COMMUNISTS: Monstrosities & Martyrs

For 20 weeks the eleven Communists on trial in Manhattan for conspiracy had hankered after martyrdom or a mistrial. Their lawyers had repeatedly raked Federal Judge Harold R. Medina with harsh and measured spite. Sometimes, when their tactics seemed to be getting to him, the judge would leave the courtroom, his face suffused with anger, to compose himself. Last week, at long last, he decided it was time to "reduce the disorder" in his court.

The man on the witness stand was Daily Worker Editor John Gates (born Saul Regenstreif), one of the eleven Communists accused of conspiring to...

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