dsanthony
08-24-2006, 11:20 PM
Just finished watching a PBS special on Miller, Kazan and the Un-American activities probes during the 50s. I'm sure some have strong views on HUAC and the cold war in general. I'm addressing specifically Arthur Miller's play, "The Crucible"--which was written as an allegory for the House Committee.
For a little background, both Miller and Kazan were members of the US Communist Party in the 30s... actually most of the New York intelligentsia of the 30s through the 60s were either members of the communist party or closet supporters. A list of the writers who belonged to communist groups is very long, and includes almost every black writer of note from that period, from Richard Wright to Ralph Ellison.
Miller wrote "The Crucible" in response to the HUAC activities. There is, of course, a lie at the center of Miller's analogy. The Salem Witch trials uncovered no witches, but only served to vent the hostilities and repressions of small town life. The HUAC and other investigations into communism in Hollywood, the government and military exposed real communists--many of which were possible or actual threats to national security.
It was false of Miller to use his fiction to pass on the illusion that the communist hunts were "witch hunts". They were not. You may reasonably argue that the committee hearings were unconstitutional or unamerican. You may not reasonably say that they did not uncover real communists in America.
For a little background, both Miller and Kazan were members of the US Communist Party in the 30s... actually most of the New York intelligentsia of the 30s through the 60s were either members of the communist party or closet supporters. A list of the writers who belonged to communist groups is very long, and includes almost every black writer of note from that period, from Richard Wright to Ralph Ellison.
Miller wrote "The Crucible" in response to the HUAC activities. There is, of course, a lie at the center of Miller's analogy. The Salem Witch trials uncovered no witches, but only served to vent the hostilities and repressions of small town life. The HUAC and other investigations into communism in Hollywood, the government and military exposed real communists--many of which were possible or actual threats to national security.
It was false of Miller to use his fiction to pass on the illusion that the communist hunts were "witch hunts". They were not. You may reasonably argue that the committee hearings were unconstitutional or unamerican. You may not reasonably say that they did not uncover real communists in America.