Single World Authority Only Possible Means of Preventing Atomic War

Otago Daily Times, Issue 26637, 6 December 1947, Page 7

Single World Authority Only Possible Means of Preventing Atomic War

N.Z.P.A. Special Correspondent LONDON, Dec. 5. Addressing the Royal Empire Society, Lord Bertrand Russell said that another world war, in which one side or the other possessed the atomic bomb, would probably bring about a complete cessation of life, human, animal, and vegetable. He dismissed the possibility of prohibiting the manufacture of atomic weapons as “ futile ” and said that the .only possible means of preventing an atomic war was by the creation of a single world authority which would possess a complete monopoly of all serious weapons of war. As a step t towards this, he suggested that all nations which were aware of the urgency of the problem should form a close alliance involving common armaments and common defence. This alliance must be willing to coerce the recalcitrant minority, if necessary even by war itself. “ We must learn to face this issue more honestly and face the fact that it transcends ail old issues on which mankind is . divided. Either we must establish a world Government in a very few years or we perish,” said Lord Russell.

Sir John Anderson, who presided, said that in his view there were no longer any secrets about atomic energy in the sense of hidden truths known only to a select few. Fundamental truths and knowledge possessed by those who had been working intensively in the field of atomic research in the United States, Canada and Britain, had now, broadly speaking, become common property throughout the world. There were, however, lengthy technical processes which demanded most careful examination and experiment, and which were governed by the availability of material, supplies and human skill. These warnings and predictions by Lord Russell and Sir John Anderson are supported by Professor Albert Einstein, who speaks the epilogue to that remarkable film showing the development of atomic energy which was given its world press preview in London to-day. The film is not intended for entertainment, but for the information ,of scientists, research workers and students. Nevertheless, amidst a mass of scientific formulae and involved calculations it makes it graphically clear that any country with the necessary material and financial and expert scientific resources could carry on atomic research on a general basis of the known facts already established. In establishing these facts, the film attributes the whole foundation of present day atomic research to the New Zealander, Lord Rutherford, who himself appears in a number of scenes photographed before his death. Professor Einstein ends the film with the prediction that civilisation will end within a few days of any general outbreak of an atomic war. He explains the difficulties of adapting atomic energy for industrial uses and predicts that several decades will elapse before practical results can be expected.