The International Labor Defense (ILD) was a legal defense organization in the United States, headed by William L. Patterson. It defended Sacco and Vanzetti, was active in the civil rights and anti-lynching movements, and participated in the defense of the Scottsboro Boys. It was formed in 1925, and in 1946 merged with the National Federation for Constitutional Liberties to form the Civil Rights Congress. William L. Patterson was a leader in the Communist Party USA and head of the International Labor Defense, a group that offered legal representation to communists, trade unionists, and African-Americans in cases involving issues of political or racial persecution. ... Bartolomeo Vanzetti (Left) and Nicola Sacco (Right) Nicola Sacco (April 22, 1891 – August 23, 1927) and Bartolomeo Vanzetti (June 11, 1888 – August 23, 1927) were two Italian anarchists, who were arrested, tried, and electrocuted in Massachusetts in 1927 on charges of murder of Frederick Parmenter, a shoe factory paymaster, and... Civil rights or positive rights are those legal rights retained by citizens and protected by the government. ... Postcard depicting the lynching of Lige Daniels, Center, Texas, USA, August 3, 1920. ... The case of the Scottsboro Boys arose in Alabama during the 1930s, when nine black teenagers, none older than nineteen, were accused of raping two white women on a train. ... The Civil Rights Congress was a civil rights organization formed in 1946 by a merger of the International Labor Defense and the National Federation for Constitutional Liberties. ...

External links

• Labor Defense Activities (1 January-1 July 1928). By Martin Abern. From James P. Cannon and the Early Years of American Communism. Selected Writings and Speeches, 1920-1928. Spartacist Publishing Company, 1992. ISBN 0-9633828-1-0.

• Labor Defense. Scottsboro: An American Tragedy. The American Experience, Public Broadcasting System, 1999.

Template:Law-shrub American Experience (sometimes abbreviated AmEx) is a television program aired on the PBS network in the United States. ... Note: Public Broadcasting Services is a broadcaster in Malta. ...