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Salient. An Organ of Student Opinion at Victoria College, Wellington, N.Z. Vol. 15, No. 16. August 14, 1952
[Introduction]
A Detailed description of the "moral regeneration" which the new Government has brought to China and a stern reminder that Peking is closer to us than London, highlighted an address given in the College last week by Mr Courtney Archer. Mr Archer is a New Zealander who went to China with the Friends' Ambulance Unit in 1945 and has since been working with Rewi Alley at Sandan. He spoke in C.3 on Tuesday, August 5, to a meeting of over 150 people, sponsored by the S.C.M. and the Socialist Club. Mr. James Bertram was in the chair.
Quietly-spoken and carefully factual, Mr. Archer immediately impressed his audience with his sincerity and his thorough knowledge of China and her people.
Mr. Archer attributed to the war the impetus for recent events in Asia. Japan had shattered the White Invincibility Illusion, and resistance to Japan had taught the Asian peoples how to organise themselves. Western governments had failed to recognise the altered mood of the Asian people—who were demanding self determination and economic advancement. Both these demands implied an end to colonialism and foreign exploitation.
"The success of the Communists has not been in conversions to Marx's philosophy," said Mr. Archer, "but in their practical tackling of these two demands."