The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1927-05-05
BRITISH TORIES
JAIL THOUSANDS
FOR FREE SPEECH
Baldwin Finds No Civil
Liberty in England

efnment is increasing It's repreSSlonS
on all sections of the movement" says
Roger Baldwin, director Of the Amer
lean Civil Liberties Union, describing
civil liberties in England in circu-
lar letter.
Baldwin was permitted to enter
England for two weeks only after he
had promised the Home Office to
abstain from all political activity
Free speech as it was so long prac-
ticed in England is gone,-though the
Hyde Park forums still run Sundays
without interference" he says. ''But
whenever any serious industrial or
political situation rises the lid is
clamped on agitation through prose-
cutions under emergency regulations
or old libel and peace laws.
Arrested For Meeting
During the coal strike from May to
December, 1926, 1915 prosecutions
were brought, chiefly for speeches,
distributing literature and holding
meetings. $40 workers were sent to
prison. % men are still in prison.
ten OF them for one to eight years.
$50 strike cases are still pending in
The courts.
The court contests and the relief
of prisoners has been carried on al
most wholly by the Glass War Prison
~rs' Aid, which has the support Of
many local unions and the left wing
Of the Labor Party. The Labor
Party itself has helped only the cases
Of few prominent members. Quite
the most active group in London is
the insurgent left OF the Party, many
of them former Commissioning,
vigorous intellectuals and trade
unionists with an international out
look. Lansbury, the only old man
among them, expresses their policies
and makes the contact between the
Communist wing and the progressive
forces. One Of them put the situation
graphically by saying that in England
now "There is plenty of petrol lying
around, but no matches; while in
France there are plenty of matches
but no petrol" And German friend
here adds that in Germany there are
neither.
Communists In Vanguard
The work in England for prisoners
on the continent is also entirely due
10 the efforts of the Glass War
Prisoners Aid, which organized the
expeditions Of parliamentary delega-
lions of Labor members to Bulgaria
in 1926 and to Poland a few months
ago. The relief work for Bulgarian
prisoners and families which followed
was Independently organized and pro-
duced the amazing total of over $4,000 !
in small gifts from workers who were
themselves in distress. Much publicity
has resulted and many meetings have |
been held in London for these victims |
Of persecution or the continent, but |
with no such spirit and effect as the |
great demonstrations in Paris. The |
Labor Party makes a gesture of SYM
pathy now and then,-but its foreign /
affairs department is so anti-Com- I
munist that it win not cooperate in |
any way with efforts in which Com /
munists participate. It takes the lead |
of the Socialist international, which |
emphasizes the Russian political pris-
oners and attacks the Init. Red Aid. /
Refuse Military Service
In Holland, where I spent week, /
there are two situations of interest to
us,--one, the prisoners serving for re-
fusal Of military service, and the
other, the agitation against repression
Of native movements for independence 4
in the Dutch East Indies. The only
political prisoners in Holland are the
anti-militarists. OF all European
countries Holland alone has long
history Of struggle against compul-
sorry military service.
Over 1900 youths have gone to
prison in the last Is years,-most of
them from the small towns and coun-
try districts Of the north and east
where the old tradition Of freedom
among sea-faring people is strong.
Sectarianism and individualism mark
Dutch life. Most Of the present-day
BAAsVIeIS art aildICillSl es---ilOb HOU-IE- i
sistant pacifists by any means,-with
n considerable number Of religious pa
cifists. The morning ! visited the
prisoners at Scheveningen, where the
20 boys Of 10 now serving time are
kept together in one section, a Baptist
was just leaving after his 10 months
of Il. Ten months is the usual SEN
tence by the courts-martial. The per-
iod Of military service is six months.
Colonists Executed
The situation in the Dutch East In
dies, where 90 million natives furnish
the basis for the profits by which
Z million Hollanders maintain a rich
industrial life, is too complicated to
say more than a few words here. AS
q result Of uprisings against oppres-
sion last year, 10 native leaders have
been condemned TO death, 500 exiled
TO barren New Guinea, and some 1900
are In Drigon most OF them tyithout