Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1949-10-15
[urope's Red Press
AssaiIs Convictions;
Moscow Leads Attack
by the Asseeioisd Press

BY the kssoeioisd Press
LONDON, Oct. 15.-Communist
newspapers in Europe today as
sailed the conviction Of the party's
IL top leaders in the United
States, but other journals gen.
orally showed little interest in
the case.
The Moscow press led the way.
All papers in the Soviet capital
prominently displayed q dispatch
telling of the conviction in New
York Of the Communists on
charges Of conspiring to teach and
advocate overthrow of the United
States Government by force and
violence.
The dispatch published in Mos
cow said the United States was
seeking to ban the Communist
Party in order to carry out its
program Of war and reaction"
Federal Judge Harold r. Medina
was described as having shown
Extraordinary prejudice" in his
charge to the jury.
London's Communist organ, the
Daily Worker, said the II defend
ants had been convicted of only
one crime. of being Communists"
AS a result Of the trial, the paper
asserted, the Communist Party has
been virtually declared illegal In
the United States"
Frontage News in London.
The paper said the five de-
tense lawyers and Eugene Dennis,
general secretary Of the United
States Communist Party, had
been sentenced for contempt of
court to teach them mot to de-
fend Communists again or to
stand up to a bullying judge"
Seven of London's nine morn
ing papers carried the story Of
the verdict on their front pages.
A dispatch in the Laborite Daily
Herald from its New York cor
respondent said the trials out
come may drive the American
Communist Party underground"
The British Communist Party
today appeared to "all working
class organizations" to protest the
convictions, and demand that the
verdict against the defendants
and their lawyers be set aside.
Called Challenge to Freedom.
1.-The trial and verdict are a
challenge to freedom of speech
and organization throughout the
world and especially to the work.
ing class movement" said party
statement signed by Secretary
General Harry Pollitt.
In Paris the French Commu-
mist Party organ L'Humanite de-
scribed the conviction as a "step
on the road that leads to war"
L'Humanite said the trial was a
farce and Hitler did this sort
of thing better"
when one compares Judge
Medina to Goering, one is tempted
to apply to the clown of New York
the phrase Of Marx, according to
which, history repeats itself: The
first time as tragedy, the second
time as farce" the paper said.
The rest of the Paris morning
press paid little attention to the
case.
A similar reaction was noted in
other major European capitals.
Here are sample comments from
various Communist newspapers:
The Soviet controlled Neues
Deutschland in Berlin: The trial
for dangerous thoughts" followed
the same pattern as Adolf Hitler's
measures. The Yankee -Nazis"
will now become even more
brutal in places like West Ger
many. where they have oppressed
foreign people and stolen their
independence"
The Communist newspaper
L'Unita in Rome: The verdict
"dishonored the justice of the
United States. The degree
of intolerance reached in the
American democracy is compar-
able only with that of the Fascist
regimes"
The Czechoslovak trade union
newspaper Prace in Prague: The
trial was patiently unfair. q
Only. one member of the working
class" was admitted to jury duty.
The panel from which the jury
was drawn was packed with lex
PEELED members of the Communist
Party, police spies and provoca-
teurs who were filled with hatred
for the Communist Party"
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