Living in the Atomic Age [1950]

Russell discussed not only strategy and diplomacy but also the psychological strains of living under the threat of war—and the attendant risks of succumbing to despair, frivolity or fanaticism, “states of mind which must be avoided”. Both instalments were delivered in Wilson Hall at the University of Melbourne. They were Russell’s most notable public appearances of his two-week stay in the state capital of Victoria. Russell profoundly resented such charges and contested them for more than a decade, but the chapter certainly contains some strong anti-Soviet language. Just as predictably perhaps, Russell succeeded in antagonizing the small Australian Communist Party, which staged a protest outside his second lecture with a flyer lambasting the speaker as a “Man of War”.