Peace in the Atomic Age 原子能时代的和平—Albert Einstein.doc

Peace in the Atomic Age 原子能时代的和平—Albert Einstein I am grateful to you for the opportunity to express my conviction in this most important political question. The idea of achieving security through national armament is, at the present state of military technique, a disastrous illusion. On the part of the United States this illusion has been particularly fostered by the fact that this country succeeded first in producing an atomic bomb. The belief seemed to prevail that in the end it were possible to achieve decisive military superiority. In this way, any potential opponent would be intimidated, and security, so ardently desired by all of us, brought to us and all of humanity. The maxim which we have been following during these last five years has been, in short: security through superior military power, whatever the cost. The armament race between the U.S.A. and U.S.S.R., originally supposed to be a preventive measure, assumes hysterical character. On both sides, the means to mass destruction are perfected with feverish haste - behind the respective walls of secrecy. The H-bomb appears on the public horizon as a probably attainable goal. If successful, radioactive poisoning of the atmosphere and hence annihilation of any life on earth has been brought within the range of technical possibilities. The ghostlike character of this development lies in its apparently compulsory trend. Every step appears as the unavoidable consequence of the preceding one. In the end, it beckons more and more clearly general annihilation. Is there any way out of this impasse created by man himself? All of us, and particularly those who are responsible for the attitude of the U.S. and the U.S.S.R., should realized that we may have vanquished an external enemy, but have been incapable of getting rid of the mentality created by the war. It is impossible to achieve peaces as long as every single action is taken with a possible future conflict in view. The leading point of view of all political