CONSPIRACY CHARGES

Otago Daily Times, Issue 27213, 17 October 1949, Page 5

CONSPIRACY CHARGES

American Communists Found Guilty Long Trial Concluded NZPA—Copyright Rec. 8 p.m. NEW YORK. Oct. 14. All ll Communists charged with conspiracy to teach the forcible overthrow of the United States Government were found guilty to-day. Immediately after the verdict five defence lawyers and one defendant were convicted of contempt of court and sentenced to terms of imprisonment. The verdict against the Communists came at the end of one of the longest trials in the history of American criminal proceedings. It lasted nine months. The jury’s woman foreman told Federal Judge Medina: “We find each and every one of the defendants guilty.” The convicted men are top leaders of the American Communist Party. They are: Eugene • Dennis, aged 44, • the party’s general secretary; Henry Winston, aged 35, negro organisational secretary; John Williamson, aged 46, 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, Michican State chairman; John Gates, aged 36, editor of the New York Communist paper Daily Worker; Irving Potash, aged 46, vice-president of the Fur and Leather Workers’ Union; Benjamin Davis, aged 46, negro member of the New York City Council. The jury returned with their verdict after deliberating for seven hours. Prison Terms Judge Medina indicated that he would sentence the defendants to prison terms by saying the offence was of so great a character that fines would be a futile gesture and wholly insufficient punishmen.t The judge 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 first, causing delay and confusion; secondly, by provoking incidents designed to make it a mistrial; and, thirdly, by “ impairing my health so thgt the trial could not continue. Judge Medina described the lawyers actions as a deliberate, wilful attack on the administration 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, of New York; Richard Gladstein, of Safi' Francisco, each six months; A. J. Isserman, of New York, George Crockett, negro, of Detroit, each four months: Louise McCabe, of Philadelphia, 30 days. Dennis was sentenced to six months on the contempt charge. Judge Medina remanded Dennis and the 10 other defendants until October 21 for sentence on the conspiracy charge. He refused bail. Isserman gave notice of appeal against the conviction of the Communists and the citing of the lawyers. The case of the prosecution against the 11 men l was that the Communist Party after 1945 became conspiratorial, plotted to gain control of key industries and eventually seize violent control of • the Government, and discussed plans for the invasion / of the United States by the Soviet Army. Government witnesses included nine persons who joined the party as FBI informants. The defence in general was that the Communist Party had operated openly as an ordinary political party seeking to gain power bv constitutional means. It insisted that the party had not advocated the use of violence and maintained that the prosecution represented an effort to stifle the expression of opinion. William Z. Foster, the party s national chairman and thrice presidential candidate, was also indicted, but because of a heart ailment he was granted postponement of his trial. “ Product of Wall Street ” A Communist Party statement to-day called the conviction of the 11 leading American Communists as “ a product of Wall Street—inspired hysteria.” The statement said: “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.’’ ' ’ The statement added that the verdict was “ a brazen attempt to penalise a political party for its teaching and advocacy, not its acts. This is an attack, dot on the 70,000 Communists alone, but a direct assault on free speech, free press, free assemblage, and therefore upon the basic freedoms of 140.000,000 Americans, particularly the working people ” Miss Elizabeth Flynn, a member of the Communist National Committee, said the party would not go underground. William 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.”