Published: The Militant, Vol. V No. 29, 19 July 1941, p. 1.
Source: PDF supplied by the Riazanov Library Project.
Transcription/Mark-up: Einde O’Callaghan for the Marxists’ Internet Archive.
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Upon being informed by the press that a federal Grand Jury, convened in St. Paul to hear charges initiated by Acting Attorney General Francis Biddle, had handed down indictments against 29 CIO leaders and members of the Socialist Workers Party, James P. Cannon, National Secretary of the Socialist Workers Party, who was one of those indicted, declared:
In the first place, the indictments secured by the FBI at St. Paul against members of the Socialist Workers Party represent the cynical payment of a political debt owed by Franklin D. Roosevelt, president of the United States, to Daniel J. Tobin, president of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters. The first object is to help Tobin in his fight against the rank and file of the Minneapolis teamsters who have revolted against his dictatorial rule and gone over to the CIO. It may be objected that this is an utterly shameless prostitution of the offices of government to serve partisan political ends. And so it is – utterly shameless.
In the second place, the indictments secured against us represent an attempt to stifle the voice of opposition to the war program of the Roosevelt administration. They have lined practically everybody else up for the war but they couldn’t line us up. We are against it and will continue to be against it even though confined to prison.
Last updated on 22 May 2016