Russell: The Journal of Bertrand Russell Studies

Bertrand Russell and the Webbs: an interview by Royden Harrison SHORTLY AFTER THE publication ofmy first book, Before The Socialists (1965), I was invited by the Passfield Trustees to write the authorized "Life" ofSidney and Beatrice Webb. As biographer I gave a high priority to what Beatrice called "the Method of Interview". Yet I was unable to follow all her counsel-admirable as I took it to be. Thus, she insisted one should not annoy one's respondent by asking him about matters where his testimony was already available or otherwise superfluous. But what ifthe respondent is advanced in years and ofuncertain health? Then the delay which might have been courteous becomes imprudent. Accordingly , I interviewed early. On reflection, it seems right to have done so. If I am often visited by what Diderot called l'esprit d'escalier I do not reproach myself with opportunities wholly lost. On the contrary, I cherish many remarkable memories even if they are of very marginal importance to "Webbery"; Clem AttIee being laconic beneath an immense tapestry ofhimselfattired in the robes of the Order of the Garter; Dame Margaret Cole shouting obscenities at some delinquent publisher across a Mayfair Restaurant; Ambassador Ivan Maisky coming specially into Moscow to an unnumbered flat in Gorky Street to tell me of the Webbs and Stalin; Kingsley Martin becoming more and more the scandalous gossip over Irish whiskey; Leonard Woolftrembling to the imminent danger of his cup and saucer; Lady Simon of Wythenshawe's delight in the Webb partnership and conviction respecting its usefulness; Professor Willy Robson requiring me to inform him about all references to himself in the Webb diaries and my promising to do so even while I knew it to be quite impossible. (Sidney Webb regarded Robson as the most boring man he had ever met.) 44 Russell and the Webbs 45 With the exception of Mr. Malcolm Muggeridge everybody that I wanted to interview consented. But by far the most rewarding of these interviews was the one which I conducted with Bertrand Russell at his house in Wales on the afternoon of 19 January 1967. I drove over from Yorkshire and remember bright sunshine on the deserted winter roads. I was received by one of Russell's aides: probably Christopher Farley. He made no interventions in the discussion and even allowed Russell to hop up and down passing cups of tea. Our meeting lasted for about an hour or perhaps an hour and a half. As soon as it was over I rushed to a nearby hotel and wrote down everything that I could recollect and then rewrote it in what I took to be its correct order. This was all in strict accordance with what I understood to be the"Methods of Social Study". Whether Beatrice would have been unimpressed by the advent of the tape recorder and would have objected to its presence on the same terms as she objected to note-taking before the respondent is a nice problem. I do regret not sending Russell a copy of my report for his approval. I asked him if he would be prepared to look it over, but he was very hesitant about that. I should not have been afraid to irritate him. The last thing to be allowed in a biographer of the Webbs is that he should be unprofessional. INTERVIEW WITH EARL RUSSELL, a.M., F.R.S. 19 JANUARY 1967 Q) Is it the case that you are going to Paris next month and that after that your autobiography will appear, at least the first volume? A) I don't know about Paris. Here in the country I feel healthy and vigorous, but in the cities I soon get tired. Yes, my autobiography is in publication-it has cost me a lot of trouble, more than with any of my other books. It is hard to be agnostic about the facts of your own life. Although I am pretty convinced about the facts concerning my own birth and also of the accuracy of the analysis of my character which my Mother supplied when I was only three days old. Q) Among the many reasons which I had for wishing...