Russell's Anti-Communist Rhetoric before and after Stalin's Death

Abstract

A communist regimes collapse in Eastern Europe, and the rhetoric of the War is at last abandoned, it seems an appropriate time to examine an aspect of Bertrand Russell's political life and thought which has not been as well documented as, for example, his activities in the First World War or the 1960s. In the decade following the end of the Second World War Russell could, with some justification, be accused of contributing to War mistrust, and even of playing the role of a Cold War Warrior. Between 1945 and 1953 not only was Russell, as he himself later admitted, well entrenched as part of the Establishment, but he was also actively involved in denouncing Communism, Stalin, the Soviet Union, and at times even the Russian people. Russell's War invective intruded into his private letters, newspaper and magazine articles, public lectures and some of his books during this period. For example, What is Freedom? and What is Democracy?, whilst not the best remembered of Russell's books, are illustrative of his vehement hatred of Stalin's regime, and are of especial interest because they underwent small but significant revisions after Stalin's death. This brief survey of Russell's anti-Stalinism is, by necessity, highly selective, and has intentionally focussed on some of Russell's more extreme statements. A much more comprehensive study would be necessary to analyze the overall significance of Russell's anti-Stalinism. Russell's political thought in the years immediately after the end of the Second World War is dominated by what has been called his preventative war phase. His proposal that the Soviet Union should be