War is an ancient institution which has ex-ed for at least six thousand years. It was always icked and usually foolish, but in the past the hu-in race managed to live with it. Modern ingenuity 5 changed this. Either man will abolish war, or will abolish man. For the present, it is nuclearipons that cause the gravest danger, but bacteriocal or chemical weapons may, before long, offer even greater threat. If we succeed in abolishing near weapons, our work will not be done. It will be done until we have succeeded in abolishing
To do this, we need to persuade mankind to upon international questions in a new way, not
contests of force, in which the victory goes to the which is most skillful in massacre, but by arbijn in accordance with agreed principles of law.
It’s not easy to change age old mental habits, but this is what must be attempted.
There are those who say that the adoption of this or that ideology would prevent war. I believe this to be a profound error. All ideologies are based upon dogmatic assertions which are, at best, doubtful, and at worst, totally false. Their adherents be¬lieve in them so fanatically that they are willing to go to war in support of them.
The movement of world opinion during the past two years has been varied largely such as we can welcome. It has become a commonplace that nuclear war must be avoided. Of course, very difficult problems remain in the international sphere, but the spirit in which they are being approached is a better one than it was some years ago. It has begun to be thought, even by the powerful men who decide whether we shall live or die, that negotiations should reach agreements even if both sides do not find these agreements wholly satisfactory. It has begun to be understood that the important conflict nowadays is not between East and West, but between Man and the H-bomb.