Bertrand Russell was one of the premier philosophers of the 20th century. Born in England in 1872, he studied at Cambridge, and later went on to be a major figure in various topics in philosophy. Most of his published work was on very technical subjects such as the foundation of mathematics (i.e. how do we know math is true), but he also had an interest in social and political philosophy.

During World War I Russell was a pacifist and wanted Britain to stay out of the war. During this time he was harassed by Police a lot for his protesting. One day he gave a public speech criticizing Britain for asking America to come into the war - he wanted America to stay out. For this speech he was given a 6 month prison sentence and actually served all of it.

Russell was sent by the British government to Soviet Russia in the 20's where he met Lenin himself and had an hour long conversation with him. He left disappointed believing Lenin to have an "impish cruelty." Russell heard gunshots every night and believed the Soviets were carrying out executions (he was probably right).

Russell was often a champion for various progressive causes and was by no means some right-wing fascist. He was an avowed atheist and a strong supporter of Darwin. On free speech Russell once said:

quote:
When the State intervenes to ensure the indoctrination of some doctrine, it does so because there is no conclusive evidence in favour of that doctrine.

Yep.

He analyzed Marx's "philosophy" and found a number of issues. (He once said "I don't know if I would dignify Marx with the title of philosopher").

quote:
Marx’s doctrine that all historical events have been motivated by class conflicts is a rash and untrue extension to world history of certain features prominent in England and France a hundred years ago. His belief that there is a cosmic force called Dialectical Materialism which governs human history independently of human volitions, is mere mythology. His theoretical errors, however, would not have mattered so much but for the fact that, like Tertullian and Carlyle, his chief desire was to see his enemies punished, and he cared little what happened to his friends in the process.

On Communism in Russia:

quote:
Marx’s doctrine was bad enough, but the developments which it underwent under Lenin and Stalin made it much worse. Marx had taught that there would be a revolutionary transitional period following the victory of the proletariat in a civil war and that during this period the proletariat, in accordance with the usual practice after a civil war, would deprive its vanquished enemies of political power. This period was to be that of the dictatorship of the proletariat. It should not be forgotten that in Marx’s prophetic vision the victory of the proletariat was to come after it had grown to be the vast majority of the population. The dictatorship of the proletariat therefore as conceived by Marx was not essentially anti-democratic.

In the Russia of 1917, however, the proletariat was a small percentage of the population, the great majority being peasants. It was decreed that the Bolshevik party was the class-conscious part of the proletariat, and that a small committee of its leaders was the class-conscious part of the Bolshevik party. The dictatorship of the proletariat thus came to be the dictatorship of a small committee, and ultimately of one man – Stalin.

Nothing has changed since that time. It's still the same old philosophy being pushed now.