The Biological Species

To Britain's philosophizing Bertrand Russell, after one of his end-of-the-world radio speeches about nuclear warfare last winter, came a glowing fan letter from French Physicist Jean Frederic Joliot-Curie. Recalls Russell: "I was particularly appreciative of getting a letter from him because of the fact that he is a noted Communist. One of my principal purposes was ... to unite men of science." An idea popped into Russell's head: Why should not the leading scientists of East and West join in a statement that would warn the world about the disastrous consequences of nuclear warfare?

Russell sat down and wrote a letter to Albert Einstein at Princeton, N.J., outlining his thoughts. Einstein replied, agreeing "with every word," and naming Russell the "dictator of the enterprise." Russell drafted a 1,500-word statement and sent it winging about the world for comment and signature. The world will not long remember Dictator Russell (or Sponsor Einstein) for anything that appeared in the statement, which was a dreary mishmash of gloom-laden cliches.

Read last week by Russell, under the glare of television lights in London's Caxton Hall, it said: "We are speaking on this occasion not as members of this or that nation, continent or creed, but as human beings ... The world is full of conflicts, and, overshadowing all minor conflicts, the titanic struggle between Communism and antiCommunism. Almost everybody who is politically conscious has strong feelings about one or more of these issues; but we want you, if you can, to set aside such feelings and consider yourselves only as members of a biological species . . . The best authorities are unanimous in saying that a war with H-bombs might quite possibly put an end to the human race . . . Here then is the problem which we present to you, stark and dreadful and inescapable: Shall we put an end to the human race, or shall mankind renounce war?" Russell's answer was inevitable: the governments of the world should join together to renounce war in a sort of scientist-sponsored Kellogg-Briand pact.

Of 21 scientists asked to sign the statement, only nine (including Russell and Einstein) did so. Communist Curie signed only after making a reservation to the effect that revolutions should not be included in the renunciation. Among the scientists who refused to sign were eight Nobel Prizewinners, including Niels Bohr of Denmark and Arthur H. Compton and Harold C. Urey of the U.S., who apparently were devoting their interest to science.

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