More younger S.U.P. members

Press, 26 October 1982, Page 2

More younger S.U.P. members

PA Wellington Membership of the Socialist Unity Party has grown in the younger age groups, says the party's national secretary, Mr’George Jackson.

Mr Jackson said that 23 per cent of the membership were now aged under 35, compared with about 10 per cent a few years ago. Membership was between 200 and 300. He was speaking after the Russia-aligned party's threeday national conference in Wellington. Thirty-five delegates attended. Mr Jackson said the conference discussed foreign policy, world peace, and unemployment. It had decided that New Zealand should work for a peace zone in the South Pacific.

It condemned the Government's policies, which, it said, were responsible for high unemployment, particularly among the young. An official with the Drivers’ Federation, Mr Ritchie Gillespie, of Wellington, has been appointed to the party’s 10-member national committee. fitting the vacancy left by Mr Ron O'Brien, described by Mr Jackson as a lapsed member. Other committee members are: Mr Bill Andersen, president, Mrs Ella Ayo, vicepresident (both of Auckland), Messrs Frank McNulty (Christchurch), Ken Perrott (Hamilton), Bruce Skilton (Auckland), Jack Marsden (Dunedin), Ken Douglas (Wellington), and Martyn Tucker (Auckland).