Page 56 - Report on the National Lawyers Guild, legal bulwark of the Communist Party

50 THE NATIONAL LAWYEES GUILD
COMMUNIST PARTY, U. S. A.
The immediate basic cause for the deterioration of relations between the Soviet Union and the British-American imperialists lies in the fact that Britain and America have refused to carry out the Yalta and Potsdam pledges.
Britain and America have refused to denazify Germany and crush feudal mil- itarist reaction in Japan. They have refused to let the small countries of Europe decide their own fate. They are acting to stifle all freedom move- ments in India, Egypt, Indonesia, etc.
Carrying out the Yalta-Potsdam agreements would restore Big Three peaceful working relationships (State-
ment of the Secretariat, CP-USA, Poli- ical Affairs, April 1946, p. 292).
NATIONAL LAWYERS GUILD
* * * at Yalta a new epoch in international law was unfolded through the establishment of the principle of the concurrence or unanimity of the Great Powers * * *_
But it was at San Francisco soon after the present administration took office that the country first witnessed a whole series of official actions constituting a departure from the policies to which the United States had subscribed in the Atlantic Charter and at Moscow, Tehe- ran, Yalta, and Dumbarton Oaks * * *.
The National Lawyers Guild vigor- ously opposed the whole policy of the United States delegation as a flagrant violation of the spirit and content of United Nations unity (Resolution of the Committee on International Law and Regulations, National Lawyers Guild, Lawyers Guild Review, January-Febru- ary 1946, pp. 412-413).
* * * since February, the pattern of our foreign policy has not been altered. The present trend can and must be halted * * * we urge the following immediate course of conduct by our government:
Take steps to restore Anglo-American-
**
*.
Fulfill the Potsdam agreement to
complete the destruction of Nazism and mihtarism. Bring to trial German in- dustriahsts as war criminals * * *_
Establish an international war crimes tribunal for the prosecution and punish- ment of Japanese war criminals, includ- ing Japanese industrialists and the Emperor.
Extend financial credits to nationsin need without interference in their in- ternal affairs (National Lawyers Guild Convention Resolutions, July 1946, Lawyers Guild Review, May-June 1946, pp. 517-518).
22. Yalta-Potsdam
Soviet unity