As a lifelong socialist, Shaw believed that economic inequality was a poison destroying every aspect of human life, perverting family affections and the relations between the sexes. According to him, all British institutions were "corrupted at the root by pecuniary interest" - and idealism, integrity, and any piecemeal attempts at political reform were futile in the face of the gross injustice built into the Empire"s economic system. Begun in 1924 - the year of the British Labor Party"s first period of office under Ramsay MacDonald (who hailed it as "the world"s most important book since the Bible") - and first published in 1928, this guide draws on Shaw"s decades of activism.