—Report on Youth

Progressive forces throughout the world have realised that union in strong national and international organisation is necessary to ensure that man's fundamental needs of food, shelter, security and freedom of expression are won for all. The youth of the world desires peace, decent conditions in which to study and to work, and a freedom to organise to secure these needs. The World Federation of Democratic Youth, representing 45 million young people, and the International Union of Students, representing 2½ million students, are the two main international organisations to which VUC is affiliated. Their work is outlined below. World Student Relief and the International Student's service are organisations which came into being during the war to cater for the material needs of student POWs and student refugees. Outside VUC, the main organisation in New Zealand affiliated to WFDY is the Young People's Club which Salient reviews on this page.

The following article is written by Salient by Ron Smith. Ron spent the long vacation in Australia as a delegate from VUC Socialist Club to the annual conference of the Australasian Student Labour Federation. He has spent some time studying student organisation in Australia and is well qualified to write about Student and Youth organisation.

"The post-war student movement is the biggest in history; student organisation is more intense than ever before; developments have occurred that bewilder the casual observer, baffle the conservative and rouse the lovers of progress to greater hope and greater effort."

From January 8th-15th this year, the Australasian Student Labour Federation was in Conference near Melbourne. This was closely followed by a 10-day Congress of the National Union of Australasian University Students. Also at the beginning of January the Student Christian Movement held a large National Conference. The above-quoted words of an Australian student sum up the main impressions I obtained from attending the two first-mentioned meetings.

It takes some zeal and determination for over 100 students to attend heavy meetings on student organisation, morning and afternoon for five days, when the temperature is just over the 100-degree mark and the beach and cool sea beckon nearby. What were the questions these students were discussing so earnestly? Broadly they wanted to improve their system of education and they wanted to know how students overseas were solving their problems.