CONTROL OF ATOMIC BOMB

New Zealand Herald, Volume 82, Issue 25347, 31 October 1945, Page 5

CONTROL OF ATOMIC BOMB

By PROFESSOR ALBERT EINSTEIN

The release ot atomic energy has not created a new problem. It has merely made more urgent the necessity of solving an existing one. One could say that it has affected us quantitatively, not qualitatively. As long as there are sovereign nations possessing great power, wars are inevitable.

That statement is not an attempt to say when war will come, but only that it is sure to come. That fact was sure before the atomic bomb was made. What has been changed is the destructiveness of war. 1 do not believe that civilisation will be wiped out in a war fought with atomic bombs. Perhaps two-thirds ol the people of the earth might be killed, but enough men capable of thinking and enough books would be left to start again and civilisation could be restored.

I do not believe that the secret of the bomb should he given to the United Nations organisation. I do not believe that it should be given to the Soviet Union. Either course would be like the action of 'i man with capital who, wishing another man to work with him on some enterprise, should start out by simply giving his prospective partner half of his money. The second man might choose to start a rival enterprise when what was wanted was his co-operation. The secret of the bomb should be committed to a World Government, and the United States should immediately announce its readiness to give it to a World Government. This Government should be founded by the United States, the Soviet Union, and Great Britain — the only three Powers with great military strength. Commit Military Strength All three of them should commit to this World Government all of their military strength. The fact that there are only three nations with great military power should make it easier rather than harder to establish such a Government.

Since the United States and Great Britain have the secret ot : the atomic bomb and the Soviet Union does not, they should invite the Soviet Union to prepare and present the first draft of a Constitution' for the proposed World Government. That action should help to dispel the distrust which the Russians already feel, because the bomb is being kept a secret, chiefly to prevent their having it. Obviously the first draft would not be the final one, but the Russians should be made to feel that the World Government would assure them their security. It would be wise if this Constitution were to be negotiated by a single American, a single Britisher, and a single Russian. They would have to have.advisers, but these advisers should only advise when asked. I believe three men can succeed in writing a workable Constitution acceptable to all three nations. Six or seven men or more would probably fail. After the three great Powers have drafted a Constitution and adopted it, the smaller nations should be invited to join the World Government. They should be free to stay out; and though they would be perfectly secure in staying* out, I am sure they would wish to join. Naturally, they should be entitled to propose changes in the Constitution as drafted by the Big Three. But the Big Three should go ahead and organise. Power of Intervention

The World Government would have power over all military matters, including power to intervene in countries where a minority is oppressing a majority and creating the kind of instability tliat leads to war. Conditions such as exist in Argentina and Spain should be dealt with. There must be an end to the concept of non-intervention, for to end it is part of keeping the peace. Establishment of the World Government must have to wait until the same conditions of freedom are to be found in all three of the great Powers. While it is true that in the Soviet Union a minority rules, I do not consider that internal conditions there are of themselves a threat to world peace. One must bear in mind that the people in Russia did not have a long political education, and the changes to improve the Russian conditions had to be carried through by a minority for the reason tliat there was no majority capable ol doing it. If I had been born a Russian. I believe I could have adjusted myself to this condition. ft is not necessary in establishing a world organisation with a monopoly ot military authority to change the structure of"the three great Powers, ft would be for the three individuals who draft the Constitution to devise ways for their different structures to be fitted together for collaboration.

Do T fear tyranny of a World Government? Of course I do. But I fear still more the coming of another war. Any Government is certain to be evil to some extent. But a World Government is preferable to the far greater evil of wars, particularly with their intensified destructiveness. If a World Government is not established by agreement, I believe it will come in* another way, and in a much more dangerous form. For the war or wars will end in one Power being supreme and dominating the rest of the world by it* overwhelming military strength. Danger ol Gradualness

Now that we hare the atomic secret we must not lose it, and that is what we should risk doing if we should [jive it to the United Nations organisation or to the Soviet Union. But we must make it clear as quickly as possible that we are not keeping the bomb a secret for the sake of our own power, but in the hope of establishing peace in a World Government, and that we will do our utmost to bring this World Government into being. 1 appreciate that there are persons who favour a gradual approach to a World Government, even although they approve of it as the ultimate objective. The trouble about taking little steps, one at a time, in the hope that we shall [continue to keep the bomb secret is that we would do it without making our reason convincing to those who do not have the secret, That, of itself, creates fear and suspicion, with the consequence* that the relations of the rival sovereignties deteriorate dangerously. So, while, persons who take only a step at a time may think they are approaching world peace, they actually arc contributing by their slow pace to the coming of war. We have no time to spend in this way. If war is to be averted, it must bo done quickly. The United States of America will not have the secret for very long. I knowit is argued that no other country has money enough to spend on the development of an atomic bomb, and that this fact assures us the secret for a long time. It is a mistake often made in the United States to measure things by I lie amount of money they cost. But other countries which have the materials and men can apply them to the work of developing atomic power if they care to do so. For the men and the materials and the decision to use them, and not money, are all that are needed. T do not consider myself the father of the release of atomic energy. My part in it was quite indirect. I did not, in fact, foresee that it would release in my time. I believed only that its release was theoretically possible. I( became practical through an accidental discoverv o( a chain of reactions, and tliiwas not something I could have predicted. It, was discovered by Halm in Berlin, and he himself misinterpreted what he discovered. It was Lise Mcitncr

GREAT SCIENTIST'S CONCLUSION WORLD GOVERNMENT ESSENTIAL

who provided the correct interpretation and escaped from Germany to place the information in the hands of Nils Bohr.

I do not believe that a great era of atomic science is to be assured by organising the sciences in Lhe way the large corporations are organised. One can organise to apply a discovery already made, but not to make one. Only a free individual can make a discovery. Tlier e can he a kind of organising whereby scientists are assured of their freedom and the proper conditions of work. Professors of science in the universities, for instance, should be relieved of some of their teaching so as to have time for more research. Can you imagine an organisation of scientists making the discoveries of Charles Darwin;' Nor do 1 believe that the vast, private Corporations of the United States arc suitable to the needs of these times. If a visitor came to the United States from another planet, would he not find it strange that, in this country so much power is given to private corporations without i heir having commensurate responsibility P f say this to stress that the American Government must keep control of atomic energy, not because socialism is necessarily desirable hut because atomic energy was developed by the Government and it would be unthinkable to (urn over I his property of the people to any individual or group ol Prediction Impossible As to Socialism, unless it is international to the extent of producing a World Government which controls all military power, it might more easily lead to wars than does Capitalism, liecause it represents a still greater concentration of powers. To give any estimate of when atomic energy can be applied to constructive purposes is impossible. What now is known is only how to use a fairly large quantity of uranium. The use of quantities sufficiently small to operate, say, a car or aeroplane, is as yet impossible. No doubj. it will be achieved, but nobody can say when. Nor can one predict when materials more common than uranium can be used to supply atomic energy.

Presumably, all the materials used for this purpose will be among the heavier elements of high atomic weight. Those elements are relatively scarce, because of their lesser stability. Most of these materials may already have disappeared by radio-active disintegration. So, though the release of atomic energy can be. and no doubt will be, a great boon to mankind, that may not be before some time. Constructive Menace i myself do not have the gift of explanation by which to persuade large numbers of the people of the urgency of the problems the human race now faces. Hence, I should like to commend someone who has this gift of explanation— Emery J? eves, whose book, "The Anatomy of Peace," is intelligent; brief, clear, and, if I may use an abused term, dynamic on the topic of war and the need for a World Government. Since i do not foresee that atomic energy is to he a great boon for a long time, 1 have to say that for the present it is a menace. Perhaps it is well that it should be. It may intimidate the human race into bringing order into its international affairs which, without, the pressure of fear, it would not do.

iWorld Copyright) To clarify misinterpretations of the article printed above, which has just been published in America by the Atlantic Monthly. Professor Einstein made the following statement this week:— "To give away the atomic bomb secret under present anarchic conditions would load to an accelerated armaments race. Nothing is more important at present than to create an atmosphere of confidence among the great Powers, so that the great problem of the abolition of competitive armament can be solved. "When T said that the so-called atomic bomb secret should not bo thrown away in the present state of affairs, it was my intention to express sharply that everything, especially knowledge about destructive weapons, should be used to bring about a centralised organisation for security, "The major Powers, in whom rests the greatest military strength, must establish permanent machinery for control and military security which will make national armament superfluous."