COMMONWEALTH (British Commonwealth of Nations)
Great Britain entered the throes of the third general election in two years.
Sedition. Last August it was brought to the attention of St. Patrick Hastings, Attorney General,* that the Workers' Weekly, Communist journal, had printed a seditious article (TIME, Oct. 13), the headlines of which ran:
SOLDIERS, SAILORS, AIRMEN! WILL YOU KILL YOUR MATES? REMEMBER—YOU ARE WORKERS! THE BOSSES ARE YOUR ENEMIES.
DON'T SHOOT SINKERS ! THEY ARE WORKERS LIKE YOU. THEY ARE FIGHTING FOR A DECENT LIVING FOR THEMSELVES AND THEIR WOMEN AND KIDS. IF THE PROFITEERING CAPITALISTS, THROUGH THEIR AGENTS—YOUR OFFICERS —TELL YOU TO MURDER BRITISH WORKERS—DON'T SHOOT.
Prosecution. Sir Patrick frowned beneath his wig. His strong features hardened as he came to a decision: The article was sedition and under a law passed during the reign of George III the editor must be prosecuted.
Discharge. J. Ross Campbell, American-born, was acting editor and upon a fine August morning he appeared at the Bow Street Police Court to answer to the charge of inciting His Majesty's forces to mutiny. The Public Prosecutor, acting upon instructions from Attorney-General Sir Patrick, sent his representative to say that the article was after all only a criticism of a State for using armed force to quell industrial disputes. The Magistrate declared that there was no evidence to hold Campbell and accordingly discharged him.
Attack. There the matter might have ended but for an article in the Workers' Weekly:
"The Political Bureau of the Communist Party desires to make it clear that no effort was made by Comrade Campbell to provide a defense. Arrangements had been made to ask for an adjournment in order that Mr. MacDonald, the Prime Minister, Mr. Henderson, Mr. Clynes and several others would be subpoenaed as witnesses for the defense. . . . We wish to state that the withdrawal of the charge was made on the sole responsibility of the Labor Government. . . .
"The Communist Party claims that the withdrawal of the charge is a victory tory for the workers, but at the same time one that will arouse the vicious hostility of the reactionary elements within and without the Labor movement."
This subtle attack was backed with blunt words. The Communist journal declared that the Labor Government "for the first time since taking office had been compelled to act as a Labor Government should," that "it had definitely responded to the Labor movement as a whole."
Politics. A cry went up from the Conservatives and Liberals. In the words of The Times of London, the Government's withdrawal of the charges against Campbell was "an act of unwarrantable interference on the part of the executive with the course of justice."