Evening star., 1943-06-25
Communist Victory

pursued line of reasoning which
seems to deny to words their ordi-
nary meaning and to ignore the most
obvious teachings of common ex-
perience.
The decision was handed down in
the case of William Schneiderman,
an ardent and avowed Communist.
Schneiderman came to this country
from Russia in 1907 or 1903 and was
naturalized in 1927. This was done
under an act passed by Congress in
1906 which. with other things, re-
quired that an applicant for citizen
ship, during the five years preceding
the filing of his petition, must have
behaved as a man of good moral
character, attached to the principles
OF the Constitution of the United
States, and we'll disposed to the good
order and happiness of the same"
For the purposes of this case, the
principal question was whether
Schneiderman, during the five-year
period, was in fact attached to the
principles of the Constitution.
During all of this period Schneid-
erman was an active Communist,
and during his Standardization trial
he stated that he believed in the
principles of the Communist party.
Outstanding among these principles
was the avowed ultimate purpose of
the Communist party to bring about
what it calls the triumph of the
dictatorship of the proletariat. to be
accomplished by the overthrow of
capitalistic government and society.
In Communist eyes in 1927 that in
cluded the Government and society
of the United States.
Another party principle calls for
the appropriation of private property
and naturalization of the means of
production. Our Constitution pro-
tects property rights, but the ma
jority of the court brushed this aside
with the remarkable argument that
because Lincoln freed the slaves
without bringing his devotion to the
Constitution into question, we should
not be too skeptical of an alien Com
munists devotion to our constitu-
tional principles merely because he
may want to liberate property from
its greedy capitalist owners. This, of
course, is not the language used by
the court, but it reflects the sense of
Its contention.
At his naturalization hearing
Schneiderman concealed, or at least
did not disclose his Communist
Affiliations and beliefs to the Judge
hearing his case. AS result the
favorable finding as to his attach
ment to the principles of the Con-
stitution, which the Government
later sought to set aside, was made
without knowledge of his true char
acter.
The majority of the Supreme Court
skirted around most of the essential
issues in the Ease, but, in substance.
1t held that man can be attached
to the Constitution upon which our
form of Government is based. and.
at the same time, can participate
actively IN the work of an organiza-
ton whose main purpose is to over
throw our form of Government. bv
force and violence if they be
necessary.
This extraordinary finding brought
a sharp dissent from a minority con-
sisting of Chief Justice Stone and
Justices Roberts and Frankfurter,
They found that the decision of the
trial court ordering cancellation of
Schnelderman's citizenship was
"abundantly supported by the evi-
dence" and they protested vigorously
against the majority's refusal to give
weight to this evidence. THE final
ity which attaches to the trial courts
determinations of fact from evidence
heard in open court, and which
ordinarily saves them from an ap-
pellate courts intermeddling, should
not be remembered in every case save
this one alone" the minority
declared
Although the majority opinion be-
comes the law, the views of the
minority are in line with the prac-
tical judgment of the American peo-
pie. They have seen the Communists
at work, and the courts ruling will
not be able to persuade them that an
alien who believes in and advocates
the overthrow of our Government
on Communist terms is so attached
to the principles of the Constitution
of the United States as to be entitled
to American citizenship. From the
Communist viewpoint there are
doubtless many advantages in the
opportunity which American citizen
ship gives them to attack our insti-
tutions from within, but it is difficult
to perceive any compensating benefit
to our form of Government or to
those who really believe in it.
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