Albert Einstein: A Revolution in Mind and Society
"Man has not succeeded in developing political and economic forms of organization which would guarantee the peaceful coexistence of the nations of the world. He has not succeeded in building the kind of system which would eliminate the possibility of war and banish forever the murderous instruments of mass destruction. ... We must build spiritual and scientific bridges linking the nations of the world. We must overcome the horrible obstacles of national frontiers."
- Albert Einstein
Isn't that still the case today? War and the means of war are still the issue, the central issue of our age, the situation of the soverignty of nations against which we must formulate political struggle. As Einstein said so many years ago:
"In the smaller entities of community life, man has made some progress toward breaking down anti-social sovereignties. This is true, for example, of life within cities and, to a certain degree, even of society within individual states. In such communities tradition and education have had a moderating influence and have brought about tolerable relations among the peoples living within those confines. But in relations among separate states complete anarchy still prevails. I do not believe that we have made any genuine advance in this area during the last few thousand years. All too frequently conflicts among nations are still being decided by brutal power, by war. The unlimited desire for ever greater power seeks to become active and aggressive wherever and whenever the physical possibility offers itself(32)."
What to do? What power or powers can forestall the inevitable wars between nations? Einstein further states his cause:
"Mankind can only gain protection against the danger of unimaginable destruction and wanton annihilation if a supranational organization has alone the authority to produce or possess these weapons. It is unthinkable, however, that nations under existing conditions would hand over such authority to a supranational organization unless the organization would have the legal right and duty to solve all the conflicts which in the past have led to war. The functions of individual states would be to concentrate more or less upon internal affairs; in their relation with other states they would deal only with issues and problems which are in no way conducive to endangering international security(34)."
Yet, even now we must agree with what that great scientist said in the last century: "Unfortunately, there are no indications that governments yet realize that the situation in which mankind finds itself makes the adoption of revolutionary measures a compelling necessity(34)." He did see that the old wine of former ideologues would never do the trick, that what was needed is a new way of thinking, a revolution in thought:
"We must revolutionize our thinking, revolutionize our actions, and must have the courage to revolutionize relations among the nations of the world. Clichés of yesterday will no longer do today, and will, no doubt, be hopelessly out of date tomorrow. To bring this home to men all over the world is the most important and most fateful social function intellectuals have ever had to shoulder. Will they have enough courage to overcome their own national ties to the extent that is necessary to induce the peoples of the world to change their deep-rooted national traditions in a most radical fashion? ... A tremendous effort is indispensable. If it fails now, the supranational organization will be built later, but then it will have to be built upon the ruins of a large part of the now existing world. Let us hope that the abolition of the existing international anarchy will not need to be bought by a self-inflicted world catastrophe the dimensions of which none of us can possibly imagine. The time is terribly short. We must act now if we are to act at all.(35)"
This speech was never spoken to its intended audience because it was objected to by the Organizing Committee of the Intellectuals’ Conference for Peace. The message was subsequently released to the press on August 29, 1948.
Einstein, Albert (2011-03-14). Essays in Humanism. Open Road Media. Kindle Edition.
- Albert Einstein
Isn't that still the case today? War and the means of war are still the issue, the central issue of our age, the situation of the soverignty of nations against which we must formulate political struggle. As Einstein said so many years ago:
"In the smaller entities of community life, man has made some progress toward breaking down anti-social sovereignties. This is true, for example, of life within cities and, to a certain degree, even of society within individual states. In such communities tradition and education have had a moderating influence and have brought about tolerable relations among the peoples living within those confines. But in relations among separate states complete anarchy still prevails. I do not believe that we have made any genuine advance in this area during the last few thousand years. All too frequently conflicts among nations are still being decided by brutal power, by war. The unlimited desire for ever greater power seeks to become active and aggressive wherever and whenever the physical possibility offers itself(32)."
What to do? What power or powers can forestall the inevitable wars between nations? Einstein further states his cause:
"Mankind can only gain protection against the danger of unimaginable destruction and wanton annihilation if a supranational organization has alone the authority to produce or possess these weapons. It is unthinkable, however, that nations under existing conditions would hand over such authority to a supranational organization unless the organization would have the legal right and duty to solve all the conflicts which in the past have led to war. The functions of individual states would be to concentrate more or less upon internal affairs; in their relation with other states they would deal only with issues and problems which are in no way conducive to endangering international security(34)."
Yet, even now we must agree with what that great scientist said in the last century: "Unfortunately, there are no indications that governments yet realize that the situation in which mankind finds itself makes the adoption of revolutionary measures a compelling necessity(34)." He did see that the old wine of former ideologues would never do the trick, that what was needed is a new way of thinking, a revolution in thought:
"We must revolutionize our thinking, revolutionize our actions, and must have the courage to revolutionize relations among the nations of the world. Clichés of yesterday will no longer do today, and will, no doubt, be hopelessly out of date tomorrow. To bring this home to men all over the world is the most important and most fateful social function intellectuals have ever had to shoulder. Will they have enough courage to overcome their own national ties to the extent that is necessary to induce the peoples of the world to change their deep-rooted national traditions in a most radical fashion? ... A tremendous effort is indispensable. If it fails now, the supranational organization will be built later, but then it will have to be built upon the ruins of a large part of the now existing world. Let us hope that the abolition of the existing international anarchy will not need to be bought by a self-inflicted world catastrophe the dimensions of which none of us can possibly imagine. The time is terribly short. We must act now if we are to act at all.(35)"
This speech was never spoken to its intended audience because it was objected to by the Organizing Committee of the Intellectuals’ Conference for Peace. The message was subsequently released to the press on August 29, 1948.
Einstein, Albert (2011-03-14). Essays in Humanism. Open Road Media. Kindle Edition.