Governments, votes and propaganda

An honest government, Shaw says, should stop people from being imposed on in this way. But most governments do the opposite: they enforce this slavery and call it freedom, while setting some limits on the masters' greed.

Chattel slavery (owning people as property) was abolished, he says, only when wage slavery became cheaper. And the vote, given every few years, lets you choose between two rich men, and leaves your hours of work exactly the same.

Nature is kind to her slaves: eating, sleeping and sitting by the fire are pleasant. But man's slavery to man is hateful. Karl Marx showed that it leads to class war.

Meanwhile, schools and newspapers teach that our freedom was already won for us by our forefathers: by Magna Carta, the defeat of the Armada, the Bill of Rights, Waterloo and so on.

Writers who protest are called atheists and scoundrels. Revolutions abroad are fought against until they grow strong, and then their leaders are invited to dinner. Freedom is praised in words, but denied in fact.