The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1930-02-17
Lovestone, States Witness

local area Of New York, that is, in Cook
County, Illinois, in the city of Chicago, am
prepared to, waive my previous objections
on the ground of incrimination."
Then Lovestone proceeded to answer 42S
more questions, without any more objections
because it might incrimfate anybody, making
total of 573 questions in all that he an
swered, totalling more than 100 pages of tes-
timony.
What was the nature of this testimony?
Much of it was identifying documents and per-
sons for the state. A good example is the
following:
"Question: / show you Peoples Exhibit
al, for Identification, and ask you to look
at it; tell us if that fairly represents the
delegates in convention at Chicago? An
swer: 1t does"
Lovestone claims that most of his testimony
was defending the principles of Communism
Let us see how he defended" it; we turn to
page 472, where Lovestone is explaining what
the program of the Party means. ,
Question: Now the next measure, d, re-
pudiation of all national debts and the fl
nancia obligations. of the old system? An
swer: That is also scientifically incorrect,
and my basis for this answer is that it, at
certain times that may be so and at certain
times it may not be so. For instance, you
take the Soviet government of Russia. At
one time it thought it was necessaryofor its
preservation to repudate debts. On the
contrary now it is ready to pay debts when
it sees fit" :.
Generally his testimony is full of such ex-
pressions as: "We never have advocSted it
appropriation of capitalist private proper
ty)." 81 have never said that it was the mis-
sion of the Communist Party to overthrow
governments"
At times Mr.. Lovestone was such voluble
witness, volunteering to extend his remarks
far beyond the questions even, that the Court
rebuked him for saying too muclI for volun-
teering information.
What was the general significance of Love-
stones testimony for the state? The state
thought this significance was very great. His
testimony occupies 102 pages of record The
name of Lovestone is the only one Of the wit
nesses cited by the judge in delivering SEN
tence. The Judge said (page 53S-544)
"a National Convention was called for Chi
cago in September, 1919, and when that plat
form committee, as it might be termed, the
committee that drafted the program and mani
festo, attempted to draft the program Of the
new Communist Party, they took the program
of the left wing, and they e-penciled out Of
it certain extremely radical expressions, but
tney lett all the meat IN tnere. am not speak
ing only from surmise. | am speaking from
the very document that this witness Lovestone
stated was the document which was corrected
in his own handwriting and which shows upon
its face that they took the left wing manifesto
and pasted it on sheets of paper and then
eliminated from it certain very radical express
sions. 1t is the sentence Of the court that
you be imprisoned in state prison at hard labor
for the term, the minimum Of which shall not
be less than five years and the maximum Of
which shall not be more than ten years."
This record is valuable, not only in properly
evaluating the political role Of Lovestone as a
right wing enemy of the Communist Interna-
tional and the Communist Party of the United
States but also as an object lesson for all
comrades in the movement of the kind of at
titude toward the courts which is absolutely
impermissable in Party member. It is the
duty of Communists to throw every possible
Obstacle in the way of conviction of their fellow
Party members in the courts, to defend these
members by all possible means, and absolutely
to refuse to give testimony for the state in
any form. Testimony Of Communists can only
be given for the defense of Communists, not
for the state, and then it must be based upon
uncompromising defense of the Party and its
\ program. And any one who trades his testi-
mony to the State for personal immunity from