Evening star., 1949-09-06
Freedom to Riot

The recurrent disorders at Peekskill,
NJ Y raise real question as to the extent
to which freedom of speech can be in
voked to protect activities that lead d.
rectly to rioting
The right of Paul Robson to give con-
cert in the Peekskill area, considered in
isolation, is hardly open to challenge. IT
1000 or 10000 or 100000 people want to
listen to him, they have the right to do so.
Similarly, and again when appraised in
isolation, the right of several thousand
veterans, or for that matter, the right OF
any one to stage counter demonstration
is equally protected by the First Amend
ment.
But the validity of these rights" be-
comes questionable when, for them to be
exercised, it becomes necessary to mo-
bilize upwards of 1000 policemen, to set
up police command posts in the manner
of an army going into action, to patrol the
area in police helicopters, and when, de-
spite these precautions, the rival demon
strations erupt in rioting and serious per-
sonal and property injuries.
Certainly, in situation of this kind, the
hard to believe that the Constitution re-
quires that law-abiding people in the
Peekskill area must submit to riots in their
community merely because Paul Robson
wants to stage a provocative concert there,
or because misguided veteran groups think
it is their function to stage rival DEM
onstration-both sides having good reason
to believe that the end result will be
violence.
It is true, of course, that the Supreme
Court, by a series of tortured decisions, has
all but tied the hands of local authorities
in dealing with situations of this kind. The
justices, or a majority of them, seem to
think that few broken heads is cheap
price to pay for preserving an almost alb
solute freedom Of speech, even when that
freedom is actually being used to incite
violence. The question, however, is how
far this sort of thing can be permitted to
go. Does it mean that local authorities,
as in Peekskill, are powerless to deal, in
advance, with demonstrations which bring
together thousands of men armed with
lethal weapons and obviously trained in
combat tactics?
What has been happening in Peekskill
recalls Justice Jackson's dissent last May
in the Terminiello case. In that ruling
the court dividing to 4, set aside the con-
viction Of Catholic priest for making a
speech which the Illinois court said tended
to incite violence.
Justice Jackson dissented in the strong
est terms He pointed out that a prime
saim of totalitarian groups, whether of the
Right or Left, has been to achieve what
the Nazis called "the conquest of the
streets"-a tactic designed to break down
local authority as a step toward seizure
of power in larger areas. And Justice
Jackson warned against contributing to
the success of that tactic in this country
by tying the hands of local authorities
with strained and unrealistic judicial rul-
ings.
The riots at Peekskill do not mean that
the battle for the streets has begun in
this country. But they are step in that
direction. The next time Paul Robson
wants to sing there, or the veterans want
to demonstrate against him, the local au-
thorities ought to refuse to permit either
activity. Perhaps the Supreme Court
would rule that the local authorities have
no power to prevent another riot before
1t begins. But If the court should make
such ruling, in the light OF what has al
ready happened, then the court would have
to assume responsibility for the conse-
Quences.