Democracy can only spring from practising it early, and democratic action was not to expected from young people brought up under a close authoritarian system.
Dora Russell

Following the rise of the Labour Party it seemed reasonable, in 1927, to expect, or at least hope, that co-operation for the common good might gradually replace the competitiveness of capitalism.
Dora Russell

Hence we did not foster competition in our school, on the contrary.
Dora Russell

If an adult uses violence on a child, the child will naturally assume that he too, has the right to use it on one smaller or weaker.
Dora Russell

Marie Stopes had established the first birth control clinic in Britain; the whole question of informing women, especially those who were poor, about methods of contraception, began to be discussed.
Dora Russell

Marriage, laws, the police, armies and navies are the mark of human incompetence.
Dora Russell

Measures of self-government and a school council, especially for such young children, were a great innovation.
Dora Russell

The report of this made me exceedingly angry, for I could not see why information which a middle-class woman could get from her doctor should be withheld from a poorer woman who might need it far more.
Dora Russell

We have heeded no wisdom offering guidance.
Dora Russell

We have never yet had a labor Government that knew what taking power really means; they always act like second-class citizens.
Dora Russell


We want better reasons for having children than not knowing how to prevent them.
Dora Russell

You could not receive a young man in your room; you might be permitted to have him to tea in one of the public reception rooms, but you could accept no invitation from young men to tea or other entertainment without a chaperone from the College.
Dora Russell