Chapter 264

Section 16. The term ''subversive organization'' as used in sections seventeen, eighteen, nineteen, twenty-one, twenty-two and twenty-three of this chapter shall mean any form of association of three or more persons, however named or characterized, and by whatever legal or non-le…

Section 16A. The Communist Party is hereby declared to be a subversive organization.

Section 17. A subversive organization is hereby declared to be unlawful.

Section 18. The attorney general shall bring an action in the superior court by an information or petition in equity against any organization which he has reasonable cause to believe is a subversive organization. The fact that such information or petition has been or is to be fil…

Section 19. Any person who becomes or remains a member of any organization knowing it to be a subversive organization shall be punished by imprisonment in the state prison for not more than three years or in jail for not more than two and one half years or by a fine of not more t…

Section 2. Whoever commits treason against the commonwealth shall be punished by imprisonment in the state prison for life.

Section 20. No person who has been convicted of a violation of the provisions of section eleven, nineteen or twenty-three shall be eligible to election or appointment to any public office, or employment, nor as a teacher in any public or private educational institution, nor shall…

Section 21. Whoever destroys or conceals books, records, files, membership lists or funds belonging to an organization which he knows to be a subversive organization shall be punished by imprisonment in the state prison for not more than three years or in jail for not more than t…

Section 22. Whoever being in charge of an auditorium, hall or other building shall knowingly permit it to be used by the Communist Party or by an organization which has been adjudicated a subversive organization under the provisions of section eighteen shall be punished by a fine…

Section 23. Whoever contributes money or any other property having a value in money to an organization which he knows to be a subversive organization shall be punished by imprisonment in the state prison for not more than three years or in jail for not more than two and one half …

Section 3. Whoever, having knowledge of the commission of treason, conceals the same and does not as soon as may be disclose and make known such treason to the governor, or to a justice of the supreme judicial or superior court, shall be guilty of misprision of treason, and shall…

Section 4. No person shall be convicted of treason except by the testimony of two witnesses to the same overt act of treason whereof he stands indicted, unless he confesses the same in open court.

Section 5. Whoever publicly burns or otherwise mutilates, tramples upon, defaces or treats contemptuously the flag of the United States or of Massachusetts, whether such flag is public or private property, or whoever displays such flag or any representation thereof upon which are…

Section 6. The preceding section shall not apply to publications issued solely for the purpose of giving information in relation to the flag, or of promoting patriotism or of encouraging the study of American history, or to any newspaper, periodical, book, pamphlet, certificate, …

Section 7. Whoever publicly mutilates, tramples upon, defaces or treats contemptuously the flag or emblem of a foreign country at peace with the United States, whether such flag or emblem is public or private property, or whoever displays such flag or emblem or any representation…

Section 8. Whoever displays the flag or emblem of a foreign country upon the outside of a state, county, city or town building or public schoolhouse shall be punished by a fine of not more than twenty dollars; but, except as to public schoolhouses, this section shall not apply wh…

Section 9. Whoever plays, sings or renders the ''Star Spangled Banner'' in any public place, theatre, motion picture hall, restaurant or café, or at any public entertainment, other than as a whole and separate composition or number, without embellishment or addition in the way of…