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Document # 4

U588r47 –

House Report on The

National Lawyers Guild

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Union Calendar No. 1078

Slst Congress, 2d Se ssion - - - - - - - House Report No. 3 123

REPORT ON

THE

NATIONAL LAWYERS GUILD

Legal Bulwark of the Communist Party

SEPTEMBER 17. 1950(Original release date)

September 21, 1950.-Com mitted to the Com mittee of the Whole Houseon the State of the Union and ordered to be printed

Prepared and Released by the

COMM ITTEE ON UN-AMERICAN ACTIVIT IES, U . S . HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

WASHINGTON, D. C.

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Union alendaro. 078818~ Co~a~~ss

t

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES REPORT%f Session No. 3123

REPORT ON THE NATIONAL LAWYERS GUILD-LEGAL

BULWARK OF THE COMMUNIST PARTY

SEPTEMBER 21, 1950.-Comm itted to the Com mittee of the Whole House on theState of the Union and ordered to be printed

Mr. WOOD, from the Committee on Un-American Act ivit ies, submittedthe following

REPORT

[Pursuant to H. Re s. 5, 79th Co ng., 1st sess .]

The National Lawyers Guild is the foremost legal bulwark of theCommunist Party, its front organizations, and controlled unions.Since its inception it has never failed to ral ly to the legal defense of theCommunist Party and individual members thereof, including knownespionage agents. It has consistently fought against national, State,and local legislation aimed at curbing the Communist conspiracy.It has been most articulate in its attacks upon a ll agencies of theGovernment seeking to expose or prosecute the subversive activ itiesof the Communist network, including national, State, and local

investigative committees, the Department of Justice, the FBI, andlaw enforcement agencies generally. Through its affiliation with theInternational Association of Democratic Lawyers, an internationalCommunist-front organization, the National Lawyers Guild hasconstituted itself an agent of a foreign principal hostile to the interestsof the United States. It has one far afield to oppose the foreignpolicies of the United States, in ine with the current line of the SovietUnion.

These aims-the real aims of the National Lawyers Guild, asdemonstrated conclusively b its activ ities for the past 13 years ofits existence-are not speci f?ed in its constitution or statement of

avowed purpose. In order to attract non-Communists to serve as acover for its actual purpose as an appendage to the Communist Party,the National Lawyers Guild poses benevolently as “a professionalorganization which shall function as an effective social force in theservice of the people to the end that human rights shall be regardedas more sacred than property rights.” In the entire history of theguild there is no record of its ever having condemned such instances

1

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2 THE NATIONAL LAWYERS GUILD

of the violation of human rights as found in Soviet slave labor campsand in the series of Moscow trials , which shocked the civil ized world.

The National Lawyers Guild was formally organized at a conven-tion held in the Washington Hotel in Washington, D. C., on February

19-22, 1937. National headquarters were established in the Nation’sCapital, where they remain today.Communists publicly hailed the founding of the National Lawyers

Guild. New Masses, a weekly publication of the Communist Party,featured an article entitled “Defense for the Counsel-The Need forthe National Lawyers Guild” in its issue of June 14, 1938 (pp. 19-21).This article, written by Charles Recht, an attorney for the SovietGovernment and a member of the guild, observed that-

With the growth of the American Labor Party in New York, and kindredprogressive move men ts throughout the United States, the lawyers, who in man yof the smaller com mu nities are the nerve cen ters of polit ical activities , will be an

invaluable aid in galvanizing the latent liberal elem ents of the coun try into apolitical force. The National Law yers Guild can and will form one of the m ostimportant adjuncts to a progressive movement representing the interests of theworkers and farmers.

The International Labor Defense, which was cited by formerAttorney General Francis Biddle as “the legal arm of the CommunistParty,” also enthusiastically welcomed the new front, the NationalLawyers Guild. The ILD stated in its 1936-37 yearbook that-

The emerge nce of the National Law yers Guild is regarded by the InternationalLabor Defe nse as a heartening expression of the devotion of thousand s of Am ericanattorney s to the Am erican principle of dem ocracy , and a concrete step on theirpart in the struggle to maintain and enlarge dem ocratic rights (p. 64).

Earl Browder, testifying before the House Committee on Un-American Activ ities on September 6, 1939, in his capacity as generalsecretary of the Communist Party, admitted that the NationalLawyers Guild was a Communist transmission belt.

This has been corroborated by Louis F. Budenz, former member ofthe National Committee of the Communist Party and one-timemanaging editor of its official newspaper, the Daily Worker. Testi-fying before the House Committee on Un-American Activities onApril 3? 1946, Mr. Budenz described the National Lawyers Guild as

a working ally of the Communist Party and stated that members ofthe guild would be under the influence of the party while “officerswould be Communists or fellow travelers.” Testifying again beforethe committee on July 20, 1948, Mr. Budenz said:

In the National Lawyers Guild there is a complete duplicate of the Com mun istParty’s hopes and aspirations in that field, although there are a number of non-Com mun ists in the National Lawyers Guild. In fact some of their lawyerslocally are not Com mu nists, but they play the Com mu mat game either wit t inglyor unwittingly.

INTERCEDES FOR INDIVIDUAL COMM UNISTS

The National Lawyers Guild, as. an organization, has intervened inthe major court cases which have involved individual Communistleaders or offic ials of Communist-front organizations or unions. Inevery instance, the guild has interceded on the Communist side.

The guild submitted a brief amicus curiae in the case of RobertWood, an Oklahoma Communist official who was convicted of criminals ndical ism in that State in 1940.&

When, in the same year, avowedmmunist Ben Gold and other leaders of the Communist-controlled

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THE NATIONAL LAWYERS GUILD 3

Fur and Leather Workers Union were convicted in court of usingterrorism in the labor field, the National Lawyers Guild again appearedas a friend of the court in behalf of the defendants.

A resolution opposing deportation proceedings against CommunistHarry Bridges was adopted by the fifth convention of the National

Lawyers Guild in 1941. The guild also submitted a brief amicuscuriae in the case.

In recent years, the National Lawyers Guild has intervened asamicus curiae on behalf of the following leading Communists:

Gerhart Eis ler, Communist international agent convicted inUnibed States courts of passport fraud and contempt of Congress;

Leon Josephson, Communist att,orney exposed as an officialprocurer of false passports for Communist agents such as GerhartEisler; Josephson was convicted of contempt of Congress;

Carl Aldo Marzani, convicted of concealing Communist affilia-

tions while employed by the United States Government.;John Howard Lawson and Dalton Trumbo, Communist screenwriters from Hollywood convicted of contempt of Congress;

Eugene Dennis, secretary of the Communist Party, U. S. A.,convicted of contempt of Congress.

The National Lawyers Guild also intervened in behalf of-Richard Morford, who as head of the subversive National Coun-

ci l of American-Soviet Friendship was convicted of contempt ofCongress;

George Marshall, head of the now-defunct Communist front,the National Federation for Constitutional Liberties, alsoconvicted of contempt of Congress;

Edward K. Barsky and other officers of the subversive JointAnti-Fascist Refugee Committee, convicted of contempt ofCongress;

Eleven top officials of the Communist Pa,rty, U. S. A. convictedof conspiracy to advocate the overtbrow of the United StatesGovernment by force and violence.

The committee is reproducing below a list of Eational LawyersGuild members who have represented witnesses before the Committeeon Un-American Activities. In each case, the witnesses have refused

to answer questions regarding Communist affil iations propounded bythe committee. In a number of cases espionage activities wereinvolved. It should be noted in this connection that it is standardCommunist practice to accept as attorneys only those who agree toabide by the party’s propaganda and conspirative directives. Casesare known where attorneys who have volunteered their serv ices havebeen summarily rejected because they would not become partners tothe party’s ulterior purposes.

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4 THE NATIONAL LAW YERS GUILD

Attorneys

EMA NU EL H. BLOCA, 270 Broadway, New York, N. ’

M&y BRAVER MAN, 15 South Gay S t ., Ba l t imon

HABOLD CAMD IER, 9 East 40th St . , New York, N. Y

ALBE RT L. COLLO~IS, 170 Broadway, New York, N. .

BAR TLEY CRUM , 598 Madison Ave. , New York, N. ’

MITCHELL A. DUBOW, 705 Knickerbocker Bldg. , Bai tmore, Md.

CLF;PD J. Dnm, 1625 K St , NW., Washingtor

JOSEPH FORER, 1105 K St . NW., Washington, D. C-

lrta OOL LOBIN, 14 41 Broadwa y, New York, N. Y _...

H;o;%f,“^~” 6: O REENBE RO, 1105 K St . NW., Washinl

BE B& & JAFFE, 52 Broadway, New York, N. Y __. .

R~c~I$‘I W. KEN NY, 250 North Hope St . , Los Ange la

CAROL KINK, 220 Broadway, New York, N. Y. __-.

EDWAR D KUNTZ, 207 4th Ave. New York, N. Y--..HAR RY C. LAMBER TON, 1645 ~omect icut Ave. NW

Washington , D. C.

DAN IEL La~mus, 100 5th Ave. , New York, N. Y-. .LEO PRAEO EB, 401 Broadway, New York, N. Y. . -DAVID REIN, 1105 K St . NW., Washington, D. C--

DAVID SCBIBN ER, 11 East 51st St . , New York, N. Y

Witnesses

MarionBschrach...~ .............Steve Ne lson.. ........ .._ .........

____do.. ...... _ ..................._ .. do.. ...........................Ma rcel Scherer ._..._ ..............Addie Rosen.. ....................Wil l ia m Rosen .___. . . . .. . . .. . . .. . ..-.-do __ ..........................John J. Abt .......................-.-do _... -.--...-..--.Charles ~amer.~.......~.........LeePressman.....--.----.-.--.-..Eliza be th Sasuly....--.-..- ._._...Na than Witt _ ___ .-.--_-_-_.-----._.__ do ..__.__ --.--.-.-..-_-_.-__--.Claren ceF. Hiskey . . . . --.-..-.-...._. do .._.. -..-..-.--.-- -_-_._-Marcia San d (Hiskey). . . . ._.._._.Lester Co le _........ -..- .._. ~._--.

Edwa rd Dmytryk.. . ._... . .__._.Rin g Lardn er, Jr . . . . _. _.. ..-..John Howa rd Lawson.. . . . . .Sam uel Omitz.. . . .__.. ._... . ._..Adria nSc ott- ..;_..... -.- -..-.DaltonTrumbo...~...... -.-..Mau rice Brave rman . ---...-.-

John And erson- ... .._........Rose And erso n . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . --.David Joseoh Boh m --.-.-.-..-.--do.-mm .: -.-_~ _...........Irving Da vid Fox .__._ -_----.-.-..Mary Jam Keene y... -.-. .._. . doem_.... . .._____ -_.-- . . ._____ _Phi l ip 0. Keeney. _.__._. . .___.__Ken Max Manfred ... .. : , . . . ._. -._-Frank F. Oppe nheimer-. . . ._____ _Jacquenette Oppenheimer...~... . .Bells Rod man .. _.- . . . . . . . . .___ --.Sam uel J . Rodm an _._. - .- ._._____.Toma Babin. . . . . ._____ __. . . . -___P. L. James Brancs.~.....~.~.....Louise Berman (Bran&en) ______ .____do .___... . .__. -.-- . .__I ____ __..Maurice Braverman--- __.__. -__-.Hams Eisler . .__. .- ____ _._. . .___.Margaret 0. Hinckley ____ _..____Will ia m W. Hinckley~.~... .. . _.__Alexander Koral..._ -.-..--.-.-.__Elsa K. Mil le r _.__ ---- ___ __ -----.Ti l la Mino witz _.___ --- . . . . ._ . ._.HelenTravis __.__ ___ -_-..- ._._. -. .Charles Kramer.- __.___ .____ .__..Victor Perlo.-.-.-.-..-......-.--..Hanm Eisler.-._----..-..---.-..-.

Abrah am Qeorge Silverman .... .. .. . ._ do ____ ... . .__. -_..- ___ ____ __ ..Herbert Biberman _______ ________ _.Lester Cole _____. ._.__________ ____Edward Dmytryk .____________ ._.Ring Lardner, Jr _______ ________ __.John Howard Lawson ________ ___ .Samuel Omi t2 ________.__________.Adrian Scot t ______.________ _____-.Da l ton Trumbo ___________________Gerha rt. Eisler- _ _-. ..-~. . ..- .___ __Alex and er Steven s (J. Peters)---.Sa mu el Liptzen.---. . .-.Henry H. Coll ins. . ._... ._._.

Eug ene Denn is ..__... -. .AlexanderKoral--.--..-.-.-.-.--.Frank Hashm all~... .. . .~~. .____ _.Charlotte Oram.. -__- _.___ __.Nathan Gregory Silvermaster-.--.Wi l l i am Ludwig Ul lmam. . _____Jul ius Emspak ______________. . . .__James Mat les .____________________Esther M. Tic&---- ___ __ ___ ____ _Robert 0. Whisner _______ __ ______

Dates of

Dec. 14,1948Sept . 14,1948

Apr. 26.1949June 8,1949June 21,195OSept . 8.1948Aug. 26.1948Sept . 9,194SAug. 20.1948Sept t iol , 1950

Aug. 20.1948July 12,1949Aug. 20,194SSept . 1,195OSept . 9,194SMay 24,194QSept . 9,1948act. 30,1 ?47

Oct. 29,1947act. 30,1947Oct. 27,1947

octD? 1947Oct. 28.1947Sept . 9,1948

June 29,1949June 28,1949May 25,194QJune lo,1949Sept . 27,194QMay 24,1949June 9,1949

DO.Sept . 14,1949June 14.1949

DO.’June 28,1949July 28.1949May 27,1949June 29,1Q49Sept . 20,194sNov. 7,1949Sept . 9.1948Sept . Z&l947June 8,1950

DO.Aug. 9 ,194SJulYDo”, 1949

Aug. 3i ) , l950Aug. 12,194sAug. 91948Sept . 24,1947

Aug. 12,1948Aug. 31,195Ooet . 29,1947

g;; yg;

g$ 3p;

oet : $1947

oet . “% 1947Feb. 6: 1947Aug. 30,194sMar. 5,1947Aug. 11,194s

Apr. 9.1947Aug. 9 ,194SJuly 14,195oJune zS, lSaQ

2: l iE i

Decbo58 194QJuly l&1950Aug. lo,1949

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THE NATIONAL LAWYER S GUILD 5

The committee does not dispute the right of witnesses appearingbefore it to have the benefit of counsel. However, the committeebelieves that the attorneys mentioned above knowingly or unknow-ingly function under a directive issued by the Central Control Com-

mission of the Communist Party which prohibits its members fromcooperating with the committee when subpenaed before it. Cases areknown where persons subpenaed before the committee indicated awillingness to cooperate with the committee, but when these personsconsulted certain of the attorneys listed above they refused to answerquestions put to them by the committee.

CO NTE MP T FO R A ME RI CA N CO URTS

The real nature of the guild’s philosophy comes into sharp focusduring court procedures. Almost without exception, its leading

members, despite their oath as lawyers to uphold the dignity of thecourt and respect the constitutional mores of jurisprudence, seek tobring the courts and its procedures into disrepute. They substituteinsult for argument, resort to intimidation of judges by picket lines,parades, and personal abuse. In other words, these leaders of theNational Lawyers Guild have followed standard Cummunist practicewhich provides that-

A Co m mu nist m ust util ize a polit ical trial to help on the revolutionary struggle.Our tactic s in the public proceedings of the law cour ts are not tac tics of defensebut of at tack. Without cl inging to legal formali t ies, the Com mun ist mu st usethe trial as a me ans of bringing his indictm ents against the dom inant capitalist

regime and of courageous ly voicing the view s of his party (Johannes Buchne r,The Agent Provocateur in the Labour hlovem ent, Wo rkers Library Publishers,New York, pp. 51-52).

Federal Judge Harold Medina, in citing for contempt the attorneyswho defended the 11 Communists convicted in New York of advocatingthe overthrow of the United States Government by force and violence,noted the frequent, and deliberate efforts on the part of the guildattorneys to inject Communist propaganda into the trial. Medinahanded down sentences of contempt of court to the following attorneysfor the Communists, all of whom are members of the National LawyersGuild: Richard Gladstein, 6 months; George Crockett, 4 months;Maurice Sugar, 30 days; Louis McCabe, 4 months; Abraham Isserman,4 months; Harry Sacher, 6 months.

Abraham L. Pomerantz, a member of the guild, appeared as defenseattorney for Valentin Gubitchev, a Russian charged with spyingagainst the United States. Pomerantz based most of his questions onnotes passed to him by a representative of the Soviet Embassy, seatedat his side during the trial. The Russian official, an agent of theNKVD (Soviet secret police) named Novikoff, literally stage-managedthe Gubitchev defense, a procedure without precedent in UnitedStates court history.

Not only has the behavior of guild attorneys been noted offic ially byseveral Federal judges, but the American Bar Association in 1949received from its board of governors a recommendation that theAmerican Bar Association bar from membership any person holdingmembership in the National Lawyers Guild. The action was basedon the grounds that guild lawyers held beliefs “incompatible withmembership in the American Bar Association.”

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6 THE NATIONAL LAWYEYRS GUILD

ATTACKS ON THE FBI

Any action on le ‘slative or executive levels of the Governmentwhich tends to inter ere with the Communist fifth-column operationsin this country is

P

uaranteed to evoke a vicious campaign of opposition

from the Nationa Lawyers Guild.A strik ing example is the present attack by the guild on the Federal

Bureau of Investigatio?, echoing the current line of the Daily Workerand Moscow. The gmld today is crying for an investigation of theFBI, the vigilant guardian of our national security, on the ridicu lousgrounds that it is a “gestapo” or “pol itical police” whose-

practices and policies * * * violate our law s, infringe our liberties, andthreaten our dem ocracy.

This attack was timed simultaneously with the tactics employed bythe defense in the espionage case involving Judith Coplon.

This campaign is simply an intensification of a long-standing guildeffort to discredit and vitiate the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Atits fifth annual convention in 1941, the guild also took action opposing“the gestapo activities of the Federal Bureau of Investigation.” Atthat time, the guild called for removal of FBI Director J. EdgarHoover, demanded that Congress reduce the FBI appropriation, andregistered opposition to a-

pending appropriation bill to allot that Bureau $100,000 for the investigation ofso-called subversive act iv it ies of Government employees (Lawyers Guild Review ,June 1941, p. 66).

J. Edgar Hoover, testifying on February 7, 1950 before a SenateSubcommittee on Appropriations, noted that the National LawyersGuild has vociferously denounced the FBI s ince 1940. Mr. Hooverquoted a guild member as having stated the following at a meet,ing ofthis front organization in 1940:

I f we keep up the constant cr i t ic ism of the FBI and of Hoover, and if thiscriticism is syste ma tically kept up and followed all the time , particularly byorganizations, i t can and it wil l weaken the power of the FBI and hamper themvery effect ively.

There is no doubt in the opinion of the committee that the National

Lawyers Guild attacks on the Federal Bureau of Investigation arepart of an over-a ll Communist strategy aimed at weakening ourNation’s defenses against the international Communist conspiracy.

The propaganda disseminated b the guild regarding the FBI is aduplicate of the line put out by YMoscow, as demonstrated by thefollowing broadcast by the Soviet Home Service short-wave network,dated February 7, 1950:

.FBI CENTER OF ACTIVIT IES

The center of the police terror organization of the United State s is the notoriousFB I. This inst i tut ion was founded in 1908. From the day of i fs foundationthe FB I becam e the jailer of the population. The head of this organization isresponsible to the United State s President and keeps him informed of future plansand results of past act iv ity. The true bosses of the FB I, however, are the 60families of Am erican millionaires. All of the activities of the FB I as well as therest of the United States Government are directed toward the defense of theinterests of these actual rulers of modern Am erica.

The FB I has been t.urned into an organization for intimidating the UnitedStates man in the street by means of al l forms of v iolence, blackmail, terror, andother police measures. The monopoly press know s no l imit to i ts praise of theFB I, which was some t ime ago pronounced by the UP to be “ the greatest nat ional

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institution of the United States .” The FB I budget grows yearly. In 1949 itwas a lmost * * * dollars. To this m ust be added the so-called special fundsallocated by the President and the Governm ent and the generous and certainlynot insignificant presents from the monopolies who wish to develop stil l furtherthe regime of police terror with a view to the final subjugation of the Americanpeople.

SUPPRESSIO N OF PROGRESSIVE8

At a time when the United States is the ma instay of the greatest imperialistoffensive , the FB I has openly becom e the tool of hysterical, imperialist reactiondetermined to suppress all progressive thought in the coun try. The kings ofWall Street, the FBT , and the United States Department of Just. ice act in closeconta ct with the ultrareactionary Com mittee for the Investigation of Un-Am ericanActivit ies.

The attitude of the National Lawyers Guild and the Moscowbroadcasts bears a striking resemblance to the following editorial ofthe Daily Worker of June 13, 1950, page 7:

ALIBI FOR STOOL PIQEONS

America’s No. 1 lawbreaker, J. Edgar Hoover, wants more stool pigeons.His private police mach ine gets bigger and bigger every year. This govern-

me nt within the governm ent taps phones il legally, opens private mail i l legally,and infests Am erican life with criminal perjurors. As it grow s, it devours wha t isleft of the United States Con stitution. No secre t political police can ever bejustif ied on the basis of the Am erican Con stitution. This police ma kes its ownlaws and its own rules and operates w ith its own definitions of “disloyalty” and“subversion.”

* * * * * * *The boss of th is imitat ion-Gestapo now wants more money from Congress for

more secret stoolies. Naturally, he can only get his dough if he drum s up a

picture of the terr ib le menace we face from the “Com munists.” The FBI’s“thought control” boss hints that there are 540,000 Americans he would like toput in jail. He say s they are “operative* ” who are just crawling all over J.Edgar Hoove r looking for our “secre ts.”

**

AGAINST LOYALTY PROGRAM

The National Lawyers Guild has also conducted a malicious cam-paign against the loyalty program, which was inaugurated underExecut ive Order 9835, on March 21, 1947, in the executive branch ofthe Government, to rid the Government of subversive and disloyalemployees.

Resolutions attacking the loyalty program as illegal and demandingthat the courts declare it unconstitutional were adopted at the na-tional convention of the guild held in New York City in May 1950.At a public forum held under guild auspices on February 11, 1948, theloyalty program was attacked as a thought-control measure.

The guild’s opposition to the lo23-page report entitled

alty program was compiled into a“The onstitutional Right to Advocate

Polit ical, Social, and Economic Changes-An Essential of Democ-

racy ” which was sent t.o Government officials, Members of Congress,the ludiciary, the bar, labor and civic organizations. The conclusion

of this report charged that “our citizens are denied the right to advo-cate fundamental social, economic, and political change.”The guild has denounced the Attorney General’s listing of sub-

versive organizations to be used in the Federal loyalty program as amenace to the liberty of the American people. The Guild’s committeeon constitutional rights and liberties has issued a report on the legalityof the action of the Attorney General of the United States in issuing

H.Rept. 3123,81-L-2

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8 THE NATIONAL LAWPE’RS GUILD

a listing of organizations as subversive pursuant to the President’sloyalty order, in which it urged revocation and cancellation of the list.

OPPOSES LEGISLATIVE ACTION ON COM MU NISM

Any legislation which would curb t.he activ ities of Communists,regardless of the importance of such legislation to our national security,is faced with bitter opposition from the National Lawyers Guild.

At its fist convention, the guild opposed statutes providing thatteachers take a loyalty oath or those “making criminal advocacy of ormembership in any polit ical party” (Daily Worker, February 23, 1937,p. 5). The latter was directed against pending legislation againstcriminal syndicalism, affecting the legal status of the CommunistParty in various States.

It has opposed legislation directed against the Communist Party,Voorhls registration bill , H. R. 1054; the Tenney law in Californiabarring the Communist Party from the ballot (Lawyers Guild Review,June 1941, p. 66; Daily Worker, May 18, 1942, p. 5).

The National Lawyers Guild denounced the anti-Communist pro-visions of the Taft-Hartle law on the ground that i t was unconstitu-tional. Leonard B. Bou in, chairman of the labor law committee ofTthe National Lawyers Guild, testified before a labor subcommittee ofthe House of Representatives concerning the non-Communist affidavitof the Taft-Hartley bill . At that time, Mr. Boudin stated that thenon-Communist affidavit was an insult to the American workerbecause Congress thereby told the workers they were nof‘wise enough

to manage their own affairs.On May 7,1948, the National Lawyers Guild denounced the Mundt-

Nixon bill to control subversive activities. In commenting on theMundt-Nixon bill , the Lawyers Guild Review, bimonthly publicationof the National Lawyers Guild, made the following statement:

It wou ld be a costly error to treat this measu re as merely another unwise legis-lative proposal to be analyzed and then routinely disapproved. W e believe it isfar more than that. I ts concepts are so hostile to our democratic wav of l i fe thatits enactm ent into law would amo unt to nothing less than a coup d’6tat in con-stitutional guise.

The parallel between the above opinion and that of Simon W. Ger-son, who represented the Communist Party, U. S. A., before the Com-mittee on Un-American Act ivit ies on May 2, 1950, is striking. Wequote his comment in part:

Any bill which see ks such objectives will nece ssarily do force and violence to theAm erican Con stitution and the Bill of Righ ts. Let us therefore understand theissue clear ly: The United States can have the Constitut ion or i t can have theMun dt-Nixon bill. It can’t have both.

On May 2, 1950, Harry C. Lamberton, representing the NationalLawyers Guild, testified before the Committee on Un-AmericanActivities against the Nixon bil l (H. R. 7595).

In the July- 14, 1949, fissue] of rthe jDaily IWorker, “the ‘NationalLawyers Guild was reported a$ urging the defeat of the Govern-ment’s bil l to fix heavierypenaltles4for unlawful ‘possession of secretdocuments, as referred to in the Foreign Agents Registration Act,and to lengthen the statute of limitations on prosecution of peacetimespies.

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TRE NATIONAL LAWPERS GUILD 9

The autumn 1949 issue of The Guild Lawyer listed the following ashighlights of the guild ’s act ivities:

(a) Opposition to S. 595 and H. R. 4703 (internal secu rity bill) a s written , andurging drastic revisions to conform to constitutional guaranties;

(b) Opposition to S. 1694 and S. 1832, giving Attorney General authority to

deport aliens associate d with or aiding groups which he finds (without standards orhearings) are “subversive of ‘Com mu nist’ controlled”;

(c) Opposition to H. R. 1002 to require labeling, as issued by a “Com mu nist-frontorganization,” of anything mailed by a group which engages in activity which it isreasonable to believe is intended to further the objective of establishing here aCom mu nist government or economic syste m, or i f the group is “under Com mun istcontrol or influence”.

The National Lawyers Guild has submitted a brief amicus curiaein an attempt to obtain a Supreme Court reversal of Maryland’s Oberlaw which outlaws all organizations advocating the overthrow of theGovernment of the United States or of the State of Maryland (The

Guild Lawyer, spring, 1950, p. 7).At its tenth national convention in New York in May 1950, the

guild demanded a repeal of the “advocacy sections” of the SmithAct, under which the 11 top Communist offic ials in the United Stateswere convicted (Daily Compass, May 8, 1950, p. 5).

AGAINST COMM ITTEES INVESTIGATING SUBVERSIVEACTIVITIES

Not only has the guild opposed legislation directed against theCommunist Party, but it has also fought every committee which has

been effective in exposing Communist activ ity.The guild has opposed the Rapp-Coudert committee investigating

subversive activities in the public school system of New York City,for example. It has also opposed the York committee investigatingsubversive activities among State employees of California; the Elhscommittee investigating subversive activities in the New York Civ ilService; and the Special Committee on Un-American Activi ties,predecessor of the present House Committee on Un-AmericanActivities.

Abolition of the present Committee on Un-American Activ ities is

called for by the National Lawyers Guild. A resolution to this effectwas adopted at the guild’s ninth national convention held in Detroit,Mich., in February 1949. Typical of the guild propaganda regardingthe Committee on Un-American Activ ities is the following statementin January 1948 by the then Guild President Robert Kenny:

For vears I have been saying t.hat i t was my opinion that the Un-AmericanActiv it ies Com mittee had no foundation in law, had no power to compel dis-closures , and that their procedures were improper.

It would appear that the guild is not so much concerned overalleged violations of “democratic processes” as it is over the possible

exposure of the Communist fifth column.In this connection, it might be recalled that in 1940 the SpecialCommit tee on Un-American Activ ities conducted investigations whichled to the exposure of wholesale fraud and corruption in CommunistParty election petitions in many States. More than 100 indictmentsand between 50 and 60 convictions resulted from this investigation.The National Lawyers Guild, however, addressed a communication

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10 THE NATIONAL LAWY ERS GUILD

to the Attorney General of the United States suggesting an injunctionagainst the committee to restrain it from investigating the petitionfrauds.

Such obst’ructionist tactics are a regular part of guild procedure

whenever an investigation of communism is concerned.

FOLLOWING THE COMMUNIST PART Y LINE

The National Lawyers Guild has faithfully followed the CommunistParty line throughout its existence.

In the mid-1930’s when the Communist line called for collectivesecurity against the Fascist aggressors, the National Lawyers Guilddutifully called for the repeal of the existing Neutrality Act (LawyersGuild Quarterly, June 1938, p. 255) and opposed shipments of ammu-nition to Germany (ibid., September 1938, p. 304).

A cris is arose in this Communist front in February 1939 when non-Communist liberals who had been ensnared into the guild demandedthat guild resolutions include condemnation of communism as well asnazism and fascism. To avoid a mass exodus of these liberals, theCommunist behind-the-scenes leaders in the guild temporized andpermitted a resolut.ion to pass which opposed communism. Shortlythereafter, the Hitler-Sta lin pact was signed and the conflic t betweenthe Communists and the non-Communists in the guild increased.The conflict was resolved in favor of the Communists when the June1940 guild convention resulted in the election of the fellow-traveler,

Robert W. Kenny, as guild president, and numerous other officers of thesame ilk. During this controversy it was announced for the first time,on June S, 1940, that the executive board had adopted in December 1939a resolution against the Soviet attack on Finland. But the guild didnot again buck the party line during the Stalin-Hitler pact. In fact,until the end of the pact in June 1941, the guild actually aided theNazi-Communist alliance with thinly veiled attacks on United Stateslegislation dealing with conscription and antisabotage measures.

YWhen the cr is is in the National Lawyers Guild was resolved duringthe St.alin-Hit ler pact in favor of the Communists in the guild, non-Communists resigned en masse. In many instances, these non-Communists publicly repudiated the guild as being a Communistorganization. Typical of t*heir comments are the following:I* From a letter of resignation of Nathan B. Margold, Solicitor forthe Department of the Interior, dated May 29, 1940:

In recent elections for delegates from the District of Colum bia to the 1940

convention of the Nationa l Lawyers Guild, a group of candidates stood on a plat-

form of unequivocal opposition to nazism, communism, fascism, and other move-ments which similarly reject the principles of free press, free speech, fre edom of

assembly, right of religious worship, and fair trials. These candidates understood,

if elected as delegates, to cast their votes at the 1940 convent.ion for nationa l offi-cers of the guild who share their views. Of the 20 candidates who stood on this

platform, 14 were defeated.

A. A. Berle, Jr., Assistant Secretary of State, resigned with thefollowing statement:

The Kation al Lawyers Guild was formed in the hope that expression might be

given to the liberal sentiment in the American bar.

It is now obvious that the present manag ement of the guild is not prepared to

take any stand which conflicts with the Commu nist Party line. Under thesecircumstances, and in company., I think, with the most progressive lawyers, I have

no further interest in it (Washmgton Times-Herald, June 5, 1940).

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Attorney General Robert H. Jackson had resigned the previousweek. Charles Poletti, Lieutenant Governor of New York State,resigned because he understood some members of the guild were “moreinterested in communism than anything else” (New York Times,June 26, 1940, p. 14).

Paul R. Hays, a prominent New York attorney, summarized thesituation as follows in his letter of May 21, 1940, to Prof. Herman A.Gray, which was circularized among members of the New Yorkchapter:

My experience, and the experience of many others (including the present

nationa l and New York chapter presidents), who have been similarly active in

the guild and other liberal organizations, has led us to the conclusion that thepresence of Communists in policy-making positions in such organizations inevi-

tably results in deflection of the organizations froin the liberal ends which they

were set, up to achieve. This is true because Comm unists are devoted t,o achiev-ing the ends of another organization whose purposes are illibe ral and at variance

with the purposes of such organizations as the guild.With Germany’s attack on the Soviet Union on June 22, 1941, the

Communist Party line changed immediately. The war ceased beingimperialist ic in the eyes of the Communists, and the National LawyersGuild suddenly took a similar view of the situation. On October 4,1941, the guild adopted the following resolution:

The Nationa l Lawyers Guild accordingly gives its unlim ited support. t,o all

measures necessary to the defea t of Hitler ism and to the present Rooseveltpolicy of “all out aid” to and full collaboration with Great Britain, the Poveit

Union, China, and other nations resisting Fascist aggression and to all further

steps necessary for the milit ary defea t of Hitler ism (Lawyers Guil d Review ,

October 1941).

This meeting also urged the repeal of the Neutrality Act.The end of World War II introduced a new Communist Party line

which is one of extreme hostil ity to the United States Governmentand all of its defense efforts against the postwar aggressions of theSoviet Union. The present policy of the National Lawyers Guildcoincides with this new line almost completely. The guild opposesour military training programs and other internal security measures,and it condemns the entire European recovery program and NorthAtlantic Pact which are Stalin’s chief anathema on theEuropean

front. The guild views as “democracies” the new Communist -satellite governments in eastern Europe, and encourages the Com-munist revolutionary movements in Korea, Indonesia, and China.The guild is demanding United States Government recognition of theRed regime in China. Al l of these viewpoints are also found in theDaily Worker, official organ of the Communist Party in this country.

There is some evidence to indicate, however, that in recent monthsa split may be again developing in the membership of the NationalLawyers Guild. This time, in contrast to the cr isis of 1940, the splitis rather between those pro-Communists who support Stalin only,and those on the other hand who want to support Stalin and Titoand call for a united front between the two dictators.

At the tenth national convention of the guild held in New YorkCity in May 1950, a resolution was adopted reversing the action of twoguild delegates who voted at Rome to expel the Yugoslav delegate8from the International Association of Democratic Lawyers. Thelatter organization is an international Communist-front for lawyers,

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At the time of its inception, Isadore Polier was executive director,Carol King was secretary, and Joseph Kover editor of the InternationalJuridical Association’s monthly bulletin. An examination of thebulletin reveals consistent support of Communist legal cases during its

entire career.In fact, the New York City Council Committee Investigating theMunicipal Civ il Service Committee in 1940 and 1941 declared:

The bulletins of the International Juridical Asso ciation from its very inceptionshow that i t is devoted to the defense of the Com mun ist Party, Com mu nists, andradical agitators and that it is not limit,ed me rely to legal research but to sharpcr it ic ism of exist ing governmental agencies and defense of subversive groups.

The International Jurid ical Association quietly disappeared,fromthe American scene in the early 1940’s.

In 1942, the IJA Monthly Bulletin, a publication of the Interna-tional Juridical Association, was combined with the Lawyers Guild

Review, an official organ of the National Lawyers Guild. The Decem-ber 1942 issue of the IJA Monthly Bulletin, in announcing the merger,indicated that the opportunity for joining forces with the NationalLawyers Guild would “greatly widen the area of our influence.”It was also announced that writers for the IJA Monthly Bulletinwho remained available would go to the board of editors of the LawyersGuild Review and take primary responsibility for the material in theIJA section of the Review.

INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF DEMO CRATIC LAWYERS

The current international Communist front for attorneys is knownas the International Association of Democratic Lawyers. Thisorganization is sometimes referred to as the International Associationof Democratic Jurists.

The idea for the International Association of Democratic Lawyerswas conceived during the Nuremberg trials as a threat to all thoseconsidered as “war criminals” by Soviet militarists. The first congressmet in October 1946 with some 15 countries represented.

The National Lawyers Guild immediately affiliated with the newinternational front and sent representatives to the first congress in

1946.Communist leaders in the United States, recently convicted on

conspiracy to advocate overthrow of the Government by force andviolence, are being vigorously defended by the International Associa-tion of Democratic Lawyers.

At the close of its third congress., held in Prague, Czechoslovakift,in September 1948, the International Association of DemocraticLawyers voted to send 25 attorneys to observe the trial of the afore-mentioned Communist leaders in New York. This proposal wasmade by Martin Popper, American representative. A resolution

was also unanimously adopted expressing “grave concern over theindictment of the American Communist leaders in New York.”

The fourth congress of the International Association of DemocraticLawyers met in Rome in October-November 1949, with 30 affiliatenational sections. According to the autumn 1949 issue of The GuildLawyer, quarterly publication of the National Lawyers Guild,Executive Secretary Robert J. Silberstein, and William L. Standard,a member of the guild’s national executive board, were sent as guildrepresentatives to the fourth congress.

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14 THE NATIONAL LAWYFJtS GUILD

The following national sections were represented in the congressby their delegations : Albania, Argentina, Austria, French BlackAfrica, Belgium, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, Egypt, France, Germany,Great Britain, Holland, Hungary, Italy, Iraq, Iran, Luxemburg,

Poland, Rumania, Republican Spain, Soviet Union, Switzerland,Syria, Tunisia, and the U. S. A. The theme of the fourth congresswas “law in the service of peace,” in line with the current “peaceoffensive” of the international Communist apparatus.

The following were among the resolutions which were adopted:(1) The Resolution on the Necessity of Respect for International

Agreements expressed the view that lawyers have the duty to condemnactions which violate international engagements and especially whentheir own governments are involved. The resolution offered nocrit icism of Soviet policy but insisted that the North Atlantic Pact,which is supported by the United States, is irreconcilable with the

Charter of the United Nations.(2) Resolution asserting that the prosecution of the leaders of the

Communist Party in the U. S. A. is in violation of articles 19 and 20of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights of the United Nations.An appeal along this line was then made to UN Secretary GeneralTrygve Lie.

(3) Resolution protesting strongly the prison sentences for contemptmeted out to the attorneys for the Communist leaders in the UnitedStates.

(4) Clearly intended as a measure of support for Communist insur-

rections in colonial areas, the Resolution on Dependent Countriesdeclared that the actual independence of these countries can onlachieved by national liberation struggle in alliance with the peop e of

be

the exploiting country and the progressives of all countries. In Com-munist jargon all efforts to subvert democratic countries are referred ’to as “liberation struggles.” Russia is always the liberator while theU. S. A. is considered the exploiter. The resolution intended to en-courage rebellion in the home country is support of Communist up-risings. The meeting also created a permanent Commission on theColonial, Semicolonial, and Dependent Countries.

Commenting on the afore-mentioned convention, The Guild Lawyerof Autumn 1949 stated that the convention “marked a significantthan e in the strength and influence of the progressive lawyers of theworl .”f

Reflectin the current line of Moscow and the Cominform in itsdispute wit % Marshal Tito, the Association of Democratic Lawyersvoted to expel the Yuported by Robert J. Si l

oslavian delegates.%

This proposal was sup-erstein, American delegate.

The proceedings of the Association of Democratic Lawyers wereconsidered of sufficient importance to warrant a report by SovietDelegate Eir

Relations wit

in in May 1949 before the Soviet Society for Cultural

% Foreign Countries, the Soviet equivalent of the NazisLeague for Germandom in Foreign Countries. This was made thesubject of a Moscow broadcast on May 11, 1949. In conformancewith the current Soviet “peace offensive,” Kirgin urged democraticlawyers to intensify their fight against war propaganda. He statedthat upon the Soviet delegate’s in itiative, a resolution was passed bythe AODL to identify war criminals and publish their names. Theorganization has not as yet published the names of those responsiblefor the assault upon the peaceful South Eorean Republic.

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THE NATIONAL LAWY E’FtS GUILD 17

Mr. Silberstein’s connections with the guild date from its earliest days.The files of the committee disclose that Mr. Silberstein is the signerof a public statement defending the Communist Party and that he hasassociated with such subversive organizations as the International

Workers Order, Committee for Citizenship Rights, Lawyers Com-mittee on ,4merican Relations with Spain, and Progressive Committeeto Rebuild the American Labor Party.

Clifford J. Durr, 1949 hcnd of the guild, who hns a’ppeared beforethe Committee on Un-American Activi ties representing clients whodeclined to answer questions as to Communist affiliations on thegrounds of self-incrimination, in August of 1948 attended the WorldCongress of Jntellectuals for Peace behind the iron curtain, at Wro-claw, Poland. In May of 1948, Durr, in a speech before the Federa-tion of American Scientists, charged that United States scientists areforced to “work in an atmosphere of corrosive fear.”to the disclosure regardin

This was prior

Fuchs.g the spying of the British atom spy, Klaus

Durr sponsored n, committee to defeat the Mundt-Ferguson Com-munist control bill.the Constitution.”

He charges that the “loyalty program is above

Durr presently serves as a vice president of the guild.The 1950 vice presidents of the National Lawyers Guild include

the following other individuals with significant records of associat ionswith Communist enterprises:

Osmond Fraenkel: Associated with Consumers National Federation,

American Labor Party, National Committee for the Defense ofPolitical Prisoners, American Student Union, Consumers Union,American League Against War and Fascism, New York Tom MooneyCommittee, National Emergency Conference for Democrittic Rights,International Juridical Association, National Committee for People’sRights, Medical Bureau and North American Committee To AidSpanish Democracy, Greater New York Emergency Conference onInalienable Rights, Film dudiences for Democracy, Films for Democ-racy, Coordinating Committee To Lift t,he Embargo, Citizens Com-mittee To Free Earl Browder, School for Democracy.

Louis F. McCabe: Associated with Philadelphia School of Socia lScience and Art, National Federation for Constitutional Liberties,Civil Rights Congress, American League for Peace and Democracy,Joint Anti-Fascist Refugee Committee, North American CommitteeTo Aid Spanish Democracy, National Council of the Arts, Sciencesand Professions, American Committee for Protection of Foreign Born,International Labor Defense, National Emergency Conference forDemocratic Rights, International Juridical Association, AmericanStudent Union.

Bartley C. Crum: Associated with California Labor School, Nat,ionalCommittee To Win the Peace, National Federation for ConstitutionalLiberties, Veterans of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade, Joint Anti-Fascist Refugee Committee, American-Russian Institute, AmericanSlav Congress, American Youth for Democracy, American Committeefor Spanish Freedom.

Richard Gladstein: Associated with the Civ il Rights Congress. Mr.Gladstein sent Labor Day greetiugs to the People’s Daily World,west coast organ of the Communist Party, in 1947, and sent May Daygreetings to the same subversive newspaper in the present year.Mr. Gladstein was one of the attorneys who were sentenced to jai l

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18 THE NATIONAL LAVYER S GUILD

for contempt of court as a result of their abusive attitudes whiledefending the 11 Communist leaders recently convicted in New York.

OFFICERS OF THE NATIONAL LAWYERS GUILD

(As of December 1949)

President Executive board members-Continued

Clif ford J. Durr, Washington, D. C.

Ezecutive secretary

Robert J. Si lberstein, Washington, D. C.

Treasurer

Nathan B. Kogan, New York City

Vice presidents

Bart ley C. Crum , San FranciscoPr;:ho:romas I. Emerson, Yale Law

Osmond K. Fraenke , New York CityMitchell Franklin, Ne w OrleansElmer Gertz ChicagoCharles H. Houston, Washington, D. C.

[deceased]0. John Rogge, Ne w York CityHon. Ira W . Jayne, Detroit , presiding

t.‘udge, Circuit Court, Wayne County,

rchDaniel G. Ma rshall, Los AngelesLouis F. Mc Ca be. PhiladelphiaMart in Popper, New York City

Executive board members

Baltimore:I . Duke AvnctDonald Murray

Cedar Rap ids, Iow a: Allan HealdChicago:

Paul G. AnnesEarl B . Dickerso nIrv ing H. F lammSolomon JesmerSidney A. Jones, Jr .John LigtenbergDavid B. RothsteinGeorge L. SiegelEuclid L. TaylorRichard F. W attEugene CottonNelson WilliaHarry L. Diehl

Cleveland:Hon. Lewis DruckerElsie TarcaiHersche l G. HollandCharles M. GoodwinAllen Madorski

Denver: Samuel D. MeninDetroit :

Alan N. BrownAlvin DavenportJames Montante

Detroit-ContinuedWalter M. NelsonPatr ick S. NertneyHon. Patr ick H. O’BrienNedwin L. SmoklerMaurice SugarHon. Henry S. SweeneyG. Leslie Field

Los Angeles-Hollywood:

Robert W . KennyClore WarneJohn T. McTernanGeorge Slaff

Hope, Ark.: George Patr ick CaseyHouston, Tex.: Herman W rightLima, Ohio: Elmer McClainNew York Ci ty :

Benjamin .4lgaseLeonard B. BoudinLouis BoudinJoseph H. CrownHon. Hubert T. Delaney

Bernard D. FischmanAlbert C . GilbertCarol KingLeo J. LinderThuraood MarshallPaul ‘G’DwverMilton PaulsonMarian Wynn PerryLee PressmanPaul L. Ros sHarry SacherHon. Nathan R. SobelWilliam L. Standard

Abraham UngerBenedict WolfArthur G. Silverman

Philadelphia: Saul C . Waldba umPittsburgh: Hym an SchlesingerSt. Louis: Victor B. HarrisSan Francisco:

J. Bruce Frat isGeorge G. Olshausen

Sea ttle: John CaughlanWashington, D. C. :

George M. JohnsonDonald M . Murtha

David ReinHerbert S. Thatche rBelford V. Lawson, Jr .

Bosto n: Arthur L. BrownYoungstown, Ohio: John F. Kicak

Miam i: Harold TannenStudent division:

Mart in Tucker, CambridgeRobe rt Silverstein, ChicagoSamuel Rosenberg, New York Ci tY

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THE NATIONAL LAWYERS GUILD

OFFICERS OF THE NATIONAL LAWYERS GUILD

(As of Ma y 1950)

19

President Executive board-Continued

Thom as I. Eme rson, Yale University

Executive secretary

Robert J . Si lberstein, Washington, D. C.

Treasurer

Nathan B. Kogan, New York

T ice presidents

Clif ford J. Durr, W ashington, D. C.Osmond Fraenkel, New York City

Bart ley Crum , San FranciscoLouis McCabe, PhiladelphiaRichard Gladstein, San Franc iscoEarl B. Dickerson, ChicagoVictor B. Harris, St. LouisGeorge Slaff, Lo s AngelesHenry Weihofen, New MexicoMart in Popper, New York CityHon. Ira W. Jayne, DetroitElmer Gertz, ChicagoMitche ll Franklin Ne w Orleans0. John Rogge, N ew York City

Executive board

Benjamin Algase, New York CityPaul G. Annes, ChicagoI. Duke Avnet, Balt imoreLeonard B. Boudin, New York CityAlan Brown DetroitGeorge Patr ick Case y, ArkansasJohn Caughlin, SeattleEugene Cotton, ChicagoJoseph H. Crown, New York Ci tyElv in A . Davenport, DetroitHon. Hubert D. Delany, New York CityEarl B. Dickerson, ChicagoHarry Diehl, Gibson Cit y, Ill.hon. Lew is Druckner,. ClevelandG. Leslie Field, DetroitBernard D. Fischma n New York CityI rv ing H. F lamm , ChmagoJ. Bruce Frat is, San FranciscoAlbert C. Gilbert, New York CityCharles M . Goodwin, ClevelandVictor B. Harris St. LouisAllen Heald, ChicagoCharles H. Houston, Washington, D. C.

Solomon Jesmer, Chicago

Sidney A. Jones, Jr . , ChicagoRobert W . Kenny, Los AngelesJohn F. Kicak, Y oungstown, OhioCarol King, New York CityBelford V. Lawson, Washington, D. C.John Lightenberg, ChicagoLeo J. Linder, New York CityElmer M&lain, Lima, OhioJohn T. McTernan, Los AngelesAllan M.a dors ki,. ClevelandSamuel D . Menm , Detro itJam es Montante, DetroitDonald Murray, Balt imoreDonald h/I . Murtha, Washington, D. C.Walter hl. Nelson, D etroitPatr ick S. Nerthney, DetroitPatrick H . O’Brien, DetroitPaul O’Dwye r, New York CityGeo. H. Olshausen, San FranciscoMilton Paulson, New York CityMarion Wyn n Perry, Ne w York C ityLee Pressman , New York CityDavid Rein, Washington, D. C.Samuel Rosenberg, New York CityPaul L. Ro ss, New York CityDavid B. Rothstein, ChicagoHarry Sacher, New York C ityHym an Schlesinger, Pit tsburgh, Pa.George L. Siegel, Chica oArthur G. Silverman , r4 ew York CityRobert Si lverstein, iMadison, Wis .George Slaff, Los AngelesHon. Nathan R. Sobel, New York C ityWil l iam L. Standard, New York C ityNedwin L. Smo kler, DetroitMaurice Sugar, DetroitHon. Hen ry S. Sweene y, D etroitHarold Tannen, MiamiElsie Tarcai, ClevelandEuclid L. Taylor, ChicagoHerbert S. Thatcher, Washington, D. C.Abraham Unger, Ne w York CityMorr is Wainger, New York CitySaul C . Wa ldblum, PhiladelphiaClore Warne, Los AngelesRichard F. W att, ChicagoNelson Wil l is , ChicagoBenedict Wo lf, New York C ityHerman Wright, Houston, Tex.

(deceased]

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OFFICERS, WASHINGTON CHAPTE R, NATIONAL LAWY ERS GUILD

(as of July 1950)

President, Harry Lamberton

Vice president, Belford V. Lawson, Jr.

Executive secretary, David ReinRecording secretary, Sehna Salmons

Treasurer, Charlotte A. Hankin

Board of directors: Jack Blum eJames A. Cobb

Arthur Christopher, Jr.’

Milton FreemanSamuel Jaff e

Howard Jenkins

Samuel LevineHarry N. Rosen feld 2

Herbert 8. Thatcher 3

Ruth Weyand

Donald M. Murtha 4

ORGANIZATIONAL DATA

Headquarters of the National Lawyers Guild are located at 902Twentieth Street NW., Washingto , D. C.

The National Lawyers Guild clalmed a membership of 3,891 indi-viduals as of June 1, 1950. Its chapters number 14 and are locatedin the following cities: Baltimore, Boston, Albany, Troy, Schenectady,Chicago, Cleveland, Detroit Washington, D. C., Hollywood, LosAngeles, New York City, Philadelphia, and San Francisco. For the

purpose of comparison, the Journal of the American Bar Associationin 1948 estimated the total number of attorneys in the United Statesat lS?,OOO. To carry the comparison still further, the American BarAssociation reported its own membership to be 28,400 in 1937 and42,000 in 1949, according to the World Almanac.

Since 1946, the National Lawyers Guild has maintained a studentdivision to permit law students to become members of the guild.The 3,891 total guild membership figure as of June 1, 1950, includes702 individuals who are listed as members of the guild’s studentdivision. The guild lists the locations of its student divisions as

follows: University of Michigan, University of California at SanFrancisco, University of Southern California (Boalt Hall), Universityof Chicago, Harvard University, New York University, ColumbiaUniversity, Brooklyn Law School Yale University, University ofWashington at Seattle, Wayne University, Washingt.on, D. C. (sic).

Dues paid by its members provides the National Lawyers Guildwith some of its funds. Another source is contributions from inter-ested individuals and organizations.

The House Commit,tee on Un-American Activities, in a report datedJune 7, 1946, referred to its investigation of organizations whichfinanced communistic and subversive causes in the United States.The committee named the Sound View Foundation, Inc., of NewYork as a typical example. The National Lawyers Guild received

* Dropped membyship through nonpayment of dues, Apri l 1949, and refused nominat ion to board ofdirectors.

2 Dropped membership through nonpayment of dues, Apri l 1949, and refused nominat ion to board ofdirectors.

3 Dropped membership through nonpayment of dues, Apri l 1949, and has not at tended a gui ld meet-lng for over three years.

4 Resigned.

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THE NATIONAL LAWYJCR S GUILD 21

$700 from the now-defunct Sound View Foundation, according to t,hereport.

In 1949, the Communist-dominated International Fur and LeatherWorkers Union contributed $3,000 to the National Lawyers Guild.In 1947 and again in 1948, the Communist-dominated United Electri-

cal, Radio and Machine Workers Union contributed $750 to theNational Lawyers Guild.Another contributor to the National Lawyers Guild was the Robert

Marshall Foundat,ion of New York City, which in 1947 contributed$2,000. This foundat,ion was described in the March 29, 1944, reportof the Special Committee on Un-American Act ivit ies as “one of theprincipal sources for the money with which to finance the CommunistPa.rty’s fronts generally in recent years.”

Frederick Vanderbilt Field, whose adherence to Communist causesis well known, has also contributed money to the National LawyersGuild.

Over 40 employees of the Federal Government who are currentlycarried on the rolls of the National Lawyers Guild as members werecontacted by the staff of the committee. The majority of thosecontacted have, in their opinions, ceased their membership throughthe nonpayment of dues, although only three had submitted formalletters of resignation. However, the National Lawyers Guild sti llconsiders these persons to be members. Two individuaIs carried asmembers of the board of directors of the Washington chapter of t,heNational Lawyers Guild are sti ll carried. as such even though theyrefused the nomination to the board of directors and had stopped

paying dues. One person carried as a member of the board hadneither paid dues since April of .1949 nor attended a meeting in over3 years.

Many persons interviewed, and these interviews were limited t’opresent Government employees, stated t,hat as a result of their mem-berships in t,he National Lawyers Guild t.hey had been receivingliterature from Communist-front organizations.

CO NCL US I O N

The Committ,ee on Un-American Act ivit ies recommends that the

National Lawyers Guild be placed on the Department of Justicesubversive lis t and that it be required to register as an agent of aforeign principal.

It recommends further that members of the National LawyersGuild be barred from Federal employment and that the AmericanBar Association consider the question of whether or not membershipin the National Lawyers Guild, a subversive organization, is com-patible with admissibilit,y to the American bar. It cal ls on decentlawyers and those sincerely interested in the liberal principles ofAmerican justice to warn t,he younger members of the bar of the real

nature of the guild, as an arm of the int,ernational Communistconspiracy.

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APPENDIX

COMPARISON OF GUILD PROGRAM WITH COM MUN IST PARTY L INE

Through resolutions of its conventions, declarations of its nationalexecutive board, and statements of its officials, the National LawyersGuild has expressed its position with regard to many foreign anddomes tic issues. Some high lights of these pronouncements are com-pared in the following pages with statements on the same issues asfound in the Daily Worker, Daily Peoples World, New Masses, TheCommunist, and Political Affairs. The first four publications men-

tioned were identified as Communist in the Special Committee onUn-American Activities, United States House of Representatives,report dated March 29, 1944, while the last was similar ly describedin the same committee’s Report No. 1920 dated May 11, 1948, pages5 and 6.

The only striking example of conf%ct with the Communist Partyline occurred when the guild’s executive board denounced the Russianinvasion of Finland in Decemberl939, when it sti ll included a sizablenumber of non-Communists who have since resigned. This resolutionwas, however, not widely publicized.

A. DOMESTIC ISSUES

1. A L IE N S

(EXPLANATORY NOTE.--hhy members o f the Com munist Party , U. S. A. ,are aliens subjec t to deportation proceedings. In some cases Russia has refusedto accept Com mu nist deportees from the United States. The Hobbs bil l (H. R .10) therefore provided for the internment of such aliens, just as wa s done withNa zi deportees during World War II.)

COMMUNIST PARTY, U . S . A .

Defeat the Bill for ConcentrationCam ps * * * We are referr ing tothe fact bhat the “Concentration Cam p”Bill introduced bv Congressma n Hobbs,of Alabam a, has jbst been reported out ofCommit tee.

* * * The reactionaries behind ithope to sneak it through before thepeople h ave a chance to act. The B illprovides that all foreign-born non-cit izehs shall be imprisoned for life inconcentration cam ps i f they have no

iassp orts to the countries of their birth.uch persons will be seized w ithout

trial, and withou t any poss ibilit,y ofappeal to higher cou rts.

* * * We urge that you wire yourCongressman now, and urge him bo vote“No” to the Hob bs Bill (Daily Worker,April 27, 1939, p. 1).

NATIONAL LAWYER S GUILD

* * * The National LawyersGuild in convention assem bled opposespassage of the Hobbs Concentrat ionCam p Bill, or any similar legislationwhich would establish concent,rationcam ps in America (Lawyers Guil d Re-

view, vol. 1, N o. 4, June 1941, p. 64).

23

H. K,?I)t. 3143, 81-2--d

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24 THE NATIONAL LAWP ERS GUILD

(EXPLANATORY NOTE .-The Smith bi l l was adopted just pr ior to World WarII as a nece ssary defense precaution and provided for the registration and finger-printing of aliens.)

COMM UNIBT PABT Y, U. 8. A.

The Sm ith Bill-one of the mo st re-pressive of a long list of “antialien”me asures now hanging fire in Con-gress-may come up any day. * * *

This is an omn ibus bill, combining allthe v ic ious features of a number ofmeasures and a few of i ts own. I t re-quires registration and fingerprinting ofal l al iens, a dome stic passport syste mwh ich, unquestionably would involvethe whole -population. At the sam etime, i t mak es it more dif f icult for thefore@-born to become cit izens * * *

(D,“zly, Wzrker, May 29, 1939, p. 6).The tory mem bers of theSenate Com mittee on Immigrat ion ap-proved a bill that violates the veryfundam entals of the Declaration of In-dependence and of American democ-

rao*y* .* In nrovidimr for the renis-tration of all aliens, the “measure strikesa direct blow at the Bill of Rig hts. Letno one try pretend that such a measureis aimed at aliens alone. Its real pur-pose is to intimidate aliens and foreign-

born citize ns in order to weak en theunions and other dem ocratic organiza-t ions to which they belong. This is notan “antialien” bill. It is a seditionbill to undermine dem ocrac y. Themea sure is an opening wedge- againstthe rights and liberties of all Am ericans(Sund%y Worker, July 2,.1939, p. 6).

Fif th column hyster ia swep t bothhouses of Congress today and includedin its destruc tive swee p the civil l ibertiesof the Am erican people and the rightsof organized labor as well as the w elfare

of the foreign born.Direct consequences of the President’s

national defense program included:(1) Passage of the LaFo llztt%o p*pres-

sive Labor Pract ices Act.(2) Unan imous approval by the Sen-

ate Judic iarv Com mittee of the SmithOm nibus A&i-Alien Bill. * * *

(3) Approval by the Hous e of thePresident’s reorganization plan trans-ferring the Bureau of Imm igration fromthe Department of Labor to the Depart-ment o f Just ice, thus subject ing the

foreign born to per:ecution by J. EdgarHoover’s FBI * * (Daaly Worker,

Ma y 28, 1940, p. 1).

NATIONAL LAWYEB B GUILD

At its 1940 convention the Guild op-posed all proposals to fingerprint orrequire identification cards of aliensinasmuch as such proposals were deemeddiscriminatory and neces sarily “ lead tothe registration and fin erprinting ofthe entire population.” (thtional Law-yers Guild Quarterly, vol. 3, No . 2, p.119, July 1940.)

Guild opposed H . R. 5138, the AlienRegistration Ac t, pointing out that theact not only provided for the registra-tion of aliens but co ntained a FederalSedition law and a military disaffectionlaw which it crit icized as a violation ofthe First Amendm ent to the FederalConstitut ion (Lawyers Guild Rm’ew.

October 1940, p. 591).

The National Lawyers Guild * * *disapproves all proposals, whethe r fed-eral, sta te, or local, to register finger-print or require identification cards ofall aliens, as such proposals are dis-

cr iminating and mu st of necessity alsolead to the registration and finger-printing of the entire population; * * *The impending transfer of the Imm i-gration and Naturalization Service fromthe Labor Dep artm :nt ,t” the Depa rt-ment of Just ice; * (NatzonalLawyers Guild Quarterly, VO . 3, NO. 2,July 1940, p. 119).

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THE NATIONAL LAWYER S GUILD 25

2 . B R ID G E S C A S E

(EXPLANATORY NoT s.-Harry Bridges, an al ien mem ber of the Com mun istParty , US A, has been the subjec t of deportation proceedings for a number ofyears. He has recently been conv icted of perjury for denying his party mem ber-ship in such proceedings.)

COMMUNIST PARTY, U . 5 . A .

Bridges, as it is well kno wn by in-formed people, is not a Com mun ist noris i t against the law to be a Com mun ist.But i f the shipowners can get away withthe kind o f frame-u they are perpe-trating against Brl ges , wh at trade-union or liberal leader is safe ? For itis progressive unionism and the NewDeal which the shipown ers are tryingto destroy in this frame-up farce againstBridges (Daily Worker, July 28, 1939,

P. 6).

The victory which has been won bythe unions and*th$ pezple m the HarryBridges case is a bitter dis-appointme nt to the reactionaries (Daily

Worker, January 2, 1940, p. 6).

And so, after years of persecutionand a man hunt of such proport ions asthis country has never witnessed, with

mo nths of coaching and preparation bythe FB I, the Department of Just ice ofthis great Nation could produce nothingmore against Harry Bridges than the,at best, quest ionable words of twowi tnesses * * * (New Masse s, June9, 1942, p. 12).

NATIONAL LAWYE3.S QUILD

H . R . 9766 ordering the deportationof Harry Bridges after he has beenfound not gui l ty of any conduct whichwould justify h is deportation underlaws applicable to all aliens wo uld be adangerous prec:de ;t f,“’ an objection-able practice The NationalLawvers Guild disanoroves H. R. 9766as a’ contravention I of the historicalAm erican opposition to anything in thenature of a Bill of Attainder expre ssly

prohibited by the Federal C onstitution(Nat ional Lawyers G uild Ouarterly, VOL3, No. 2, July 1949, p. 119).

By letter dated June 28, 19401 to theSenate Com mittee on Immigrat ion andNaturalization the Guild opposed H . R .9766, “a bill directing the AttorneyGeneral to deport Harry Ren ton Bridgesforthwith to Australia.” Des cribed itas an “un-American proposal.”

Guild cited the action against Bridgesas an attempt by “opponents of thelabor movem ent * * * to thwart

the developm ent thereof by prosecutingits leaders.” (Was hington Evening Star,February 25, 1941).

According to the New York Tim es,Ma rch 19, 1945, the Guild sent a legalmem orandum and petit ion to the Presi-dent urging cancellation of deportationproceedings against Bridges. Stated:“If Harry Bridges, a well-loved leader

of a strong Am erican trade-union werepermit ted to suffer the punishment ofexile from a land in which he had livedfor almost 25 years * * * wouldnot fair-minded me n everyw here tendto suspec t the good faith of our com mit-men ts and the sinceri ty of our programfor a lasting peace”? (Ne w York Times,

March 19, 1945).

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3. COMMITTEES INVESTIGATING COMMUNISM

HOUSE COMMITTEE ON UN-AMERICAN ACTIVIT IES

COMMUNIST PARTY, U . 8 . A . NAT IONAL LAWYERS GUILD

It is with real Hitler brazenness that

Dies asks Congress for more funds-tobe exact, for $150, 000-in order that hisgang can help the Nazi bunds and the

Wall Street Tories tear down American

democracy. Every Ameri can shoul danswer this insolence with an increasing

stream of protests to his Congressman

urging an end to the Dies outfit. Let

Congress establish a committee toferret out the un-Am erican forces which

Dies witch-hunters are hiding. (Edi-

torial , Daily Worker, January 23, 1939,

p. 6).Attention, Al l Readers

Write your Congress today *on *dis-solving the Dies Committee *

(Nat ional Issues, January 1939, p. 18,

Published monthly by Nationa l Com-mittee, Communist Party).

The November 18, 1939, issue of the

Daily Worker5 page 6, editorializedfavorably on the Guild pamphle t and

concluded:

“Not another cent for Dies: Thisshould be the thunderous demand of the

American people upon the JanuaryCongress.”

Abolish the Un-American Dies and

Smi th Committees (Resolution Adooted

by the Nationa l Comm ittee of the dom-munist Party U. 8. A., February 1940,

The Communzst, March 1940, page 216).

An end must be put to such instru-ments of fascism as the Dies Comm ittee

Gozmi*ttee(Manifesto of the Nationa l

Communist Party USA

adopted at’ its Plenary Meeting, Jung

28-29, 1941, The Communist, August

1941, p. 681).But why does the Congress of the

United States continue to vote confi-

dence h Mr. Dies, and provide him

In January 1939, the New York City

Chapter of the Nationa l Lawyers Guildsent a resolution to the New York State

Assembly and the U. S. House of Repre-

sentatives stating:“1. That we urge the resolution to

continue the Dies Comm ittee be dis-

approved and that no further funds beappropriated to it, and

“2. That we urge Congress to request

the Depart ment of Justice to carry on aninvestigation of un-American and sub-

versive activities * * *

“3. That we urge the legislature of

the State of New York to memorializethe Congress of the United States to

discharge the Dies Comm ittee for thereasons hereinab ove set forth” (Daily

Worker, January 23, 1939, p p. 1 and 4).

In November 1939, the San FranciscoChapter of the Nationa l Lawyers Guild

released a pamphle t entitled “In the

Court of Public Opinion, Indictment,Peop le of the United States of America

vs. the Dies Committee.” This pam-

phlet contained the statement: “Propa-gand a groups such as the Dies Com-

mittee must be condemned by the Am-erican people, if American democracyand the Bil l of Rights are to be main-

tained ” (Daily Worker, November 15.

1939, p. 1).Now, Therefore, Be It Resolved: That

the House of Reoresentatives be urged

to deny the reqdest of Chairman Diesfor an additio nal one hundred thousand

dollars as a su

8

plemental appropriation

for the Dies ommitt ee to investigateun-American activities.

That the House of Representatives be

urged to discontinue and disband theDies Com mitt ee except for the sub-

mission of a report on its activities and

that the Dies Comm ittee be directedforthwit h to turn over to the Depart-

ment of Justice or other appropr iate

governmental agencies any informationwhich might be of aid to such govern-

mental agencies in the performance oftheir duties (Fourth Annua l Convention,

Nationa l Lawyers Guild, May 29-June

2, 1940, Nationa l Lawyers Guild Char-

teriy, ‘;“1.*3, I$ 2, Ju&llCl, p. 121).

Lawyersf$riid in convention assembled urges

* the aboliti on of the Dies

Comm ittee * * * (Resolution,Fifth Nationa l Convention, Nationa l

Lawyers Guild, May-June 1941,

Lawyers Gui ld Review , vol. I NO. 4,

June 1941, p. 67).By letter of February 7, 1942, the

New York City Chapter of the Guild

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THE NATIONAL LAWYER8 GUILD 27

COMMUNIST PARTY , U. 8. A. NATIONAL LAWY ERS GUILD

with unlimited public funds with which sent to each mem ber of the U . S.to carry on his work which “helps House of Representat ives a report ofHit ler ’s cause, not. ours”? (Victory and the record of the Dies Com mittee inA./& r., Earl Browd er, p. 69, International the four years of its life. The letterPub&hers, Inc., 1942). concluded:

“Wherefore, we respectful ly subm itthat the resolution to continue the DiesCo mm ittee and to appropriate addi-tional funds thereto be disapproved”(Daily ?orker, February 10, 1942, p. 4).

By letter of February 15, 1942, overthe signature of Martin Popper, execu -tive secre tary, the Guild criticizedRepresentat ive Dies to President Roose-velt and said:

“We nledez to continue our efforts toconvinck C&gress that the Dies Com -

mittee mu st be discontinued since itrepresents an impediment and obstacleto American victory” (Daily worker,February 16, 1942, p. 4).

In a letter to U. S. Renresentat iveFrank Hook, Michigan, - ihe DetroitCha pt,er o f the Guild urged him tovote down any further appropriationfor the Dies Com mittee. declar ing itstands exposed “as a ho&e-made bat-tern of Hitler’s international anti-Comintern technique” (Daily Worker,

February 28, 1942, p. 3).

Even t,ual readers of the history of At every stage of i ts career, and espe-this war wil l be amazed at t ,he extent c ial lv now in wart ime, the D ies Com -and wic ith wh at insolence this p rotectionof the enemies w ithin our gates had beencarried on by mem bers of Congress.The worst thing done in this respect byCon gress (so far at least) has been therecommissioning of the Dies Com mitteeand voting it $75,000 with which tocontinue its subversive work (TheReactionary Offensive and the Wa r,Wil l iam Z. Foster, The Communist,

April 1943, p. 306).

The American people must thereforeconclude that w hile the United Statescan easilv disnense with the House

mittke has been a hindrance to thehonest aspirat ions of the Americanpeople. In the pa st,, he has repeatedlycome before Congress and promised toredeem his errors. He has never oncefulfilled Qhose prom ises. There is noreason for r isking the public mo ney bytrusting a broken promise again re-peated (The Dies Com mittee, Lawyers

Guild Review , vol. I I I , No, 1 , January-February 1943, p. 28).

The Guild was l is ted as one of twen tygroups which had joined together anduledeed a “fight to the finish camn aign

Com mittee on -Un-American Activ it ies, ‘ to abvolish the-Un-American House ‘co&it cannot afford to do without the Am- mittee” (Daily Worker, October 24,er ican Com mun ist Party (America 1945).Needs the Comm unist Party, Speech The Guild was one of several organ-of Eugene Den nis at Mad ison Square izations announcing a nation-wide cam -Garden, New York, September 18, 1945, paign to abolish the Rankin Un-Amerl-PoZiticaE Afairs, October 1945, p. 875). can Activ it ies Com mittee. The groups’

f irst object ive was the complet ion ofsignature drives for a petition to abolishthe Commit tee (Daily Worker, Decem-

ber 9, 1945).Civ i l Rights: This Com mittee, for nine long years* * * End the witch hun ts, lay- has distinguished itself by its utter dis-

alty orders and phony spy scare s. regarc .of the constit$ion?l r jghts ofAbolish the Un-American Com mittee minyt ies with whose ideas it disagrees.(Political Afuirs, September 1948, p. * The Guild urges the House of941 article: “1948 Election Platform of Rep resenta tives to abolish the Hou sethe E omm unist Party”) . Com mittee forthwith (Guild Resolut ion,

February 23, 1948, Lawyers Guild Re-

view, vol. VII I , No . 1, January-Febru-ary 1948, p. 319).

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COMhfUNI6T PABT Y, U. 8. A. NATIONAL LAWYE RS GUILD

The dr ive against witch hunting mu sttake the form of outright abolition ofthe Un-American Activ it ies Com mittee.* * * (Popular Mandate vs. Monop-oly Policy in the New Congress, Ma xGordon, Political Affairs, January 1949,p. 82).

On Decem ber 13,1948, the Guild senta statemen t to al l House Mem bers de-manding abolit ion of the House Com -mittee on Un-American Activ it ies. Thestatemen t al leged that the “existenceand act iv it ies of such a comm ittee areinherentlv inimical to the mo st funda-mental sghts guaranteed by the Con-stitution” (Daily lVorker, December 13,:z4yg;i)2, Washington Star, December

RAPP-COUDERT COMMITTEE

‘The Hbuse Comm ittee on Un-Ameri-can Activities * * * should beabolished (Resolution of the NationalGuild Con vention, February 23, 1949,Lawyers Guild Review, vol. IX, No. 1,W inter 1949, p. 51).

(EXPLANATORY NOTE .-The Rapp-Coudert Com mittee was act ive in 1940 ininvestigat ing Com mun ist act iv ity in the public school syste m of New York City.)

COMMUNIST PARTY , U. 8. A. NATIONAL LAWPE RS GUILD

Contem pt proceedings by the Rapp-Coudert Com mittee against f ive mem -bers of the Brooklyn College fa cultyare a striking exposure of the fascis tcharacter of the com mittee.

The charge is that the teachers

refused to test i fv before the Comm ittee.But actually, they justifiably refusedto attend a secre t one-man hearing inwhich they would be denied benefit o fcounsel * * * (Daily Worker, De-cemb er 23, 1940, p. 6, editorial).

The Rapp-Coudrrt Com mittee, whichis taking the lead in t,he fight to destroypublic education in New York State, isthis wee k conducting “litt le Dies” hear-ings in New York City against theTeachers Union and its mem bership.

The Rapp-Coudert Com mit. tee and

the State Legislature have been carry-ing the banners of the Middle Agespa;d;tcu uly high during the past few

The Comm it tee was createdto “ investigate, study and review S tateaid administration, conduct, method s,sudject m atter and subversive act iv it iesin the Dublic schools * * * and&ery other ma tter deemed relevant.”

Wh at the Com mittee deemed relevantwas to inst igate an attack of unprece-dented proportions against progressiveeducation and against the Teach ersUnion, ‘ 0rganizaQlon of progressive-minded men and wom en in the NewYork’s school system (Sunday Worker,

Decembe r 1, 1940, p. 5, art ic le by BethMcHenry entit led “Coudert WavesMiddle Age Banner in School A ttack”).

* * * The National LawyersGuild in conven tion assem bled con-demns al l attacks on academic freedomand particularly conde mn s the actionsof the Rapp-Coudert Com mittee, theNew York Board of “Education, the

Board of Higher Educa tion, the refusalof the College of the City of New Yorkto review the appointment of Dr. MaxYergan and the termination by Swa rth-more College of the appointment ofJosephine Truslow Adams (LawyersGuild Review , vol. 1, No. 1, No. 4,June 1941, p. 63).

Lawvers Guild Raps Coudert Witch-Hunt. -

Charges Body Failed to UncoverActiv ity of pro-Fascists.

Although the Rapp-Coudert Com -

mittee has spent more than a quarterof a million dollars in public funds . ithas failed to unearth a-single exan&leof fasc ist or pro-Nazi actiiity in ourpublic school syste m, the New YorkChap ter of the National Law yers Guildcharged yesterday.

The Law yers Guild called upon thestate legislature to at least give oppo-nents of the Rapp-Coudert Com mitteean opportunity to be heard before actingupon its extension.

The statemen t pointed out that theRapp-Coudert Com mittee w as createdto investigate the cos t of education inthe State and thnt up t.o now nothinghas been heard of this phase of theinquiry (Daily Worker, March 25, 1942,P. 5).

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THE NATIONAL LAWY ERS GUILD 29

TENNEY COMMITTEE

(EXPLANATORY Nor%-The Tenney Comm ittee was the California Joint

Fact Finding Comm ittee on Un-American Activities.)

COMMU NIST PART Y, U. 8. A.

State Senator Jack B. Tenney todayinitiated his version of a book-burningcrusade against The Daily People’s

World.

Enraged at the paper’s forthrightopposition to his activities, the senator

concluded his Un-American committee

hearings late yesterday by receiving

rubber&amp approval of a resolutionurging a boycott of the Daily People’s

World. (Daily People’s World. Feb-

ruary 21, 1948 , p. 1).

NATIONAL LAWY EFS GUILD

The California Tenney Comm itteeon Un-American Activities is the

counterpart on a state scale o f. the

Comm ittee on Un-American Actiptlzs 0:

the House of Representativesthe National Lawyers Guild reiterates

its position that the rights of an indi-

vidual against interference or inquiryinto his political, social and economic

views .and beliefs are inviolate and may

not be the subject of inquisition byany agency of -government * * *

(National Lawvers Guild Convention

Reso lution, February 1948 . LawyersGuild Revzew, January-February 1948 ,

pp. 329, 330).

4. TRIAL OF COMMUNIST LEADER S

The destruction of the rights of the

Com mun ist is the classical first step

down the road to fascism. (1948Election Platform of the Commu nist

Party, Political Affairs, September

1948, p. 940).

Martin Popper, an executive of the

Nationa l Lawyers Guild, addressed theWorld Congress of International Demo-

cratic Lawyers at Prague, September 7,

1948, and proposed that it send a

European lawyer to observe the trialof the 12 American Commun ist leaders.

Popper warned that “the indictment ofCommu nist leaders presages the begin-ning of the end of the Constitutional

End the wi’tch hunts, loyalty orders

and phony spy scares.

Abolish the Un-American Comm ittee.Withdraw the indictments against the

twelve Communist leaders and the con-

tempt citations against the anti-fascistvictims of Congressional inquisitions

(1948 Election Platform of the Com-

munist Party, Political Affairs, Septem-ber 1948, p. 941).

form of government in America.”

Dailu Worker. Sentember 9. 1948. D. 2).

An amicus’cu~iae brief, ‘filed by the

Nationa l Lawyers Guild, October 7,

1948, before U. S. District JudgeMurray Hulbert regarding the indict-

ment of the twelve leaders of the Com-

munist Party, cont,ained the following

statements:“These indictments are part of the

ominous pattern that has come tothreaten the entire Bil l of Rights.

“Thev are a direct outcom e of the

anti-Co ”mm unist hysteria, spy hunts,

etc., tha t daily fil l the press a nd everyother channel of public informa-t inn * * *

I _ ^ _ .

“We respectfully urge this court toassert the judicial integrity of our

Constitut.ional system by dismissing

these indictm ents as the clearest viola-tion of the First Amendm ent.” (DailyWorker, October 8, 1948 , p. 1).

As construed and applied to theseindictments, therefore., the Smit h Act

infringes the basic rights of the de-fendants to speech, press and assembly,

destroys their right to organize and

assemble with others as a political party,

sunmesses their rieht to exnound. andadvocate a soci;ll science-and is

therefore unconstitutional. * * *

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COMMUNIST PABTY, U. 8. A.

The indictments should b e dismissed(From the Briefs on the Unconstitu-

tionality of the Smit h Act, Political

A$uirs, November 1948, pp. 1026-

1032).It is thus made abund antly clear

that a government is attemp ting by theuse of the law and courts to elimin ate

political opposition. This strikes at the

vitals of our who le democratic process

(Ibid., p. 1015).

What is needed here in an all-out

mass campaign that will * * * se-cure the dismissal of the Grand Jury

indictments against our Party, repeal‘A”,“t “$oy*alt; order” and. the Smit h

(The Fascist Danger

and How To Combat. It-Eugene Den-nis, Political Aflairs, September, 1948,

pp. 795, 796).

Our attack is upon the grand jury,the petit jury panels, all panels, all of

the lists from which bot.h grand and

pet,it juries are drawn, and indeed, theentire system of jury selection here

(The Federa l Jury is stacked Again stYou, Marion Bachrach, Commun ist

Party Defense Committee, New York,

January 1949).

Immediat,e ly after the infamous ver-dict was rendered the judge “turned to

some unfinished business” and, in a

manner bristling with hate and sadisticsatisfaction, found all the defense law-

yers guilty of criminal contempt and

sentenced them to severe prison sen-

NATIONAL LAWYE RS QUILD

The persecution of the Commun ist

Partv and its members has for some timenow” been an avowed governmental

objective. A campaign of calumny and

slander eman ating from governmentalsources has accom panied every leg al

device used by officialdom to limi t the

activities and silence the voice of thisParty and its members * * * We

witness every day * * * the label of

“Comm unist” and “subversive” placed

upon persons whose on ly crime appears

to be hostility towards present daygovernmental policy, domestic or for-

eign.

There can be no talk of freedom if theideas of the Commu nist Party are

suppressed. * * * We call for a re-

peal of the Smith Act and the end of al lprosecutions thereunder (Resolutions

of February 1949, National Convention,

National Lawyers Guild, Lawyers GuildReview, vol. IX, No. 1, Winter 1949,

p. 52).

.

* * * The duty of a Court is to

see that juries are fair and impartial,and fairly represent a cross section of

the community; and to halt a prosecu-

tion where such fair and impart ial jury

does not exist. It is tim e for Courts,and legislatures to overhaul the entire

method of selecting juries to the endthat justice shall be fairly adminis-

istered (Ibid., p. 53).

On March 2, 1949, the New YorkChapter of the Guild filed an amicus

curiae brief in the case of the Com-

munist Party leaders supporting a de-fense motion to quash the indictment

on the ground that the jury lists,

which were the source of the Grandand Petit Jury, were illegally selected

and constituted (Guild Lawyer, Spring1949, pp. 12 and 13).

A committee of prominent attorneyswill shortly begin a study to determine

whether the freedom of Counsel effec-

tively to represent the Foley Squa redefend ant.s has bee n preserved, it was

annou nced yesterday bv the New

York City chapter of the National

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THE NATIONAL

COMMUNIST PABTY , U. 8. A.

tences. This unpreced ented procedure

in an American court is not only an

attack upon the right,s and duty of thelega l profession faithfully to defend

their clients, but it deprives the defend-ants, who were rushed to jai l without

bail, of the indispensable services of thelawyers -most familia r with the case to

carry forward their appeal s (Eliza beth

Gurley Flynn in Introduction to In

Defense of Your Freedom, by Eu eneDennis, New Century Publishers, -5 ew

York, October 1949).

LAWYERS GUILD 3-l

NATIONAL LAWYE BS OUILD

Lawyers Guil d (Daily Worker, Sep-tember 12, 1949, p. 3).

5. FEDERAL BURE.~U OF hfVESTIG.4TION

Investigate the Federal Bureau of In-vestigat ion because of “vicious assaults

upon civil liberties” Editoria l, Daily

Worker, March 13, 1940, p. 6).An article in the Daily Worker indi-

cated that the FBI had gone beyond the

scope of its authority in conductinggeneral intelligen ce investigations. Ref-

erence was made to the increase in the

FBI’s annronriation over a neriod ofyears, and it was allege d that because

of its Director’s “absorbing interest in

invest igating alle ged subversive activi-ties” the FBI was fallin g behind in its

regular job of dealin g with other types

of specific Federal violations (DailyWorker, March 25, 1940).

The Nazi Gestapo is Hoover’s Mode l

of Conduct for FBI (D aily Worker,December 19, 1940, p. 5, columns 5, 6,

and 7).

Federal Bureau of Investigation Di-rector J. Edga r Hoover was referred

to as

police

‘kCh$f *Of f,he nationa l thought

(Editorial, PoliticalAfairs, January 1948, p. 10,).

It seems that the FBI * * isworried that the American people may

get wise to its real function- which is

thought control on the Gestapo andJapanese police mode l (Editorial, The

Worker, June 6, 1948, p. 6).

The FBI and the Department of Jus-

tice have developed into a secret politicalpolice which exists outside the law and

beyond the U. S. Constitution. * * *

An aroused nation must stop the FBIeffort to replace the American Constitu-

tion by the reign of the political spy

(Editorial, Daily Worker, June 13, 1949,

p. 7).Continuat ion of * * * protests can

turn the rumors abou t J. Edga r Hoover’sresignation into actual and heartening

fact (Editorial, Daily People’s World,

June 16, 1949, p. 6).The FBI’s “undercover network” is a

menace to the internal security of thenation * * * The American people

* * * the Nationa l Lawyers Guildin convention assembled opposes the

Gestapo activities of the Federal Bureau

of Investigation, calls for the removal ofits Director, and urged Congress to re-

duce its appropria tions so as to restrict

its jurisdiction to the field of federalcrime and to deprive it of authority to

act in matters which affect labor or

civil rights (National Lawyers GuildConvention Resolution, May-June

1941; Lawyers Guild Revaew, vol. 1, No.

4, June 1941, p. 66).

* * * the FBI has taken upon

itself the role of a political police on the

Continental model * * * The Guildbelieves it is not the province or function

of the FBI or other police agencies tomainta in dossiers of individuals’ lawful

political activities. The Guild requests

the Congress to conduct an invest igationinto the activities of the FBI * * *

(National Lawyers Guild Convention

Reso lution , February 1948 ; LawyersGuild Reuzew February 1948, p. 320).

The American people are entitled tofull information on the extent to which

the FBI has de;elope d*into a dangerous

secret police. * The NationalLawyers Guil d recommends “a compre-

hensive investigation into the operations

and methods of the FBI” (National Law-yers Gui ld release, Daily Worker, June

20, 1949, p. 4, c3).

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COMMU NIST PART-i - , U. 8. A.

must rid the nat ion of this “undercover

network,” which serves not, the nati onbut, a class, the minority of the financial-

industrial cliques. The Bil l of Rights

and the FBI’s “undercover network”are incompatible. One or the other

must go. We have no doubt which the

TV

eople will choose (Editorial, Daily

orker, June 21, 1949 , p. 8).Surely the Artierican -people must see

the -FBI with new eves todav. The

time has come to investigate it% meth-

ods, its scandal-m ongering lists, its

blackmailing data, its misuse of public

funds, its usurpation of power, its ten-

tacles gripp ing all parts of our countryand its people (Daily Worker, p. 10,

June 29, 1949, written by ElizabethGurley Flynn).

NATIONAL LAWYEBS GUILD

6. HOLLYWOOD TEN

(EXPLANATORY NOTE.--In 1947 the Comm ittee on Un-American Activities

held a hearin g in which ten Hollywo od writers refused to answer questions regard-

ing their Communist, affiliations.

authority.

They held that the Comm ittee had no suchThe authority of the Comm ittee on this matter has since been upheld

by the U. S. Supreme Court,.)

COMMUN IST PABT Y, U. 5. A. NATIONAL LAW YERS GUILD

No Hollywood grade B stinkcroo

ever was as hamm y in acting, as cornyin plot, or as phony in general as t,heprobe now being staged by the headline

hunters of the House Un-American

Committee.* * * The men running this show

are not the little puppets of t,he Un-American Com mit,tee. These ambitious

little ward-heelers are merely the dollar-

a-day extras in the business. It is Big

Business--the Kation al Association ofManufacturers and t,he Wall Street,

labor- hating industrialists - which is

writing t.he script and giving the com-

The New York .Jou?nal American

of October 17, 1947, stated that 18screen writers, producers, and actorshad released an open letter sponsored

by the Nat.ional Lawyers Guild on the

issue of “Freedom of the Screen fromPolit~ical Intimida tion and Censorship.”

The Washington Post of October 19,

1947, st.ated that t,he Guild was tosponsor a meet.ing October 20, 1947, at,

the National Press Buildin g. Washincc-ton, D. C., to afford the-‘Hollvwo&

personalities summoned by the -House

Comm ittee on Un-Anierican Activities

an opportun ity to stat.e their case.

* * * Appeasemen t by this nr

that Hollywood nroducer and actorwill not sat,isfy these un-American

totalitarians. Only American courageand bold defiance of their book-burning

witch-hunt benefit any American worthy

of the name * * * (Editorial, DailyWorker, October 22, 1947 , p. 9).

7. LOYALTY PROGRAM (UNDER EXECUTIVE ORDER 9835.)

The implications of President, Tru-

man’s executive order for “1oyalt.v” On #June 7, 1947, in testimony beforea U. S. House of Renresent,atives Com-mitt ee concerning - proposed loyalty

legislation a Guild official objected tothe legislation as well as to Executive

Order 9835 on the grounds that t.he

FBI would be the investigator, thejudge, and the jury. He stated further,

“When it is considered that both the

House Comm ittee on Un-AmericanActivities and t:he FBI are sources of

information specifically included in the

tests among federal employees reach far

beyond the 2,200,OOO feder al workersand their families. The order flashes

the signal for inquisitions and intimida-

tion of all who disagree with the govern-ment’s foreign and domestic policy.

* * * Executive decrees bypassing

legally elected bodies were the pathtaken in many European nations to

insta ll police states and fascist, ru le, To

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COMMUNIST PARTY , U. 8. A.

bow before these steps would be the

height of disloyalty to every principle

upon which our nation was founded.

Not only the Communists, but all

labor, the Negro people, professionals,small business men, farmers and all whovalue their right to oppose Wall Street

dictation of our foreign and domestic

policy-all should call for the repeal of

President Truman’s executive order.The President and Congressmen should

hear from the people back ho me in

letters, telegrams and resolutions (Edi-torial, Daily Worker, March 25, 1947,

P. 3).Nearly two milli on Americans are

aoinn to have their heads examined.

Not xhat they are crazy or anyth ing like

that. They are the 1,900,OOO Govern-ment em ployees who will all face a

“loyalty purge” for which Congress has

voted.There is no greater natriotic dutv

today than for progressive American s

to stand up to the witch-hunters and todefy th em to forbid the “dangerous

thoughts” of the American democracy

(Editorial. Dailu Worker. Julv 29.i947, p. 7j. ”

I j” I

Two items in yesterday’s news bring

home to us the fact that the police state

is rapidly taking shape in our land.The process of checking the “loyalty”

of the 2,000,OOO governm ent workers

was initi ate d, a check ordered by Presi-dent Truman and endorsed by the

GOP-dominated Congress w ith an ap-

propriation of $11,000,000.Loyalty to what? One tip-off is the

fact that t.he “loyalty check” question-

naire goes back to organizational ties of10 years ago. It was then that millions

of Americans, including many govcrn-

ment workers, were actively aiding thepeople of Spam in their heroic battle to

prevent Hitler and Mussolini from tak-ing over their land as a fascist satellite.

Such support of democracy is “dis-

loyal” in Washington today, as is alle-giance to the ideals of peace and the

destruction of world fascism advancedby FDR * * * (Editorial, Daily

W$rke,, *August 19, 1947, p. 7).End the witch hunt,s. loval-

ty orders, and phony spy scares.’ -Abolish the Un-American Comm ittee.

Withdraw the indictments against t,he

twelve Commu nist leaders and the con-

tempt citations against the anti-fascistvictims of congressional inquisitions* * * (PoZiticaE Afairs, Septembe r

1948, p. 941, Article: “1948 ElectionPlatform of the Communist Party”).

NATIONAL LAWY EBS GUILD

Bil l * * * the dangers of the Bil lare emphasized.” He submitted to the

Comm ittee a copy of a pamph let entitledlLThe Constitutional Right to Advocate

Political, Social, and EconomicChange-An Essential of American

Democracy,” and subtit led, “An Analy-sis of Proposed Federal Legislation and

Executive Order 9835.” Pamp hlet,

prepared by the Guild, stated:“The publication by the Attorney

General, pursuant to the ‘LoyaltyOrder.’ of a list of organiza tions which

he characterizes as disloyal, is a direct

attack on the rights of freedo m of asso-

ciation a nd expression protected by theFirst Ame ndm ent. There is no ascer-

tainable source of powTer for this action.It is clear that constitutiona llv no sanc-

E;l;;fsmaz b,” $posed upon political

The Guild urges th at the Presidentrescind Executive Order 9835 (Lawyers

Guild Review, vol. VIII, No. 1, Js.nuary-

February 1948 , p. 319).More than a year has elapsed since

the promulga tion of the Loyally Orderby the Fxyutjve

ment.arm of the. Govern-

Already, pohtmal par-

ties, civic organiza tions, fraterna l or-ganizations, organizations of the most

diverse character, have been stigma-

tized as disloya l and subversive. Taxexemptions have been canceled. Li-

censes to collect funds for relief have

been denied. Each day men andwomen, good public servants, find

themselves facing an inquisition intotheir lives, bot h past, and present, by

loyalty boards, F. B. I. agents, super-

visors %nd nd*a pst of other petty offi-

cials.* * * men’s ideas, opinions and

beliefs are beyond the pale of govern-

ment interdiction. * * * We urge therevocation of the Presiden t’s loyalty

and all similar test oaths (Laloyers Guild

Review, vol. IX, NO. 1, Winter 1949,pp. 51, 52).

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8 . PEEK SK~LL INCIDENT

(EXPLANATORY NOTE.-A Ne w York S tate Grand J ury has found that certainincidents which occurred in Peeks kill, Ne w York, on August 27 and September 4,1949, indicated that they were “used by the Co mm unist Party as proving groundto test its mac hinery for mobilizing it.s force s, manipulating public opinion, and,

more importan t, for rehearsing its strong-arm forces.“)

COMMUNIST PARTP , U. 8. A.

The would-be lynching of PaulRobeson bv the Peekski l l. N. Y.. mobcan mean io Am erica wha t the burningof the books in Berlin, 1933, mea nt toGerm any and the world.

Let no Ame rican delude himse lf intothinking that this wa s a local affairwith local significance only.

The National Lawy ers G uild yester-day called on Attorney General Mc -Grath to investigate the Peeksk illattac k of August 27 and “to takevigorous action against tho se respon-sible” for any violation of federal law.

This would-be lynching, this burning “So widespread were the rumors and

of books and music to the accompani-so well-grounded the apprehension that

me nt of savage yells against Jew s and a riot would take place, tha t w e cannotN- rs impose police state terrorism believe the authorit ies were not fullyin the U . 6. A. against the entire Negro aware of the situation,” say s the Guildpeople and the nation as a whole. letter to McG rath (Daily Worker,* * * (Dailu Worker. Aunust 29. September 5, 1949, p. 9).1949, ,p. 7,‘: ” ’ - ’

Peeksk ill demo nstrated toprogressive forces throughout the nationthat Fasc ist forces can be successful lychallenged by the people once thepeople are sufficiently aroused to theFasc ist peril . * * * (Dai ly Worker,

September 7, 1949, p. 2).

NATIONAL LAWY ERS QUILD

Lawyers Guild asks McG rath act onPeekskill.

9. PROSECUTIONOF GERE ARTEISLE R

(EXPLANATORY NO TE.-Gerhart Eisler, an agent of the Co mm unist International,was exposed as such by witnesses before the Com mittee on Un-American Act ivi t iesand later the subject of proceedings by the Department of Jus tice on charges ofpassport violation.)

COMMUNIST PABTY, U . S . A . NAT IONAL LAWYERS OUILD

The treatme nt handed out to Gerhart The National Lawy ers Guild, amongEisler, noted German Co mm unist and others, f i led a statem ent with theant i fascist , by the U. S. Department of United States Supreme Court in behalf

Justic e is an international disgrace. of Gerhart Eisler urging reversal of hisconvict ion for Contem pt of Congress(Daily Worker, March 28, 1949, p. 3c. 2-3).

* * * the sole “crime” which theauthorit ies could frame him for is ame asly alleged technical violation on apasspo rt application to quit the coun try,and the “crime” of contem pt of theHouse Un-American Com mittee - acontempt which every decent Americanwill heartilv share * * *. (Edito-rial, Daily Worker, Ma y 16, 1949, p. 7).

Eisler who fled from the UnitedStates i’n Ma y 1949, wa s during thatsame month “unanimously elected tothe government of East Germany”(Soviet Sector) (Daily Worker, May 31,1949, p. 2).

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THE NATIONAL LAWYERS Q UILD 35

10. NON-COMMUNISTAFFIDAVITIN THE TAFT-HARTLEY ACT

COMMUNIST PARTY, U. 8. A. NATIONAL LAWYERS GUILD

* * * i t must be made clear thatthe ant i-Communist clause in the Taft-

We call for the imm ediate repeal of

Hartley Ac t is clearly intended to bethe Taft-Hart ley Law with i ts infamous

used aeainst everv trade-union leader test oath (National Law yers Guild Con-who is Frogress ive and militant,.whether

vention Resolution, February 1949;

he be a Com mu nist or not. It IS clearlyLawyers Guild Remew, vol. IX, No. 1,Winter 1949, p. 52).

unconstitutional and m ust also be chal-lenged on that basis, although the mainf ight mus t be made by the woken andthe union (Portion of a report deliveredby John W illiamso n at the June 27-30,1947, meeting of the National Com -mit tee CP USA. Political Affairs,August 1947, p. 709).

11. UNIVERSAL MILITARY TRAINING

The Com munist Party is opposed toboth universal military training and thepeazetipe draft. These proposals

are not required to defendour nation from any foreign threat* * * The proposal to militarize ouryouth goes hand in hand with stepstoward the militarization of the nationas a whole, and the sacrif ice of thepeople’s living stand ards to the pqiire-men ts of a war economv *Those who today ma ke our” bipartisan

foreign policy seek to * * * un-loose- a war of aggression against theSoviet Union and the East-Europeandemocracies. (Test imony submitted onApril 2, 1948, to the Senate A rmedServices Co mm ittee, in behalf of theCommunist Party; Political Aflairs,Ma y 1948, pp. 412 and 415).

The proposed military mobilization,if approved by Con gress, will greatlyaccelerate our steady drift toward war* * * The President’s mes sage call-ing for the draft and universal militarytrainine has uresented no fact s to SUD-

End the “cold war.” the draft, and thehuge military budget * * * (1948Election Platform of the CP USA :Political Affairs, September 1948, p:938).

port h& charge that American securiiyis threatened * * * no fact s haveyet been adduced to support the chargesof aggression or intervention levelled atthe Soviet Union (Statem ent on Con-scription and Universal Military Train-

ing by the National Lawy ers Guild,April 16, 1948).

The United States Congress should“repudiate the concep t o f com pulsorypeacetime military training and repealthe Selective Service Ac t of 1948 andthen reduce appropriations for militaryexpenditures, applying the saving there-by produced to programs needed for theimprovem ent of housing, health, educa-tion, social se curity, and the conserva-tion of national resources” (NationalLawy ers Guild Conven tion Resolution,

February 1949; Lawyers Guil d Review,vol. IX, No . 1 , Winter 1949, p. 56).

12. VOORHIS ACT

(EXPLANATORY Nor&-The Voorhis Act provides for the registration of certainorganizations within the United States which are under foreign control. It wa sfollowed by the formal disaffi liation of the Co mm unist Party, U. S. A., from theCom mu nist International for the specific purpose of evading the act.)

COMMUNIST PARTY, U. 8. A.

The Voorhis bill - “is suc h a dia-bolical attack on all trade-unions peaceand progressive organizations that theydare not give the people any notice* * * no time can be lost, if anotherblitzkrieg against civil rights is to beprevented.” Dem and “that the Voor-his Ac t be kil led” (Editorial, DailyWorker, July 3, 1940, p. 6, c. 1).

NATIONAL LAWYEB S QUILD

* * * the bill is an invasion onthe civil l iberties and polit ical freedomof American cit izens and should be de-feated (Statement of the Com mittee onCivil Rights and Liberties of the Na-tional Lawyers Guild, Daily Worker,

August 2, 1940, p. 2, c. 3-4).

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36 THE NATIONAL LAWYFZS GUILD

B. FOREIGN AFFAIRS

1. CHINA

(EXPLANATORY Nor%-The l ine of the Soviet Union and the Com mun istParty, U. S. A., in 1945 veered against the Chiang Kai-shek Nationalists regime,

for open support of the Chinese C om mu nists and against American support of theNationalists.)

COMM UNIST PARTY , U. 6. A.

Wo rkers in the factor ies, farmers,church groups, all the great dem ocraticorganizations of the Am erican peoplemu st protest the use of American armsand Am erican personnel in the effortof the Chun gking dictatorship to uprootand destroy Chinese demo cracy (AvertCivil Wa r in China , Frederick V. Field,

Political Afluirs, September 1945, p.850).

An aroused Ame rican people cancheck the aggressive,. interventionalistdr ive of U. S. imperiahsm along a coursethat can only* le;d to a new worldslaughter

Stop the reactionary intervention ofthe U . S. A. in Chinese internal affairs.

Repud iate and recall Hurley andWedemeyer .

Withdraw American Troops fromChina.

Speed demo bilization and bring theboys home. (Stop American Inter-vention in China, Rob Fowler Hall,Political Afluirs, December 1945, pp.1067-1068).

Let us end U. S . bribing of Kuom in-tang reaction and clear our armedforces out of China. (U. S. Imperial istIntervention in China, B. T. Lo,Political A$airs, July 194 6, p. 613).

A demo cratic American policy forChina mu st include im mediate with-drawal of al l U. S. mil i tary forces,

adviso rs, equipm ent, and installationsfrom Chinese soil and Chinese waters.It m ust cea se all f inancial, industrial,and polit. ical aid to the react,ionaryNankine government. Ai l forms of rel iefto Chila-must be stopped because theydirectly aid Chiang ’s civil wa r. Thepromises of support to a demo craticcoalit ion government should be made ,but it should not be given effe ct. untilsuch a government has replaced the typeof regime which now seeks to control thecountry (The New China Program of t)heAmerican Interventionists, Freder ick V.Field, Political Afairs, January 1948,P . $3).

* * we must now help organizethe wides t. support and* naiion;widedemo nstrat ive act iv ity torender the m ost com plete polit ical,mo ral, and econo mic aid to the people’sdemo cratic movem ent in China, Latin

NATIONAL LAWYE BS GUILD

The National Lawyers Guild wa s oneof 15 organizations represented at ameeting Novem ber 28, 1945, in theoff ice of U. S. Representat ive HughDe Lacy to discuss the f ight for an“anti-Chinese intervention resolution”offered in Congress the previous Mondayby Representat ive De Lacy and f ive

other W est Coa st representatives (DailyWo rker, Novem ber 29, 1945, p. 2).

Withdraw all American armed forcesfrom China (Resolution on AmericanForeign Policy, Seventh National Con-vention, National Lawyers Guild, July4-7, 1946; Lawyers Guzld Review, vol.

VI, No. 2, May-June 1946, p. 518).

A resolution adopted at the February1948 conven tion of the National Law-yers Guild urged that-

‘(1. Aid be given to the Ch inesepeople without regard to their geograph-ical location or polit ical beliefs.

“2. Such aid should be given onlythrough an agen cy created by the UnitedNation s in accordan ce with the princi-ElesNwh$h R,goyd the operation of

T and“3. ‘Tde United St,ates should im-

med iately w ithdraw all military andnaval personnel from China, and ceaseoperation of air base s and naval installa-~zI;: t l lt coun try” (Lawyers Guild

VIII , No . 1, January-February 1948, p. 317).

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Am erica, and Greece ‘(The role of theCom mun ist Party in the Present Situa-tion, Eugene Dennis, Political Afairs,March 1948. D. 211).

The following major issues confrontthe people in the present electionstruggles:

* * * for withdrawal of all Ame r-ican military aid and personnel fromGreece, China, and Turkey * * *(Draft Reso lut.ion for the NationalConvention, C. P. U. S. A., Political

Aflairs, June 1948, p. 501).Stop military aid and intervention in

China, Korea, and Greece (1943 ElectionPlatform of the< Com mun ist Party,~‘ootacul Affa zrs, Septem ber 1948, p.

Be assured dear com rades, we shallplay our part in the united ma ss strugglefor effectuating the Cairo and Potsda magreem ents, for stopping Wa ll Street’simin 8

erialist interventionhina * * * (Political Affairs,

Decembe r 1948, p. 1140. From a tele-gram sent by the Com mun ist Party,U. S. A., to the “Glor ious Com mun istParty of China.“)

This month, a new Congress convenesin Washington. It is incumbent on the

Ame rican people, in the first place t.heAm erican labor and progressive mo ve-m ents , not to overlook this opportunityto demand an end to all polit ical, mili-tarv and financial intervention in China.The Chinese people m ust be allowed tofind their own wa y to freedom , inde-pendence, and democracy withoutAme rican interference in any guise (Themeaning of the Chinese RevolutionaryVictories, Frederick V. Field, Political

Afairs, January 1949, p. 73).The Am erican people have the duty

to raise the dem and for the withdrawalof all Am erican armed forces and shipsfrom Chinese territory and wa ters; foran end to all other support of the cor-runt. decadent and counter-revolution-ary ele me nts; for an end to all imperial-ist intervention; for the defeat of allcurrent proposals for new aid to theenem ies of the Chinese people; for theestablishm ent of a real “Hand s off”policy toward China.

The comm on interest of the Americanand Chinese p eoples, and of world peace,

dema nds the com plete recognition of thenew Chinese Dem ocracy by the UnitedState s Governm ent and the establish-me nt of normal trade relations on thebasis of equality (National Com mittee,C. P., U. S. A., Salute to the ChinesePeople’s Victories, Political Afairs,

May 1949, pp. 1, 2).

NATIONAL LAWY EBS QUILD

Resolution on China

* * * We urge an immediate eco-nom ic end to the continuing military,econ om ic, and other aid to the Koumin-tang regime. A great nation in Asia isbeing reborn and unlimited opportunityexis ts for restoring the imm ense reser-voir of good will b etween the Am ericanand Chinese people which was once andshould be again the key stone of ourrelations.

We urge that immediate economicassistan ce be given to the impoverishedChinese people withou t regard to theirgeograp hical location or their politicalbeliefs, such assistan ce to be giventhrough an agency of., or in cooper&ionwith. the United Nations (Resolution ofFebruary 1949, National Conve ntion ofNational Law yers Guild, Lawyers Guild

Review , vol. IX, No. 1, Winter 1949,p. 56).

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THE NATIONAL LAmRS GUILD 39

4. INDONESIA

COMMU NIST PARTY , U. 8. A.

Britain and Am erica * * * areacting to st i f le all freedom move me nts

in India, Eg ypt, Indonesia, etc.Support the national liberation strug-gles of the colonial and dependentpeoples (Statement issued on March 5,1946, by the National Secretariat of theCom mun ist Party, USA . poli tical Af-p;p2 ;;;. XXV , No . 4 (April 1946), pp.

, *

NATIONAL LAWYEB S GUILD

The report of the Comm ittee on In-ternational Law and Relation s, adopted

by the National Executive Board of theGuild in February 1946 stated :“7. W e have given suppo rt to Brit-

ish-Du tch imperialism in Java and In-donesia.by supplying arm8 for the sup-pression of nat ional movem ent8 in thesecountries.” (Lawyers Guild Review, vol.VI, No . 1 (January-February 1946), p.414). ida

5. IRAN

The Myth of the Iranian “Dispute”

The so-called Iranian issue before theSecurity Council was a fraud. ByMarch 26,. when the Council begandiscussing it , no dispute existed. Themyth of a “dispute” was systema tical lyfabricated by the Am erican and Britishgovernments in a deliberate at, temp t toembarrass the Soviet. Union * * * Inperpetrating this fraud the imperialistshad several interconnected mo tives.* * *

The myth of the Iranian dispute was

invented partly in order to direct worldattention from these imperialist policies.I t wa s concocted as part of the entirepolicy of US -British imperialism toleave unfulfil led the agreem ents reachedat Moscow , Yal ta, and Potsdam * * *(Exploding the Iranian M yth , byFrederick V. Field, Political Affairs,

Ma y 1946, pp. 397, 398).- --

The Guild’8 special com mitte e on the

United Nation8 recomm ended April 13,1946, that the Iranian question bedropped from the agenda o f the Secu rityCoun cil in view of the declaration byPremier Ahmad Ghavam of Iran, andPremier Stalin that the controv ersy be-tween Iran and the Soviet Union hadbeen sett led to the satisfact ion of bothnations.

The Comm ittee also expressed theoninion that the annlication of the

Soviet delegate to theSe curity Coun cilfor an adjournment to April 10, shouldhave been granted withou t question,thus eliminating “the fr iction and theappearance of crisis which wa s propa-gated in the press” (New York, Times,

April 14, 1946, p . 46).

6. K ORE A

Wh at we are faced with in the policyof intervention against Chinese dem oc-

racy is not a mere aberration in Am er-ican foreign policy * * * It is partof a general pa ttern of Ame rican im-perialism’s foreign policy which , whileadopting different tactical approachesto dif ferent parts o f the world, show s areactionary consistency throughout.This explains * * * the imposit ionof a coalition of the “Right” upon theKoreans, the obliteration of a “Lidice”in North China and the undermining ofBig Three unity and the authority oft$;t iS;y ity Coupcll of the Um ted

(Frederick V. Field, TheRecord of American Imperial ism inChina, Political Affairs, vol. XXV, No. 1(January 1946), p. 31).

Referring to U. S. foreign policy, theNational Lawyers Guild’8 Committee on

International Law and relations s tated :“We (the U. S. A.) have opposed the

national aspiration8 of the Koreanpeople” (Lawyers Guild Review, vol. VI,

No . 1, p. 414 (January-February 1946)).

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40 THE NATIONAL LAWY EaS GUILD

7. ARGENTINA

CO1IMUNIST PART Y, U. 8. A.

Certainly there can be no thought

of inviting Argentina to attend the San

Francisco parley. And the Americanpeople through all their organizations

must make this very clear in Washing-

ton (Daily worker, April 11, 1945,

(editorial), p. 6).Molotov Fights Argentine Bid But

Conference Approves Entry (Dailyworker (headline) May 1,. 1945).

Break diplomatic relations with fas-

cist Spain and Argentina * * *.

Remove from the State Departmentall pro-fascist and reactionary officials

(Resolution of the Nationa l Convention

of the C. P., U. S. A., adopted *July 28 ,1945; Politica l Affairs, vol. XXIV , No.

9 (September 1945), p. 823).

Even under the liberal Rooseveltregime, when the Latin-American re-

publics were accorded more democra tic

treatment by the United States Gov-ernment than ever before, the agents

of the great American trusts, most of

which were in violent opposition toRooseve lt, busily cultivated fascist-

mind ed reaction throughout Latin

America. Their most recent blows

agains t democracy (struck by two bigbusinessmen holding office in the State

Department, Rockefeller and Stettinus)were to maneuver fascist Argentina into

the Pan-American Union an d also into

the United Nations * * * (Wil-liam Z. Foster, Letter to Luis Carlos

Prestes, General Secretary, Commun ist

Party of Brazil, Septembe r 19, 1945;

Politica l Afluirs, vol. XXIV , No. 10

(October 1945), p. 916).


Nationa l Lawyeriayd Urges State

Department Argentme at

Frisco

Washington, April 22.-Secretary of

State S tettinius was urged by the Na-tional Lawyers Guild this week to op-

pose membership of Argentina in the

United Nations and to bar its participa-tion in the San Francisco Conference

(Daily Worker, April 23, 1945, p. 9).

Lawyers Ask U. S. Lead in Breaking

With Argentina

Secretary of Stat e Byrnes was urgedyesterday by the Nat iona l LawyersGuild to institute joint consultation

among the American Republics for

breaking diploma tic relations with Ar-

gentina. The Guild also called for theremoval of the State Department offi-

cials “responsible for the recognition of

the Farrell-Peron dictatoFhip,“* a;:urged that “their places *

taken by those who will steadfastly

adhere to a policy of fighting fascistand pro-fascist forces and of advanc ing

democrat;, in the hemisphere and in;f45w;lt) (Dazly Worker, Augus t 9,

Wk urge the followin g imm ediate

course of conduct by our govern ment.Sever diplomat ic relations with fascist

Argentina and move to expel her from

UN0 (Committee on InternationalLaw and Relations, Nationa l Lawyers

Guild, Lawyers Bual d Review, vol. VI,

No. 1 (January-February 1946) p. 415)

8. MEXICO

Full support for the Cardenas govern-

ment of Mexico in its defense of democ-racy and its struggle against the finan-

ciers of fascism, the oil monop olies andthe Tory Chamb erlain Government

(Will iam Z. Foster, Win the Western

Hemisphere for Democracy and Peace,The Commun ist. vol. XVII, No. 7 (July

1938), p. 614 (based on speech delivered

at the Tenth Convention of the C. P.,U. S. A., New York, May 28, 1938)).

The American imperialists dread the

growth of a great mass democratic,peace, nation al 1iberati;n movement m

Latin America * * They seek to

make the Good Neighbor policv an in-strument of American imperialism , as

they did the old Monroe Doctrine, and

they a;e tppging the greatest pres-sure upon Roosevelt to

Mexican Oil Expropriation

Whereas:

(1) The Mexican Governme nt hasrecently expropriated the oil properties

of American 2nd other foreign cor-

porations * *

Now, therefore, be it resolved:

We request that the Government of

the United States shall not engage inany acts of intervention on behalf of

said oil companies, because the action

of the Mexican Government in thismatter affords with respect to the oilcompanies which have violated the laws

and defied the courts of Mexico no

ground for protest by the United States

(Resolution adopted at Third Annu alConvention of the Nationa l Lawyers

Guild at Chicago, February 19-13,1939;

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COJfMUNIST PARTY, U. 8. A. NATIONAL LAWYEB S GUILD

make the Amer ican government aggres- Nat iona l Lawyers Guil d Quarterly, vol. 2,

sively support their capitalist interests No. 1 (April 1939), p. 86).by violen t measures against their im- (Word-order of last lines in orig inal

perialis t rivals and against the Latin text was garbled.)

American peoples. This imperialistpressure must be offset by democratic

pressure upon Roosevelt by the masses

in the United States and Latin America

(ibid., p. 612).

9. BRAZIL

The Fight for Prestes’ Freedom Has Just

Begun

The brutal sentence of 30 years i m-

posed upon Luis Carlos Prestes by the

Vargas regime in Brazil is a challenge,not only to the oppressed people of this

South American country, but to laborand the public here as well.

This is the second out-and -out frame-

up against the Brazilian people’s

“Knight of Hone.” He has been lan-guishing in jail &der a 16-year sentence

for the political ‘%rime” of uniting the

people in the progressive National Liber-ation Alliance. The last conviction of

Prestes and six of his coworkers was

based on the fantastic slander that hewas the “intellectual author” of the

murder of a 17-year-old girl.

This outrage heralds a fresh wave ofattacks against labor and the Braz ilian

peop le as the Vargas dictatorship sells

out to the war plans of the RooseveltAdministration and Wall Street.

Notwithstanding this long torturoussentence against Prestes, the Vargas

dictatorship had intended to murder

him instantly with a “legal” death decree.This was prevented by the wave of

protests which came from the Braz ilian

people and from labor and liberals inthe United States, Mexico, Cuba and

other Ameri can countries.Once these protests are raised to

greater volume , they can remove Prestes

entirely from the fascist dungeons.Demands for his freedom and that of

his co-workers, should delu ge the

Brazilian embassy in Washington andVargas (Daily Worker, December 2,

1940, p. 6 (editorial)).

Continental Activity in Defense of

Prestes, Brazil’s “Knight of Hope”

(By Dion isio Encin a, General Secretaryof the Communist Party of Mexico)

* * * * *

Lawyers Guild Sends Member to Aid

Prestes-Will Act as Observer at Trialof Brazil Popular Leader

The Council for Pan American De-

mocracy announce d today that theNational Lawyers Guild has decided to

send an observer to Brazil to extend leg alaid to the defense of Luis Carlos Prestes,Chairman of the National Liberation

Alliance and leader of the democratic

movement of Brazil.The Council for Pan American De-

mocracy has learne d that the retrial of

Prestes has been ordered by PresidentVargas of Brazil because of the desire of

the Vargas dictatorship to secure, via

his Special Tribunal, a death sentence

for Prestes.

The National Lawyers Guild is nowin communication with the Brazilian

Embassy in Washington to secure

offic ial recognition for its observer, andto guarante e contact with Prestes and

attendance at his trial * * * (Daily

B’orlier, December 20, 1940, p. 2).[The Council for Pan American

Democracy was cited by the U. S.

Attorney General as a Communist

organization.]According to The Communist, vol.

XV, No. 11 (November 1936), p. 1076,

the Communist Partv of Brazil issuedthe call for the formation of the above-

mentioned National Liberation Alliance.

The ferocious persecution organized

against him by Public Enemy No. 1of the Brazilian people, Getulio Vargas,

is directed toward physically liqui dat-

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42 THE NATIONAL LAWYF,RS GUILD

COMMUNrST PARTY, U. 8 . A .

ing the best-loved leader of the Brazilianmasses . * * *

NATIONAL LAWYEEB GUILU

By means of this trial it is hoped toterrorize the revolutionary mo vem ent

in Brazil. * * *The struggle for the liberation ofPrestes and his companions is a taskfor the whole co$tinznt$ anti-imperial-is t movement .

We can talk, write, agitate, organizemeetings and demonstrat ions. We canbring up problems in trade-unionmeetings, in pol i tical, wom en’ssport or cultural reunions. id%demand the intervention of our gov-ernm ents against dictator Var as.

dW e

can raise the matter, as in exico, in

our Parl iaments. We can mobil ize thelawyers so that they wil l expose themo nstrous legal procedure of the Tri-bunal of National Safe ty and the intel-lectuals in order that they m ay raisetheir voice s in indignation. * * *

Amo ng u s, throughout the continen t,there should be a revolutionary mo ve-ment for Luis Carlos Prestes and hiscomrades (Daily B’orker, December 26,1940, p. 6).

(By way of ident if ication of Prestes, .i t ma y be noted that on September 19,

1945, Wil l iam Z. Foster, Chairman ofthe Comm unist Party , U. S. A. , wroteto “Luis Carlos Pre stes, General Secre-tary, C omm unist Party of Brazil”(October 1945) Polit ical Aflairs, vol.XXIV, No. 10, p. 913)).

10 . NEW DEMOCR ACIES

EXPLANA TORY NO TE.-The international Com mu nist press refers toCom mu nist governments of Eastern Europe and Asia as “new democracies.”

the

COM MU NIST PARTY, U. 8 . A . NATIONAL LAWYEa GUILD

The fa cts are that in Eastern Eu-

rope---in Poland, Cz echo slovak ia,Roumania, Hungary, Bulgaria andYugoslavia-now ant i-fascist democ-racies are arising. In these countriesthe U . S. S. R. has great prestige andma ss inf luence. I t enjoys this becausethe Soviet Union respe cts the nationalsovereign ty of these nations, encouragesand abides by the democrat ic processesof the peoples and their anti-fasc istdecisions. * * *

The United States cont inues to use

diplomatic and economic weapons todiscourage the developm ent of newforms of democrat ic government inPoland Yugoslavia, Roum ania, andBulgaria. A recent exam ple of thisinterventionist policy is the threat ofAm bassado r Arthur Bliss Lane to thePolish Government that we would with-hold econo mic assista nce if Poland con-t inued to carry out a dom est ic programof appropriation of certain large indus-tries. Another exam ple is the impliedthreat of withdraw al of diplomatic

recognition of Yugoslavia unless in-ternal pol icy wa8 made to conform withour concep ts. In both these instancesour activit ies have been directed againstthe democrat ic groups which mo stactive ly participated in the resistanceto Naz i occuoation. and we nrovidedencouragem ent to the forces df collab-oration in their efforts to recon stitutea cordon sanitaire around the SovietUnion (Report of the Com mittee on

It is the Soviet Union, with i ts pactsof col lect ive securitv with her East

European neighbors,” as with Franc e,China and Britain, which * * *obstructs the way to react ionary Blocform ations, including that of the pro-

jected We st,ern Boc-an il l-disguisedcover for a renewed cordon sanitaira. * * *

The Anglo-American bloc postpone sor refuses to recognize, and hence toreach diplomatic agreements with, mo stof the democrat ic ant i-fascist govern-me nts that have come to power in these

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COMMUNIST PARTY, U. 8. A. NATIONAL LAWY ERS GUILD

countries. The United States and International Law and Relations;Britain intervene in a reactionary way adopted by the Nationa l Executive

in the popular elections and democratic Board of the Guild at its meeting in

processes in these countries. Alter- Washington,. D. C., February, 1946;

nately, they withhold or withdraw Lawyers Guald Review, vol. VI, No. Idiplo mat ic recog nition or necessary (January-February 1946), p. 414).

UNRRA aid, and refuse to grant ade-quate credits or loans on a democratic

basis (Eugene Dennis, The London -

Conference, Political Afairs, vol. XXIV ,No. 11 (November 1945), pp. 967, 968).

11. PHILIPPINE REPUBLIC

The people need a stop put to mili- To help maint ain the sovereign in-

tary interference in China, repeal of the dependence of the Philip pine Republic

Bal l Act hamstringing real Philip pine and the development of good neighborly

independence, freedom for Puerto Rico, relations, we recommend:long-term loans to non-fascist countries 1. Repeal of the Philip pine Trade

that need them without regard to polit- Act of 1946.

ical maneuvering, ratification of peace 2. Repeal of Section 601 of the Re-

treaties jointly arrived at with other h abilitatio n Act of 1946 which m ademembers of the Big Three (The worker, payment of war damages conditional on

January 5, 1947, p . 3). Philip pine acceptance of the Trade Act.

3. Execution of a trade agreement

with long-time credits providing for theexchange of Philip pine products for

American industrial equipment (Law-

yers Guild Re view, vol. VII, No. 1,

January-February 1948 , pp. 317,31 8).

12. PUERTO RICO

Grant imme diate nationa l independ-

ence to Puerto Rico (Draft Resolution

of the Nationa l Board, CPA, as amend-ed and approved by the Nationa l Com-

mittee on June 20, 1945; Politica l Aj-

fairs, July 1945 , p. 584).To begin with, the United States must

concede the full right of self-determina-

tion to Puerto Rico, without any “ifs,”“ands,” or “buts.” In doin g this, the

United States must also grant the neces-sary funds to the Puerto Rican peopleas indemnifica tion for their long colo-

nial status, as well as make trade agree-

ments of such a character that Pu ertoRico may prosper econom ically (U. S.

Relations with Latin America, William

Z. Foster; Political Affairs, hilarch 1946,

p. 209).

Enact legislation acknowledging the

complete rights of independence of

Puerto Rico with economic assistance(Lawyers Guild Review, vol. VI, No. 2,

May-June 1946, p. 518).

13. AMERICAN NEUTRALITY

(EXPLANA TORY NOTE.-Prior to World War II, when the Soviet Union feared

Nazi aggression, the line of the Communists was prowar, against neutrality and

for a unit ed front of the democracies against Fascism.)COMMUNIET PARTY, U. 6. A.

The camp of peace faces the problem

of organizing a serious mass movement

against war and fascism. * * *This nroblem will be solved in the first

instance by breaking down the concep-

tion of isolation and neutrality as the

road to peace and by preparing themasses for active collaborationwith the

NATIONAL LAWY ERS GUILD

The June 1938 issue of the N ational

Lawyers Guild Quarterly (p. 255) urged

the repeal of the existing NeutralityAct, while the Septembe r 1938 issue

(p. 304) opposed amm unition shipments

to Germany. The third nationa l con-vention of the guild held in Chicago,

February 10-13, 1939, urged “the

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COMMUNIST PABTY, U. 8. A.

peace forces of the world upon the basis

of a real internationa l policy of peace

(Excerpts reprinted from the DailylVorker of July 3, 1937, from the Central

Comm ittee Resolution on the Report ofEarl Browder, National Secretary of theCommu nist Party of the United States).

NATIONAL LAWYE RS GUILD

Nationa l Munitions Control Board to

terminate the practice of approvingmun itions exports to Germany” (Nu-

tional Lawyers Guild &u.artedy April

1939 , p. 86); warned agains t “Fascisteconomic a nd ideologica l penetration in

Mexico”; and condemned “Germanmilitary aggression in Spain.”

Septembe r 1937 issue of the Guild

News, official organ of its New York

chapter (p. 4) : “The Executive Com mit-tee has decided that our present neutral-

ity legislation must be condemned for itsmarked deficiences and has passed a

resolution urging Congress to amend

the embargo provisions .of the Act soas to make* th~m*apph cable only to

aggressors The Comm itteehas also decided to call upon the Presi-dent to apply the existing provisions of

the Neutra lity Act to Italy and Ger-

many on the ground that they are en-gaged in a state of war with the legiti-

mate Government of Spain.”

14. WORLD WAR II As IMPERIALIST

(EXPLbNATORY NOTE.-The Communist Party, USA, denounced the war asimperialist as soon as the Stalin-Hitler Pact was signed on August 23, 1939.)

COMMUNIST PABTY, U. S. A.

The Commu nist Party has issued asthe slogan of the day: “Keep America

Out of the Imperialist War ” In this

slogan are implicit what we consider theonly correct answers to all those pressing

questions about this war.

The course of event,s since th e signin gof the Soviet-German Non-Aggression

Pact has confirmed a himdred times over

the correctness of that action from everypoint of view except that which in-

corrigibly against mountrains of evi-

dence, considers Chambe rlain and theBritish Empire the full and sufficient

foundation for international order and

world peace (Speech of Earl Browder,General Secretary, Communist Party,

USA, delivered at Town Hall, P hila-

delphia, Septembe r 29, 1939).For the flower of the American youth

the right to life itself is challenged bythose who claim the privilege to con-

script them and to throw them into

reactionary war for the* be:efii ;‘,t,,;propertied classes. * /.

11,000,000 Americans unemploy:d the

Democratic Party AdministratioL issacrificing all social legislation, unem-

ployment and old-age insurance and

educational guarantees for the youth,in order to pour all resources of the

nation as well as the b lood of our peopleinto tXe scramble of monopoly capital

for domin ation of the world (Election

NATIONAL LAWYE RS GUILD

The following active leaders of the

Nationa l Lawyers Guild, members of

the lawyers committee .to keep theUnited States out of war, attended the

Emergency Peace Mobilization . From

there they sent the President a telegramof protest to conde mn the Burke-Wads-

worth conscription bil l as “unconstitu-

tional and ai representing a violentunheaval in the social, political and

eionomic life of our c&try” and as“a direct step toward Amer ican involve-

ment in war”: Samuel M. Blinken, Leo

Linder, Edward Lamb, Pearl M. Hart,

Abraham J. Isserman, Maurice Sugar,

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COMM UNIST PART Y, U. 6. A.

Platform of the Com mun ist Party,1940 (p. 3)).

As events have shown , the joint

“national unity” drive of the war-monge ring social reform ists and thebourgeoisie has not been crowned withtoo much succ ess. * * * The anti-imperialist stand of the Am ericanYouth Congress, the National NegroCongress, and the nation-wide Emer-gency Peace Mobil izat ion at Chicago,ztc.$ b$ar eloquent test imony to this

This explams, m part, thediscrepancy between the ma ss opposi-tion which has developed against theinterventionist mo ves and unneutral

acts of the government and Congress inforeign affairs, and, above all, to themilitary conscription bill, and thelimited opposition registered against thecolossal armam ents program and thedictatorial “national emergency” powersgranted to and exercised by the Presi-dent (Eugene Dennis in The Com -mu nist, September 1940, pp. 822, 823).

Keep America Out of the Imperial is tWa r Oppose all war loans and creditsto the imperialist warm akers and theirlack eys. Repu diate the militarization

and armam ents program (Resolution ofthe National Com mittee of the Com -munis t Par ty , USA, f rom The Com-

mu nist, March 1940, p. 215).Following the Stalin-Hitler pac t, the

Com mu nist Party denounced the waras “imperialist”; urged a policy of isola-tion: opposed the national defense

NATIONAL LAW YERS GlJILD

and Martin Popper, Secretary of theguild (Daily W orker, Septem ber 4, 1940,P. 3).

The fourth annual conven tion of the

guild, held M ay 29, 30, and June 1, 1940,denounced al leged attempm to use theEuropean war as a “shield to coverrepression and as an excu se for reaction”(Daily Worker, June 2, 1940).

In line with the euild’s nolicv of nro-tecting those engaged in ‘retaFding.thenational defense effort w ere the resolu-t ions adopted at the meeting of i tsnational execu tive board on February22,24, 1941, against the Model SabotagePrevention Ac t, com pulsory arbitrationin labor dispu tes, cooling-off periods

before resorting to the strike, and anti-strike legislation (Lawyers Guild Re-view, March 1941, pp. 26 to 29).

The position I have taken excludes, ofcourse , the notion that labor d isputesshall be settled by com pulsory arbitra-tion or that they shall be restrained by“Work or Fight Orders.” These meth-ods are unnecessary as they are un-desirable (Harry Sacher in the Law yersGuild Quarterly, Decemb er 1940, p. 28).

program ,-conscription, and aid to theAllied Natio ns. It nlaved the leadingrole in building up the Am erican PeacueMobil izat ion which picketed the WhiteHou se and in strikes in defense in-dustr ies such as All is-Chalmers, Inter-national Harvester, North AmericanAviation, and Vultee Aircraft.

15. SECOND FRONT

(EXPLANATORY NOT E.-Imme diately after Hit ler ’s attack on the Soviet Union,Com mu nist forces throughout the world demanded the immediate opening of aSecond Fro nt, although these forces had opposed the war as imperialistic priorto that t ime.)

COMMU NIST PART Y, U. 8. A. NATIONAL LAWYER S GUILD

Wh ile Hitler flings everything into “Robert W . Kenny, President of thethe Eastern Fron t, labor should urge Guild, sen t a letter to President Roo se-Washington and London to sma sh velt recently declar ing that the Na-Hit ler in the W est (Daily Worker, t ional E xecutive Board of the Guild b yOctober 9, 1941, p. 1). an overwhe lming ma jority had adopted

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COXMUNIST PARTY, U. 8. A.

questioning in a wa ve of war hysteriaaimed a t the Soviet Union.

The remembered l ies of the press onthe Mun ich “peace” are being surpas sed.

The plain truths are twiste d orignored.

The Finnish bourgeois-landlord rulers,incited and supported by world impe -rialism, continued their violations of theSoviet borders-they attacked at twopoints yesterday morning. They wererepulsed by the Soviet Union which tookthe ne cessary steps in defense of i tsnational interest.

I t is the sheerest hypocr isy for thepress to pretend moral indignation at“a litt le country” engaged with a “bigcoun try like the Soviet Union.” Theyknow that be hind the Finnish rulingcl iques stand the mighty forces of Br it-ish and Am erican impe rialism, goading,encouraging, supporting the hostile act sof Finland.

The Finnish bourgeois-landlord cliqueswere willing to play this role of provoca-teur. They stood at the Soviet bordersholding open the doors of wa r. TheSoviet Union yesterday closed the doors.No war dogs of world imperialism willpass through (Daily Worker, December1, 1939 (editorial), p. 1).

Forge the fr iendship and peaceful co -operation of the Am erican-Soviet-Brit-ish coalition and all the freedom-lovingpeoples * * * (Statement issuedMarch 5, 1946, by National Secretariatof the Com mu nist Party, Poli ticalAfluirs, April 1946, p. 291).

End the “cold war ” * * * Re-store Am erican-Sovie; fr iendship, thekey to world peace and the fulf i llmentof the people’s hope in the United Na-

t ions * * * (Political Affairs, Sep-temb er 1948, pp. 938-939, Article, 1948Elect ion Platform of the Com mun istParty).

NATIONAL LAWYE RS QUILD

Take steps to restore Anglo-American-Soviet unity as the cornerstone of coop-eration among the United Nations

(Lawyers Guild Review vol.; I ,*Nb 2, May-June 1946, p. 518j.

* * * The revitalization of coop-erative relations amon g the great pow ersand especial ly between the UnitedStates and the Soviet Union, points the

path to peace . To aid in the revitaliza-tion of the cooperative relations amon gthe great po wers it is impera tive thatthe United States and the Soviet Unioncom pose their differences in the briefestpossible time and lay the groundw orkfor the composing of dif ferences amongother nations and thus advance thecause of peace and the prjnciples andpu;po;es zf the United Nations.

Adherence to the principleof concurrence and cooperation willel iminate the need to consider measures

inconsistent with the spir it of the UnitedNations, such as the contemplatedNorth Atlantic Pac t or any other mili-tary arrangement b$ any powers whjch?a% $eed hostlhty . and suspic ion

(Lawyers Guald Renew, vol.

IX, No. 1, Winter 1949, pp. 55-56).

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48 THX NATIONAL LAWYERS GUILD

18. ATLANTIC PACT

COIvfMUNIST PARTY, U. 8. A. NATIONAL LAWY EBS GUILD

Des pite all threats and persecu tionswe will continue resolutely to wor k for

peace.Atlantic Instead of an aggressive NorthPact-a resurrected anti-corn-mun ist Axis-we shal l cont inue, incompan y with mil lions of other Ameri-can s, to urge that our nation shall sign aPac t of Friendship and Peace with our

7reat wa rtime ally, the Soviet UnionPolit ical &airs, April 1949, p. 4;

art icle : “Is the Advocac y of PeaceTreason?” by Wil l iam Z. Foster andEugene Dennis).

American trade-unionists,. workers,all progress ives and peace-lovm g Ame ri-

cans mu st make their voices heard.End the cold war1 Scrap the AtlanticAlliance for aggression Defend thehard-won dem ocratic rights of thepeople Stop the war preparationsJobs and homes-not guns For anAmerican-Soviet Peace Pact (PoliticalAfluirs April 1949, p. 17; article:“The Struggle for Peace” by Ma rvinReiss) .

The Guild adopted a “Resolution onthe Cold War in the Light of the New

Con cept of International Law” w hichcalled for an end to the “cold war” andthe “revitalization of cooperative rela-tions among the great powers and es-pecially between the United States andthe Soviet Union.” “Adherence to theprinciples of concurrence and coopera-tion will eliminate the need to considermeasures inconsistent with the spir itof the United Nat ions, such as the con-templated North ‘At lant ic Pact or a”,s:other militarv arrangement * *(Lawyers G& l Rev&w , Vol. 9, No. 1,

Winter 1949).

19. ATOMIC ENERGY


Put an end to atom bomb diolomacv;t ; : l is paving the way to World

The Churchi ll -Byrnes-Truman * * *“outlook is to impos e their will on theworld, including the Soviet Union, byoverwhe lming military power based onthe atom bomb (Statement issued onMa rch 5, 1946 by the National Secre-tary o f the Com munist Party , USA;Political Affairs, vol. XXV, No. 4(A

b

ril 1946), pp. 292-293).

hat a country does on a specif icissue at home is a pretty good index tohow it treats the same issue in its foreignpolicy. This is particularly true of ourgovernm ent’s policy on the inter-national control of atom ic energy.The Baruch Plan was designed by thesame men who have established monop-$m~tr$ o*ver * atomic. energy at

Therr objectiveplainly discernible in the dom estic andinternational control policy, is to retainthe monopoly of atomic energy at

home and abroad, for war or for peace.Here is to be found the real obstac le toatomic disarmament and the effect iveout lawing of the atomic bomb (Daityworker, No v. 4, 1946, ,p.“T‘;) Trust l f ied Atom

6; article:by James

NATIONAL LAWYER; GUILD

The National Law yers Guild re-portedly (1) crit icized Am erican s ecre cyconcerning atomic bomb, (2) urged thatcontrol of atom ic energy be placed w iththe UN Se curity Counci l , (3) statedU. S. Atomic bomb pol icy “has antag-onized the Soviet Gove rnme nt, alarmedthe French G overnment and createddisquiet am ong the English” (DailyWorker, De cember 27, 1945).

Our insistence upon maintaining amonopoly of the “secret” atomic bombmanufacture has caused widespreaddoubt, throughout the world, regardingour peaceful intentions (Lawyers GuildRev iew, vol. VI, No. 1, p. 415, January-February I 946).

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THE NATIONAL

COMMU NIST PARTY , U. 8. A.

* * * The main forces in theworld today are: * * * the camp

. of the m onop olists who are plottingstom ic war and the world-wide oples’camp of peace in which the ocm list.Soviet U nion plays the leading role(Political Aflairs, April 1949, pp. 64-66; art ic le: “The Atom Bomb; Mythand Truth” by Joseph Clark).

LAWYERS GUILD 49


* * * We proposed: That ourgovernment announce its immediatereadiness to enter into an internationalagreeme nt providing for the promp tdestruction of al l atomic weanons andall other weap ons adaptable-to m assdestruction and the complete cessationof all further production thereof. Theinternational agreem ent should providefor establishing effective co mpliancewith its provisions and prescribe sanc-tions for violation thereof. The aboli-tion of the veto p ower should not berequired as a condition to reaching anagreement on atomic energy (LauyersGuild Review, May-June 1946, p. 521).

20. BRETTON WOODS

The labor m ovem ent mu st speak upfor the Bretton Woo ds nlan as a whole.and deman d that it be-reported out ofcom mittee intact. The rest of the worldis watching the United States on thisissue . Our allies will not believe thatwe have abandoned political isolationif we still permit the narrow, privateinterests of a handful of bankers to$eep* u$ bound to economic nationalism.

The passage o f the B retton

W oods Plan before April 25, certainlyduring the San Franc isco conferenc e,is the best way of guaranteeing theparley’sorker A;;;e,e9;g4,‘E$ iigW Daily

The ‘failure ‘to ra&fy the BrettonWoo ds agreement, without cr ippl ingamen dmen ts, would speed up the ten-dencies regaled by the aviation con-ference. * * (From Teheran toCrime s, by Joseph S tarobin, PoliticalAffuirs, March 1945, p. 219).

During April 1945, the NationalLaw yers Guild in San Franc isco spon-sored a series of talks , under the direc-tion of Benjamin Dre yfus of the SanFrancisco Chapter. The talks werereported to have followed the Rus sianviews that the Dumba rton Oaks agree-ment should not be amended and thatthe Bretton Wo ods proposals shouldbe adopted as they were.

21. DUMBARTON OAKS AGREEMENT

The Dumb arton Oaks draft provides (Please see mater ial se t forth immedi-for the settlemen t of disputes on a re- a tely above under the caption, “Brettongional basis , where possible. But only W oods.“)with the prior authorization of theSecurity Council i tself . We oppose anychange s in this respe ct (Editorial, Dis-cussing Dumba rton Oaks, Daily Worker,

March 19, 1945, p. 6).The trade-unions m ust be particularly

alert to back up the Dumb arton Oaksand Bretton Wood s proposals, without

emasculat ing a mend ments. These arethe very heart of the Crimean postwarprogram, and it would be a disaster ifthe reactionary opposition were allowedto devitalize them as it is now trying todo (Article: “The Danger of Am ericanImpe rialism in the Postw ar Period,”Wil l iam Z. Foster, Political Affairs,

June 1945, p. 499).

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50 THE NATIONAL LAWYFZS GUILD

22. YALTA-POTSDAM

COMMUNIST PARTY, U. 8 . A .

The immediate basic cause for thedeterioration of relations betwee n the

Soviet Union and the Brit ish-Americanimpe rialists l ies in the fact that B ritainand America have refused to carry outthe Yalta and Potsdam pledges.

Britain and Am erica have refused todenazify Germany and crush feudal mi l-itarist reaction in Japan . The y haverefused to let the sma ll countries ofEurope decide their own fate. The yare acting to stif le all freedom move-

me nts in India, Egypt, Indonesia, etc.Carrying out the Yalta-Potsdam

agreements would restore Big Three

peace ful working relationships (State-men t of the Secretariat , CP-US A, Pol i-ical Aflairs, April 1946, p. 292).


* * * at Yalta a new enoch ininternational law wa s unfolded-through

the establishm ent of the principle of theconcurrence or unanimity of the GreatPowers * * * .

But i t was at San Francisco soon af terthe present adm inistration took off icethat the country f i rst witnessed a wholeseries of off icial actions constituting adeparture from the policies to which theUnited State s had subscribed in theAt lant ic Charter and at Mo scow , Tehe-ran,Yalta, and Dumba rton Oaks * * * .

The National Law yers Gu ild vigor-ously oppo sed the whole policy of the

United State s delegation as a f lagrantviolation of the spirit and conte nt ofUnited Nat ions unity (Resolut ion of theCom mit tee on Internat ional Law andReg ulations, National Law yers Guild,Lawyers Guild Review, January-Febru-ary 1?6,pp..412-413).

* since February, the patternof our foreign policy has not beenaltered. The present pnd can andmu st be halted * * we urge thefollowing immediate”course of conductby our government: ”

Take steps t : rep* Anglo-American-Soviet unityFuhi ll the Potsdam agreement to

complete the destruct ion of Naz ism andmilitarism. Bring to trial G e\rnaE in-dustrialists as war criminals *

Establish an international war crime stribunal for the prosecution and punish-men t of Japanese war cr iminals, includ-ing Japane se industrialists and theEmperor.

Extend f inancial credits to nations inneed withou t interference in their in-

ternal affairs (National Law yers GuildConvent ion Resolut ions, July 1946,Lawyers Guild Review, May-June 1946,pp. 517-518).

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