The Practice and Theory of Bolshevism · Chapter
II: Deciding Forces in Politics explained
Russell analyzes the fundamental passions driving political events—acquisitiveness, vanity, rivalry, and love of power—arguing that these, rather than material conditions alone, shape history.
What happens
Russell analyzes the fundamental passions driving political events—acquisitiveness, vanity, rivalry, and love of power—arguing that these, rather than material conditions alone, shape history. He critiques the Marxian emphasis on acquisitiveness, highlights the role of scientific intelligence in transforming material conditions, and warns that unchecked rivalry, amplified by concentrated power, threatens progress and even human survival.
Themes in this chapter
Materialist Conception of History
Russell directly challenges the Marxian view that acquisitiveness is the sole political driver, arguing that vanity, rivalry, and love of power are equally fundamental.
Power and Dictatorship
Russell warns that concentrated power intensifies rivalry and bellicosity, making dictatorship a threat to peace and progress.
Hope vs. Reality
While scientific intelligence could be used to modify human passions for the better, Russell doubts that rulers will use such power for the good of mankind, highlighting the gap between potential and actual outcomes.
Characters to notice
- Marx
Russell critiques Marx's materialist conception of history for overemphasizing acquisitiveness and ignoring vanity, rivalry, and love of power as primary political drivers.
Key passages
“The larger events in the political life of the world are determined by the interaction of material conditions and human passions.”
Major political developments arise from the interplay between physical circumstances and emotional drives.
Russell sets up his core thesis that politics is a product of both material factors and human emotions.
“I think this is the source of what is erroneous in the Marxian interpretation of history, which tacitly assumes that acquisitiveness is the source of all political actions.”
The flaw in Marx's view of history is its implicit assumption that the desire to acquire wealth explains all political behavior.
Russell directly critiques Marxist theory for neglecting other powerful human passions.
“The progress or retrogression of the world depends, broadly speaking, upon the balance between acquisitiveness and rivalry.”
Whether civilization advances or declines hinges on the relative strength of the drive to accumulate versus the drive to compete.
Russell identifies a key dynamic that determines historical direction.
“It is possible that scientific intelligence may, in time, reach the point when it will enable rivalry to exterminate the human race.”
Scientific progress could eventually give rivalry the power to destroy all of humanity.
Russell offers a grim warning about the potential end result of unchecked competition.