Political Reality and the Atom Bomb
EASTMAN, MAX
Political Reality and the Atom Bomb Statesmen Must Not Lend-Lease the Future of Democracy By Max Eastman THE lack of manly nerve in the democratic governments, the same lack that almost gave the...
...It lies in Stalin's power to call off this action, or take the heart out of it, with ten words spoken in the i ij;ht quarter and in the right idiom...
...Stalin at the 14th Congress of the All Union Communist Psrty, December IMS, stenographic report, page 15.] The notion that Stalin ha* changed kit mini 'bout thesis basic quettion* did tut originate with him, and findi no tup-ton in (tap act er policy of hi* govern-M*st...
...SOCIAL CONTROL OF ATOMIC POWER ThE atomic bomb raises nothing which I* new in principle...
...Great popular movements in the colonial spheres, from Egypt and Palestine to French Indo-China and Indonesia, have followed the war...
...It would be a mistake simply to adhere to the principle of French and Dult'h sovereignty snd to restore the old crt-liiiiial status...
...And these books make it explicitly clear that any contrary statement made to "imperialist" governments are made as to enemies, with whom pesce is a truce, and whom it is legitimate, in the causa of their destruction, to lead On and delude to the extent that their gullibility anil faint heartedness mske possible • • • Demand Action, Not Premise' 1 T can not be too strongly stated that it is not brains or scumen, but fortitude that is lacking in the leaders of what is supposed to be a defense of democracy...
...VWyi;tbe gusranjee...
...What the world sees in the great area between the Indian and the Pacific Oceans today are movements of colonial peoples which have grown and matured in recent decades and have reached a stage in their development when much more self-government Is possible and imperative...
...An Editorial— The Revolt in Indonesia and American Responsibility THE passivity of the United States and its non-intervention in the great conflict in Indonesia is neither sensible nor salutary...
...This would be obvious even if those other plans and other conceptions were not lucidly set forth in hoots and pamphlets written by Stalin, progressively revised by him during two decadei, and now selling by the millions in the bookstores and party headquarters of his followers throughout the esrlh...
...The least that any thinking citizen could ask of those proposing this rash folly ia that they should demand action in return...
...It is hardly **e»l»aWe thst any statesman whose was to introduce peace throughout the existing world would have raised this, insuperable barrier against honest world organization...
...We cannot evade out responsibilities...
...Stalin has made six .formal statements of his "aims and policies": m* at Moscow, one at Teheran, one at Tatts, one at Potsdam, one in the Athene Charter, and one in an interna-nmal hifaadosit...
...IJe is acting upon the..thesis'TaTi'd down by Lenin in the following words, which he himself quotes with fervent spproval: "It is inconceivable that the Soviet Republic should continue to exist for a long period side by side with imperialist states...
...A craven fear to...
...But how long will Dutch "l*w »nd order" l»st, snd what is its price...
...It is true that the paople of Indonesia- endured the Japanese occupation without a revolt...
...ice unplia»«>'t frets and prepare for unpleaaant poeilhiiitise prevents our {grsung one...
...By RALPH BARTON PfRRF Proftttor of PhUemophy, Harvard Univtreity...
...It would be at least the language of men with force enough to contemplate real facts...
...How is the new statement to differ in it* Mtflng quslity from the "then, How, In general, does a "frank "d honest" statement differ from a eUtemeftt which .pretend to be frank •nd honest b«|jJU not...
...The USA alone of all nation* I* In a position to intervene In Indonesia, In China, in Palestine, on the side of democratic progress...
...We van open the road to self-government to the millions of colonial' people longing for our political a* well as economic aid...
...Treaties are signed defin-,Bf the dements of a future war, and ihrtys tile signing of such treaties is lecempaaied by a lot of noise about pease...
...To surrender sny fighting advantage to the acknowledged leader of a movement pledged to overthrow our government and destroy our liberty would be an act of disloyalty in a moral Rente, even if performed by the government itself...
...thst the weapons they sre fighting with at present are of J»p»ne-e origin...
...The colonial world looks to us with hope...
...They can not go down to a Communist bookstore and buy Stalin's indubitably "frank and honest statemsBt of his sims and policies" because it will make them unhappy to read it...
...They can not bear to fsce the fact tha't a considerable military power has come into the hands of snother, and more subtle, enemy of democratic civilisation...
...That lly device,'- traneformed sreeat-etion from the tonbryo of a government to oamethtng* .*se>vw* '» •Uvince, el the virtorioue great-pm'-mere, indeed*', ikmn'd per-¦••»*• agreement to confer...
...is but the most flagrant example...
...Against British planes, tanks, and guns the rebels have no chance...
...Hik arresting our representatives «> Bulgaria, violating the protection of the American flag, and twice forcibly -lectins, them from the country because taHr presence"recalled him to his prom-ij*» siay also be mentioned ss an example: tat it is needless to rake up and recent Stalin's' innumerable transgres-¦ioas of every formal statement of policy mkai made...
...It is the latest and in some wsys the most sensalionsl of the discoveries through which man haa learned to harness the forces of nature...
...They are of particular strength in the French and Dutch colonics- thi* is * symptom and a consequence of the weakening of France and Holland during the war, and the fruit of prewar maladministration...
...We can stop the senseless bloodshed in the Far East...
...Withdraw your Red Army and your army of NKVD agents from Poland in the first place, and then from all other foreign countries both in Eastern Europe and Northern Asia, and stop blocking our effort to aet up democratic regimes' in those countries, as you have six times promised to do, snd we will share with you the secret of the atom bomb...
...The USA is not interested In further territorial conquest...
...The United States has ink en a po-litiesl' step of fundamental significance in intervening In the Palestinian problem...
...Palestine - belongs to the British sphere and America has no right to interfere in its internal affairs...
...we cannot return te isolation In any sphere...
...In- a lusty conference Prime Minister Attlee s proposal to hand over our best ssspoii to Stalin, provided his government "makes a frank and honest statement of Its aims snd policies," would be hooted out of court before it was well uttered...
...Every one of theio ttelemeatt hat been tromtgrtteed and liiikanvi-td in every country occupied by tht Rtii Army...
...end it* destructive nses hsve reached e point at which it becomes absolutely imperative, even in the interest ef bare survival, thst there shall be • social and intellectual control which will guarantee that this power is devoted to good ends...
...Stalin's real aim and policy is clearly set down in these books for all who can , read...
...It was the act of a man who had other plans, for the world, other conceptions of history and of progress...
...thst they had direct military help on the part of Japanese officers...
...You can not negotiate with , ^hter unless you know how to use tae language of ppwer...
...A smheijent aaWpBSrf this is his sabo-l*»g the effort to form a world gov* by insisting that every member •f tht Council ef the United Nations °t«aiistien have the right to veto its *«k»ons...
...Where is the I'belon it...
...Political Reality and the Atom Bomb Statesmen Must Not Lend-Lease the Future of Democracy By Max Eastman THE lack of manly nerve in the democratic governments, the same lack that almost gave the world to HitkV» New Order, is rapidly giving j, i0 Stalin...
...These considerations do not solve, however, the great "problem...
...America has risen to an outstanding and dominant position in the postwar world...
...The subjugation of Po-Itsd, and the foul trick he plsyed on us sod the men whose cause we were bark-inr there...
...Ultimately one or the other must conquer...
...It is set down where its frankness and honesty can not be doubted, because millions of his loyal followers, a fifth column in every country of the globe, are using it as their guide in action...
...The least action they could conceivably demand is that Stalin live up to the six solemn statements of aims ami policies he has already made...
...Stalin is a tratsr, snd bis whole foreign policy is based on the assumption that other wars, tft eeflisg...
...that the appeal for Russian help is illogicsl, since popular ' movements in Russia »re suppressed by methods even more cruel than those applied by the British and Dutch in Indonesia...
...So long as lie does not speak those words to his followers, his books remain the sole reliable statement of his aims and policies...
...That would be foolhardy snd quits possibly fatal, but it would not be fatuous...
...For a certain time order and quiet will return to these rich island* which are, with their population of 70,000,000, almost an empire, in themselves...
...H* has stated this explicitly, and there ia no excuse for any .utesmso's ignoring it: "We knew front the history ,of Europe, till every time treaties are made con-rerning the realignment of forces for i sew war, these treaties are called trea-tjei of pesce...
...These writings show that Stalin knows exactly what he is doing when sabotaging the effort to form a world government, when sabotaging a meeting of Foreign Ministers, when sabotaging dther efforts to arrive at a stable main* vivenii between capitalist democracy and totalitarian state capitalism...
...It originated in the minds of our leasers, and ia evidence of nothing but their disposition to crawl into mental hiding ia the presence of unpleasant (sets...
...L, . •fofSassoJ (flBrmMtw I WOULD 9Ws^<- the bomb secret, " sny militfly^awrret, to Statin on sny •"¦a...
...tor I know thst his real snd "••safest purpose is to overthrow our tvesenment, together with all free govT*"*"1'*' *!&tfi$*ce our democrat >c firttiiation sjSElefateUliUruin regime...
...The insurrection will be suppressed, and the Dutch authorities will be reinstated...
...With the consent of the people of Pslestins •s well ss of the British Government, the United States is going to plsy s major role in one of the most complicated problems of the Middle East as well as of the whole Arabic world...
...Man's possession of power in no wsy guxnn-tee* thst he will use It well...
...Criticism regarding the Indonesian uprising is easy but not entirely convincing...
...It is not only that we luk a foreign policy...
...They can only beg the dictator on their knees, in return for the best, weapon in their arsensl of defense, to provide them with another and more plausible verbal formula behind which to hid* ...from the facts...
Vol. 28 • November 1945 • No. 46
