Smith Act trials of Communist Party leaders information
U.S. federal prosecutions, 1949–1958
Smith Act trials of Communist Party leaders
Defendants Robert Thompson and Benjamin J. Davis with supporters
When
1949–1958
Defendants
144 leaders of the Communist Party USA
Allegation
Violating the Smith Act, by conspiring to violently overthrow the government
Where
Federal courthouses in New York, Los Angeles, Honolulu, Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, Cleveland, Seattle, Baltimore, Seattle, Detroit, St. Louis, Denver, Boston, Puerto Rico, New Haven
Outcome
Over 100 convictions, with sentences up to six years in prison and each a $10,000 fine
This article is part of a series on
Socialism in the United States
History
Utopian socialism
Bishop Hill Commune
Brook Farm
Icarians
Jonestown
Looking Backward
New Harmony
Oneida Community
Progressive Era
1877 St. Louis general strike
1912 Lawrence textile strike
Catholic Worker Movement
Green Corn Rebellion
Labor unionization
Haymarket affair
May Day
Women's suffrage
Repression and persecution
American Defense Society
American Protective League
Communist Party USA and African Americans
Communist Party USA in the labor movement
1919–1937
1937–1957
Espionage Act of 1917
First Red Scare
John Birch Society
McCarthyism
Seattle General Strike
Smith Act
Smith Act trials
Anti-war and civil rights movements
Black power movement
COINTELPRO
"I Have a Dream"
March on Washington
New Left
Poor People's Campaign
Contemporary
1999 Seattle WTO protests
2007–2008 financial crisis
Occupy Wall Street
People
Abern
Alston
Andrews
Avrich
Balagroon
Bellamy (Edward)
Bellamy (Francis)
Berger
Berkman
Bookchin
Brisbane
Brooks
Browder
Bush
Butler
Cabet
Cannon
Cantor
Carmichael
Chomsky
Cockburn
Davis (Angela)
Davis (Mike)
Dean
Day
Debs
Dennis
De Leon
Dreiser
Du Bois
Ehrenreich
Ervin
Fearing
Feinberg
Ford
Foster
Gitlow
Gilmore
Goldman
Graeber
Greene
Guthrie
Hall
Hammett
Hampton
Harrington
Hay
Haywood (Bill)
Haywood (Harry)
Hawkins
Hedges
Heywood (Angela)
Heywood (Ezra)
Hill
Hillquit
Hoan
Hoffman
Jameson
Keller
King
Labadie
London
Lovestone
Lum
Marcy
McReynolds
Moore
Morello
Most
Mitchell
Newton
Noyes
Ocasio-Cortez
Ochs
Parenti
Parsons (Albert)
Parsons (Lucy)
Piker
Piven
Randolph
Ripley
Reed
Rocha
Rocker
Roediger
Rustin
Ruthenberg
Sacco
Sandburg
Sanders
Sakai
Sawant
Seale
Seeger
Seidel
Shachtman
Shakur
Stone
Sweezy
Thomas
Tlaib
Turner
West
Wolff
Wood
Zeidler
Zerzan
Zinn
Active organizations
Black Riders Liberation Party
Black Socialists in America
Communist Party USA
Democratic Socialists of America
Freedom Road Socialist Organization
Freedom Socialist Party
Green Mountain Peace and Justice Party
Green Party of the United States
Industrial Workers of the World
New Afrikan Black Panther Party
Party for Socialism and Liberation
Peace and Freedom Party
Progressive Labor Party
Redneck Revolt
Revolutionary Communist Party, USA
Socialist Action
Socialist Alternative
Social Democrats, USA
Socialist Equality Party
Socialist Party USA
Socialist Rifle Association
Socialist Workers Party
Solidarity
Spark
Spartacist League
Working Families Party
Vermont Progressive Party
Workers World Party
Working Class Party
World Socialist Party of the United States
Inactive or defunct organizations
American Labor Party
American Union of Associationists
American Workers Party
Black Panther Party
Communist League of America
Communist League of Struggle
Communist Workers' Party
Democratic Socialist Federation
Democratic Socialist Organizing Committee
Freedom Party of New York
Human Rights Party
Independent Socialist League
International Socialists
International Socialist Organization
International Workingmen's Association
Maoist Internationalist Movement
Red Guards
New American Movement
Nonpartisan League
Proletarian Party of America
Puerto Rican Socialist Party
Revolutionary Socialist League
Revolutionary Youth Movement
Social Democracy of America
Social Democratic Federation
Social Democratic Party of America
Socialist Labor Party of America
Socialist Party of America
Students for a Democratic Society
Weather Underground
White Panther Party
Workers Party of the United States
Works
Appeal to Reason
Current Affairs
Daily Worker
Dissent
International Socialist Review
Jacobin
The Jungle
Looking Backward
Monopoly Capital
Monthly Review
The Other America
A People's History of the United States
Voluntary Socialism
Why Socialism?
Z
Related topics
American Left
Anarchism (in the US)
Anarcho-communism
Anarcho-syndicalism
Bill of Rights socialism
Democratic socialism
Green anarchism
Individualist anarchism (in the US)
Labor history
Labor laws
Labor unions
Libertarian socialism
Market socialism
Marxism
Marxism–Leninism
Maoism
Minimum wage
Mutualism
Post-left anarchy
Scientific socialism
Social democracy
Socialism
Trotskyism
Utopian socialism
Socialism portal
United States portal
v
t
e
The Smith Act trials of Communist Party leaders in New York City from 1949 to 1958 were the result of US federal government prosecutions in the postwar period and during the Cold War between the Soviet Union and the United States. Leaders of the Communist Party of the United States (CPUSA) were accused of violating the Smith Act, a statute that prohibited advocating violent overthrow of the government. The defendants argued that they advocated a peaceful transition to socialism, and that the First Amendment's guarantee of freedom of speech and of association protected their membership in a political party. Appeals from these trials reached the US Supreme Court, which ruled on issues in Dennis v. United States (1951) and Yates v. United States (1957).
The first trial of eleven communist leaders was held in New York in 1949; it was one of the lengthiest trials in United States history. Numerous supporters of the defendants protested outside the courthouse on a daily basis. The trial was featured twice on the cover of Time magazine. The defense frequently antagonized the judge and prosecution; five defendants were jailed for contempt of court because they disrupted the proceedings. The prosecution's case relied on undercover informants, who described the goals of the CPUSA, interpreted communist texts, and testified of their own knowledge that the CPUSA advocated the violent overthrow of the US government.
While the first trial was under way, events outside the courtroom influenced public perception of communism: the Soviet Union tested its first nuclear weapon, and communists prevailed in the Chinese Civil War. In this period, the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) had also begun conducting investigations and hearings of writers and producers in Hollywood suspected of communist influence. Public opinion was overwhelmingly against the defendants in New York. After a 10-month trial, the jury found all 11 defendants guilty. The judge sentenced them to terms of up to five years in federal prison, and sentenced all five defense attorneys to imprisonment for contempt of court. Two of the attorneys were subsequently disbarred.
After the first trial, the prosecutors – encouraged by their success – prosecuted more than 100 additional CPUSA officers for violating the Smith Act. Some were tried solely because they were members of the Party. Many of these defendants had difficulty finding attorneys to represent them. The trials decimated the leadership of the CPUSA. In 1957, eight years after the first trial, the US Supreme Court's Yates decision brought an end to similar prosecutions. It ruled that defendants could be prosecuted only for their actions, not for their beliefs.
and 22 Related for: Smith Act trials of Communist Party leaders information
Subversive Activities Control Board Title I, Section 5-7 SmithActtrialsofCommunistPartyleaders Scales v. United States Title II, Section 103 "Gibson...
The CommunistParty USA (CPUSA) is an American political party with a communist platform that was founded in 1919 in Chicago, Illinois. Its history is...
The CommunistParty USA, officially the CommunistPartyof the United States of America (CPUSA), also known as the American CommunistParty, is a communist...
United States Court of Appeals. (This trial was one of many SmithActtrialsofCommunistPartyleaders from 1949 to 1958.) Ganley was married to Ann Ganley...
convicted during the SmithActtrialsofCommunistPartyleaders. Charlie Parker's quintet was hired in addition to a string section; none of the string personnel...
Eleven leadersof the CommunistParty were convicted under the SmithAct in 1949 in the Foley Square trial. Ten defendants were given sentences of five...
a juror in a high-profile 1949 trial, one of the Smith ActtrialsofCommunistPartyleaders. Janney married Edith Hulda Cramer in 1907; they later divorced...
District of New York, was given the lead role in prosecuting the cases and, under the SmithAct, presented charges against twelve communistleaders on July...
The CommunistPartyof Great Britain (CPGB) was the largest communist organisation in Britain and was founded in 1920 through a merger of several smaller...
late 1950s when the Smith Act trials of communistpartyleaders occurred. The Alien Registration Act or SmithActof 1940 made it a criminal offense for anyone...
The Italian CommunistParty (Italian: Partito Comunista Italiano, PCI) was a communist and democratic socialist political party in Italy. It was founded...
The Communist Labor Partyof America (CLPA) was one of the organizational predecessors of the CommunistParty USA. The group was established at the end...
long-time friend, Benjamin J. Davis Jr., charged during the SmithActtrialsofCommunistPartyleaders. Robeson traveled to Moscow in June 1949, and tried to...
The Romanian CommunistParty (Romanian: Partidul Comunist Român, [parˈtidul kɔmuˈnist rɔˈmɨn], PCR) was a communistparty in Romania. The successor to...
example, the SmithActtrialsofCommunistPartyleaders incarcerated dozens ofCommunistParty USA leaders for advocating the overthrow of the United States...
advocating overthrow of the government). The SmithAct led in turn to the SmithActtrialsofCommunistPartyleaders, which lasted from 1949 to 1958. "On Angel...
1948, a dozen leaders of the CommunistParty were arrested and accused of violating the SmithAct by advocating the overthrow of the US government by force...