第3巻第3章 トラファルガー広場
CNDは,もし英国が核競争におけるその役割を放棄し,英国本土からの米軍基地撤去の要求さえすれば,他の国々も英国に習うであろうと確信し,一方的軍備縮小のための活動を行ってきた。それは望み薄なことであったし,今でもそうである。しかし,それにもかかわらず,それは一つの希望であったし,現在でも希望である。そのようなわけで,それは引き続き行っていく価値があるように思えた。CNDの運動は,また,単に一般大衆を説得してこのような考え方に導きたいと望んだだけでなく,政府に対してもそうしたいと思った。この運動の支持者の多くは労働党から寄り集まっていたので,いきおい国会の労働党(議員たち)に働きかけた。私自身の考えとしては,問題は政党政治を越えた,また国境すらも超越したものであるということであった。この合理的な考え方が --私には合理的だと思われたのであるが-- 一般の人々の想像力をとらえ得ることができなかったので,私は進んでこのCND運動の努力を支持しようとしたのである。私たちと労働党の両者が共に望んでいた目的のための手段は,その目的の達成に比べればより重要性が低かった。だからもし労働党を説得してこのCND運動を支持してもらえたら,多分,私たちが目標に達するまであとわずかだろう,と私は考えたのである。 |
v.3,chap.3: Trafalgar Square Shortly after this 1960 Aldermaston March, the Summit Meeting between Eisenhower and Khrushchev took place - and crashed. We had all had high hopes of it and its break-up following the U2 incident was a blow to us. The more we learned of the skulduggery behind it the greater its foreboding quality became. It augured ill for progress towards co-operation, let alone towards disarmament. It seemed more than ever as if new methods must be sought to impress upon the public the increasingly precarious state of international affairs before people relapsed into frustrated apathy. But what this new means could be I did not see. The CND had been working for unilateral disarmament, believing that if Great Britain gave up her part in the nuclear race and even demanded the departure of United States bases from her soil, other nations might follow suit. It was a slim hope, and still is, but none-the-less it was, and is, a hope. As such, it seemed worth following up. The Campaign also hoped to persuade not only the general public to this way of thinking but also the Government. As most of its upholders were drawn from the Labour Party, it went to work upon the Parliamentary Labour Party. My own view was that the matter was one that transcends Party politics and even national boundaries. As this reasonable view, as it seemed to me, failed to grip the public imagination, I was willing to uphold the Campaign in its efforts. The means towards the end that we both desired mattered less than its achievement. Perhaps, I thought, if the Labour Party could be persuaded to support the Campaign, we might be a short step towards the goal. |
(掲載日:2009.12.03 掲載)