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Mayor Daley asserted that he had evidence of a Communist conspiracy to disrupt the convention. Actually, the "terrorists," as he called them, made no bones about conspiring to make trouble. But their visible leaders, at least, were disaffected young Americans who professed as much scorn for Communism as for capitalism. Foolhardy and arrogant as their tactics often were, the main goal of the protesters was to express their rejection of both the war and party bossism, and they undeniably made it register in the minds of Democratic leaders. Ironically—and perhaps significantly—the demonstrators' most effective allies were the police, without whose brutal aid the protest would not have been so striking.