syndicalism

In an unsigned decision, the court overruled an appellate court’s application of Ohio’s “criminal syndicalism” statute to a Ku Klux Klan leader.

Syndicalism is a workers’ political movement to put business ownership into workers’ hands, but in California, its criminal application extended not just to actions, including peaceful picketing, but to teaching or advocating anything resembling it.

The catch-all charge was a fairly new California felony banning “criminal syndicalism.”

The law was broadly used, often at the insistence of business owners, to prosecute not just true syndicalists, but also the many ordinary workers striking for better wages and working conditions — and a repeal of the syndicalism act.

When asked if she knew the phrase “criminal syndicalism,” Ball replied, “No, but it is pretty.”