Political Ideals

'Political Ideals' by Bertrand Russell was written in 1917, during the upheaval of World War One. It's a declaration of the ideas that influenced his thinking on the major events of the 20th century. This early work still offers much thought-provoking material on the subject of political philosophy. Russell criticizes both capitalism and socialism based on his strong conviction that everything of value comes ultimately from the individual. The only real aim of politics, as per Russell, is to give free play, as far as possible, to every person's natural creativity. Russell names four main goals that an ideal political system should be able to the greatest possible production of goods and technical progress; securing distributive justice; ensuring security against destitution; and, most importantly, the liberation of creative impulses and the limiting of possessive impulses.