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Scott Nearing

Released
Date of birth:06. 08. 1883
Date of death:1983
Gender:Male
Race:White
Era:1910s
State:Pennsylvania
Support
Anti-War Socialism
Scott Nearing

Biography

Scott Nearing was a radical economist, pacifist, and later a founder of the American back-to-the-land movement. Dismissed from two universities for his politics, he wrote the antiwar pamphlet "The Great Madness" (1917) for the People's Council of America. In 1918 he was indicted under the Espionage Act for obstructing recruitment; at his 1919 trial the jury acquitted Nearing personally even as it convicted his publisher, the American Socialist Society — a notable free-speech verdict.

The October 18 issue refers retrospectively to Nearing’s arrest at Wheeling. It does not date the event or give a measured stay; this is not treated as the same episode as his earlier Espionage Act prosecution. Source: https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/pubs/dailyworker/1928/1928-ny/v05-n247-NY-oct-18-1928-DW-LOC.pdf#page=3

Cases

Charges: Violating the Espionage Act.
Sentence: None — acquitted.
Convicted: No
Sentence: The October 18 issue refers retrospectively to Nearing’s arrest at Wheeling. It does not date the event or give a measured stay; this is not treated as the same episode as his earlier Espionage Act prosecution. Source: https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/pubs/dailyworker/1928/1928-ny/v05-n247-NY-oct-18-1928-DW-LOC.pdf#page=3