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Morris Falk

Released
Gender:Male
Race:White
Era:1910s
State:New York
Support
Anti-War Conscientious Objection
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Biography

Morris Falk was a conscientious objector from New York imprisoned during World War I. Court-martialed for refusing military service, he was held at Fort Leavenworth. Sentenced to 10 years in prison - reduced to 1 year. (Documented in the Swarthmore College Peace Collection's World War I Conscientious Objectors database.) Archival note: registered for the draft on June 5, 1917, but not as a CO; interviewed in Feb. 14, 1919 by Special Bd. at the Disciplinary Barracks re: 64th article of war; sentenced to 10 years in prison - reduced to 1 year; was Russian, not a U.S. citizen; WAS HE A CO?

The Revolutionary Age of August 9, 1919 prints a letter received by the National Left Wing Conference on June 21, 1919 from political prisoners confined in the United States Disciplinary Barracks at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. It lists Morris Falk among political prisoners who explicitly said they were not Socialist Party members, endorsing the letter's support for the Left Wing and its political aims. June 21 is the conference's receipt date, not an admission or release date; no individual charge or measured custody total is supplied.

The Revolutionary Age, August 9, 1919, printed page 8.

Case

United States Disciplinary Barracks, Fort Leavenworth
Charges: Disobeying orders; refusal of military service
Sentence: 10 years, reduced to 1 year
Convicted: Yes
Institution State: Kansas