What do you think of Bertrand Russell's political ideas?

In response to this question, I read Russell’s Political Ideals and found myself agreeing with most of what he wrote. There isn’t much that is original there except Russell’s clear and carefully reasoned voice, but his assessments of the problems of capitalism and State socialism are spot-on. His proposed solutions are more about recommended principles than prescription — that is, he doesn’t offer a lot of details regarding those solutions — but again I find myself agreeing with most of his sentiments about the importance of self-governance, avoiding the use of force, the dangers of unrestrained possessiveness, the importance of creativity, and so on. The only criticism I might have is that Russell leans a bit too far in the direction of individualism, and too frequently looks to the State for intervention. In other words, he relies too heavily on the State to manage society, and demands a rigorous protection of individuality that, IMO, is corrosive to civil society. I would quote specific passages, but Quora will undoubtedly flag my post as “plagiarism” and collapse it…so, alas, I cannot back up my assertions with Russell’s actual words. :-) Regardless, however, I was impressed with Political Ideals, especially given the time period in which it was written.

My 2 cents.

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