Open forum, vol. 16, no. 17 (April, 1939)

Free Speech - Free Press - Free Assemblage

"Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty'-John Philpot Curran

A. C. L. U. POSITION ON PICKETING

Recent disturbances in Los Angeles in

connection with picket lines have raised

the question of what rights pickets have

under the law, and what should be our

attitude toward them. The A.C.L.U. Exec-

utive Com., So. Cal. Branch, offers the fol-

lowing suggestions touching the matter:

First of all, there are different kinds of

picketing, such as picketing in labor dis-

putes; around a foreign consulate; in pro-

test against the loading of ships or cars

with material for war purposes; and in

the case of a meeting whose purpose is

The right to picket in the

instances seems well estab-

tions touching the matter:

1. A public meeting should be protected

under the constitutional guarantee of the

right of assemblage, and pickets protest-

ing against such a meeting have no right

to interfere with the meeting by intimi-

dating people who are entering or leaving

the meeting or by creating a disturbance

in the vicinity of the meeting so that the

peaceful assemblage is in any way pre-

In other words,

we recognize that the right peacefully to

assemble is a priority right on occasions of

this kind and must be given first consid-

eration.

2. The right to picket public meetings

and by means of banners and handbills

- protest against the purpose of the meeting

is also a valid right under our laws govern-

ing free assemblage and freedom of ex-

pression. But it must be regarded as a

right secondary to the right to hold the

meeting; and accordingly picketing on

such occasions must be conducted with

due regard for the many statutes govern-

ing the blockading of the street, the dis-

turbance of the peace, and the creating of

riotous conditions.

_ 8. The police should be instructed care-

fully as to the existence of both rights and

their part in seeing that both rights are

properly respected. Policemen should be

warned by their superiors to be impartial

and studiously guard against encouraging

outbreaks by either side in the controversy

or by the crowd which naturally gathers

on such occasions.

4. Under no circumstances should vigi-

lante action be tolerated by the authorities

when public meetings are being picketed.

Law enforcement must remain in the

hands of the duly constituted peace offi-

cers. To allow private parties to interfere

is to invite confusion and serious trouble.

The explosion of tear gas and the use of

clubs by the police is to be deprecated.

- Let arrests be made if necessary, but with

a minimum of violence.

5. Finally, we would urge upon those

who place pickets around public meetings

that they do so with the utmost care lest

they be found to have provoked needless

disorder. We recommend that they recog-

nize the right of public meeting as a pri-

mary right which they themselves should

help safeguard, for they will need to exer-

cise it for themselves from time to time.

LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA, APRIL 29, 1939

No. 17

REPRESSIVE LEGISLATION IN CONGRESS

OPPOSED AT JUDICIARY COM. HEARING

LIBERAL P. O. MEASURE PUSHED

Asserting that "it would be unwise for

Congress to engage upon a new adventure

in the repression of ideas,' Osmond K.

Fraenkel, appearing for the American

Civil Liberties Union, vigorously assailed a

sweeping anti-civil rights bill by Rep.

Howard W. Smith, of Virginia, at hearings

before the House Judiciary Committee

last week.

The measure (H.R. 5138) is a catch-all

including old and new gag bills which the

Union has opposed for years. The first

of five titles is a criminal syndicalism law

prohibiting advocacy of the overthrow of

the government by force or violence. The

second provision bans private armies but

includes a dangerous definition of military

organizations and contains a section pun-

ishing incitement to disaffection in the

Army or Navy.

The remaining three titles of the bill

deal with aliens, containing portions of

last year's Dies bill providing for deporta-

tion of aliens for "`moral turpitude'? and

`possessing firearms''; of aliens who are

members of any group advocating change

in the form of government "or engaging

in any way in domestic political agitation"';

and of aliens who fail to `"`use due dili-

gence'"' to become citizens. The bill also

calls for registration and fingerprinting of

all aliens every six months. Incorporated

in the measure is the Hobbs bill setting up

a concentration camp for deportees who

cannot secure admission to their native

country.

Attacking the anti-free speech provi-

sions, Mr. Fraenkel said:

"Attempts to punish people for advocat-

ing a doctrine almost always lead to shock-

ing persecution of personal liberties. Laws

can not stop the dissemination of ideas nor

can you kill off dissatisfaction by putting

in jail those who preach subversive doc-

trines. Legislation of this sort would en-

courage hysteria. Now is the time for us

to keep our heads cool."

In a campaign for enactment of legisla-

tion transferring control of mail censorship

from the Post Office Solicitor to the courts

the National Council on Freedom from

Censorship, affiliate of the Civil Liberties

Union, has urged Chairman Hatton W.

In view of almost inevitable clashes be-

tween pickets and those attending the

meeting picketed, we suggest that groups

which use picketing as a form of protest

study other ways and means of effective

protest that perhaps do not involve such

great risk of physical clashes.

We would remind all our citizens that

these are days of sharp differences of opin-

ion and heated feelings over clashing

ideologies. It is easy to lose one's temper

and come to blows, Let us therefore be as

calm and self-controlled as possible, and

thus preserve the spirit of tolerance and

good will toward each other.

Sumners of the House Judiciary Committee

to call a public hearing on a bill intro-

duced by Rep. Lee E. Geyer, of California

(HR 4923.) We referred to it last week.

In a memorandum supporting the bill,

the Council outlined the remedies pro-

posed:

"The Postmaster should be obliged to

send all matter he believes violative of the

law to the U. S. District Attorney of the

district where mailed, with a request to

institute libel proceedings in order that a

jury may determine whether or not the

matter is legal for mailing.

"The criminal penalty should be limited

to matter deposited within five years after

the finding of a jury that it is matter pro-

hibited by the law.

"Records of these decisions should be

kept available to the public so that anyone (c)

in doubt could ascertain if a particular

publication had been declared illegal.

``Non-mailable matter, which includes

obscenity, sedition, birth control devices,

medicines to procure abortion, and infor-

mation concerning the above, is now all

mentioned in the same sentence. To elimi-

nate confusion, this should be arranged so

that a separate paragraph is given to each

type of non-mailable matter."

The Council points out that the pro-

posed procedure involving a civil trial has

already been established for the Customs

Bureau covering the same material speci-

fied in the postal law.

Aliens' Right to Work on WPA

Projects to be Appealed by Union

In the case of Edward Gering Rok

against Herbert C. Legg, Southern Califor-

nia WPA Administrator, Federal Judge

Leon R. Yankwich has ruled that the Ap-

propriation Act of Congress which pro-

hibits aliens from WPA work projects is

constitutional.

In a lengthy written opinion Judge

Yankwich recognized that "there is a

good deal of xenophobia which has ex-

pressed itself at various times in restric-

tions which do not impress one as having

any direct relation to public welfare, such

as denial of the right to fish or to bear

arms. It is indubitable also that in time of

economic distress, distrust of the alien as-

serts itself more strongly and there is an

inclination to blame him for ills for which

he is not responsible. And a governmental

body, state or federal, in denying to the

alien privileges it grants to the citizen may

be encouraging hatred rather than amity

between the citizen and non-citizen and

make itself the vehicle of prejudice."

Judge Yakwich decided, however, that

the entire matter was within the control of

Congress ; that the government may dis-

criminate against aliens without violating

due process of law or denying the equal

protection of the laws as guaranteed by

the federal constitution; and that in furn-

(Continued on page 2, col. 3)

THE OPEN FORUM

Published every Saturday at 505 Douglas Building,

257 South Spring Street, Los Angeles, California, by

`the Southern California Branch of the American

Civil Liberties Union. Phone: Mlchigan 6529

Meera ara aati. ce ee Ree Nh oe a Editor

CONTRIBUTING EDITORS

`Doremus Scudder

Upton Sinclair

Leo Gallagher

John Packard

A. A. Heist

Kate Crane Gartz

Ernest Besig

Edwin Ryland

Carey McWilliams

| 505 DOUGLAS BLDG., LOS ANGELES

A. L. Wirin

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Entered as second-class matter Dec. 13,

1924, at the post office of Los Angeles,

California, under the Act of March 3, 1879.

LOS ANGELES, CALIF., APRIL 29, 1939

SUPREME COURT HOLDS FORMER.

COMMUNIST NOT DEPORTABLE

Aliens who are no longer members of

the Communist Party at the time of arrest

may not be deported, the U. 8S. Supreme

Court ruled in a 6-to-2 decision last week,

releasing Joseph G. Strecker, Austrian-

born restaurant keeper of Hot Springs,

Ark. The court failed to pass on the ques-

tion whether establishment of present

-~membership in the Communist Party would

have been sufficient grounds for deporta-

tion under the 1918 law referring to

organizations advocating overthrow of this

government' by force or violence.

Strecker, who entered the United States

in 1912, was held for deportation in 1933

when he sought naturalization. Strecker

showed that he had joined the Communist

Party in 1932 but stopped paying dues

four months later. Last April, the Fifth

Circuit Court of Appeals reversed the de-

. _ portation order and the Department of

Labor appealed to the highest tribunal.

In the the Supreme Court's majority

opinion, Justice Roberts specifically said

that it was "unnecessary to pass" on the

aims and purposes of the Communist

Party. The Court's decision was as to the

immediacy of the membership. Analyzing

the 1918 statute, Justice Roberts declared:

"In the absence of a clear and definite

expression, we are not at liberty to con-

clude that Congress intended that any

alien, no matter how long a resident of

this country or however well disposed to-

ward our government, must be deported,

if at any time in the past, no matter when,

or under what circumstances, or for what

time, he was a member -of the described

organization."'

The decision left up in the air the case

of Harry Bridges. and other aliens facing

. deportation as Communists.

coe

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FIFTEEN YEARS ON

AT.

VALLEY VICIOUSNESS

In January, 1934 things began-to pop

again in the Imperial Valley. 5,000 Mexi-

can, Japanese and Filipino lettuce workers

went on strike for decent wages and hours.

Immediately the grower-shippers invoked

the aid of the local officials and the State

Highway Patrol to break the strike. No

meetings of. the workers were allowed.

One peaceful gathering of a thousand peo-

ple in Brawley was dispersed by means of

tear gas and the clubs of eighty deputies.

Suspension of constitutional rights and

a reign of terror continued for weeks. A.

L. Wirin, attorney for the A.C.L.U., went

to the Valley armed with a United States

court injunction restraining the sheriff and

the chief of police of Brawley from inter-

fering with a meeting of the workers

called for the evening of January 28rd in

Brawley.

But the injunction meant nothing to the

lawless officials of the Valley. Mr. Wirin

was kidnapped from a leading hotel in

Brawley just before the meeting. Vigi-

lantes seized him and took him for a

"ride."' He was beaten severely and threat-

ened with death. His captors robbed him

of $35.00, pushed his automobile over an

embankment, wrecking it badly, and left

Mr. Wirin himself on the desert far from

any habitation late that night.

That was only one of many outrages

that were perpetrated one after the other

by American Legionnaire vigilantes in con-

nivance with the authorities. In fact Im-

perial Valley for a time virtually seceded

from the United States and resorted to the

most primitive savagery in order to pre-

vent workers from organizing and

demanding their rights. The state and fed-

eral constitutions were reduced to mere

scraps of paper. Both men and women

who went into the Valley urging that law

and order should be re-established were

pursued with venom and assaulted vi-

ciously. One lawyer was held in jail thirty-

six days on a vagrancy charge. An aged

STATE "ADVOCACY" LAW

ASSAILED AS UNCONSTITUTIONAL

On-the grounds that ``advocacy rather

than acts' would be punished, the New

York Civil Liberties Committee has an-

nounced its opposition to a bill (SI 1716)

introduced in the state legislature by

Senator John J. McNaboe prohibiting writ-

ten or verbal statements which advocate

depriving anyone of his constitutional

rights. The Committee suggests that if

further legislation for the protection of

civil rights seems necessary, a bill pat-

terned on the Federal Code punishing acts

and not advocacy be introduced.

"We are not opposed to legislation pat-

terned on the United States Criminal

Code," declares the Committee, "which

punishes any persons who conspire to `in-

jure, oppress, threaten, or intimidate any

citizen in the free exercise or enjoyment

of any right or privilege secured to him by

the Constitution' since it is aimed, prop-

erly, at acts which actually threaten the

constitutional rights of the people.

"It is obvious that advocacy of a doc-

trine cannot be punished by law since it is

one of the very constitutional rights the

bill purportedly seeks to protect. In the

peace-time history of this country there

has been strict adherence to the theory

that while acts calculated to injure or op-

press shall be punishable by law, advocacy

or expression of a political doctrine is a

fundamental right in itself and must be

carefully maintained."

FREEDOM'S FRONT

EXPERIENCES AND OBSERVATIONS OF AN A.C.L.U. DIRECTOR (c)

By die Clinton J. Taft

clergyman who attempted to hold an

A.C.L.U. meeting in the Valley was seized |

by thugs, assailed cruelly, and left on}

the desert late at night to find his way

back to town as best he could. When he |

reached the city he was obliged to seek ~

refuge in the jail in order to escape his

tormentors.

Grover Johnson, an attorney who ap- |

peared for some of the people arrested,

was assaulted in broad daylight on the

courthouse steps at El] Centro. 2,000 men,

women and children were driven from q

labor camp and their shacks burned by -

an angry mob.

This sort of thuggery was kept up for -

a long time, and even gloried in as the

proper way to handle labor ``agitators.''

One of the officials of the Valley went to

Sacramento and boasted that the people

of his section didn't need the Criminal |

Syndicalism Law any more as they had

discovered a much more efficient method

of handling the Reds.

All this sounds incredible perhaps to

some of you, but the facts stated can easily Ee

be verified.

"OUR HERITAGE OF FREEDOM"

This is the title of a pamphlet just is-~

sued by the Council for Social Action of -

the Congregational and Christian

Churches. It was prepared by Helen Mars- -

ton Beardsley, one of our So. California

A.C.L.U. Executive Com. members. She

has done a fine piece of work, setting forth

the rise of our liberties, their embodiment |

in constitutions and codes, the assaults) |

being made upon them today, and the ways

in which we work to preserve them. Cop- -

ies may be obtained at 15 cents each by .-

writing SOCIAL ACTION, 287 Fourth) |

Ave., New York City.

t

(Continued from page 1)

ishing relief or providing for employment. s

upon public projects, citizens may be pre-|

ferred over aliens.

Rok, the plaintiff in the case, had filed a

declaration to -become a citizen. of the

United States, and was by profession a

stage director who applied for work at the -

Works Progress Administration because of

the general economic distress. It was con-)

ceded that Rok's work was entirely satis-

factory to his superiors and the sole reason -

for. his discharge was because he had not.

yet become naturalized.

The case, sponsored jointly by the}

American Civil Liberties Union and the

Workers Alliance, C.I.O. affiliate, was filed

in behalf of all aliens in the same lot as)

Rok, and thus affects approximately 2,000.

WPA workers in Los Angeles directly, and

over 30,000 WPA employees throughout) -

the United States. The case was prosecuted

by A. L. Wirin of the law firm of Galla-

gher, Wirin and Johnson, and Julius A.)

Leibert, and defended by United States!

Attorney Ben Harrison and Assistant Uni-

ted States Attorney Irl D. Brett.

_ Attorneys for Rok have announced their - |

intention to appeal the case to-the Circuit].

Court of Appeals at San Francisco.

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