COMMUNIST CHORUS

Te Awamutu Courier, Volume 78, Issue 7018, 11 February 1949, Page 4

COMMUNIST CHORUS

MANY STUDENTS TIRED OF LISTENING OUTSPOKEN COMMENT BY REV. MARTIN SULLIVAN The chorus of Communist views of some of their fellow’s tired many students at their recent congress at Curious Cove, Marlborough, said the Rev. Martin Sullivan, chaplain at Victoria University College, and formerly vicar of St John’s, Te Awamutu. He said it was the first time in 28 years’ association with the University in New Zealand that he had seen a body of students behaving and speaking as if their minds were closed. Mr Sullivan, as a member of the management committee, was present at all sessions of the full congress. “It would be disastrous to find any congress where there was not keen controversial discussion, but on this occasion quite a number of students expressed Marxist-Communist view’s which allowed very little flexibility,’’ he said “I felt that those speaking the Communist language wanted to shape everything to their own pattern. I am quite sure many of the students tired of listening because the chorus was so uniform.”

Mr Sullivan said that he was disappointed that there w r as not on the part of the others any informed or intelligent alternative to the Marxist point of view put forward. On a lot of the subjects most of the students had appeared inarticulate, woolly-minded or dumb.

Many of the students had not taken to the congress any equipment to deal with the subjects, so the vocally strong minority had carried the day. They had received much thoughtless support from those who w ? ere really not Marxists.