The Communist trials and the American tradition

"First published in 1956 from the author's experiences in three of the now infamous Smith Act trials, this book remains the most comprehensive discussion of the basic doctrines of Marxist ideology as a whole in their relation to democracy and to revolutionary "force and violence."".

"The U.S. government's interpretation of these issues threatened the very existence of civil liberties in our country for a generation. Dr. Somerville's testimony and the Court record herein is a key document not only for U.S. history and the future but wherever there is concern for the status of individual freedom or the meaning of "Marxist" revolution. In the course of some ten days on the witness stand, under intensive examination by several teams of defense and government counsel, as well as three judges, Dr. Somerville went into every aspect of Communist teachings in relation to the issue of forcible overthrow of government, the heart of all the trials."--BOOK JACKET.