Biography
Irving Potash was One of twelve Communists sentenced under Dennis v. United States.
Irving Potash, a leader of the communist Workers' Party, along with eleven other party leaders were found guilty for advocating the violent overthrow of the United States. None of the defendants ever directly advocated to overthrow the government, but the prosecutor claimed that by supporting an ideology that advocated for violence, they also did by extension. The defendants claimed that their First Amendment freedom of speech rights were violated and they served no "clear and present danger to the nation".
They were found guilty and each sentenced to five years in prison and a $10,000 fine. The case went all the way to the Supreme Court who affirmed the lower court's verdict.
Daily Worker, January 28, 1930, page 2: The paper reports that Potash’s trial in General Sessions, Part 9, before Judge Nott was postponed until February 4. It states no actual outcome or precise original arrest day. This early labor prosecution is separate from his later Smith Act case. Source: https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/pubs/dailyworker/1930/v06-n279-NY-jan-28-1930-DW-LOC.pdf
The May 23 labor-assault trial ended with a hung jury, reported eight to four for acquittal. This is not an acquittal. The issue also reports an earlier year actually served during the Palmer-raid period, without giving precise dates or a statutory charge for that earlier imprisonment. Daily Worker, May 24, 1930, page 4. Source: https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/pubs/dailyworker/1930/v06-n379-NY-may-24-1930-DW-LOC.pdf
The May 24 article reports that Potash had actually spent a year in prison in the Palmer-raid period. The report does not establish precise endpoints or charges. This is an earlier imprisonment, separate from the 1930 labor trial and later Smith Act case. Daily Worker, May 24, 1930, page 4. Source: https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/pubs/dailyworker/1930/v06-n379-NY-may-24-1930-DW-LOC.pdf
Labor Defender, August 1933, PDF page 26: Hy Kravif’s National Recovery Act article reports that fur-union leaders Irving Potash and Jack Schneider, with six unnamed leaders, had recently been arrested and were now out on bail set collectively at over $22,000. The union affiliation bridges the existing identity. This supplies actual arrest and accomplished bail release in the 1933 labor campaign, without exact dates, individual bail allocation, statutory count or complete custody duration. The article places this arrest and bail in the labor campaign surrounding the 1933 National Industrial Recovery Act. Source: https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/pubs/labordefender/1933/v09n08-aug-1933-lab-def.pdf#page=26
The March 15, 1930 Daily Worker reports Potash among fur-union workers wounded in the B. Axel & Co. strike attack and says he was subsequently arrested in court and taken with George Weiss to the district attorney for examination. The article’s inconsistent this-morning/yesterday wording prevents selection of an exact arrest day. This is separate from the earlier General Sessions case already pending in January 1930. No physical release or total custody is supplied. Source: https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/pubs/dailyworker/1930/v06-n319-NY-mar-15-1930-DW-LOC.pdf#page=1
The December 2, 1941 Congressional Record reproduces an anti-CIO criminal-record list which reports a November 18, 1919 criminal-anarchy arrest, misdemeanor plea and penitentiary term, followed by a December 8, 1920 immigration arrest. It records $1,000 bail for an Ellis Island rehearing on February 28, 1921 and cancellation of the deportation warrant on April 1, 1921. Cancellation is not a demonstrated physical release date. The list also prints assault and antitrust allegations from 1923–1934; these hostile congressional allegations are not adopted as proof of guilt or used to create additional unverified custody episodes. Source: https://www.congress.gov/77/crecb/1941/12/02/GPO-CRECB-1941-pt9-5-1.pdf#page=11
Separate 1929 fur-strike arrest and bail report
The June 22, 1929 Daily Worker names Irving Potash, chairman of the industrial union’s Organization Committee, as beaten and arrested by police while insisting on his right to picket during the New York fur strike. The continuation says his case was among those adjourned to June 26 and describes the workers’ release on bail after a hearing before Magistrate Simpson in Jefferson Market Court. This is separate from his later Smith Act case. Relative references to yesterday appear alongside an expressly Thursday meeting and the paper’s notice that its Friday edition was suspended; they are not converted into a guessed arrest, jail-admission or release day. No actual duration is supplied.
Daily Worker, June 22, 1929, original PDF pages 1–3 (printed pages 1, 2, 5). Contemporary allegations are attributed to the newspaper.
The fur-union report says Potash and seven Bloom and Gerber workers were arrested during the wage-raise picket. Magistrate Norris fined Potash and an unnamed worker $5 each, dismissing the others. No individual physical discharge time is printed.
