Isaac Edward Ferguson

Isaac Edward "Ed" Ferguson (November 23, 1888 – February 11, 1964) was a Canadian-born American lawyer and political activist. A founding member of the Communist Party of America, Ferguson is best remembered a co-defendant and attorney in a highly publicized 1920 trial together with party leader C. E. Ruthenberg for alleged violation of New York state law against so-called "criminal anarchism." Following conviction and a term served at Sing Sing prison, Ferguson withdrew from radical politics to become a prominent Chicago civil rights attorney.

Biography

Early years Isaac Edward Ferguson, known to his friends as "Ed," was born November 23, 1888, in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, the son of an Orthodox Jewish rabbi. Ferguson moved to the United States of America as a boy. In 1905 he was on an AA registered basketball team with his four older brothers. He graduated from McKinley High School in 1906. He attended the University of Chicago, from which he graduated with a Bachelor's degree in 1910 and a Juris Doctor degree in 1912.

After graduation Ferguson spent four years in the Western state of Wyoming, where he ran for county attorney as a Republican. Ferguson himself joined the Socialist Party at this time. He was elected the governing Central Executive Committee of the CPA and served on that body until leaving with Ruthenberg and his faction to join with the rival Communist Labor Party of America in establishing the United Communist Party of America at a secret convention held at the end of May 1920 in Bridgman, Michigan.

As a radical attorney, Ferguson did legal defense work in a number of high-profile political cases of the World War I period and after, including work on the appeals of convicted Socialist Party of America leaders Eugene V. Debs and Rose Pastor Stokes in 1918 as well as primary work on the case of New Jersey Communist Party leader Walter Gabriel in 1920. This law had made it a felony to advocate that "government should be overthrown by force or violence...or by any illegal means."

The trial began in New York City on October 6, 1920, with Ferguson acting in the role of defense attorney for both defendants. Following a trial the pair were convicted on October 29 and immediately sentenced to a term of 5 years imprisonment. Ferguson and Ruthenberg were immediately jailed in The Tombs before being incarcerated at Sing Sing Prison at Ossining, New York. The pair would remain behind bars for approximately 18 months.

Legal career

Following his release from prison, Ferguson dropped out of direct political activity to concentrate on working as a lawyer full-time. Ferguson worked on the cases associated with the raided 1922 Bridgman Convention of the Communist Party and on criminal syndicalism cases in the state of Pennsylvania in 1924.

Works "The Political Prisoners at Dannemora: Report of Their Attorney," The Communist (UCP), vol. 1, no. 6 (Circa August 1920), pg. 8. A Communist Trial: Extracts from the Testimony of C.E. Ruthenberg and Closing Address to the Jury by Isaac E. Ferguson. New York: National Defense Committee, n.d. .

Footnotes