A Message from Bertrand Russell
Item
Title
A Message from Bertrand Russell
Contributor
Long, C.
Creator
Bertrand Russell
Date
Nov. 29, 1968
Format
jpg
Identifier
Bertrand Russell Archives, Box 9.43, Doc. 177861
Language
eng
Rights
McMaster University
Source
Bertrand Russell Archives
Text
A MESSAGE FROM BERTRAND RUSSELL
Together with valued colleagues, I am preparing an international conference to defend the people of Czechoslovakia, who remain under Soviet occupation.
The conference, to be held in Rome in January 1969, is one response to urgent appeals that I have received from many leading Czechoslovak writers and intellectuals.
In addition to imposing foreign troops, censorship and control of the daily life of Czechoslovak citizens, the Soviet Union is known to be demanding anti-Semitic show trials in Prague. Such trials, if permitted, will be a terrible reversion to Stalinism, with repercussions throughout Eastern Europe and indeed the entire world.
Our conference will assert the right of the Czechoslovak people to determine their own future, and will work to prevent every horror which the Soviet Union tries to inflict on this courageous people. Participants will include Jean-Paul Sartre, Simone de Beauvoir, Peter Weiss and many others from Europe and North America who are known for their defence of the principle of self-determination. We intend to exert the most powerful pressure on both supporters and makers of Soviet policy in Czechoslovakia.
I earnestly appeal to everyone who desires justice for the people of Czechoslovakia to help make this conference effective by contributing generously and promptly in the ways suggested below.
Bertrand Russell
29 November, 1968
Together with valued colleagues, I am preparing an international conference to defend the people of Czechoslovakia, who remain under Soviet occupation.
The conference, to be held in Rome in January 1969, is one response to urgent appeals that I have received from many leading Czechoslovak writers and intellectuals.
In addition to imposing foreign troops, censorship and control of the daily life of Czechoslovak citizens, the Soviet Union is known to be demanding anti-Semitic show trials in Prague. Such trials, if permitted, will be a terrible reversion to Stalinism, with repercussions throughout Eastern Europe and indeed the entire world.
Our conference will assert the right of the Czechoslovak people to determine their own future, and will work to prevent every horror which the Soviet Union tries to inflict on this courageous people. Participants will include Jean-Paul Sartre, Simone de Beauvoir, Peter Weiss and many others from Europe and North America who are known for their defence of the principle of self-determination. We intend to exert the most powerful pressure on both supporters and makers of Soviet policy in Czechoslovakia.
I earnestly appeal to everyone who desires justice for the people of Czechoslovakia to help make this conference effective by contributing generously and promptly in the ways suggested below.
Bertrand Russell
29 November, 1968
