Det danske Fredsakademi
Kronologi over fredssagen og international politik 1 september 1916 / Timeline September 1, 1916
Version 3.5August 1916, 2. September 1916
09/01/1916
Demokrati ; Storbritannien
Den engelske filosof og matermatiker Bertrand Russell
får undervisningsforbud og forbud mod at bevæge sig
frit rundt p.g.a. pacifisme:
"On Friday, September 1st. two men from Scotland Yard, acting on
behalf of the War Office, served a War Office Order on me,
forbidding me to enter any prohibited area without permission in
writing from the competent Military Authority. ( Prohibited areas
include practically all places near the sea, including many whole
counties.) On September 11th. in reply to representations, an
official letter was sent to me by order of the Army Council,
containing the following paragraph:
"I am further to state that the Council would be prepared to issue
Instructions for the withdrawal of the order if you. on your part,
would give an undertaking not to continue a propananda which, if
successful, would, in their opinion, militate to some extent
against the effective prosecution of the war."
My profession hitherto has been that of a lecturer on mathematical
logic. The Government have forbidden me to fulfil an engagement to
practise this profession at Harvard, and the Council of Trinity
College have forbidden me to practise it in Cambridge. Under these
circumstances it became necessary to me to lecture on some more
popular subject, and I prepared a course on the Philosophical
Principles of Politics, to be delivered in various provincial
towns. As three of these towns are in prohibited areas, I cannot go
to them without permission in writing from the War Office. In reply
to a request for this permission, I was informed that I must submit
the lectures to the War Office censorship. I replied that this was
impossible, as they were to be spoken, not read; but I sent the
syllabus of the course.
In reply, I received a letter, dated Sept. 13, (1916) acknowledging
receipt of the syllabus of lectures, and stating that "in the
absence of further details," it was "impossible to advise the Army
Council whether they might properly be given during the war." The
letter further stated that "such topics as The Sphere of Compulsion
in Good Government and The Limits of Allegiance to the State would,
in particular, seem to require very careful handling if they are
not to be mistaken for propaganda of the type which it is desired
to postpone till after the conclusion of hostilities." It concluded
by offering to give permission for the lectures if I would give "an
honourable undertaking" not "to use them as a vehicle for
propaganda."
My proposed course of lectures on "The World as it can be made" is
not intended to deal with the immediate issues raised by the war;
there will be nothing about the diplomacy preceding the war, about
conscientious objectors, about the kind of peace to be desired, or
even about the general ethics of war. On all these topics I have
expressed myself often already.
My intention is to take the minds of my hearers off the questions
of the moment, and to suggest the kind of hopes and ideals that
ought to inspire reconstruction after the war."
Kilde: Russell, Bertrand: Justice in War Time, s.
[V]-VI. - http://archive.org/details/justiceinwartime01russ
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