Bertrand Russell on Dictators
George Orwell:
Mr. Russell points out that the huge system of organized lying upon which the dictators depend keeps their followers out of contact with reality and therefore tends to put them at a disadvantage as against those who know the facts. This is true so far as it goes, but it does not prove that the slave-society at which the dictators are aiming will be unstable. It is quite easy to imagine a state in which the ruling caste deceive their followers without deceiving themselves. Dare anyone be sure that something of the kind is not coming into existence already? One has only to think of the sinister possibilities of the radio, State-controlled education and so forth, to realize that “the truth is great and will prevail” is a prayer rather than an axiom.
— Review of Power: A New Social Analysis by Bertrand Russell, in Essays, edited by John Carey, p. 108.