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Full Idea
A society in which each is the slave of all is only a little better than one in which each is the slave of a despot.
Gist of Idea
Being a slave of society is hardly better than being a slave of a despot
Source
Bertrand Russell (Authority and the Individual [1949], 4)
Book Ref
Russell,Bertrand: 'Authority and the Individual' [Unwin 1977], p.62
A Reaction
This seems to apply quite accurately to the position of those state employees who have the lowest status and wages. Society as a whole exploits them, so it is hard to point the finger at their oppressors.
| 22534 | People care less about what is communal, and more about what is their own [Aristotle] |
| 23053 | The great interest of the human race is cordial unity and unlimited mutual aid [Owen] |
| 23137 | Liberty without socialism is injustice; socialism without liberty is brutality [Bakunin] |
| 23160 | Being a slave of society is hardly better than being a slave of a despot [Russell] |
| 23162 | Managers are just as remote from workers under nationalisation as under capitalism [Russell] |
| 23165 | Socialists say economic justice needs some state control of industries, and of foreign trade [Russell] |
| 21525 | When the state is the only employer, there is no refuge from the prejudices of other people [Russell] |
| 23750 | It is not more money which the wretched members of society need [Weil] |
| 23847 | Socialism tends to make a proletariat of the whole population [Weil] |
| 20575 | Socialist economics needs a very strong central power, virtually leading to slavery [Hayek, by Oksala] |
| 23427 | Socialism can be productive and centralised, or less productive and decentralised [Dobson] |
| 20097 | The welfare state aims at freedom from want, and equality of opportunity [Micklethwait/Wooldridge] |
| 20540 | Redistributing wealth treats some people as means, rather than as ends [Swift] |