Communism Brochure

Numerous documents from the "blacklist" era of the 1940s and 50s survive in the Guild's files. One of the more interesting is this booklet, presenting reproductions of documents allegedly proving that Herb Sorrell, business agent of the Motion Picture Painters, local 644, and leader of the Conference of Studio Unions (which conducted several violent motion picture industry strikes in 1945 and 1946), was a Communist Party member. The headstrong, independent Sorrell always denied this, and insisted the "Herb Stewart" signature on the Communist Party membership card reproduced in the booklet, was not his. Based on surviving historical evidence and accounts, the question of whether or not Sorrell actually joined the party is still debated among writers.