The editors of wsws.org
[O]n July 29, 1939, the US House of Representatives voted 273-48 to pass the anti-communist and reactionary Smith Act, named after the leader of the right-wing bloc in Congress, Virginia Democrat Howard W. Smith. When it was signed into law by President Roosevelt one year later, the bill was officially known as the Alien Registration Act of 1940.
The Smith Act made it a criminal offense for anyone residing within the United States to advocate, whether in public or private, the overthrow of the US government, or to be a member of an organization whose intention was to overthrow the State. The Smith Act was the first statute passed in the United States since the Alien and Sedition Act of 1798 to outlaw the mere advocacy of ideas.
The bill restricted individual freedom of speech and expression as well as the freedom of the press. It also weakened the constitutional guarantees against searches and seizure by state authorities were weakened. Membership in an “anarchistic” organization became grounds for deportation. This part of the bill was applicable retroactively. All non-resident citizens of the US had also to report to authorities and submit to a mandatory recording of their fingerprints.
With an eye towards the upcoming global war—already prefigured in regional conflicts like the Japanese invasion of China in 1937 and Hitler’s seizure of Czechoslovakia—the bill prohibited “incitement to dissatisfaction” within the American armed forces.
The Smith Act effectively outlawed membership in socialist organizations advocating the revolutionary overthrow of the capitalist state. The act rendered their propagandist and organizational efforts and publications unlawful. Prison sentences of up to 20 years for violations of the Smith act were clearly intended to intimidate American-born and immigrant working class communities alike within the US.
ADDENDUM: Text of the Smith Act
The Alien Registration Act of 1940, usually called the Smith Act because the antisedition section was authored by Representative Howard W. Smith of Virginia, was adopted at 54 Statutes at Large 670-671 (1940). The Act has been amended several times and can now be found at 18 U.S. Code § 2385 (2000).
§ 2385. Advocating Overthrow of Government.
Whoever knowingly or willfully advocates, abets, advises, or teaches the duty, necessity, desirability, or propriety of overthrowing or destroying the government of the United States or the government of any State, Territory, District or Possession thereof, or the government of any political subdivision therein, by force or violence, or by the assassination of any officer of any such government; or
Whoever, with intent to cause the overthrow or destruction of any such government, prints, publishes, edits, issues, circulates, sells, distributes, or publicly displays any written or printed matter advocating, advising, or teaching the duty, necessity, desirability, or propriety of overthrowing or destroying any government in the United States by force or violence, or attempts to do so; or
Whoever organizes or helps or attempts to organize any society, group, or assembly of persons who teach, advocate, or encourage the overthrow or destruction of any such government by force or violence; or becomes or is a member of, or affiliates with, any such society, group, or assembly of persons, knowing the purposes thereof–
Shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than twenty years, or both, and shall be ineligible for employment by the United States or any department or agency thereof, for the five years next following his conviction.
If two or more persons conspire to commit any offense named in this section, each shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than twenty years, or both, and shall be ineligible for employment by the United States or any department or agency thereof, for the five years next following his conviction.
As used in this section, the terms “organizes” and “organize”, with respect to any society, group, or assembly of persons, include the recruiting of new members, the forming of new units, and the regrouping or expansion of existing clubs, classes, and other units of such society, group, or assembly of persons.