 Returning to New York, she served as the executive director of the Committee for a Democratic Far Eastern Policy from 1946 to 1951 and contributed to the journal "Far East Reporter" from 1953 until her death from lung cancer in 1989.Russell was outspoken on the Cultural Revolution in the 1960s and 1970s and wrote many works and articles documenting it.In 1971, she was one of the inaugural members of the United States-China People's Friendship Association.