Communists: Time's Up

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Few national organizations know better than the Communist Party, U.S.A., how to use—and abuse—the legal protections of U.S. citizenship. Thanks to the maneuvering skill of its leaders and their lawyers, the party has been able to stall off, for more than eleven years, enforcement of the 1950 Subversive Activities Control Act, which requires it to register with the Justice Department as an active agent of a foreign power. But last week the Communist Party finally ran out of time: ignoring a Nov. 20 deadline imposed by the Supreme Court, the party refused to register with the Justice Department.

The Communists have a lot to lose by obeying the law. Under the stiff terms of the 1950 Act, the party must list the names and addresses of all officers, members and contributors, label all its propaganda as Communist in origin. Party members cannot hold passports, union offices, or jobs with the Government or defense plants. Relying largely on the argument that such penalties amount to an illegal restriction of free speech and the right of assembly, U.S. Communist leaders fought the law all the way to the Supreme Court. In June, by a 5-4 decision, the court ordered the party to register, ruled that Congress had the right "to bring foreign-dominated organizations out into the open where the public can evaluate their activities informedly against the revealed background of their character, nature and connections." At an appeals hearing in October, the court refused to reverse the decision, ruled that the party must sign up by Nov. 20, officers and national board members by Nov. 30, individual members by Dec. 20.

By flouting the court decision, the party is now liable to fines of $10,000 a day for each day that it remains unregistered. Communist leaders who ignore this week's deadline—and they have promised to do just that—could receive sentences of five years' imprisonment and $10,000 fines. The Justice Department, after years of frustration, fully intends to see that the law's penalties are imposed. Some time next week, the department plans to round up the nation's 16 top Communist leaders, lug them before a grand jury for indictment.