If someone asks you, "Would you like to be enslaved?" You would definitely say no.
The article "On Voluntary Servitude" by 16th-century Frenchman La Boétie can give you the answer.
I. Origin of Writing
La Boétie (1530-1563), an outstanding humanitarian from France. He grew up in a family that loved ancient Greek and Roman culture. His uncle was a priest who loved law and classical literature. These had a good influence on him. He became a member of the Bordeaux Parliament at the age of 24 and met the great writer Montaigne. The two became close friends. Montaigne always said that he and La Boétie were "spiritually intertwined."
In 1548, a rebellion against salt taxes broke out in Guyenne, which was brutally suppressed. La Boétie was shocked, and his religious sentiment and kind nature prompted him to write the famous work "On Voluntary Servitude." The article expresses the confusion of a young scholar about authoritarian politics. It was first published in 1576 and later became a denunciation of autocracy and dictatorship, gaining worldwide fame.
II. Voluntary servitude is a "bad habit"
People usually think that being enslaved is forced, but La Boétie believes that "it is the voluntary choice of the enslaved, because everyone is born free... One person cannot enslave everyone unless everyone first enslaves themselves."
La Boétie believes that freedom is inherent in human nature, so voluntary servitude is unnatural and pathological. However, "natural nature is fragile, while habit is powerful." People born in chains grow up in a state of enslavement and receive an education of enslavement. They mistakenly believe that enslavement is normal, and habit becomes natural. Therefore, he says, "this voluntary servitude is a 'bad habit.'"
"On Voluntary Servitude" awakened many people. Yes, how capable can a tyrant be? Isn't it the people themselves who provide everything for the tyrant? Moreover, the more contributions the people make, the more resources the power has to consolidate and destroy everything. "If you don't give your own eyes to the tyrant, where does he get so many eyes to monitor? If you don't give your arms to the tyrant, where does he get so many arms to attack? If it weren't for the people themselves, how could the tyrant have power over the people? If the people don't betray themselves, what can the tyrant do?"
To strengthen their rule, tyrants often incite the people to inform on each other. The people's participation in informing is voluntarily "giving their own eyes to the tyrant." Fascist Germany and the former Soviet Union loved to use this tactic.
III. Creating Gods
La Boétie tells us that tyrants consolidate their rule by training the people to worship them. All tyrants want to become gods.
The Nazi "Führer" Hitler, the Soviet "Father" Stalin, the North Korean "Sun of the Nation" Kim family, and the tyrant Gaddafi.
People lose themselves in the fanatical worship of tyrants and ultimately become enslaved by them.
IV. Corruption
Building various entertainment and pornography venues to immerse the people in them is another trick for tyrants to consolidate their rule.
La Boétie gave an example: In order to rule Lydia without using soldiers, Cyrus the Great developed the brothel, gladiator arena, and tavern industries, creating a new word - "entertainment," allowing the enslaved people of Lydia to be content with pleasure, thus easily controlling them.
Today, there are various ways to corrupt the people, and many people are confused by it. There are all kinds of things for "entertainment," KTV, casinos, massages, saunas are everywhere; mobile phones use big data to push content that interests you, making people addicted to it, and ultimately enslaved by their phones; inciting people to shop crazily and overspend, causing many people to become slaves to houses and cars; when people are confused and don't know the meaning of "being born as a human," they are already enslaved unconsciously.
V. Dangerous Relationships
How do tyrants enslave the people? La Boétie proposes an interesting and essential statement: "Tyrants generally control the people through the group of people they trust the least." Tyrants know that only those who have an extreme desire for power and wealth, even willing to give up everything, will willingly submit to them. But these people are not loyal to the monarch, but to their own interests. Therefore, the relationship between the tyrant and the team that collaborates with him is tense and dangerous: they cooperate and plot against each other - sometimes the tyrant will turn against his subordinates, like Stalin's purges; sometimes, the subordinates will kill the tyrant, like Zhao Gao and his son-in-law Yan Le killed Hu Hai, and An Qingxu's Li Zhu'er killed An Lushan. These people who join the tyrant are also voluntary slaves. The more arrogant a person is, the more submissive they are in front of their master. To win status, trust, and more benefits, flatterers will strive to show loyalty and praise the evil deeds of their master; on the other hand, they will intensify the exploitation and enslavement of the people.
La Boétie believes that "friendship comes from equal personality and free choice." There is no true friendship around a tyrant, and even "love" does not exist there. "There is no doubt that a tyrant never has a lover, nor is he ever loved." His heart is like a desert. For example, the famous tyrant Nero poisoned his own mother with his own hands; Ivan the Terrible killed his own son in a fit of rage; Qin Er Shi Hu Hai killed all his brothers and sisters. In a totalitarian society, everyone has no real happiness, only fear and vigilance.
Conclusion:
Under tyranny, everyone is an enemy, everyone is in danger, and everyone lives without joy.
How to end tyranny and live a free and dignified life? La Boétie raises a profound question that deeply influences modern society: "Nonviolent non-cooperation." He repeatedly says, "The more people submit, the stronger the tyrant." "If no one submits, then there is no need for violence, and the tyrant will wither and die like a tree without nourishment."
La Boétie is recognized as the founder of the ideology of "nonviolent non-cooperation." His ideology has greatly influenced Tolstoy, Thoreau, Gandhi, and others.