Well, I think the take-away was supposed to be that any attempt to ferret out communists WAS a witch hunt. The kind of thing right wing religious zealots would engage in, wrongfully persecuting folks that just wanted to be left to their own ways.
there WERE witches in the Crucible dancing naked with young girls just as there WERE Communists in America who swore that they were not seditionists or allied with the KGB (knowingly or unknowingly)
the take-away from the Crucible is that you shouldn’t rely on the testimony of those who’ve been charged (and may have a plea deal) to out others in the cover/communist cell.
“don’t trust snitches!”
and the Crucible was written before Joseph McCarthy became the central figure of such investigations.