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resisted the demands of the Communist Party that they defend its ideol- ogy and instead mounted a professional and ultimately successful defense of the defendants’ individual conduct. Party officers and representatives were charged in various cities under the Smith Act with advocating the violent overthrow of the govern- ment of the United States and “establishing” an organization to that end, the Party itself. Most defendants could not afford to engage or find their own counsel at all, or had “movement” lawyers who defended the Party’s ideology in accordance with the Party’s policy to use the cases as show trials to demonstrate the failures of capitalism. If the defendants were charged with advocating the overthrow of the government, their movement lawyers often acted with the same goal, starting with attacks on the trial court. The results were disastrous for the defendants and often for their lawyers. SUMMER 2023 JOURNAL 74