RADICALS: Militant Communists

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The jury trying William Z. Foster, the first of the 32 defendants charged with violating the Michigan State Syndicalism law, is composed of eleven men and one woman.

In his opening statement to the jury, Assistant Attorney General O. L. Smith asserted that the state was prepared to prove that Foster was a paid organizer in the ranks of the Communists, and that the Communist Party is committed to violent and incendiary doctrines. As documentary evidence in support of the state's contention, Mr. Smith will exhibit a manifesto written in January, 1922, giving the Party's official position as follows:

" Communists are not pacifists. The real Communist avails himself of every weapon to strike a blow at Capitalism, but with the firm conviction that the final onslaught on the enemies' stronghold will be made, not with ballots but with bullets."

Frank P. Walsh, attorney for Foster, told the jury that the defense would prove that Foster attended the convention, not as a Communist, but as a fraternal delegate from Illinois. He charged that a secret service operative in the employ of the United States had succeeded in joining the Communist organization and was responsible for any violent statements attributed to the defendants. The party convention on which the raid was made, declared Mr. Walsh, was called for the purpose of abolishing underground tactics in favor of coming out into the open as a legal group. When the vote was taken, this Government detective cast the deciding ballot against open legality. Later, said Mr. Walsh, the Communist Party was formally disbanded in a New York Convention, and the Workers' Party, a legal organization, took its place.