The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1927-04-09

strikes, so I'm not yammering for personal recog
milton!
But, it's later on that Allen makes a mistake
which is-more than mistake. It is bad Journalism,
and very bad revolutionary ethics so to set things
lightly down on paper without verification.
I was one of the famous hundred and sxty-siX
who indicted during the war, by the govern
ment for offences against the Espionage Act.
one of the defendants in the Chicago ]. w. w.
trial. l was sentnced to ten years, of which
served two-and-a-half at Leavenworth, being sub
sequently deported. 1 previously six months in
the Chicago Cook County Jail. ! Communist
now, and for years, have been in Europe, and
thus separated from the /. W. W. But ! admire
the men who were indicted with me, even if no
longer share all their opinions-the Bolshevk Re-
volution and the founding of the Communist Inter-
national has divided 1 love those comrades
who faced undaunted, the prospect of years in
prison 1 am when someone maligns any one
of them, or all of them.
Firstly, Allen says, of the 166 indicted Wobbies,
"the remaining 101, at the insistence of Big Bill
Haywood, were tried en- and served varied
sentences in prison."
Now, I'm one of that 101 and want to say
phatcay that I don't relish Aliens implication
that | surrendered for trial. and took part In the
mass trial. Just because Haywood insisted it.
1t isl regret to somewhat harshly state-untrue
/ can say, for one that l thoroughly agreed, at
that time, with the tactics of surrender and mass
trial Bill Haywood didn't bully me into it. And
l. w. w. will know I'm right when say when that
had not agreed all the insstence of Bill Haywood
alone wouldn't have made me surrender don't
mean to say think we right in surrendering
] now think it is a revolutonist's business to keep
out of JAIL all he can. But, once he's caught he
must make his trial as good piece of propaganda
as possible But I didn't think so then. In those
days. in accordance with the rather muddled think
ing of the |. W. w. we had-despite our "non-po-
ltical" attitude-a sort of sneaking faith in the
democracy we despised We felt that a sort of
dramatic passive resistance would awaken conscience
in the "pubc." / admit that, now, / feel that
was rather boob to believe this. But my point
is: most of us believed it, and not just Haywood.
Most CT us thought our tactics of surrender and
mass trial were correct. Anyone will tell Allen that
those tactics were completely in line with previous
J. W. W. methods-Free Speech Fights, and so on.
We had always used the somewhat masochistic mass
tactics of putting our heads, all together, down on
the block for the club to fall them. / want
right here to refute the stupid allegation that Hay
wood made surrender, my acknowledgements.
It IS an insult to spirit, to imply that man
made over hundred others go to Jail against their
will to satisfy his vanity / surrendered, in San
Francisco, for the federal authorities only after
due consideration and discussion with the /. w. w.
membership of San Francisco did it deliberately,
because thought then it the right thing to
do | did not have to surrender / could have made
perfectly good getaway. While the federal dicks
in San Francisco were looking everywhere for me-
for Oakland brushing right against the intelligent