- Paperback: 168 pages
- Publisher: Routledge; 3 edition (26 Sep 1996)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0415154308
- ISBN-13: 978-0415154307
- Product Dimensions: 20.3 x 12.7 x 1 cm
- Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (1 customer review)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 902,603 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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No online description is currently available. If you would like to receive information about this title, please email Routledge at info@routledge-ny.com
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First Sentence
The attempt to conceive imaginatively a better ordering of human society than the destructive and cruel chaos in which mankind have hitherto existed is by no means modern: it is at least as old as Plato, whose 'Republic' set the model for the Utopias of subsequent philosophers. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
The attempt to conceive imaginatively a better ordering of human society than the destructive and cruel chaos in which mankind have hitherto existed is by no means modern: it is at least as old as Plato, whose 'Republic' set the model for the Utopias of subsequent philosophers. Read the first page
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Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
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Customer Reviews
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Format:Paperback
Building on his own appreciation of the doctrines - and their de facto performances in the real world - of marxism, anarchism and syndicalism, Bertrand Russell distillates his own vision on the functioning of a free society.
Marxism
This socialist doctrine proclaims that all social evil will be eradicated if there is a communal ownership of land and capital ruled by a democratic State.
In the real world, this democratic State became a bureaucratic one, where the rulers `bear as little resemblance to the ('real') socialists as the dignitaries of the Church after the time of Constantine, bore to the Apostles'.
`Together with the natural love of power, (the rulers) will have a rooted conviction that they alone know what is good for the community. The only changes will be further regulations as to how the people are to enjoy the good things kindly granted by their benevolent despots.'
Anarchism
This socialist doctrine proclaims that all social evil will be eradicated if there is a communal ownership of land and capital without a State.
The big problem here is how to find a consensus among the governed and how to find continued political stability.
Syndicalism
This socialist doctrine holds that the State is the great enemy and that collectivist ownership would make the lot of the workers much worse now than it is under private ownership. A higher living standard can only be attained with the (menace of the) weapon of a general strike.
Russell's Utopia
For Bertrand Russell, `communal ownership of land and capital is a necessary step towards the removal of evil in the world.'
For him, `the world we must seek is a world in which the creative spirit is alive, in which life is an adventure full of joy and hope, based rather upon the impulse to construct than upon the desire to retain what we possess or to seize what is possessed by others. It must be a world in which affection has free play, in which love is purged of the instinct of domination, in which cruelty and envy have been dispelled by happiness.'
In the meantime, the world has been ravaged by a second world war and a long series of more local extremely bloody conflicts, while capitalism, individualism and bureaucratic tendencies got the upper hand on our planet. Communal ownership proved to be unworkable.
This book is a must read for all Russell fans.
Marxism
This socialist doctrine proclaims that all social evil will be eradicated if there is a communal ownership of land and capital ruled by a democratic State.
In the real world, this democratic State became a bureaucratic one, where the rulers `bear as little resemblance to the ('real') socialists as the dignitaries of the Church after the time of Constantine, bore to the Apostles'.
`Together with the natural love of power, (the rulers) will have a rooted conviction that they alone know what is good for the community. The only changes will be further regulations as to how the people are to enjoy the good things kindly granted by their benevolent despots.'
Anarchism
This socialist doctrine proclaims that all social evil will be eradicated if there is a communal ownership of land and capital without a State.
The big problem here is how to find a consensus among the governed and how to find continued political stability.
Syndicalism
This socialist doctrine holds that the State is the great enemy and that collectivist ownership would make the lot of the workers much worse now than it is under private ownership. A higher living standard can only be attained with the (menace of the) weapon of a general strike.
Russell's Utopia
For Bertrand Russell, `communal ownership of land and capital is a necessary step towards the removal of evil in the world.'
For him, `the world we must seek is a world in which the creative spirit is alive, in which life is an adventure full of joy and hope, based rather upon the impulse to construct than upon the desire to retain what we possess or to seize what is possessed by others. It must be a world in which affection has free play, in which love is purged of the instinct of domination, in which cruelty and envy have been dispelled by happiness.'
In the meantime, the world has been ravaged by a second world war and a long series of more local extremely bloody conflicts, while capitalism, individualism and bureaucratic tendencies got the upper hand on our planet. Communal ownership proved to be unworkable.
This book is a must read for all Russell fans.
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