BRACERS Record Detail for 92502
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In response to J.D. Bernal's letter in the issue of 24 Oct. 1949 on the Soviet treatment of scientists.
BR TO THE MANCHESTER GUARDIAN, 24 OCT. 1949
BRACERS 92502. ALS(C). McMaster. B&R C49.27
Proofread by K. Blackwell
(copy)
24 October 1949
To the Editor of the Manchester Guardiana
Sir,
Professor Bernal’s evasive letter in your issue of today calls for a few words of reply. Those who are not in the confidence of the Soviet Government cannot quickly ascertain facts which it wishes to conceal. I will therefore confine myself to a case old enough to be incontrovertible — the case of N.I. Vavilov. Which of the following facts does Professor Bernal deny?
1. Vavilov fell from favour becauseb he disagreed with the Russian Government on a purely scientific question.
2. When, in 1942, he was elected a foreign member of the Royal Society, Sir Henry Dale, as its president, vainly endeavoured to ascertain his whereabouts, and received no reply to official inquiries addressed to the Soviet Government.
3. He was arrested in 1941, and was seen in a concentration camp at Saratov.
4. He was sent to forced labour in the Arctic, where he died in 1942 or 1943.
I like Professor Bernal’s argument that “it will be far more comfortable for all of us if we try to get on with them” (the Soviet Government). How true! And how strange that Vavilov overlooked it!c It would have been “far more comfortable” for Christian martyrs if they had “tried to get on” with Roman Emperors, and for Karl Marx if he had “tried to get on” with the Prussian authorities. But Marx is a back number among Marxists.
Yours etc.
Bertrand Russell.
