WIDF, 'I Want To Live: Ban Atomic Weapons' (1954)

=== [PDF page 1] === I WANT TO LIVE 3 1761 07 a ae fag === [PDF page 2] === «The demand for the prohibition of atomic weapons called for by the Stockholm Appeal, which was supported by hundreds of millions of men and women, has today become the demand of all the peoples.» === [PDF page 3] === [Blank page; only faint mirror-image show-through of the facing/reverse page is visible] === [PDF page 4] === I WANT TO LIVE BAN ATOMIC WEAPONS Published by the Women’s International Democratic Federation 13 Unter den Linden, Berlin W 8 May 1954 === [PDF page 5] === On March Ist 1954, on the orders of the United States government, a hydrogen bomb was eploded at Bikini in the Marshall Islands. The explosion and its after-effects in many parts of the world revealed the increasing destructive power of the hydrogen bomb compared to all previous bombs. The use of these weapons in war time would lead to mass annihilation of civilian populations, to the destruction of big cities, centres of modern civilization. The full effects of the explosion are still unknown. Three weeks afterwards, radio-active dust carried by the winds invaded the central part of Canada, 4,000 miles away. On April 12th, geiger counters registered radio-active particles which had fallen on Los Angeles, on the Pacific coast of the United States of America, and the previous week a report came from the Atlantic sea-port of Boston, showing radio-activity at a high level in that city. Similar reports came from Japan. A Japanese fishing boat was sailing 91 miles away when the bomb exploded; it reeled with the blast. Twenty-three of the fishermen exposed to a falling white ash, blistered and their skin turned black. The hair of half of them fell out. They may be crippled for life. It will not be known for four or five years whether many of them will live or die. Fishing boats sailing within 200 miles of the explosion were found to be contaminated with radio-active poison. The poisoning of one of the main sources of food supply and the crippling of the fishing industry, the source of food supply for the people of the Pacific, has become a grave problem which threatens them with contamination and hunger. The people of the world have reacted instantaneously with an angry outcry, demanding an end to the H-bomb, an end to the weapons that destroy their lives and livelihood and threaten future generations even in peace time. The women were among the first to raise their voices. Everywhere, at meetings, conferences, in the streets, homes, factories and offices, from Finland to Indonesia, from Great Britain to Japan, from the U.S.A. to France, the women and the women's organisations are demanding, in the name of life, of humanity and of the future, that H-bombs be banned and that negotiations be substituted for force, as a means to settle international disputes. The demands of the people are so strong that leading personalities and many governments of the world have responded with protests and demands to end the policy of destruction. Pope Pius XII, in his 1954 Easter message to the Catholics of the world, warned against the misuse of atomic energy, and called for the « proscription and banishment of atomic, biological and chemical warfare», by international agreement. === [PDF page 6] === In Japan all major political parties as well as the 3 million strong Central Council of Trade Unions have protested against the H-bomb. Prime Minister Nehru of India, Australian Foreign Minister Casey and Prime Minister of Indonesia Ali Sastroami Djojo have all voiced the urgent and insistent demands of the people of the Pacific against the H-bomb threat to their lives. The Social-Democratic Parties of Sweden and Denmark have called for negotiations and control of atomic weapons. t A prominent member of the United tates Joint Congressional Committee on Atomic Energy, Representative Chet Hollifield has declared: «If all the facts about the power of these weapons were made known it would create a surging demand for universal peace. » In Great Britain, the Parliamentary Labour Party in the House of Commons called for a meeting of Great Britain, the Soviet Union and the United States of America to consider the control and reduction of armaments. On 31st March 1954, the Soviet Union presented a note to the Ambassadors of the United States, Great Britain and France in Moscow, part of which referred to atomic warfare. This declared: «As far as the Soviet Union is concerned it will continue » to insist that a substantial reduction in the: arms and armed forces of the countries is necessary, and that an agreement must be reached to rule out the employment of atomic energy for destruction and the wholesale annihilation of human beings. » These demands are the demands of all the peoples. === [PDF page 7] === THE LEGACY OF HIROSHIMA «Their effects will not be restricted to the present generation but will also remain in future generations. » This was stated by Dr Synge, a British scientist, Fellow of the Royal Society and Nobel Prize winner, in describing the character and danger of thermo-nuclear weapons. He also said: « As a biochemist | am tormented by the new mass destructive weapons, primarily the atom bomb and radio-active poisons, and also perhaps bacteriological weapons. If these weapons come into use it will not be Possible to control them in either time or space.» In February 1954, at a meeting of Japanese and American doctors in Tokio studying the effects of atomic rays on the human body, a doctor from Hiroshima told how when Hiroshima was atom-bombed by an American plane one of the survivors was a six year old Japanese girl. Over seven years later, in January 1953, she suddenly developed anaemia and could only be kept alive by continuous blood transfusions. After two days she suffered a severe hemorrhage of the nose and mouth mucuses and died. This is the work of the atom bomb; at Hiroshima it killed 247,000 people and today it goes on killing. Listen to Mrs Masako Hosotani of 206 Sekiguchi-machi Bunkoyu, Tokio, Japan. «The moment | saw three young women coming up, their faces exposed to a brilliant sunshine, | felt surely they are the atom-bombed girls from Hiroshima, for | knew that the Koishikawa branch of Tokio University was near, where seven young women are staying to undergo a plastic operation to mend their faces that the atom bomb had distorted. | felt as if my heart were breaking at the grotesque appearance of these young women, whispering to each other and bending their faces down as low as they could. Cruel it is, too cruel it is to look at them, | cautioned myself, but | could not help looking back at the moment they passed by my side, their wounds swelling up into a big lump of flesh from mouth to chin. That is the very thing we call by the name of ‘Keroido’, which though it can be removed, again and again grows up anew.» This is the legacy of atomic warfare! In his book « Hiroshima», the American writer John Hersey gives a description of an atom-bombed city. The following is an extract from his book: «Mr Tanimoto, fearful for his family and church ran towards them... he was the only person making his way into the city; he met hundreds and hundreds === [PDF page 8] === «+» Children without parents Japanese children pray for their lost parents. +». Women without children Young girls who have been wounded by the atom bomb pray in Hiroshima church. They have lost their women’s birthright and will never be able to marry. These young bomb victims portray the role in the film « Hiroshima» that they actually experienced in real life. === [PDF page 9] === who were fleeing and everyone of them seemed to be hurt in some way. The eyebrows of some were burned off and skin hung from their faces and hands. Others because of pain held their hands up as if carrying something in both hands. Some were vomiting as they walked. Many were naked or in shreds of clothing. On some undressed bodies, the burns had made patterns of undershirt straps and suspenders and on the skin of some women (since white repelled the heat from the bomb and dark clothes absorbed it and conducted it to the skin) the shapes of flowers they had on their kimonos, Almost all had their heads bowed, looked straight ahead, were silent... under many houses people screamed for help, but no one helped... When Mr Tanimoto reached the park it was very crowded and to distinguish the living from the dead was not easy... to Father Kleinsborg the silence in the grove by the river where hundreds of gruesomely wounded suffered toge ther was one on the most dreadful and awesome phenomena of his whole experience. He gave water to some of those whose faces had been almost blotted out by flash burns. Mr Tanimoto found about twenty men and women on the sandpit... he reached down and took a woman by the hands but her skin slipped off in huge glove-like pieces; he was so sickened that he had to sit down for a moment. === [PDF page 10] === Does this to human beings... Then he got out into the water... and lifted several of the men and women who were naked into the boat. Their backs and breasts were clammy and he remembered uneasily what the great burns he had seen during the day had been like, yellow at first, then red and swollen, with the skin sloughed off and finally in the evening suppurated and smelly... he had to keep consciously repeating to himself, « these are human beings.» As the bomb fell on Hiroshima — as it killed and maimed, it gave a terrible warning to the world. . And this to cities. === [PDF page 11] === Your child... orror. must never know this h 10 === [PDF page 12] === Will he grow to manhood? A child victim of Hiroshima. The children who survived the agony of Hiroshima will never forget its horror. One of them, Masayo Yamaguchi, was three years old at the time and later wrote about it in a poem: « We do not want war War is a terrible thing | cannot even take my meal Whenever | recall the air-raid alarm.» And today, little Masayo, the hydrogen bomb is 600 times more powerful than the one which devastated Hiroshima. Humanity has taken the warning and is determined that there shall be an end to these monstrous weapons. === [PDF page 13] === ATOMIC ENERGY IN THE SERVICE OF MANKIND «The imagination of the people of the world is captivated by the tremendous possibilities that the utilisation of atomic energy could open up for peaceful purposes and for the increase of prosperity and progress in the world. » (From the Appeal of the Women’s International Democratic Federation to All Women — Geneva, 1954) Today we possess the power to transform the world. We have the power to eliminate disease, to conquer our deserts and the waste expanses of the world. New and powerful sources of energy can be put at the service of mankind. The widespread development of automatic processes can free man from hard and tiring labour. Underground work can become a thing of the past and rationally organised agriculture and modern chemistry can produce everything needed by the population of the earth. Man can conquer and subdue nature and use its power for his happiness. This is no scientific dream, it is a picture of the world within our reach. Great scientists, men with practical knowledge and experience tell of these wonderful possibilities. Happy children in a peaceful world. 12 === [PDF page 14] === Science can provide leisure, rest and beauty for all in a world at peace. Listen to Dr Harry Messel, Head of the Physics Department of the University of Sydney, Australia, as he describes the new age of prosperity which atomic energy could bring to Australia. « Her arid deserts comprising a large part of the interior would be irrigated and transformed into lush pastures and fertile fields. The country would be able to support many millions more people and rich opportunities would be open to every man and woman, Industries would be run by atomic power, the new ‘Atomic Look’ of cities cleansed of soot and smoke, houses heated from atomic piles which would pipe warm air in the winter and cool air in the summer, motor cars running continuously on a single charge of fuel, rocket planes linking Sydney to London in an hour and lastly food which would stay fresh indefinitely without refrigeration.» Dr Phillip Morrison, the American scientist, tells that power «no more depends on railroad lines, nearby coal mines or river canyons and waterfalls. The fuel supply for atomic energy is found widely in the earth and more energy content is available in rather easily worked deposits of uranium than in the world's coal mines. » The President of the Academy of Science of the U.S.S.R., Nesmeanov, stated in November 1953: «Science has developed to such an extent that it has become possible to send a stratospheric plane to the moon, to create artificial satellites around the earth, to cure the worst diseases that scourge mankind. The development of energy and power has opened new horizons.» The power to build a new, finer world exists. It is our responsibility to see that power is not misused. It is our responsibility and within our power to end forever the destructive use of this mighty source of energy. 13 === [PDF page 15] === WORLD PEACE IS THREATENED Madame Cotton, President of the Women’s International Democratic Federation and famous French scientist, speaking at the World Congress of Women held in Copenhagen in June 1953, said that «there is a tax for war preparations on every cup of milk, on every lump of sugar given by a mother to her child ». The war budgets of many countries are crushing burdens. The people demand medical care, security for the future, but the resources of many nations are squandered on armaments, on the manufacture of atomic weapons, on military bases and on the maintenance of foreign troops and atom bases on their soil, all in an insane race towards death. In his budget message to the United States Congress on the 21st January 1954, President Eisenhower stated: «The proposed 1955 expenditure for the atomic energy commission and for the Mutual Military Programme will be at the highest level since the initiation of the two programmes, and the budget provides greater expenditure This type of American atom-cannon!s stationed in West Germany. 14 === [PDF page 16] === for air power in the fiscal year 1955 than in any year since the close of World War Il.» In the U.S.A. for 1954 — 55, 68% of the budget is to be spent on armaments. On February 18th, 1954 the British government published a white paper on defence, which declared: Japanese women fight for peace and a better life. « We intend as soon as possible to build up in the Royal Air Force, a force of modern bombers capable of using the atomic weapons to the fullest extent.» The British government has allotted 1,640 million pounds for arms expenditure. In 1953 for military purposes, France spent 45% of her total budget, Italy 36%, Greece Turkey 60%, Japan 72% and of the West German budget for 1954, 38% is to be allotted for rearmament and the upkeep of occupation British women march against the war budget. troops. === [PDF page 17] === WAR BASES MENACE WORLD PEACE [Unreadable] zanaon J e v. & 8. R. a Re BRITAIN & Fe te g SPAIN “USA. oo o o sonal de Pe Fires: 3 CHINA en pa... Foun RMUDA 22 Phe TO RICO sauor -, INIDAD ol PANAMA RTLANTIC Ue bec es pt ae be Pace This map shows the areas of the world where there are United States air bases, === [PDF page 18] === On January 24th, the New York Times printed a world map pin-pointing the United States Air Force bases around the world. The total number are not known as many are secret, but there are believed to be well over 400. From all parts of Western Europe and Asia, protests by the people are mounting against the occupation of their lands for the establishment of atomic bases that threaten the peace of the world. In Japan... On 19th December 1953, Robert S. Allan, Washington correspondent of the New York Post stated that «the United States would send a number of its giant atomic cannons to Japan in 1954.» In Turkey... Atomic bases are being built in Diyaribakir, near the borders of the Soviet Union, in Adana, Ankara and Istanbul. The Adana airfield to be completed this year, is going to be the largest field in the Near East. (Turkish Daily, Yeni Istanbul, 1951) In West Germany... On February 4th 1954, the New York Times announced: «The United States Air Force is building up its atomic capabilities on the continent with the assignment to West Germany of two guided missile squadrons. Its units will be equipped with the Matador, an expendable ground-to-ground missile that can be fitted with a nuclear warhead.» Ex-Nazi General Manteuffel, now a member of the Bonn Bundestag, has stated: «The artillery of the new army will be entirely different from the German artillery of 1944—45... rockets and atomic energy point the new way.» The European Defence Community... The European countries that would comprise the EDC would be bound by Annex 11, Article 107 of the Paris treaty to agree that the EDC can produce, export, import, biological, chemical and atomic weapons. In Greece... The Swiss daily paper Tribune de Genéve stated that all American bases in Greece are going to be equipped with all the necessary installations for the stationing and maintenance of huge bombers carrying the atom bomb. United States Admiral Fechteler, in a statement to the Turin daily, Nuova Stampa, declared that Piraeus has been selected as N.A.T.O.’s atomic port for the East Mediterranean area. He further stated that today the United States Navy and especially the aircraft are carrying atom bombs. In Great Britain... The United States Air Force has nineteen bases which cost the British people 19,000,000 pounds. According to the New York Times there are 50,000 U.S. airmen in Britain. === [PDF page 19] === The people of the United States are being told that America is threatened with the danger of atomic attack. Who makes these threats? Who brandishes the atom and hydrogen bombs? On May 10th 1950 at Pocatello, Idaho, President Harry Truman declared: « | used the atom bomb, | did it, and I tell you | would do it again. » On August 18th 1953, Mr Walter Robertson, special envoy of President Eisenhower, declared that if the war in Korea started again, the United Nations should use all weapons including the atom bomb against the Koreans and Chinese. Threats to use the bomb became so frequent and numerous both by military leaders and in Congress that the United States Secretary of Defence, Mr Charles Wilson, was forced to state on February 3rd 1954: «| personally wish we would quit rattling the atom bomb like the old-fashioned sabre. » On March 10th 1954, General Gruenther, American Supreme Commander of N.A.T.O., said: « In the next three or four years we will have the potential for launching an attack by long and short range aircraft, by guided missiles and by artillery. lam talking about atomic weapons. » In a special message to Mr Dulles on April 13th 1954, Dr Adenauer, Chancellor of the West German Federal Republic, Proposed that hydrogen bombs be stockpiled in West Germany. This would put into the hands of Nazis and war criminals in the heart of Europe, the terrible destructive power of the H-bomb. On March 16th 1954, Mr Sterling Cole, chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission, said that America has the hydrogen bomb and « we have planes that can carry any weapon we have to any part of the world ». On the same day, Mr Dulles, the United States Secretary of State, declared that President Eisenhower had the authority, without consulting either Congress or their allies, to order instantaneous mass retaliation. The atom rattling, the atomic expenditure, the repetition of dangerous tests, which have brought suffering to the Japanese people and alarm to the world, is accompanied by a wave of hysteria and of war fever in the U.S.A. itself, and the worst victims are the children. 18 === [PDF page 20] === Please mummy can’t we go some place where there isn’t any sky? In this poignant entreaty a small boy in Chicago voiced the apprehension gnawing at the minds of countless American children. In his book, «The Game of Death», the American writer Albert Kahn tells how, «In the autumn of 1950, for the first time in history, children began learning to crouch under desks with their eyes tightly closed and their heads buried in their arms, to stand motionless with backs to windows and faces pressed against walls, and to lie on the floor with pieces of cloth covering their bodies. The children were advised by their teachers that these measures would help to protect them in the event of an atom bomb attack, » Frightened children of the United States ot America crouch under desks and in halls, at school, during atom bomb drill. 19 === [PDF page 21] === «It was not to wipe man from the face of the earth nor to shatter in an instant the fruits of his thousands of years of creative labour that these tremendous forces were discovered by science, but rather to find means to relieve his present miseries and help him to achieve a fuller life. » (World Peace Council — March 1954) THE PEOPLE AGAINST THE BOMB The world-renowned scientist Professor Albert Einstein has repeatedly given his great name to demands for the banning of the bomb and has warned: «In the development of the atom weapons and hydrogen bombs there lies at the end more and more clearly general annihilation. » The American physicist Dr Hans Bethe of Cornell University, U.S.A., warned that « We should lose much more than our lives in a war waged with hydrogen bombs, we should lose all human values and freedoms at the same time, so completely would they be lost that we should not be able to recover them for an indefinite period ». The International Federation of Scientific Workers, in a resolution passed on September 14th 1953, demanded that humanity « must not allow the new possibilities that science offers to be used for destruction » and suggested that « the first step towards the banning of weapons of mass destruction was taken when a majority of the great powers ratified the Geneva Protocol of June 17th 1925, prohibiting the use of biological weapons. » The Geneva Protocol was signed in 1925 by 49 countries. It forbids the use of asphyxiating, toxic or similar gases and of bacteriological weapons in war. In the second world war the fact that no government that signed the protocol used chemical or bacteriological weapons shows the value of such an agreement. An agreement such as this could be equally effective over atomic and hydrogen bombs. 20 === [PDF page 22] === « The demand for the prohibition of atomic weapons called for by the Stockholm Appeal has today become the demand of all the peoples. » (World Peace Council — March 1954) Expressing this great mass of opinion as early as 1950, Professor Kathleen Lonsdale, of the University of London and Vice-Chairman of the Atomic Scientists’ Association, wrote in a letter to the London «Times», in December 1950: «| cannot imagine that the God of the New Testament could bless the deliberate blasting, burning and blinding of children, however misguided or mistaken. » The World Council of Churches declared: «The hydrogen bomb is a perversion and a negation of the moral standards to which man is bound, it is a sin against God, The hydrogen bomb marks the latest and most terrible step in the increasingly rapid transformation of war, formerly a battle between men or nations, into a mass slaughter of human lives. We representatives of the Christian Church call urgently for a new and unprecedented effort to ensure peace. » Dr Donald Soper, President of the Methodist Conference and leader of a million British Methodists, issued an appeal to all Christians following the Bikini hydrogen bomb test, saying: «| appeal to Christians everywhere, to demand of their governments that whatever the cost and whatever the dangers, such weapons. should be entirely outlawed. | believe we are approaching in this atomic experiment a point of no return, if we have not already reached it. The issue for humanity as a whole is so urgent that proposals from any quarter to ban or abolish atomic and hydrogen bombs should be immediately accepted by every responsible human being. » 21 === [PDF page 23] === THE STOCKHOLM APPEAL In Stockholm, Sweden, on March 19th 1950, the World Defenders of Peace launched an appeal to the peoples of the world which declared: « We demand the total banning of the atomic weapon, arm of terror and mass extermination of populations. We demand the establishment of strict international control to ensure the implementation of this banning. We consider that any government which would be the first to use the atomic weapon against any country whatssoever would be committing a crime against humanity and should be dealt with as a war criminal. We call on all men of goodwill to sign this appeal. » The Women's International Democratic Federation, on behalf of tens of millions of women throughout the world, gave full support to the campaign. Ina 22 === [PDF page 24] === special appeal to women, the Executive Committee of the W.I.D.F., assembled in Helsinki, Finland, in 1950, called upon all women to collect signatures to the Stockholm Appeal in each factory, each village, each street, each house and each family. The special call of the W.I.D.F. was answered by women everywhere. The response of the women was overwhelming, and more than half of the signatures collected were the work of women, who patiently and courageously went from door to door, house to house, in the villages and cities of the world to collect signatures. 500,000,000 signatures | were collected for the banning of atomic weapons | === [PDF page 25] === THE PEOPLE STOPPED THE BOMB BEING USED! There have been many threats to use the bomb. There were threats to use it in Korea. There were threats to use it in North-East China. There were threats to use it against the U.S.S.R. But the united pressure of the people, which was expressed in the Stockholm Appeal, prevented these threats from being carried out. Those who talk lightly of using the bomb must be made to realise that terrible though the hydrogen bomb is the greatest power lies with the people. The people demand a lessening of international tension, disarmament and the banning of weapons of mass destruction. Women see the problem of the reduction of armaments and the banning of the atomic weapons as a means of lessening international tension, as a way to: 24 === [PDF page 26] === secure peace and the happiness of their children. Force must be replaced by peaceful negotiations. Women everywhere welcome the negotiations on atomic control which have been re-opened. The basis of negotiations are President Eisenhower's proposals of December 8th 1953 for an international pool of part of the atomic material available, for peaceful development and for international control, and the Soviet proposal reaffirming the Soviet position for an international undertaking by the powers not to employ nuclear or other weapons of mass destruction. Talks, begun earlier, continued in Berlin in January 1954, at the meeting of the four foreign ministers of the great powers. These talks can open the way to understanding, which would help greatly in lessening international tension and in securing an agreement that will answer the demands of humanity to ban the weapons of mass destruction. «The abolition of atomic warfare is not only necessary but possible. It can be achieved by an international agreement for the prohibition of all forms of radio-active weapons and poisons. A system of international inspection and control can and must be set up. The people must demand without delay of the governments the conclusion of an agreement banning all weapons of mass destruction. » (Appeal of the World Peace Council, March 1954) In January 1954, two months before the explosion at Bikini of the hydrogen bomb which has aroused the indignation and the conscience of mankind, the Executive Committee of the W.I.D:F., meeting in Geneva, issued an urgent appeal to the women of the world to demand the banning of the atom and hydrogen bombs; it declared: «The Executive Committee of the Women’s International Democratic Federation appeals to the women of the whole world for united action in order to bring about a prohibition of all weapons of mass extermination, a reduction of armaments under effective contro! and a settlement of international disputes and conflicts through agreements which are acceptable to all. » The movement among women to ban weapons of mass destruction is growing daily in every part of the world. The National Congress of the Indonesian Women's Democratic Organisation representing 80,000 women adopted a resolution on April 1st at Djakarta, urging people of all lands to establish a lasting peace by joint efforts so as to avert the menace of hydrogen bombs and other atomic weapons. In Italy the million and a half strong Union of Italian Women has launched a campaign of enlightenment throughout the country to show the dangers of the H-bomb. It has called upon all organisations of women, religious and lay, to join together in a mighty movement to force the banning of all weapons of mass destruction. 25 === [PDF page 27] === In Great Britain, women of every opinion and belief have entered the movement against the H-bomb. 800 delegates attending the annual conference of Labour Women in Eastbourne backed a demand for an early meeting of the great powers to discuss arms cuts. The Co-operative Guilds, representing 60,000 British women, have made a statement expressing « extreme alarm » at the H-bomb tests. They « demand that all such and similar weapons now in existence be destroyed forthwith.» Mrs Pandit of India, President of the United Nations General Assembly, has called upon the world to support the demand to «stop all atomic weapons now». The Women's International League for Peace and Freedom, in Finland and Sweden, have sent protests to the U.N.O. against the explosions and have called for an end to the tests which poison the seas and cause unknown destruction. Women leaders of the Social Democratic Party of West Germany have called upon the women, in an appeal condemning the H-bomb, to support a movement to ban the bomb, « for the life of our children, for the life of the younger generation, for the salvation of mankind, we call upon the women to struggle with us for peace through understanding». The Democratic Swedish Women's Organisation has addressed an appeal to the Swedish government urging that action be taken to prevent further experiments with the H-bomb and to achieve international agreement on its prohibition. Women — mothers — act now! Elect deputations to your governments. Raise your voices in your organisations, organise meetings. Act with your neighbour — Act for your children’s sake. Act for humanity’s sake. Join with men and women everywhere in a mighty demand to ban all weapons of mass destruction! To reduce armaments! For agreement between the great powers, in order to ensure a world of Peace and Happiness. The world shall live! 26 === [PDF page 28] === APPEAL to international, national and local women’s organisations, to all prominent women, to women of the whole world for united action to achieve prohibition of all weapons of mass destruction. The people want an easing of international tension. It is however not possible to attain this goal while the atom bomb and other weapons of mass destruction exist. The Executive Committee of the Women’s International Democratic Federation appeals to the women of the whole world for united action in order to bring about a prohibition of all weapons of mass extermination, a reduction of armaments under effective control and a settlement of international disputes and conflicts through agreements which are acceptable to all. It is a fact that atomic weapons constitute a terrible danger, not only for the living but for their descendants. It is a fact that the use of atomic and hydrogen bombs with the destructive power they already have and which is increasing could lead to the destruction of mankind. On the other hand the imagination of the people of the world is captured by the tremendous possibilities that the utilisation of atomic energy could open up for peaceful purposes and for the increase of Prosperity and progress in the world. Instead of achieving this, atomic energy is at present being criminally placed at the service of destruction. No less threatening are the biological weapons for mass destruction which can be cunningly employed to wipe out entire populations. We must put an end to this insane race towards death. Let us raise loud protests everywhere. Women and mothers, let us demand that all governments and the United Nations pledge themselves to end the production of weapons of mass extermination and prohibit their use. Let us demand a reduction of armaments under effective control. Women workers in factories and offices, peasant women, housewives, let us carry out united action for this purpose with organisations, groups, committees and individuals. Women scientists, women outstanding in political life, professional women, artists, writers, doctors, journalists, teachers, lend your talents and your prestige to the service of this great struggle for humanity, for culture, for peace. Women and mothers, we must save our children’s future by united action, we must safeguard for them a future of peace, happiness and prosperity. (Executive Committee of the W.I.D.F.—January 1954, Geneva)