“Down the Left Hand Path to Perdition”: Equity, the Actors Forum, and Anti-Communism

Abstract

The Actors’ Equity Association (AEA) is rightly praised for its actions during the height of McCarthyism; certainly, its record of protecting its members far surpasses that of other entertainment unions, including the Screen Actors Guild. A closer look at the AEA archive, however, reveals that the union’s support for its blacklisted members was tempered by its strong anti-communist bent. This position first developed in the 1930s, when the administration was locked in a power struggle with the Actors Forum, a vocal faction within the union that many thought was run by communists. This essay first analyzes the union administration’s reactions to the Forum’s perceived “radicalism” during the 1930s and then addresses how these responses anticipated its treatment of the many ex-Forumites blacklisted two decades later. Among the questions raised by tensions between these two groups are: How do Equity’s clashes with the Forum complicate its legacy as one of the few unions to resist the blacklist and in what ways do they illustrate the increasingly difficult choices the anti-communist left faced during this era?