Statement at the Smith Act Trial 伊丽莎白·格利·弗林
statement at the smith act trial miss flynn: your honor, ladies and gentlemen, my name is elizabeth gurley flynn. i am a defendant in this case, acting as my own attorney, and therefore have the opportunity to address you directly. it is unusual for a defendant to represent one’s self, but my comrade, mr. pettis perry and i have elected to do so. neither of us is a lawyer. we will speak to you in the language of laymen and women, i should say.
we are both communist leaders, proudly and avowedly. we are qualified to explain to you what the communist party of the u.s.a. really stands for, what it advocates, what its day-by-day activities are, and what are its ultimate aims. we will try to do so in simple, non-technical language. we will prove to you that we are not a criminal conspiracy but a 33-year-old working class political party, devoted to the immediate needs and aspirations of the american people, to the advancement of the workers, farmers and the negro people, to the preservation of the democracy and culture, and to the advocacy of socialism.
our ideas may be new and strange to you. probably you have never seen or met a communist before. we don’t ask you to agree with us but to listen with an open mind and not to accept as gospel truth the sensational tales of stool-pigeons and planted agents who will be the government’s chief, if not sole, witnesses.
centuries ago, judas became the symbol of such infamy, a forerunner of those who join a group of sincere and honest people, advocate its teachings, carry out its practices only to betray it.
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