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The Russell- Einstein Manifesto

24In the tragic situation which confrontshumanity, we feel that scientists shouldassemble in conference to appraise the perilsthat have arisen as a result of the developmentof weapons of mass destruction, and to discussa resolution in the spirit of the appended are speaking on this occasion, not asmembers of this or that nation, continent, orcreed, but as human beings, members of thespecies Man, whose continued existence is indoubt. The world is full of conflicts; and,overshadowing all minor conflicts, the titanicstruggle between Communism and everybody who is politicallyconscious has strong feelings about one or moreof these issues; but we want you, if you can, toset aside such feelings and consider yourselvesonly as members of a biological species whichhas had a remarkable history, and whosedisappearance none of us can shall try to say no single word whichshould appeal to one group rather than toanother.

The Russell-Einstein Manifesto No doubt in an H-bomb war great cities would be obliterated. But this is one of the minor disasters that would have to be faced.

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Transcription of The Russell- Einstein Manifesto

1 24In the tragic situation which confrontshumanity, we feel that scientists shouldassemble in conference to appraise the perilsthat have arisen as a result of the developmentof weapons of mass destruction, and to discussa resolution in the spirit of the appended are speaking on this occasion, not asmembers of this or that nation, continent, orcreed, but as human beings, members of thespecies Man, whose continued existence is indoubt. The world is full of conflicts; and,overshadowing all minor conflicts, the titanicstruggle between Communism and everybody who is politicallyconscious has strong feelings about one or moreof these issues; but we want you, if you can, toset aside such feelings and consider yourselvesonly as members of a biological species whichhas had a remarkable history, and whosedisappearance none of us can shall try to say no single word whichshould appeal to one group rather than toanother.

2 All, equally, are in peril, and, if theperil is understood, there is hope that they maycollectively avert have to learn to think in a new way. Wehave to learn to ask ourselves, not what stepscan be taken to give military victory towhatever group we prefer, for there no longerare such steps; the question we have to askourselves is: what steps can be taken to preventa military contest of which the issue must bedisastrous to all parties?The general public, and even many men inpositions of authority, have not realised whatwould be involved in a war with nuclearbombs. The general public still thinks in termsof the obliteration of cities. It is understood thatthe new bombs are more powerful than the old,and that, while one A-bomb could obliterateHiroshima, one H-bomb could obliterate thelargest cities, such as London, New York, Russell- EinsteinManifestoFifty Years OnOn 9 July 1955, BertrandRussell read what becameknown as the Russell- Einstein Manifesto to theworld s press assembled inLondon.

3 He explained thatsigning the appeal was thelast thing Einstein had donebefore he died (see theexcerpt from Russell sAutobiographyreproducedon page 27). We concludethis section with the twomen s correspondenceabout their public 2/16/05 1:34 PM Page 24 The Russell- Einstein ManifestoNo doubt in an H-bomb war great cities would be obliterated. But this is oneof the minor disasters that would have to be faced. If everybody in London, NewYork, and Moscow were exterminated, the world might, in the course of a fewcenturies, recover from the blow. But we now know, especially since the Bikinitest, that nuclear bombs can gradually spread destruction over a very much widerarea than had been is stated on very good authority that a bomb can now be manufacturedwhich will be 2,500 times as powerful as that which destroyed Hiroshima.

4 Sucha bomb, if exploded near the ground or under water, sends radioactive particlesinto the upper air. They sink gradually and reach the surface of the earth in theform of a deadly dust or rain. It was this dust which infected the Japanesefishermen and their catch of fish. No one knows how widely such lethalradioactive particles might be diffused, but the best authorities are unanimous insaying that a war with H-bombs might possibly put an end to the human race. Itis feared that if many H-bombs are used there will be universal death, suddenonly for a minority, but for the majority a slow torture of disease warnings have been uttered by eminent men of science and byauthorities in military strategy.

5 None of them will say that the worst results arecertain. What they do say is that these results are possible, and no one can be surethat they will not be realised. We have not yet found that the views of experts onthis question depend in any degree upon their politics or prejudices. They dependonly, so far as our researches have revealed, upon the extent of the particularexpert s knowledge. We have found that the men who know most are the , then, is the problem which we present to you, stark and dreadful andinescapable: Shall we put an end to the human race; or shall mankind renouncewar?1 People will not face this alternative because it is so difficult to abolish abolition of war will demand distasteful limitations of what perhaps impedes understanding of the situation more thananything else is that the term mankind feels vague and abstract.

6 People scarcelyrealise in imagination that the danger is to themselves and their children and theirgrandchildren, and not only to a dimly apprehended humanity. They can scarcelybring themselves to grasp that they, individually, and those whom they love arein imminent danger of perishing agonisingly. And so they hope that perhaps warmay be allowed to continue provided modern weapons are hope is illusory. Whatever agreements not to use H-bombs had beenreached in time of peace, they would no longer be considered binding in time ofwar, and both sides would set to work to manufacture H-bombs as soon as warbroke out, for, if one side manufactured the bombs and the other did not, the sidethat manufactured them would inevitably be an agreement to renounce nuclear weapons as part of a generalreduction of armaments3would not afford an ultimate solution, it would servecertain important purposes.

7 First: any agreement between East and West is to the25 Einstein 2/16/05 1:34 PM Page 25 Albert Einstein , Bertrand Russell, Manifesto 50good in so far as it tends to diminish tension. Second: the abolition of thermo-nuclear weapons, if each side believed that the other had carried it out sincerely,would lessen the fear of a sudden attack in the style of Pearl Harbor, which atpresent keeps both sides in a state of nervous apprehension. We should, therefore,welcome such an agreement though only as a first of us are not neutral in feeling, but, as human beings, we have toremember that, if the issues between East and West are to be decided in anymanner that can give any possible satisfaction to anybody, whether Communistor anti-Communist, whether Asian or European or American, whether White orBlack, then these issues must not be decided by war.

8 We should wish this to beunderstood, both in the East and in the lies before us, if we choose, continual progress in happiness,knowledge, and wisdom. Shall we, instead, choose death, because we cannotforget our quarrels? We appeal as human beings to human beings: Rememberyour humanity, and forget the rest. If you can do so, the way lies open to a newParadise; if you cannot, there lies before you the risk of universal invite this Congress, and through it the scientists of the world and the generalpublic, to subscribe to the following resolution: In view of the fact that in any future world war nuclear weapons willcertainly be employed, and that such weapons threaten the continued existenceof mankind, we urge the governments of the world to realise, and to acknowledgepublicly, that their purpose cannot be furthered by a world war, and we urgethem, consequently, to find peaceful means for the settlement of all matters ofdispute between them.

9 Professor Max Born (Professor of Theoretical Physics in Berlin, Frankfurt,and G ttingen, and of Natural Philosophy, Edinburgh; Nobel Prize inPhysics)Professor Percy W. Bridgman (Professor of Physics, Harvard University;Nobel Prize in Physics)Professor Albert EinsteinProfessor Leopold Infeld (Professor of Theoretical Physics, University ofWarsaw)Professor Joliot-Curie (Professor of Physics at the Coll ge de France;Nobel Prize in Chemistry)Professor Herman J. Muller (Professor of Zoology, University of Indiana;Nobel Prize in Physiology and Medicine)Professor Linus Pauling (Professor of Chemistry, California Institute ofTechnology; Nobel Prize in Chemistry)Professor Cecil F.

10 Powell (Professor of Physics, University of Bristol; NobelPrize in Physics)Professor Joseph Rotblat (Professor of Physics, University of London;Medical College of St. Bartholomew s Hospital)26 Einstein 2/16/05 1:34 PM Page 26 The Russell- Einstein ManifestoBertrand RussellProfessor Hideki Yukawa (Professor of Theoretical Physics, KyotoUniversity; Nobel Prize in Physics)Notes1. Professor Joliot-Curie wishes to add the words: as a means of settling differencesbetween States .2. Professor Joliot-Curie wishes to add that these limitations are to be agreed by all and inthe interests of Professor Muller makes the reservation that this be taken to mean a concomitantbalanced reduction of all armaments.


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