Biography
Israel Berlin was a Communist worker prosecuted in Birmingham, Alabama, for distributing radical publications. In August 1934 he was sentenced to six months on the chain gang and a $100 fine for distributing antiwar leaflets. While free on bail, he was arrested again with Fred Keith on August 2 as they loaded copies of the Southern Worker into a car. City attorney John Foster subsequently dropped the criminal-anarchy prosecution. Berlin was convicted under the Downs ordinance on October 26, 1934, and sentenced to six months and a $100 fine. International Labor Defense attorney C. B. Powell sought a new trial. Berlin was later confined in the basement of Birmingham's city jail.
The Daily Worker of December 8, 1934, page 5, reports that attorney C. B. Powell presented Berlin's new-trial motion to Circuit Judge McElroy. Although the headline says Receives New Trial, the text explicitly says no decision had yet been rendered. It dates the Downs-ordinance conviction October 26 and prints a six-month term with a $180 fine, differing from the $100 fine in the existing account. The scan confirms $180; the discrepancy is preserved rather than silently overwriting the earlier figure. No successful new trial or actual release is inferred.
Daily Worker, November 30, 1934: Page 1 reports an ILD announcement on November 29 of plans to appeal his Downs-ordinance conviction for possessing more than one copy of an antiwar and antifascist leaflet. The item supplies no decision, release or fine amount and does not resolve the existing $100/$180 fine discrepancy. Source: https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/pubs/dailyworker/1934/v11-n286-NAT-nov-30-1934-DW-LOC.pdf
Page 1’s August 3 Birmingham dispatch dates confiscation of the Southern Worker and the arrest of Berlin and Fred Keith to the previous day, August 2. It says Berlin had received six months on the chain gang and a $100 fine the day before that for distributing August First antiwar leaflets, and was free on bail pending an ILD new-trial motion before the new arrest. The newspaper seizure led to a criminal-anarchy accusation. This clarifies the initial August sentence and distinct rearrest in his existing cases, while preserving later October proceedings and the later fine discrepancy. No actual service of the six-month term is inferred. Source: https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/pubs/dailyworker/1934/v11-n186-aug-04-1934-DW-LOC.pdf
Page 3 reproduces the National Committee for the Defense of Political Prisoners’ telegram to Birmingham Commissioner W. O. Downs, signed Alfred H. Hirsch. It protests Keith and Berlin’s arrests and connects the attack on newspaper circulation with the Lawson libel case, promising publicity until dismissal. This is a defense demand, not evidence that charges were already dismissed or another detention. Source: https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/pubs/dailyworker/1934/v11-n193-sect-one-aug-13-1934-DW-LOC.pdf
Page 1 reports fresh Birmingham warrants based on possession of the Southern Worker and announces postponement of trial to August 15 under the new ordinance against Communist advocacy. This is a pending-prosecution report, not a verdict or completed six-month term. This issue prints the accompanying worker as Irving Keith, whereas the August 4 original and subsequent defense reporting identify Fred Keith; the conflicting given name is preserved rather than adding a duplicate episode or asserting that the Boston organizer Irving Keith was the Birmingham defendant. Source: https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/pubs/dailyworker/1934/v11-n190-aug-09-1934-DW-LOC.pdf
The August 10 Birmingham dispatch on page 2 explicitly dates a six-month chain-gang sentence and $100 fine for August First antiwar literature to the preceding day, August 9, 1934, before Judge Martin. It reports him out on appeal bail and announces a further August 15 hearing on libelous-literature, overthrow-advocacy and membership counts alongside Fred Keith. This early August sentence is retained in the procedural narrative beside the separately recorded October 26 Downs-ordinance judgment, without overwriting the later sentencing day or counting six months as served. Source: https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/pubs/dailyworker/1934/v11-n192-aug-11-1934-DW-LOC.pdf
Page 1 reports that Birmingham city attorney John Foster admitted no further evidence and nol-prossed the criminal-anarchy prosecution against Berlin and Fred Keith. It separately says Berlin’s six-month chain-gang conviction and $100 fine were being appealed. Release from the criminal-anarchy charges is dismissal of that prosecution, not proof of a physical discharge day or cancellation of the separate conviction. Source: https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/pubs/dailyworker/1934/v11-n212-sep-04-1934-DW-LOC.pdf
Daily Worker, December 8, 1934; relevant page stated in the accompanying profile note.
Daily Worker, November 30, 1934; relevant page stated in the accompanying profile note.
Daily Worker, August 4, 1934; relevant page stated in the accompanying profile note.
Daily Worker, August 13, 1934; relevant page stated in the accompanying profile note.
Daily Worker, August 9, 1934; relevant page stated in the accompanying profile note.
