Pacifism is impossible in the face of great evil

In Nicholson Baker's disturbing new book, Human Smoke, which questions whether World War II could have been avoided, he quotes approvingly a pacifist speech Albert Einstein gave in New York in 1930: "If only two per cent of the men liable for war service were to refuse," Einstein said, "there would not be enough jails in the world to take care of them."

But after Hitler came to power in Germany, Einstein was asked to speak on behalf of two conscientious objectors awaiting trial in Belgium. He declined, saying "were I a Belgian I should not, in the present circumstances, refuse military service; rather I should enter service cheerfully in the belief that I would hereby be helping to save European civilisation."

Hitler is undoubtedly the ultimate test of