This is a podcast from the archives of the BBC Reith Lectures.

This lecture in the series Authority and the Individual, given by Bertrand Russell, was originally broadcast in 1949.

The Reith Lectures. Bertrand Russell is giving the fifth of six broadcasts on authority and the individual.

His fifth lecture is entitled, Control and Initiative, their respective spheres.

Bertrand Russell.

A healthy and progressive society requires both central control and individual and group initiative.

Without control, there is anarchy, and without initiative there is stagnation.

I want in this lecture to arrive at some general principles

as to what matters should be controlled and what should be left to private or semi-private initiative.

Some of the qualities that we should wish to find in a community are in their essence static,

while others are by their very nature dynamic.

Speaking very roughly,

we may expect the static qualities

to be suitable for governmental control,

while the dynamic qualities

should be promoted by the initiative of individuals or groups.

But if such initiative is to be possible and if it is to be fruitful rather than destructive,

it will need to be fostered by appropriate institutions and the safeguarding of such institutions

will have to be one of the functions of government. It is obvious that in a state of anarchy, there could

not be universities or scientific research or publication of books, or even such simple

things as seaside holidays. In our complex world, there cannot be fruitful initiative without government but

unfortunately there can be government without initiative the primary aims of

...