U.S. COMMUNIST PARTY SECRCTARY CONVICTED

Grey River Argus, 28 June 1947, Page 5

U.S. COMMUNIST PARTY SECRCTARY CONVICTED

(Rec. 8.25). WASHINGTON, June 26. A Federal Court jury to-night convicted Eugene Dennis, General Secretary of the Communist Party, on charges of contempt of Congress. Sentence will be passed later. The offence carries a maximum penalty of one year’s gaol and a thousand dollar fine. Dennis’s lawyer served notice of appeal. The Court raised the bond for Dennis from three thousand to ten thousand dollars, after the prosecutor said that Denni? fled the country in 1930, when faced with charges in California, and he had gone to South America and Russia. Dennis was accused of failing to appear before the House Committee on Un-American Activities on April 9, in answer to a subphoena. His counsel argued that Dennis was not bound to answer the Committee’s subphoena, because the Committee itself was illegal. Pie claimed that one of its members, Mr Rankin, Democrat, of Mississippi, was unconstitutionally a member of Congress l , because Negroes did not vote in Mississippi. ATHENS, June 26.

The Greek Government is investigating the appearance of the Communist leader, Zachariades, in Strasbourg, in France, where he is reported to be addressing a Communist Congress. Zachariades disappeared when racing a libel action for an article in a Greek Communist newspaper. The Greek Ministry of Public Order ,is considering bringing action against Zachariades for leaving Greece without a permit.