Communists and the People by Elizabeth Gurley 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. — American Rhetoric
Elizabeth Gurley Flynn (1890–1964) was an American activist, labor organizer, political radical, and chairman of the US communist party. Communists and the People offers a summation of Flynn’s defence speech to the court, following her arrest along other communist leaders in 1951 for violating the Smith Alien Registration Act, an anti-conspiracy statute that was used against members of the American Communist Party in the 1950s. Despite her speech, Flynn was confined from 1955–57.
The cover of this publication by New Century Publishers, New York, 1953, pairs three styles of Ludlow Karnak on a green background with excerpts of Flynn’s speech used as a pattern. This text uses the bold italic of some Bodoni interpretation, probably Mergenthaler Linotype’s cut.
