[lbo-talk] Bertrand Russell "Considered purely as a philosopher, Marx has grave shortcomings.

[Carrol Cox]

> On some basic level, it's true. He believed change for the better was
possible.
> In this life.

_Possible_ but NOT certain. It depends on the uncertain outcomes of multiple
struggles.

That is not remotely related to anything that could be called "Optimism."
And I suspect Russell uses "optimism" in the technical sense in which it was
used in reference to 18th-c theodicies. "Best of all possible worlds" etc.

Carrol

P.S. I think very highly of Russell; I learned a great deal back in the '40s
& '50s reading his works. But he was no expert on Marx or Marx's thought.
And there was no reason he should have been.