AMERICAN COMMUNIST LEADERS

Press, Volume LXXXV, Issue 25936, 17 October 1949, Page 7

AMERICAN COMMUNIST LEADERS

Conspiracy Against State Held Proved (N.Z. Press Association—Copyright)

(Rec. 8 p.m.) NEW YORK. October 14. All the 11 Communists charged with conspiracy to teach the forcible overthrow of the United States Government were found guilty today. Immediately after the verdict, five defence lawyers and one defendant were convicted of contempt of Court, and sentenced to gaol. The verdict against the Communists came at the end of the longest trial in the history of American criminal proceedings. It had lasted nine months. The jury’s woman foreman told Mr Justice Medina of the Federal Court: “We find each and every one of the defendants guilty.” The convicted men are the top leaders of the American Communist Party. The men are Eugene Dennis, aged 42, the party’s general secretary; Henry Winston, aged. 35, a negro organisational secretary; John Williamson, aged 46, the Scottish-born labour secretary: Jack Stachel, aged 49. educational director: Robert Thompson, aged 34. New York State chairman; Gilbert Green, aged 43, Illinois State chairman; Gus Hall, aged 39. Ohio State chairman; Carl Winter. Michigan State chairman; John Gates, aged 30, editor of the New York Communist paper, "Daily Worker”; Irving Potash, aged 46, vice-president of the Fur and Leather Workers’ Union; and Benjamin Davis, aged 46; a negro member of the New York City Council. The jury returned its verdict after deliberating for seven hours.

Mr Justice Medina indicated that he would sentence the defendants to gaol terms by saying that the offence was of so great a character that fines would be a futile gesture and wholly insufficient punishment. Contempt of Court Charges

He then cited and sentenced to imprisonment the five offending lawyers and Dennis, who conducted his own defence. He charged all six with deliberately entering into an agreement to disturb the Court during the trial by: (1) causing delay and confusion; (2) provoking incidents designed to make a mis-trial; <3) “impairing my health so that the trial could not continue.” Mr Justice Medina described the lawvers’ actions as a deliberate, wilful attack on the administratipn of justice and an attempt to sabotage the Federal judicial system. He •found them guilty of criminal contempt. The five convicted lawyers and their sentences were: Harry Sacher, o> New York, and Richard Gladstein, of San Francisco, each six months; A. J. Isserman, of New York, and George Crockett, a negro, of Detroit, each fouv months; Louis McCabe, of Philadelphia. 30 days. Dennis was sentenced to six months on the contempt charge. Mr Justice Medina remanded Dennis and the 10 other defendants until October 21 for sentence on the conspiracy charge. He refused bail. Mr Isserman gave notice of appeal against the conviction of the Communists and the citing of the lawyers.

The prosecution’s case against the 11 men was that the Communist Party, after 1945, became conspiratorial and plotted to gain control of key industries and eventually seize violent control of the Government, and discussed plans for the invasion cf the United States by the Soviet Army.

The Government’s witnesses included nine persons who joined the party as Federal Bureau of Investigation informants.

The defence, in general, was that the Communist Party had operated openly as an ordinary political party

seeking to gain power by constitutional means. It insisted that the party had not advocated the use of violence, and it maintained that the prosecution represented an effort to stifle expression of opinion. William Z. Foster, the party’s national chairman and on three occasions a candidate for the United States Presidency, was also indicted, but because of a heart ailment he was granted a postponement of his trial.

“The conviction is a product of Wall Street-inspired hysteria,” says a statement by the Communist Party. “The verdict is a Pearl Harbour attack against the Bill of Rights and the living standards of the American people. It is a police-state verdict against books, ideas and opinions.” The statement added that the verdict was a brazen to penalise a political party for its teaching and advocacy, not for its acts. “This is an attack, not on 70,000 Communists alone; it is a direct assault on free speech, free press, free assemblage, and therefore upon the basic freedoms of 140.000.000 Americans, particularly working people.” Miss Elizabeth Flynn, a member of the Communist National Committee,' said the party would not go underground. Mr Foster, national chairman of the party, whose trial was postponed because of illness, said: “The party will not be dismayed by this scandalous verdict, which belies our whole national, democratic traditions. The party will carry the fight to higher courts and to the broad masses of the people.” The New York “Daily Worker” said the verdict was a “frame-up” that would be used by the “pro-Fascists” in further assaults on the living standards and liberties of white and negro Americans. Future of Party The Communist Party to-day’ began a long fight for its legal existence. Its next move is expected to be the filing of a motion for a stay of execution and for a new trial in the appeal now under preparation. The Communists are expected not only to challenge the conduct of the trial of the 11 men, but to contest the constitutionality of the Smith Act of 1940, which makes it a crime to advocate revolution or conspire to do so. The party can appeal to the Federal Circuit Court of Appeals, then to the Supreme Court. These appeals and other delaying actions that could be taken from time to time, might continue the case for at least a year. Whether the party could be , outlawed legally was still regarded as a moot question to-day. There were also wide differences of opinion over the wisdom of trying to outlaw it. In Washington, the Justice Department refused to comment on the verdict, but officials made it clear that if the Government proceeded against other Communists, it would have to repeat the same trial process. They said the verdict did not establish a precedent on which to base convictions of other Communists. It only established the fate of the 11 men. In Philadelphia. Paul Robeson said he would seek the impeachment of Mr Justice Medina. Addressing a “Freedom Rally,” Mr Robeson said he would institute action as the chairman of a non-partisan committee. Most New York newspapers, which have given the trial front-page prominence, describe its conduct as fair and impartial and mention the composition of the jury, the foreman of which was a negro. Mrs Thelma Dial, who is a dressmaker. Another negro member of the jury was the wife of a taxi driver. Except for a theatrical producer and the wife of a business proprietor, all 12 members of the jury and their three alternates were manual or white-collar workers or the wives of such workers The defence, at the beginning of the trial, challenged for seven weeks the jury system of the Federal district of New York, contending that it discriminated against women, negroes, Jews, workers and poor people. Views of Chief Witness Mr Louis Bud, . - ■ , | - ment witness at the trial, said the American Communist Party was prepared to go underground. They had long had a plan for that operation. They would separate into divisions of five, known only to each other, but the plan would not be put into effect until the Supreme Court gave its ruling. Mr Budenz. a former editor of the New York "Daily Worker.” renounced the party, adopted the Roman Catholic faith, and laid the groundwork for the Government’s case.