This book, first published in 1942, centers around testimony from the 1941 trial of
leaders of the Socialist Workers Party and Upper Midwest labor movement. They
had organized labor opposition to the federal government's entry into World War
II. The lead defendant was James P. Cannon, national secretary of the SWP,
whose full trial testimony is included. At trial, Cannon and 17 others were
convicted of “seditious conspiracy” under the Smith Act, which President
Roosevelt had signed into law in 1940. That law forbade teaching, advocating or
encouraging revolutionary ideas. In his testimony, Cannon presented a full and
eloquent description of the aim and program of the communists. In addition to
Cannon's testimony, there is a criticism of the strategy Cannon used in defending
himself in court by an exiled ultra-left Spanish communist, Grandizo Munis, and
Cannon's response.

[Description from the publisher.]

292 pages

James P. Cannon

Pathfinder Press