
These proverbs were collected by my father, Carlos Hudson, during the time he was jailed under the Smith Act in 1941, ostensibly for “Advocating the overthrow of the government by force and violence,” It was called the “gag act” because it put a gag on what one could read or say. Guilt was determined by whether one had the works of Lenin and Trotsky on one’s bookshelf. The Stalinists urged the death penalty for the Smith Act, not realizing that it would be used against them after World War II. The Minneapolis 17 who were convicted had taken the lead in organizing the Teamsters Union and ...