life the so-called problem of the "hidden" Communist. The Rankin and Sheppard Bills, on the contrary, would endeavor to drive all Communists and other progressives into hiding. I now turn brielly to H.R. 2122. The Sheppard Bill would also nullify the right of Americans to join the Communist Party. It would further deny them the right to join any organization directly or indirectly affiliated to virtually any international body. WHAT H.R. 2122 WOULD DO I am sure H.R. 2122 would not have Chairman Thomas support if there were the slightest danger it might be used to create difficulties for his influential constituent, Stand ard Oil of New Jersey-which as late as March, 1944 was turning over vital American military secrets to the Nazis by way of its partners in the I. G. Farben cartel. It would be interesting to know if members of the Committee concur in my opinion that H.R. 2122 could and might be used to require the C.I.O. to terminate its present affiliation to the World Federation of Trade Unions. And also to know how they think it would affect organizations associated with U.N.E.S.C.O. and other agencies of the United Nations. I come now to the allegations that the American Communist Party is the "agent of a foreign power"; that it "advocates the overthrow of the United States Govern: ment by force and violence"; and that it is not a political party in the accepted sense, but "a conspiracy." As to the first of these slanders-it is a lie that the Ameri can Communists are agents of a foreign power. That was what Hitler said of the German Communists. Quisling of the Norwegian Communists, Laval and Doriot the French Louis Budenz) of the French Communists. When VE. Day came just two years ago, the peoples of the world rejoiced that "the lie was dead and damned and the truth stood up instead!" But now, on the eve of the second anniversary of VE Day, Hitler's Big Lie rises again here in our America to shame the living and desecrate the war dead. Loyalty and patriotism must be judged by the test to which they were put in the most bitter and costly war of our nation's history. We American Communists pass that acid test with flying colors, and no group or individual can escape its judgment. In the second World War, fifteen thousand American Communists took up arms. Major General Clayton Bissel. wartime head of the U.S. Army Intelligence Corps, defended the loyalty of Communist officers before a subcommittee of the House Military Affairs Committee on March 18, 1945. He said, " they have shown by thew deeds that they are UPHOLDING the United States by force and violence." American Communists sealed in blood our Partys loyalty to the only power to which our members give allegiance-the sovereign power that resides in the American people. Before the hearings on these bills are over, I shall submit to the Committee as relevant testimony an extensive though incomplete list of the Communist war dead, of our Communist leaders who are war veterans and of our comrades who have been decorated by their government for distinguished service in the nation's cause. THE EXAMPLE OF BOTTCHER But at this point I wish to eite the example of Capt. Herman Bottcher. The GI's in his outfit called him "the one man army?" Assistant Secretary of War John J. McCloy said of Bottcher, "He went to the South Pacific. There he was promoted to sergeant, then made a captain in the field. He was wounded, decorated and killed in action at Leyte. This man proved his loyalty, regardless of what the War...