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"If Facism Came To America It Would Be On A Program of Americanism"

By VVAW

"IF FASCISM CAME TO AMERICA IT WOULD BE ON A PROGRAM OF AMERICANISM"
-- Huey P. Long, Governor and Senator from Louisiana

The Criminal Code Reform Bill of 1973 was introduced in to the House of Representatives (HR6046) and the Senate (S 1400) on March 27th. This piece of legislation, if enacted, would usher in an unprecedented era of repression in the United States designed to eliminate all challenges to governmental authority. You may recall President Nixon pointing our in his television address of March 27th that this Bill would allow for the reinstitution of the death penalty. He also pointed out that this legislation was essential to the Administration's program for "law and order." The following are some of the more serious provisions of this Bill which Nixon failed to mention to the public.

Section 1103 is a witch-hunt mandate which provides for up to 15 years in prison and a fine of $100,000 for anyone belonging to an organization that allegedly calls for revolutionary change "at some future time." That, by the way, would include any organization which included the Declaration of Independence in its creed or objectives.

Section 3126 permits wiretaps in any situation involving "national security" -- with the President defining the term.

Section 3127 authorizes the Attorney General or someone designated by him to obtain court sanction to wiretap where there is "probable cause" to believe a felony is being committed, and 48-hour "emergency" taps would be permitted without court approval. Landlords and telephone company workers would be compelled to cooperate 'forthwith' and 'unobtrusively' with government wiretappers.

Section 1801 provides for three years in jail and a $25,000 fine for transporting a person across a state line or using mail or telephone "in the course of the "planning" of a "riot." A "riot" is defined as "an assemblage of five" which "creates a grave danger" to "property." No riot or violence need occur; the "threat" is sufficient for prosecution. Another section prohibits demonstrations within sight and sound of the President if the Secretary of the Treasury terms the area off limits; and another section prohibits demonstrating (even silently carrying signs) within 200 ft. of a court house where a trial is in session.

Section 1333 provides for a three-year prison sentence and a $25,000 fine for persons refusing to cooperate with congressional committees such as the House Internal Security Committee.

Entrapment is virtually legalized in Section 531.

Section 521 authorizes police officers to use deadly force to prevent the escape of a person arrested for any crime, however petty, and without regard for the lives of innocent bystanders.

Section 502 limits an insanity plea to cases in which it can be proven that the defendant was unaware of what he/she was doing.

Anyone who produces or disseminates material describing sexual intercourse or depicting nudity would be subject to prosecution under Section 1851.

There are nine sections which would seriously restrict public access to government information, including military, non-military "intelligence of the United States" (an undefined term which is open to just about any interpretation) and material pertaining to "the conduct of foreign relations affecting the national defense." Severe penalties are authorized for past or present federal employees who leak information, newspeople who use it and the publishers who print it. But the most frightening of these nine sections is Section 1121. This section carries a maximum penalty of death for anyone who releases information which "may" be used "to the injury of the U.S. or to the advantage of a foreign power." Under this section, it is not inconceivable that the publisher of the New York Times and Daniel Ellsberg could have been executed for releasing the Pentagon Papers.

As the contradictions within our society become greater and more evident, so too does the government increase its efforts to repress the will of the people to overcome these contradictions. If the Criminal Code Reform Bill becomes law, the Bill of Rights will become a forgotten document, and the true patriots of this country who challenge government authority will become forgotten numbers in some Federal Penitentary. The people who write this piece of legislation are the real criminals: John Mitchell and his aides at the Justice Department. Defeat H.R. 6046 and S. 1400.

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