Unarmed Victory: The Cuban Missile Crisis Fifty Years on Reprint Edition

Bertrand Arthur William Russell (1872-1970) was an influential British philosopher, logician, mathematician, and political activist. In 1950, he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature, in recognition of his many books such as A History of Western Philosophy,The Problems of Philosophy,The Philosophy of Logical Atomism,The Analysis of Mind,Our Knowledge of the External World,Human Knowledge: Its Scope and Limits,Mysticism and Logic, etc.[NOTE: page numbers below refer to the 120-page paperback edition.]He wrote in the first chapter of this 1963 book, “In this book, I proposed to relate from my personal point of view the history of two crises: the Cuban and the Sino-Indian, in both of which I tried to influence the leaders and public opinion on both sides. I shall be giving partly an account of what I tried to do and partly the relevant public events.” (Pg. 8-9)He continues, “Many people seem to have been surprised that I should intervene in such matters without having any official status, but I think events show that, even in our highly organized world, there are things that a private individual can do which are much more difficult for a Minister or an organization. In particular, it is much easier to agree with a powerless individual without loss of face than it is to agree with those whose arguments are backed by H-bombs of almost infinite destructive power.” (Pg. 10)He asserts, “Although Cuba is nominally an independent country with a right to determine its own economic policy, the U.S. adopted a new form of the Monroe Doctrine. It considered that it had a right to dictate what form of government should prevail in every country of the Western Hemisphere.” (Pg. 22)He argues, “President Khrushchev is personally responsible for the avoidance of a war of nuclear devastation. He has acted with the greatest restraint in a crisis of the first magnitude… The blockade [by the U.S.] violates international law. It is illegal. It is immoral… If nuclear bases are intolerable in Cuba, they are intolerable everywhere. This is the heart of what I have been saying to the British people for the length of our campaign for nuclear disarmament. Nuclear bases threaten the peace of all.” (Pg. 41)He quotes President Kennedy’s telegram reply: “…While your messages are critical of the United States, they make no mention of your concern for the introduction of secret Soviet missiles into Cuba. I think your attention might well be directed to the burglars rather than to those who have caught the burglars.” Russell, comments, “It is true that I had not ‘expressed concern for the introduction of secret Soviet missiles into Cuba.’ I could understand the hysteria that swept over the U.S. upon hearing of them… But the presence of these missiles… did not materially change the situation… the Russians… came at the invitation of the Cubans and were no more burglars than are the American forces in Britain and Western Europe. But in view of the repeated American threats of invasion of Cuba, the Americans were at least contemplating ‘burglary.’” (Pg. 45)He asserts, “the U.S…. wished only to prove … the ‘firmness’ of their stand against Communism. They had been indoctrinated with the pernicious belief that only ‘the American way of life’ can be tolerated. The only other point of view that they saw lay in the attitude of ‘Better Red than Dead’---a slogan which has been fathered upon me, although it is not mine but a translation of the slogan of a hostile German journalist. I believe in the possibility of coexistence…” (Pg. 50)He concludes, “So long as the practice of Brinksmanship continues, the risk also will continue, and, during a Brinksmanship contest, nobody in any part of the world can be confident of existing a week hence.” (Pg. 109) He adds, “I do not mean to suggest that nationalism is wholly evil. It has two sides: love of one’s own country, and hatred of other countries. One is good; the other is bad.” (Pg. 117)This book also marks a “high water point” of the influence of Ralph Schoenman, about whom Russell said, “It is a pleasure to me to have an opportunity to acknowledge publicly my debt to my secretary, Mr. Ralph Schoenman… Mr. Schoenman did superhuman work, and did it extremely well…” (Pgs. 9) Russell publicly broke with and disavowed Schoenman in 1970.The Cold War is over, and most of us in this country (including me!) side with President Kennedy rather than Russell on many points; but this book is an interesting testament of that frightening time in our history.