: COMMUNIST
PARTIES DENOUNCE VERDICT IN MOSCOW TRIAL
The barbarous sentences given Andrei D. Sinyavsky and Yuli M. Daniel in a Moscow court February 14 for the "crime" of secretly . publishing their writings abroad under pen names, has caused great. dismay among Communist circles outside: the Soviet Union. Sinyavsky was sentenced to seven years and Daniel to five. Both terms specified "hard labor" and will probably be served in the labor camps that stilt® exist in the USSR despite the "de-Stalinization."
John Gollan, general secretary of the British Communist party; protested the fact that the trial was not a public one. In an arti- — cle in the February 15 Daily Worker, he said that "The court has found the accused guilty, but the full: evidence for the prosecution and defense which led the court to this conclusion has not been made public." Gollan added that- Justice "should not only be done but should be seen. “ -Hermansson, the chairman of. ‘the Swedish Communist’ party, de- = clared that he was "utterly opposed to the verdict, as to any blow = tc freedom of opinion, whether in the capitalist or socialist countries." ; a
Land Og Folk; the newspeper of the Danish Communist party, declared that the verdicts were. "incomprehensible."
Erwin Sharf, secretary of the Austrian Communist. party, issued a press reléase in which he said: "The severe sentences handed down by the Moscow court against the writers Andrei Sinyavsky and Yuli Daniel shocked us, all the more-so “because we feel profoundly linked to the Soviet Union. ~ :
"Our Soviet friends," he added, 1 "ought | to consider that the
worst enemies of Communism, who are massacring tens of thousands of Communists. in Indonesia - and Vietnam, are going to be able after this verdict to ridicule the Soviet. guarantees of liberty and humanism." -
L'Unita, the: newspaper. of the Italian Communist party, joined in the protests, ‘stating that the USSR "is slow in resolving the
problem of relations between the citizen and: the state." The editors added: "The trial and its particularly severe sentences cannot be approved by us."
Perhaps the most spectacular protest came from the French Communist party. Up to now, of all the big Communist parties in the capitalist countries, it has been the least affected by the downfall of the Stalin cult and the process of "de-Stalinization." However, the February 16 issue of l'Humanite, the party's official daily newspaper, prominently displayed an article by one of its best-known writers, Louis Aragon, who is a member of the central committee. ;
‘The article, sharply protesting the trial of the two writers, caused a sensation in France. The text of Aragon's statement is as...
follows:
"I cannot imagine a Communist reacting with indifference to the verdict handed down in Moscow in the Sinyavsky-Daniel case. It has grave implications, particularly in France.
. "We can never forget what we owe to the Soviet Union and to its peoples -- it was thanks to their deeds, to their suffering, . that the first socialist state in the world was: founded, the very existence of which has profoundly modified: historical perspectives. And, as Frenchmen, how: can we forget the decisive part they.played in the war against Hitlerism, the sacrifices they ‘made? -It should — also be said that the problem does not. at all-involve the peérson- ‘alities of those found guilty, their talents as writers. Even-a mediocre writer has the Tight to live freely. It. ‘anvolves something quite different.
"That one can oppose what these men wrote, what they signify, that they should be penalized for breaking a.law barring the uncontrolled export of their: works, this could be perfectly understood, whatever my personal. reservations concerning the law itself. But to deprive them of their freedom because of the content of-a-novel or a story is to make opinion'an offense, a crime, setting up-a precedent much more harmful to the interests of socialism:than the works of Sinyavsky and Daniel could possibly be.
S OEE can be expected in short that it will be- ‘thought ‘that ~ this kind of procedure is inherent in the nature of communism: ‘and that the verdict just’ handed down.is a prototype of the justice.forthcoming in a country that might abolish the exploitation of —, man by man. It-is our’ duty: to:proclaim that it is not! and will not .be so, in France at least, and: that we bear no responsibility for «= this verdict. The policies: of our party. are based on several essen-. tial theses, the thesis of the. possibility of achieving socialism along the peaceful road by winning a mejority, rejection: of the concept of the single party and, consequently, our willingness to constitute an alliance with the Socialist party: and'the other democratic parties for the. ‘Passage: to ‘socialisn, its construction and maintenance.
"This is not possible. unless, whatever its. “weight - in. the country, the Communist: party adheres faithfully to.the principles. of political democracy, which are in the French tradition, particularly by affirming: that. no trials because of opinions will be permitted under” its jurisdiction.
"We should like to hope that for the good of our common cause there will be an appeal from yesterday's trial. It is not up to us to tell a great friendly country how it should conduct itself, but it would be culpable of us to hide our " thoughts. ° _