A LABOUR CLUB

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXII, Issue 22211, 11 September 1935, Page 14

A LABOUR CLUB

SOCIALIST DOCTRINE FORMATION AT UNIVERSITY INTEREST IN RUSSIA A good deal of interest has been aroused by the formation at Auckland University College of a Labour Club with an avowedly Socialist creed and u strong interest in Soviet Russia. The club has as president Professor W. A. Seweil. The vice-presidents include three lecturers, Mr. W. T. G. Airey, Mr. N. M. Richmond and Mr. L. W. Holt, and a fourth, Mr. R. P. Anschutz, is chairman of the committee. The name of Professor H. Belshaw was wrongly included in the previously published list of vice-presidents. The draft constitution sets out the club's objects as follows: " The Labour Club works for Socialism because it believes that only the communal control of the means of production will permit of the full use of the labour of all for the welfare of air. It considers that an earnest attempt is being made to lay the foundations of Socialism in the U.S.S.R. and it is resolved to do everything in its power to learn and spread the truth about that attempt. It sees in Fascism an attempt to maintain the present economic system by means of deception and violence, and it regards Fascism therefore as the open enemy of Socialism. " The Labour Club recognises that the workers are the decisive force in the struggle for Socialism and that it is only through unity of action that the workers can be successful. It therefore supports the working class movement, not only by organisation within the college, but also by co-operation outside." Aim of the Olub

Professor Sewell, in reply to an inquiry yesterday, said the club was an organisation of members of the college who believed, with a greater or less degree of conviction, that Socialism offered the only means to q solution of the world's political and economic troubles. Its aim was to promote study and discussion, and particularly to keep up with Socialist thought and the progress of the Russian experiment. Professor Sewell said he wished to remove a wrong impression that had been given by the publication of Professor H. Belshaw's name in the list of vice-presidents. Professor Belshaw, who was now in Wellington, had been asked to accept office, but had not yet had an opportunity to reply. It was practically certain that he would not consent so long as he held his present position as economic adviser to the Government. The club, said the professor, was constituted in the same way as the Labour clubs at Oxford, Cambridge, London and practically every other university in Great Britain. Political clubs had been a recognised part of university life in England and Scotland for many years. Invariably the clubs were affiliated with outside bodies, and ho hoped' that in due course the Auckland Club would bo represented in the annual conference of the New Zealand Labour Party. Free Discussions Upheld

Another senior member of the college staff, who described himself as a Liberal in outlook, said that as an outsider, he could see no objection to the club's existence. It was quite in harmony with the principle of free discussion which was upheld in the universities of Great Britain. Members of the college staff were entitled to belong to such clubs on the strength of their membership in the university. At Oxford or Cambridge a don divested himself of any authority belonging to his office when he joined a universityclub, and in discussion any student member had full liberty to attack his views. Other inquiries indicated that there was little or no likelihood that th« professorial board, which is responsible for maintaining discipline among tlie students, would take any action in regard to the formation of the club. The participation of members of the college staff in its activities is a matter which concerns the College Council only. There was no suggestion yesterday of activity on the part of other political organisations to enlist the young idea of the college in an anti-socialist club.