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Salient: An Organ of Student Opinion at Victoria College, Wellington, N.Z. Vol. 11, No. 10, August 18th, 1948
[Introduction]
Is WFDY a blind for Communist propaganda? Is it Communist dominated? Is its attitude partisan? "No," answered Mrs. Bailey. She hit back hard at the allegations with "The Federation is fighting for the common needs of youth—it is the only international organisation which is prepared to get what it needs for youth! Naturally it meets with opposition. In Algeria, in South Africa (Mrs. Bailey forgot God's Own Country) anyone who is progressive enough to ask for reforms is branded as a Communist.' No wonder WFDY has red herrings trailed across its militant path.
Though Miss Lamburd, who attended the Prague Festival as a Young Conservative, failed to come up to her recent form in the "Dominion"; though the Exec. didn't decide one way or the other at the end, it was obvious that Mrs. Bailey's barrage of facts and corrections had her opponent down early in the fight. The match went to Mrs. Bailey on points.
WFDY came under fire from all angles at the Special Exec. meeting at which Mrs. Bailey and Miss Lamburd had been asked to attend. The Beyer Pedersen affair, the constitutional set-up, the attitude to conscription, its affiliated members—all these came into the light.
The constitutional question seemed fundamental. Mrs. Bailey explained this carefully in answer to Mr. O'Brien's question. Beyer Pedersen was suspended by the secretariat who had been appointed by the WFDY council, and their action was later ratified by that body. Under their authority to see that the Federation runs smoothly, the secretariat had suspended a secretary who contrary to his pledges to further the unity of youth, had been advocating in Scandinavia, the formation of a separate federation. She stated that even before the Prague meetings, he had attempted to influence Anglo-Saxon delegates to work against the unity of WFDY. The organisations which he represented had also to be suspended.