Fighting Faiths: The Abrams Case, the Supreme Court, and Free Speech

by Richard D. Polenberg

Book Overview

Jacob Abrams et al. v. United States is the landmark Supreme Court case in the definition of free speech. Although the 1918 conviction of four Russian Jewish anarchists--for distributing leaflets protesting America's intervention in the Russian revolution--was upheld, Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes's dissenting opinion (with Justice Louis Brandeis) concerning "clear and present danger" has proved the touchstone of almost all subsequent First Amendment...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0801486181
• ISBN13: 9780801486180
• Release Date: September 1999
• Publisher: Cornell University Press
• Length: 464 Pages
• Weight: 1.40 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 6.0" x 9.0"
• Age Range: 18 years and up
• Grade Range: Postsecondary and higher

Customer Reviews

The Hobo Philosopher

This is an exceptional book. I am shocked that I am the first to write a review of this work. There are enough legal questions presented in this work to keep any researcher busy of the rest of his life. The Abrams case is a precedent setting case. We learn some of the legal controversies - screaming "FIRE" in a crowed theater and the "Clear and Present Danger" notion. It takes place during that violent and outrageous period in American history referred to as the Red Scare. Abrams, Steimer, Lachowsky, Lipman, and Schwartz are arrested for printing up and distributing leaflets critical of the American Government during a time of war. They specifically protest the sending of American troops to fight on Russian soil in opposition to Bolshevism. This is a little known fact, in itself, to most Americans. They suggest various types of protest actions to be taken by citizens. [None of which advocate an "armed" march on Washington D.C. as is being suggested by some present day discontents. This we can be assured will not be tolerated.] All the defendants were recent Jewish immigrants who had escaped persecution in Czarist Russia. In the United States they had become activist for workers rights and protections. They fancied themselves to be Anarchist - a rather confusing philosophy that advocated the eventual dissolution of all governments. A philosophy that has prominent advocates to this day. The trial turned into another American historical farce. Defendants, Lachowsky and Schwartz were beaten by police and interrogators. Schwartz, it is claimed, was beaten to death while in custody. All the defendants received long prison terms (10 & 20 years) and then were granted the choice of deportation for crimes that required at most a warning. In England defendants in such cases received six months or less. The whole thing became another circus. We learn about the inadequacies of our appointed judges; the politics behind our Supreme Court and the multiple and abundant inadequacies of people and systems - not to mention the hyper-paranoia of the general public. The first half of the book covers the Abrams case in detail. The second half discusses various ramifications - the draft, the press, speech in general. In today's world of heated rhetoric this book provides substantial material for understanding. I know that I will have to read this book over from start to finish. It has so many discussions and legal notions to contend with and attempt to understand. As a writer in today's world it is important to have some understanding of these issues. To know what types of speech have been challenged in the past as unacceptable, inflammatory, and unconstitutional. This is a "big" book ... very important stuff. Unfortunately, I have so much to learn and so little time. But this is a good one. It deals with laws that effect all of us today. Laws that I have no doubt will be back into the news and before the courts shortly. It is inevitable. Books written