The producers news. [volume] (Plentywood, Mont.) 1918-1937, 1935-10-18
Mini Committed Crime Of Organizing
Are these IL Workers
Criminal Syndicalists?'
f nN EU 0F IH6OSRESEMEN PROVE NOTHING AFTER
H Hist ID vL ~ CRIMINAL TRIALS IN THE
CONTINUED from last week,

i last week.
Are These Criminal SvndicaI;s., -,
What did the prosecution nro,,o
against the II workers broupbt NJ
in Superior Court on Jauna,r' . =
After "a court days-one of a.
longest criminal trials in Arc; e
can history-the prosecution nrn,l
ed just this: that the defen5a 49,
committed the crime of orean;%;us
a. q union, striking, setting up picker
INES and winning wage raisasI
Inc prosecutor did not nro,,o
mat most of the defendants ware
=. +. members. Taking the stonS
IN their own behalf, ever dofa erru
dant belonging to the organization
proclaimed his membership. Was
this a crime? The C. P is leg 81
IN California; its election ticket e
on the ballot; it holds public neot -
lngs daily; its state leader annesr
ed as witness in this verv +,;a1
ard was not arrested. The nrosa .aT'l
TOR proved nothing on this score
The police had taken from, The
=. T. headquarters various nam
phlets and papers. Others waro
seized In union headquarters in a
bookstore, and in a room usad b,'
Warwick for classes in ecoron,;cs
and public speaking. The prosecn.
ton introduced some 200 such doc
uments, and for a week read select
ed passages to the jury to build mn
a picture of violence and terror
The defense later showed that +be
prosecutor had entirely misrepre-
sented the views and aims express
sed in the documents.
Far from advocating force and
violence, Sam Darcy, chief Cali
fornia spokesman of the C. P. de-
clared that his object might come
about Through a group of left
wing Congressman" starting a new
government. "The workers and
farmers government" advocated
by the G. P. he declared. "mighf
come about through universal suf-
frage." Force and violence, accord
ing to Darcy and the C. P. defend
ants, is something inevitable: thew
can no more be blamed for pre-
dieting it than can a scientist who
correctly predicts an earthquake
The criminal syndicalism" law
says nothing about predicting
force and violence, and therefore
when the prosecutor proved" that
the defendant made predictions. he
proved no crime.
All the documents offered in eyi.
dence pass through the U. S. mails
legally, and are purchasable al
dozens of stores. When the prose
cutOr proved that the defendants
organization had sold such mater
ial. he proved no crime.
The prosecution produced stool
pigeons, the Four Horsemen of tn,
Associated farmers: Messrs Hank
Harr, Hicks and Harris. Hanks. al
old professional labor spy. told
cock-and-bull story about bein,
kidnapped by "reds." On cross ex
animation he ssaid that his ere,
abductors" took him home for hi
clothes before running him on
of town; he did not appeal to an,
of the people at his home ''becaus
most of them were drunki" Hicks
a naval reserve officer testified h
had read the Communist Mantle
to-" Asked to give the words O
meaning of any sentence, he wa
unable to do so. The Four Horse
men revealed the following sen
sational facts:
Some defendant had said the,
favor a revolution Gin the Octobe
way, the Russian way" Severa
it was maintained, expressed in
tention of Selling the U. S. gov
eminent "by force and arms" L
a whole year. Hanks had neve
heard the defendants say anythin'