--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Free election of masters does not abolish…" description: "\"Free election of masters does not abolish the masters or the slaves.\" — Herbert Marcuse" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/6a9/herbert-marcuse-3589_abolish_free-election-of-masters-does-not-abolis_373039.jpg" --- # Free election of masters does not abolish the masters or… ![“Free election of masters does not abolish the masters or the slaves.” quote by Herbert Marcuse](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/6a9/herbert-marcuse-3589_abolish_free-election-of-masters-does-not-abolis_373039.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/6a9/herbert-marcuse-3589_abolish_free-election-of-masters-does-not-abolis_373039.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/6a9/herbert-marcuse-3589_abolish_free-election-of-masters-does-not-abolis_373039.jpg) > “Free election of masters does not abolish the masters or the slaves.” [Herbert Marcuse](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/herbert-marcuse/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Power structures persist even when formal authority is removed, as underlying hierarchies remain unchanged. **In simple terms:** Changing elections doesn’t end oppression. Key Takeaway Address systemic inequality, not just surface reforms. Themes politics power inequality Mood critical serious Type philosophical political When to use this quote - political reform - social movements - education - policy design Key Concepts critical theory hegemony Questions to Reflect On - How can we dismantle deeper hierarchies? - What alternatives to hierarchical structures exist? A Different Perspective Reforms may merely shift who holds power without dismantling the system. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Abolish](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/abolish/) [Abolish Masters](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/abolish-masters-3400090/) [Election](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/election/) [Election Masters](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/election-masters-3400091/) [Free Election](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/free-election-1120591/) [Masters](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/masters/) [Masters Slaves](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/masters-slaves-2368732/) ## Related quotes > [Free election of masters does not abolish the masters or the slaves. Free choice among a wide variety of goods and services does not…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/herbert-marcuse/free-election-of-masters-does-not-abolish-the-masters-or-the-slaves-2/) [Herbert Marcuse](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/herbert-marcuse/) > [The English think they are free. They are free only during the election of members of parliament.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-jacques-rousseau/the-english-think-they-are-free-they-are-free-only-during-the/) [Jean-Jacques Rousseau](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jean-jacques-rousseau/) > [They have not always elected the best leaders, particularly after a long period in which they have not used this facility of free election.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/chinua-achebe/they-have-not-always-elected-the-best-leaders-particularly-after-a/) [Chinua Achebe](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/chinua-achebe/) > [“Those fierce animal passions of his were his masters, not his slaves, and he was as much their victim as those he punished when…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/teresa-denys/those-fierce-animal-passions-of-his-were-his-masters-not-his-slaves/) [Teresa Denys](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/teresa-denys/) > [Kings and their subjects, masters and slaves, find a common level in two places - at the foot of the cross, and in the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-caleb-colton/kings-and-their-subjects-masters-and-slaves-find-a-common-level-in/) [Charles Caleb Colton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-caleb-colton/) > [For suppose that every tool we had could perform its task, either at our bidding or itself perceiving the need, and if-like the statues…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aristotle/for-suppose-that-every-tool-we-had-could-perform-its-task-either-at/) [Aristotle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aristotle/) > [Liberty is the only true riches: of all the rest we are at once the masters and the slaves.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-hazlitt/liberty-is-the-only-true-riches-of-all-the-rest-we-are-at-once-the/) [William Hazlitt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-hazlitt/) > [I would like to see a contribution-free election that permitted the people to vote as opposed to corporations. There really ought to be no…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mickey-edwards/i-would-like-to-see-a-contribution-free-election-that-permitted-the/) [Mickey Edwards](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mickey-edwards/) > [Last month, the Iraqi people went to the polls, voting in their first free election in more than 50 years.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-m-mchugh/last-month-the-iraqi-people-went-to-the-polls-voting-in-their-first/) [John M. McHugh](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-m-mchugh/) > [Leave us to our free election.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-shakespeare/leave-us-to-our-free-election/) [William Shakespeare](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-shakespeare/) > [“Now it must be said that when a major political party basically rejects the outcome of a free election, we are in uncharted territory.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dinesh-d-souza/now-it-must-be-said-that-when-a-major-political-party-basically/) [Dinesh D'Souza](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dinesh-d-souza/) > [“The people of England regards itself as free; but it is grossly mistaken; it is free only during the election of members of parliament.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-jacques-rousseau/the-people-of-england-regards-itself-as-free-but-it-is-grossly/) [Jean-Jacques Rousseau](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jean-jacques-rousseau/) > [There was a free election in Palestine, but it came out the wrong way. So instantly, the United States and Israel with Europe tagging…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/noam-chomsky/there-was-a-free-election-in-palestine-but-it-came-out-the-wrong-way/) [Noam Chomsky](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/noam-chomsky/) > [I will not be a Democrat or a Republican. They are the problem, not the solution. We need to abolish political parties in this…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jesse-ventura/i-will-not-be-a-democrat-or-a-republican-they-are-the-problem-not-the/) [Jesse Ventura](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jesse-ventura/) > [To be creative means to connect. It's to abolish the gap between the body, the mind and the soul, between science and art, between…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nawal-el-saadawi/to-be-creative-means-to-connect-it-s-to-abolish-the-gap-between-the/) [Nawal El Saadawi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nawal-el-saadawi/) ## More by Herbert Marcuse > [The strains and stresses suffered by the individual in society are grounded in the normal functioning of that society (and of the individual!) rather…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/herbert-marcuse/the-strains-and-stresses-suffered-by-the-individual-in-society-are/) [Herbert Marcuse](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/herbert-marcuse/) > [ \[Art\] can speak its own language only as long as the images are alive which refuse and refute the established order. ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/herbert-marcuse/art-can-speak-its-own-language-only-as-long-as-the-images-are-alive/) [Herbert Marcuse](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/herbert-marcuse/) > [If man has learned to see and know what really is, he will act in accordance with truth, Epistemology is in itself ethics, and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/herbert-marcuse/if-man-has-learned-to-see-and-know-what-really-is-he-will-act-in/) [Herbert Marcuse](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/herbert-marcuse/) > [Hypostatized into a ritual pattern, Marxian theory becomes ideology. But its content and function distinguish it from classical forms of ideology; it is not…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/herbert-marcuse/hypostatized-into-a-ritual-pattern-marxian-theory-becomes-ideology/) [Herbert Marcuse](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/herbert-marcuse/) > [Art cannot change the world, but it can contribute to changing the consciousness and drives of the men and women who could change the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/herbert-marcuse/art-cannot-change-the-world-but-it-can-contribute-to-changing-the/) [Herbert Marcuse](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/herbert-marcuse/) > [That which is cannot be true.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/herbert-marcuse/that-which-is-cannot-be-true/) [Herbert Marcuse](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/herbert-marcuse/) > [The closed language does not demonstrate and explain it communicates decision, dictum, command. 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Reason is the negation of the negative.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/herbert-marcuse/as-hegel-defines-it-thinking-is-indeed-essentially-the-negation-of/) [Herbert Marcuse](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/herbert-marcuse/) > [The precarious ontological link between Logos and Eros is broken, and scientific rationality emerges as essentially neutral.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/herbert-marcuse/the-precarious-ontological-link-between-logos-and-eros-is-broken-and/) [Herbert Marcuse](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/herbert-marcuse/) > [If mass communications blend together harmoniously, and often unnoticeably, art, politics, religion, and philosophy with commercials, they bring these realms of culture to their…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/herbert-marcuse/if-mass-communications-blend-together-harmoniously-and-often/) [Herbert Marcuse](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/herbert-marcuse/) > [This society turns everything it touches into a potential source of progress and exploitation, of drudgery and satisfaction, of freedom and of oppression.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/herbert-marcuse/this-society-turns-everything-it-touches-into-a-potential-source-of/) [Herbert Marcuse](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/herbert-marcuse/) > [Dialectical thought understands the critical tension between "is" and "ought" first as an ontological condition, pertaining to the structure of Being itself. 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Shall we…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/martin-luther/do-not-suppose-that-abuses-are-eliminated-by-destroying-the-object/) [Martin Luther](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/martin-luther/) > [Throughout the last century there were multiple attempts at giving Afghan women more autonomy, to change marriage laws, to abolish the practice of bride…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/khaled-hosseini/throughout-the-last-century-there-were-multiple-attempts-at-giving/) [Khaled Hosseini](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/khaled-hosseini/) > [But perhaps the next step isn't to, once again, expand the otherwise narrow definition of marriage but to altogether abolish the false distinction between…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sally-kohn/but-perhaps-the-next-step-isn-t-to-once-again-expand-the-otherwise/) [Sally Kohn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sally-kohn/) > [I know we can't abolish prejudice through laws, but we can set up guidelines for our actions by legislation.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/i-know-we-can-t-abolish-prejudice-through-laws-but-we-can-set-up/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [What we need is someone to abolish the House Of Lords, get rid of the Royal Family.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-boorman/what-we-need-is-someone-to-abolish-the-house-of-lords-get-rid-of-the/) [John Boorman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-boorman/) > [There is not a right too long denied to which we do not aspire in order to achieve; there is not a wrong too…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/samuel-gompers/there-is-not-a-right-too-long-denied-to-which-we-do-not-aspire-in/) [Samuel Gompers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/samuel-gompers/) > [Environmental scientists also show us clearly that from the environmental and ecological points of view that nuclear war is not preventable. The only way…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tadatoshi-akiba/environmental-scientists-also-show-us-clearly-that-from-the/) [Tadatoshi Akiba](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tadatoshi-akiba/) > [We should abolish 'work.' 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