James P. Cannon Quotes
What a commentary on the real nature of capitalism in its decadent phase is this, that the scientific conquest of the marvelous secret of atomic energy, which might rationally be used to lighten the burdens of all mankind, is employed first for the wholesale destruction of half a million people…. This is how American imperialism is bringing civilisation to the Orient.
James P. Cannon, 1890-1974, National Chairman, Workers Party of America, Speech, “The Bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki,” New York, August 22, 1945
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This declaration, drafted by Russell and Einstein two days before Einstein’s death was signed by a number of other prominent scientists.
At the time, surprising to most people now, the use of the atomic bomb was not an issue of controversy at all. There were no Congressman who questioned it, no newspapers which editorialized against the use of the bomb. There were not even any other counties which protested its use. The blessing of ending the war, even at the cost of less than 200,000 deaths seemed a clearly desirable tradeoff when compared with the many millions of deaths that would have occurred had the bomb not been used. As an example, the conventional bombing of Tokyo before the nuclear weapons were used killed as many Japanese as either Hiroshima or Nagasaki.
The lecture was on radium and the radioactivity that scientists had recently discovered. This appears to be the first time a scientist suggested the possibility of using atomic energy to produce a powerful weapon. At the same time, note that he also mentioned the possible destruction of the earth. “Heavy matter” referred to the elements—many of which had not yet been discovered—that had larger atomic numbers than radium like uranium.
Having just been told of the Hiroshima atomic bombing:
He was the first man to see the experimental evidence of nuclear power and he realized that it had the potential for an incredibly powerful weapon. It was his message about the possibilities about the atomic bomb that Albert Einstein transmitted to FDR, leading to American development of the bomb.(See {624449}.) By the time the atomic bomb had been developed, Germany had surrendered and Szilard and others felt that there was no longer a need to beat the Germans to the development. So he went from the biggest enthusiast to the most serious opponent.
There were an additional 69 co-signers at the Manhattan Project "Metallurgical Laboratory" in Chicago
This rhetoric turned out to be just that. When Israel developed a nuclear capability, the Egyptians became more rational and sobered. It was Anwar Sedate however who was the Egyptian leader wise enough and strong enough to make peace with Israel.
James Patrick Cannon was an American Trotskyist and a leader of the Socialist Workers Party.
