Pacifism & Pragmatism.1 (Betrand Russell)

[Terrance]

Thomas Eckhardt wrote:
> 
> As for the recent discussions of Pacifism: George Orwell, in his essay
> "Reflections on Ghandi" wrote:
> 
> "(...) Nor did he, like most western pacifists, specialise in avoiding
> awkward questions. In relation to the late war, one question that every
> pacifist had a clear obligation to answer was: "What about the Jews? Are
> you prepared to see them exterminated? If not, how do you propose to
> save them without resorting to war?" I must say that I have never heard,
> from any western pacifist, an honest answer to this question, though I
> have heard plenty of evasions, usually of the "you're another" type. But
> it so happens that Gandhi was asked a somewhat similar question in 1938
> and that his answer is on record in Mr. Louis Fischer's "Gandhi and
> Stalin". According to Mr. Fischer Gandhi's view was that the German Jews
> ought to commit collective suicide, which "would have aroused the world
> and the people of Germany to Hitler's violence". After the war he
> justified himself: the Jews had been killed anyway, and might as well
> have died significantly. One has the impression that this attitude
> staggered even so warm an admirer as Mr. Fischer, but Gandhi was merely
> being honest. If you are not prepared to take life, you must often be
> prepared for lives to be lost in some other way."
> 
> Although Ghandi's answer may seem outrageous - I think it is, and I
> stopped being an Armchair Pacifist after I read this - it is also, as
> Orwell says, honest. Perhaps even honourable. The awkward question
> posed, though, I believe, is indeed the one "every pacifist has the
> clear obligation to answer".
> 
> Please note that I am not talking about the present situation, which is
> not comparable to the one that is the subject of Orwell's text.
> 
> Thomas

Betrand Russell was a brilliant mathematician. He was also an atheist. 
And he was a life-long pacifist. 

But Bertrand Russell was not an absolute pacifist. 

 

"The use of force is justifiable when it is ordered in accordance with
law by a neutral authority, in the general interest and not primarily in
the interest of one of the parties to the quarrel."


One solution, Russell suggested, was for an international organization
backed up by force to keep the peace. 

Another solution he suggested was passive resistance. Russell felt that
if this was intelligently adopted by the whole nation with as much
courage and
discipline as was being shown in the war, then the national life could
be better protected with far less carnage and waste.

Wars can be prevented by a positive life of passion. Impulse must not
be weakened but directed "towards life and growth rather than towards
death and decay." Russell suggests that the excessive discipline of
impulse not
only exhausts vitality but often results in impulses of cruelty and
destruction; this
is why militarism is bad for national character. He recommends therefore
active pacifism
with the impulse and passion to overcome the impulses of war. Great
courage and
passion are necessary to face the onslaught of the hostile public
opinion of a
nation. Three forces for life are love, constructiveness, and joy. There
must be
strong action to assure international justice by a "Parliament of the
nations." War can
be prevented if the great powers firmly determine that peace shall be
preserved. 

In 1931 Russell applauded Einstein's statement recommending that
pacifists refuse
military service. Like Einstein, Russell decided not to adhere to
absolute pacifism in the face of the Nazi threat.

Understanding nuclear physics he explained how a hydrogen bomb with much
more
explosive force could work. He predicted that soon the Russians would
have bombs as
destructive as those of the United States. He recommended that nuclear
weapons be
under international control, and he supported the Baruch Plan for an
International Atomic Development Authority.

In 1950 Bertrand Russell was given the Nobel Prize for Literature. There
is no Nobel for Philosophy.  

In October and November of 1962 Bertrand Russell acted as a peacemaker
in two very serious international crises, even though he was only a
private
citizen. When President Kennedy ordered the naval blockade of Cuba to
stop any Russian
ship from carrying missiles to the island, Russell issued a press
statement,
which began, "It seems likely that within a week you will all be dead to
please
American madmen." Russell hoped there would be large demonstrations of
protest,
and he noted that the most impressive was in New York where Michael
Scott and
A. J. Muste spoke to ten thousand. On October 23 Russell sent a telegram
to
Kennedy, calling his action "desperate" and a "threat to human survival"
without
justification and pleading that he end the madness. To Khrushchev he
telegraphed an
appeal that he not be provoked but seek condemnation of U.S. action
through the
United Nations. On the next day Premier Khrushchev publicized a long
letter in
reply to Mr. Russell assuring him that the Soviet government would not
be
reckless as the Americans had been in their pre-election excitement.
Russell then
telegraphed Khrushchev thanking him for his "courageous stand for
sanity" and asking
him to hold back the ships so that the Americans could come to an
agreement. 

In November 1962 Russell was similarly involved in mediating the border
dispute between China and India.

The Bertrand Russell Peace Foundation was formed in 1963. He worked to
free political prisoners in over forty countries. Russell began
publishing
articles criticizing the unofficial war in Vietnam. He explained how the
French, Japanese, British, and Americans had prevented the Vietnamese
people from obtaining their independence for the sake of imperialism and
capitalistic exploitation. He described the atrocities that had been
perpetrated by puppet governments of the West and American "advisors."