Criminal Syndicalism

Criminal Syndicalism defines “advocating various methods to affect any social or political change” as a crime. These laws were “enacted to discourage the fight for equal rights for blacks.” One law centering around criminal syndicalism in Mississippi “made it illegal for two or more people to assemble or consort to encourage it. Another made it illegal for a building owner or caretaker to allow such meetings on the premises. Even uttering the certain words or phrases was against the law.” These laws were anti-Freedom Summer, and were used to arrest participants attending a protest meeting at a local church in Canton, Mississippi.

In 1967, a “federal court case declared the [criminal syndicalism] laws unconstitutional.” Since then, there is no memory of the laws being used for prosecution, but also little memory of the laws being wiped away themselves.

Source: “Segregationist laws removed 45 years later.” from Enterprise-Journal in McComb, Mississippi. 118th Year, No. 313. Thursday, April 23, 2009.