Page 16 - Report on the National Lawyers Guild, legal bulwark of the Communist Party

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THE NATIONAL LAWYERS GUILD
to the Attorney General of the United States suggesting an injunction against the committee to restrain it from investigating the petition frauds.
Such obstructionist tactics are a regular part of guild procedure whenever an investigation of communism is concerned.
FOLLOWING THE COMAIUNLST PARTY LINE
The National Lawyers Guild has faithfully followed the Communist Party line tlu'oughout its existence.
In the mid-1930's when the Communist line called for collective security against the Fascist aggressors, the National Lawyers Guild dutifully called for the repeal of the existing Neutrality Act (Lawyers Guild Quarterly, June 1938, p. 255) and opposed shipments of ammu- nition to Germany (ibid., September 1938, p. 304).
A crisis arose in this Communist front in February 1939 when non- Communist liberals who had been ensnared into the guild demanded that guild resolutions include condemnation of communism as well as nazism and fascism. To avoid a mass exodus of these liberals, the Communist behind-the-scenes leaders in the guild temporized and permitted a resolution to pass which opposed communism. Shortly thereafter, the Hitler-Stalin pact was signed and the conflict between the Communists and the non-Communists in the guild increased. The conflict was resolved in favor of the Communists when the June 1940 guild convention resulted in the election of the fellow-traveler, Robert W. Kenny, as guild president, and numerous other officers of the same ilk. During this controversy it was announced for the first time, on June 6, 1940, that the executive board had adopted in December 1939 aresolutionagainsttheSovietattackonFinland. Buttheguilddid not again buck the party line during the Stalin-Hitler pact. In fact, until the end of the pact in June 1941, the guild actually aided the Nazi-Communist alliance with thinly veiled attacks on United States legislation dealing with conscription and antisabotage measures.
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Wlien the crisis in the National Lawyers Guild was resolved during the Stahn-Hitler pact in favor of the Communists in the guild, non- Communists resigned en masse. In many instances, these non- Communists publicly repudiated the guild as being a Communist organization. Typical of their comments are the following:
I'-- From a letter of resignation of Nathan B. Margold, Solicitor for the Department of the Interior, dated May 29, 1940:
In recent elections for delegates from the District of Columbia to the 1940 convention of the National Lawyers Guild, a group of candidates stood on a plat- form of unequivocal opposition to nazism, communism, fascism, and other move- ments which similarly reject the principles of free press, free speech, freedom of assemblv, right of religious worship, and fair trials. These candidates understood, if elected as delegates'^ to cast their votes at the 1940 convention for national offi- cers of the guild who share their views. Of the 20 candidates who stood on this platform, 14 were defeated.
A. A. Berle, Jr., Assistant Secretary of State, resigned with the following statement:
The National Lawyers Guild was formed in the hope that expression might be given to the liberal sentiment in the American bar.
It is now obvious that the present management of the guild is not prepared to take anv stand which conflicts with the Communist Party line. Under these circumstances, and in company, I think, with the most progressive lawyers, I have no further interest in it (Washington Times-Herald, June 5, 1940).
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