Ladies and Gentlemen of the Jury, my name is William Schneiderman. I am one of the defendants in this trial, and I am here representing myself.

It was February, 1952. How vividly the scene comes back to mind: the packed federal courthouse in Los Angeles, the vigilant marshals, the intent jury, the grim-faced judge flanked on one side by the special prosecutor from Washington, and on the other by the fifteen defendants and their attorneys; as does the recollection of my long, weary journey by train across the continent, shackled with leg-irons, to join my fellow defendants awaiting trial.

Bill Schneiderman (more by this author)

There is no information at Wikipedia about either "William Schneiderman" or "Bill Schneiderman". He was the leader of the Communist Party in California for many years. The party dissolved in approximately 1990. My issue of the paperback Dissent on Trial has written on its title page, "To Anita, for Peace Equality and Justice - Bill Schneiderman".

Author Information from Wikipedia

Type: Prose
Context: Unknown
Context Details: During the hysteria of the McCarthy period in the early fifties, Schneiderman was charged and tried under the new anti-Communist law, the Smith Act. Bill, acting as his own counsel, went on trial with fourteen others in the Los Angeles federal court...Al
Source: Dissent on Trial
Uttered: 1983

The Spark is Kindled