LETTERS
Editor: In his letter published in the May-June 1970 issue of your magazine, Professor Dennis H. Wrong asserts that Einstein "played a leading role in encouraging his fellow scientists to...
...Professor Wrong obviously based his statement on inaccurate information...
...It is unclear what SP would have had him do as President of a weak federation, with the Great Powers in a hostile mood...
...Plastrik charges that Jefferson was alarmed at the prospect of slave revolt, without making clear why he should have welcomed such an event...
...will have to greatly increase its imports of vital metals...
...Michael Harrington's presentation of the case for socialism for a modem America, however, contains some serious omissions...
...Black equality has only become massively fashionable within the last decade...
...America appears to be drifting without a sense of direction...
...Does he believe it could have been successful...
...population may be 300 million by the year 2000...
...Should he have expected the neutrality from Europe which barely was maintained when civil war did break out 60 years later...
...Arbitrary government need not take the form of a dictatorship (rule by one man...
...As to Jefferson's repeating of popular fables about blacks, I fail to see why that should depress Mr...
...Current projections indicate the U.S...
...Harry Truman, as President, was still sneering at the idea C. W. JONES • Harrington Essay Editor: "Why We Need Socialism in America," by Michael Harrington [DISSENT, May—June 1970] strikes me as the first recent attempt by a socialist to make socialism relevant to the American scene...
...OTTO NATHAN . Trustee, Estate of Albert Einstein Jefferson & the Slaves Editor: Mr...
...Should he have called on the northern states for troops to free the slaves...
...IRVING P. PHILLIPS...
...Editor: In his letter published in the May-June 1970 issue of your magazine, Professor Dennis H. Wrong asserts that Einstein "played a leading role in encouraging his fellow scientists to work for the Manhattan Project...
...it may simply be due to the response of administrations to social problems, which would reflect primarily the fears and frustrations of America...
...Harrington's failure to include population growth as a variable and limited natural resources as a constraint creates serious gaps in his case forSocialism in America...
...With general approbation, a great deal of anti-German commentary is tossed about today, on television and in the best circles...
...He fails to consider the impact of a rapid population increase on per capita income...
...Already projections made of natural resource requirements show the U.S...
...He did not encourage anyone to join the Manhattan Project, the existence of which was as unknown to him as it was to anyone else outside a very restricted group of government officials and scientists...
...For this one must applaud Michael Harrington because he thus opens the door for debate on the relevance of socialist doctrine...
...The feeding, housing, and clothing of such a vast number of Americans raises doubts as to whether American Enterprise even with the aid of technology will be able to find and exploit enough natural resources to meet the needs of such a huge population accustomed to a rising standard of living...
...If one takes into account Jefferson's inability to foresee our current tastes in ethnophobia, it looks unfair to forbid him a privilege exercised freely at any cocktail party...
...Should he have expected the Federalist merchants to support those troops with money...
...Plastrik...
...The magnitude and multiplicity of social problems facing society today could drive America in the direction of arbitrary government...
...If he does not believe this, he seems to be castigating the old boy for not provoking mod-style confrontation...
...The dramatic history of Einstein's part in the initiation of those events is recorded in detail in Chapter IX of Einstein on Peace (New York, Schocken Books, 1968...
...If Mr...
...Except for sending the famous letter of August 2, 1939, to President Roosevelt (which was followed up by a letter of March 7, 1940, destined for the President) Einstein had no contact whatsoever with the work that eventually led to the construction of the bomb...
...Plastrik is shocked by Jefferson's choice to "preserve the union without freeing any slave," as a later President put it, what must he have thought of JFK, who, with an extra 160 years of enlightenment behind him, had to be goaded to offer even token opposition to white supremacy...
...His draft of the Declaration of Independence complained that the king had (1) allowed slavery and (2) encouraged the slaves to revolt, thus taking the liberty of the blacks and endangering the lives of the whites...
...The drift may lead us to a type of action which would be inimical to the democratic tradition...
...Jefferson, at any rate, was hardly coy about his attitude on the matter...
...That the U.S., which accounts for only 6 percent of the world population, nevertheless consumes 40 percent of the natural resources extracted each year throughout the world has implications for the future that socialists cannot afford to ignore...
...The need to establish the relevance of a socialist approach should be obvious to all socialists...
Vol. 17 • November 1970 • No. 6
