Melman Attacks Defeatists Who Favor Arms Control

A Columbia professor proposed a way of avoiding nuclear war in a speech last night: America should step up its political and economic contest with Russia, he said, and at the same time try to stop the military contest by negotiating inspected disarmament agreements.

Seymour Melman, who is also editor of the publication "Inspection for Disarmament," drew a sharp distinction between disarmament and arms control. Arms control, he said, is a military plan, and it is the "defeatists of American society" who support it those who are "too weak to engage in competition with the Soviet system."

Disarmament, on the other hand, would strengthen the democratic system by "putting it to the test of competition." An "elementary step" toward disarmament should be a nuclear test ban which includes inspection, Melman said. Such inspection would weaken Russia's internal secrecy, he maintained.

Those who support arms control, Melman claimed, "are not willing to make a strong case for the democratic system," where advancement takes place through autonomous organizations, rather than state control.

Political Humiliation

These "defeatists" must counter their "political humiliation" with continued military competition, under arms control, Melman said. By equalizing the military strength of Russia and the United States, supporters of arms control hope to bring about a "stable deterrent system," preventing either side from beginning a war.

Melman found several things wrong with this "deterrent system." First, he maintained, military equality will not prevent war, because both sides are ready to fire at the slightest suspicion that the other is planning an attack.

Second, Melman said, is the possibility of human error, of "wrongly estimating the intentions of others." He cited a recent incident where radar signals bouncing off the moon were mistaken for incoming Russian missiles.