Russell: The Journal of Bertrand Russell Studies

Abstract:

After an introductory discussion of Russell's place in Russian intellectual culture, both before and after the Bolshevik Revolution, this article analyzes two distinct matters connected with Bertrand Russell's 1920 visit to Soviet Russia. First, it corrects Russell's claim of meeting the poet Alexander Blok in Petrograd, demonstrating instead that his interlocutor was Andrei Bely, another prominent literary figure of the Russian Silver Age (1890–1917). Second, the article explores how Russell was received by the Petrograd intelligentsia and contrasts their responses with official Soviet reactions. Through this comparison, the paper highlights the divergence between the (non-Bolshevik) intellectual and the governmental perspectives on Russell's visit.