He was elected as a delegate to the Communist Party's ill-fated August 1922 convention held at Bridgman, Michigan, a gathering which was infiltrated by a Justice Department spy and raided by police. Gitlow was arrested and jailed in the aftermath, eventually released on bail. Ultimately only 2 of the delegates to this convention were tried, trade union leader William Z. Foster (freed when the jury failed to agree) and Workers Party Executive Secretary C.E. Ruthenberg, who was convicted but who died before appeals were finalized and the sentence imposed.