The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1933-01-20

VI.
THIS struggle commenced at the
livery beginning of Mishkin's ex-
animation. To customary formula
of the President, Accused MishlSin,
you are charged with belonging to
an illegal society, the object of
which is, in the more or less distant
future, to overthrow and change
the system of government" Mish-
kin answered, II admit that 1 be-
long, not to a society, but to the
Social Revolutionary Party" And
he went on to say: 1--WE represent
an infinitesimal part of the now
large Russian Social Revolutionary
Party, understanding by this term
the whole mass of persons who
hold similar opinions to ours -
similar in general Of course, but
not in particular-the union be-
tween whom is mainly inward, but
which nevertheless is sufficiently
real and is determined by unity
of purpose and similarity more or
less in methods of practical acti-
witty" Further, ignoring the inter-
ruptions of the President who tried
to keep him to the definite charges
in the indictment, Mishkin des-
cribed the poverty stricken con-
ditions of the people, their exploit
tation, their political repression,
the history Of the peoples move
ment, and proved that the program
and tactics of the Social Reyolu-
tionary Party" is in complete &C
cordance with the hopes and aSpi
rations of the people.
THE INDICTMENT.
In the usual stereotyped form,
the indictment charged the accused
with undermining religion, and re-
pudiating science, Mishkin indig-
nantly denied these charges. I'm
the ideal social structure for the
realization of which / am striving,
and the establishment of which is
the aim Of my activities, there will
be no criminal penalties for spread
ing pernicious ideas, including re-
ligious ideas, for heresy, for observ-
ing or falling to observe certain
rites prescribed by any particular
church. etc. In one word, there will
be no place for violence against the
ideas and conscience of men. -.
According to our ideal, there should
be no power to compel one to lie
and be hypocritical under threat
of punishment. -
President: But nobody compelS
you to lie and stimulate, now. I re-
quest you not to make such insinu-
ationS"
Mishkin: According to your laws
I am liable to criminal punishment.
I cannot leave the Orthodox
Church and adopt another faith,
consequently the law compels me
to be hypocritical.
And the President could not find
anything better to say than to de-
clare that the accused had no right
to criticize the existing laws. 1t
became perfectly clear from the
behavior of the President, who
grew more and more furious as the
trial proceeded, and who interrupt
ed MiShkin at every sentence, that
further words were useless. All that
could be said, had been said. This
became particularly obvious when
Mishkin protested against the tor r
ture to which he was subjected
while under examination. The
President said that this protesta-
ton was unsupported by evidence,
and when Mishkin stated That he
had made written protest to the
Public Prosecutor. the President
answered that this was a matter
for the Prosecutor, who was not
subordinate of the court.
THEN Mishkin made his last
speech, which the gendarmes
prevented him finishing by gagging