The Prospects of Industrial Civilisation

The Prospects of Industrial Civilization, originally published in 1925, is the most ambitious of Bertrand Russell's books on modren society, and it offers a rare glimpse into often-ignored subtleties of his political thought. Written on a trip to China with Dora Black (who became his second wife), it is revealing both as a period piece and as a book for our times. Russell criticizes his own age and demonstrates how humanity perpetually struggles against the centralizing forces of industrialism and nationalism. He views industrialism as a threat to human freedom, since it fundamentally linked with nationalism, and he proposes one government for the whole world as a solution. Russell is not blind to the positive side of industrialism, arguing that the global village and prevailing political democracy should be its eventual results.