Records
"Scottsboro Boys Must Not Die" — Mass Meeting Broadside
International Labor Defense broadside calling DC working people to a 1934 Scottsboro defense rally with Ruby Bates and Allan Taub.
A Voice from Harper's Ferry (1861 First Edition)
Osborne P. Anderson's first-edition account of the Harpers Ferry raid.
A Voice from Harper's Ferry — Life and Death of the Last John Brown Hero (1873)
Memoir by Osborne P. Anderson, the only Black survivor of Brown's raid (1873 reprint).
Abrams v. United States, 250 U.S. 616 (1919)
Supreme Court affirming Espionage Act convictions of Russian-Jewish anarchists for anti-intervention leaflets; Holmes's 'marketplace of ideas' dissent.
Amnesty and Pardon for Political Prisoners — House Judiciary Hearings
Full transcript of 1921 hearings on amnesty for WWI-era Espionage Act prisoners; testimony from defense committees, Debs supporters, IWW counsel.
Amnesty to Prisoners Since the Armistice (Alternate Edition)
Companion edition of S. Doc. 224 — printed list of post-armistice federal political prisoners.
Amnesty to Prisoners Since the Armistice — S. Doc. 224
Wilson's Justice Department reply to the Senate listing every Espionage / Selective Service Act prisoner still confined after the armistice, with names, sentences, and prisons.
Attention Workingmen! Great Mass Meeting Tonight at the Haymarket (English Broadside)
Original 4 May 1886 Haymarket meeting handbill introduced as the state's evidence in the 1886 anarchist trial.
Berkman v. United States, 250 U.S. 114 (1919)
Per curiam affirming Alexander Berkman and Emma Goldman's Selective Service Act convictions.
Brandenburg v. Ohio, 395 U.S. 444 (1969)
Supreme Court striking down the Ohio criminal-syndicalism statute historically used against IWW, CP, and anarchists.
Caleb Powers — Appeal Circular (Washington, D.C., April 1906)
Fundraising circular describing Kentucky Secretary of State Caleb Powers as 'the noted Kentucky political prisoner' in the Goebel assassination case.
Connection of Certain Department of Labor Employees with the Case of Thomas J. Mooney
Congressional report into Labor Department contacts with the Mooney defense after the 1916 Preparedness Day bombing conviction.
Debs v. United States, 249 U.S. 211 (1919)
Supreme Court opinion affirming Eugene Debs's Espionage Act conviction for the 1918 Canton, Ohio anti-war speech.
Dennis v. United States, 341 U.S. 494 (1951)
Supreme Court affirming the Smith Act convictions of the 11 CPUSA national leaders in the Foley Square trial.
Freedom of Speech and the Espionage Act
Henry W. Taft pamphlet defending Espionage Act prosecutions, with case-by-case discussion of WWI political-speech convictions.
General Defense Committee: Release All Class War Prisoners (Broadside)
IWW broadside demanding release of all 'class war prisoners' jailed under wartime Espionage and state criminal-syndicalism statutes; signed by William D. Haywood.
General Defense Committee: Will You Help? Now? (IWW Murder Appeal Broadside)
IWW broadside soliciting defense funds after the lynching of an IWW member; references Centralia and ongoing prosecutions.
Gitlow v. New York, 268 U.S. 652 (1925)
Supreme Court affirming the criminal anarchy conviction of Communist Labor Party left-wing leader Benjamin Gitlow; first incorporation of First Amendment against states.
Investigation Activities of the Department of Justice (Palmer Report on Radicalism)
Foundational Palmer Raids document — Attorney General Palmer's catalog of radical publications, organizations, and aliens targeted for arrest and deportation.
Mooney v. Holohan, 294 U.S. 103 (1935)
Per curiam holding that the knowing use of perjured testimony violates due process — landmark Mooney habeas decision.
Pierce v. United States, 252 U.S. 239 (1920)
Supreme Court affirming Espionage Act conviction of socialists who distributed 'The Price We Pay' anti-war pamphlet.
Repealing Certain Provisions of Espionage Act — H. Rept. 870, 72d Cong.
House report on a bill to repeal Espionage Act sections under which WWI radicals were convicted.
Report on House Resolution 225 (Mooney Investigation)
House report on H. Res. 225 to investigate the Mooney–Billings prosecution.
Rosenberg v. United States, 346 U.S. 273 (1953)
Supreme Court vacating Douglas's stay of execution for Julius and Ethel Rosenberg.