Freedom
Dublin Core
Title
Freedom
Description
Published in the June 26, 1935 edition of the newspaper The Listener, George Bernard Shaw's essay "Freedom" is surrounded by additional text. It is preceded by blurbs ranging from vacation advertisements to charity requests. A plea for donations to an organization for the deaf and dumb maintains that it "has a splendid record of 95 years' work and deserves your kindly help for these afflicted people". Below this request, another advertisement suggests that wise women wear Puritan Leather Shoes. This may be a manifestation of a growing capitalist society. Charities must advertise themselves in the same manner as daily purchases to vie for attention.
Bernard Shaw's article is the first of the edition, indicating the impact that his name would have carried with the newspapers readership. Bernard Shaw does not shirk from this power; he begins making distinct political statements from his first words. He states his case for his opposition to slavery in its many forms, saying that it "is hateful to the body and spirit...no man is good enough to be another man's master." He aligns himself with Marx, asserting that the women and the working class of Britain are caught in a type of slavery. According to Bernard Shaw, the class systems Britain has are to blame--"they enforce your slavery and call it freedom". In this statement, he turns potential expectations about an article called "Freedom" on their heads. He does not display blind nationalism, but instead argues that Britain is not at all a free country.
The Listener is likely geared toward an educated, and therefore wealthy, audience. His writing is followed by other politically-minded articles, as well as pictures of sketches done by Leonardo da Vinci and a medical psychologist's take on the mind's development. While these highly educated readers may have enjoyed Bernard Shaw's rejection of a capitalist "slave" system, they may have missed that the newspaper closes out with further advertisements for products made under the very conditions which Bernard Shaw condemned.
Bernard Shaw's article is the first of the edition, indicating the impact that his name would have carried with the newspapers readership. Bernard Shaw does not shirk from this power; he begins making distinct political statements from his first words. He states his case for his opposition to slavery in its many forms, saying that it "is hateful to the body and spirit...no man is good enough to be another man's master." He aligns himself with Marx, asserting that the women and the working class of Britain are caught in a type of slavery. According to Bernard Shaw, the class systems Britain has are to blame--"they enforce your slavery and call it freedom". In this statement, he turns potential expectations about an article called "Freedom" on their heads. He does not display blind nationalism, but instead argues that Britain is not at all a free country.
The Listener is likely geared toward an educated, and therefore wealthy, audience. His writing is followed by other politically-minded articles, as well as pictures of sketches done by Leonardo da Vinci and a medical psychologist's take on the mind's development. While these highly educated readers may have enjoyed Bernard Shaw's rejection of a capitalist "slave" system, they may have missed that the newspaper closes out with further advertisements for products made under the very conditions which Bernard Shaw condemned.
Creator
George Bernard Shaw
Source
Manhattan College, Fales Collection
Publisher
The Listener
Date
6/26/1935
Format
Newspaper
Language
English
Type
Newspaper Article
Files
Citation
George Bernard Shaw , “Freedom,” Manhattan College Omeka , accessed September 19, 2024, https://omeka-pilot.manhattan.edu/items/show/18.