THE MEANING OF RIGHT & WRONG

The mind of the accused may possibly be unique," said the public prosecutor in Bow Street magistrate's court. "It is clear that we have half of his mind beyond the reach of reason and the impact of facts.

The other half lived in a world of normal relationships and friendships ... a classical example of that immortal duality of English literature--Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde." Others who studied the case of Dr. Klaus Fuchs would dispute even the possibility that his treasonous behavior might be unique.

Fuchs is a type of traitor which the U.S. has recently and reluctantly come to recognize. It is the type of the intelligent, talented, apparently sincere man who suffers from Communism's moral cancer, the man who can calmly do wrong and pretend to himself that he is doing right--because in his mind he has obliterated right & wrong. As such he is far more dangerous than the mere mercenary spy. These excerpts from Fuchs's confession are a case history of the man who was finally caught by the police, and by the raddled vestiges of his conscience:

". . . At this time [early 1942] I had complete confidence in Russian policy and I had no hesitation in giving all the information I had. I believed the Western Allies deliberately allowed Germany and Russia to fight each other to death . . .

"In the course of [my] work I began naturally to form bonds of personal friendship and I had to conceal from them my own thoughts. I used my Marxian philosophy to conceal my thoughts in two separate compartments. One side was the man I wanted to be. I could be free and easy and happy with other people without fear of disclosing myself because I knew the other compartment would step in if I reached a danger point.

"It appeared to me that I had become a free man because I succeeded--in the other compartment--in establishing myself completely independent of the surrounding forces of society.

"Eventually I came to the point when I knew I disapproved of many actions of the Russians. The control mechanism began acting against me and kept me from looking at facts. I still believed Russia would build a new world and that I would take part in it ...

"However, it became more and more evident that the time when Russia would spread its influence all over Europe was far away. I had to decide whether I could continue to hand over information without being sure I was doing right. I decided I could not . . .

"I realized that the combination of ideas which made me what I was was wrong; that every one was wrong and that there were certain standards of moral behavior that are in you and which you cannot disregard . . .

"Before I joined the [Harwell] project, most of the English people with whom I had made contact were left-wing and affected by a similar philosophy. Since coming to Harwell I have met English people of all kinds and I have come to see in many of them a deep-rooted firmness which enables them to live a decent life. I don't know where this springs from, and I don't think they do, but it is there."

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