COMMUNIST RIOT.

Press, Volume LXV, Issue 19732, 24 September 1929, Page 3

COMMUNIST RIOT.

LEADERS ARRESTED. (MOM 017* <5 WW COBMBrOXDEST.) SAN FRANCISCO, August 7. Surprise was occasioned by the sudden appearance of a body of demonstrative Communists in the heart of the business district of San Francisco, the malcontents staging a boisterous serenade near the precincts of the Chinese Consulate. Ten of the ringleaders, ineluding Miss Anita Whitney, 62, a noted syndicalist of Western America, were arrested and placed in durance vile after they had defied police orders to discontinue parading in front of the Chinese Consulate. The Communists carried proRussian and "anti-imperialistic" banners. Besides Hiss Whitney, who was pardoned two years ago by Governor Young of California, after her conviction on charges of criminal- syndicalism, two other Communist women and seven men were taken into custody- All were charged with the felony of carrying banners "as a symbol of opposition to organised government—-stimulus to anarchistic action or as an aid to seditious propaganda."- In addition, the misdemeanour charge of dsiturbing the peace, was placed against all but two of tho men. Miss Whitney, who is extremely wealthy, is the daughter of a former California Supreme Court Judge. The arrests were made when the Communists insisted on marching up and down Montgomery street in front of the Consulate, while a curious but good-natured crowd 200 locked on. When they refused to disperse at the command of Captain Arthur Layne, of the Central Police Station, he directed them to march to the Hall of Justice. This they did, holding their banners aloft and refusing to break ranks, while Layne's posse hemmed them in and a crowd jostled them on all sides. Shortly after her arrest, Miss Whitney was released on 1020 dollars' bail, arranged by her attorney, Austin Lewis. Socialist leader of Fan Francisco. The rest remained in ga' 1, among them Eiriil Gardos, who described himself as "he C numunist leader cf San Franomco. Benjamin Pee, sri'f to be the chio f of the Gbinans Communists, escaped arrest with the others by dropping out of the parade just .as the police station doors Were reached. Leaders Protested. Both Miss Whitney and Gardos led the Communists' protests against arrest, declaring they had broken no law and were parading merely to advertise a mass meeting to be held later, as a demonstration against "Imperialist war" and a defence <•£ the "Soviet Union from Imperialistic attacks." The paraders handed out printed notices announcing the mass meeting, in \ which was this sentence: "August Ist, the fifteenth outbreak of the last war, is the International Red Day, a day of mass-strikes and ma&s-demonstra-tions under the leadership of the Communist parties against Imperialist war." The banners paraded up and down in front of the Chinese Consulate all bore "anti-Imperialistic" slogans. One, printed all in red, was as follows: "Fight the Imperialistic War Danger." Another, attacking the American Federation of Labour, was printed in red and black, and read: "The A.F. of L. Helps U.S. Imperialism Subdue Nicaragua and other American Colonies." Other banners carried the following inscriptions: "Down With American Imperialism in Latin America." "Defend the Workers' Government of the Soviet Union," "Down With Chiang-Kai-Shek, the Lackey of Imperialism," "Stand by the 'Workers and Peasants of the Soviet Union." Throughout the demonstration the Chinese Consulate remained utterly silent. The Communists picked the wrong time for their parade, the ConsulGeneral, Mr G. W. Anehing Kung, and hiß staff being entertained at an official luncheon in an uptown hotel. Miss Whitney, an Oakland social worker, daughter of a famous' family of Northern California, was arrested in 1919 at a Communist meeting and charged with violating the criminal syndicalism law, then a new Statute. Her trial was bitterly fought, resulting in club circles of Oakland being arrayed against each other, one faction protesting her innocence, and the other insisting on her punishment. Finally she was sentenced to from one to fonrteen years in San Quentin Penitentiary, but .appeal after appeal kept her fro» going to prison. In the meantime, her ease had beeome nationally famous, and powerful organisations in Eastern America took up the fight in her behalf. As the result of powerful influences brought to bear, Governor Young granted her a pardon on June 20th, 1927. Since then she appeared to have dropped her activities in the Communist Party, although she ran for

United states Senator on the Workers' Communist ticket last year. Miss 'Whitney Protests. From the San Francisco eity prison Miss Whitney, before her release on bail, issued a statement defending the parade as a "protest against the workers of the world being dragged into another Imperialistic war such as the last war." She continued: "We are appealing to all the working people in the United States and other countries to observe August Ist as 'Anti-War Day.' Our demonstration was held as a protest against the Imperialistic action of' the great nations against the Soviet Union, a Government of working people. Although the meeting of Angust Ist is sponsored by the Communist Party of the world, there are other international societies working for world peace, and we hope that they will attend our meeting. We make an appeal to the mass of working people to stand by their brother workers in Bussia. "We are not alone in our desire for world peace. I am doing all I can to foster the peace movement, as is Jane Addams, of Hull House in Chicago, and other famous Pacifists.' We are supported by other great societies and by many Labour Unions in America and Europe."