Mr. TAVENNER. I am not asking you now about your own affiliation, or indicating that I believe you were affiliated with the Communist Party in China, but we are anxious to have any information you have regarding Communist Party activities in China. Mr. STENHOUSE. I haven’t any information, Mr. Tavenner. When I left China in 1940 I only had a very vague idea about what was going on there. Mr. TAVENNER. Let me put the question to you this way because it is a very broad subject. General Willoughby testified before this committee that the form of organization of mass organizations in China from 1929 on was virtually identical with what we have found in this country since the early and middle thirties, that is, in working through mass organizations or front organizations, as we frequently call them in this country. Did you observe any activity of that kind? Mr. STENHOUSE. No, and I wouldn’t have done it because I was living in the international concessions in watertight compartments where we associated, except in business, with Europeans and Americans. I am somewhat--what was going on in the interior of China and in Chinese politics I was somewhat abysmally ignorant of in those days. Mr. TAVENNER. It has been demonstrated that Americans, people from this country took an active part in some of that organizational work in China. Mr. STENHOUSE. Well, I never did. Mr. TAVENNER. Did the fact that you were in an international section mean that you could not have had any knowledge of it? Mr. STENHOUSE. Well, I didn’t have any knowledge of it. I was involved in business until the Japanese threatened my business. I wasn’t concerned with politics. Mr. TAVENNER. I am not indicating I have any information that you were involved in it. I am merely asking what knowledge you had of it? Mr. STENHOUSE. I really have no knowledge. Mr. VELDE. I think we ought to make this clear: Are you referring to the period of time you were in China prior to 1940, and not about your trip the second time? Mr. STENHOUSE. That is correct. Mr. VELDE. Have you been back more than once since 1940 to China? Mr. STENHOUSE. No. Only once. Mr. TAVENNER. Did you say you became a member of the Communist Party while you were in Los Angeles? Mr. STENHOUSE. Yes. Mr. TAVENNER. What was the approximate date of your becoming a member? Mr. STENHOUSE. Well, to the best of my recollection, it was in the latter part of 1943. Mr. TAVENNER. Where were you living at that time? Mr. STENHOUSE. In Horseshoe Canyon. Mr. TAVENNER. Were you assigned to any particular group of the Communist Party when you first became a member? Mr. STENHOUSE. I don’t think it was a matter of assignment, to my knowledge. I was asked if I would like to attend some discussion group meetings and, to the best of my recollection, there were not more than 4 or 5 of them in Los Angeles. Mr. TAVENNER. Four or 5 what? Mr. STENHOUSE. Of these discussion group meetings.