Pacifist Asks 'Positive Revolution,' Advocates Unilateral Disarmament

A plea for immediate unilateral disarmament was made last night by John M. Swomley, Jr., National Secretary of the Fellowship of Reconciliation, in a speech to the Harvard-Radcliffe Committee to Study Disarmament.

Swomley asked that disarmament be coupled with a "positive revolution" to give food to hungry people, freedom to colonial nations, and equality to all races. Such a program, he said, could build a world opinion strong enough to force Russia into a similar policy.

Swomley based his argument on the destructive potential of modern weapons. He stated that it is morally wrong for the U.S. to take part in an arms system "which, if used, would destroy civilized life."

Daniel S. Cheever '39, lecturer on Government, sharply disagreed with Swomley. "It is too simple to pose our choice between the horrors of war and disarmament," he said.

The real necessity is "multilateral control" through "a world government system that has the power and stability necessary for world order." Although the U.N. is not becoming a world government, Cheever maintained, it is "an instrument to resolve world problems."

If unilateral disarmament were effected, Cheever warned, this "one truly universal instrument" would become "a successful tool" of the Soviet Union, the stronger military power.