What Bertrand Russell thinks about democracy
British philosopher and logician (1872 to 1970), also a social critic; co-author with Alfred North Whitehead of Principia Mathematica (1910 to 1913), author of The Problems of Philosophy (1912), awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1950.
Bertrand Russell did not write this page.
We collected these quotes from things they published elsewhere, and every quote links to where it was said. They have no account here and have not endorsed this site. Quotes are word for word; the short line under each one is our own restatement, not their wording. Their own site. Is this you? Claim it or ask us to remove it. Or tell us what is wrong here.
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Only Bertrand Russell on democracy. See everyone on democracy
3 dated positions, c. 1917, in their own words. Our reading of what Bertrand Russell has said — not written or endorsed by them.
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Our readingThere can be no real freedom or democracy until workers control the management of their business
Their wordsThere can be no real freedom or democracy until the men who do the work in a business also control its management.
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Their wordsDemocracy is a device—the best so far invented—for diminishing as much as possible the interference of governments with liberty. If a nation is divided into two sections which cannot both have their way, democracy theoretically insures that the majority shall have their way.
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Their wordsYet I see no reason to believe that any real advance toward democracy, freedom, or economic justice is achieved when a state takes over the railways after full compensation to the shareholders.