Evening star., 1922-07-24
Radicalism, Labor and Justice.

unceasing and persistent. Whatever
ever it's communistic program may
deteriorate into a closer approach to
normal administration, the radicals Of
Russia lose no opportunity to press
their plan for "one big political
union" Their latest move is to ad
dress an open letter to British labor
leaders urging the British labor party
to protest the death sentences of Field
Marshal Wilson's assassins The let
ter, which comes from Radek and
Bucharin. is worth quoting:
We expect to receive in a short time
from you telegram calming our alarm
by stating that You have called English
workers to a general strike in order not
to allow the hangmen of British i'm
perialism to murder those who strove
for freedom for the Irish people You
address to us a request that We have
mercy on the terri ,rists and social revo-
lutionarieS; we are now addressing an
appeal to all parties Of the Second In
ternationale demanding maximum pres
sure on the English government to OBJ
tain a just trial. and you must obtain
the right for the Third Internationale to
be present.
Doubtless this demand was written
with no expectation that the British
labor leaders would call a strike and
make the demand in the name of the
Third Internationa for a retrial of
the Wilson assassins, with the Mos
COW radicals present. This must be
rated as gesture only, and yet be-
/! hind it lies a menace. 1t is known
that there Is dangerous infusion of
bolshevism in British labor ranks. Di-
rect agents OF the Moscow organiza-
tion have been working for many
probably addressed to their converts
rather than to the leaders, in the
hope, perhaps, ofs starting a revolt
against the present labor organiza.
ton.
British labor has been only mildly
interested in the Irish question. AS
in this country. organized labor there
has taken no decided fixed stand on
political matters. An appeal to the
labor of England. therefore, to align
itself in behalf of Irish freedom"
particularly at this juncture Of the
Irish case. when the only fighting in
progress in Ireland is between Irish
factions, is certain to be futile.
Perhaps the most significant phrase
in the open letter of the Moscow reds
is that which demands the right to
be present at the trial Of Gen. Will
sons assassins. This is tantamount
to claim to a universal privilege of
presence at the trial of every person
involved in what may be regarded as
a political crime in every country.
viii the same demand be made in the
case of the French anarchist who
recently made an attempt to kill Pre-.
mier Poincare?
Memory of the Sacco-Vanzetti case
is Immediately revived. These two
men were convicted in Massachusetts
of murder. The crime was in no sense
political. but the radicals made the
case political by contending that the
accused men were railroaded to prison
on the way to the scaffold because
they were radicals and that evidence
was framed against them to insure a
conviction. An organized protest de-
veloped. From communist and an
archist centers throughout the world
came not merely petitions and pleas
but demands for the release Of Sacco
and Vanzetti. The case is pending
yet on appeal, and doubtless If the
appeal is denied and the men are
again sentenced to death the furore
will start anew. 1t may be definitely
attributed, in the light Of this latest
demand on British labor, to the in
fiuence of the Third Internationale
at Moscow, the world center of
anarchism.