Mr. MERLIN. Well, the only time that I personally had a feeling, I should say this dates back to

Mr. JACKSON. By decisions, I mean decisions by people that you later, at least, came to recognize were

Mr. MERLIN. Where I felt personally that there were reasons that were outside the guild interest that they should take this position was really actually around 1952.

Mr. JACKSON. 1952, the early part of the year?

Mr. MERLIN. No, it came in the middle of the year, and it was connected with a particular event in issue.

Mr. JACKSON. Thank you very much.

Mr. TAVENNER. Mr. Michael Davidson has been identified in testimony before the committee as having been a member of the Communist Party cell organized within the Radio Writers' Guild. You have today told us that he was the executive secretary during the period when you were president and also vice president.

Mr. MERLIN. He was executive secretary of our western region. He was originally the executive secretary of the eastern region, and he was brought here, as I understand, because of the health of his wife. Mr. TAVENNER. When was he brought here?

Mr. MERLIN. I think that is probably this date, gentlemen. Well, it was before, because he was head of the office, and it must have been around 1947 or 1948.

Mr. TAVENNER. Does he hold a position now in the Radio Writers' Guild?

Mr. MERLIN. I understand that he resigned and his resignation was accepted. He resigned once, then he rescinded the resignation. I wasn't there when his change of heart was made. I accepted it, as a matter of fact, when I was there. I was not there in the interim period when he had returned, but I understand he did resign and is no longer in the guild.

Mr. TAVENNER. When did he resign?

Mr. MERLIN. I wasn't present, but it was told to me afterward at a membership meeting, I guess it was in September or October. Mr. TAVENNER. Of 1953?

Mr. MERLIN. 1953. There had just been an election of the guild. Mr. TAVENNER. During the period when you were president or vice president of the guild, was Mr. Aubrey Finn connected with the organization?

Mr. MERLIN. He was counsel for the western region.

Mr. TAVENNER. He appeared as a witness before this committee and refused to answer questions, relying upon the fifth amendment. Mr. MERLIN. So I understand.

Mr. TAVENNER. Is he connected at this time with the guild?

Mr. MERLIN. I know nothing of that. I don't know whether he is or not. I have discussed this issue with certain members of the guild, and I don't know whether any action has been taken, because an election was just held and there is a new council, and it is for the council to take action.

Mr. TAVENNER. Do you know whether any of the other persons whose names I mentioned during the course of your examination as having been identified as Communist Party members are still members of the council of the guild?

Mr. MERLIN. There is only one that I know of, and I understand she was elected again during this last election for only one term, which means less votes. That is Pauline Hopkins. the two elections which have been held since this information has beAs a matter of fact, in come familiar to the guild membership, she is the only one of all of those that has been returned to office. My only explanation is that she is a widow. I don't know why it is. All the others, so far as I know, are people who have not been identified as Communists.

Mr. TAVENNER. Have you engaged in foreign travel?

Mr. MERLIN. No. To Mexico. I have been to Tijuana, if that is Mexico.

Mr. TAVENNER. In asking you the questions which have been propounded to you, have we substantially covered the matters that you desired to bring to the attention of the committee?

Mr. MERLIN. Yes. I talk too rapidly, you say. For that I am sorry, and if I seem to have been overeager to discuss matters of the guild itself, please believe me for the record I am not entitled to discuss guild policies as such, except where it is attendant to the problem at hand, and anything I say is based only on personal opinion and experience, and since I do have a rather spectacular experience here, personally I find that I must draw certain conclusions, and for the purpose of testimony I can testify to that identification of anybody with what I felt harmed anybody.

As a matter of fact, my purpose in bringing this up is that I would like to forestall what has been a question to me which has been to my personal concern to me and my profession, and as a citizen, that is the need to prove my innocence, and also have a time getting a job. You probably know about the confused situation in the television and radio industry, where even the mention of a name in connection with such means that you are lost and you don't know what to do about it. I ask the parties concerned to relieve other people of responsibility, but this means nothing to them.

So the reason I am down here is, one, personal, and the other is to be of any assistance I can be to you to help in something that I think is a thing that is needed and that will be of benefit in my success and additionally for the guild. There is a personal reason for my being here, too.

Mr. TAVENNER. In your opinion would the Radio Writers' Guild endorse for an important position or any position in its organization a person known to be a member of the Communist Party?

Mr. MERLIN. I think it would be impossible today. I think the conclusions of this last election here-I don't know what happened in the East, but in the council, present council I think there are members that are pretty well known as being anti-Communist.

Mr. TAVENNER. Is an effort being made within your guild to remove from positions of leadership members or persons who have been shown to be members of the Communist Party?

Mr. MERLIN. Yes. This has been rather informal, and for certain purposes there is a great division of opinion between, I think, wellmeaning members whether this should be made a big issue or whether it can be done effectively, as I think it has been done. I myself have talked with people on the subject, and, as a matter of fact, it was antici

pated, as a matter of fact, in the last election that if there was any great problem there would be electioneering based on a program.

Mr. TAVENNER. This committee during its investigation has indicated its great interest in making available to all organizations concerned the Communist Party membership of leaders in its field, based on its view that it is a very important field and one in which the Communists, because of their tactics and propaganda activities designed against our Government, should not be permitted to go unnoticed. The committee would like to know to what extent those efforts have been productive of results in your field, if you know.

Mr. MERLIN. Well, I think I have indicated that before, and that is inasmuch as I do know that with the revelation made before this committee on testimony, direct testimony, that there was a radio cell in the Radio Writers' Guild in which certain people were named, that those people did not testify, were unfriendly witnesses, there is no question that this did affect people. I know, because I have had our members call me who were appalled, who were shocked and terribly concerned. I think it was a good indication of the membership itself. There is no question tremendous good has been done. Radio writers are no different from anybody else. When you do have a leadership which seems to be doing a good job and is effective, you don't question it. They were doing a good job, so there was no question of the affiliation of those people, and until that became public knowledge it was not an issue, and after that again we see the composition of the council such as now there is a great change.

And as I also know, there has been talk and actual anti-Communist activity which was never had in the western region. I couldn't tell you about the East.

Mr. TAVENNER. You recognize that you are a part of a very sensitive field.

Mr. MERLIN. I certainly do.

Mr. TAVENNER. And therefore the responsibility upon the leaders in that field is correspondingly greater.

Mr. MERLIN. I certainly do, sir.

Mr. DOYLE. Are we to conclude from your answer to Mr. Tavenner just before this answer that the feeling of the membership was or is that the leaders are doing a good job for you on contracts, that the fact that they may be Communist is immaterial?

Mr. MERLIN. Well, I wouldn't put it that way. It didn't occur to them.

Mr. DOYLE. Is that too strong, I mean the way I put it?

Mr. MERLIN. Well, I don't think it is a fair question, because there was no such view at the time. Today I would say I will put it this way: If officers were negotiating for a contract and it was established that one of the negotiators was a member of the Communist Party, I imagine there would be tremendous activity within the guild to do something about it. I say today.

Mr. DOYLE. Of course, the objective of my question was, I think, clearly evident. In other words, I would hope that no group of patriotic Americans would put their success ahead of their country's interests.

Mr. MERLIN. That is true.

Mr. DOYLE. I don't mean to insult you or your group by putting it that way, but I am asking you that so it can be clear in my mind,

because I wouldn't want to think, sir, the Radio Writers' Guild were putting their own interest in their contracts ahead of

Mr. MERLIN. Oh, no.

Mr. DOYLE. Knowing that they had known Communists as the leaders.

Mr. MERLIN. Well, you must have misunderstood some statement here.

Mr. DOYLE. I am glad I misunderstood.

Mr. MERLIN. Because what I meant by that was what I said, there was no question of the membership of the allegiance of its leadership, because it seemed to be doing a good job of representing them effectively. If the issue had occurred before, if it had been publicly known that important members of the leadership were Communists, I am sure there would have been activity within the guild long before this. Mr. DOYLE. You mean activity to put them out of the guild? Mr. MERLIN. That is what happened, for instance, in the Screen Writers' Guild and other unions where there is an anti-Communist group.

Mr. DOYLE. I see. I am glad you explained that.

Mr. MERLIN. It came late because the issues which split the guild came late. It will put it that way, because I don't want you to misunderstand. I think the loyalty of the members of the Radio Writers' Guild is the same as any other group of people.

Mr. DOYLE. I am with you on that, and that is why I wanted you to clarify it.

Mr. MERLIN. And the only responsibility I could charge in that would be to persons such as myself, who have a major responsibility by being an officer of the guild, and in leadership, of not only being officers but of thinking correctly, as I think we are, and the only explanation I can make is that I could not detect to my own satisfaction how my policy was detrimental to the country or to the guild, being aware of it.

Mr. DOYLE. Apparently then what I say and what Mr. Tavenner said and what your testimony showed today is that this Radio Writers' Guild occupies such a sensitive position in our national security that you have got to keep your eyes open all the time on your leadership, don't you?

Mr. MERLIN. Well, that is true, but, in other words, too

Mr. DOYLE. And since we have the question of allegiance you have to be aware of the possibility of their divided allegiance, being extremely careful.

Mr. MERLIN. Being extremely careful. This is a problem of the members, is not only a problem of certain men but one for the general membership of the guild which is aware of this problem, what it knows about it. As I say, it is late because the necessity for it came late. It took some time to start it, didn't have what happened in the Screen Writers' Guild at all.

Mr. DOYLE. Apparently the necessity existed, but certain responsible men were not aware of it.

Mr. MERLIN. No. With legal problems in conferences in there we wouldn't have anything to argue about, in general, as to the integrity of your leadership and membership, up until recent years.

Then another problem came in, and for some time even that problem could be described as a problem which everybody else had, because

the conversion of the radio business in television had created contention in all guilds, there had been peace between the actors and everybody else. You couldn't say because a group imposed a certain policy it was communistic. I have heard people term this other union as Communist. This writers' group have been violently against this since they have talked about it with the charge this was a Communist conspiracy. I don't know.

Mr. DOYLE. At any rate, you shouldn't let your group be caught again off balance.

Mr. MERLIN. There is no question about it, and I am certain we will never be caught again. And to my mind the Radio Writers' Guild has been tremendously weakened of late because we have a loss of income, people going over to television, and also the fact that a rival union was set up outside of the Authors' League. So it has its own internal problems, and I am sure it will never be taken in again by anybody that they can identify as such.

Mr. DOYLE. You say that you at no time have been affiliated in any way with the Communist Party?

Mr. MERLIN. Not to my knowledge in any manner at all. Incidentally-—

Mr. DOYLE. Why did you limit your answer?
Mr. MERLIN. Let me say this
Mr. DOYLE. Wait just a minute.
by saying "within my knowledge"?

Why did you limit your answer

Mr. MERLIN. Well, that is, I guess, a rhetorical expression. What I mean is you asked before, you mentioned before about so-called closed meetings, about having sat at a progressive fraction meeting or things like that. To my knowledge I would say that I can't identify such. If that is called affiliation, then I certainly was not. I am sorry. It was a rhetorical tag which I put to myself often for this difficulty, that being a member of the committee, when you read the paper you found out there were some of them were called before the committee and refused to testify.

Incidentally, I wonder if I may add this, just for the record: It has been brought to my attention that you have on one of these lists an agency in the name of Milton Meltzer. I read articles in the People's World, one where he talked against the movie Gone with the Wind, and I think they discouraged him. I want to state I am not now or never will be with Milton Meltzer. He was not out at Paramount and has not been there since months before the book was published. I tried to get Paramount to make it, so just as soon as Selznick made it I had no reason to deny it, but since that has been brought up I wondered whether that might come to your attention in some manner. Mr. TAVENNER. I have no further questions.

Mr. DOYLE. I have no questions.

Mr. MERLIN. I want also to say this, to give you my personal reasons for coming. When this attack and counterattack happened, I didn't know where to go. I asked who I could talk to, and I called Mr. Wheeler. Mr. Wheeler came over within a week or so, and I want to say I appreciate the courtesy with which he treated me, and as a matter of fact, he indicated at the time that you were not looking for me to question. That is something I want in the record here.

Mr. DOYLE. You feel that the function of the committee in your case is helpful.