·Address to theJury . by . Be'njamin Qitlow
ALSO ;Darrow The Judge Giovanitti
'fHe would make America a Red Ruby in the "Red Treasure Chest of the Red Terror." "Prosecutor 'Rorke's Compliment to' Gil/ow.
Published by ~THE COMUNIST LABOR PARTY United States of America A Red Rllby,in the Red Treasure Chest _":'~l~ ======z:::::,=",======::::::;=='='=' :.1-'
FOREWORD: Benjamin Gitlow, memo ber of the Labor Committee of the Com munist Labor Party and of the staff ot the "Voice of Labor", is the first communist In the United States to be convicted for es pousing the principles of the Third Inter ,; national as proclaimed in the Left Wing Manifesto. He was found guilty by the jury and sentenced by' Judge Weeks to' serve from five to ten years at hard labor in Sing Sing. , The address to the jury by Gitlow is indeed' a "red ruby in the red treasure chest" of red literature. Facing capitalism's judi- cilill machinery with a courage which only .... ! comes to those who understand and idealc ! ize communism, he told iIi lan'guage under standable by all, just where world capitac Hsm is at and what world'communism is driving at. But the judge interrupted many times. Gitlow was teIling too much. This spamphlet also contains the court's "thank yOU" to' the jUry, which is rich in Americanism, as well as extracts from the .add.ress' by Clarence 'Darrow and paragraphs from Giovanitti's article in "The Libera tor". \ i.
I
--' " ., ) Cit-low's Address to the 'Jury
. ~';:".;' I 'am charged in this case with pub- society lam a revolutionist. I desire , .}ish.ing and distributing a pap~r kno-yvn complete, fundamental -.-:- - ·as.. the Revolutionary Age, m whIch Coutt:-Mr. Gitlow, you are not ,'. :paper was'printed a document known permitted to state what your views are
1 ·'as.the Left Wing Manifesto and Prog- or what you are, or what 'you think. ram. It is held, that that document You must confine yourself to an argu ,'. advocates the ov;erthrow of govern- ment based upon the testimony in the y' .ment by force, violence and unlawful case. _ tneans. The document itself, the Left Gtilow:-Well, I will try to make Wing Manifesto, IS a broad analysis of it an impen;onal argument. The so conditions, .economic conditions,. and cialists have always maintained, and historical events ~in the world today. the manifesto that has been printed in It is a document based upon the prin-' the Revolutionary Age maintains that dples of socialism from their early in- capitalism as it developed, would be ception. .The only thing that the do- unable to solve the contradictions that cument does is to broaden those prin- spring up in the body politic of capital ciples in the light of modern events. ism.. What is capitalism? Capitalism The document starts out with the is that system of society in which the statement that the world today is in .means of production and distribution . a crisis, that capitalism is in a state are owned by a few individuals for of collapse..It goes into a statement their own profit.. You take the United about the war, shows what the war States for example. You take the .was responsible for, and also makes large industrial plants. You take the ~ a fairly coi;nplete statement in re- land, you take the banks, you take the ference to the socialist movement.'The railroads, you take all of the factories manifesto tells you that there were that have to do with production, take divisions in the socialist movement, . all the means of distribution, and you that there were\rarious factions, that will discover that they are owned by :fhese factions believed in certain de- a few individuals or corporations, by -finite principles, that these principles financial institutions, for the profits became cIa.rified with the issue of the that can be derived from these insti world war. The socialists' have always tutions. The manifesto maintains that maintained that the change' from ca- all our institutions are based on labor pitalism to socialism would be a. fun- power of the working man. The ~ainental change, that is, we would . factories, the mines, the land. and all have. a . complete.'reorganization of means of production.. La-borpower is society, that this charige w{mld not be e'isential to make them valuable and a question of reform; that the capi. to provide profits for those that own tillist system of . society would be and control them. All of our insh completely changed and that that t~tions are ~ased on the labor power system would give way to a new ot the workmg man. Without that system of society based on a new power society could not exist. Not a code of laws, based on a new code of wheel could turn. Value could not be .1 r I ethics, and based on a new form of p odl1ced. That is very easily recogniz government. For· that reason, the ahle. Suppose John- D. Rockefeller socialist philosophy has always been a v,ith all of his wealth and all of his revolutionary philisophy and people gold, and all of his bank securities, all who adhered to the socialist pr'ogram of his stock and all of his bonds, would and philosophy were always considered go to the Sahara Desert and pile his revolutionists, and I as one maintain ,securities and his gold sky high to the . th't in. the eyes of the .. p"sent day. billions of dolla«, and st>y th"~ THE RED RUBY
self, do you think that value would be of wealth, ~ounting to the bjliiQ~~~ pf produced? Do y0U, think that that dollars, sprmg up also the enormous gold would be valuable? Do you think poverty and degradation of the m"a~,'es. that he could get for himself th~ com An~ ,then we fin~ out that capit~li~:V1~ forts of life? Not at all. John D. as .It s.tores up Its wealt~, .does.ti~{ Rockefeller could stand there, look deSire Its wealth to remam Idle. Its:- I, as his mountains of gold,' see them wealth must be convertedintocaJ?itaf~~'"1 towering int0 the heavens, and he and the capital applied to the'tilid'~\:i, ,i: ~,' " 'itlow:-If your Honor please. the Court: - He cannot explain the Plifesto de<>.1s with tHe Imperialistic meaning. of it, because he has not sub:' :ar, and this is a phase of imperialism. jected himself to cross examination. 'Court:-It db.es not deal with the . Darrow:-1 desire to except to the filds. it deals with assertions. You language of the Court and the ruling. are attemptiIlg to state facts. Gitlow:-The manifesto states very .. Gitlow:-Well, in order. to dispose clearly that the war was one that waS of the. stirplui capital in various count fought f0r imperialism that the Peace rie~,the European war broke out, and, Treaty that was signed was a treaty the Ellropean .war showed clearly the -of imperialism, and that the, workers' 'j { failure of capitalism to meet the situ had nothing to gain from the war. \' .1' ation. in the world. .What did we find? You will also read in the manifesto j We found millions of workers facing that the manifesto stands for a new -...... 1 one another, and being slaughtered on form of government, that that form of '. the fields of battle. They fought for government is known as the dictator~ f0ur and. a half years, and then a ship of the proletariat, that the dic peace was concluded. We were in tatorship of the proletariat in its con formed that the war was one that was crete form was the result of a revo fought for democracy, and when peace lution that took place in Russia, that wascoricluded and the Peace Treaty the Russian workers set up this form . drawn up, we found out that all na of government as one which was suit tions involved .desired more territory, able for their purposes. The manifesto desired privileges in mines and ore will tell you furthermore that all of the concessions, desired to expand their capitalist goveunments:of th'e world territorial control, and we found that proceeded to fight the Russian work the question of democracy - - - ers, and attempted to overthrow their .' Court:-Again I must interrupt you, particular form of government. because you are stating as facts mat Now, the Russian workers set up ters which are not facts of this court a form of government known as the and which the COURT has no reaso~ dictatorship of the proletariat, which to believe are facts at all. is based on a system of council contriL . 'Gitlow:-If your Honor please, the You will be told perhaps that the dic .ma.nifesto touches on that very clearly. tatorship of the proletariat is not a democratic form of governmen~. The > Court:-ft touches on it, and you dictatorship of the proletariat is a . may use the language of the'manifesto;. new form of organization. It is based but you may nolmake a speech beyond on the industrial representation of the· the language of the manifesto. worker in industry. To<;lay you have Darrow:-Your Honor, he has a a government called a democracy, right to explain the meaning of it. which is based 011 the territorial di Court:-,No, sir, he has no right to visions of the people inhabiting the . f explain the meaning 0.£ the manif~sto, nations. Under the Soviet form of I because he is not subject to crossexa government, under the dictatorship of mination. ' the proletariat this oondition is Darrow:-1 want to again take ex changed. You have a form of govern 'ception to the remarks of the Court on ment that is based 011 representation th~t question of cross examination. If of industry, that is, the men in the he could not explain the meaning -_ steel industry vote as steel workers in Court:-(lnterrupting) He cannot the steel industry, and it is. their re explain the meaning. presentatives who are in the councils Da.rrow:-Then he can do nothing of the government. -:I:he men in the but read it. shoe industry vote as shoe workers, 6 • .'~;'.l;f:'~--~-!." THE RED RUBY '\".j~~:#,.. and choose their representatives to work a certain amount' olhotf~;fi~·,~< the council in the government, and the, himself having no say in detet~i~Hl{"'if ·,{F national government as such, the sup- the amount of hours that he lia·':t ~ reme council, is the representative of ~ork. The wor~er in ihdustrfto~';~:-' the working class, and it must be IS not democratIcally controllIng ,tl:J:e r,' so, because the workers derive their affairs of his life, and the sociaH Is .'. livelihood .from the product of in- maintain that it is the duty oftlt~, . dustry. They know about their own working class to organize, effici~Jltl particular industry, and a socialist for the democratic control' of industr.y;, form of government is a government And we see that in Russia, wherew~, that is concerned with the production have the dictatorship of the proletari~!'i~ and distribution of the necessities of ' the democratic control of industry lla" life for the advantage of the people. been, put into' effect. You have ttl·· And this government necessarily must workers in the shops, through 'elecf~\";' get its expression from industry 'to shop c01l1mittees, determining -- ~. know how the necessities of life are Court:-One moment. There is produced, to know how much is needed evidence of that in the case. by the workers qf the necessities of life and furthermore, socialism re- Gitlow:-If your Honor please, I....,., cognizes that the working man can- am trying to explain -- ,- not be free, and the working man can- Court-(inteprupting) You are at~ .' not be emancipated unless democratic tempting to state conditions in Russia; control of industry is established. The and there is no evidence in the 'case worker, outside of the factory, is per- in regard to conditions in Russia., mitted to vote. He has the privilege Gitlow:-But the manifesto deals if he lives long enough in the country, with conditions in 'Russia, andex-" if he lives long enough in the district. plains what the dictatorship of th~( to go once a year or every two years, 'proletariat is. or every four years, and choose the various officials for the government. Court:-You state if you like. ~hat But in the shop where he works, the the manifesto contains certain lan worker has no democratic control at guage. Whether that be true or false, all. In the shop the worker works day there is no opportunity of determining in and day out, all the year round. here, because there is no evidence The shop is mme important to the upon the subject. worker than any othe, political institu- Darrow:-Your Honor, he has a tion, because it shapes his life day in right to refer, to histo,rical facts. and day out. His wages, the amount of money he receives in the shop, de. Court :-1t is not an historical £flCt termines t1:e way in which. he shall as 'to what he is stating of the con~ live. If he g'ets poor wages, why, of ditions in Russia. course, he will lead a miserable exist- Darrow:-We claim it is. He claims ence. If he gets big wages, why, his ·it is. , condition will be materially better. . Court :-He may claim anything h~ And in the shop the worker applies lIkes. Would you consider the con::' fOJ" a job to a master, and the owner verse of the situation. Would it be lays down the condition ofemploy~ proper for the District Attorney to ment. And the worker has only one undertake in his summing up to call privilege, to accept or decline those attention to false statements of cort~ conditions.. But once. working in the ditions in Russia as the District shop, he must obey rules, the making Attorney believes them to be? Ch- of which he has no voice in. He must tairily not. 7 ·~'· -'~ ( rf. _;~. THE RED RUBY 'lil, .. ··:;;,;;:.~~======It.. _J-- -;1· I!~ :p'atrow:~Your Bonor, everybody defendant the defendant shall not by J r~3.:ds history from his own standpoint direct language or by indirection cri .:,m'orear less. ticise the ruling of the Court. You will ~ .~ ~~ ;~', :.. ", '. . refrain frorn saying what you would ;" .: 'COUrt:-Everybody reads the news- do if you could, or what you will do ~\··::papers,butnewspapersare hOt history. - ...-) 1, .' - .' . if you can. Pi'oceed with your' argu- ~ ",' ,Parrow:-They are current history. ment. . Court :---'-1 cannot agree {,.,ith you. Gitlow:-Well, gentlemen of the Dairow:~People know, something jury, I think when yo~ read th.e ma about Russia. nifesto of the Left Wmg Sect~on of Court:-I will not discuss it. I will the Socialist Party, you will under not 'allow t:re speaker to continue as stand' what the fundamental principles to statements of conditions iri Russia, involved in that manifesto are. I want or" the forms of organizations as to vou to realize that I believe in those which there is no proof in the case. He principles, that I wi.! I support those may refer to the fact that sa"mething principles, that I Will support. trose is stat,ed in the manifeso. principles" and that I am not gomg to Darrow:-1 take an exception. evade the issue. My whole life has been dedicated to the movement which Gitlow:-Well, I will close my re I am in. No jails will change my marks at this time, by making a short opinion in that respect. I ask no cle statement -- ~ mency. I realize that as an individual Court:-1 understand, counsel ob I have a perfect right to my opinions~ jectslothe Court interrupting the de that I would be false to myself if I fendant;at the point that the Court tried to evade that which I supported. did.,' . Regardless' of y~ur. verdict, I main Darrow:-Yes, your Honor, and I tain that the, pnnclples of the Left excepted to the remarks. YVingManifesto and Program on the Gitlow:-the manifesto of the Left whole are correct, that capitalism is in Wing Section of the Socialist Part)' is a state of collapse, that capitalism has a'statement of the principles of Re brought untold misery and hardships v?lutionary Socialism. These prin~ to'the working meri, that thousands c,:lI>les'maintain that in order to bring of men in this democratic republic are about ,'socialism, capitalist, govern in jails today 01;1 account of their views, ments must be overtl;1rown, and in SUffering tortures and abuse, and no- their place a new'form. of government thing - -- must/beset up, known as the dictator Courf:_(lnterrupting) 'Again the ship, of the proletariat. I wahted to ,defendant must cease from making sh()w how essential it was for the statements. There is no evidence ,establishment of socialism to follow before the court that anyone i.s in jail !hat fundamental principle laid down or suffering tortures and abuse. Pro:': In t~e manifesto of the Left Wing, ceed. ~ut ff I cannot s~ow historical facts. Gitlow:-All ,I ask of you, gentle IfI ca,nnot make statements about con men of the jury, is to consider the diti6i1sas they exist in a country which lano-uage of the manifesto, to realize has followed the principles laid down that the manifesto stands for a new' by the Left Wing --- ' order in society. and a new form of Court:-(Iriterrupting). The Court government, and the communists to must interrupt you again. The Court day believe in a. new form of society, has' acvised the defendant that he can and necessarily 1ll a new form of go,,: not make statements of what he claims vernment and that they bend all theIr to be facts, and having so advised the efforts in'that direction. S EXCERPTS FROM .. Darrow's Address to the Jury ,Darrow: ...1 doubt whether any govern before. It tells of the 'force and violence" ment, with possibly one or two exceptions, through which the world his come. It I doubt whether any great revolution, which tells of the injustices of the present. It meant the abolition of the old and build speaks in prophesy, that there will some ing up of the new, was ever accomplished time be force and violence again. Is there without force and violence accompanying any doubt about the facts here? A man I it. There may have been some govern does not have to tell the truth, Somer' , I ments. I would not make it broader, but people cannot, They are color blind when I I doubt it. Does that say I should not ad is comes to the, truth. And then every.body vocate a change, because somebody is going reads history In his own way. You can, to get hurt? Why, gentlemen, if that had find plenty of histories to read out of. And. been the law down through the ages and nobody ever wants to get at the truth, it had been :>trictly enforced, you would all seems. We want to get at what Is/on our have been living in caves now. 'All of you. s,lde,unfo~tunatelY. Unfortunately, But Because the civilization of today is made every man has a right to state it from. his up of an infinite number of re\rolutions, own standpoint. To give the history of one: after the other, all through the history the, world from his own standpoint, and of the world. All through it. Progress that is what this, manifesto, does., That Is cannot be stopped because for instance what it does. Statements of the, past and somebody may get hit on the head. You present, JC:0phesies for the future, urging cannot put up a big building unless some- t,hestate of communism, Has, not, a man • body is killed. And yoU cannot build a got the right to talk about revolution'? railroad unless somebody is killed.' I am Well, gentlemen, these things are simply talking about what happened. Counsel will silly. There is a .very large and respect-, Pfobatiiy say, well, that is all done law able body of Irishmen in America today fully. I am talking about what happens. talking about revolution in Ireland. They This idea of revolution is not so horribly are even selling bonds based on the Irish new, is it? Are you used to it? I have the Republic. Perhaps It Is just as sound as If, right under this law to say that this is a it was based on the co-operative common state of society that is wrong. I do not wealth of the communistic state. I don't believe there 'is any man satisfied with it. know. And In court and in' congress, and He may not know hpw to change it. We out, people are urging the, United States to might poSSibly get something worse, but take a hand In freeing Ireland, ,Well,' I there is not any man with a drop of ideal would like to see Ireland free, and every iSm in his blood that does not wish it better. other people free, Including Amer.lca. I No man! And this state of society probably would be glad to see everybody in, the will not be seriously changed without the world, free, but yOU have no more right spilling of blood. If I say so, is that a to advocate the freeing of Ireland by t~ crime, or it .that a reason that I would not overthrowing' of the English' Government advocate a change? Not at all. I may not In Ireland, than you have the overthrowing get together a crowd and say.. "Go, and of the United States Government ,under the take possession of the State capitol." Of statue. Not a particle. Not a bit. course if I get possession I would be all Is ,anybody afraid of revolut.lo,n ?For a right, but until then, no. or course if man to be afraid of revolution In America. George Washington had not won, he would would be to be, ashamed of ,Yourowll have been hung. There have been tots ,or', mother. Nothing ,else. Revolution? Ther,"! good fellows hanged. And some very bad Is, not a drop of honest blood In a single ones that d!d the, hanging .' Many, and man that does not look back to somerevo many and many a time. I may not ap lution for which he, would thank his God peal to th,em to Sl;l,y "Now, at this' time, that those who revo,lted won. None of you. come together and" attack the capitol of Take the revolutions out of Great Britain. Albany, and drive he socialists and the and What is. left. ,Take them out of France. anarchists out". And I probably cannot. and YOU, would have the absolute despotism; But I can say that all ought to be cleaned with the people as slaves. What of our own out. and that sometime or other it pro country? We are 150 years old ·01' there bably would be, 'and when they did it, those abouts, and now speak about revolution as that were in would fight to stay in, those if we were speaking of cutting a man~s that were' put out would fight to get in. throat, a nation born in It, born in it! Again, I may not only prophesy but I (!:teading from the Left Wing' Man!-; may tell what hashapperie~ i~ the history festo). "The dominant, moderate soc.ial of the world. This manifesto does. It ism was initiated by the formation of the tells what has happened and whathas gone Social Democratic Party in Germany. This Q THE RED RUBY party united on tile basis of tile Gotha the dictatorship of the proletariat, that Is, program, in which fundamental revolution the org (The praise which Judge Weeks gave who come from foreign lands to this land;' the jury for its verdict of guBty in the Git of opportunity, might be expected to have. low case is as delectable a bit of real Ame How can he claim that he has taken ad ricanism as has ever been expressed. What vantage of the opportunities of citlzen,shlp? will be especially amusing to the workers How can he claim that lie 'has faithfully who read this is that part of this address adhered to'the principles of hisciti2;enspip, 'which expresses surprise that GiUow did and has faithfully carried out the' oath not accum'ulate vast stores of wealth 'and which he took as a member of tlie Assembiy property at his wage of $41 a week!) to support the Constitution'oftheUn'ited States, alld to support the Constitution of Judge Weeks: ...Now, genUemen of the the State of New York; when!;ie entered that jury,the ,Court must express its thanks to Assembly Chamber, fettered by the oblf you for your services here. ,1 can 'only say gatlon of his memb,ershlpin 'this organiza ~ ."...: that I believe that your verdic't is a proper tion which required him under penalty of ',and a just verdict, one that reflects credit being driven from the organization which upon your own sincerity and intelligence, he represented, not to vote for any approp and one which will be of distinct benefit riation for military of naval purposes.?r to the country, and the State. There must war? Was that 'the ope~ing wedge to the be a rIght in organized society to protect destruction of the government, to ham , itself. Its citizens who accept the benefits strihg it by preventing it from organizing of organized government, who obtain their an army or navy, by its having no approp education through the taxes collected by riation to protect itself In case ,of war? It means of organized government, who have certainly seems to have that appearance. their opportunity of employment because We all must know that the most peace of the protection given by organized go ful nation, the most peaceful state, may be vernment to the conduct of business, it they Involved In a war without any fault of its do not recognize that the government that own. What protection wOilld It have against fosters them, and which is created by law a war of agression If they cannot vote an)' and ,pased upon law, should only be over money for an army or" a navy? It could thrown by lawful methods, then it is dif hardly protect itself by the use of large' ficult to see where civilization can be main words and elaborate metaphore. -The daY tained and the benefits that come from cl dreams of visionaries woilld not prove a ,vilization can be preserved, It there is to very satisfactory barrier'against a foreign be no right of property recognized, ex'cept enemy. Idealism may be grand, it may be the might of "power to take, and power to elevating In a sense that a drug that fiUs the keep", it is difficult to see that anything brain with, wonderful pictures Is elevating is left but savagery. The savage tribes pos temporarily, butldeaJlsm without practi sessed such property as they were able by cality leaves,the,ldealls,t just whe,re the drug power to take from their enemies, and re fiend Is left when the Influence of the drug tained such property as they were able to has passed. So long as we are on this mun retain by force of arms. And it is difficult dane sphere, the' only way that we can for the Court to see how absolute destruc stand firm and erect In the sight of God tion of private property can exist In an at Is to keep our feet on the ground; only al ~lOsphere of civilization. lowing our heads to be, In t,he clouds. You' This defendant by the writings that he must have something sl\bstantlal under yoil, disseminated seems to think otherwise, and or you cannot stand, alld the substance In se~s to' be proud, as he was the other day. this country Is the government. It we can to express his continued and present belief not have a government under us and around in such theories. A YOUNG MAN, 2~ us and protecting us, this country, of which YEARS OF AGE. OF INTELLIGENCE, A we are so proud, Is In danger of going where STRIKING EXAMPLE O'F THE EDUCA other countries have gone In -the past. TIONAL SYSTEM OF THIS COUNTRY, Gentlemen, your duty has been faith ABLE-BODIED, OF FULL INTELLECT, fully performed. I trust that the lesson CONFESSES HE OWNS NO PROPERTY. that has been' taught from your verdict 1s EMPLOYED AT Hi A WEEK THE LAST one that will reach out and Influence and TIME HE WAS EMPLOYED AND NEVER correct and save these misguided idealists ACCUMULATED ANY PROPERTY! ". who, have allowed themselves to be car Is that in harmony with the ideas of ried beyond their depth into the stormY ambition and self-improvement, that thQs,e waters of a would-be-revolution. '- 13 Communism' on Trial By Arturo Glovanittl ')'.low this ,dltficUlty of exterminating I know the atmosphere of the court idelis isp'articularly vexing and grievous in room - I am indeed quite at home there, the case of Commimism. 'There is no tel tho' not as an amiCus curiae. I know how Ilng how many p'eople have been {nfecteC1 difficult it is to restrain one's emotions,c' elil witll its contagion. Every newspaper in pecially when one ilil talking and is chargea the country has done its best to advertise by his conscience to say all he believes and it, even in preference to the Spanish fiu. by his -affections not to be foolhardy, nor During the iast two years I have read more to risk overmuch. But Ben Gitlow is the about it In the New York Times than in all right kind' of man, for which the Immortals the COmmunist weeklies put together. In be thanked. He made it easy for me to every church It has been excommunicated listen and to remain there. Impassive, "Yith the' same amount of theological fervor clear-eyed, sure of himself, without the ar as Protestantism was fulminated agalnst~ rogance of weakness, without the suavity of which .makes ine 'Surmise that it has spread unI>leasant cunning, deliberate, forthright, con'siderably among the faithful, and it will he spoke with a clear, even, resonant voice. do more so after the interdict. ' Some A finer specimen of manhood could not people cla.im .that~ it has evenentere'd have been selected by the Communists as stealthily Into the colleges, and however their first ambassador to begin negotiaton>; unbelievabl'e this may be (and I' give It for the capitulation of capitalism in Its,ln put with much' reservation), there are evell most citadel. Big, dark, wholesomely a few people who maintaintilat the A. F. fleshy, he seemed to have been carved out of L. itself is not entirely Immune from of a huge granite rock ,by the sledge ham the virus; In Germany this idea wrecked mer of a master, with simple and mighty .. 'an empire and stopped the world war. In blows, without any whittlings of the chisel I Italy It has sent 156 men to parliament, In nor any pande'rlng to ,the anaemic tastes of cluding one under sentence of death who the fashions. There is something elemental ,bHcause of that was elected. in two places. in this young man. It is, raising Cain in CZ(>llhoslo'yakla, and It has- stopped piano playing as a political Gltlow spoke for ~ome fifteen minu"", asset In Poland. ,And in Russia, In the continually interrupted by the judge Who largest abode 'of' the white man in the would not let him say what he was, what world, this Idea has passed triumphantly he believed, what he wanted, because it through several' plebiscites, it 'has broken was against the rules of the procedure. But through fourteen armed fronts of reaction Gitlow managed to say that he considered and It owns now one hundred per cent of all himself a revolutionist in the eyes of pre thE< stocks, bonds. sCllilrlties and currency sent socletY,that he, would keep on figlJ,t of th'e cOl1ntry as well as five million 'bay fng f()r Communism in or out of jall, that he onets 'with five million mE.n behind them. asked fo'r no clemency but only for a fair compreh'enslon of his ,ideas. And tll,!tt was lIow ()an all this b~ '1topped, and who's all. It was enough. The trial should have going to' ,stop It? I don't know. Nobody been brought to a close right then and knows. 'I'hat Is !;lobodY except Mr. Palmer there, for that Is all there is to any such and :Hr. ROrke. Eureka!' :Mr. Rorke. the trial. But that much had to be said - not Dlstrkt Attorney who prosecutedGltlow because of the irrepressible desire to speak found the true solution when he told the one's mind, but because of the cowardly jury: "You twelve men stand between ci silence of thousands otothers - the dumb vilization a!;ld anarChy as the sentinels or society." ' mass of the American workers. It wasn't a defence - It was the reaffirmation of a I looked at the twelve men again, and principle ,in the oniy place in America to really, I could haraly believe it. ' day where principles become dynamic by The,e were two great moments, when the sheer power of their enunciation. He Gltlow made his statement to the jury and h 'from the 'meanest of all torments - you Its defence was more 1;llood-chllling than have kept it whole and unpolluted by the its indictment, Such logic, tolerance; learn \. regrets of the well-thinking, the pity, of ing, such glowing love' for humanity wer" '.1 tl}~rabble and the mercy ofthe Beast. indeed too much for any sentinels of civi , For two hours Clarence Darrow battled lization. They looked scared. TheY looked and stormed' and raged against the ram at the judge, the -court attendants, the law .'t-:-, ParUl0f the, prosecution, striking· down yers - they looked around instinctively brIck after briCk~dralSlng strident rect for protection. They InJlst have felt ,r€'• sparks; It is not osslbl-e to describe the lieved at once. Thank God, there were still ~l~uenc~'(}fthls an, sa-ve by, a translation policemen, still - manacl,es, jails, turnkeys, o:{hls-very"name. It should be spelled with stralght,jackets, cats o'hlne ·talls in the ,an ap'ostrCiphe' D, like French or Italian. world. They must have felt glad' that it it! The Sheen of, the Dartl A javelin o.f was still daylight when GftIow and, Darrow light. his, voice now rose in huge tidal finished and that they wouldn't have to' go \Vaves of .passion, now fell suddenly down h()me In the dark.. They must have felt I.' toa whisper! now it stopped for long un- thankful and reassured when Mr. Rorke got .bearable pauses, hemmed in by ure' tyran up to tell them about the law, and the law ny of silent wO,rds. A voice that could at only, ,which, whether good or bad, must be . once, order a battle charge and croon a obeyed, It must be a fine and easy thing lullaJ;>y, hurl lJ heaven-wrecking cllallenge to obey the law when this law watches over and murrriur If quivering benediction. your sleep and your pocketbook and Poor,pathetic twelve men good and smoothes the wrinkles of your ruffled soul, true, "posted:as slntinels' between c1vlliza- and 'helps you to get out of the stress and , ... tfon attd'anarchy"! They had no chance. wracK of hard thinking, and soothes your How could they acquit Communism when conscience with the assurance that if you cC(j~~imism . was represented by' such a convict you inlght possibly go wrong, while irian 'is Gitlow and defended by this un if you acquit you might possibly repiunge le~shed old Lucifer, dark, uncouth, still the world Into the dark and roaring chaos, sooty wl,th the'dust of the abyss, but still They had to convict. There was no other fulgurant with theuntarnishable glow of way. It was the easiest way. And they the ar.changel! What could the twelve did it. m-eek apostles of a resurrected messiah or And so, thanks to that, America. also fear, an,d stupidity, a law exhumed in ano takes at last her long-vacant place among thel dark' hour of dread and brutish pas- the sisterhood of modern forward-moving ',' sion-,-',what :could they do before an idea nations, for thanks to that, America now ·'that asked f,or no, clerriencyand defended also has 'a Communistic movement and has \ i~el1 in suc,h ,a way? ; Such an Idea ,was entered definitely the jousts on the side of -'-'N, ,;"il.urely",. "iItoo redoubtaole",. . to let It run at large.. the militant proletariat. ltr::~, ';. i-: " , ;.I': ... .;- "~.~-~ ,. '.~R ~.::!.Il';:.... ,.~. I' ::; .. ::. '" ""i/; ':tLeti~,rt~',f)n Capitailis-ffi and Proletaria~ ,::;J'?~; ..~,tf1 ~~, ~ .':" ., Dictatorsh'ip , ~"~\:.'¥r.:'"'~" : c',.: .' .. , l";:- -..:' ,,: ,', ~ , ",Th~t, which definitely distinguishes a dictatorship of the proletariat ,. ~ , '.,~ (I " ,' '; , ~: '," < ',"It.'therefore follows that a dictatorship of the proletariat must netes':' " . s#,tilycarry with it not only changes in the ,form .and. institutions olde~ :' ,mocracy,speakirw in, general terms, but specifical,ly sucn ,a change as "Pula"': . 'seSl;lre ,an extenslOn such as ~as never bee~ ,seen III t~e hlstory\of the world :.' .' -ofthe:actual use of democratIsm 'by the tOlhngclasses; , ",:- , ..-" .,'-: . r ... .:; . .. ~ ". . 1""',- ","And in actual fact the form of dictatorship of theproletari<1t which has. e '"" idreadybeen worked out in practice, that is, the Sovietauthority in Russia:; , , 1'" '.t.h~eR'ate system in Germany, the Shop Stewards' Committees, and oiher" ":.' ,lsihiifar Soviet institutions in other countries; all representand realize for """ , thetQilirlg c1asse~, that is, for the overwhelming majority. of the, population, ..::: ',this actual possibility to use'democratic rights and freedom; which· possib.ility ,• ',. ,~"i"nevei exist~d; 'even approximately, in'the very' best and most democratic '.... ';:i-10.ur;geois\i:~p];lblic~,"· , , _, 1 ", ,'j.r I,t-~.J ;'.J " ,}/U':;,.,' . c', ,~,.~,:":':' ,';" ,- " :}:; ~;:i;"<' ';:'>;,::.:.;I;~ ,. , .-",. , '' .. :l,;:th~ ':'0~I~~,,~Case Must Be Appe~/eil" ;:,\;\" .. 1)rilense Funds Are Needed I', ~ L .t..•~. , 'lt~,. ":',i:';t~"'~(·:I'~'.,', ," ",' , :<;,!Help,2 tLe1\id a Hand 4,1< ~l:·.t- '. 1 -~ ".' "..,'f,. ·~.E (Dollars"Talk ,:-"Loudest RIGHT NOTf' Theretore---Speak U p-- Quick! Send all the Dollars you can to GERTRUDE NAFE Tr,easurer D~fense 'Commit~ee . ~.' ~ , -, Place :- : :.": : New Yor~'~i~-