peas BE Dennis addresses jury as trial of U.S. Communist leaders ends sm melts i tA | Beata eatin | 6S neh Ss he ‘No one can imprison principles’ Eugene Dennis, the general secretar at Foley Square last wetk and addresse Verdict,” he said, “we Communist our country. One way or another, Progress to which we have dedicated our hives. “For no one—no Federal administration—can stop Federal administration——can kill ideas or imprison princip It was a fighting finish. On this high note the seven-month tial of the eleven U.S. Com- Tunist leaders drew to a close. f Motions were denied. In the months since the opening day five of the defendants were jailed for r Motions based on sworn charges of bias agains were shrugged off. This was the kind of trial that Was now coming to a close. Dennis, acting as his own at- torney, told the jurors, “Our party is the blood and bone of the work- ing class. We are workers. The Workers’ grievances are our griev- ances. We don’t want to ‘exploit,’ ,but we want to end those griev- ances, “And we want to abolish for- ever the social conditions that give Yise to these grievances.” “Now let us get down to the Prosecution’s $64 question,” Den- nis said. i “Do any of the principles of Marxism-Leninism mean the duty and vecessity to overthrow the United States government by force and violence? We defendants have Proved that they do not.” Dennis turned to the Marxist- Leninist classics, which the prose- Cution described as “the parapher- Nalia of the conspiracy.” He point- €d out that some of these books, have been freely circulating for as long as 100 years. \ “A special honor and symbol- . ism attaches to these books,” he Said. “Where the Marxist class- ics have been banned, free speech and press: has been banned; where they have been put on trial, men and women have been Put in concentration camps with- °ut trial; where these books have been burned, human beings have been consumed in crematoria. These books are a sort of bar- ometer of the political climate. It is known to the jury, and written in the record of this trial, that these very Marxist-Leninist books Were returned to free circulation by the peoples in Germany, Italy, France and Japan when American, Titish and Soviet soldiers came se liberate their lands from Nazi &nd Mikado tyranny.” * * * It was the same with the other defense attorneys in the week-long Summation of the case. “This case,” said Richard Glad- Stein, “was born of fear. It rests °n a foundation of fear.” Gladstein reminded the 12 jurors 8nd three alternates that evidence in the trial showed the defendants ©oncerned themselves with such ings as poverty, what to do about NMA he conduct of the tral by Judge Harold R. Medina, a conduct so high-handed that it evoked motion after motion for mistrial from the harassed defense staff. All of the It was a tone in contrast to t leaders face the One way or ae the trial, January 17, “contempt? by Medina. t one of the jurors t; uncial discrimination, how to end it; the denial of political rights and how to cure the situation. He turned to the 11 defendants sitting in the long row behind the defense table, stating they “ were not charged with murder, arson or theft or any kind of conduct that people instinctively recognize as criminal. “They are charged with teach- ing and advocating a way of life,’ Gladstein asserted. “Their y of the U.S. Communist party. stood in a federal courtroom d a jury of eight women and four men. ‘Whatever be your future with confidence in our party, our people, we will continue to serve the cause of peace, democracy and social another, that cause will inevitably triumph. n stop the forward march of history. No one—no les and_ beliefs.” NEW YORK getling equality of treatment for the Negro in the CIO. “Tt was the Communist party that gave the Negro an equal place in political life. For the first time there sits a Negro in the city coun- cil of America’s principal city. That’s something al! of us can be proud of, whether or not we-agree with the Communist party. “If by using the Negro peoole you mean that the Communist party has elected a Negro, Henry Winston, to its second office, Vd like to see the Republican and Democratic parties use the Ne- gro people like the Communist party does.” Attorney A. J. Isserman, who op- ened the summation for the de- fense a week ago, dealt with the question of the Alien and Sedition Act of 1798. “Once the deathly hand of cen- sorship clamps down upon us, and it does not matter whether it is activities, their writings, their speeches, their intent concern themselves with propositions that are very strange in a criminal court of law.” : George W. Crockett, the Negnio member of the defense staff, dealt in’ hig closing remarks with the question of the Negro people. Crockett made it clear that he spoke as 2 non-Communist who disagreed with some of the views of the Communist party’s cham- pionship of the Negro people. “You have been told,” he said, “that the Communists are using the Negro people for their own ends, . “Every time I hear that state- ment I boil with rage. It implies that Negroes are so ignorant, so backward and naive that they can be used as: pawns by the Communist party or anyone else. This whole notion of ‘using’ the Negro people is part of white supremacy propaganda. It is an affront to the Negro people. “So far as the Communist party is conceined, it is more accurate to say that the Communist party has been used by the Negro people. It is the only party in which Ne- groes are equal, in which they are free to speak as Americans with full rights. “The Communist party used the Scottsboro and the Herndon cases not only to defend the persons in- volved, but to defend the rights of all Americans. It is the Com- munists who were responsible for ‘prosecution in a courtroom or the |fear of prosecution, America by a blue pencil or a criminal has turned its back on its glorious tra- | ditions. “This trial is extraordinary and unusual. For the first time since the Alien and Sedition Act of 1798, for the first time since pros- écutions were held under: those acts, we find the leaders of a political part on trial, on trial for what they said and on trial for the ideas they advocate. “In those days it was Thomas} Jefferson who was the subject of | attack and his followers who sym- | ‘pathized with the struggles that were going on in France at that) time, and under the Alien and Se- dition Act political leaders were put in jail, editors were arrested. sentenced and went to prison, and a shysteria ruled the country, and we turned our back, albeit for a very short span of years, upon the fundamental constitutional rights under which America, unafraid of ideas, allows those ideas to play back and forth amongst the people, allows the issues that are develop- ed out of those ideag to be de- cided by the people and by thei majority choice, . “In a very short span of time the Alien and Sedition laws were discarded. The people who were jailed were released and Congress repaid the fines and repented for the shame of America in trying to put ideas in some kind of pro- tective custody, in trying. to Shield the American people from the influx of ideas.” Shipyard and Engineering company agreed to a fou statutory holidays with pay. Settlement at Burrard means 4 settlement with all wooden boat- ards along. similar lines. The con- PACIFIC 9588 Jack Cooney, Mgr. FERRY MEAT MARKET 119 EAST HASTINGS VANCOUVER, B.C. FREE DELIVERY Supplying Fishing Bo ats Our Specialty Nite Calls GL. 1740L 3 Contract averts strike ‘n wooden boatyards A last-minute agreement averted a strike of employees at Burrard Works at Coal. Harbor here when the r-cent-an-hour basic wage increase, three and an annual holiday pay arrangement. } tracts are following the pattern established in 12 previous steel op- erations. : Members of the Marine and Boilermakers’ Union voted to ac- cept the company’s offer on Mon- day night. A strike vote at Bur- rard, had been taken the previous week when the company, follow- ing the recommendations of a conciliation board, wanted to con- tinue the 1948 agreement without alteration in its terms. Winning of a settlement similar to that already reached in other sections of the industry represents a victory for wooden boatyard Lewis urges joint struggle John L. Lewis, United Mine Workers president, shown here with (left to right) UMWA vice-president Thomas Kennedy and secretary-treasurer John Owen, has asked AFL president William Green to give $250,000 a week to help U.S. steel workers win their strike. He says he will match the $250,000 with an equal amount each week from UMWA funds. He urged Green “to meet in this fashion the giant adversaries which would decimate the major workers and their union. units of organized labor.” Some 400,000 UMWA members have been on strike in the U.S. since September 19. West coast seamen ign with operators A new 1949-50 agreement with WestCoast deepsea operators was signed this week by the West James Thompson, union president, formed by the Pacific coast district which withdrew from the national organization a fortnight ago. “The action of withdrawing was. taken by the, west coast member- ship with full approval of the na- tional executive of the CSU,” said Thompson. “The step was taken as the best means of defending the wages and conditions of west coast seamen.” The WCSU contract covers sea- men aboard 18 Vancouver-owned freighters, and retains hiring rights in the union’s hand. Course announced by Labor College Vancouver Labor College an- nounces that fall classes will com- mence October 28 and continue for six consecutive Friday evenings. Course *consists of six Marxist lectures on the following subjects: Devaluation—the pound, the dollar and you} atomic energy and com- munism; Marxism and the trade unions; socialism and the indivi- dual; Canada and world politics; the LPP and the working class. For further information prospec- tive students are asked to phone Rosaleen Ross at TA, 1451. Coast Seamen’s Union (Canada), announces. The WCSU was of the Canadian Seamen’s Union, AUUC to hold provincial ‘meet November 5-6 Delegates from 21 branches of the Association of United Ukrain- ian Canadians will attend the or-— ganization’s provincial convention in Vancouver next month. ..Convention sessions will be held at the AUUC hall, 805 East Pen- der, November 5-6. A special ses- sion will be held for English- speaking branches and youth clubs. The convention will discuss pro- posals to hold a short Ukrainian national. dancing course in Van- couver during Christmas week, and to stage a drama festival in January. During the convention a concert will be held at the Hastings Odeon theater celebrating the tenth an- niversary of the uniting of Ukrain- ian lands. Guest speaker will be Peter Krawchuk, AUUC national executive member, who recently re- turned from the Ukraine. REFRESHMENTS LOWER HALL ' $.30 — SEAMEN’S SOCIAL & DANCE Russian Peoples Home 600 CAMPBELL AVENUE Saturday, October 22nd. Admission: $1.00 Includes Refreshments Auspices of Maritime Club L.P.P FOOD MUSIC 12 p.m, ‘ Eveuyone Welceme PACIFIC TRIBUNE — OCTOBER 21, 1949 — PAGE it