Socialist Workers Party wins victory against FBI spying
https://themilitant.com/2021/02/27/socialist-workers-party-wins-victory-against-fbi-spying/
March 8, 2021
Jack Barnes, right, Socialist Workers Party national secretary,
testifies at 1981 trial in party’s challenge to FBI spying, harassment,
disruption. Outcome of 15-year case was victory for rights of SWP, labor
movement against rulers’ political police.
MILITANT/DIANE JACOBS
Jack Barnes, right, Socialist Workers Party national secretary,
testifies at 1981 trial in party’s challenge to FBI spying, harassment,
disruption. Outcome of 15-year case was victory for rights of SWP, labor
movement against rulers’ political police.
FBI On Trial: The Victory in the Socialist Workers Party Suit Against
Government Spying is one of Pathfinder’s Books of the Month for March.
It contains federal court proceedings from the 15-year legal battle won
by the Socialist Workers Party in 1986 against decades of FBI spying,
harassment and disruption, as well as a useful and informative
introduction by then Militant editor Margaret Jayko excepted below. Jack
Foley, director of District 1 of the Oil, Chemical and Atomic Workers
Union, called the court decision “A victory not only for the Socialist
Workers Party, but for all working people.” Copyright © 1988 by
Pathfinder Press. Reprinted by permission.
BY MARGARET JAYKO
This book is about a historic victory for democratic rights. It contains
the federal court decision that codifies the accomplishments of the
successful fifteen-year legal battle waged by the Socialist Workers
Party (SWP) and Young Socialist Alliance (YSA) against decades of
spying, harassment, and disruption by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
The ruling in this case places a valuable new weapon in the hands of all
working people fighting to defend their rights and living standards and
all those struggling for progressive social change. It can and should be
used widely to win broader freedoms for everyone.
The SWP and YSA filed the lawsuit July 18, 1973, in federal court in
Manhattan. They charged government agencies with “illegal acts of
blacklisting, harassment, electronic surveillance, burglary, mail
tampering, and terrorism” against the socialist organizations. They
demanded a court injunction to halt these illegal activities and that
the government be ordered to pay damages.
The trial opened in New York April 2, 1981, and continued for three
months. In eight years of pretrial proceedings the plaintiffs had
managed to pry hundreds of thousands of pages out of the secret files of
the FBI and other government police agencies, substantiating many of the
allegations made in the original complaint. Many of these documents were
submitted into evidence at the trial.
Five years after the trial, on August 25, 1986, U.S. District Judge
Thomas Griesa ruled in favor of the plaintiffs.
The judge found the FBI guilty of violations of the constitutional
rights of the SWP and YSA and of their members and supporters.
On August 17, 1987, Judge Griesa issued an injunction barring any
further government use of the FBI files on the SWP, YSA, and their
members and supporters that had been compiled illegally. …
Judge Griesa found that “the FBI’s disruption activities, surreptitious
entries and use of informants” were “violations of the constitutional
rights of the SWP and lacked legislative or regulatory authority.”
The court ruling provides a compelling summary of the government’s
illegal operations against the SWP and YSA as revealed in the case.
Judge Griesa dealt extensively with the FBI’s use of informers to spy on
and seek to disrupt the SWP and YSA.
His decision details several of the fifty-seven disruption operations
conducted by the FBI. These include poison-pen letters, malicious
articles planted in the press, instances of harassment and
victimization, covert attempts to get SWP members fired from their jobs,
and efforts to disrupt collaboration between the SWP and Black rights
and anti-Vietnam war groups.
It enumerates 20,000 days of wiretaps and 12,000 days of listening
“bugs” between 1943 and 1963. It documents 208 FBI burglaries of offices
and homes of the SWP and its members, resulting in the theft or
photographing of 9,864 private documents.
Judge Griesa concluded that these government operations were illegal and
a violation of the Bill of Rights. He ruled that appeals to “national
security” — by the president or anyone else — cannot be used as an
excuse to violate the Constitution. …
Without the right to conduct their affairs in private, the decision
states, the freedom of association of those whose views are opposed by
the government is violated. This decision reinforces and extends
important previous victories by the civil rights movement and women’s
rights struggles in establishing a constitutional right to privacy.
The court decision also recognizes that the government cannot ignore
Fourth Amendment protections against arbitrary searches and seizure by
justifying measures such as burglaries, “bugs,” and wiretaps on grounds
of “national security” interests. …
The ruling makes clear that protection of the right to be free from
unconstitutional government activities applies to communist
organizations such as the SWP and YSA, as well as to noncommunist groups.
The program and activities of the SWP since its founding in 1938 were
very much at the heart of this fight. The SWP called many witnesses to
the stand during the trial to testify about the party’s views,
organization, and actions.
In addition, dozens of government witnesses, ranging from a former U.S.
attorney general and other top Department of Justice officials to FBI
street agents, explained the FBI’s goals and methods in combating
“subversion.”
The first two witnesses were Farrell Dobbs, SWP national secretary from
1953 to 1972; and Jack Barnes, who became national secretary after Dobbs.
On the witness stand, Dobbs traced the history of the SWP, described
some of the party’s fundamental political concepts, and discussed the
1941 conviction of eighteen leaders of the party and the Teamsters union
in Minneapolis — including himself. They were imprisoned under
provisions of the thought-control Smith Act, which makes advocacy of
communist ideas illegal. Dobbs testified that the views the SWP
advocates today are the same as the ones he and others were imprisoned
for during World War II. Dobbs’s testimony is cited extensively by
Griesa in his decision.
Front Page Articles
Solidarity with struggle against Myanmar junta!
Back refinery workers’ fight over lockout by Marathon
SWP candidate on ballot in Nebraska, gives workers a voice
Bosses’ profit drive at heart of capitalist catastrophe in Texas
SWP candidates campaign to build support for fights of workers, farmers
Feature Articles
Cuban volunteers plan vaccination drive, extend int’l solidarity
Also In This Issue
Communist League candidates back labor struggles in the UK
‘Stimulus’ fund for ‘Militant’ goes over $78,000!
Communist League in Canada launches 2021 campaign in Quebec
SWP: ‘Support fight against Myanmar coup!’
Volunteers expand Pathfinder bookstore placements
NY solidarity action: ‘Down with military gov’t’
Visually impaired workers fight boss attack in Ohio
Farmers meet across India, plan to expand protests
To advance our struggles, workers need a labor party
On the Picket Line
Amazon workers fighting for union in Alabama need solidarity!
DHL Liverpool workers use union power to win raise
Books of the Month
Socialist Workers Party wins victory against FBI spying
25, 50 and 75 years ago
© Copyright 2021 The Militant - 306 W. 37th Street, 13th floor - New
York, NY 10018 - themilitant@xxxxxxx
Cookies
This site uses cookies to improve your experience. Learn more.
Okay, thanks
--
Charles Bukowski “For those who believe in God, most of the big
questions are answered. But for those of us who can't readily accept the
God formula, the big answers don't remain stone-written. We adjust to
new conditions and discoveries. We are pliable. Love need not be a
command nor faith a dictum. I am my own god. We are here to unlearn the
teachings of the church, state, and our educational system. We are here
to drink beer. We are here to kill war. We are here to laugh at the odds
and live our lives so well that Death will tremble to take us.” ―
Charles Bukowski