Biography
Paul Munter was a Communist Party member prosecuted under Oregon’s criminal-syndicalism law during the 1930–31 Portland raids. Police informer M. R. Bacon accused him of heading an alleged expropriation committee. Munter and Young Communist League organizer Fred Walker challenged Bacon’s testimony at trial, and Munter also wrote about the prosecution for the Labor Defender. A defense campaign drew thousands of Portland workers. On November 16, 1931, prosecutors dismissed the remaining criminal-syndicalism cases. Ben Boloff’s conviction and ten-year sentence remained in force.
The Portland November 16 dispatch reports that the prosecution moved to dismiss the remaining Oregon criminal-syndicalism cases when Munter came to court for trial. It attributes the collapse to the discrediting of informer M. R. Bacon and the defense campaign. The report gives Munter’s age as 22. Dismissal is not treated as a newly dated jail discharge, because it supplies no individual release mechanics or proof of uninterrupted confinement.
The Portland report names this defendant in the criminal-syndicalism prosecution and the jail photograph caption individually identifies him. Lambo Mitseff is also named for deportation. The article describes raids on the Workers Center and an informer, M. R. Bacon. Ten-year prison terms were threatened exposure, not imposed sentences; no physical release or complete duration is established.
