BRACERS Record Detail for 47052
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BR TO W.W. NORTON & COMPANY, INC. / WARDER NORTON, 8 NOV. 1932
BRACERS 47052. TLS. Norton papers, Columbia U. SLBR 2: #408
Edited by N. Griffin. Proofread by K. Blackwell and A. Duncan
47, Emperor’s Gate,
S.W.7.
8th November 19321
Dear Warder,
Ever since I finished the book about education2 I have been working on the 19th century book, and by this time read pretty extensively in connection with it. There is a terrible amount of reading to be done, and I am very doubtful whether I can get the book finished in time for publication next autumn, in spite of the fact that I am giving practically my whole time to it. Perhaps if I cannot get it finished, I could make the book of collecteda essays which is already contracted for.
I was at first somewhat vague as to what should be the subject of the 19th century book, but I find myself concentrating upon the beliefs which were actually operative in the causation of events; that is to say, the subject would be the ideas which had power during the 19th century. This is, of course, quite different from the ideas which had intellectual or moral value. I find the pattern of the 19th century very much more complex than it appears in the usual schematic presentations. Old ways of thought persist alongside of new ones, and remain influential down to the very end. I may say that when I speak of the 19th century I mean the period 1815 to 1914. In the sphere of government, monarchy, aristocracy, democracy, and proletarian dictatorship were all of them influential; running right across this division is another, between nationalists and internationalists. At the beginning of the period the reactionaries are international, at the end they are national.
In the economic sphere, serfdom, feudalism, peasant proprietorship, free competition, and socialism, all play important parts. The latter half of the period is dominated by the recrudescence of economic nationalism. Everything so far mentioned exists in the consciousness of politicians, but without their conscious co-operation,b and almost without their knowledge, science and industrialism, like blind forces of nature, are transforming society independentlyc of human volition. The fact that politicians seldom come from industrial regions, and almost always have a purely literary education, makes them incapable of appreciating what is distinctive in their own age. The politicians, therefore, with few exceptions, are antediluvian. Owing largely to this fact, the changes brought about by industrialism have been very been very little guided by human intelligence, but have acted like new wine in old bottles — explosively. This has been least the case in America, owing to the absence there of monarchy, feudalism, and aristocracy. But even in America a man like President Wilson could preserve the outlook of a literary historian.
The century falls, broadly, into three periods: the period before 1848, dominated by Metternich3 and reaction; the period from 1848 to 1871, during which nationalism triumphed and was transformed by Bismarck4 from a liberal into a militaristic form; the period from 1871 to 1914, the armed truce, during which explosive material gradually accumulated.
I do not want to write an ordinary history, what I want to do is to bring out the part played by beliefs in causing political events, the part which, I think, Marxists unduly minimized. I do not want to write something merely schematic and dry, and I hesitated for a long time as to the best method of dealing with such a mass of material. At the moment I incline to the view that the best plan is to take important individuals, portraying the world as they saw it. I want to bring out the extraordinary subjectivity of each man’s cosmos. Consider, say, Marx and Disraeli,5 almost exact contemporaries, both Jews, and living in London within a stone’s throw of each other. I suppose that Disraeli never heard of Marx, unless possibly in Scotland Yard dossiers. The interests, the knowledge, the whole universe of either was alien to that of the other. Every house in London that has at any period been inhabited by a distinguished man has a plaque, stating the fact placed there by the public authorities, but they have refused any such mark of distinction to Karl Marx’s house.
My impulse is to give accounts of a number of eminent men — eminent some of them through real merit, others merely through their position. I see the period as framed between two emperors, Alexander I and William II,6 both completely silly, but both possessed of more influence upon thed events of their own period than fell to the lot of any able man, with the exception of Bismarck. I should like to include Jefferson,7 although he is a little early, because I do not see how else to state the launching of the democratic idea. The whole middle period is dominated by Bismarck. Other men whom I should like to include are: Bentham,8 Malthus,9 Cobden,10 Robert Owen,11 Marx, Mazzini,12 Napoleon III,13 Disraeli, Darwin, Pasteur, perhaps Stevenson,14 Carnegie, Rockefeller,15 and as the grand finale of so much intellect, thee Emperor William II. In each case I should concentrate upon the man’s intellectual outlook, and bring in externalf events as colouring and coloured by this outlook. I should hope in the end to have conveyed the extraordinary complexity of the period, the amazing variety of its creeds, and the chaotic confusion of the forces by which it was driven. The period cannot be summed up in a simple formula; most of the men whom I propose to discuss had such a formula — they were all different, and all about equally correct.
I think this scheme, if adequately carried out, might easily run to two volumes and take a considerable time to complete, but I could get one volume finished first and published a year before the other. I shall be interested to hear what you think about the whole matter, because, as yet, I could completely alter the scheme, having done nothing but read hitherto. The theme fascinates me, and if I could afford it, I should be glad to spend ten years over it.
Yours very sincerely,
Bertrand Russell
- 1
[document] Proofread against a microfilm printout of the original. This letter is similiar, if not identical, to BR's letter of the same date to Stanley Unwin. See BRACERS record 47828.
- 2
book about educationEducation and the Modern World (1932), published in Britain as Education and the Social Order.
- 3
Metternich Prince Metternich (1773–1859), the Austrian Chancellor, who led the European reaction after the Napoleonic wars.
- 4
Bismarck Otto von Bismarck (1815–1898), the first Chancellor and chief architect of a united Germany.
- 5
Marx and Disraeli Karl Marx (1818–1883) and Benjamin Disraeli (1804–1881): Disraeli was Prime Minister at the time Marx was in London exposing the flaws of capitalism.
- 6
Alexander I and William II Alexander I (1777–1825), Emperor of Russia (1801–25); and William II (1859–1941), German Emperor (1888–1918).
- 7
Jefferson Thomas Jefferson (1743–1826), third president of the USA and principal author of the Declaration of Independence.
- 8
Bentham Jeremy Bentham (1748–1832), British philosopher and founder of utilitarianism.
- 9
Malthus Thomas Robert Malthus (1766–1834), British economist best known for his view that poverty is inevitable since population growth always outstrips resources.
- 10
Cobden Richard Cobden (1804–1865), British radical politician who was instrumental in introducing free trade in Britain.
- 11
Robert Owen Robert Owen (1771–1858), British manufacturer and early socialist.
- 12
Mazzini Giuseppe Mazzini (1805–1872), Italian patriot and revolutionary, a leader in the unification of Italy.
- 13
Napoleon III Louis Napoleon Bonaparte (1808–1873), nephew of the famous Napoleon, and French emperor (1852–70).
- 14
Stevenson BR surely means George Stephenson (1781–1848), the engineer who built the first European steam locomotive. A dictation error is presumably responsible for the spelling of the name — which otherwise would suggest Robert Louis Stevenson, the writer.
- 15
Carnegie, Rockefeller Andrew Carnegie (1835–1919) and John D. Rockefeller (1839–1937), American industrialists.
