Aspects of philosopher, mathematician and social activist

Bertrand Russell Bertrand Arthur William Russell, 3rd Earl Russell, (18 May 1872 – 2 February 1970) was a British mathematician, philosopher, logician, and public intellectual. He had a considerable influence on mathematics, logic, set theory, linguistics, ...

's views on society changed over nearly 80 years of prolific writing, beginning with his early work in 1896, until his death in February 1970.

Activism

Political Politics (from , ) is the set of activities that are associated with making decisions in groups, or other forms of power relations among individuals, such as the distribution of resources or status. The branch of social science that stud ...

and social activism occupied much of Russell's time for most of his long life, which makes his prodigious and seminal writing on a wide range of technical and non-technical subjects all the more remarkable. Russell remained politically active to the end of his life, writing to and exhorting world leaders and lending his name to various causes. Some maintain that during his last few years he gave his youthful followers too much license and that they used his name for some outlandish purposes of which a more attentive Russell would not have approved. There is evidence to show that he became aware of this when he fired his private secretary, Ralph Schoenman, then a young firebrand of the radical left.

Pacifism, war, and nuclear weapons

Russell was originally a

Liberal Imperialist The Liberal Imperialists were a faction within the British Liberal Party around 1900 regarding the policy toward the British Empire. They supported the Boer War which most Liberals opposed, and wanted the Empire ruled on a more benevolent basis. Th ...

but in 1901 converted to anti-imperialism,

pacifism Pacifism is the opposition or resistance to war, militarism (including conscription and mandatory military service) or violence. Pacifists generally reject theories of Just War. The word ''pacifism'' was coined by the French peace campaign ...

and a Pro-Boer standpoint with regards to the

Second Boer War The Second Boer War ( af, Tweede Vryheidsoorlog, , 11 October 189931 May 1902), also known as the Boer War, the Anglo–Boer War, or the South African War, was a conflict fought between the British Empire and the two Boer Republics (the South ...

. He resisted specific wars on the grounds that they were contrary to the interests of civilisation, and thus immoral. On the other hand, his 1915 article on "The Ethics of War," he defended wars of colonisation on the same utilitarian grounds: he felt conquest was justified if the side with the more advanced civilisation could put the land to better use. Russell's activism against British participation in

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

led to fines, a loss of freedom of travel within Britain, and the non-renewal of his fellowship at

Trinity College, Cambridge Trinity College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Founded in 1546 by King Henry VIII, Trinity is one of the largest Cambridge colleges, with the largest financial endowment of any college at either Cambridge or Oxford. ...

, and he was eventually sentenced to prison in 1918 on the tenuous grounds that he had interfered in

British foreign policy The diplomatic foreign relations of the United Kingdom are conducted by the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, headed by the Foreign Secretary. The prime minister and numerous other agencies play a role in setting policy, and many ...

– he had argued that British workers should be wary of the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the land warfare, land military branch, service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight Uniformed services of the United States, U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army o ...

, for it had experience in strike-breaking. He was released after serving six months, but was still closely supervised until the end of the war. Russell contended that "the abolition of private ownership of land and capital is a necessary step toward any world in which the nations are to live at peace with one another". In 1943 Russell called his stance towards warfare "relative political pacifism"—he held that war was always a great

evil Evil, in a general sense, is defined as the opposite or absence of good. It can be an extremely broad concept, although in everyday usage it is often more narrowly used to talk about profound wickedness and against common good. It is general ...

, but in some particularly extreme circumstances (such as when

Adolf Hitler Adolf Hitler (; 20 April 188930 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was dictator of Nazi Germany, Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his death in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the le ...

threatened to take over Europe) it might be a lesser of multiple evils. In the years leading to

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

, he supported the policy of appeasement; but by 1940 he acknowledged that to preserve democracy,

Hitler Adolf Hitler (; 20 April 188930 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was dictator of Nazi Germany, Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his death in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the le ...

had to be defeated. This same reluctant value compromise was shared by his acquaintance A.A. Milne. Russell consistently opposed the continued existence of nuclear weapons ever since their first use. However, on 20 November 1948, in a public speech at

Westminster School (God Gives the Increase) , established = Earliest records date from the 14th century, refounded in 1560 , type = Public school Independent day and boarding school , religion = Church of England , head_label = Hea ...

, addressing a gathering arranged by the New Commonwealth, Russell shocked some observers with comments that seemed to suggest a preemptive nuclear strike on the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...

might be justified. Russell apparently argued that the threat of war between the United States and the Soviet Union would enable the United States to force the Soviet Union to accept the Baruch Plan for international atomic energy control. (Earlier in the year he had written in the same vein to Walter W. Marseille.) Russell felt this plan "had very great merits and showed considerable generosity, when it is remembered that America still had an unbroken nuclear monopoly." (''Has Man a Future?'', 1961). Nicholas Griffin of

McMaster University McMaster University (McMaster or Mac) is a public research university in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. The main McMaster campus is on of land near the residential neighbourhoods of Ainslie Wood and Westdale, adjacent to the Royal Botanical Ga ...

, in his book ''The Selected Letters of Bertrand Russell: The Public Years, 1914–1970'', interpreted Russell's wording as advocating not the actual use of the atom bomb, but merely its diplomatic use as a massive source of leverage over the actions of the Soviets. Griffin's interpretation was disputed by

Nigel Lawson Nigel Lawson, Baron Lawson of Blaby, (born 11 March 1932) is a British Conservative Party politician and journalist. He was a Member of Parliament representing the constituency of Blaby from 1974 to 1992, and served in the cabinet of Margaret ...

; the former British Chancellor, who was present at the speech. Lawson claims it was quite clear that Russell was advocating an actual first strike, a view that is consistent with that reported by

Hermann Bondi Sir Hermann Bondi (1 November 1919 – 10 September 2005) was an Austrian- British mathematician and cosmologist. He is best known for developing the steady state model of the universe with Fred Hoyle and Thomas Gold as an alternative to the ...

in Bondi's autobiography (''Science, Churchill and Me'', 1990, p60) recounting Russell's views from the time when Russell and Bondi were fellows of Trinity College in Cambridge. Whichever interpretation is correct, Russell later relented, instead arguing for mutual disarmament by the nuclear powers, possibly linked to some form of

world government World government is the concept of a single political authority with jurisdiction over all humanity. It is conceived in a variety of forms, from tyrannical to democratic, which reflects its wide array of proponents and detractors. A world gove ...

. In 1955, Russell released the Russell-Einstein Manifesto, co-signed by

Albert Einstein Albert Einstein ( ; ; 14 March 1879 – 18 April 1955) was a German-born theoretical physicist, widely acknowledged to be one of the greatest and most influential physicists of all time. Einstein is best known for developing the theory ...

and nine other leading scientists and intellectuals, a document which led to the first of the

Pugwash Conferences on Science and World Affairs The Pugwash Conferences on Science and World Affairs is an international organization that brings together scholars and public figures to work toward reducing the danger of armed conflict and to seek solutions to global security threats. It was f ...

in 1957. In 1957-58, Russell became the first president of the

Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament The Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND) is an organisation that advocates unilateral nuclear disarmament by the United Kingdom, international nuclear disarmament and tighter international arms regulation through agreements such as the Nuc ...

, which advocated unilateral nuclear disarmament by Britain. He resigned two years later when the CND would not support civil disobedience, and formed the Committee of 100. In September 1961 he was imprisoned for a week under an act of 1361 for refusing to call off a huge ban-the-bomb demonstration at the Ministry of Defence organised by the Committee of 100. He served the sentence in the hospital of Brixton Prison. During the Cuban Missile Crisis, Russell sent telegrams to US President

John F. Kennedy John Fitzgerald Kennedy (May 29, 1917 – November 22, 1963), often referred to by his initials JFK and the nickname Jack, was an American politician who served as the 35th president of the United States from 1961 until his assassination ...

, Soviet Premier

Nikita Khrushchev Nikita Sergeyevich Khrushchev (– 11 September 1971) was the First Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1953 to 1964 and chairman of the country's Council of Ministers from 1958 to 1964. During his rule, Khrushchev s ...

, the

UN Secretary-General The secretary-general of the United Nations (UNSG or SG) is the chief administrative officer of the United Nations and head of the United Nations Secretariat, one of the six principal organs of the United Nations. The role of the secretary- ...

U Thant Thant (; ; January 22, 1909 – November 25, 1974), known honorifically as U Thant (), was a Burmese diplomat and the third secretary-general of the United Nations from 1961 to 1971, the first non-Scandinavian to hold the position. He held t ...

and British Prime Minister Harold Macmillan. His telegrams were greatly critical of Kennedy, who he had already singled out earlier as "more dangerous than Hitler", and tolerant of Khrushchev. Khrushchev replied with a long letter, published by the Russian news agency

ITAR-TASS The Russian News Agency TASS (russian: Информацио́нное аге́нтство Росси́и ТАСС, translit=Informatsionnoye agentstvo Rossii, or Information agency of Russia), abbreviated TASS (russian: ТАСС, label=none) ...

, which was mainly addressed to Kennedy and the Western world. Increasingly concerned about the potential danger to humanity arising from nuclear weapons and other scientific discoveries, he also joined with Einstein,

Robert Oppenheimer J. Robert Oppenheimer (; April 22, 1904 – February 18, 1967) was an American theoretical physicist. A professor of physics at the University of California, Berkeley, Oppenheimer was the wartime head of the Los Alamos Laboratory and is often ...

Joseph Rotblat Sir Joseph Rotblat (4 November 1908 – 31 August 2005) was a Polish and British physicist. During World War II he worked on Tube Alloys and the Manhattan Project, but left the Los Alamos Laboratory on grounds of conscience after it became ...

and other eminent scientists of the day to establish the

World Academy of Art and Science The World Academy of Art and Science (WAAS), founded in 1960, is an international non-governmental scientific organization and global network of more than 800 scientists, artists, and scholars in more than 90 countries. It serves as a forum for s ...

which was formally constituted in 1960. The

Bertrand Russell Peace Foundation The Bertrand Russell Peace Foundation, established in 1963, continues the work of the philosopher and activist Bertrand Russell in the areas of peace, social justice, and human rights, with a specific focus on the dangers of nuclear war. Ken Coat ...

and its publishing imprint ''Spokesman Books'' began work in 1963 to carry forward Russell's work for peace, human rights and social justice. Russell criticised the official account of the

assassination of John F. Kennedy John F. Kennedy, the 35th president of the United States, was assassinated on Friday, November 22, 1963, at 12:30 p.m. CST in Dallas, Texas, while riding in a presidential motorcade through Dealey Plaza. Kennedy was in the vehicle with ...

in " 16 Questions on the Assassination," 1964.

Korea and Vietnam

He began public opposition to US policy in

Vietnam Vietnam or Viet Nam ( vi, Việt Nam, ), officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,., group="n" is a country in Southeast Asia, at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of and population of 96 million, making i ...

with a letter to ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

'' dated 28 March 1963. By the autumn of 1966, he had completed the manuscript ''War Crimes in Vietnam''. Then, using the American justifications for the Nuremberg Trials, Russell, along with

Jean-Paul Sartre Jean-Paul Charles Aymard Sartre (, ; ; 21 June 1905 – 15 April 1980) was one of the key figures in the philosophy of existentialism (and phenomenology), a French playwright, novelist, screenwriter, political activist, biographer, and lit ...

, organised what he called an international War Crimes Tribunal, the

Russell Tribunal The Russell Tribunal, also known as the International War Crimes Tribunal, Russell–Sartre Tribunal, or Stockholm Tribunal, was a private People's Tribunal organised in 1966 by Bertrand Russell, British philosopher and Nobel Prize winner, and ...

. Russell supported

Korean nationalism Korean nationalism can be viewed in two different contexts. One encompasses various movements throughout history to maintain a Korean cultural identity, history, and ethnicity (or "race"). This ethnic nationalism was mainly forged in oppositio ...

, referring to North Koreans and South Koreans as "cousins".

Communism, anarchism and socialism

Russell was, prior to being a socialist, a Georgist. In 1914 he wrote to

Lady Ottoline Morrell Lady Ottoline Violet Anne Morrell (16 June 1873 – 21 April 1938) was an English aristocrat and society hostess. Her patronage was influential in artistic and intellectual circles, where she befriended writers including Aldous Huxley, Siegfr ...

saying "It is clear the Socialists are the hope of the world". Russell expressed support for

guild socialism Guild socialism is a political movement advocating workers' control of industry through the medium of trade-related guilds "in an implied contractual relationship with the public". It originated in the United Kingdom and was at its most influent ...

. He was also an admirer of Franklin Delano Roosevelt and Eduard Bernstein. Russell expressed great hope in "the Communist experiment." However, when he visited the

and met

Vladimir Lenin Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov. ( 1870 – 21 January 1924), better known as Vladimir Lenin,. was a Russian revolutionary, politician, and political theorist. He served as the first and founding head of government of Soviet Russia from 1917 to 1 ...

in 1920, he was unimpressed with the system in place. On his return he wrote a critical tract, ''The Practice and Theory of Bolshevism''. He was "infinitely unhappy in this atmosphere—stifled by its utilitarianism, its indifference to love and beauty and the life of impulse." Although critical of its implementation in Soviet Russia, he still believed "that Communism is necessary to the world." He believed Lenin to be similar to a religious

zealot The Zealots were a political movement in 1st-century Second Temple Judaism which sought to incite the people of Judea Province to rebel against the Roman Empire and expel it from the Holy Land by force of arms, most notably during the First Je ...

, cold and possessing "no love of liberty" and a kind of "latter-day Cromwell". Later in his life, Russell completely denounced Marxism and communism, stating that:Russell, Bernard (1956) "''Why I am Not a Communist''

/ref> In the 1922 United Kingdom general election, 1922 and 1923 general elections Russell stood as a Labour Party candidate in the Chelsea constituency, but only on the basis that he knew he was extremely unlikely to be elected in such a safe Conservative seat, and he was not on either occasion. He was strongly critical of

Joseph Stalin Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin (born Ioseb Besarionis dze Jughashvili; – 5 March 1953) was a Georgian revolutionary and Soviet political leader who led the Soviet Union from 1924 until his death in 1953. He held power as General Secretar ...

's regime, writing that Stalin was responsible for millions of deaths. Between 1945 and 1947, together with

A. J. Ayer Sir Alfred Jules "Freddie" Ayer (; 29 October 1910 – 27 June 1989), usually cited as A. J. Ayer, was an English philosopher known for his promotion of logical positivism, particularly in his books '' Language, Truth, and Logic'' (1936) ...

and George Orwell, he contributed a series of articles to ''

Polemic Polemic () is contentious rhetoric intended to support a specific position by forthright claims and to undermine the opposing position. The practice of such argumentation is called ''polemics'', which are seen in arguments on controversial topic ...

'', a short-lived British "Magazine of Philosophy, Psychology, and Aesthetics" edited by the ex-Communist Humphrey Slater.''Absent Minds: Intellectuals in Britain''
by Stefan Collini Oxford University Press, 2006 , 978-0-19-929105-2 Russell was a consistent enthusiast for democracy and

, and he advocated the establishment of a democratic international government in some of the essays collected in '' In Praise of Idleness'' (1935), and also in ''Has Man a Future?'' (1961). Russell wrote of

Michael Bakunin Mikhail Alexandrovich Bakunin (; 1814–1876) was a Russian revolutionary anarchist, socialist and founder of collectivist anarchism. He is considered among the most influential figures of anarchism and a major founder of the revolutionary s ...

that "we do not find in Bakunin's works a clear picture of the society at which he aimed, or any argument to prove that such a society could be stable." Russell did not believe that an anarchist society was "realizable" but that "it cannot be denied that

Kropotkin Pyotr Alexeyevich Kropotkin (; russian: link=no, Пётр Алексе́евич Кропо́ткин ; 9 December 1842 – 8 February 1921) was a Russian anarchist, socialist, revolutionary, historian, scientist, philosopher, and activist ...

presents it with extraordinary persuasiveness and charm."

Women's suffrage

As a young man, Russell was a member of the

Liberal Party The Liberal Party is any of many political parties around the world. The meaning of ''liberal'' varies around the world, ranging from liberal conservatism on the right to social liberalism on the left. __TOC__ Active liberal parties This is a li ...

and wrote in favour of

women's suffrage Women's suffrage is the right of women to vote in elections. Beginning in the start of the 18th century, some people sought to change voting laws to allow women to vote. Liberal political parties would go on to grant women the right to vot ...

. In his 1910 pamphlet, ''Anti-Suffragist Anxieties'', Russell wrote that some men opposed suffrage because they "fear that their liberty to act in ways that are injurious to women will be curtailed." In May 1907, Russell stood for Parliament as a woman's suffrage candidate in Wimbledon, but was not elected.

Sexuality

Russell wrote against Victorian notions of morality. ''

Marriage and Morals ''Marriage and Morals'' is a 1929 book by philosopher Bertrand Russell, in which the author questions the Victorian notions of morality regarding sex and marriage. Russell argues that the laws and ideas about sex of his time were a potpourri fr ...

'' (1929) expressed his opinion that sex between a man and woman who are not married to each other is not necessarily immoral if they truly love one another, and advocated "trial marriages" or "companionate marriage", formalised relationships whereby young people could legitimately have sexual intercourse without being expected to remain married in the long term or to have children (an idea first proposed by Judge Ben Lindsey). This was enough to raise vigorous protests and denunciations against him during his visit to the United States shortly after the book's publication. Russell was also one of the first intellectuals to advocate open

sex education Sex education, also known as sexual education, sexuality education or sex ed, is the instruction of issues relating to human sexuality, including emotional relations and responsibilities, human sexual anatomy, sexual activity, sexual reproduc ...

and widespread access to

contraception Birth control, also known as contraception, anticonception, and fertility control, is the use of methods or devices to prevent unwanted pregnancy. Birth control has been used since ancient times, but effective and safe methods of birth contr ...

. He also advocated easy divorce, but only if the marriage had produced no children – Russell's view was that parents should remain married but tolerant of each other's sexual infidelity, if they had children. This reflected his life at the time – his second wife Dora was openly having an affair, and would soon become pregnant by another man, but Russell was keen for their children John and Kate to have a "normal" family life. Russell was also an active supporter of the Homosexual Law Reform Society, being one of the signatories of

A.E. Dyson Anthony Edward Dyson, aka Tony Dyson (28 November 1928 – 30 July 2002) was a British literary critic, university lecturer, educational activist and gay rights campaigner. Biography Educated at Pembroke College, Cambridge, his academic career ...

's 1958 letter to ''The Times'' calling for a change in the law regarding male homosexual practices, which were partly legalised in 1967, when Russell was still alive.

Race

As with his views on religion, which developed considerably throughout his long life, Russell's views on the matter of race did not remain fixed. By 1951, Russell was a vocal advocate of racial equality and intermarriage; he penned a chapter on "Racial Antagonism" in ''New Hopes for a Changing World'' (1951), which read: Passages in some of his early writings support birth control. On 16 November 1922, for instance, he gave a lecture to the General Meeting of Dr.

Marie Stopes Marie Charlotte Carmichael Stopes (15 October 1880 – 2 October 1958) was a British author, palaeobotanist and campaigner for eugenics and women's rights. She made significant contributions to plant palaeontology and coal classification, ...

's Society for Constructive Birth Control and Racial Progress on "Birth Control and International Relations," in which he described the importance of extending Western birth control worldwide; his remarks anticipated the population control movement of the 1960s and the role of the United Nations. Another passage from early editions of his book ''Marriage and Morals'' (1929), which Russell later claimed to be referring only to environmental conditioning, and which he significantly modified in later editions, reads: However, in 1932 he condemned the "unwarranted assumption" that "Negroes are congenitally inferior to white men" (''Education and the Social Order'', Chap. 3). Responding in 1964 to a correspondent's inquiry, "Do you still consider the Negroes an inferior race, as you did when you wrote ''Marriage and Morals''?", Russell replied:

Eugenics

Russell laid out his views about eugenics with a full chapter on the topic in his book ''

''. He expressed agreement with the basic idea, while criticizing specific views and positions eugenicists held (particularly a strong class bias). Russell accepted a forced sterilization policy for

negative eugenics Eugenics ( ; ) is a fringe set of beliefs and practices that aim to improve the genetic quality of a human population. Historically, eugenicists have attempted to alter human gene pools by excluding people and groups judged to be inferior or ...

, but only that of "mental defectives", condemning some laws for being overly broad. He also cautioned that eugenics policies had to account for scientific evidence, such as not making claims that all criminal behavior had genetic causes when

psychology Psychology is the scientific study of mind and behavior. Psychology includes the study of conscious and unconscious phenomena, including feelings and thoughts. It is an academic discipline of immense scope, crossing the boundaries between ...

indicated otherwise. In terms of

positive eugenics Eugenics ( ; ) is a fringe set of beliefs and practices that aim to improve the genetic quality of a human population. Historically, eugenicists have attempted to alter human gene pools by excluding people and groups judged to be inferior or ...

, he felt that

free education Free education is education funded through government spending or charitable organizations rather than tuition funding. Many models of free higher education have been proposed. Primary school and other comprehensive or compulsory education is fr ...

should be provided for only to the professional classes, based not on the merits of the children, but of the parents, so that children are not burdened with cramming and have more time to breed large families. Russell also acknowledge the difficulty of deciding what desirable traits are, and that tradeoffs can exist (e.g. to breed for strength might diminish intelligence). He also acknowledged that to practice eugenics would entail a radical disruption of the family, feeling that a select group from the population might be set apart solely to breed in the future. While finding this idea repugnant, he thought it might nonetheless be effective. Discussing "race" eugenics, he felt the prevalent racist views were largely an excuse for chauvinism, and dismissed concerns about white people being outbred by

East Asia East Asia is the eastern region of Asia, which is defined in both Geography, geographical and culture, ethno-cultural terms. The modern State (polity), states of East Asia include China, Japan, Mongolia, North Korea, South Korea, and Taiwan. ...

ns. He considered some peoples inferior due to "environmental conditioning". He felt that in the future people might well select sexual partners for procreation voluntarily due to eugenic considerations. Russell felt certain eugenics views would win out in the future and become law. He conceded that it was repugnant to people and a "scientific tyranny" could arise, but felt this would be better than religious tyranny.

Influence on society

Russell often characterised his moral and political writings as lying outside the scope of philosophy, but Russell's admirers and detractors are often more acquainted with his pronouncements on social and political matters, or what some (e.g., biographer

Ray Monk Ray Monk (born 15 February 1957) is a British biographer who is renowned for his biographies of Ludwig Wittgenstein, Bertrand Russell, and J. Robert Oppenheimer. He is emeritus professor of philosophy at the University of Southampton, where he ...

) have called his "journalism," than they are with his technical, philosophical work. There is a marked tendency to conflate these matters, and to judge Russell the philosopher on what he himself would certainly consider to be his non-philosophical opinions. Russell often cautioned people to make this distinction. Beginning in the 1920s, Russell wrote frequently for ''

The Nation ''The Nation'' is an American liberal biweekly magazine that covers political and cultural news, opinion, and analysis. It was founded on July 6, 1865, as a successor to William Lloyd Garrison's '' The Liberator'', an abolitionist newspaper t ...

'' on changing morals, nuclear

disarmament Disarmament is the act of reducing, limiting, or abolishing weapons. Disarmament generally refers to a country's military or specific type of weaponry. Disarmament is often taken to mean total elimination of weapons of mass destruction, such as ...

and literature. In 1965, he wrote that the magazine "...has been one of the few voices which has been heard on behalf of

individual liberty Civil liberties are guarantees and freedoms that governments commit not to abridge, either by constitution, legislation, or judicial interpretation, without due process. Though the scope of the term differs between countries, civil liberties may ...

and

social justice Social justice is justice in terms of the distribution of wealth, Equal opportunity, opportunities, and Social privilege, privileges within a society. In Western Civilization, Western and Culture of Asia, Asian cultures, the concept of social ...

consistently throughout its existence."

Paul McCartney Sir James Paul McCartney (born 18 June 1942) is an English singer, songwriter and musician who gained worldwide fame with the Beatles, for whom he played bass guitar and shared primary songwriting and lead vocal duties with John Lennon. One ...

, a member of

The Beatles The Beatles were an English rock band, formed in Liverpool in 1960, that comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are regarded as the most influential band of all time and were integral to the developmen ...

, said that after he met with Russell at his house and discussed the Vietnam war with him, McCartney inspired

John Lennon John Winston Ono Lennon (born John Winston Lennon; 9 October 19408 December 1980) was an English singer, songwriter, musician and peace activist who achieved worldwide fame as founder, co-songwriter, co-lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist of ...

and the band to take an anti-war stance.

* 1916, ''Justice in War-time'', Chicago: Open Court. * 1917, ''Political Ideals'', New York: The Century Co. * 1918, ''Mysticism and Logic and Other Essays'', London: Longmans, Green. * 1918, ''Proposed Roads to Freedom: Socialism, Anarchism, and Syndicalism'', London: George Allen & Unwin. * 1919, ''Introduction to Mathematical Philosophy'', London: George Allen & Unwin, ( for Routledge paperback) (''Copy at Archive.org''). * 1920, ''The Practice and Theory of Bolshevism'', London: George Allen & Unwin * 1921, ''The Analysis of Mind'', London: George Allen & Unwin. * 1922, ''The Problem of China'', London: George Allen & Unwin. * 1923, ''The Prospects of Industrial Civilization'' (in collaboration with Dora Russell), London: George Allen & Unwin. * 1923, ''The ABC of Atoms'', London: Kegan Paul, Trench, Trubner. * 1924, ''Icarus, or the Future of Science'', London: Kegan Paul, Trench, Trubner. * 1925, ''The ABC of Relativity'', London: Kegan Paul, Trench, Trubner. * 1925, '' What I Believe'', London: Kegan Paul, Trench, Trubner. * 1926, ''On Education, Especially in Early Childhood'', London: George Allen & Unwin. * 1927, ''The Analysis of Matter'', London: Kegan Paul, Trench, Trubner. * 1927, ''

Why I Am Not a Christian ''Why I Am Not a Christian'' is an essay by the British people, British philosophy, philosopher Bertrand Russell. Originally a talk given 6 March 1927 at Battersea Town Hall, under the auspices of the South London Branch of the National Secular ...

'', London: Watts. * 1927, ''Selected Papers of Bertrand Russell'', New York: Modern Library. * 1928, ''Sceptical Essays'', London: George Allen & Unwin. * 1929, ''Marriage and Morals'', London: George Allen & Unwin. * 1930, ''The Conquest of Happiness'', London: George Allen & Unwin. * 1931, ''The Scientific Outlook'', London: George Allen & Unwin. * 1932, ''Education and the Social Order'', London: George Allen & Unwin. * 1934, ''Freedom and Organization, 1814–1914'', London: George Allen & Unwin. * 1935, ''In Praise of Idleness'', London: George Allen & Unwin. * 1935, ''Religion and Science'', London:

Thornton Butterworth Thornton or ''variant'', may refer to: People *Thornton (surname), people with the surname ''Thornton'' *Justice Thornton (disambiguation), judges named "Thornton" *Thornton Wilder, American playwright Places Australia *Thornton, New South Wale ...

. * 1936, ''Which Way to Peace?'', London: Jonathan Cape. * 1937, ''The Amberley Papers: The Letters and Diaries of Lord and Lady Amberley'' (with Patricia Russell), 2 vols., London: Leonard & Virginia Woolf at the Hogarth Press. * 1938, '' Power: A New Social Analysis'', London: George Allen & Unwin. * 1940, ''An Inquiry into Meaning and Truth'', New York: W. W. Norton & Company. * 1946, '' A History of Western Philosophy and Its Connection with Political and Social Circumstances from the Earliest Times to the Present Day'', New York: Simon and Schuster. * 1948, ''Human Knowledge: Its Scope and Limits'', London: George Allen & Unwin. * 1949, ''Authority and the Individual'', London: George Allen & Unwin. * 1950, ''Unpopular Essays'', London: George Allen & Unwin. * 1951, ''New Hopes for a Changing World'', London: George Allen & Unwin. * 1952, ''The Impact of Science on Society'', London: George Allen & Unwin. * 1953, ''Satan in the Suburbs and Other Stories'', London: George Allen & Unwin. * 1954, ''Human Society in Ethics and Politics'', London: George Allen & Unwin. * 1954, ''Nightmares of Eminent Persons and Other Stories'', London: George Allen & Unwin. * 1956, ''Portraits from Memory and Other Essays'', London: George Allen & Unwin. * 1956, ''Logic and Knowledge: Essays 1901–1950'' (edited by Robert C. Marsh), London: George Allen & Unwin. * 1957, ''Why I Am Not A Christian and Other Essays on Religion and Related Subjects'' (edited by Paul Edwards), London: George Allen & Unwin. * 1958, ''Understanding History and Other Essays'', New York: Philosophical Library. * 1959, ''Common Sense and Nuclear Warfare'', London: George Allen & Unwin. * 1959, '' My Philosophical Development'', London: George Allen & Unwin. * 1959, ''Wisdom of the West'' ("editor", Paul Foulkes), London: Macdonald. * 1960, ''Bertrand Russell Speaks His Mind'', Cleveland and New York: World Publishing Company. * 1961, ''Fact and Fiction'', London: George Allen & Unwin. * 1961, ''Has Man a Future?'', London: George Allen & Unwin. * 1963, ''Essays in Skepticism'', New York: Philosophical Library. * 1963, ''Unarmed Victory'', London: George Allen & Unwin. * 1965, ''On the Philosophy of Science'' (edited by Charles A. Fritz, Jr.), Indianapolis: The Bobbs-Merrill Company. * 1967, ''Russell's Peace Appeals'' (edited by Tsutomu Makino and Kazuteru Hitaka), Japan: Eichosha's New Current Books. * 1967, ''War Crimes in Vietnam'', London: George Allen & Unwin. * 1967–1969, ''The Autobiography of Bertrand Russell'', 3 vols., London: George Allen & Unwin. * 1969, ''Dear Bertrand Russell… A Selection of his Correspondence with the General Public 1950–1968'' (edited by Barry Feinberg and Ronald Kasrils), London: George Allen and Unwin. Russell also wrote many pamphlets, introductions, articles and letters to the editor. His works also can be found in a number of anthologies and collections, including ''The Collected Papers of Bertrand Russell'', which

began publishing in 1983. The Russell Archives at

also have more than 30,000 letters that he wrote.

Biographical books

* ''Bertrand Russell: Philosopher and Humanist'', by

John Lewis John Robert Lewis (February 21, 1940 – July 17, 2020) was an American politician and civil rights activist who served in the United States House of Representatives for from 1987 until his death in 2020. He participated in the 1960 Nashville ...

(1968) * ''Bertrand Russell and His World'', by Ronald W. Clark (1981)

Notes

References

* Bertrand Russell. 1967–1969, ''The Autobiography of Bertrand Russell'', 3 volumes, London: George Allen & Unwin. * Wallechinsky, David & Irving Wallace. 1975–1981, "Famous Marriages Bertrand Russell & Alla Pearsall Smith, Part 1" & "Part 3", on "Alys" Pearsall Smith, webpage content from ''The People's Almanac'', webpages
Part 1

(accessed 2008-11-08).

External links

Writings available online *
Works by or about Bertrand Russell
at

Internet Archive The Internet Archive is an American digital library with the stated mission of "universal access to all knowledge". It provides free public access to collections of digitized materials, including websites, software applications/games, music, ...

Works by Bertrand Russell
at

Open Library Open Library is an online project intended to create "one web page for every book ever published". Created by Aaron Swartz, Brewster Kahle, Alexis Rossi, Anand Chitipothu, and Rebecca Malamud, Open Library is a project of the Internet Archive, ...

Audio
Works by Bertrand Russell
at

LibriVox LibriVox is a group of worldwide volunteers who read and record public domain texts, creating free public domain audiobooks for download from their website and other digital library hosting sites on the internet. It was founded in 2005 by Hugh Mc ...

(public domain audiobooks)
Bertrand Russell Audio Archive

''In Praise of Idleness''
free mp3 recitation of Russell's essay of the same name, from the Audio Anarchy project Other *
Russell Photo Gallery

Photographs
at th
National Portrait Gallery
*
The Bertrand Russell SocietyResource list

The First Reith Lecture given by Russell
(Real Audio)
Lecture about 1905, the philosophical landscale of Einstein in which Russell was central
{{DEFAULTSORT:Russell views on society, Bertrand

Society A society is a group of individuals involved in persistent social interaction, or a large social group sharing the same spatial or social territory, typically subject to the same political authority and dominant cultural expectations. Soci ...