In those days, Russell was a commie - Stalin's Russia impressed him.
He was a great logician, but I think his social and political ideas were mostly naive at best (he supported nuclear disarmament, and that wasn't naive).
He was a great logician, but I think his social and political ideas were mostly naive at best (he supported nuclear disarmament, and that wasn't naive).
Do you have evidence for that? Links? I don't remember hearing either part of that claim before. He lived to age 97, did you mean his whole life or at a particular time? He met with Lenin and was appalled by his character.
edit: Youtube audio (2mins) of Russell talking about meeting Lenin in 1920!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bertrand_Russell%27s_political...
It also says that I was wrong about his admiration for Stalin's Russia; he evidently disapproved of both Stalin and Lenin.
His political opinions seem to have wobbled around quite a bit; he was not a reliable political anchor.
If you're curious about the context of that quote (written in 1920) it is the following, my emphasis:
"By far the most important aspect of the Russian Revolution is as an attempt to realize Communism. I believe that Communism is necessary to the world, and I believe that the heroism of Russia has fired men's hopes in a way which was essential to the realization of Communism in the future. Regarded as a splendid attempt, without which ultimate success would have been very improbable, Bolshevism deserves the gratitude and admiration of all the progressive part of mankind.
But the method by which Moscow aims at establishing Communism is a pioneer method, rough and dangerous, too heroic to count the cost of the opposition it arouses. I do not believe that by this method a stable or desirable form of Communism can be established. Three issues seem to me possible from the present situation. The first is the ultimate defeat of Bolshevism by the forces of capitalism. The second is the victory of the Bolshevists accompanied by a complete loss of their ideals and a régime of Napoleonic imperialism. The third is a prolonged world-war, in which civilization will go under, and all its manifestations (including Communism) will be forgotten."