wife Helen

Mr. TAVENNER. How long did you remain in this group?

Mr. LANG. Oh, for some many months. I would say 6, 8 months. Mr. TAVENNER. How many composed this group?

Mr. LANG. Well, let's see. Solomon, Barzman, the Leonards, that is 2, 4, the Foremans, 6, and myself, 7; 7 people.

Mr. TAVENNER. Were you then transferred to still a third group? Mr. LANG. Yes, sir.

Mr. TAVENNER. What was the purpose or the reason for that? Mr. LANG. Well, after a length of time within this group it was decided to separate the writers from any of the Hollywood cells and concentrate them in what was known as writers' cells, comprising nothing more than just writers, radio writers, anybody who wrote, mostly for pictures. This caused a large amount of people to be moved back and forth; geographically they were twisted around, and it took some many months to organize this.

Mr. TAVENNER. Whose decision was it that resulted in that transfer? Mr. LANG. Well, we understood that the decision came from New York.

Mr. TAVENNER. From New York?

Mr. LANG. It was brought to us here for slight discussion, but there was no question in the mind of anyone it wouldn't go through.

Mr. TAVENNER. Do you recall who brought the directive from New York?

Mr. LANG. Well, it was first promulgated here by a man named John Howard Lawson, and there were a considerable number of meetings on this, which I did not attend. Lou Solomon came to our group after some meetings with Lawson and told us about it, and though it was put up to a vote, there was not much to do but accept it, because it had been more or less accepted by the hierarchy of the party.