MR R. CHURCHILL’S ASSERTIONS

Press, Volume LXXXIII, Issue 25309, 8 October 1947, Page 8

MR R. CHURCHILL’S ASSERTIONS

DENIAL BY COMMUNIST PARTY

A vigorous denial of Mr Randolph Churchill’s assertion, described as "sweeping,” that Communists are “Fifth Columnists” was made yesterday by the Canterbury district committee of the New Zealand Copmunist Party in a statement. Mr Randolph Churchill said that he was afraid of no one, yet he made excuses for refusing a debate with the Communist Party, the statement read. The history of the past few years had shown that "Fifth Columnists” came not from the ranks of the Communists and the working people, who had fought and suffered for freedom and independence against fascism, but from another class, represented by such persons as Laval, Mosley, John Amery, and Quisling, to mention but a few. “If Mr Chur.chill does not wish a de - bate on the truth of his statements concerning the U.S.S.R., we offer to debate with him on such a subject as ‘That the American monopoly of the atom bomb is- a threat to the security of the British Commonwealth of Nations.’ We are ready to debate at any time and only stipulate that the proceeds of such a meeting should go to the ‘Food for Britain Fund,’ which is a worth-while cause,” concluded the statement.