Reds Jailed

At "Old Bailey," famed London bar of justice, the first skirmish in "Britannia's war on the Reds" (TIME, Oct. 26, Nov. 2) ended last week when twelve prominent Communists were sentenced to jail by Mr. Justice Swift, after a jury had taken but 20 minutes to find them guilty of conspiracy on three counts: 1) uttering and publishing seditious libels; 2) violating the Incitement to Mutiny Act of 1797; 3) seducing the armed forces of the Empire from their duty.

The defense, in resting its cast, entered strong protest against "the employment of police-spies to ferret into the affairs of the accused"; and charged that political factors had motivated the actions of the prosecution. Said Mr. Justice Swift, in his charge to the jury: "I would have you recall that if 9, crime is committed in secret, secret methods may have to be adopted in order to find it out. . . . Whether the defendants are being prosecuted by a rival political party or not is of no significance. ... If guilty, they are guilty, whether the prosecuting party be Conservative, Labor, Liberal or Socialist."

This somewhat "explanatory" attitude on the part of the Court was viewed generally as an attempt to scotch any cry of "Martyrs!" in behalf of the accused. And it was noted as significant that all the sentences were "in the second degree" (i. e., "without hard labor").

Five* of the defendants, against whom former convictions had been obtained, were sentenced to a year's imprisonment; and the remaining seven/- were at first offered their freedom, "bound over on good behavior," if they would "promise to have nothing more to do with the Communist Party."

One by one they cried, "I will not promise!" One by one they received sentences of six months' imprisonment.

The British press variously described the trial as "a blow to liberty" (Laborite Daily Herald) and "a victory for civilization" (Conservative Morning Post). Between these two extremes, the Westminster Gazette took occasion to lament that a whiff of politics was undoubtedly apparent to squeamish noses at the trial, and quoted: "It is not enough that justice should be done--it must appear to be justice."

* Albert Samuel Inkpin, 41, secretary of the British Communist party ; William Charles Rust, 22, secretary of the Young Communists' League; Harry Pollit, 30 boiler maker and member of the executive board of the Communist Internationale; William Gallacher, 43, brass finisher; and Walter Hannington, 30, engineer. /- John Ross Campbell, Editor of the Workers' Weekly; Arthur McManus, head of the colonial department of the Communist Party; John Thomas Murphy, head of its political bureau ; Robert Page Arnot, director of the Labor Research Department; E. W. Cant, Communist organizer; Thomas W. Wintringham, journalist; Thomas Bell, engineer.