Extinction by the First Amendment

Submitted by Tom Rekdal (United States), Sep 23, 2004 at 09:47

Reading your article reminded me of a passage in Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes' dissenting opinion in Gitlow v. New York (1925), regarding the spectre of syndicalism: "If in the long run the beliefs expressed in proletarian dictatorship are destined to be accepted by the dominant forces of the community, the only meaning of free speech is that they should be given their chance and have their way."

Not much reassurance in such lodestars of modern jurisprudence, is there?

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