Title: [Irving Weissman
Description: Weissman was a member of the Young Communist League and was active in the Fur and Leather Workers and the United Electrical Workers Unions. He participated in actions of unemployed and laid-off workers during the Depression. In 1951 Weissman was arrested along with five other veterans of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade and Communist Party members and charged, under the Smith Act, with conspiring to advocate the overthrow of the United States government. Weissman was sentenced to five years in prison but the case was appealed. In 1956 the Supreme Court ruled that the case be retried and the new prosecutor's motion to dismiss the case was granted. In the intervening years Weissman had spent several months in jail while bail was raised and had served time for contempt of court for refusing to give names of Communist Party members on the witness stand. In the late 1950s Weissman left the Communist Party.
Subjects: Communist Party of the United States of America
People: Irving Weissman (1913-1998)