HOW TO. BEAT THE HYDROGEN-BOMB

HE bomb has broken through! Anything that can burst through the formal and contrived procedure of T British parliamentary politics and bring the whole population face to face with the real problems of our ‘terrible twentieth century’ as Churchill once described the century in which capitalism is doomed to die, is a mighty issue.

Why is the hydrogen bomb able to break through p arty lines that have stood for a generation, even able to restore a semblance of strength to an anachronism like the Liberal Party?

This bomb is not just another election issue. It is the symbol of the dawn of a new era in human history.

By threatening the ‘death of the human race—and this is MURDER no exaggeration—it forces men and women to ask how civiliza- N AGY and-his companions have been murdered for tion could arrive at such a choice. the same reason that Trotsky was murdered eighteen In the life of two generations, the people of .Europe have years ago:. while these men lived the workers could given the blood of tens of millions of their sons to war, to a draw corhfort and courage from a living link with the series of blood baths on the soil of France, Belgium; Russia, heroic age of their Revolution. By murdering Nagy Germany and every other nation.

without even the farce of a public trial and confessions Hungary’s Stalinist overlords display more than savage Sanity itself demands it vindictiveness. They demonstrate their fear of the And for what? In the interests of the ruling cliques of the workers and of the growth of any kind of Marxist imperialist powers of Europe.

leadership. Nagy was the one prominent Hungarian A system which requires such mass murder on an -evercommunist in whom the ordinary people had confidence. increasing scale, which even in times of ‘peace’ indulges in the concentration camps of Kenya and: Malaya, or the torture Alive, he was a standing-reproach to the régime of chambers of Algeria, can no longer claim any affinity with ‘judges’ who, a few months after joining the Socialist human existence, let alone claim to represent ‘Western Civil- Workers’ Party, are busily condemning life-long comization’, ‘the democratic tradition’, and all the rest of it. munists and revolutionary workers to death. Alive, he Now that human science and industry can provide for the was a standing challenge to the system of secret police complete extermination of the race, no one can claim any . persecution, corruption, repression and lies which masquerades as ‘people’s democracy’. That was why he had to be arrested by a trick and executed. OUR SERIES ON THE H-BOMB Nagy lacked almost all the conventional attributes of _a great workers’ leader. His thought rarely rose above This is the last in a series of articles designed to give the humdrum, ponderous level of ‘next tasks’. He was workers as simply and clearly as possible the facts about the scientific, military, medical and political aspects of thrust forward by the tide of popular feeling, catapulted the hydrogen bomb. _into the role of spokesman for Hungary’s inarticulate multitudes. His greatness lay in his refusal, at a time Previous articles in the series were by our scientific correspondent, J. H. Bradley (May 10, pp. 140-1; May of national crisis and upheaval, to abdicate the respon17, pp. 144-5), and our medical correspondent (June 7, sibilities that there was no one else to shoulder. His p. 156; June 14, p. 161). weakness lay in his failure to understand and base himCliff Slaughter, author of this final article, is a lecturer self on the dynamic new force arising in his storm-tossed on sociology at Leeds University. He is a member of country: the workers’ councils. the Editorial Board of The Newsletter. The murder of Nagy, Maléter, Gimes and Szilagyi Our correspondents would be glad to answer readers’ comes two days after the Soviet Ambassador to France questions or to deal with any difficulties. . bears a private message from Khrushchev to de Gaulle, so becoming the first foreign diplomatist to have .an exchange with the General since his advent to power. justification for'the monopoly of production in the hands of These two events together show the real face of Stalina small ruling class. ism. The ‘socialist legality’ and ‘collective leadership’

Sanity itself demands that private ownership in the production of Khrushchev have nothing in common with Marxism of armaments must end; a power capable of destroying the or working-class policies. How blind to the lessons of nations must come under the control of the people themselves. history are the men in the Kremlin if they think they The demands of profit and colonial expansion have brought can kill ideas by killing rebels. In 1958 as in 1940, neither a series of unprecedented disasters to the people of the world;

Stalinism. nor. imperialism can destroy the ideas which, yet the same interests are still in-control of our destiny, now linked with the mass movement, will sweep both these when total destruction is on the cards. uo, (Continued overleaf) evils away.

H-BOMB (Continued from front page)

In the past two hundred years, a comparatively short time in human evolution, man has created the possibility of abund‘ ance and freedom for all mankind.

Modern industry and science depend on an international division of labour, on the unseen relations of co-operation among millions of men and women.

Just look at the items in your kitchen and you will realize the mutual dependence of all the labours of all the peoples of all the world.

Should be world planning Factory workers, scientists, peasants, seamen and miners are a part of the lives ‘of all of us. Why should we be involved in the possibility of mutual destruction, of a throwback to the Stone Age just at the time when we ought to be entering a period of abundance?

The answer is an old one. We retain a social system which has long outlived its usefulness.

For a long time the freedom afforded by private capital and enterprise allowed for a big advance of industry and civilization, though even this was accompanied by the slave trade and the ruin of the peasantry.

But now the large-scale production unit and the international market cry out for planned use of the world’s resources and ‘humanity’s skills.

Once again we are beginning to see the consequences of private enterprise and the absence of planning: the bread lines are forming in that land of milk and honey, the USA, which now has nearly six million unemployed.

Real issue is exposed The great American ‘steel industry is working. at less than sixty per cent. of its real capacity.

The danger of human annihilation by the H-bomb is part of the same question.

Some of our old-fashioned conservatives here in Britain have stated the issue boldly. ‘Death before dishonour,’ they cry. ‘Britons would rather die than live under communism.’

The conclusion for a true-born Briton is that we must prepare for the destruction of humanity.

This has been effectively answered by Alex Comfort: and others; let those who feel this way commit suicide, and let them not deign to act on our behalf.

At least the ‘death before dishonour’ boys expose the reali issue: they admit in effect that the retention of their system of society depends on the threat of destruction of the whole human species.

_ Working pecple must act Here is the problem for the British people (and it is. the same problem for the people.of the world):

If the existing system cannot live without war and the bomb, how can we replace it with: something else? -Unless the campaign against the bomb goes on to answer this question, it will fizzle out_as all peace movements have fizzled out.

The bomb grows out of the needs of aggressive imperialism and.its drive to war.

We must unify and inspire the social forces that can defeat ; the interests of that aggression, and the growing mood of the people against Britain’s manufacture and testing of the bomb is the first step towards this.

But so-far the campaign against the bomb is a campaign to mobilize opinion, and not to gather together the power inherent in the working people. When this stage is reached, we shall be on the threshold of victory over the bomb.

Sick of traditional politics Already the German workers have begun to strike against the use of atomic weapons by the German High Command.

In this country some trade union organizations have resolved not to work on rocket sites or on the production of nuclear weapons. An international campaign linking together actions of this kind should have been the obvious step for the Labour Party in this country.

From this point of view we should be very wary of those anti-bomb speakers who make great play of being ‘antiThe popularity of this cry, like the increased votes of the Liberals, shows that the people are genuinely sick of the tradi--: tional run of party politics, of the parliamentary pendulum which makes precious little difference to the lives of ordinary ‘folk.

Bomb dominates all politics The people realize that the issues of the bomb and the danger of world war must not be entrusted to the .proféssional speechmakers of sleepy Westminster. ‘ But nothing could be more dangerous than to go to the opposite extreme, and to say ‘To hell with politics, it’s just a dirty game.’

Many people tell us ‘the H-bomb is an issue above politics.’

But this is the opposite of the truth—the bomb is the political issue dominating all political issues.

Ask the Tories after their by-election defeats. Ask the Labour Party. executive, worried by the support for Victory for Socialism and the growing demand in their ranks for unilateral renunciation of the bomb.

All the established parties, without exception, fear the intrusion of the bomb into open politics, and we must force it on them.

For here is an issue which does not say only ‘This party or ; that’, but says: ‘An end to the system which allows our government to be shared by parties which can suffer such a horror on earth?

Where real force lies Here then is the issue, crystal clear:

Where is there a force than can shatter.the existing peace -between the parties on this vital matter?

Where is a force capable of intervening in politics, rather than ignoring politics, capable of insisting on the peaceful use of the power in man’s hands?

That force is the working people of the world, the same people who have died in millions for a system which rewards them only with unemployment, insecurity, inequality and the certain promise of future wars in which their sons will be able to meet the same heroic death.

There is no time to lose. In the aftermath of two world wars capitalism has managed to survive the great upsurge towards freedom.

With each new lease of life it has come to possess ever greater means of destruction, and the lesson of history is that ruling classes are prepared to see the end of existing civilization rather than retire from their power.

Only people can decide There must be initiated in the Labour movement a campaign which takes human life out of the bloodstained hands of the ruling class and their apologists.

Only the people are fit to decide on the life or death of the human race.

We must win a campaign for the following demands: 1) No work by trade unionists on nuclear weapons or rocket bases. Black all work connected with war plans.

2) Labour must initiate an international working-class campaign against nuclear weapons. Immediate approaches to the German, Japanese and’ American movements much be made. 3) Labour must demand the nationalization of the armaments industry and commit itself to immediately suspending manufacture of the bomb.

4) Labour should propose immediate international summit talks

for the destruction of existing stocks of atomic weapons and a working agreement for a ban on such weapons. should be accompanied by a demand for an end to secret diplomacy so that’ we. may see who are the real enemies of peace.

=} In all elections, let the question be put to each candidate:

Are you for or against the plot to exterminate humanity? in an international campaign to end the menace of universal death and destruction by H-bombs and rocket missiles.’

; By. Our Industrial Correspondent