第3巻第1章 英国への帰国
私がこうした助言をしたことが,いまなお持ち出されては私を非難する材料として使われている。共産主義国がそのような助言に反対する理由は理解しやすい。けれども,私に対するよくある批判は,私が平和主義者でありながらかつてソ連を戦争で脅かすこと唱導したという点にあった。私は,平和'主義者'ではなく,ごくまれではあるが,戦争のうちには正当化されるものや,必要でさえあるものもあると信じていることを,いくら繰り返し言っても,何の効果もないようである。いろいろな問題がこれまで,いかなる平和的手段ではまったく止められなくなるまで,明らかに悪い方向に引き摺られてきたことから,ある種の戦争は通常必要である。そして,私を批判する者は,'冷戦'継続の結果として増大した諸悪(松下注:たとえば,後戻りできないほど大規模な産軍複合体制が出来上がってしまったことなど),また1948年に戦争でソ連を脅かすという私の助言が採用されていたならば,冷戦そのものと共に,回避することができたであろう諸悪について,考慮していないように思われる。もし私の意見が採用されていたとしても,その結果はあくまでも仮説に基づいたもののままであるが,私の見るかぎり,その助言をしたということは,決して私にとって恥辱ではないし,また,私の思想の「矛盾」を表わすものでは決してないのである。 |
v.3,chap.1: Return to England Against this careless attitude I, like a few others, used every opportunity that presented itseif to point out the dangers. It seemed to me then, as it still seems to me, that the time to plan and to act in order to stave off approaching dangers is when they are first seen to be approaching. Once their progress is established, it is very much more difficult to halt it. I felt hopeful, therefore, when the Baruch Proposal was made by the United States to Russia. I thought better of it then, and of the American motives in making it, than I have since learned to think, but I still wish that the Russians had accepted it. However, the Russians did not. They exploded their first bomb in August, 1949, and it was evident that they would do all in their power to make themselves the equals of the United States in destructive - or, politely, defensive - power. The arms race became inevitable unless drastic measures were taken to avoid it. That is why, in late 1948, I suggested that the remedy might be the threat of immediate war by the United States on Russia for the purpose of forcing nuclear disarmament upon her. I have given my reasons for doing this in an Appendix to my Common Sense and Nuclear Warfare. My chief defence of the view I held in 1948 was that I thought Russia very likely to yield to the demands of the West. This ceased to be probable after Russia had a considerable fleet of nuclear planes. This advice of mine is still brought up against me. It is easy to understand why Communists might object to it. But the usual criticism is that I, a pacifist, once advocated the threat of war. It seems to cut no ice that I have reiterated ad nauseum that I am not a pacifist, that I believe that some wars, a very few, are justified, even necessary. They are usually necessary because matters have been permitted to drag on their obviously evil way till no peaceful means can stop them. Nor do my critics appear to consider the evils that have developed as a result of the continued Cold War and that might have been avoided, along with the Cold War itself, had my advice to threaten war been taken in 1948. Had it been taken, the results remain hypothetical, but so far as I can see it is no disgrace, and shows no 'inconsistency' in my thought, to have given it. <
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