"We burn all evil and all illusion out of him; we bring him over to our side, not in appearance, but genuinely, heart and soul. We make him one of ourselves before we kill him. It is intolerable to us that an erroneous thought should exist anywhere in the world, however secret and powerless it may be. Even in the instant of death we cannot permit any deviation. In the old days the heretic walked to the stake still a heretic, proclaiming his heresy, exulting in it. Even the victim of the Russian purges could carry rebellion locked up in his skull as he walked down the passage waiting for the bullet. But we make the brain perfect before we blow it out. The command of the old despotisms was 'Thou shalt not.' The command of the totalitarians was 'Thou shalt.' Our command is 'Thou art.'" Listen to episodes ad-free and get other benefits on my Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/c/BayleysBookshelfPodcast You can also support this podcast with a one-off donation at Buy Me A Coffee: https://buymeacoffee.com/rjbayley If you’d like to send correspondence for me to read and discuss during an episode, or you would like to talk about me narrating your own audiobook or other voiceover services, you can contact via: Bluesky: @RJBayley https://bsky.app/profile/rjbayley.bsky.social Email: robertjbayley[AT]gmail.com Website contact form at RJBayley.com: https://rjbayley.com/contact/ Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/RJBayleyVoiceArtist/ This book is in the public domain and this production is entirely created and distributed in accordance with local laws. This audio production, however, is copyright to RJ Bayley 2025.

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“What did the council decide on item 42?” — answered with the speaker and the moment.

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