Journalism prof studies Montana sedition law

By Matthew Pritchard
J-School Web Reporter

A 1918 Montana law that limited political dissent in wartime and led to jail terms for 41 people is the focus of The Montana Sedition Project, created by journalism professor Clem Work.

photo by Kathryn Stevens

Professor Clem Work is telling the stories of people punished in Montana during World War I for speaking their minds.

The Sedition Project details the sedition law passed in Montana as the result of fear and hysteria during World War I, and tells the stories of some of those affected by the law, Work said.

“These sedition prisoners were victims,” Work said. “They were sent to prison for opening their mouths against the government.”

The Montana sedition law “criminalized just about anything negative said or written about the government or its conduct of the war,” Work says on his Web site.

The idea for the Sedition Project originated with a book Work is writing called “Darkest Before Dawn.” The book discusses the suppression of political dissent and free speech during WWI and outlines how peoples’ rights were affected.

Work started the Sedition Project in December and has gathered information through court records and by contacting relatives of those sentenced under the sedition law
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Fred Rodewald, who was born in Germany and moved to Montana around 1912, served more than two years in prison between 1918 and 1920 for allegedly saying that the citizens of the United States would have hard times unless the Kaiser came to rule this country.

Work contacted Rodewald’s granddaughter, Phyllis Rolf, in Minnesota and asked her if she knew her grandfather was a convicted felon. She was skeptical at first, but after learning the truth she talked with Work for more than an hour and a half about her grandfather and his life.

Work also found information on the Internet about Martin Wehinger, an Austrian-born man who moved to Montana in 1883 and served 18 months in prison for criticizing U.S. troops in Germany. Wehinger allegedly said, among other things, that “one German soldier could kill five or six American soldiers without any trouble, because we didn't have any experience and were not trained and didn't know anything about war.”

It’s important to realize that people were sent to prison in Montana for speaking their minds, Work said.

“Part of my motivation is to make people aware of the past…what happened in the past, and also to draw some connection to the present,” he said.

The freedom Americans have to speak out for what they believe works like a pendulum, Work said. Sometimes people in America have a lot of freedom and other times they don’t. Right now we’re in one of the latter times, he added.

Work pointed out provisions in the USA Patriot Act, passed after 9/11, which allow the government to arrest people on the basis of suspected terrorism. He also noted how easily the government can gather information about people, raising privacy issues.

“We’re not that far away from the hysteria of World War I,” he said.

The Sedition Project is ongoing, and Work is looking for people who have more information on those punished under the Montana sedition laws. If you’re interested contact Clem Work.

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