There have been several letters to the press recently complaining about the lack of enthusiasm shown by scientists in finding an effective means of fog-prevention. It has been suggested that those scientists who are at present investigating ways and means of exploring the moon should turn their attention to preventing fog.
This is a little unfair to the scientists. The majority of those engaged upon astronautical research are better suited to the exploration of outer-space than to the more mundane problem of clearing the smoke-laden atmosphere of London.
Quite apart from this the problem is not so complicated as it may seem. Cities such as New York have dealt with it quite simply by forbidding the burning of smoke-producing fuels. The boffin is not required to produce an involved formula for this. In any case, the decision as to whether preference should be given to fog-prevention or inter-planetary travel depends not upon consideration for the welfare of the community, but rather upon which is likely to be die more valuable from the military or commercial point of view.
If a scientist is fortunate he pursues a line of research which is of interest to him, but usually he is directed to follow a line dictated by the interests of capitalism.
We have readied a stage in the evolution of human society where we are on the threshold of journeys into outer-space. It is not a new idea. As long ago as the seventeenth century Cyrano de Bergerac was dreaming of journeys to the moon with rockets. Now that space travel seems to be almost within our grasp and the idea gaining greater public appreciation, other considerations are troubling the more thoughtful scientists.
There are, unfortunately, too many workers who are overawed by the views of the professors. They are thought to be men whose mental powers are far greater than those of the rest of us. A conception which many scientists take pains to foster.
As a justification for the amount of time and money devoted to astronautics the scientists, many of whom are quite sincere, suggest that artificial satellites revolving around the earth at regular intervals could be used as observation platforms from which it would be possible to see whether any nation were preparing for an atomic attack and, if so, to prevent it.
To a Socialist, no utterance could be more naive than this, nor less scientific. It takes us back to the old argument that every nation should sink its differences and, in order to ensure that no one violated the treaty, an international police force be organised.
If the working class is waiting for someone to hand them security on a plate they should discount the backroom boys.
An astronaut, Oscar Schachter, writing in the Journal of the British Interplanetary Society for January, 1952, introduced some opinions which were both pathetic and laughable. He was concerned about the violation of sovereign rights by artificial asteroids. In other words, he projected the problems of capitalism with its nautical three-mile limit into outer-space, where he could foresee legal difficulties arising from the passage every few hours of a satellite over someone else’s territory.
If workers incline to the same views as this scientist let them remember the League of Nations and its modern counterpart, the United Nations. Every day the United Nations become more disunited and doomed, like their predecessors, to end in complete impotence.
One of the greatest mathematicians of the age, Albert Einstein, revealed his complete lack of political understanding a few years ago in a book entitled “The World As I See it ”(Watts). In this he put forward the view that wars originate from ideological conflicts and that all nations should come to an understanding and agree not to fight. International control is the solution, according to Einstein.
Such schemes as this are foredoomed to failure and show as little fundamental knowledge as the child who thinks that the earth is fiat.
Those who support these Utopian schemes are ignorant of the fact that war is a logical outcome of the capitalist system. So long as wealth is produced to be sold in the world market, wars will ensue, regardless of pacts and declarations of friendship.
If travel to the moon and elsewhere becomes an established fact before the end of capitalism, the workers of the world will only be killed in greater quantities in the scramble for new sources of raw materials.
If we conquer space after the establishment of Socialism we will not be troubled by frontiers and boundaries and extra-territorial rights. Furthermore, life on earth will be so much more enjoyable that the people in America who have already reserved their seats in the first space-ship to the moon will probably cancel their reservations.
It is the workers of the world, the scientists included, who must solve the problems of production and distribution, but they must have the necessary knowledge.
To help them achieve their ends there exists the Socialist Party of Great Britain and its companion parties abroad.
Study our case and join with us in order that we may create a world in which all effort is for the common good.
Chester.
Blogger's Note:
I don't believe Oscar Schachter was an astronaut. Try "American international law and diplomacy professor, and United Nations aide." [Wiki]
Fog prevention was a real issue in London - and other industrial centres in Britain - in the early 1950s. It was estimated that the Great Smog of London in December 1952 had resulted in 4,000 deaths.
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