The toiler. [volume] (Cleveland, Ohio) 1919-1922, 1921-05-28

General Palmer to send away to Eu
rope on deportation ships those o.
the arrested workers who were no
citizens, Stedman strove hard tt
prove that they were not citizens
The stenographic record shows thai
he asked such witness:
l Q. Are you citizen of the United
States?
| A. have first papers.
/ Q. Are you citizen?
| A. No.
i AS Attorney-General Palmer, e
| furnish a screen for his raids, had
filled the newspapers with stories
of Russian Reds" about to over
| throw the government, Stedman
who knew that cases are really won
or lost in newspaper headlines, did
all he could to prove the imprisoned
workmen to be Russian Reds" He
brought out evidence that the Com
munist convention had been at the
headquarters of the Russian Fedora
ltion. Turning his attention to De-
/ troit: "Did not the Russian branches
grow from five hundred to- three
thousand in five months time ?"....
"Wasn't there quite a difference in
the increase of the foreign speaking
branches and the English speaking,
proportionally?" ?".... "The largest
increase was among the Russian
branches, was it not?".... "You
have various nationalities who are
members %. 49,. "How many Rus
sians?". -.
Testifying in behalf of Stedman,
Mrs. Blumenberg said, C.. the larg-
er delegation came from Detroit,
| Michigan, and the larger proportion
of the delegates were the Russian
Reds. -. You might say the English
speaking members present were in
very small proportion"
Some of the workers attacked as
Communists simultaneously by the
Department Of Justice and by Sted-
man, gave answers on the witness
stand which would indicate that they
were not thorough Communists.
Their being Communists might fur
ther be questioned because they had
always disented from the actual
Communist program, although they
were Left Wing Socialists. When the
Judge asked Stedman against whom
he filed his Bill of Complaint, he
replied, "Those who are Communists
and Left Wingers."
Stedman lost his suit on the tech
nicality, that, in his haste to strike
while the Communists were in prison
he made the error Of going into
the wrong court. The case is now
being appealed by him in the Su-
preme Court at Lansing, Mich, where
he is now using the Bill Of Com.
plant carrying the same charges
/ that he denies to you that he ever
made.
Necessary though it has been to
mention frequently the name Of Sey-
mour Stedman in telling this nara
tive, the matter is not to be dis
missed with personal blame upon
him. Stedman felt that he truly re-
presented the spirit of the Socialist
Party in all that he did. The ques-
tion arises as to whether he cor
rectly represented the policies and
official beliefs Of his party.
He did. His acts in Detroit are
lin definite accord with the character
Of the Socialist Party as it's charact-
er has evolved since 1912. The So
cialist Party Of America has definit-
ely set aside the MARKHAM conception
Of the state as a class instrument,
and has accepted the German Social
Democratic belief that the state is
an instrument Of all persons alike,
1t is the definite discarding Of the
class struggle. "%
The Socialist Party officially does
not believe that there is a Capitalist
State" Its position was expressed in
Assemblyman Louis Waldman's tes-
timony before the New York State
Assembly. He testified there under
Stedman's and Morris Hillquit's guild
ance that he regarded the New York
State Government as mot quite cap
italistic," but as "the peoples gov.
ernment."
This, then, is the official position
Of the Socialist Party, or of what
remains Of It under the Right Wing
leaders. There being no Capitalist
State" there are no Capitalist
Courts" but only the peoples
courts, capable justly to Judge and
condemn law-breaking workingmen
The party being pledged to uphold
"the peoples" law, Of which the
Criminal Syndicalist and deportation
laws are part, they see no reason
why its representative should no,
take advantage Of those laws ovel
"red" workingmen who adhere to {
revolution in which the Party doe,