The daily worker., 1930-06-12
By WILLIAM SIMONS.

BY WILLIAM SIMONS.
THE trial now going on in Ell Centre, Imper-
ial Valley, California against ten workers
charged with violation of the Criminal Syndi-
calism Act is the revival by the capitalists OF
California of the infamous Criminal Syndi-
calism Act of 1919 which has lain dormant
for six years
The former wave Of persecution (1919 to
1924 was directed at the Communist Labor
Party and the IW.W. The present attack is
against the Communist Party and the Trade
Union Unity League. In both periods the
attack was leveled to stop the activities of
these organizations, particularly among the
agricultural workers of Imperial Valley Many
liberals after 1924 were of the opinion that
the Criminal SyndicaIsm Act was thing of
the past Professor Kirschwey, for example,
in his pamphlet, "a Survey of the Workings
of the Criminal Syndicalism Law of Cali
fornia" (1926 Civil Liberties Union) expressed
the earnest hope that the game will never be
played again in California
But capitalist oppression is not stopped by
pious wishes of liberals. The increased ac-
tivities of the Communist Party and the Trade
Union Unity League, particularly of the Agri-
cultural Workers Industrial League in Imper-
ial Valley, threatened vegetable and fruit
growers profits, and the Criminal Syndicalsm
Law was taken off the shelf and pressed into
active service. The Grand Jury Investigation
in the present Imperial Valley case reads like
a lurid dime novel, Of blood and thunder
melodrama.
But to understand the significance of the
present renewed wave Of prosecutions, let US
stop for moment on the workings of the
Criminal Syndicalism Law during 1919 to
1924. During that period, there were 531 in
dividuals charged on information or indict-
ment under the c. S. Act, of whom 504 were
arrested. OF these, over two hundred were
dismissed without trial Of the 264 actually
tried, 164 were convicted, 81 acquitted, and
SO profited by the disagreement of the jury.
Of those convicted, % received a suspended
sentence, and 128 were committed to prison.
How They RaiIroaded Them in 1919.
Usually, the defendants were charged under
all five clauses in Section 2-(a) advocating,
teaching or aiding criminal syndicalism; (b)
justifying or attempting to justify criminal
syndicaism; (c) printing, publishing, etc. any
material advocating criminal syndicalism; (d)
organizing or being a member of an organiza-
ton advocating, teaching or aiding and abet-
ting criminal syndcalism; (e) practicing
committing any act of criminal syndicalism,
Criminal syndicalism is defined "any doc
trine or precept advocating, teaching aid
ing and abetting the commission of crime,
sabotage (Which word is hereby defined as
age or injury to physical property, or unlaw-
full acts of force and violence or unlawful
methods of terrorism as a means of accom-
plishing a change in industrial ownership or
control, or effecting any political change"
The revival of the c. S. Act in Imperial
Valley is due to the increased influence of the
A. w. I. L. and the C. P The participation
of the ANVIL. in the two strikes of January
and February, the many meetings held since
Tp+i1 +ba A,,,,i11
for it influence among the Mexican and Fill
pino workers and to some extent, among the
American workers. The fruit and vegetable
growers feared the effect Of the April Goth
Conference called by the ANVIL in El Cen
tro; they feared its preparation for a strike
in the canteloupe season which would dim
inish the swollen profits of the companies. The
tactic of the fruit and vegetable growers was
to divert the issue from the miserable condi-
tions of their field and shed slaves, from the
union which was fighting for better conditions,
to divert the issue from this and conjure up a
picture of fire and the sword of murder and
devastation by the organizers of the A. w. l.
L. They arrested the leaders, and charged
them with preparing a strike for the over
throw Of the government by force and vio-
lencc. Three stool pigeons were used, from
the J. H. Boiling Detective Agency, working
for the district attorney of Ell Centre.
Blood and Thunder Dime Novel.
The testimony of these three stool pigeons
before the Grand Jury reads like a blood and
thunder dime novel. The whole case against
the ten defendants is based on purported con-
versations of the defendants with one or more
Of the stool pigeons. There was to be secret
conference The April goth Conference was
advertised far and wide, but the prosecution is
interested in a supposed "secret conference"
where the "secret" strike plans were to be
discussed. The following choice bits are put
into the mouths of the defendants: "After the
strike is called if necessary to stop the ship
ment of melons, the fields were to be de-
stroyed, the vines pulled up under cover Of
darkness, a few workers could destroy whole
fields, that bomb stick of dynamite
thrown into the shed and the shed destroyed,
and if they succeed in loading some, we would
dynamite the damned trains" "The
Mexicans and Filipinos ready for using
guns and destroying property" "The