United States v. Polites

127 F. Supp. 768, 1953 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 2000
CourtDistrict Court, E.D. Michigan
DecidedAugust 13, 1953
DocketCiv. No. 11820
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 127 F. Supp. 768 (United States v. Polites) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, E.D. Michigan primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
United States v. Polites, 127 F. Supp. 768, 1953 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 2000 (E.D. Mich. 1953).

Opinion

PICARD, District Judge.

This is a suit brought by the United States of America to revoke and set aside the order granting American citizenship to defendant Guss Polites the 6th day of April, 1942, pursuant to Section 338(a) Nationality Act of 1940, 54 Stats. 1158, Section 738(a), U.S.C.Title 8.1

The action is based generally on the sworn petition defendant Polites filed October 6, 1941, under Section 310(b), Nationality Act of 1940, 54 Stats. 1144 (b),2 that:

(1) He was not and had not been for the period of at least ten years immediately preceding date thereof “an anarchist; nor a believer in unlawful damage, injury or destruction of property, or sabotage, nor a disbeliever in or opposed to organized government;” and

(2) He was “ * * * attached to the principles of the Constitution of the United States, and well disposed to the good order and happiness of the United States.” Sec. 307(a) (3) Nationality Act of 1940.3

Narrowed down, however, three grounds are advanced:

(1) That the naturalization was illegal because defendant in his petition stated that he was not, and had not been for at least ten years immediately preceding his filing said petition, member of any organization that “advises, advocates, or teaches the overthrow by force or violence of the Government of the United States”, Section 305, Nationality Act of 1940, 54 Stats. 11414

(2) That citizenship was gained by fraud in that said defendant denied that he had ever been a member of any organization advising, advocating or teaching overthrow of the government of the United States by force or violence, knowing that the Communist Party of the U. S. to which hé belonged from 1933 to 1941 did so advise, advocate or teach; and

(3) That he committed fraud when he took the oath of allegiance. Section [770]*770335(a) Nationality Act of 1940, 54 Stats. 1157.5

As To Illegality.

For the government to succeed in this primary charge, it must prove, first, that defendant, within ten years immediately preceding the day he filed his application for citizenship, was or had been a member of a party that advised, advocated or taught overthrow of this government by force or violence. The Communist Party of the U. S. is not mentioned in the law by name but defendant admits that he became a member of that organization in 1931, continued as such until 1938, when he resigned, after being instructed by its “higher ups” that it was better for attainment of the party’s objectives that aliens become less voluble and less conspicuous.

It then only becomes necessary for plaintiff to prove that the Communist Party of the U. S. at the time defendant was a member, did advise, advocate or teach overthrow of this government by force or violence. It is not necessary to prove that defendant had knowledge of the objectives of the Communist Party of the U. S. If he was a member of that party, within the statutory ten year period, which he admits, and it develops that such organization was then advising, advocating or teaching forcible or violent overthrow of this government, he was not then eligible for citizenship, the prohibition being jurisdictional.

To prove this, plaintiff introduced much evidence that was “clear, unequivocal and convincing” Schneiderman v. U. S., 320 U.S. 118, 125, 63 S.Ct. 1333, 1336, 87 L.Ed. 1796; Knauer v. U. S., 328 U.S. 654, 66 S.Ct. 1304, 90 L.Ed. 1500.

William Nowell, member of the Communist Party of the U. S. from 1929-1936, testified in part:

(a) That in the years 1931 and 1932, as a representative of the Communist Party of the U. S. he attended the Lenin Institute at Moscow, operated by the Communist International and Russian Communist Parties, which taught that the Communist Party of the U. S. was a division of Communist International, and that both organizations advised, advocated and taught overthrow of our government by force or violence;

(b) That he, Nowell, during the 1930’s, was District Director of Education for the Communist Party of the U. S. and as such was supervisor of the Workers’ School in Detroit, where he taught that one of the aims and objectives of the Communist Party of the U. S. was violent overthrow of the United States Government ;

(c) That he, Nowell, during the 1930’s, was Director of the Communist Party of the U.S. book store, where he supervised distribution of Communist literature including certain textbooks of the Workers’ School, published, distributed and circulated by the Communist Party of the U. S., which literature, advised, advocated and taught overthrow of this government by force and violence as one of the■ objectives of that party; and

(d) That these books prove beyond question that the violent overthrow of this government was advised, advocated and taught by Communist International and Communist Party of the U.S. between the years 1931 and 1938.

Paul Crouch, member of the Communist Party of the U.S. from 1925-1942, who has made a thorough study of the aims and objectives of the Communist Party of the U.S. and at various times has held prominent positions in the Communist Party of the U.S. also testified in part:

(a) That during the 1930’s, he, Crouch, delivered lectures at official Communist schools in America in which he taught the aims of the Communist Party of the U. S., including violent overthrow of the government of the United States, and the tactics for carrying out said objectives; and

[771]*771(b) That during the same period, he, Crouch, contributed material to certain books published, distributed and circulated by the Communist Party of the U.S. and wrote many articles for the Daily Worker, which literature, advised, advocated and taught violent and forcible overthrow of this government.

In addition to that testimony, the government introduced books, periodicals, magazine articles, etc., available literature of the Communist Party of the U.S. for distribution between the years 1931 and 1938. A few extracts will suffice:

“The replacement of one social system by another, that is the replacing of the rule of one class by the rule of another, is only achieved by means of the violent overthrow of the ruling class, by means of revolution. It is impossible for the working class to come to power in any other way than by the method of revolutionary overthrow of the rule of the bourgeoisie, by the method of proletarian revolution.” (The Ultimate Aim, p. 8).
“But the overthrow of capitalism is impossible without force, without armed uprising and proletarian wars against the bourgeoisie.” (The Struggle Against Imperialist War and the Tasks of the Communists, p. 10).
“As the leader and organizer of the proletariat, The Communist Party of the U.S.A. leads the working class in the fight for the revolutionary overthrow of capitalism, for the establishment of the dictatorship of the proletariat, for the establishment of a Socialist Soviet Republic in the United States * * (The Communist Party —A Manual on Organization by J. Peters, p. 8).

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Related

Polites v. United States
364 U.S. 426 (Supreme Court, 1960)
United States v. Richmond
184 F. Supp. 75 (N.D. California, 1959)
United States v. Chandler
152 F. Supp. 169 (D. Maryland, 1957)
United States v. Title
132 F. Supp. 185 (S.D. California, 1955)

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Bluebook (online)
127 F. Supp. 768, 1953 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 2000, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-polites-mied-1953.