Belfrage, Cedric, 1904-1990

Cedric Belfrage, socialist, author, journalist, translator, and co-founder of the National Guardian, was born in London in 1904. His early career as a film critic began at Cambridge University, where he published his first article in Kinematograph Weekly (1924). In 1927 Belfrage went to Hollywood, where he was hired by the New York Sun and Film Weekly as a correspondent. Belfrage returned to London in 1930 as Sam Goldwyn's press agent. Lord Beaverbrook of the Sunday Express soon hired him and in 1932 sent him back to Hollywood as the paper's film correspondent. In 1936, Belfrage resigned from the Express and settled in Hollywood. At his point he became politically active, joining the Hollywood Anti-Nazi League, co-edited a left literary magazine, The Clipper, and began work on his second book, The Promised Land, a critical look at Hollywood. In 1937, Belfrage met Claude Williams, a radical Presbyterian preacher from Arkansas, and wrote a biography of Williams, published as Let My People Go in 1937. Belfrage joined the Communist Party in 1937, but withdrew his membership a few months later, and thereafter maintained a friendly but critical relationship. In 1941, Belfrage published an autobiography, They All Hold Swords. In 1944, he became a Press Control Officer in London for the Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditional Forces (SHAEF) Psychological Warfare Division (PWD) and helped found the first anti-fascist newspapers in Germany after World War II, the Frankfurter Rundschau, along with Jim Aronson.

The fall of 1948 marked the birth of The National Guardian, a progressive newsweekly. The first issue featured an article by Henry Wallace, Progressive Party presidential candidate, and throughout its existence the paper supported independent left political initiatives. The Guardian's investigative reportage was critical to the development of the campaign to defend accused atomic spies Julius and Ethel Rosenberg. The Guardian reported on the Korean War (the paper opposed it), the indictment of reporter Anna Louise Strong (NG foreign correspondent) in the Soviet Union as a U.S. spy, and covered the growth of the Civil Rights movement and supported national liberation struggles around the world. Another cause taken up by the National Guardian was the defense of poltical prisoners such as Alger Hiss, Corliss Lamont, the Hollywood Ten, and Ann and Carl Braden, many of whom Belfrage knew personally. Due to such reportage Belfrage was summoned in 1953 to appear before the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC), and in 1955, he was deported back to his native England. There he became the editor-in-exile of the National Guardian, travelling widely, and wrote a book about his deportation experience, The Frightened Giant (1956). Belfrage travelled to Cuba in 1961 and in 1962 travelled throughout South America. In 1961 he wrote an historical novel, My Master Columbus. In 1963 Belfrage settled in Cuernavaca, Mexico with his fourth and last wife, Mary. There they ran a left-wing guest house and offered refuge to South American exiles. In 1967 Belfrage resigned from the National Guardian (which then shortened its name to the Guardian), as did Aronson. The new Guardian staff wanted the paper to become an ideological leader of the New Left. Neither Belfrage nor Aronson could endorse this move, as they had deliberately founded the Guardian on a non-sectarian basis. Belfrage's relations with the Guardian remained hostile for a time, though by the 1980's he was corresponding with the staff and writing book reviews and articles. Belfrage also made his debut as a Spanish/English translator with Eduardo Galeano's Guatemala Occupied Country. From about 1970 to 1973 Belfrage's main project was his book on the McCarthy era, The American Inquisition. In 1973, Belfrage returned to the U.S. for the first time since 1955, on a publicity tour for his new book. Belfrage continued to write extensively until his last years. He translated Eduardo's Galeano's trilogy on Latin America, Memory of Fire (Pantheon, 1985). He died in Mexico on June 21, 1990.

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