“I have just come back from Spain, where I attended a Conference of the Society for Intellectual Cooperation of the League of Nations, and while there I heard German and Austrian professors expounding the Nazi philosopohy,” Professor J. B. S. Haldane, famous biologist, told London University students. “They showed the contributions of various racial elements to their national cultures, but they refused to recognize any moral and intellectual common ground of humanity as a whole. The essence of Hitlerism is a denial of a common civilization, a view as much against religion as it is against logic.
“We found in Spain that we could meet the Fascists on the common ground of discussion; but it was impossible so to meet the Nazis; for they said ‘If you are not Aryans, then you cannot expect to understand us.’ Hitlerism is a more dangerous doctrine than Bolshevism or Fascism.
“We must protest against Hitlerism,” said Professor Haldane, “but we must see that our protests reach the British Government. If everyone would write to his local member of Parliament, a small but definite effect might be produced. We have been told that our Government can not interfere in the internal affairs of other nations—that is all nonsense. There is ample precedent for interference. I was among those who protested against the Treaty of Versailles in 1919. But today I think however wrong French policy may have been in the past, if Hitler is allowed to obtain with his methods what Streseman failed to obtain by pacific means it would be an endorsement of the ways of violence. As for individual action, we should entirely boycott German goods and the shops that sell them, not relenting until German merchandise has been removed. We must remain within the law, must show that it is possible to beat our opponents by legal means and pacific methods.
“Those who can, should support an exiled and jobless German if possible. Soon we must raise funds for the support of the German Jewish intellectuals. We must fight anti-refugee propaganda. Hitlers’s supporters say that refugees are taking work from British hands. Nothing could be falser. Students and research workers, on the contrary, not only are throwing no one out of work, but they are making work for British labor.
“But acts of violence by individuals here can do nothing but harm; we must protest against them.”
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
