ass º º - gº º º AºN º * * QSIº T' Oſlº Cº. • T LABAote coll_Ec ÜWrversity of Micº L *—A SENTENCED TO TWENTY YEARS PRISON Published by the POLITICAL PRISONERS DEFENSE and RELIEF COMMITTEE NEW YORK CITY comrade SCHwarTz's UNFINISHED MESSAGE FOUND IN HIS CELL AFTER HIS DEATH “Farewell, comrades. When you appear before the court I will be with you no longer. Struggle without fear, fight bravely. I am sorry I have to leave you. But this is life itself. After your long martyr..." Sentenced to TWENTY YEARS PRISON * T IS something new in American courts of law for young men and a girl to be sen- tenced to prison terms of fifteen and twenty years for distributing circulars. If it had not happened it would seem incredible. Yet this is the actual outcome of a recent trial in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York. The circulars distributed were against tº American military intervention in Russia, T.: written in English and in Jewish. The Judge who inflicted the “ferocious” sentences—the epithet is taken from an editorial on the case in the New York Nation—is Henry D. Clayton, of Alabama. His victims are: JACOB ABRAMS, SAMUEL LIPMAN, HYMAN LACHOWSKY, MOLLIE STIMER. To these names should be added that of JACOB SCHWARTZ, who died during the course of the trial as a result, it is charged, of police brutality. Abrams, Lipman and Lachowsky were sentenced to be imprisoned for twenty years and to pay a fine of $1,000 each. Mollie Stimer was sentenced to be imprisoned for fifteen years and to pay a fine of $500. Seven Sentenced to Twenty YEARS PRISON Two others arrested on the charge of having aided in the distribution of the circular were Hyman Rosansky and Gabriel Prober. Rosansky practically turned State's evidence, and got off with three years and no fine. Prober was acquitted of the charge. Judge Clayton ordered the record in the case turned over to the immigration authorities, so that when the prisoners have completed their terms they may be deported to Russia. IMPORTANCE OF THE CASE. Apart from the unparalleled severity of the sentences im- posed, the case has a significance that is now being generally recognized. In the course of history it has often happened that com- paratively small beginnings have led to immense results. An illustration of this fact is afforded by the European war lately ended. In July, 1914, an unknown youth killed the heir to the throne of Austria-Hungary. As a result of his act twenty-six countries became embroiled in the bloodiest war the world has ever known. In a similar sense, the trial and conviction of Jacob Abrams and his comrades may be said to have happened at a psychological moment. It has become the turning point in the American attitude toward revolutionary Russia. These young men and this girl are workers. They are Russian Jews of the East Side. Their names were not known beyond their circle of friends and acquaintances in the radical movement. But they have already shown such courage and idealism that they are set apart as rare types. Their attorney, Harry Wein- berger, has succeeded in giving their case a national, and even international, significance. We need to recall the situation existing President in Russia at the time that the circulars were Wilson and issued. The Bolsheviki had been in control Russia in Russia for nearly a year. President Wil- son had expressed himself as in sympathy with the Russian Revolution. Yet in spite of this expression of sympathy and in spite of the fact that no formal declara- tion of war against Russia had been made, he had allowed Eight Sentenced to Twenty YEARs PRIs on himself to become involved in a movement for Russian inter- vention; and American soldiers, in company with soldiers of the Allied Armies, were actually marching into Russia. It was against this military intervention that Abrams and his com- rades protested. In blunt, forthright language the circular Text of attacked “the hypocrisy of the United States the Circular and her Allies.” It charged that, under a mask of fair words, President Wilson was allowing revolutionary Russia to be betrayed just as revolu- tionary France had been betrayed a century before. To quote: “The tyrants of the world fight each other until they see a common enemy—WORKING-CLASS ENLIGHTEN- MENT. As soon as they find a common enemy they com- bine to crush it. “In 1815 monarchic nations combined under the name of the ‘Holy Alliance” to crush the French Revolu- tion. Now militarism and capitalism combined, though not openly, to crush the Russian Revolution. “What have you to say about it? “Will you allow the Russian Revolution to be crushed? YOU; yes, we mean YOU, the people of America! “THE RUSSIAN REVOLUTION CALLS TO THE WORKERS OF THE WORLD FOR HELP.” On August 23, 1918, Mollie Stimer, The Arrest Lachowsky and Lipman were arrested by de- and “Third tectives on the street for distributing these Degree” circulars. Schwartz and Abrams were fol- lowed by the same detectives to Abrams’ residence. His house was raided, circulars found and there- upon they were arrested. Boris, Aurin and Prober, who came in during the raid, were also arrested and all taken to police headquarters. Aurin beaten up by the police, tells the fol- lowing story: “We arrived,” he says, “at the headquarters of the police about 9.30 p.m. Abrams, Schwartz and I were placed in one TOOIſle “About 12 p.m. they took Abrams for a cross-examination, and they said to Schwartz: “We are going to handle you.” Nine Sentenced to TWENTY YEARS PRISON When Schwartz said that he was sick and had a weak heart, and that they should not use force, they answered: ‘Who cares for your heart!” They took me to the next room, having turned out the lights, and began to question Schwartz. In a few minutes I heard the sound of a fist striking, and soon a terrible scream, after which the agents (two of whom I could recognize) came into my room looking for water. Passing me, they struck my head against a wall. “Later, when I was brought back to the room where Schwartz was sitting, he made the impression on me of a dead man. He was pale as snow and continually coughing and spitting. I could not get near him, but I think he was spitting blood, and from that view of him, I think his death was caused by the police and agents. “Later, they brought into our room Lachowsky, Prober, Lipman and Abrams. Lachowsky was a terrible sight, Lachow- sky's clothes were dirty, torn and bloody; his face was bloody and blue; hair was missing from his head in a number of places. “About 3 a.m. they called Lipman again and told him to take off his glasses. In a few minutes we heard a scream of pain which was followed by silence. Next they called me, and I passed through the room in which Lipman was being beaten. Four secret service men, in shirt sleeves, were standing each in one corner of the room, with black-jacks in their hands and revolvers protruding visibly from their pockets, and were play- ing ball with Lipman as the living ball. They were throwing him from one corner of the room to the other and hitting him with their black-jacks. He was already unconscious, but they kept on throwing him and then they shoved him into a corner of the room with the remark: “Let him die there, the dog.” The following letter from Schwartz, the Schwartz's boy who died in prison, sent to one of his Letter 20mrades, speaks for itself: Tombs Prison, N. Y. Sept. 5, 1918. Dear Comrades:— Our arrest was most terrible . . . . To picture it in detail would take too much time, and here where we are, is not the place for it. Ten Sentenced to TWENTY YEARS PRISON Our arrest could be compared with the Spanish Inquisi- tion and the blackest pages of man's brutality to man. This was a night of enraged devils in a lion's cage—the most horrible that one’s mind could conceive, from tearing the hair to pulling the tongue; from black-jacks to the leg of a chair was used on us because we would not speak. For our declara- tion that we are Anarchists and one of us a Socialist, we had to endure the most horrible tortures which the Twentieth Cen- tury will not be able to erase. Yes, dear comrades, it would take too much paper, which is so precious to me now, to describe our sufferings during the first night of our arrest. But it did not break our courage and spirit; no matter how our bodies were colored, blue or yellow, by the tortures, our spirit remained the color of the flag of our ideal. The morning found us weakened bodily but strong spiritually,–stronger than the iron of our bars and more powerful than the stone walls. We didn't know whether this was the end of the Inquisi- tion. Who could tell? We were promised when incarcerated that we would be visited once more. But the protectors of the Law can do their “holy” work only in the dark, so the morning saved us from the black power. Such, it seems, is the nature of these men. We were taken to the Government Building when they explained “innocently” that we were under arrest. This, I presume, is the comedy of our Society! I don’t know how you, comrades, can picture this to yourselves, but from us more than a smile this comedy could not draw. Dear comrades, while we were sitting there so worn, thin pale-faced and bruised—the whole “chariot wheel of Justice” rolled on to crush us. Oh, no, not us, but our Ideal, that was what they should have incarcerated. Have they conquered? No, No, and a thousand times, No! We understood this, dear comrades, and just imagine we were to be the carriers of a powerful idea! How proud we were! What are the red spots of blood on our clothings in comparison with the great- ness of our Ideal! We are proud, we are the proud fighters. Our Ideal is the Future. They are the Past. Dear comrades, we have heard of the sympathy and soli- Eleven Sentenced to Twenty YEARS PRIson darity of you all toward us. We stretch our hands out to you through the iron bars. For a world of freedom, JACOB SCHWARTZ OPENING OF THE TRIAL. That was the beginning. The prisoners were held in confinement for seven weeks. They were called to trial on October 10th. There was danger that the case would be submerged by the torrent of war news, and during the first few days of the trial the newspapers paid almost no attention to it. It was only after Harry Weinberger, in presenting the defense, realizing the significance of the underlying issues, had set legal machinery in motion with a view to putting on the witness-stand men of national reputation, that the papers began to report the trial. Attorney Weinberger aimed to show that Raymond the spirit of the circular was justified and Robins and that revolutionary Russia actually had been the Sisson betrayed by the Allies. He realized that the Documents mind of the public had been poisoned by constant misrepresentations of the Russian situation in the newspapers. He wanted to get and to publish the testimony of prominent Americans who had been “behind the scenes” in Russia, and he wanted to expose the whole truth in regard to the so-called “Sisson documents” issued by George Creel and the Committtee on Public Information for the express purpose of prejudicing American opinion against Bolshevik Russia. His first step was to subpoena Raymond Robins, one of the heads of the American Red Cross in Russia; his second was to subpoena George Creel. Mr. Robins appeared in court, and Weinberger was able to ask the following list of questions: “Did you have a letter from Ambassador Francis, author- izing you to represent the United States as an intermediary between Mr. Francis and the Bolshevik government? “Did you ever have in your possession some of the docu- ments published by Mr. Sissons, known as the Sisson Docu- ments? “Did you investigate those documents, and did you reach the conclusion that they were false? Twelve Sentenced to TWENTY YEARS PRIs on “If your name was signed to the telegram sending those documents to the United States, was that name signed with your permission or by your direction? “Did you show these documents to Mr. Sisson, and did not he agree with you that they were forgeries? “Didn't you go officially to the Kerensky Cabinet, in respect to some of these documents, and did they not admit to you that the documents were forged and unreliable? “Is it not true that the Soviet government, particularly before the ratification of the Brest-Litovsk treaty, asked you to bring about an understanding with the Allies, with a view of continuing the war, on the part of the Soviets against Germany, on condition of material aid, and that was to consist of transportation, instructors for the army, materials and food? “Have you not a protocol or document to that effect in your possession? “Was not that protocol drawn in your office as a conver- sation between you and Mr. Trotzky, and was not that put in the form of queries by the Bolsheviki Government to the United States? “Isn’t it true that the Russian Government never received a reply through you or from the Allies or from the United States in any way in answer to those queries? “Haven't you been told by officials in Washington, that that offer was received by the Government of the United States and never made public? “Who was the public official or public officials who told you that? “As far as you know, was any answer ever made by the United States to the offer of co-operation by the Bolsheviki Government against the Germans? “Don’t you know that the Soviets offered to put the railroads under the control of the Americans, so that no material of any kind could get into Germany? “Was not a similar offer made to the English and French, to put the railroads under control of the Allies? “In the case of England, did the Soviets offer to put the Black Sea fleet in the hands of the British navy so as to save it from the Germans? “In the case of the French, did not the Soviets offer to Thirteen Sentenced to TWENTY YEARS PRISON trust the reorganization of the Red Army to the French officers to enable them to continue the fight against Germany? “Isn’t it a fact that the French and Belgian Ambassadors and the Czech-Slovak leaders agreed that they were to be transported by the Bolsheviki through Siberia and then shipped from Vladivostok to the Western front, and isn’t it a fact that these promises were made to your knowledge? “Isn’t it a fact that the French and Belgian Ambassadors and the Soviet Government agreed to arm, equip, man, feed and transport these Czecho-Slovaks to Siberia—or though Siberia to Vladivostok, and then they were to be transported to the Western front? “Isn’t it a fact that a promise was made by the French and the Belgian Ambassadors and by the Czecho-Slovak leaders that they were going to go straight to Vladivostok, and from there to the Western front, and would not stay in Siberia or in Russia? “Isn’t it a fact that there is absolutely no evidence that there were any armed German or Austrian war prisoners operating in Siberia as alleged by the American statement on intervention? “Isn't it true that at the request of Mr. Trotzky, the members of the American and British Military Missions made a trip to investigate the situation in Siberia, and they made a report that Austrian and German armed prisoners were not in control of the Bolsheviki forces in Russia?” Judge Clayton would not allow Mr. Robins to answer these questions. The government seems determined that the peo- ple shall not know the truth in regard to these questions. But the mere statement of the questions is profoundly sug- gestive. On October 14th, the evening preceding The Death the actual opening of the trial, Jacob of Schwartz Schwartz died in Bellevue Hospital. The hospital records state that he died of Spanish influenza, but his comrades insist that he was killed by police brutality. He left behind him in his cell in the Tombs a pathetic note, unfinished, in Yiddish. Here is a translation: “Farewell, comrades. When you appear be- fore the court I will be with you no longer. Fourteen Sentenced to TWENTY YEARS PRIs on Struggle without fear, fight bravely. I am sorry I have to leave you. But this is life itself. After your long martyr — — —” White flowers and buttons carrying the face of Schwartz were worn by his comrades at the trial. At a memorial meeting in Parkview Palace, New York, on October 25th and attended by an audience of 1,200, Harry Weinberger and John Reed spoke. Weinberger said, in part: “Can you picture anything more heroic than that—dying in a dark prison cell, all alone, without friends, without medical attention, without nurses—and yet his heart goes out to his fellow comrades, and his heart and his mind and his soul go out to the big ideal for which he and his comrades stood, and he sends that small, pitiful letter, which, like words of living fire, will be remembered as long as those who had anything to do with this case shall live.” John Reed declared: “This is life itself,” said Jacob Schwartz as he died. Com- rades, I feel and have felt for a long time that this is life— that it is the only life, to be in some way helping the cause of the people—that there is no other life, and that all oppo- sition to it is death. The only life is the warm blood of the proletariat, which will mount and wash the world clean— and soon!” Jacob Abrams earns his living as a book- Jacob Abrams binder. He was formerly business agent, and Goes on the later president, of the Bookbinders’ Union. Stand During two long sessions of the trial he tried to state his intent in publishing and helping to circulate the leaflets for which he and his companions were indicted. Weinberger said his clients, with the exception of Prober, would acknowledge—and Abrams did acknowledge—they had issued the circulars. But he held this act did not constitute a violation of the Espionage law and his clients had no criminal intent. In the long arguments between counsel and court promi- nent personages of all times were brought up for reference, from Moses and Jesus of Nazareth to Rockefeller and Gug- genheim. Fifteen Sentenced to TWENTY YEARs PRIs on As one after another of these were men- Judge Dis- tioned the Judge insisted he was not trying cusses Prin- them, although in a number of instances he ciples. was willing to enter into a discussion of their principles and deeds. When Weinberger declared he had gotten much benefit from studying the teachings of Jesus, the Judge remarked: “‘The Sermon on the Mount’ is good reading.” “It is not safe to read it in New York now,” insisted Weinberger. “I will read it in New York, if you will get me a hall,” volunteered the judge. “I’ll get you a hall,” replied Weinberger, “and guarantee there will will be at least 1,000 people in to hear you read.” Then the Judge revealed the fact that he had made the offer in a Pickwickian sense and pleaded pressure of other business. Weinberger also made strenuous efforts Records to read into the record certain utterances of Wilson President Wilson, particularly from his book Statements “The New Freedom.” In endeavoring to get from Abrams a definition of the term “revo- lutionist” by which word the circular was signed, Weinberger succeeded in reading the President’s statement: “We stand in the presence of a revolution, not a bloody revolution—America is not given to the spilling of blood, but a silent revolution, whereby America will insist upon recover- ing in practice those ideals which she has always professed, upon securing a government devoted to the general interest and not to special interests.” Weinberger took up line by line the circular distributed, asking the witness to state what he meant by the statement and what was his intent in publishing it. The witness defined the expression, the “plutocratic gang in Washington,” as the money interests which attempt to control the government. Weinberger tried to ask if he had the same meaning as President Wilson in a certain paragraph of “The New Free- dom.” Although the paragraph was read, the Judge refused to allow it to go in the record as part of the answer. It was: Sixteen Sentenced to Twenty YEARS PRISON “The government, which was designed for the people, has got into the hands of the bosses and their employers. An invisible empire has been set up above the forms of democ- racy.’ The court repeatedly refused to allow Wilson Weinberger to get into the evidence President Telegram Wilson's telegram to the Russian government Withheld after the Bolsheviki assumed control, in which he expressed the sympathy of the American people with the Russian people and his promise to aid them. Weinberger contended that the fact that the witness had read this telegram showed his intent in publishing the circular. The Judge finally consented to allow the copy of the telegram presented by Weinberger to be marked for identification. He said he would reserve decision as to whether or not it would be received in evidence. Abrams said he was born in Russia 29 Born in years ago, and had studied in a Talmudic Russia school till he reached the age of 12. Although acknowledging he was an Anar- christ, Abrams insisted his purpose in publishing the circular was not to spread the doctrines of Anarchy, but only to protest against intervention in Russia. Through a long day of grilling questioning, first by his own counsel, then by the Judge, Abrams kept his poise winning toward the close of the day several commendations from the Judge for his intelligence. Replying to questions about the exam- Saw ination of the prisoners at headquarters, Ab- Prisoner rams said he saw Lachowsky with a bleeding Bleeding head and saw that in places the hair had been torn away. He said he saw Schwartz, lying on the floor covered with sweat and with his handkerchief full of blood. He said he heard groans coming from another room and recognized Lipman's voice. Lipman, when put on the stand, said that Testimony he is a Socialist. He admitted that he had of Samuel written the circular. Asked why he had Lipman written it, he replied: Seventeen Sentenced to TWENTY YEARS PRIs on “Since I came to my understanding, I have always thought that government by the people, for the people and from the people—the workers— was the only right government. The workers pro- duce all the necessities of life. They are the ones who build the prisons where we are put and build the court-rooms where we are tried, and I, there- fore, thought that the workers’ government should be established. We should keep in power. I was overjoyed by the idea that, for the first time in the history of the world, we have a government by the people, for the people and from the people. When the Bolsheviks came into power, President Wilson delivered speeches in various parts of the country favoring the Russian Government, that is, the So- viet Government. In a speech to Congress he said: “I stretch out my hands to the Bolsheviks.” On another occasion he said: “We will not conclude peace without Russia.” . . . . Then, a few weeks later, he sent, without announcing it to the people, a military expedition to crush the Russian Revolu- tion My intent in writing the leaflet was to pro- test against this.” Lipman testified that the police had beaten and kicked him at police headquarters while trying to make him tell where the circulars he had written were printed. He said that a sergeant—Eddie Meagher—had dragged him around the floor by his hair. Mollie Stimer is a twenty-one-year-old Testimony factory girl. Her maturity of mind, her of Mollie independence of spirit, her intense sincerity, Stimer were a revelation to those who listened to her. A verbatim account of part of her examination is herewith appended: QUESTION: Miss Stimer, where were you born? ANSWER: In Russia. When did you come to this country? In 1913, on the 12th of March. How old were you when you came to this country? I was born in 1897. ; Eighteen Sentenced to Twenty YEARS PRISON Q. When did you first participate in any workers' movement? A. It was in 1914, when the useless slaughtering first started in Europe, that I realized how the workers of the world were used as mere tools in the aim of capitalism. I then realized that the workers are either exploited in mines, mills and factories or else are forced to become professional murderers and murder the workers of the other nations. Since then I started to participate in the movement—that is, work for the cause of the workers; work for a system where tyranny and despotism shall be abolished. Q. Are you opposed to intervention in Russia? A. I am. Q. Do you agree with the principles of the Bolsheviks? A. I do, so far as concerns the abolishment of private ownership of land and industrial capital. Q. Did you help to print and distribute the circular? A. I did participate in the issuing and circulating of both the English and the Yiddish circular. Q. Where did you give them out? A. In various places. ,9. Now, what was your intention in giving these leaflets Out: A. To call the attention of the workers to the fact that international capitalism seeks to crush the Russian Revolution; that the Allies were acting just as tyrannical, just as cruel, as the Germans, by invading a neutral country and assailing those workers who were defending the revolutionary freedom. I called on the workers to raise their voice of protest against such a despotic action. Q. You did not have any intention to uphold German militarism against the United States? A. Not at all. You are not in favor of German militarism? A. I despise militarism throughout the entire world, for it is an unnecessary evil. You read the speeches and the statements of Presi- dent Wilson, before you issued these pamphlets in reference to Russia? A. I did. Nineteen Sentenced to TWENTY YEARs PRIs on Q. What was your intent in reference to making public opinion on the question of intervention in Russia? A. To show the hypocrisy of the government of the United States and the Allies, those who claimed that they were fighting for democracy; those who called themselves staunch sticklers for the right of self-determination of nations, and at the very same time interfered with the situation in Rus- sia, and sought to crush the Russian revolution and abolish the present government that the Russian workers established. I aimed to show the workers that they ought to protest against such action—protest against the action of the Allies and the United States sending military troops to Russia. Q. Are you an Anarchist? A. I will not answer your question unless you will allow me to explain first what I mean by Anarchist THE Court: Well, just wait a minute. You can state what you mean by Anarchist. THE WITNESS: By Anarchism I understand a new social order, where no group of people shall be in power, or no group of people shall be governed by another group of people. Individual freedom shall prevail in the full sense of the word. Private owner- ship shall be abolished. Every person shall have an equal opportunity to develop himself well, both mentally and physically. We shall not have to strug- gle for our daily existence, as we do now. No one shall live on the product of others. Every person shall produce as much as he can, and enjoy as much as he needs—receive according to his needs. In- stead of striving to get money, we shall strive to- wards education, towards knowledge. While at present the people of the world are divided into vari- ous groups, calling themselves nations, while-one na- tion defies another—in most cases considers the others as competitive—we, the workers of the world, shall stretch out our hands toward each other with brotherly love. To the fulfilment of this idea I shall devote all my energy, and, if necessary, render my life for it. Twenty Sentenced to TWENTY YEARS PRIs on The Judge asked Miss Stimer her ideas Miss Stim- about marriage. er’s Views What he got from her on this was the on Marriage following: “Now when a girl marries it is for the sake of getting out of the factory It gives her a chance to get something to eat. Then, because they do not really love each other, she and her husband soon grow tired of their marriage. What is the use of law combining them when their hearts are not combined any more?” Then said the Judge: “When love grows cold you think that ends the marriage relation? Do you not believe that the marriage relation should be protected by law? “I believe,” said Miss Stimer, “that two people should combine when they love each other truly, and not because of any law.” Hyman Lachowsky, when called to the Testimony stand, admitted that he had printed the cir- of Hyman cular. He denied that he was in any sense Lachowsky pro-German, and said that his sole object had been to protest against intervention in Russia. He testified that at the time of his arrest Meagher hit him in the eye and later held a revolver at his breast when asking him questions. He also said that Meagher had dragged him around the floor by his hair. HARRY WEINBERGER SUMS UP FOR THE DEFENSE Attorney Weinberger's speech to the jury in behalf of the defendants was eloquent and dramatic. He said, in part: “You may think that these defendants are unimportant. In themselves they are not important, five young men and one young girl. “If you look back in history, that same feeling was always present in every trial where great men or great women were convicted, “Why, these men or women are not important.” “You can go back to the days of Egyptian tyranny, when they forced the Jews to make bricks without straw, and Moses, though he was under the adoption of the Princess of Egypt, Twenty-one Sentenced to TWENTY YEARS PRISON had to flee, because he also objected to the third degree being applied to some of his people, and he struck one of those men who applied the third degree. He struck him so hard that he died. He did not use a blackjack, however. He had to flee from Egypt—flee for his life, and yet the day came when he led those children of Israel out of Egypt, into the promised Holy Land, where men are battling today for what they believe is liberty and democracy for the world. “Then we have a story of that promised Jesus land being found. We find a young man coming up, attending the Hebrew school, and studying the Talmud, as Abrams said he did in Russia. We find that he, in going to the Temple, found money changers, under the law, were using the Temple for barter and sale. With a whip he scourged them out of the Temple, and then he preached sermons, and he preached against those in control of the government and pointed out their evils. Then we see him arrested, tried, tried because his ideals and ideas were different from those in power, and we find the self-same kind of a Court as this, and the self-same kind of a District Attorney, working for a conviction and getting it. “We find the mobs out in the street calling for his blood, and when the mob was asked, “Don’t you want this man free?” because they had the right to have one man free, they said, ‘No, give us Barabbas,’ a well-known murderer, “but let Christ be crucified.” “Unimportant, he was against the government at that time, contrary to the opinions of the District Attorney of his days, contrary perhaps to the written opinions of the newspa- pers of his day, and he was crucified, and his thought, back in those days of Judea, has influenced the thought of the world. “We find when we come to Athens, the Socrates same thing happening. We find a teacher who had fought and was rewarded for brav- ery in battle, advising the young men of Athens to ask ques- tions. They questioned the authority of the gods on Mt. Olympus, questioned the motives of the government, asking is this right or is that right; should we do the other thing. They tried Socrates also by a jury, and they convicted him. They made him drink the hemlock, but the thought of Soc- Twenty-two Sentenced to TWENTY YEARS PRISON rates has changed the thought of the world. After he was dead they built statues to his memory. Socrates was ahead of his time, his opinion was different from that of the majority, or at least the majority in control of the Athenian government. ‘Come across to Europe and we find the Spinoza same thing happening. One of the greatest philosophers Europe ever produced, or per- haps that any country ever produced, was a writer by the name of Spinoza, whose thought has changed the critical thought of the world. Spinoza would not go to a synagogue on the Sabbath, and because his ideals were just a little bit different from that of the orthodox Jews, the Jews threw stones at him, and he said, as Christ did: “Forgive them, they know not what they do.” “So you find at all times, gentlemen of the jury, men burnt at the stake for their opinions. We find the Spanish Inquisition, making men say they believed in a certain Church, whether they did or did not. Always unimportant, always a small minority, questioning what those in authority do, and yet always having to pay the penalty, because men seem bound to do what they think governments, or autocrats, or despots, or kings, want them to do. “Even in America, America whose history John we all so love, because whatever our mistakes Brown in history, we know that fundamentally America always wants justice; that the heart of the majority of the people is always in favor of justice, buº what do we find? We find John Brown in our history, mis- taken in many ways, thinking to free the slaves of the South by insurrection, by putting guns into their hands, and we find John Brown tried and hung. “The slaveholders thought they had the slavery question all settled. We find Lovejoy, printing papers against slavery —human slavery. We find his printing press thrown into the river, and then he is shot and thrown in after the presses. They must have had “Intelligence Bureaus” of the kind that we have today. We find Garrison, in Boston, talking on behalf of liberty for human beings in America, dragged through the streets of Boston at the end of a rope by a broadcloth mob. “We find that jailing, that killing, that dragging through Twenty-three Sentenced to Twenty YEARS PRISON the streets never finishes any question and never settles any question. Any opinion whatsoever can always be combated by another opinion. Any statement of facts can always be combated by another statement of facts, and then comes the submission of the evidence to prove on which side the truth is. “We attempted here to prove that the The Sisson documents were forgeries. We at- Sisson tempted to prove that the Bolsheviki were not Documents pro-German. We attempted to prove that they were really pro-Ally and against German militarism, German autocracy, and that these defendants, in giving out these leaflets, were standing with the Bolsheviki for liberty, and not for militarism. “We could not go into the detailed history as to what was really happening over there, but we did have two witnesses, one at the head of the Russian Red Cross, Raymond Robins, here to tell us. We had Albert Rhys Williams also, who had been all over Siberia and Russia. But you gentlemen that sit here in the jury-box can go back to your old rights, the right to take questions, history and facts, and decide those things as to what is true from your own knowledge and reading, and then apply them to this case. You have a right to make use of that knowledge. You know how to think, and you have a right to use that power. “You have read the President’s speeches. American You have read his messages on Russia. You Interven- also know that there is an army in Russia at tion in the present time. You know, and it has come Russia out in the evidence, that only Congress can declare war, and that then only can the Presi- dent, as the Commander-in-Chief, proceed to send an army to make war. You know that we did not know in this country that an army was being sent to Russia. All we heard was that an economic commission was being formed, and that assistance was being sent to Russia, to help the Russian people in refer- ence to their food, in reference to mining and transportation, and the next thing we knew, Japan was talking about sending an army to make battle on the Eastern front. As a matter of fact, the army was in Vladivostok long before we ever heard of it over here. The next thing we knew, we found Twenty-four Sentenced to Twenty YEARS PRISON there was another army in Vladivostok—an American army. We found that an army was at Archangel, an American army, without Congress ever declaring war. “I do not question the sincerity of the President. He may have some reason that you and I do not know, but we must judge public men by their public utterances, their public acts. “On this question of international right, The Right these defendants have the right to question to Protest and protest against an army being sent to Russia, to fight the Bolsheviki. They had the right, not because they are American citizens, because they are not, but because they are here and free speech is guaran- teed to all citizens and non-citizens. “What is the truth? What is it that makes the govern- ment try to shut the mouths of those who protest? What is it that makes the government bring an indictment, and four counts at that, against defendants who say it is wrong to send an army into Russia? “Are we so poor, are we so weak, are we such cowards, that we fear the truth, or the questioning of truth? The very man who was attacked in these pamphlets said—and I am going to adopt his words: “‘The only thing that ever set any man free, the only thing that ever set any nation free, is the truth. A man that is afraid of the truth is afraid of life. I have such an inveterate con- fidence in the ultimate triumph of the truth, that I feel with old Oliver Wendell Holmes, that the truth is no invalid; you need not mind how roughly you handle her, she has got a splendid constitution, and she will survive every trial and every labor.”” “He is not afraid of the truth. If he does The Third not know about these indictments, and I pre- Degree sume he probably does not, there are always these underlings, these intelligence bureaus, these men with a little power who always abuse that power; these little doggies sent out on the scent of what they think may be a crime, and feel that they must deliver the goods. This Po- lice Department—these men formerly of the Police Department put these five defendants and this little girl and ran them Twenty-five Sentenced to TWENTY YEARS PRISON through what is known as the third degree. Do you really, honestly and truly believe that they had these defendants for three or four or five hours, until the early morning, and all they did was just ask question after question, or do you believe that when these defendants would not tell them where the leaflets were printed, and where they were gotten from, that having them in their power, they beat them to make them say where the leaflets came from? The defendants would not tell. The police did not know where that printing plant was, and they found six men and one little woman defying them, refusing to tell their majesties, kings of the intelligence bureau, where the pamphlets came from, and they beat them there, gentlemen of the jury. “You are too much experienced as American jurymen and American citizens, not to know that every detective, when he took that stand and said he did not know anything about beat- ing them—they were never beaten—you know, I know, the Court knows, the District Attorneys know, and the Intelligence Bureau knows, that they lied. But these boys who took the stand, and this girl who took the stand, told you that they got out those leaflets and wrote those leaflets, and knew all about those leaflets. “These boys who face four indictments Character and a probable sentence of eighty years, they of the De- are not telling a bald little story about being fendants beaten up. Do you think that Mollie Stimer would lie? Did you see her frank statement as to her beliefs? Did you hear some of the beliefs you may not have or I may not have? Did you hear her tell the story? Did you see the way she answered the Court? Do you think she lied? Do you think Abrams lied? Do you think Lipman, who said he wrote these things—do you think he lied? Is not the mark of truth on the face of every one of these defendants? They are not the ordinary kind of accused criminals, and not the kind that come into court and say we did not do what we are charged with doing. These defendants tell you they did do what they are charged with. That is, they did do the act, but they deny that the act was a violation of law. They say under the right of free speech they had a right to say these things. They say under the right of free press they had a right Twenty-six Sentenced to TWENTY YEARS PRISON to print these things; that on behalf of liberty and justice, they had a right to bring the President of the United States to the bar of public opinion, and their opinion is not the only one on that. “What is an Anarchist? The idea brought Meaning of before you here by the District Attorney was Anarchism about bombs of the Anarchists! We know a good deal about those bombs and what the police used them for, time and time again. We know what they do with pistols in frame-ups, time and time again. “What is Anarchism? It is a society of men and women, working together, co-operating, of their own free will without the compulsion of intelligence bureaus, or District Attorneys, or Courts, or jails, where every man would have enough food, where every woman will have enough food, and enough shel- ter; where men will live as brothers, where each one will do unto the other as they will want the other to do unto him; where shelter will never be vacant while someone is looking for shel- ter; where hunger will never walk the streets, looking for jobs, while wealth spends money in ostentatious living; where men, women and children will not die for want of ice and milk in Summer, while millions are spent on monkey dinners; where. we will have a new humanity, industrially free, economically free; where real liberty will prevail. “You and I may not think that this is possible. We think we always need a policeman, if not in sight, somewhere within call. Even though you and I may have lived in small towns, where we never saw a policeman, and never saw a sheriff, and never saw the judges, and did not care about the District Attorney—you and I may think that is impossible in a big City like New York—the idea that with all the vast and multi- tudinous things the government has to do, it cannot be done by merely a group getting together, but at least that is the dream of some of these defendants; that is the belief of these defendants, and that is also the belief of some of the finest thinkers this world has ever produced, from Warren and Emerson in this country, to Kropotkin and Bakunin and Proudhon. They had beliefs. Were they sent to jail for it? Kropotkin, when he escaped from Russia because of his at- tack upon the Czar, and his wanting to overthrow the Czar, Twenty-seven Sentenced to Twenty YEARs PRIs on went to England as a place of exile, and lived there for a great many years and published books on Anarchism and published books on the French Revolution, books used today in our colleges as text books and authorities, and England never sent Kropotkin to jail. He lived there in peace; and today he is fighting on the side of the Allies, or helping with his pen and his voice against German militarism. “The pamphlet these boys gave out was Mistakes calling upon the workers of America, the peo- of the Bol- ple of America, to save the workers’ republic sheviki of Russia. Are the Bolsheviki making mis- takes in Russia? We make mistakes here. Did we make mistakes in the American revolution? Did we make mistakes in the Civil War, in not doing away with slavery before war by buying the slaves their freedom, as England did? We certainly did. Did France make mistakes in her revolution? She certainly did. Didn't she have to kill anti-revolutionists? She certainly did. Mistakes are being made in Russia but at least the peasants are getting back their land. Those ideals you and I have, though you and I may not believe that the way to get them is the way perhaps the Bolsheviki are getting them; though you and I may not believe that under a system of society known as Anarchy we could get them. “These defendants merely protested “Not-Pro- against the hypocrisy of the United States German, But and our Allies in sending an army to Russia. Liberty They called upon the workers to help them Loving protest against intervention in Russia. They Russians” say at the very end: “It is absurd to call us pro-German. We hate and despise German militarism more than do you hypocriticial tyrants.” Not pro- German, but liberty-loving Russians. “It came into the evidence, as far as Abrams was con- cerned, his past in trying to overthrow the Russian Czar; the fact that he went to jail, fighting against autocracy in Russia, ſº out the same kind of a pamphlet against autocracy €re. “If our Government is true, if our Government is right in its invasion of Russia, let us have a fair discussion. You can- not answer a fact, gentlemen of the jury, by sending people Twenty-eight Sentenced to Twenty YEARs PRIs on to jail. You may seal the lips with death, but you cannot stop a man's idealism and message from continuing in the hearts of others. You may send these defendants to jail for anything up to eighty years, but you cannot answer the ques- tion about the action of the United States in Russia. You may close their mouths but for every man and for every idealist that goes to jail, ten thousand more step forward. For every man that goes to jail because of the truth, ten thousand stand up. Truth crushed to earth spreads over the earth, and those who are sent to jail because of it, their truth travels faster than indictments, faster than jails, faster than intelligence Bureaus. “These defendants, these idealists, wanted They to help Russia and not hurt the United States. Wanted to They wanted to help Russia, and not help Help Russia Germany; and they had no thought of Ger- many in their minds. They had no thought of anything about this war between the United States and Germany. They had one big idea to carry to the Americans, a liberty-loving people, calling to their attention what they thought was an illegal, or, rather, they would not use the word, illegal, but I will—what they thought was a wrongful act by the President of the United States, without authority of Congress, sending an army to invade a nation we were at peace with, calling to the American public to protest.” DEFENDANTS APPEAR FOR SENTENCE. The jury found the defendants guilty. They were sen- tenced by Judge Clayton on October 25th, and they met their fate with conspicuous courage and idealism. Jacob Abrams said: “If it is really a crime to stand up for the peo- ple you love, if it is a crime to believe in ideals, if it is a crime to stand up for the thing that you your- self are standing up for—your country, I am proud to be a criminal.” To this Judge Clayton made rejoinder: “I am glad you got that out of your system” Twenty-nine Sentenced to TWENTY YEARS PRISON Samuel Lipman said: “I do not care for the punishment that you im- pose upon us. I do not care at all. I would rather rot in prison than avoid the truth, as I see it. My comrade gave his life for what he saw was the truth, and I am only asked to give a part of my life, which is very little in comparison with what my comrade Schwartz did. “I do not care for your sentence, but I want this trial to go on record as a trial not of the United States Government against five individuals, but as a trial of Capitalism against Labor.” The Judge commented on this: “Well, there isn't a word of truth in that.” Lipman replied, “We expressed the truth,” and then added: “The more Espionage Acts you pass, the more the lovers of truth you put in prison, the nearer will be the end of poverty, misery, starvation, autocracy, despotism and tyranny.” When Mollie Stimer was called, she addressed her re- marks to the audience in the court room. The judge said: “Now, Mollie, you must speak to the Court. This is one time you are brought in touch with a knowledge that there is some authority, even over an Anarchist woman.” Mollie Stimer said: “I do not believe in any authorities, but what I do want to say is this, that though you have sent military troops to Russia to crush the Russian Revolution, though you may succeed in slaughtering hundreds of thousands of revolutionists, you will by no means succeed in subduing the revolutionary spirit. On the contrary, the more you will seek to suppress the truth, the sooner will the thought of truth and light enter the hearts of the workers and the sooner is the international social revolution bound to come. “As far as the charges against me are concerned, Thirty Sentenced to TWENTY YEARs PRIs on I am responsible for my deeds and ready to stand the consequences, no matter what they may be.” The Judge replied to this: “Very well, I must commend you for having the merit of brevity, and Shakespeare said that brevity is the soul of wit.” Thereupon, Abrams, Lipman and La- Sentences chowsky were sentenced to twenty years in Imposed the penitentiary of the State of Maryland and to fines of $1000 each. Mollie Stimer was sentenced to fifteen years in Missouri State Penitentiary for women, and a $500 fine. Weinberger announced that he would take the case to the United States Supreme Court. THIS CASE AND THE FUTURE So the case rests, and it is probable that these brave young idealists will soon be entombed in the penitentiaries named. But Judge Clayton and the United States authorities are mis- taken if they imagine that the case is ended and that the radical movement in America is going to forget the service rendered by Abrams, Mollie Stimer and their comrades. The spirit of the circular they distributed is already being expressed in high places. Influential journals, such as the New York Nation, The World Tomorrow, and The Dial are taking a similar attitude. Senator Hiram Johnson has lately ques- tioned, in Congress, the honesty and integrity of the American Government in its dealings with revolutionary Russia. What Abrams and his group said, in a forthright way, in their cir- cular, thousands of others, American-born, indorse. There are many of us who think that the United States, when it proposes to crush Bolshevik Russia, violates the revolutionary traditions on which this country rests. A new era is dawning on the world, following the most destructive war in history. Revolu- tionary ideals and movements are playing a dominating part in the new epoch. It may even happen that, during the com- ing years, revolutionary ideals will triumph throughout the world. Thirty-one Sentenced to Twenty YEARs PRISON It was Russia that first raised the Red Banner in the revolutionary epoch on which we are entering. It is Russians, in this country, who have been willing to make the greatest sacrifices in behalf of revolutionary ideals. All honor to Abrams, Lipman Lachowsky and Mollie Stimer, the young Anarchists who protested in America against intervention in revolutionary Russia! Thirty-two HE first act is over. If you agree with the defendants, write and send funds to THEODORE RUSSOFF, 8687 Bay 16th Street, Brooklyn, N. Y., to help to bring the case to a successful finish.