New-York tribune., 1920-01-11
Barring of
5 Socialists
Stirs Party
Continued from page 1

Continued from page 1
edge of the facts in the case of ne
cessity gives aid and comfort to those
elements Of our society which seek
the destruction of our institutions"
Advised by Good Lawyers
Speaker Sweet is confident that the
decision Of the Judiciary Committee
will justify the Assembly's action.
Questioned on this point ne said:
There has been no undue haste in
this matter. l studied it carefully from
all angles for five weeks and the facts
were submitted to several eminent
lawyers: l am quite sure of my
ground"
The Speaker, whose action, it is
feared in some quarters, would cause a
party clash insisted that the issue was
clean-cut Americanism.
ut is high time that the people of
the country are brought to realization
| pf what is going on," he said.
Socialists Plan Battle
Taking as their slogan "This is a
great chance; let us make the most OF
it, the five Socialist Assemblymen yes
tefday opened their campaign to regain
their seats. They spoke at three open
air mass meetings, and attempted to
audience of Socialists to those upon
whom their propaganda ordinarily has
no effect.
The suspended Assembfymen ad-
dressed an audience of $500 in three
meetings in the plaza at 10th Street
and Fifth Avenue A squad of forty
policemen kept order as the Assembly
men proceeded about the square from
meeting to meeting.
August Claessens, in whose Assembly
district-the 17th-the meeting was
held, was greeted with cheers as he
mounted the platform. He spoke with
small American flag at either side of
him.
Ballot Frauds Alleged
Claessens indicated in part the defense
which the Socialists will make before
the Judiciary Committee. He charged
that thousands of ballots had been
stolen from the Socialists in the last
election, both in Assembly districts
which they had lost and those which
they had won.
"In my district alone l have proof
that 1,40O ballots were stolen" he said.
Il won by sixty votes, and they were
only saved to me by the uprightness Of
one policeman, who closed the door on
the bands of guerrillas who were going
about tampering with the ballots. Per-
sonally l witnessed the theft of eighty
or ninety ballots. In the 4th Assembly
District, and in the 28th' and the 8th
things we're 0one."
Claessens replied, categorically, to
each of the charges brought against
the Socialist Assemblymen in the reso-
luton by which they were suspended.
Answers Each Charge
every Socialist believes in the in
ternational Socialist revolution," he
said, replying to the first charge. "As
Speaker Sweet would know, if he reads
the encyclopedia, that does not mean
we want to throw bombs and kill
people. It simply means that We ex-
nation of society from the capitalist
to the Socialist system. In some coun-
tries it will come peacefully, in some
by violence. When the majority of
the American people want it it will
come here. We want it to come with
out the shedding of a drop of blood,
either of the workers or Of the para
sitical capitalists.
They say, further, that we have
sworn to obey the executive committee
Of our party. They lie. But do obey
the orders OF my organization. What
IS the use of an organization if it can
elect men to the Assembly and then
permit them to act Independently The
Democrats and the Republicans obey
their organizations. That was Just
what they were doing when they put
US out. And they were obeying the
orders, not of the people, but of a
manufacturer"
Socialist Alderman Speaks
Abraham Beckerman, Socialist AL
derman, who was chairman of the
meeting, said that for the first time
in several years the Socialist party
found itself fighting the cause of the
American people.
"1f the majority of the Anne rican peo-
pie want to turn anarchist, they have
right to do it," Beckerman said. 1--WE
are not anarchists, but we are fighting
for the rights of the majority Of the
people,"
Samuel A. De Witt, another of the
suspended Assemblymen, read poem
addressed to Speaker Sweet, written
on Assembly letterheads, in which the
Speaker was compared with Pontius
Plate and the FIVE Assemblymen to
disciples Of Christ. Referring to Mr.
Sweet, he read:
But it was pitiful to see
A Caesar in stupidity"
A collection was made at the meeting
for the defense fund of 100000 which
the Socialists are raising. The next
big step in the campaign to regain the
five seats will be meeting Of a mum
Der of liberal and radical groups ir
The Peoples Home, 7 East Fifteenth
Street, tomorrow.
Lusk Issues Statement