irector of the Rand School and secretary of the New York County
Committee of the Socialist Party, was sworn and testified as follows,
according to the "New York Herald" of January 31, 1920:

"Mr. Lee ... described at length what Socialists mean by direct
mass action and the general strike. He said the general strike had
been used with some degree of success in Russia and Belgium....
'The general strike is often used to back up political action,' the
witness said. He justified combining economic strikes as a
political weapon....

"'Let us assume for the moment,' said Mr. Conboy, 'that these five
gentlemen whose seats are in question ... should present a
political program here in the shape of proposed legislation, and
they were reinforced by the combination in industrial action,
including within its weapons the general strike. It would be
possible for them, would it not, in the event that the Legislature
of this State refused to adopt the movement which they presented
for adoption by the Legislature, to cripple the industries of the
State and to starve the people thereof?'

"'I think you are assuming, I may almost say, an impossible
condition,' replied Mr. Lee, 'that the people should elect an
overwhelming majority upon one side and then be so overwhelmingly
organized as to be able to use industrial action on the other
side.'"

But here Mr. Lee simply concealed the truth behind hypocritical
camouflage by using the term, "the people," ambiguously. For our people
might go on as now, conducting constitutional government by
representatives in all their legislatures elected by "an overwhelming
majority upon one side," while at the same time the underground work
might go on of "strongly organizing" "the bulk of the American workers"
into "one powerful and harmonious class organization" ready for
"industrial action." In that case, a "general strike" would absolutely
paralyze the whole country, and "the people" and all their legislatures
alike would have to surrender absolutely to any demands made upon them,
or would have to engage instantly in such a civil war as the world has
not yet seen, carried on under conditions of indescribable chaos.

Moreover the underground work of revolutionary "industrial organization"
need be only partial, need, in fact, be carried on only a little beyond
conditions already actually existing, in