BR TO CONSTANCE MALLESON, 20 FEB. 1947
BRACERS 19836. ALS. McMaster
Edited by S. Turcon. Reviewed by K. Blackwell

<letterhead>
Trinity College,
Cambridge.1
20.2.47

My dearest Colette

I was very glad to get your letter of Jan. 7,2 but sorry for what you tell me about Finland, though in no way surprised. The same sort of thing seems to be happening all over Europe except among countries that were neutral. — I don’t think your news about Kapitza3 was true. I have met many people who know him well, and none of them think it is. But one can’t really tell.

As for Russia: I have said in print4 that the best thing would be a war between Russia and USA in the next few years, although England would be practically wiped out. Ever since the end of the war I have been as anti-Russian as one can be without being thought mad. Many old friends almost refuse to speak to me. I am utterly gloomy about the future. Meanwhile I go on with my big book,5 hoping that, like St. Augustine, it will be read when civilization revives 1000 years hence!

John6 has a daughter7 and hopes to bring her and his wife8 to England soon. Kate9 is still in USA at Radcliffe. Conrad10 flourishes at Dartington.11 And the world goes steadily to the devil. I am very sorry about your fall12 — I hope it is better. Very much love.

Your
B.

• 1

  [document] Document 200842.

• 2

  your letter of Jan. 7 Not extant.

• 3

  your news about Kapitza Peter Kapitza (1894–1984), Russian physicist. Peter Kapitza, F.R.S., was a Fellow of Trinity College and Director of the Royal Society Mond Laboratory at Cambridge, working with Lord Rutherford. He had been at Cambridge since 1923, although he always returned to Russia during the Long Vacation. In 1934, he was prevented from returning to Britain and ordered to stay in the Soviet Union to conduct his research. He did not return to Britain until 1966, and then only for a visit. It’s not possible to know what Colette’s news about Kapitza was as her letter containing it is not extant; it may have involved whether he was working on nuclear weapons. See BR’s letter of 26 April 1947, BRACERS 19837.

• 4

  for Russia: I have said in print “If the next great war were to occur within the next two or three years, it would probably lead to a quick victory for the United States and its allies, since no other Power would have atomic bombs.” Quotation taken from “The Atomic Bomb and the Prevention of War”, Polemic no. 4 (July–Aug. 1946): 15–22 (B&R C46.07; 68 in Papers 24: 359, forthcoming).

• 5

  my big book  Human Knowledge: Its Scope and Limits (B&R A83).

• 6

  John John Conrad Russell, born 16 November 1921 to BR and his wife Dora.

• 7

  has a daughter Sarah Elizabeth, born 16 January 1947 to John and his wife Susan Lindsay.

• 8

  his wife Susan Doniphan Lindsay (1926–1990), the daughter of the American poet Vachel Lindsay. She married John in August 1946.

• 9

  Kate Katharine Jane Russell, born 29 December 1923 to BR and his wife Dora. Her surname became Tait upon her marriage.

• 10

  Conrad Conrad Sebastian Robert Russell, born 15 April 1937 to BR and his wife Patricia.

• 11

  Dartington Dartington Hall, a progressive school in Devon, where BR’s older children had also been educated after they left Beacon Hill School.

• 12

  sorry about your fall This fall is not mentioned in “Letters to Bertrand Russell from Constance Malleson, 1916–1969”.