Chapter XVI: The Conspiracy Against Our Country (3)

As the long record of jury convictions of officials and members of the Socialist Party of America is the real foundation of the case against the five New York Assemblymen, exposing the character of the organization they serve, we quote for the reader's information a press summary of the facts, submitted by a citizens' "Committee on Publicity," March 2, 1920, "for the approval of the People of the State of New York." According to the Albany "Knickerbocker[13] Press" of March 3, 1920, this Committee's statement, after referring to "the procedure of the New York Assembly in January, 1920," in "temporarily suspending the five Socialist Assemblymen while instituting a judicial inquiry into their qualifications to serve as law-makers," continues as follows:

"We believe the Assembly was misjudged in the minds of many who
reasoned: 'Socialists elected to previous Assemblies were seated
without objection, why then suspend the five Socialist Assemblymen
this year and investigate them?'

"We offer what we believe to be a complete answer to the question.
We believe the Assembly had a compelling warrant for its procedure
in serious facts and charges not known to previous Legislatures.
These include:

"First--Court records showing that most of the principal leaders of
the Socialist 'Party' were convicted lawbreakers.

"Second--the revelations of the Lusk Committee.

"Under the first head may be mentioned the conviction and
twenty-year sentence, on January 8, 1919, of Victor L. Berger,
National Executive Committeeman of the so-called Socialist Party;
the conviction of Eugene V. Debs, four times Presidential candidate
of the party, whose ten-year sentence was affirmed by the United
States Supreme Court March 10, 1919; and other convictions in 1919,
including, Adolph Germer, National Executive Secretary; J. Louis
Engdahl, editor of the Socialist Party's official publications;
Irwin St. John Tucker, head of its literature department, and
William F. Kruse, Secretary of the Young People's Socialist
organization. In addition, twenty of the Socialist Party's lesser
leaders and scores of its rank and file had been convicted of
disloyal acts and utterances, while nineteen of the chief Socialist
organs had their second-class mail privileges canceled for
disloyalty.

"Under the second head may be mentioned the fact that the
investigations of the Lusk Committee showed that the Socialist
incitement to lawlessness prevalent throughout the country was
largely due to the propaganda of the Rand School of Socialism, a
New York Corporation of which two of the Socialist Assemblymen were
members. Furthermore, the American Socialist Society, the
corporation that owns and conducts the Rand School, had been
convicted under the Espionage Act before the United States District
Court and heavily fined by Judge Julius M. Mayer.

"These were some of the facts and charges which were matters of
public record and public knowledge when the Assembly of 1920
convened. We submit, therefore, that if the Assembly had not taken
action as it did, it would have been derelict in its duty.

"We therefore recommend:

"1. That all loyal organizations pass, publish and file with this
Committee resolutions in acknowledgment of the service rendered by
the New York Assembly and in encouragement of similar action by the
Legislatures of other states.

"2. That individuals affirm this judgment in suitable ways, and
particularly by letters to the press in their localities.

"3. That all loyal individuals and organizations co-operate to give
the whole American people the exact facts concerning the conspiracy
of radicals against our Government and institutions.

"To this end we propose to continue the work of education by
permanent organization under the name of 'Publicity Committee
Against Socialism.'"[M]

The above list of Socialist convictions for lawbreaking will be found completely confirmed, on Socialist authority, in Trachtenberg's Labor Year Book, 1919-1920, pages 92-103.

Was this record questioned by the Socialist defense at Albany? In no wise; it could not be. Was the record faced, the guilt of the lawbreakers confessed, and their transgressions deplored as acts of disloyalty which the Socialist Party now condemns and repudiates? Not at all. These acts were freshly confirmed, and taken anew upon the Socialist Party, by brazen justification of them at Albany and condemnation of the laws, juries and courts of the American people.

We have seen how Hillquit on the witness stand justified the disloyal and violently revolutionary utterances of two of the chief offenders, Debs and Victor L. Berger, identifying himself with their sentiments and proclaiming Debs as the highest type of American citizen, the man most fit for President of the United States. We have also seen that the whole Socialist Party was in 1919 committed to the nomination of Debs as its Presidential candidate in 1920; while it is a well known fact that when Congress excluded Victor L. Berger from that body because of his conviction as a lawbreaker, the lawless Socialist Party at once re-elected him to show its contempt for law and order under our institutions.

The testimony piled up by the prosecution at Albany showed that, instead of judging the wholesale lawbreaking by its leaders and members in 1917 and 1918, the Socialist Party had in 1919 and 1920 involved itself in a still deeper guilt, adding treason to disloyalty by affiliating itself with the open enemies of our Government in Russia and other foreign lands. Was this denied by the Socialist defense at Albany? No, the fact of affiliation with the Third (Moscow) Internationale was admitted, reducing the defense to the false principle that the five Socialist Assemblymen should not be excluded on account of their signed pledge of obedience to a lawless organization, no matter how lawless it might be. Thus in summing up for the defense, on March 3, 1920, Morris Hillquit, according to the "New York Times" of March 4, 1920, made the following excellent summary of the evidence against his party:

"First--That the Socialist Party is a revolutionary organization.

"Second--That it seeks to attain its ends by means of violence.

"Third--That it does not sincerely believe in political action, and
that its politics is only a blind or camouflage.

"Fourth--That it is unpatriotic and disloyal.

"Fifth--That it is unduly controlled--or that it unduly controls
public officials elected on its ticket.

"Sixth--That it owes allegiance to a foreign power known as the
Internationale.

"Seventh--That it approves of the Soviet Government of Russia, and
seeks to introduce a similar regime in the United States; and,
finally,

"Eighth--That the Assemblymen personally opposed prosecution of the
war and gave aid and comfort to the enemy.

"'All of these charges,' Mr. Hillquit said, 'are distinctly charges
against the Socialist Party as such. In other words, it is the
Socialist Party of the United States that is on trial before you.'
...

"'I think, perhaps, the most telling point is the charge that the
Socialist Party is unpatriotic and disloyal--at least it has been
emphasized more than any other,' said the lawyer. 'We opposed the
war.... If similar conditions again arise I am sure we will take
the same position.'"

Similarly, Seymour Stedman, summing up for the Socialists on March 5, 1920, not being able to deny the many convictions of leaders and members of the Socialist Party under the Espionage Law, openly attacked the law itself, according to the following account in the "New York Evening Sun" of March 5, 1920:

"Albany, March 5.--A bitter attack on the Espionage Act was made by
Seymour Stedman in his final summing up for the five suspended
Socialists before the Judiciary Committee of the Assembly today.

"'Because of that act, you don't know the truth about this war; you
cannot know the truth about this war until the Espionage Act is
dead,' he asserted....

"Mr. Stedman admitted that the St. Louis war platform of the
Socialist Party was drawn 'in lurid language to meet a situation in
high flame,' but said no meeting could be called to consider
amending it because those who favored it might have been convicted
under the Espionage Act....

"Mr. Stedman contended that, of course, the Socialists took their
oath to uphold the Constitution of New York State and the United
States with the idea that they could interpret for themselves what
the Constitution means.

"'Each public officer who takes an oath to support the Constitution
swears that he will support it as he understands it, and not as it
is understood by others.'"

According to the "New York World" of March 6, 1920, Stedman, in his speech of the preceding day, justified Eugene V. Debs' lawbreaking with the disgusting remark, "He had no conception of Jesus with a dagger in his teeth;" and justified the lawbreaking for which Rose Pastor Stokes was convicted with the sentence, "She had a right to disagree with the war aims." She, of course, was not convicted for "disagreement" but for wilfully interfering with the "recruiting service" of the United States Government.

The "New York World" of March 6, 1920, also gives the following specimen of Stedman's reasoning:

"Answering the charge that Socialists generally were guilty of law
violations, he exclaimed: 'Go down to the penitentiaries and get
the histories of the birds there and you won't find any Socialists.

"'We are quite willing to say that if 2,000 Socialists had been
arrested during the war, we are guilty.'"

It is difficult to follow this logic. After telling us that we wouldn't "find any Socialists" in the penitentiaries, did Stedman suddenly bethink himself of the scores convicted, and then, on the spur of the moment, fix 2,000 as the number of "arrests" necessary to wring from Socialists the confession, "We are guilty"? From a Socialist work, Trachtenberg's Labor Year Book, 1919-1920, page 92, we quote the following figures for Stedman's edification:

"The total number of prosecutions for violation of the Espionage
Act from June 15, 1917, to July 1, 1918, were 988. Of these, 197
pleaded guilty and were sent to prison, 166 others were convicted
(a large number appealing), and 497 cases were pending for trial
July 1st, while 128 had been acquitted or dismissed up to that
time. The act has been enforced _with increasing vigor since that
date_, but no official figures subsequent thereto are available."

According to Trachtenberg, pages 93 and 94, the above cases do not include about 450 cases of "conspiracy to obstruct draft" under the Penal Code and Draft Act, 30 prosecutions for threats against the President, others under the treason statutes, and prosecutions under state statutes and city ordinances, in "number," says Trachtenberg, "doubtless _greatly in excess_ of the federal prosecutions," including "in New York City alone scores of cases." A flock of 27 Socialists was convicted at Sioux Falls, S.D. (Trachtenberg, page 92), and at Chicago a herd of 166 I. W. W.'s, first cousins to the Socialists; while these first cousins were also indicted in various places in batches of 47, 38, 27, 28, etc. (Ibid.) Nor do any of the foregoing figures include the "arrests" of _two or three thousand "Communists" who were members of Stedman's party prior to September, 1919_.

In short, even accepting Stedman's extraordinary dictum that "2,000 Socialists ... arrested" is the minimum necessary to force Socialists to confess themselves "guilty," that test is more than met by the arrests already known.

Martin Conboy, in summing up for the State in the proceedings before the New York Assembly Judiciary Committee, on March 4, 1920, according to the "New York Times" of March 5, 1920, accused the Socialist counsel and witnesses of "evasive and hypocritical sentiments, expressed on the witness stand, to throw the dust of political, parliamentary and inoffensive acts into the eyes of this Committee and the correspondents of the newspapers." On the other hand, he said, "the leaders of the Socialist Party" lost "no opportunity" to "impress upon the rank and file of that organization that it is impossible to achieve the ultimate triumph of their cause by political action," in support of which he cited the testimony in evidence as follows:

"Every manifesto, every platform, almost every utterance of the
Socialist orator carries with it the party mandate that the workers
of America should be organized industrially so as to be submissive
to the command of a revolutionary leadership.

"In adopting a programme of industrial action, involving the use of
the general strike, the Socialist Party has stripped itself of the
mask of political action and stands revealed as a radical
revolutionary propaganda organization.'"

Another part of Mr. Conboy's address we cite from the "Sun and New York Herald" of March 5, 1920:

"The danger of revolution is more real than the nation realizes,
Mr. Conboy charged, saying that the Socialist Party seeks to set up
its rule here by the following 'unlawful methods':

"'Obstruction of the Federal and State governments in all measures
relating to defense, thereby rendering the nation defenseless
against the attack of enemies from without and within.

"'Destruction of government by mass action and insisting in all
teachings that political action must be backed by force.

"'By making its members and those elected to office responsible
only to its dues-paying members, thereby relieving its agents of
obligation to established government.

"'We are confronted with the necessity of determining how we shall
treat this group of persons who are in the United States but not
of it; who, while accepting the benefits of our laws and
constitutions and the sacrifices of blood and treasure given to
support them, refuse their support to them; who take all they can
get but will not give a life or a dollar to preserve, defend and
perpetuate the Government that is their sole and only guaranty of
life, liberty, property and the pursuit of happiness,' said Mr.
Conboy.

"'It is the first time since the rebellion of 1861 that notice has
been plainly and explicitly served upon the Government of the
United States by a group of men residing within its borders that
they will not support or defend it, but that they will by all means
obstruct and resist its effort to maintain in time of stress its
national honor and existence.

"'The Socialist Party of America is not a loyal organization
disgraced occasionally by the traitorous act of a member, but a
disloyal party composed of perpetual traitors.'"

Again, in a part of his address reported in the "New York Evening Sun" of March 4, 1920, Mr. Conboy mentioned the fact that "at the National Convention of the Socialist Party of America held in St. Louis," in April, 1917, "its members were directed to deny and repudiate allegiance to this Government," and added:

"The explanation of the anti-American attitude of the Socialist
Party of America during the war lies in the anti-national and
pro-international character of its programme. Its members are not
occasional but perpetual traitors, in constant conflict not merely
with the purposes of any temporary administration of the affairs of
this Government, but with the very institutions and fundamental
laws. They are citizens not of the United States, but subjects of
the Internationale, whose pronouncements are to be given their
moral support, a support which they not only withhold from but deny
to the Government of the United States.

"The principal exponent of this party, who appears here in the dual
capacity of witness in chief and counsel in chief, is the
international secretary for America of the International Socialist
Bureau."

To complete our information concerning the Moscow International, we add here some details concerning its Executive Committee, and the right of representation on it enjoyed by the affiliated "Parties" in other lands than Russia, including, no doubt, the Socialist Party of America. Trachtenberg's Labor Year Book, 1919-1920, in its article, "The Moscow International Communist Conference" (held at Moscow, March 2-6, 1919), says, page 312:

"The Conference ... perfected the organization of the new
International and entrusted the direction of the work to an
Executive Committee consisting of one representative from the
Communist parties of the more important countries. The parties in
Russia, Germany, German-Austria, Hungary, Switzerland, Sweden and
the Balkan Federation, were directed to send members to the
Executive Committee. Parties which have declared their adherence to
the new International will be given seats in the Executive
Committee, pending the arrival of delegates from other countries.
The members of the Committee from the country in which the
Executive Committee has its seat [Russia] were empowered to plan
the work of the new organization. The Executive Committee was
authorized to elect a bureau consisting of five members to do the
actual work of the Committee."

Has the Socialist Party of America contributed its Executive Committeeman to this revolutionary machine? Even so, the orders, or "suggestions," evidently come from the Bolshevist Bureau of Five who "do the actual work of the Committee." Are these the Russian power that, according to correspondence found in a raid of the Lusk Committee, has already appointed Eugene V. Debs to reign over us "as 'Proletarian Dictator' of the United States" as soon as the plotted revolution is pulled off in this country? (See "The National Civic Federation Review" for July 30, 1919.) Are these the power, too, according to report, that induced the Italian Socialists and Syndicalists to postpone their proposed revolution to a more convenient season? And was this to give Soviet Russia a chance to put through a temporary peace or truce with Europe to stave off "economic catastrophe?" If so, the twitching revolutionaries in other lands must evidently train their toes to dance at Moscow's convenience.

Meanwhile, under the International, the diabolical work of getting the immoral elements ready for violence goes on in every land, including the United States.

Let Hillquit excuse, extenuate, deny and palaver as he may, it remains true that the Socialist Party of America teaches the same treasonable doctrines of violence and insurrection as the Russian Bolshevists, but in a more covert way. We have a sample in the pamphlet, "The Dictatorship of the Proletariat," put in evidence on January 27, 1920, in the inquiry of the Judiciary Committee at Albany. It is published by the Jewish Socialist Federation of America, New York City, a part of the Socialist Party of America. It says in part:

"Socialism does not believe in the State, wants to annihilate it
entirely. It holds that the task of the State has always been to
oppress the country in the interests of one class. So long as there
are classes in society which seek supremacy, the mastery, there
must be a State. But as soon as classes are eliminated the State
will have no justification for existence, and it will disappear of
itself.

"The Socialist movement rouses the workingmen to revolution. It
preaches to them the class struggle, awakens within them
class-consciousness, makes all necessary preparations for
Socialistic order. When society is ready for the overturn, when the
Socialistic organization feels that the moment has come, it will
make the revolution.

"The dictatorship will be employed for the one thing, to eliminate
capitalism by force, take away by force the capital from private
owners and transfer it to the ownership of the community. The
industries will be managed by the workingmen through their soviets.

"Let the true Socialists stand as sentinels; let them see that the
Socialist programs strike with hot, revolutionary blood. The great
task of the Socialist movement is to create an army in this country
which should be ready to make the Socialist revolution when the
suitable moment arrives. This army must know its aims and the
method of attaining these aims, must be an intelligent army. Every
soldier in it must himself know the way, the plans, the strategy."

In the "Outline of the Evidence Taken Before the Judiciary Committee to and Including February 5, 1920," issued by counsel for the State, they quote from the Yiddish book, cited above, referring to the printed "Testimony," pages 199, 204 and 207, in proof that the Jewish Socialist Federation, which published the book, is "part of the Socialist Party," and introducing their citations from the book with the very significant remark, "Published in Yiddish the principles of Socialism were not camouflaged as they frequently are in English." Bearing this in mind, let us note how this plain-spoken book, which we cite from the State counsel's "Outline," pages 31-34, gives the lie to Hillquit's camouflage about "revolution" being "evolution." The book says:

"History teaches us that through evolution, through natural
developments alone, no ruling class in society has ever been
deposed from its power.... Workingmen cannot depend on '_peaceful_
evolution'; they must prepare for a revolution, and
class-dictatorship....

"To the Socialist at present, the meaning of class struggle,
Internationale and Dictatorship of the Proletariat, must be clear.
He must understand that Socialism is not a reform movement. He must
know that Socialism is a Revolutionary world-perspective, and that
the Socialist movement is a Revolutionary movement.... He must
cease to be a moral preacher and become a fighter. He must know
that the Socialist movement is a red movement, a movement with
blood in the veins, which knows that nothing in life can be won
without a struggle."

This is the real stuff, hid in a foreign tongue, with which Hillquit's gang poisons the East Side of New York City, while the gang's leaders lie to the American people.

Yet if the real plan is not to give us Socialism by "peaceful evolution" but to impose it on us by "a revolution, and class-dictatorship," what is the real object of the "political action" carried on meantime by these hypocrites? Again the Yiddish book gives us the real thing:

"So long as the State is ... a tool in the hands of the bourgeoisie
in the fight against the proletariat, ... why do the Socialists
seek to send their representatives there? Where do Socialists fit
into the State? What can they do there?

"Socialists seek to enter into the government for two reasons,
first, to be nearer to the doors of the chambers, where
dictatorship sits, and second to hinder the dictatorial work in any
way possible. The first reason is the most important. Sitting in
Parliament or in Congress, being inside of the government ranks,
affords Socialists an opportunity to find out the plans, the
strategy of the State. And knowing this, they can carry out the
propaganda the better."

If this is not treason--wickedness using "political party" methods both as a mask and a blackjack to destroy the State--what is it?

To be forewarned is to be forearmed. Ample proof has been given in this chapter to show that there is a nation-wide conspiracy to destroy our government and institutions and replace the Stars and Stripes by the red flag. I. W. W.'s, Communists, Communist Laborites, Socialists and Socialist Laborites have united under the leadership of the Bolshevist Government of Russia. Their agents are everywhere, everywhere hypocritically protesting that in our land freedom, of speech and freedom of assemblage are no longer tolerated. Unless our loyal citizens promptly rally to the defense of America, disorder, strife and rebellion will be seething everywhere, the foundations of the glorious nation that sprang from the blood of the brave soldiers of '76 will be completely undermined, our country will be afflicted with evils far more grave than those averted by the heroes who fought and died in 1812, and the land that we love will fall a prey to the terrible ravages of crime, lawlessness and anarchy.

We must save our country, and save it now. Now is the time to act--now, before it is too late; and we must act so effectively and so vigorously that the Socialists and all their allied, criminal, revolutionary crews will wish that they never had seen a red flag or left their homes abroad. They are conspiring enemies of our country. They are traitors to the flag under which Washington and his soldiers fought for the independence of America; traitors to the flag to whose defense the brave men of 1812 rallied; traitors to the flag for which a million soldiers suffered or died in our great Civil War. They are traitors to the flag that symbolizes the union of countless happy homes under a democratic government held in honor, respect and veneration. Traitors they are to the flag that stands for freedom of religion, freedom of speech, freedom of the press, and for the protection of individual as well as of family rights. They are traitors to the flag of a much slandered and calumniated government, which, though imperfect, like all things on this earth, extends its blessings to all, not even excepting ungrateful Socialists and other radicals.

Fellow citizens and fellow countrymen, rally to the defense of the flag that you love! Denounce, to the north, south, east and west, the evil teachings and deceptions of the Red conspirators; for there is nothing that will more quickly ruin the parties of Reds than to reveal to the world their professed and secret teachings.

"Immortal patriots, rise once more!
Defend your rights, defend your shore!
Let no rude foe with impious hand,
Invade the shrine where sacred lies
Of toil and blood the well earned prize.
While off'ring peace, sincere and just,
In heav'n we place a manly trust,
That truth and justice shall prevail,
And every scheme of bondage fail."