The deluded masters

The 'humbug' (nonsense) meant to fool the workers fools the master class even more. The rich are taught at school that they are superior, and that the system which rewards them is the best possible one, and they believe it.

The workers, who face the harsh facts of life every day, are less sure. In hard times they may rebel, and be 'rescued' by some would-be emperor, a strong man, which leaves them no freer than voting did.

Shaw reports that thinkers like Aristotle held that those in power must look grand and rich, to keep ordinary people obedient.

Those who doubt that the vote can change things point out that most voters are workers, yet they seldom vote for their own class. When women got the vote, they elected only one woman, and she was rich and titled.

Others argue that human nature is easy to change if it is caught young: the slave mind and the master mind are both made, by education and propaganda. The ideas taught early decide who rules and who obeys.