PRO EINSTEIN

Hokitika Guardian, 18 November 1933, Page 3

PRO EINSTEIN

HIS TASK TO-DAY

TO SAVE CIVILISATION

Professor Einstein, who was driven from Germany because he is a Jew, was the chief figure at a Royal Albert Hal! meeting organised to raise funds for the Refugee Association Committee. In the course of his speecih he said;—“lt Cannot be my task to-day to act as judge of the conduct of a nation which for many years- has considered me as her own; perhaps it is an idle task to judge in times when action counts. Today the questions which concern us are: How can we save mankind and its spiritual ■ acquisitions of which we are the heirs? How can one save Europe from a new disaster? It cannotbe- doubted l 'that, the world crisis •and.the suffering qnd privations of the people resulting from the crisis are in. some’ measure .-.responsible for the dan- ‘ gerous- upheavals-, of which we are the witnesses. In -such periods, discontent breeds hatred, and hatred leads to acts of violence and revolution, and often even to war.--Thus distress and evil produce new distress and new evil. Again the leading statesmen are burdened with tremendous responsibilities just as 20 years ago. May they succeed through timely agreement to establish a condition of unity and clarity of international obligations in Europe so that for every State a war-like adventure must -appear'as utterly hopeless. But the work of statesmen can succeed only if they ‘ are backed by tW' serious avid determined will of the people. We are concerned - not’ merely with the technical- 1 problem of securing and maintaining peace'; but also with the 'important task-of education and enlight-enment.-If we want to restore the powers ' vvhiclv threaten to- suppress intellectual and individual freedom, we must keep clearly before us what is at stake, and what we owe to that freedom which : our ancestors have won • for us after hai*d struggles. . Without 'doubt-the?-preselit" economic : difficulties* jtyH? nwentualJ^ 'SHft'g to •the poiiit wlkre the balance between the -supply and the demand of labour, between production and will he. erifofeeVl. 'by law. But evdn'-fhis problem we shall solve as free men, and we shallv«not ailo\V ohi-selves f ~Tof- its sake to be driven’-intro’' slavery which would- . stagn-: nation of every’ heiilthy I 'develtopmeut.” ‘ ‘Shall , we? worry over the s' fact- that we are living in a time of>danger -and want ? I think- not,” continued Professor Einstein..' “Man, like every other animal, .is by nature indolent. If nothing spurs him on, then he will hardly think and- will behave from habit like an automaton. I am no ; longer young, and can, therefore, say'that as a child and as a young lnan J experienced that phase—when - a young man thinks only about the trivialities of personal existence and talks like his" fellows and behaves like them. Only with difficulty can one see what is really behind such a conventional mask. For, owing to habit and speech, his real personality is, as it were, wrapped in cotton .wopl. . How.different it- is today! • In, the ..lightning flashes of ..our. tempestuous times one sees human bejiigs and t-bi.pgs> in,; their -nakedness. Every nation and every human being reveals clearly its aims, powers and weaknesses,; and .also its- passions. Routine becomes of no-avail under the swift change p.f conditions; conventions fall away.like dry husks. Men in their distress begin to think about the. failure of economic practice and about the necessity of political combinations which are supernational. Qnly through perils and upheavals can nations ,be brought to further development. May the present upheavals lead to a better world.”