Red Hits Rights For 'Trotskyites'

"The Communist Party will fight every inch of the way to preserve its legality," Daniel Boone Schirmer '37 told the John Reed Club last night.

"The time is here and now for the defense of communism and American civil rights," he said.

Questioned about the recent conviction of some Wisconsin Trotskyites under the Smith Act, Schirmer said the Trotskyites were allied with the most fascistminded industrialists and did not deserve civil-rights.

Founded John Reed Club

Schirmer, founder of the John Reed Club and a Communist himself, labeled the recent Communist trial as fascist inspired.

"There were two prosecutors at the trail: the judge and the prosecuting attorney," he said. "It's an attempt to deny the existence of the working class and call the 450 million Chinese people conspirators," he said.

According to Schirmer, the Communists do not advocate the violent, overthrow of the United States government.

"We foresee a gradual revolution that can conceivably come about by peaceful means," he said.