The People of the State of New York v. . Benjamin Gitlow

Summary

The New York Court of Appeals affirmed the conviction of Benjamin Gitlow for criminal anarchy, holding that the statutes prohibiting advocacy of overthrowing organized government are constitutional, apply to the manifesto published in The Revolutionary Age, and that the admission of evidence about the Winnipeg strike was proper. A dissent argued the statute did not cover advocacy of a proletarian dictatorship and called for reversal, while a concurrence agreed with the affirmation and emphasized the manifesto’s clear advocacy of violent overthrow.