Today in Labor History March 6, 1930: 100,000 people demonstrated for jobs in New York City. Demonstrations by unemployed workers, demanding unemployment insurance, occurred in virtually every major U.S. city. In New York, police attacked a crowd of 35,000. In Cleveland, 10,000 people battled police. In Detroit, the Communist Party organized an underemployment demonstration. Over 50,000 people showed up. Thousands took to the streets in Toledo, Flint and Pontiac. These demonstrations led to the creation of the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC), sponsored by Republican congressman Hamilton Fish, with the support of the American Federation of Labor, to investigate and quash radical activities.
Today in Labor History February 10, 1898: Marxist playwright Bertolt Brecht was born. Brecht was a doctor, poet and playwright. He fled the Nazis only to be persecuted in the U.S. by HUAC during the Cold War. He is most well-known for his play, “The Three Penny Opera.” He also wrote “Mother Courage and Her Children” and “The Days of the Commune,” about the Paris Commune. Additionally, he wrote poetry and composed the lyrics to many of the songs performed in his plays, like “Mack the Knife” and “Alabama Song” (AKA Whiskey Bar).
Today in Labor History November 25, 1947: The "Hollywood Ten" were blacklisted by Hollywood movie studios for refusing to testify before the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC). The blacklist lasted for 13 years, when Dalton Trumbo, a former Communist Party, was finally credited as the screenwriter of the films “Exodus” and “Spartacus.” Some of the stars accused of having Communist ties included Humphrey Bogart, James Cagney, Katharine Hepburn and Fredric March. In 1941, Walt Disney blamed "Communist agitation" for the cartoonists and animators' strike. In 1945, Gerald L. K. Smith, founder of the fascist America First Party, began giving speeches attacking the "alien minded Russian Jews in Hollywood." Ronald Reagan, who was president of the actor’s union, testified before HUAC that a clique within the union was using "communist-like tactics." His first wife, actress Jane Wyman, blamed his allegations against friends and colleagues as a factor leading to their divorce.
Today in Labor History October 24, 1947: Walt Disney testified before the House Un-American Activities Committee, naming many of his own employees as communists, including Herbert Sorrell, David Hilberman and William Pomerance, because of their activism as union organizers. In 1993, the New York Times wrote that Disney had been passing secrets to the FBI from 1940 until his death in 1966. In return, J. Edgar Hoover let Disney film in FBI headquarters in Washington and made Disney a "full Special Agent in Charge Contact."
Today in Labor History October 20, 1947: HUAC launched its anti-Communist witch hunt of Hollywood stars, resulting in a blacklist that barred many from working in the industry for years. The list included Humphrey Bogart, Katherine Hepburn, James Cagney, Charlie Chaplin, Lena Horne, Pete Seeger and Orson Welles. Fascist Gerald LK Smith assailed them as “alien minded Russian Jews.” Ronald Reagan and Walt Disney were also key accusers. The blacklist lasted until 1960, when Dalton Trumbo, a Communist Party member from 1943 to 1948, was credited as the screenwriter of the films Exodus and Spartacus (both 1960).
Today in Writing History September 25, 1894: Playwright John Howard Lawson was born. Lawson wrote several plays about the working class, including “The International” (1928), which depicts a proletarian world revolution and “Marching Song” (1937), about a sit-down strike. In the late 1940s, Lawson was blacklisted as a member of the “Hollywood Ten” for his refusal to tell the House Committee on Un-American Activities about his political allegiances.
Today in Labor History September 19, 1952: The United States barred Charlie Chaplin from re-entering the country after a trip to England. In 1947, his black comedy, Monsieur Verdoux, was released. In the film, he criticized capitalism and its reliance on wars and weapons of mass destruction. The FBI launched a formal investigation of him 1947, after public accusations that he was a communist. Chaplin denied the charges, calling himself a “peace monger.” Nevertheless, he protested the HUAC hearings and the U.S. trials of Communist Party members. Representative John Rankin called Chaplin's presence in Hollywood “detrimental to the moral fabric of America.” Writer George Orwell prepared list of people he believed were communists, which he gave to British intelligence before he died in 1949. The list included Chaplin and Michael Redgrave, as well as Paul Robeson, Katherine Hepburn, John Steinbeck and Orson Welles.
so nice, i drew her thrice! (a thread) #art#history: being the grande dame of glib (the flapper of flippancy?) may be her enduring legacy, but dorothy parker had a heart as generous as her wit was sharp. despite an unhappy upbringing, dorothy developed an acute self-awareness that found an outlet in poetry. by 20, she’d sold her first poem to ‘vanity fair’ - which was to be the domino that activated an illustrious career. #literature#dorothyParker#portrait#illustration
hollywood soon wooed her with tidy sums for screenwriting (until she was blacklisted as a commie by the HUAC). she loathed it, but tinseltown kept her in tipple & she was ready with her dosh (in spite of her frequent need to self-medicate). in the years up to & during the second world war, dorothy wholeheartedly embraced the struggle for civil rights & served as chair of the joint anti-fascist refugee committee. #art#illustration#dorothyParker#writer#poet#HUAC#communism#civilRights