By: Trevor Loudon
New Zeal

Red Reps 6 here.

For several years, the Missouri/Kansas branch of the Communist Party USA has been infiltrating sympathizers into the Missouri State Legislature.

The communist’s latest penetration is freshman State Representative Clem Smith.

A former auto worker, Smith is an active member of the Normandy Township Democratic Club and was elected as a Barack Obama Delegate to the Missouri Democratic Convention in 2008. His other memberships include the NAACP, Young Democrats of St. Louis and North County Labor.

Clem Smith, Lew Moye, May 7, 2010 CBTU Fundraiser

More significantly, Smith is also active in the local branch of Coalition of Black Trade Unionists, which was founded by Communist Party veteran Jim Wilkerson and is now led by long time Party affiliate Lew Moye.

The C.B.T.U. has been used by the Communists to promote several comrades into the State Legislature and onto the St. Louis City Council – all on the Democratic Party ticket.

Clem Smith is undoubtedly radical and on friendly terms with the Communist Party.

In 2008, he signed a statement circulated by the Partisan Defense Committee calling for the release of convicted “cop-killer” Mumia Abu-Jamal.

“Government has a responsibility to assist people in these hard economic times,” Smith told a crowd of about 150 protesters on the Missouri state Capitol steps March 4, 2010.

“After 13 years of loyal service,” he told the Communist Party’s People’s World, March 5, 2010, “I was unemployed. I looked for a job. I got my resume in order. But there were no jobs.”

Smith told the Communist Party USA‘s People’s World, Jan. 7, 2011, “Republicans want to give tax breaks to the rich. They want to let corporations have free rein. They want to weaken unions. And they want to destroy our social safety net.”

The Missouri Communist Party’s Friends of the People’s World hosted their 18th annual ‘Hershel Walker Peace and Justice Awards Breakfast’ Saturday, May 8, 2010, at the CWA Local 6300 Union Hall, 2258 Grissom Drive, St. Louis.

Newspaper Guild International President Bernie Lunzer was the main speaker for the event.

The honorees were:

The awards honor the memory of late Communist Party member Hershel Walker, who died in 1990 at the age of 81.

Clem Smith, Rita Days and Communist Party Leader Tony Pecinovsky, Hershel Walker Peace and Justice Awards Breakfast

Other attendees included Communist Party affiliates: Tony Pecinovsky, Jim Wilkerson, Zenobia Thompson, Lew Moye, Glenn Burleigh, Julie Terbrock and John Bowman, plus St. Louis Democratic Socialists of America member Joan Suarez.

Missouri Communist Party leader Tony Pecinovsky worked on Clem Smith’s successful 2010 campaign – a service he has personally performed for several other Missouri elected officials.

How many more “Clem Smiths” hold public office in Missouri? Stay tuned.