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For my part, while I am as convinced a Socialist as the most ardent Marxian, I do not regard Socialism as a gospel of proletarian revenge, nor even, primarily, as a means of securing economic justice. I regard it primarily as an adjustment to machine production demanded by considerations of common sense, and calculated to increase the happiness, not only of proletarians, but of all except a tiny minority of the human race.

Bertrand Russell#130

PoliticsHappinessEconomicsTechnologySocialism

About this quote

What does it mean?
Socialism is not about revenge or pure economic justice; it is a commonsense adjustment to machine production that should increase overall happiness.
In plain terms
Socialism aims to align production with common sense to boost happiness for most people.
What can you take from it?
View socialism as a pragmatic response to industrialization.

Where it applies

  • public policy
  • labor movements

Putting it to work

  • advocate for equitable tech adoption
  • support social safety nets

Questions to consider

  • How does technology shape economic systems?
  • What happiness means to different cultures?

Another view

Not all societies share the same definition of happiness or agree on socialism.

More from Bertrand Russell

  1. Modern methods of production have given us the possibility of ease and security for all; we have chosen, instead, to have overwork for some and starvation for …

    Permalink to quote #129
  2. Every man would like to be God, if it were possible; some few find it difficult to admit the impossibility.

    Permalink to quote #131
  3. First of all: what is work? Work is of two kinds: first, altering the position of matter at or near the earth's surface relatively to other such matter; second…

    Permalink to quote #128

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