バートランド・ラッセル「原爆投下と反核活動」
* 原著：The Autobiography of Bertrand Russell, v.3, preface
* 出典：牧野力(編)『ラッセル思想辞典』所収
以下は、牧野力氏の要旨訳（ただし字句を少し修正）に原文を追加したものです。
1945年の広島と長崎への原爆投下は核戦争の可能性について、初めて、科学者と少数の政治家達の注意を喚起した。投下の数ヶ月後に、私は英国の上院（貴族院）で全面核戦争の可能性を指摘し、原爆よりもはるかに破壊力のある核兵器（現在,水爆と呼ばれているもの）の製造を予言し,説明した。（当時は）軍備拡張はまだ始まっておらず、
このような怪物を,戦争目的にではなく平和目的のために使用するようある種の統制を強いることもできた。・・・上院（貴族院）の全議員が私の演説に拍手喝采した。・・・。
核戦争は大国間の協定の実施以外に防止不可能であるため、国際的な話し合いでの妥結が必要だった。だが、そう気付く者は一人もいなかった。逆に、晴天の日に雨降りの話で人の興をそぐとして嫌われた。しかし、私はあらゆる機会をつかんで、 核の危機を指摘した。
( The bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945 first brought the possibility of nuclear war to the attention of men of science and even of some few politicians. A few months after the bombing of the two Japanese cities, I made a speech in the House of Lords pointing out the likelihood of a general nuclear war and the certainty of its causing universal disaster if it occurred. I forecast and explained the making of nuclear bombs of far greater power than those used upon Hiroshima and Nagasaki, fusion as against the old fission bombs, the present hydrogen bombs in fact. It was possible at that time to enforce some form of control of these monsters to provide for their use for peaceful, not war like, ends, since the arms race which I dreaded had not yet begun. If no controls were thought out, the situation would be almost out of hand. It took no great imagination to foresee this. Everybody applauded my speech. ...
Nobody viewed it as an international danger which could only be warded off by agreement among the great Powers. There was a certain amount of talk, but no action was taken. This easy-going attitude survives among the laity even down to the present day. Those who try to make you uneasy by talk about atom bombs are regarded as trouble-makers, as people to be avoided, as people who spoil the pleasure of a fine day by foolish prospects of improbable rain.)
