Bertrand Russell's Peace Plea

No fool like an old fool.
"A letter in which a famous philosopher suggested Britain should welcome Adolf Hitler if he wanted to start World War Two could fetch £300 at auction.
Bertrand Russell, who won the Noble Prize in Literature, said the Government ought to treat any invading German as a guest and give them hospitality.
And he said the then Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin should dine with the leader of the German forces.+6


Russell, a pacifist and humanitarian, wrote that going to war with Germany would only see the victor inherit the bad traits of the losing side and make the world a poorer place.

The letter was written by Russell in May 1937, two years before the start of World War Two and the Nazi Blitzkreig of western Europe.
The two page letter is now coming up for sale at Dominic Winter Auctions in Cirencester Gloucester.
Russell, who was sent to prison during the First World War for publicly lecturing against the US entering the conflict, wrote the note to a critic called Godfrey Carter.+6

He wrote from his home in Petersfield, Hampshire: 'The general argument for pacifism is that more harm is done by fighting than by submitting to injustice.

'I do not like this as an absolute principle, for example the amount of force required by the police in dealing with a burglar is not great enough to destroy civilised society.
'But an unjustified attack by one great power on another is a different matter.
'I will argue that if the Germans succeeded in sending an invading army to England we should do best to treat them as visitors, give them quarters, and invite the Commander in Chief to dine with the Prime Minister. Such behaviour would completely baffle them."
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2544740/If-Germans-invade-welcome-PM-invite-Hitler-dinner-Bizarre-1937-letter-pacifist-Bertrand-Russell-set-sell-300.html#ixzz2rH0JC0gd

 

Then when his back is turned...belt the blue blazes out of him..Thats more British surely....Can Just see Winston standing over Rundstedt or someone with a broken chair.....it slipped..

 

It is well known that Russell was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature, but I have never heard of the Noble Prize. We should be told more.

 

Are you suggesting the Nobel prize isn't noble, old boy?!

 

Beware of isms-including pasifism.

 

If he isn't suggesting that, may I?

 

Isn't this the same fellow that marched through the streets of London chanting 'BETTER RED THAT DEAD" during the sixties?

 

He always claimed that he "borrowed" it from West German friends, but it does sound like one of his-
http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=c0ZiqVnQju8C&pg=PA215&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q&f=false

 

It sounds a lot like the current blathering about Islamo-fascism (call it what you will) from the same airheads today. What harm could it do to implement a bit of Sharia law in the west, etc?