Indicted, Untried

A little over two years ago, three people--a woman and two men, were indicted for conspiring to overthrow the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Yet after the indictment, there was no trial, no further charges. The wheels of justice had apparently stopped.

Best known of the accused three was Dirk Struik, Dutch-born M.I.T. professor of mathematics. When people spoke of the issue, they called it the "Struik case." The other two, Harry Winner, a Malden business executive and Mrs. Margaret Gilbert, a Chicago housewife, were scarcely mentioned.

In the two ensuing years, Winner and Mrs. Gilbert have faded back into the semi-obscurity from which they came. But Struik has stumped the country speaking in his own behalf and raising funds for his defense in the trial that will eventually come.

Although suspended from teaching by M.I.T., he still draws his full salary as a professor and is allowed to keep his office and use the Institute's research facilities. He hates not being allowed to teach, but the research time has given him a chance to organize and publish the many thoughts, both in mathematics and the history of science, that he has stored away. No noticeable change has occurred in the attitude of either his colleagues, with whom he closely collaborates, or his neighbors in conservative Belmont. Most irritating is not knowing when the trial will take place.

Struik has never been reticent about stating his views. Although he never belonged to the Communist Party, he freely admits he was and still is an avowed Marxist. But he swears that he is loyal to the government and has never advocated the use of force in carrying out the social reforms he wants. He regards his case as the beginning of an attack against the teaching profession that has forced his colleagues to conform and be silent.

Winner, on the other hand, has not spoken out or written since the indictment. Suspended from his executive position with full salary, he is only bitter. "Just say that I spend my time pacing up and down outside the State House plotting its destruction," he says. "And when Dirk and I take over the government, we'll make Teto our attorney general."

Winner may have to pace for a long time. From time to time the District Attorney's office has rumbled threats, saying that the three, especially Struik, will be prosecuted to the limit that the law will allow.

But still no date has been set for the trial. The first action was taken this fall, when Mrs. Gilbert came back to Boston, after extradition proceedings were filed against her, to be arraigned and then released on bail. It is rumored that the trial will begin in March or April, although Mrs. Gilbert's attorney is trying to quash proceedings on the basis of insufficient evidence.

The three can only wait. Struik sums up their position, "How is it possible," he asks, "that a government can accuse a man of trying to overthrow it by force, and then let him freely wander the streets for two years?"