l I N T R O D U C T I O N T O V O L U M E 1 6 sign an appeal protesting the Chinese military’s bloody suppression of the workers’ and peasants’ uprising in Guangzhou, Einstein refused because of what he perceived as violent maneuvers on both sides (Doc. 127). Similarly, he favored the establishment of an independent China, yet found it difficult to affirm support for a specific political party given the opaque conditions (Doc. 142). During the period of this volume, Einstein repeatedly expressed his reluctance to be politically engaged. He only signed a small number of appeals compared to previous years, putting forth various polite excuses. In November 1927, for exam- ple, he conveyed to the German Pacifist Student Association that, although sympa- thetic to their cause, he preferred to refrain from political struggles, mainly because of constraints on his time (Doc. 86). Einstein’s outlook on political matters during 1928 was not optimistic. In April, asked by the Workers International Relief to cosign an appeal in behalf of oppressed West Belorussians, he expressed disdain for the “impotent protests of i sntellectuals” against the oppression of minorities. He described such efforts as “useless” and “even ridiculous” (Doc. 178). The following month, he deemed pro- tests by intellectuals against the violent suppression of left-wing organizations and activists in the Balkans to be fruitless (Doc. 198), and a year later regarded an ini- tiative to establish a university for international reconciliation as “Utopian.” He claimed that people did not want views “imposed on them” and that indirect action was the best way to achieve such goals (Doc. 213). A few months later, Einstein expressed his general support for a project to publish the letters of Sacco and Van- zetti, but noted that only Americans should involve themselves in the project (Doc. 307). Despite his continued wariness about being too politically engaged, this period saw Einstein describe himself for the first time as “an unconditional antifascist.” But he expected no beneficial developments from a planned international antifas- cist conference “because in general serious people tend to keep away from such noisy affairs.” Einstein instead suggested collecting names and statements from important contemporaries to demonstrate internationally the opposition to fascism by an overwhelming majority of “valuable individuals” (Doc. 318). By April 1929, Einstein seemed to revert to his previous cautious optimism about the efficacy of political engagement. Asked for a statement by British paci- fists, he first noted that he could not “make up [his] mind about getting mixed up in such a manner in the political struggles of the day.” Eventually he conveyed his opinion that “peoples have to grasp the initiative themselves to prevent being led to slaughter again” (Doc. 491). He also agreed to join a new pacifist organization planned by Dutch anarchist and pacifist Barthélemy de Ligt. Success could only be achieved if a considerable number of people publicly declared their resistance to governmental commands for participation in military action (Doc. 483).