He served as Vice-President of the Executive Council from 1918 to 1921 and was an assistant minister in the governments of Andrew Fisher and Billy Hughes.

[2] Russell was involved with the labour movement from 1899, becoming a delegate from the Printers' Union to the Melbourne Trades Hall.

[2] Russell was an unsuccessful candidate for the Victorian Legislative Assembly at the 1904 state election, running for the Australian Labor Party (ALP) in the seat of Prahran.

Nevertheless, on 14 November 1916, he joined Hughes' National Labor Party government and was reappointed to the ministry as assistant minister.

[7][8] In January 1925, Smith's Weekly reported that Russell had been a resident at the Sunbury Asylum for nearly two months, after a previous stay at Royal Park Hospital for the Insane.

The publication criticised parliament for allowing him to retain his seat in the Senate, describing it as "benevolence at the taxpayers' expense".