Men whose circumstances have always been more comfortable than those of the majority are, as a rule, incapable of sympathy with those who are less fortunate. ... Security depending upon exceptional privilege is unjust, and the man who has to find excuses for an injustice by which he profits is bound to acquire a distorted moral sense. On the other hand, the powerful men of the present day who are the victors in a free fight overestimate the value of ruthlessness and of the various acts by which success in competition is achieved..
Source: Bertrand Russell: Mortals and Others, v.1, 1975
More info.: https://russell-j.com/ESECRITY.HTM
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Those who call for the abolition of vested interests - politicians and others - often stop doing so once they themselves acquire new powers or authority. On the contrary, they tend to insist that “what has been gained through effort should be respected,” and seek to defend the new privileges they have obtained.
Bertrand Russell was one of Britain's leading aristocrats (his family being the main branch of the Dukes of Bedford), yet he voluntarily refrained from using his noble title. The honorific "Lord," indicating that he was the son of a peer, appeared only on the cover of Justice in War Time (1915), published during the First World War -- and that addition was made by the publisher without his consent.
Having succeeded to the title of the third Earl Russell, he nevertheless argued repeatedly in his writings that the aristocratic system itself ought to be abolished. His refusal to take for granted the privileges conferred by birth, and his constant questioning of their legitimacy, bear witness to the sincerity of his thought.
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