“Prof.

BOOKS

Powertul new book strengthens
outline of Rosenberg frameup

Y heen? Wexley’s The Judge-
ment of Julius and Ethel

Rosenberg is one of the most
significant books of our time.
Of all the books written on
the Rosenbergs, this is the most

definitive, representing three
years of careful research and
personal investigation by the
author.

His approach to the subject
is best exemplified by his quo-
‘tation from a recent book by
Gaetana Salvemini of
Harvard: “Impartiality is eith-
er a delusion ofthe simple-
minded, a banner of the op-
portunist, or the ‘boast of the
dishonest. Nobody is entitled
to be unbiased towards truth

‘or falsehood.”

A massive volume of 632
‘pages, the book is neverthe-
less easy to read and holds
the interest of the reader
throughout. Today, when the
people of the U.S. are more in-
clined to take a second look
at the Rosenberg-Sobell case,
and when the role of the paid
informer is beginning to smell
‘to the high -heavens, such a

‘book is most timely..

‘More than any other recent

*-book, this exposes the FBI as

-a political police force,

- bricated testimony,

, stop-
ping at nothing, including ju-

- dicial: murder, in order to fur-
«thers the.aims of the most re-
--actionary political groupihgs in
the U.S.

In this case, they cold-blood-
edly selected their victims, fa-
conspired
to have perjury committed and
created a picture of guilt com-

’ posed of half truths and half-
*. Hes.

As. this took. proves, once
the victims were chosen, At-
torney-General J. Howard Mc-
Grath, the FBI, Prosecutor Irv-

“-ing H. Saypol and Judge Irving

‘Kaufman worked as

a team.
They -had one aim: ‘to convict
the Rosenbergs and Sobell, and
to give them the maximum

- penalty if they refused to con-

. viol of -France,
- persons the world over and

fess to crimes they had never
committed.

n % xt 3

Pope Pius XII, President Au-

distinguished

* millions of ordinary people on

“cution, called for mercy.

every continent appealed to the .

White House for clemency.
One of the most distinguish-
ed scientists in the U.S., Dr.
Harold C. Urey, originally bil-
led as a witness for the prose-
He
publicly stated that it was im-
possible for the Rosenbergs to
have committed the crime they
had been charged with, that
of stealing the secret of the
atom bomb and transmitting it

‘te Russia.

But neither President Truman

the Democrat, nor President -
‘Eisenhower
“whe succeeded him, was moved

the Republican,
to spare the lives of Julius
cand Ethel. In this, they were
truly bi-partisan.

The very fact that 3,000,000
U.S. citizens participated in the
campaign for clemency speaks
for itself. This proves that
despite the hysteria built up
by the Korean War and by
McCarthyism, the true voice
of America, the voice of hon-
or and decency, was heard in
Washington.

Now, in this new and more
favorable situation, this voice
will grow and make itself

heard above the confusion and
distortion of the capitalist
press, the big radio and tele-
vision networks, and all the
other mass mediums of expres-
sion that.did so much to set
the stage for a “guilty” ver-
dict in the Rosenberg-Sobell
case.

While the capitalist press in
the U.S. has been compelled *to
deal with such sensational ex-
posures as the Matusow case,
it-is, in the main, unwilling to
reopen the Rosenberg - Sobell
case. Once it starts in this di-
rection, it will find itself com-

pelled to expose the very es-"

sence of this foul political
frameup, the big lie that Com-
munists and left-wing militants
are traitors to their country.

‘The new course opened up
by the recent summit confer-
ence at Geneva can change the
political climate within the
U.S., making it possible for peo-
ple of the U.S. to speak more
freely, to examine the facts
more critically and to form
more logical conclusions.

This book should give a tre-
mendous impetus to such a pro-
cess. Placed in the hands of
community leaders, trade un-
ion activists, professionals,
journalists, clergymen and oth-
ers who are in the position to
influence public opinion, Wex-

ley’s book can’ go a long way’

towards winning freedom for
Sobell and _ vindicating the
Rosenbergs.
Bo eg 5ee
Faced with the certainty of
execution, Julius refused to
recant his beliefs. With great

dignity and pride, he informed '

the court:
gt would like to state that
my personal opinions are that

the people of every country ©

should decide by themselves

what kind of government they .

want.
“If the English want a king,

- it is their business. If the Am-

ericans want our form of gov-
ernment, it is our business. If
the Russians want Commun-
-ism, it is their business. I feel
‘that the majority of people
should decide for themselves
what kind of government Hney
want.

“I felt the Soviet govern-
ment had improved the_ lot
of the underdog, had made a
lot of progress, had done a
lot of reconstruction work and
built a lot of resources and at
the same time they contribut-
ed a major share in destroying
the Hitler beast who killed
six million of my co-religion-
ists ...I feel Surguigual about
the thing. a

Today, after the Geneke Con
ference, most people would
find no quarrel with these
ideas. But to Judge Kaufman

in 1951, such beliefs were syn-

onymous with treason and rul-
ed out a verdict of “not gulity.”

After reading this book, you
come to the inescapable con-

‘clusion that the judge was bias-

ed ,unjudicial’ and used his

high office not to guarantee-a_
’ fair trial,
conviction of the defendants.

but to ensure the

In short, they were held to be
guilty because they had’ un-

- othodox political views.

The trial was merely a for-
mality to register their pre-
conceived guilt. It was meant

* to shock the nation into politic-

al insensibility, into passive

submission to those who were
hell-bent for atomic war abroad

and the destruction of civil |

liberties at home.

If the Rosenbergs had capit-
ulated and _  perjured them-
selves, their lives would have
been spared, but the vicious
circle would have been expand-
ed and many other helpless
victims would have been scoop-

~ed into the FBI net.

It is to their eternal glory
that they chose to die as mar-
tyrs, rather than to live as
cowards, paid informers and
perjurers. By giving their lives,
they saved the lives and repu-
tations of many others.

503 cae 53

But Wexley’s book is more
than the exposure of the foul-
est political frameup in Am-
erican history. It is also, if in
brief, the tragic and immort-
al love story of two great Am-

ericans. The tender and pas-
sionate love of Julius and Eth-

el for each other and for their ©

children will some day inspire
a great dramatist to write one
of the greatest plays of all
times..

In this book, you see them
wistfully holding hands
through the wire mesh dividing
the male and female prisoners
in a police van; sending notes
to cheer each other in the
death house; remembering
birthdays and consulting each
other about their two children,
Michael and Robby.

% % xt

To the very end, even as they
were walking to the electric
chair, Julius and Ethel knew
that the FBI was standing by,
with an open line to Washing-
ton. All they had to do, to
save their lives, was to cooper-
ate, by placing other lives in
danger through perjured testi-
mony. But they chose to die
honorably, rather than to live
dishonorably, as paid stool-pi-
geons in the dirty game of cold
war frameup.

The least we can do is to

vindicate their name and to

win freedom for Morton So-
bell, banished to Alcatraz for

‘thirty years because he too re-

fused to bear false witness.

- The Judgement of. Julius
and Ethel Rosenberg, publish-
ed by Cameron and Kahn, New
York, is available here at the
People’s Cooperative Book-
store, 337 West Pender Street,
price $6.50.

TUC appeals to Eisenhower

Dy
Appeal to President Eisenhower to grant Paul nonest i

Seeenst:

RADIO-TV

New CBC play built a

(above), famous U.S. singer, a passport so that he can Soft
vitations to sing in Britain was unanimously adopted by th
tis Trades Union Congress at its recent annual convé

around Joe Hill story,

dence will be presented

FCS its last program this sea-
son, on Saturday, October 1,
the popular CBC radio
program, Focus, is presenting a
new play by John Reeves, We
Shall Not Be Moved. The play
is centred around Joe Hill, im-
mortal poet-organizer of the
Industrial Workers of the
World.

Focus usually ittcludes two
or more features and this will
be one of its few single pro-
ductions, for which the time
will be extended by a_ half-
hour, from 8.35 to 10.30 p.m.

ho Ue he

Commenting on the forth-
coming - production, CBC Times
says:

“We Shall No Be Moved is a.

story taken from real life. It
concerns the trial and convic-
tion” many years ago, in the
United States of a man who was

charged with a murder which,

in all likelihood, he did‘ not
‘commit. Listeners will have
a chance to make up their
minds for themselves about his
guilt, for all the important evi-

The Australian Book So-
ciety, which now has an en-
rolment of 3,000 members,
claims the distinction of
being the only cooperative
book society in the world
| which exists soley to assist
the writers of its own coun-

‘| try to have their books pub-

lished and widely distribut-
ed. : ;

In its recent report, the so-
‘ciety notes that it has pub-

ian writers, with a total of
more than 50,000 copies, and
sponsored interstate’ tours by

Society claims unique role

lished 12 books by Austral-

eight Australian writers dur-_

ing the three years since
it was founded.

In addition, it has organ-
ized hundreds of meetings
-and discussions across the
country on Australian litera-
ture and traditions.
| These discussions followed
by consistent © canvassing,
have enabled the society to
reach its present member-
ship of on says the re-
port.

The Poa considers its
biggest achievement “has
been in the strengthening
of the democratic literary
tradition in Australia.”

ee

PACIFIC TRIBUNE — SEPTEMBER 23,

not set out to be a mere

dunit.”

The author comments:
“Any writer who st
across a gripping . story, ™

made and waiting to
must thank his stars for 3 hap
If that story Bi tal

a e

send.

pens to concern things °
then the
of it becomes more
it becomes 2

importance,

pleasure;

De got

Pike
duty: 1

believe that the desire ee j 4
tice is one of the deepes iyil-
most valuable passions %

ized man.

neg te
“The story I have tried ee
tell is that of a man W*

the victim of a real or 4 «se

apparent. miscarriage °° ‘yy.
All our courts te
manly fallible and one

tice.

not have to search far t vie

history to find other suc

tims; but this case is, 1 Pe” an

unique in that the accus
did not become famous sit
bécause of his trial but
well-known before he wa igure

accused, a well-know?
in the labor movement
time and. well-loved all “os

the world as the comp?
many of the songs whic
ed to hold that moverned

ntion is j

a 098
of the play. But the play ‘yh Or

ple es :
me
te he

jeast

-

eve

. gether. Indeed, he is. ee uae
membered by many ee the
workers today as one © owe
pioneers to whom they ye
much of their thanks. tot

“I have tried to tell the nett”
as simply as possible. pave

_ ever they were available yy the

used the actual words ® se

people

involved, not,

‘pecd! as
ju “be

one shouldn’t invent, bU ens:

cause,

hope to match.
ing with this,

music is almost all on per?

as sometimes
the actual words of life ainys
force of dignity,
' or humor that no

hap) d a
or

cou
writer ep

And, in
the incide® opt

the composition of

himself. fe

1955 — pace