Beryl, in the beginning of the WTS, the focus was merely to gather in those going to heaven. Then the infrastructure, governments, religion, would be done away with in 1914. The vast majority of humankind was expected to remain alive on earth to be joined by those resurrected receiving second prize, life on earth. It wasn't until Rutherford's time that the focus was off gathering the anointed, because almost all of them had been found by 1935, and the gathering of the numberless great crowd. Then those that didn't listen would be condemned to eternal death rather than the second prize of life on earth.
I was surprised when I started reading Russell's books to realize that he did not preach the death of the general population, just a few. He didn't advocate trying to preach to all the vast general population, that they would receive education from God and a chance to change after the destruction of earthly governments and religion in 1914.
Blondie