Evening star., 1938-08-19
RED PROPAGANDA
IN |NW.P.A.'SPLAYS
CHARGED AT QUIZ
Woman Speaking for Group
of Theatrical Workers
Makes Allegation.
HOUSE MEMBERS GAVE
RED SALUTE, is CHARGE
O'Connell and Bernard Named by
Witness in Recalling Their
Appearance in Spain.
Py the Associated Press.

Ry the Associated Press.
Mrs. Hazel Huffman, speaking for
committee Of theatrical workers on
relief, today told the House Commit
tee Investigating Un-American Activi-
ties that w. P. AS Federal Theater
project was being used to spread Com.
munist propaganda in New York.
She said the Workers Alliance,
which she described as closely allied
with the Communist party, now domi-
mates" the theater project.
Her testimony followed that of a
witness who accused Representatives
O'Connell, Democrat, of Montana and
Bernard, Farmer-Labor, of Missouri
of giving the regular Communistic
salute" on visit to Spain.
Mrs Huffman said Mrs. Halle
Flanagan, director of the project. par
ticipated actively in Communistic ac-
tivities and charged that her inter-
est in things communistic was be
ing used in the Federal Theater prof.
ect to the detriment of the workers
and in violation of the act of Con.
gress"
Attired in a somber black dress, re-
lieved only by small white collar and
a red pocket handkerchief, the witness
read excerpts from plays and addresses
by Mrs. Flanagan to support her con-
tention that the project had Com
munist background
Quoting Mrs. Flanagan as saying
that the thaotor nDf1ld Ho tbipoc
happen" and provide the yeast
which makes the bread rise" Mrs.
Huffman said that while not all the
project plays were of the bread ris-
ing" type, propaganda plays have
been the rule"
Names Plays as Red"
Among the plays Mrs. Huffman
named in this category were Can You
Hear Their Voices" written by Mrs.
Flanagan and one of her students at
Vassar College: Ethiopia" which was
not produced because of international
complications; Triple A Ploughed
Under" Glass of 80" "One-Third Of
the Nation" and others.
Representative Starnes asked if Mrs.
Flanagan was taking Government
money to make little yeast"
Il would say So" Mrs. Huffman
answered
Early in her testimony, Mrs Huff
man told the committee Aubrey Will
liams, deputy w. P. A. administrator.
had ''lauded" the Workers Alliance
because he said he felt it filled real
need" of the unemployed
Mrs. Huffman told how one musis
Gale, Sing for Your Supper had
been in rehearsal IL months and now
is scheduled for presentation in Oc-
tober.
Earlier, the probers were told Repre-.
sentatives O'Connell and Bernard
gave the regular communistic salute"
after addressing several hundred
American youths who were fighting in
Spain.
Alvin I. Halpern. who testified yes
terday about his experiences in the
Spanish Loyalist army, said the House
members spoke at a dedication Of
pillars at hospital at Benicasim,
Spain.
They told us We were fighing for
great ause-democracy-to wipe
out Fascism," Mr. Halpern said.
They gave the regular Soviet salute
clenched fist in an upright position.
They told us if we wanted anything
after we returned to this country to
let them know"
Abraham Sobel, another youth who
related his experiences in Spain yes
terday, told the committee under ques-
tioning by Representative Starnes,
democrat, of Alabama, that speakers
for the Roxbury Workers Club and
the American League Against War
and Fascism, of which he was a mem-
Der, solicited his enlistment in the
Spanish fighting forces.
Deserters' Testimony.
The committee later unanimously
ordered transmission to the Justice
Department of the testimony of the
two young American deserters from
the Spanish government army for de-
termination of whether Federal law
was being violated by communist
agents recruiting volunteers here for
the Spanish conflict. Representative
Mosier, Democrat, of Ohio, a COM
(See UN-AMERICAN. Page A-3)