(Ed. Note--The Crimson does not necessarily endorse opinions expressed in printed communications. No attention will be paid to anonymous letters and only under special conditions, at the request of the writer, will names be withheld. Only letters under 400 words can be printed because of space limitations.)

To the Editor of the Crimson:

Last night a meeting was held by the John Reed Society, in defense of free speech; and as is the case in most Socialist or Communist societies or nations, no laws of the right of expression of personal opinion were observed in any way.

The resolution passed at the conclusion of a weary series of polemics on the beauties of Socialism and the Marxist principles, was railroaded through at high speed, and none of the dissenting voters in the audience were given the opportunity either to state their own views or question those of the speakers. One member of the audience who attempted to speak his mind early in the meeting was threatened with ejection by the chairman in curt and poorly considered terms. When that speaker had managed to get out his message, the chairman dismissed him contemptuously with, "All right, you've had your say now."

As the main speaker of the evening, Mr. Lamont said that the University was stifling free speech by Communist leaders, and refused to consider that the University merely refuses to hear these doctrines from the mouths of alleged criminals. He claimed full support of Browder's speaking for the John Reed Society among the alumni, which is ridiculous. And all the while he was claiming suppression of Communist or Socialist doctrine by the University, he interspersed glowing pictures of the Socialist State, and even went so far as to hold out alluring promises of $5,000 a year to its members. We are led to fear that Mr. Lamont never passed the examination he sentimentally recalled taking in Emerson D in May, 1924.

We are also led to fear that the whole protest meeting was a publicity stunt, in view of the anonymous offer of a hall for Browder to the John Reed Society. Their refusal to consider the University's side of the question, their railroading of their resolution, their complete denial of the floor to the opposition made the whole meeting a farce and a burlesque of the democracy for which they claim to fight. Signed,   George F. Snell '41, A. R. Cowper, Dwight D. Taylor, Jr. '41, John Van Landingham '41, Alfred E. Gras '41, Dana Stockbridge, Keith R. Symon, Francis George.