AN OXFORD COMMUNIST.

Auckland Star, Volume LVII, Issue 18, 22 January 1926, Page 6

AN OXFORD COMMUNIST.

Conservatism is so much associated with tho name of Oxford that it is not surprising to find the authorities viewing with disfavour tho attempt of ft Queensland Rhodes scholar to disseminate Communist propaganda amongst Indian students. At the same time Oxford has changed considerably from what it was when the University was regarded as tho peculiar property of the privileged classes. To-day there is a very strong Labour party at Oxford, and there is a club for the study of Labour problems. This club, so far from being frowned on by the authorities, is supported by many of the dons, and it numbers amongst its members several undergraduates whose fathers are pillars of the Tory party in England. It is significant that Mr. Kamsay MacDonald's son lost the coveted presidency of tho Union by only eight votes. One Australian Rhodes scholar recently returned to Australia and took a prominent part in Labour circles as a supporter of Communism. Many undergraduates pass through a phase of Socialism which is renounced in later years. Indeed, the profession of extreme views, both in politics and religion, is looked upon by many of the young men at Oxford as a mark of progressive thought. It is not often that the extreme penalty of sending a man down ie resorted to by the authorities where the offence is merely the holding of any particular view in politics. In the case of the Queensland scholar, who was asked to give a written guarantee that he would cease propaganda work among the Indians while lie remained at the University, it was not perhaps bo much the nature of. his views, as far as he himself was concerned, as the danger of spreading these views amongst Indian natives, which claimed the attention of the vice-chnncellor. He does not seem to have had any craving for martyrdom, as lie elected to give the required guarantee sooner than be sent down from the University. Perhaps he thought that if he pursued his studies for honours in philosophy, politics and economics, and succeeded in getting a first class in the schools, he would vindicate his theory of Communism better than ho could possibly do by posing as a victim of class prejudice. It would be interesting to see his examination papers. A somewhat similar case occurred many years ago at Cambridge, when an undergraduate was fined two guineas by the president of the Union for an alleged disloyal utterance in the course of a debate. The decision was appealed against, and a special session of the Union Society was called to discuss the matter. "Phis debate was attended by a large number of distinguished past members of the University, and the ruling of the president was upheld by only a small majority. The undergraduate, however, elected of his own accord to leave the University. In this ease the decision was made by the undergraduates themselves, and there was no compulsion for the offender to do more than pay the fine. There are a large number of Indian students in residence at Oxford.' An international club exists for the purpose of linking together all students from outside /the British Isles, and subjects affecting India have frequently been discussed at this club. The authorities have allowed considerable freedom of discussion, but Communist propaganda by an individual undergraduate could hardly fail to meet with condemnation by those responsible for the discipline of the University.