THE PEOPLE'S FORUM
THE PEOPLE'S FORUM 'Splendid, Terrific . . .' Dear Sirs: Another splendid issue—your May TVA 25 th anniversary edition. Your March issue on "The Russians and Ourselves" was terrific, and came...
...That we must look elsewhere—to the class rather than the mass movements—for leadership in the struggle for a higher society...
...I believe this non-violent and earnest protest should receive wider recognition...
...His conviction was upheld by a decision of the Supreme Court which excluded from review the question of the evidence upon which the jury verdict was based...
...Since then, every Smith Act case to be appealed has been reversed, and only my son and his co-defendant, Henry Winston, who were tried in the first trial in New York, are still confined in federal prisons...
...If these observations are valid, are we then to conclude that faith in the labor movement as an important force for social progress is misplaced...
...I think these are questions that bear pondering, both by those striving to restore and reinvigorate the American labor movement from within and those outside of it who are sincerely concerned for its welfare...
...When I arrived home that evening and listened to Supreme Court Justice William O. Douglas explain how our Constitution guarantees the freedom of speech and the rights of minority opinions, I asked tearfully why my son should spend years behind bars for nothing more than political dissent...
...He was tried together with Ethel and Julius Rosenberg in what has been called by the Columbia Law Review "the outstanding 'political' trial of this generation...
...It was a significant experience for all of us...
...Lester Johnson House of Representatives Washington, D. C. From the Mouths of Babes Dear Sirs: Recently we took our two older children to see the documentary film about Dr...
...There has been much misinformation and confusion circulated about the trial of my husband...
...We ask that you bring this information to your readers in the hope that they will help us by buying copies of the transcript, either for themselves, or for others who need to know what happened in our courts...
...But, obviously (as Selwyn Lloyd has openly stated on behalf of Britain), we can not go along with that, because Russia would then have an overwhelming superiority of conventional armaments, and so could easily conquer favorably located areas, especially in Asia and the Near East...
...Gil Green was already fighting Hitlerism when he visited Republican Spain in 1938...
...Mrs...
...I only hope it can reach enough people...
...Their death sentences were commuted in 1951 and now they have been freed...
...Max R. Naiman Chicago, 111...
...Will not subordinate or lesser proposals inevitably produce distrustful safe-guardings, deadlocks, and further blocking of the way to peace...
...As we talked it over the following day, I happened to mention that because of his reverence for life, Dr...
...My son will be eligible for parole in October...
...Here are some of the thoughts it has nourished in my own mind: Can an organization—any organization— that is founded on and bound to strictly economic concepts ever really play the kind of role Eby asks the labor movement to play...
...and the U.S.S.R...
...But our six-and-a-half-year-old son is a realist and a questioner...
...We who know his innocence have tried in every possible way to bring the facts in my husband's case to the courts of law and to the court of the people...
...Morton Sobell New York, N. Y. Total Disarmament Logical Dear Sirs: I should like to present a summary of apparent underlying developments and possibilities as between us and Russia in the challenging, timorous movements to the probable Summit Conferences—apart from the various secondary proposals which, it seems, can produce only propaganda and stalemate...
...But the American labor movement as a whole does not, and has not since the days of Gompers, operated on this principle...
...But the Japanese here have deemed their action significant enough to send embassy photographers...
...John Bauer Chatham, N. J. Fasting for Peace Dear Sirs: Two individuals who fasted during the "sit in" in the lobby of the Atomic Energy Commission still continue their fast...
...Chester Bowles and Richard Neu-berger particularly please me, partly because I can imagine what the pressures must be in the political world...
...Winston fought Hitler's legions as a soldier in Uncle Sam's army...
...These four had been given death sentences after being found guilty of unspeakable crimes that resulted in the torture and murder of hundreds of Nazi persecution victims...
...Robert D. Kreigh Columbia, Mo...
...For two weeks Clay and Trudi Marks have sought, through fasting and meditation, effective ways of pricking the American conscience in its permissive drift toward war...
...It could be agreement, for Russia too desperately needs relief from monstrous military expenditures in preparation for a war that would bring total disaster upon itself, as well as upon us and the world...
...Can this be justice, when all those charged with a similar offense and tried with similar evidence against them have been freed...
...I think it is one of the best ever and is an issue every Member of Congress should read...
...Why did we ever explode one in the first place...
...Of course there are individuals—thousands of them—in the labor movement who have these attributes...
...There are and there always have been groups, often important ones, within the labor movement that have seen their role as at least as much a social one as a purely economic or bread-and-butter one...
...How can we find it in our hearts to free Nazi commanders of extermination squads and keep in prison men who are guilty only of speaking out for a socialist reorganization of our society by peaceful and democratic means...
...More than ever before we today need a clear, intelligent liberal voice, which you certainly are providing so effectively...
...Free My Son' Dear Sirs: Unlike millions of mothers who enjoyed a happy Mother's Day visiting with their children and grandchildren in the comfort of their homes, I, at the age of 73 years, spent a most trying day traveling 1100 miles to the federal penitentiary at Leavenworth, Kansas, in order to visit my son, Gilbert Green...
...The integrity of your writers delights my soul...
...Mrs...
...Gil Green and Henry Winston are imprisoned under the notorious and bankrupt Smith Act for their allegedly dangerous thoughts...
...The eight volumes of the trial transcript are sold for $6 and can be purchased through the Committee to Secure Justice for Morton Sobell, 940 Broadway, New York 10, N.Y...
...My husband's mother, myself, and those who have become convinced that a grave injustice has been done are once more reprinting the trial transcript...
...Max Awner Denver, Colo...
...Is it necessary that organizations be completely divorced from any element of self-aggrandizement or economic ambition before their motives can be classed as true social or idealistic ones...
...The American press has taken no notice of these Gandhian protesters...
...The last four Nazi war criminals held by the United States have been paroled...
...into garrison-prison states as claimed in Harold Lass-well's book, The Policy Sciences...
...Is this not the lesson of the recent fiasco before the Security Counsel in its attempted dealing with the Arctic defense situation...
...The posters say: "Is the arms race making both the U.SA...
...Elizabeth G. Connor Hartsdale, N. Y. Judicial Ironies Dear Sirs: The press has reported a shocking and ironic piece of news...
...Once again, this two-hour visit enabled me to see my loved one and to touch his hand...
...When I had finished, our six-and-a-half-year-old son summed up his opinion in one terse, succinct comment: "That's stupid...
...As he says, something much broader and higher is required—things like ideals, visions, a social philosophy and a social goal...
...The central issue of this trial, theft of atom bomb secrets, was a most inflammatory question...
...Won't each one of you who read this mother's plea write to the President or to the Federal Parole Board in Washington to free my son...
...Next, Russia could hardly agree to that, because we have presumably a much larger stockpile, so she comes up with the idea of total proscription of nuclear weapons, including destruction of existing stock-piles...
...Martha W. Dudley Washington, D. C. Astounding Job Dear Sirs: At the risk of sounding sentimental I must say that The Progressive does an astounding job of presenting facts the newspapers neglect or distort or smother and yet retains an intimate family atmosphere because of your calling on dedicated, honest contributors...
...We know that a reading of the trial transcript today in a more rational atmosphere would show to what extent passion can override truth and justice...
...My son was convicted in the first Smith Act trial since the war...
...If real peace requires mutual benefit in world relations, should we replace our present policy of aiming for an armed truce...
...We have in the past printed and distributed 2,000 copies of the verbatim, complete trial transcript because its objectivity could not be questioned...
...Rationally, would not our topping counter proposal be total disarmament— conventional along with nuclear—down to internal security needs...
...First, Russia having satisfactorily made its latest H-bomb tests, and taking advantage of rising world pressures against nuclear tests, now proposes discontinuance of further testing...
...After all, the good doctor and he have the same birthday...
...And to fix responsibility for effective implementation on the reconstituted United Nations, through its own-recruited inspection and police forces...
...Without a true social foundation, the "more" concept becomes a house of cards to be toppled by any passing mischievous gust...
...Why did we keep exploding them if this were true...
...By their discomfort they wish to express their concern for the real suffering that results from the aggressive policies of the United States and the U.S.S.R...
...Mrs...
...The Progressive in my opinion, can dive deeper, swim farther, and come up dryer than any other magazine in the United States...
...If we made that proposal, what would be Russia's conclusive move...
...Now, what would be the logical next move by us...
...Plea for Morton Sobell Dear Sirs: During the last eight years, despite his innocence, my husband, Morton Sobell, has been in prison...
...I tried to explain, objectively, without betraying my personal fears in the night, about the need for a strong defense against Soviet Russia, about the necessity for keeping ahead of her in stockpiling and scientific exploration, about commitments to our allies, etc., etc...
...Is it realistic to expect a labor movement dedicated, as Samuel Gompers in effect dedicated it, to "more," ever to be anything other than an instrument for tunneling more pay into workers' pay envelopes and siphoning an hour or two off their work day...
...But, since we are evidently behind Russia on the testing score, we suggest, in addition, discontinuance of further nuclear military production...
...Schweitzer...
...Our eight-year-old son is a romantic— already lost in a dream of becoming a doctor when he grows up and going to Lambarene Hospital to help Dr...
...Admittedly, these and the other bread-and-butter goals of the American trade union movement are highly worthwhile and laudable ones...
...What did I mean there was something harmful that fell to the ground everywhere after these bombs were exploded—something that would not go away for many years...
...Albert Schweitzer's life...
...and Mrs...
...We believe that when enough people have read the record, not only will my husband be freed, but that his steadfastness, courage, and adherence to the truth in the face of tremendous suffering will be recognized and honored...
...Marks sit daily in the lobby of the State Department, silently inviting questions from those who read their lap posters and who wish to confer with them...
...Really, is not the proposal for over-all peace agreement the only subject that can have fruitful results in Summit discussions...
...Schweitzer has taken a strong stand against further experimental explosions of the H-bomb...
...John A. Blatnik House of Representatives Washington, D. c. TVA Issue 'Best Ever' Dear Sirs: I certainly want to compliment you on your May issue of The Progressive...
...But this very day two men—Americans— are confined in our federal prisons—not for murder, not for acts of violence, but for their ideas...
...he said...
...Eby's Food for Thought Dear Sirs: There is much food for thought in Kermit Eby's article, "What Labor Needs," in the April issue...
...Certainly, as Eby declares, they are not enough to justify the claim of organized labor that it is a great social movement...
...Elizabeth Green Chicago, 111...
...Your March issue on "The Russians and Ourselves" was terrific, and came just at a time when something like that was so badly needed...
...Last year the Supreme Court for the first time made an unlimited review of a Smith Act "conspiracy" case, and found the evidence against the accused too weak to sustain a conviction...
Vol. 22 • July 1958 • No. 7
